Orianthi Panagaris, whose star is clearly on the rise, started out in cover bands reworking material to include her own slant on pop by infusing it with guitar arrangements. Most people know her as the stunningly beautiful lead guitarist for the ill fated Michael Jackson farewell tour. Yet, she was always a dedicated and driven musician before landing that gig or before Santana’s management saw her potential. Anyone that caught her recent tour with John Mayer and headlining sideshows will attest to there being no issues of style over substance. She is assured, measured and economical with her approach to the combination of performance and songwriting. She is also an inspiration to young, budding guitar enthusiasts who will know that if you have a realistic dream, you can achieve it. So, it was with great pleasure that Australian Guitar happily snared a chat with Orianthi. Things can only get better.
AG: How did you get into PRS guitars?
OP: I attended a Santana show when I was eleven years old and I was playing classical guitar at the time. I turned to my Dad and said, ‘if it’s okay I want to play electric guitar’ and I wanted one just like Carlos had. So I begged him for a PRS and I got this second hand one, custom 24 with super high action and heavy strings. Once I got it, I never put it down, I was just so happy to have it. I learnt all of Santana’s solos and songs. It was a dream guitar and I’ve been playing them ever since.
AG: You’ve also deal with Paul Reed Smith directly.
OP: Yeah, I just sent him my demo. When I was fourteen I made one at home and I sent it out to Santana management and to Paul Reed Smith. It was sent to people I respected in the industry and I wanted to get their feedback on it. I got an email from Paul and he loved it and was playing it in the office. So he sort of kept in contact with me since I was fourteen and was super supportive. I would fly over and play at the NAMM show [industry show in Anaheim, California] in 2004. Just being at the PRS booth and jamming out with a couple of musicians in NAMM was just awesome being surrounded by all of those amazing guitars and having Paul’s support has been really cool.
AG: Speaking of guitar support, you managed to get a hold of Steve Vai. That is pretty impressive.
OP: My first ever support show in Adelaide, Australia was opening for Steve Vai when I was fifteen. That was at ‘Heaven’ nightclub and I saw super nervous at it being my first ever support when opening for the best guitarist in the world. It was pretty daunting. I got up there and played with a backing track and there were all these guys in the audience with their arms folded watching everything you were doing. It was a pretty hard gig but I got through it and had fun. Steve was actually standing at the side of the stage watching me play and met with me afterwards. We stayed in contact as I got his email address. I would send him demos and he would comment back to me. It helped me get better as a player having his support. He has been super encouraging and has become a good friend since I’ve known him since I was fifteen. So I’ve been able to write a song with him [instrumental track ‘Highly Strung’ on ‘Believe’ album], shoot the video clip for it and also play with him on American Idol with Mary J Blige. It was fun for everybody.
AG: On ‘Highly Strung’, Steve is quite complementing of your playing instead of charging into mad solo guitar playing. Would you say he was being considerate?
OP: Ah yeah but it was sort of like a talking and answering back vibe for the song. It was more about being melodic even though there is shredding in it. There’s a definitely memorable parts to the song that people can remember. I love the riff and the rhythm. We had a lot of fun writing it.
AG: Your lead playing is quite fluid, almost legato in parts. Did you get that from Steve?
OP: Yeah but I listened to a lot of different guitar players. Definitely Steve and Santana influenced me but there’s BB King, Eric Clapton, Robben Ford, Gary Moore and Jeff Beck. At the end of the day you’ve got to find your own voice, stop listening to them and just jam out to find your own sound. You have to go for notes that you hear as opposed to copying phrases. It takes a while though, it really does. Once you find runs that you gravitate towards or you find melodies you try to find that connection between your brain and your fingers. For me, some days finding the connection is great and that’s a good guitar day. For other days it is not as easy and that is the great thing about playing guitar. It is a challenge and that is what I love about it.
AG: When you started playing for Michael Jackson, you stated that you were playing more of rhythm guitar than actual lead guitar parts.
OP: Yeah, actually going into it, I thought it would be a whole bunch of lead playing but really there a lot of funky rhythm parts. You lift yourself up as a rhythm guitar player. You kind of think, ‘oh well, I can play the ‘Beat It’ solo and the ‘Dirty Diana’ solo’ but for ‘Wanna be Startin’ Something’ and those sort of songs, it is all rhythm. We play a Jackson Five medley and a bunch of other songs. It was so much fun and I pushed myself as a musician and a performer. It was a dream come true to perform with him.
AG: It must be weird from the audience perspective that you’d be filling shoes of major guitar names like Larry Carlton, Steve Stevens, Slash, Van Halen and Jennifer Batten?
