BETTENCOURT OF PUBLIC ΟΡΙΝΙΟΝ

BRIAN MAY, ZAKK WYLDE, STEVE VAI, TOM MORELLO AND MORE EXPLAIN WHY NUNO AIN'T YOUR TYPICAL GUITAR HERO

- Richard Bienstock

BRIAN MAY

“When it comes to Nuno’s playing, we have to start with the new single, ‘Rise.’ Nuno sent it to me a few months before it was released and, Jesus, I was stunned. I clicked the button as I was doing other stuff, as you do, and I sort of had it in the background and I just stopped dead when he got to the solo. I thought, What the hell is he doing? I had to go back and listen to it about 10 times. It’s awesome. It’s incredible. After all this time, he still comes up with stuff that you would never dream of.

“As for other songs, obviously ‘Get the Funk Out’ is a classic song of all time. That’s an absolute tour de force. There isn’t anything that isn’t in that solo, really. It’s insane.

“In general, I think Nuno’s just a glorious player. He’s so colorful, and obviously his dexterity is extraordinary. There’s plenty of fast, accurate guitarists, but what he brings to it is this amazing spirit. It’s energetic and it’s lyrical, and he doesn’t lose sight of the fact that there are tunes. I don’t know where that stuff comes from. It makes my jaw drop, in a very good way.

“He’s also a great friend and the sweetest guy, and he’s always very complimentary. He says, ‘I think of you every time I do one of those things, because it has to speak, it has to be a tune that people have in their heads and it has to be relevant to the song.’ But, you know, his technique is so way above what I could imagine myself ever doing. But he’s always been very beautiful toward us, which means a lot to me.”