“There was nothing special about it, other than it had belonged to Kurt”: Mikael Åkerfeldt played Kurt Cobain’s old Martin guitar – and didn’t think much of it
For many musicians, getting the chance to play a legendary instrument is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. However, for Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt, strumming a guitar once owned by Kurt Cobain turned out to be surprisingly underwhelming.
During a recent visit to the Martin Guitar factory in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, Åkerfeldt and fellow Opeth guitarist Fredrik Åkesson had the opportunity to play several historic instruments. “It was a dream come true,” Åkerfeldt recalls in a new interview with Revolver. “I’ve been playing those guitars since the ’90s, so it was like visiting the Holy Land.”
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Among the revered collection were guitars that belonged to Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and the late Nirvana frontman.
“I played a guitar from the 1800s,” Åkerfeldt says. “I got scared. They held it up to me and I kept backing away. It’s invaluable, you know? I don’t know what the value in money would be, but it’s an artefact. I get nervous around those kinds of things. But I did play it.”
That said, when Åkerfeldt got his hands on Cobain’s old Martin, he wasn’t exactly blown away: “It was very beat up,” he says. “It didn’t feel that good. There was nothing special about it, other than it had belonged to Kurt. Someone told us that guitar was haunted, like people who had that guitar had accidents.”
And despite being a Nirvana fan, Åkerfeldt says he wasn’t particularly impressed by the instrument: “It was just a regular guitar to me,” he admits.
It’s a response particularly befitting of the 50-year-old musician, who shares in the same interview that “the most expensive guitar I’ve bought was about $3,000, which is high, maybe, but not morbid.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Åkerfeldt also opens up about managing the expectations of Opeth fans and how he doesn’t believe in chasing popularity by “pleasing other people”.
“I think it goes against my whole nature to try and become popular by pleasing other people,” he says. “When we do please people, it’s based on honesty because we write these songs mainly for ourselves. But people are still coming out to see us. Many of the shows are sold out. After all these years, you’re happy to see people are still interested in you.”
Opeth’s fourteenth studio album, The Last Will and Testament, is now out. Listen below.
The post “There was nothing special about it, other than it had belonged to Kurt”: Mikael Åkerfeldt played Kurt Cobain’s old Martin guitar – and didn’t think much of it appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
