“If I can’t find a plectrum, it’s the only thing that really un-anchors me”: Thurston Moore says he never leaves home without a guitar pick

“If I can’t find a plectrum, it’s the only thing that really un-anchors me”: Thurston Moore says he never leaves home without a guitar pick

Keys, wallet, phone… plectrum? We all have our own rituals when leaving the house, but Thurston Moore has revealed that he never goes anywhere without at least one pick at his disposal.
In a recent interview with The Strategist, the Sonic Youth guitarist admits that, no matter where he goes, he always keeps a pick on him. “If I leave the house without one, it’s like leaving my iPhone at home,” he says. “I turn around and go back.”

READ MORE: Watch Thurston Moore do things you’ve never seen before with a 12-string guitar

Regardless of whether he sets out with the intention of performing, Moore insists that there’s always the potential of crossing paths with a guitar. He needs a pick at the park, the dentist, the supermarket – just in case. “What happens if I go somewhere and there’s a guitar and I can’t check it out?” he says. “It’s a very real feeling and very strange.”
His pick of choice is a 0.6mm Dunlop Nylon Standard, which he describes as “an extension” of himself. “I started using them in the mid-’80s,” he recalls. “They’re the right size and the right flexibility for my liking. So I just sort of stuck with it.”
“It was never about being brand-conscious at all; it’s all about personal taste,” he continues. “My brother, who’s a high-technique guitar player, uses these tiny little plastic picks that he shreds with. But if I use a plastic pick like that, I’ll cut my finger or snap the pick in half. I was a thrasher in the ’80s, so I had to figure out how to stop brutalising my hands. The Dunlop pick has protected me a bit.”
After nearly five decades riffing for a living, his attachment to playing is understandable. Even as he’s chatting to the interviewer, he admits: “I’m holding [a pick] right now. Because I tend to hold onto it like a talisman. When I’m talking with people, I’ll take it out, or if I’m nervous or anxious or something like that.”
Moore regularly buys 100-pick bags, just to make sure he’ll always have enough to spare. “I need them in every room that I’m in,” he says. “If I can’t find a plectrum, it’s the only thing that really un-anchors me. It is probably the most essential thing that I have in my small treasury of needs.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Moore also notes that a good moisturiser should be on every guitarists shopping list. “I’m very particular about hand lotion because sometimes it dries your hands out,” he notes. “Being a guitar player, I’m very careful with my hands… but also very reckless, in the sense that I’ll pick up any heavy amplifier and haul it onstage. And all it would take is for something to slam down on my hand and then the gig is not going to happen. If I can’t play guitar, what am I going to do?”
Moore’s moisturiser of choice is the rather boogie Byredo Vetyver Hand Cream, costing around $75 a pop. “You can’t find it everywhere; it’s a rather bespoke hand cream,” he admits. “[But] I don’t spend money on drugs and booze, you know? So I always use that as an excuse.”
The post “If I can’t find a plectrum, it’s the only thing that really un-anchors me”: Thurston Moore says he never leaves home without a guitar pick appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

read more

Source: www.guitar-bass.net