Page 22 - BiTS_03_MARCH_2024

because I had an early start with drums and stuff. So yeah, I play mandolin and a bit of banjo, and
I’ve got some wacky 12-string guitars that are in weird tunings and, yeah, like ukulele, double bass,
stuff with strings on it. I'll have a go. I can usually get something, some kind of noise out of it
[chuckling] if it’s got strings on it. I'm not so cool with things you blow into.

Vince Lee with the Big Combo

BiTS: [Laughing] Do you have a guitar collection, a large number of guitars?

VL: Yeah, I've several. I've tried to rein myself in a little bit with it because I ended up with quite a
lot because over the years, they just sort of made their way to me. I don't know how it happened,
really [laughs]. I've got quite a few but I'm quite into the older Chicago guitars like the Harmony
guitars and Supro and National and that kind of stuff. Danelectro, all the old catalogue guitars from
the 40s and the 50s is my buzz, so I've got a lot of those type of guitars. I've tried to keep it under
30 [laughing].
BiTS: [Laughing] How many is it? Is it under 30?

VL: It’s about 29 at the moment. There’s always room for one more.

BiTS: Running it very close.

VL: Yeah. There's other stuff. I've got a double bass and the bass that Sophie plays is my bass. So
I've got that here as well, and I've got lots of other instruments and PA systems. It's chaos most of
the time, to be honest.

BiTS: Do you keep all this stuff at home?

VL: I do. Yeah. Well, some of it's off in storage, obviously because there’s not room for all of it, but
most of the stuff that's close to me is right next to me most of the time. So I keep my eye on it and
stuff, yeah.

BiTS: We'll get on to the album in just a moment, but tell me something about Sophie Lord, not a
name who is known well, I think, around the country, but she seems like a very accomplished musician.