OP: Yeah and going into it I didn’t want to be filling anyone’s shoes. They are all incredible players so I was going in there just doing my thing and hopefully he would have dug my vibe. It was the most nervous I have ever been going in there and auditioning for him given that I’m such a fan. Afterwards he hired us all and it was like a big family. I was the youngest there and I wanted to make sure that I got it right. Some nights I just wouldn’t sleep, I’d be playing the guitar all night, trying to learn the parts and then go in there and drink copious amounts of coffee. Then Michael would come in and I’d be like, ‘ah, I’ve got make my tone and everything right’ because it is coming down on the notes, the tone, the attitude and everything. There’s the performance aspect as well, you couldn’t just stand in one spot, you had to move around the stage.
AG: What do you think is the most invaluable thing that you learnt from Michael?
OP: To try to project, give it your all and have attitude. That’s what it is all about. He inspired so many people with his music and his awesome performances. How many kids would want to be Michael Jackson, to dress up like him and be like him? It was because when he would perform he gave it his all and he had fun with it. He had this powerful aura about him which was just magnetic for everyone to be around his energy. For us to keep that, everyone that was chosen to be in the band wants to continue on with his spirit and try to inspire more kids. My goal is to inspire more kids to play guitar, especially girls to keep at it. I love it and it makes me happy. Being able to create music every day is a dream come true so I feel very blessed.
AG: Do you find people were comparing you to Jennifer Batten?
OP: Actually yeah and quite a few people, including myself thought Jennifer was going to come in and do it. I’m such a fan of hers and she’s an incredible player. I figured she would be doing it when I heard about it initially so when they messaged me to come in and audition I thought, ‘this is kind of weird’ but I said, ‘okay, I’ll go in’. I did not think I was going to get it, to be honest. Now we email each other and she is just incredible and I’d love to collaborate with her one day, that would be so cool.
AG: For the song tracks on the album ‘Believe’ and new single, your solos tend to be tightly packed into eight bars and running through the outro. Do you want to put more guitar playing in there?
OP: When people come to our live show, they’ll see we extended a song with a four minute guitar solo at the end. We’re totally inspired by the eighties so we’re kind of bringing that back in a way. But on radio you have to fit a certain time so adding a four minute guitar solo probably wouldn’t find a lot of people. But just putting it in there so there’s enough guitar playing but not too much is just trying to find the balance. I’m still working on it, trying to find that balance and maybe there might be more guitar playing. It’s just that when I create more songs and am coming up with different things, you grow as a musician. So with these songs, it is just getting people hearing guitar solos on the radio and the film clips might say to kids, ‘oh that looks like fun, I want to pick up guitar too’, or if they’re already playing it and they might say, ‘I want to do that’ and they keep at it. For me, it is just projecting a positive vibe.
AG: So for song writing, is it difficult to come up with a catchy chorus or a hook?
OP: Yeah, I used to be in a cover band when I was fifteen; I left school and was doing home schooling as I was playing in a cover band playing three nights a week playing top forty stuff. I was putting guitar solos in top forty stuff. So for a Kylie Minogue song, I’d be putting a guitar solo in that. I was making covers more interesting for me and just having fun with it. I love a good pop rock song and I love guitar instrumental music so kind of combining the two is my goal with songs. That’s what I’ve been doing with songwriting. I started writing songs when I was six years old. The first song I wrote was, ‘The New Jackets Are Out’ which I played in front of the school at assembly and I had my back up dancers. From that moment on it was all I wanted to do, you know, the high from getting out there and playing. I think the people in the [covers band] audience (laughs) were maybe a little confused but I had so much fun and being able to play shows every night, there is nothing quite like it, especially with my band now. We’ve known each other for about two years and we just have a lot fun, rock out and hopefully make people happy. We look out into the audience and they’re singing along or look like they’re having a good time and that’s our goal.
AG: Plus you want to project your music.
OP: Yeah, it’s been so much fun being out on the John Mayer tour and getting to play every night. It’s a real guitar fest and he’s selling out arenas in Australia so we’re getting to play to a huge audience. We actually played a headlining show in Adelaide at the Entertainment Centre and it was just so cool to be able to come home and have that support to put on a rock show with lots of smoke, lights and guitar solos. There was no pyro this time but hopefully next time we’ll bring that (laughs).
AG: How did you get into ENGL amplifiers?
OP: I’m not using ENGL anymore. I’m now using EVH amps and I actually used them on my record and I wanted to have that sound live. ENGL are great amps but I just wanted to make sure that the tone was the same as the record. Some people come to see me and they’ll say, ‘it sounds just like the record’.
AG: Yeah it sounds amazing. Time has run out but I want to congratulate you on your success. It’s really good.
OP: Ah thank you so much and thank you for your support. I read Australian Guitar magazine all the time and yeah, it’s great.