Groundwire: Jeremy Popoff of Lit
by Lisa Sharken
Lit emerged in Orange County, California back in 1990, building up a strong local following after years on the club scene. With its 1997 debut album, Tripping The Light Fantastic, Lit scored big at college radio and then landed a deal with RCA Records. The group’s subsequent major label disc, A Place In The Sun was released two years later and generated several major hits with “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Miserable,” which featured Pamela Anderson in the video, and ” Ziplock.” 2001’s Atomic also charted successfully with “Lipstick & Bruises.”
Back with a new self-titled and self-produced fourth album that’s garnering rave reviews, GroundWire spoke with guitarist Jeremy Popoff to learn how he achieved his tones on this latest disc. We also picked his brain about his influences and main inspirations for playing guitar and writing songs.
Describe your studio rig.
I ran through a Morley A/B/Y box into two Marshall heads. I had three in the studio with me–a JMP 50 watt, and another JMP, and on some of the stuff I used an early-’70s Marshall® Super Bass head that’s just ugly sounding. It’s hideously thick and bottom-heavy, but it works blended with my other amps. I use it live a lot. I played through two Carvin Legacy cabinets that have 25-watt Celestion greenback speakers in them, and they sound great with my heads.
It was pretty much my straight-up, live rig–two heads and two cabinets. I had them sitting next to each other, not separated or in different rooms, and I just let them bleed together. We threw up some mics all over the place–hanging from the ceiling and in the corners–and moved them around until it sounded real.
For effects, I used my live pedalboard which is just an old-school row of stompbox pedals. I have the Morley® Bad Horse wah, which I really like a lot, the Boss® SD-1 Super Overdrive, PH-2 Phaser, DD-5 Digital delay, MXR® Phase 100, Digitech® Whammy–the original red one, Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor, and Boss TU-2 tuner.
My main guitars are Fender® Custom Shop Teles® which only have one pickup–the Seymour Duncan? Parallel Axis Original Trembucker?;and a volume knob. I love the Trembucker. I was turned on to it when we were making the A Place In The Sun record. Once I tried it, I had Fender® change all my guitars and put Trembuckers in them. I also have a couple of Guild® Bluesbirds which Seymour made me two custom Trembuckers for. He somehow fit it into the smaller case and it sounds awesome. Other than that, I also used the acoustic guitar from my living room.
Which pickups were originally in your main guitars? What impressed you most about the Trembucker?
When we were recording A Place In The Sun, I had a couple of Teles and Strats® which all had Fender® Lace Sensor™ pickups. I liked them and they worked for me live, but in the studio, they never really delivered what I was looking for. So I would generally not use my live guitars in the studio. I would use Les Pauls® or look for something that sounded good. Then Alex Perez at Fender loaned me a Strat with a Trembucker in it to try in the studio and see what I thought of that pickup. I plugged it in, and it was just awesome! The guitar sounded somewhere between a Strat and a Les Paul. It kind of scooped somewhere in the middle and had the characteristics of both guitars. I really loved how the pickup sounded, and I also loved how it looked. It was different. It was cool. I had a new guitar built with a Trembucker, and it sounded so good that I had all my other guitars equipped with them. After that, everything improved. My live sound improved, and I was able to use my own guitars in the studio, and they always sounded great. So I first used the Trembucker on A Place In the Sun, then on that tour, and I’ve been using it ever since.
How are your guitars set up and what type of picks do you prefer?
I like the action kind of low, but I play really hard. My right hand is just drilling the strings, so I should go to a heavier gauge, but I just like the standard set of Fender Super Bullet .010s. For picks, I use the .60 mm orange Dunlop® Tortex ones.
Which players have been most inspirational in developing your style, technique and tone?
There are so many. I was a huge Iron Maiden fan when I was a kid, and that was the first concert I ever saw. In fact, seeing that concert was probably the main reason I wanted to play guitar. I was also a big Judas Priest and Ozzy fan, but as a kid, I was never really good enough to play many of those songs, so I’d get frustrated. I’d watch Glenn Tipton play, then go in my room and try to play the same thing, and I’d just want to quit. But then I started getting more into songs and songwriting, and started to write my own songs. I couldn’t figure out other people’s songs, so I’d make up my own! Then as I got better, I started to appreciate so many different styles and players. I’ve never really been a huge fan of shredders, but I’m impressed by it, and then after about two minutes I need to hear something else. I need to be moved by more than just speed and tricks. I need to hear a song. Growing up, I was also a big George Lynch fan, then I got way into Hendrix as I got older, and there are a lot of new guitar players that I think are killer, like Chris Cheney from the Living End. He’s probably one of the best guitar players out there now, in my opinion. I love watching that guy play and hearing his records.
What else are you currently listening to?
I really dig that new Jet record a lot. I also like the Used, and A.F.I.–that guitar player, Markus Sopholese, is really awesome. He’s kind of a metal shredder. Brand New is also a great new band. Then the standard CDs that live in my CD changer all year round are Elvis Costello, Elton John, Def Leppard Pyromania, AC/DC, and Boston. Tom Scholz is another one of my favorite guitar players and I always forget to mention him! He was very influential on my playing because his work in Boston was probably the first example I heard of a guitar player whose riffs and solos were as melodic as the melody in the song. They almost become hooks themselves, which is what I’ve always tried to do. I’m more impressed when a guy can hit one note and give me goosebumps than hit a hundred in the same amount of time. Tom Scholz is rad like that.
Can you offer any advice to other players striving for an identifiable sound and style?
My advice would just be to practice, practice, practice. But honestly, I’m the worst guy for advice because I’ve gone against the rules. For me, it was more about the vibe and the attitude–just slinging your guitar low and going for the throat. That’s my deal. I’m not knowledgeable about theory and I’m not a technical player. I didn’t take lessons and I just do my thing. I do what inspires me–whatever makes me want to play guitar. I think that sometimes when you take lessons or try to emulate another player, you’re just going to sound like that person.
What tips can you suggest for becoming a better songwriter?
The best advice I can give is the more songs you write–no matter how stupid or lame they are–the more you do it, the better you get. I started looking at my favorite songwriters and learning who their favorite songwriters are, then I went backwards to see what makes everybody tick. Just find your own niche and go for it.
Lisa Sharken is Seymour Duncan’s New York-based artist relations consultant.