Dan Patlansky Masterclass

David Mead catches up with the South African bluesman mid-tour to talk about his new album and record an exclusive video lesson…

- David Mead

Audiences all over the UK are discovering Dan Patlansky. There’s a definite buzz about the man with the battered ‘60s Strat and a dazzling take on modern blues rock – and it’s getting louder. Settled into our studios, we chat about Dan’s new album, Perfection Kills and mention that it’s his third European release. “In the big scheme of things it’s my ninth album,” he laughs, “But it’s the third album I’m releasing in the UK…” The other albums are available in his native South Africa, but recent years have seen him spread his wings and start touring all over the world, often sharing the stage with such stalwarts as Joe Satriani and recently Joanne Shaw Taylor. The new album has also seen Dan take over production duties. “The last albums were successful,” he says, “But I found maybe they were slightly over-produced for my ear – a lot of the magic got produced out. I learnt a lot from the last producer, Theo Crous, who is a great producer, so I decided to produce myself with everything I learned from him, but tried to keep the live feel on the album.”

The result is a white-hot firepit of blues rock with solid writing and awesome guitar playing, with a lot of the music recorded old school, live in the studio. “I didn’t want to go on the road with the album and find that it sounds vastly different when played live,” Dan continues. “I wanted to level the playing fields between the two and I think we did that. We recorded the album mostly live in the studio, apart from the odd solo and overdubbing vocals and stuff, and you can really hear it. It’s still a song-based album – we focused very heavily on the songs – but it’s got that live energy. The album’s called Perfection Kills – we didn’t want to make the album perfect because, for me, as soon as you try and make any art-form perfect you end