Page 14 - BiTS_07_JULY_2024_Neat

RDP: It's a huge thank you to everyone internationally that has voted for us because to be an
international finalist and go to an award ceremony is incredible.

DS: In the States.

BiTS: What does the award ceremony consist of? Do you have to do a performance or what?

DS: I don't believe we have to do a performance.

RDP: We have to be interviewed by radio and TV presenters on the red carpet and do a speech.
Then if we win, we have to walk down the red carpet and there's a big cinema screen playing ‘We
Still Believe In Love’ which is the song.

DS: Yeah, I know, it's marvellous.

BiTS: Do you have any idea what the competition is?

RDP: Yeah, there's basically everything. There's rock, there's blues, there's a lot of country and
western and country rock performers. You know, so the people who we are
competing against, I suppose, they're just top worldwide duos and artists.
T I mean, especially in the duo category, there's a lot of country rock
a
y performers. So we'll be up against people from Nashville, Tennessee and
l all that kind of thing.
o BiTS: Well, I wish you the very best of luck. So what guitar are you taking with
r
you, Ritchie?
G RDP: Probably a Telecaster [laughing]. I mean, I've got seven Telecasters, but
r
a when we do the unplugged stuff, that's when I use the Taylor Grand Auditorium
n acoustic and that's a beautiful guitar. I mean, I still write a lot of stuff on
d acoustic, even though the majority is written on a Telecaster. But when it's the
more sort of folky rock, Celtic rock sort of stuff like ‘Dance With Me In The Pale
A Moonlight’, the latest single, that was written on the acoustic Grand Auditorium
u
d firstly, and then once I'd written the chord structures, a lot of the riffs and
i obviously the solos were all written on the Telecaster. Then Debra writes all
t the lyrics and the melodies and all the vocals. And that sort of goes all over
o the top of it and I never know what Debra's going to come up with,
r to be honest.
i
u BiTS: You switched to Telecasters maybe five or six years ago. Has
m it made a big difference?
RDP: Yeah, I mean before that, I had Gibsons, Les Pauls and some
Gibson SG's, but I always found the SG, it was a great guitar, but
it was sort of double weighted. I never liked the weight of it
and the Les Paul, it was too fat a sound and too thick a sound.
I always loved the tone that Jimmy Page had on the “Led
Zeppelin” one album, and a lot of people don't realise that one

of his most famous solos, the ‘Stairway To Heaven’ solo, that
was performed and recorded on a Telecaster too. So I would
say the Telecaster is still my favourite electric guitar to play.
Obviously, there's other really well-known players like the late, great
Albert Collins, and he was a great Telecaster player.