The Music & Sound Retailer: How do you discover new gear? Do you go to retailers or do companies come to you?
Kenny Loggins: Sometimes manufacturers will approach my organization, which is my crew people. I have a guitar tech who will turn me on to interesting things. The best tech I worked with was Norick Renson, who has a guitar shop in L.A. When he would hear about new instruments or amplifiers, he would turn me on to whatever he got. Usually it’s word of mouth from other players. When I did the Loggins and Messina tour, Jimmy turned me back on to Fender gear. I’ve been a Fender guitar player for years and I pretty much stick to Stratocasters. [I also work] with Taylor Acoustics and Yamaha Acoustics.
M&SR: Are these companies you discovered when you were young and first getting into music? What was your first gear like then?
Loggins: When I was first getting into Loggins and Messina, Jimmy was an engineer and an audiophile. So Jimmy was very much the guiding light in discovering new equipment. But back then, in the ‘70s, acoustic guitars were primarily Martins. And then when we were looking for touring guitars that could take a lot of travel, the battering of traveling, Ovation was just coming out then. So we looked into the Ovations because they seemed like they’d be sturdier guitars, [and] that we wouldn’t have to worry about our vintage Martins being on the road. We could travel with something that also had a pretty decent pickup for the times. So it would sound somewhat like an acoustic guitar on stage when it was electrified.
M&SR: Do you often get to go to the NAMM show?
Loggins: I have from time to time. I find it confusing because you’re inundated with all new information. There’s rarely a consensus of opinion as to what’s the best new thing to check out, you know? So you end up with so much information and so many products to check out that I’ve discovered I don’t really come out of the NAMM show with much more than I went into it with.
M&SR: Some people have a similar complaint about large retailers. Do you prefer going into smaller stores for that reason?
Loggins: I’m not really a big guitar fanatic like some of my friends are. I trust the players who I work with. Chris Rodriguez has been a good source of information and has been my primary guitarist for many years now, out of Nashville. Someone like Chris, he turned me on to the new Vox amps and I really like the sound. They were completely different from the Fenders. It just depends on what I’m looking for for the music I’m playing.
M&SR: When you sit down to write, does the instrument you pick up dictate the direction of the song or vice versa?
Loggins: Different guitars will send you in different directions musically. If I’m using a nylon-stringed acoustic, that’s probably going to send me into a ballad. Every time, it does. Bigger-sounding steel-stringed acoustic guitars can lend themselves more to an up-tempo or rock approach. And I’m putting my home studio together. In the process of doing that, I’m going to try writing more with drum grooves and electric guitars, because that’ll affect where I go with my writing.
M&SR: You’re known for some of the biggest soundtrack songs of the ‘80s. So did you have a song and try to fit it into the movie, or did you get material to write off of?
Loggins: It depends on the movie. With “Footloose,” that was written to the screenplay. I wrote that on acoustic guitar as I was trying ideas out, usually backstage before shows just as a warm up. I’ll just kick ideas around. “I’m Alright” was also written backstage before a show and became the theme for Caddyshack, whereas “Danger Zone” was not a song I wrote. That was written by Giorgio Moroder, and I just happened to be the singer who lucked into getting to singing it. But “I’m Alright” was written to the movie itself, not the screenplay. Most everything I have done with soundtracks has been seeing a rough cut of the final movie and then writing to that.
M&SR: Do you enjoy that process just as much as coming up with songs for yourself?
Loggins: I like the process of writing for films. You get an emotional element delivered to your door and you get to try and enhance and work with that. I’d like to do more of that, actually. Writing my own albums, you know, that has to come from within. Anything that I write that’s worth listening to is usually from a deep, personal experience. Those are harder to write.
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