Reeves Gabrels is a Grammy-nominated guitarist/songwriter/producer best known for both his work with David Bowie and his aggressive guitar style that combines the visceral energy of rock, the harmonic sophistication of jazz, the emotional honesty of blues and country, and an ear for the unusual. A furious cut-and-paster in the studio and an evil genius of atonal improvisation on stage Gabrels explores sonic extremes with a great, adaptive intuition for what each song needs most. He shows that his limitless technical and compositional skills can still shine without restraint.

"Gabrels is one of those guitar players that, quite simply, redefine guitar craft--a bona fide 21st-century guitar god who deserves massive amounts of Justin Timberlake-style fame." --. Michael Molenda, Editor In Chief, Guitar Player

Reeves Gabrels – Biography

Reeves Gabrels (b.1956) is an American guitarist, best known for his long partnership with British singer David Bowie, working together regularly from 1987 to 2000.  Gabrels was born in Staten Island, New York in June 1956. His mother was a typist and his father worked on tugboats in New York Harbor. Gabrels started playing guitar at age 13, and the following year (1971) his father arranged for lessons with the father's friend and contemporary Turk Van Lake, who lived in the neighborhood. Van Lake (1918-2002) was a professional musician who had played with Benny Goodman and others.

After high school, Gabrels attended the Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York City but continued to play guitar. Through some session musician work he met noted jazz guitarist John Scofield, from whom he took a few lessons. Gabrels moved to Boston to attend the Berklee School of Music, which he left several credits short of a degree in 1981.

Gabrels had an active performing career in Boston before and after his professional association with David Bowie began in the late 1980s. During the 1980s and early 1990s Gabrels was a member of such Boston bands as The Dark, Life on Earth, Rubber Rodeo, The Bentmen and Modern Farmer. Modern Farmer (Gabrels, Jamie Rubin, David Hull and Billy Beard) issued a self-titled record on Victory/Universal in 1993.

Gabrels first met David Bowie in 1987 during a Bowie tour for which Gabrels' then-wife, Sara Terry, worked as publicist. Gabrels later (1989-1993) joined forces with Bowie and the Sales brothers (drummer Hunt Sales and bass player Tony Sales) in the rock band Tin Machine. Later, Gabrels became an essential part of Bowie's nineties sound, most notably on Outside (1995), Earthling (1997), and hours... (1999), the latter two of which he co-produced. Gabrels and Bowie also created the soundtrack to the computer game Omikron: The Nomad Soul in 1999 for the game's French publisher. Gabrels ended his professional association with Bowie in late 1999.

Independent of his work with Bowie, Gabrels maintained a wide-ranging career as composer/songwriter, musical collaborator, and solo performer/producer. Solo records by Gabrels include The Sacred Squall of Now (Rounder/Upstart, 1995); Ulysses (della notte) (Emagine, 2000); Live, Late, Loud (Myth Music, 2003); and Rockonica (Myth Music/Favored Nations/Sony, 2005). Ulysses was nominated for a Grammy as a 1999 Internet release, before becoming available the following year on CD.

Gabrels has written soundtracks for films including David Sutherland's The Farmer's Wife (Frontline, 1995) and for PBS productions, and collaborated with Public Enemy on the song "Go Cat Go" for the Spike Lee film He Got Game (soundtrack, Def Jam, 1998). He wrote the "club music" portions of the soundtrack for the video game Deus Ex.

Gabrels and slide guitarist David Tronzo joined forces on a virtuoso instrumental album, Night in Amnesia, issued by Rounder in 1995. Gabrels also worked with Robert Smith of The Cure during the 1990s, collaborating on The Cure's track "Wrong Number" and "A Sign >From God" (as COGASM) as well as co-writing the song "Yesterday's Gone" which Smith sings on Gabrels' album Ulysses.

Gabrels appears with Club D'Elf on Now I Understand, (Accurate Records, 2006), the first studio recording by a Boston-based underground dub/ jazz/ Moroccan/ trance/ electronica group led by bassist Mike Rivard; the album also features John Medeski & Billy Martin (Medeski, Martin & Wood), DJ Logic, Mat Maneri, Duke Levine, Alain Mallet, Mister Rourke, and more. In 2008 German record label AFM released New Universal Order by X-World/5, a Heavy metal supergroup made up of guitarists Gabrels and Andy LaRocque, vocalist Nils K. Rue, bass player Magnus Rosén, and Los Angeles-based drummer Big Swede.

Since 2006 Gabrels has been based in Nashville, Tennessee where he often performs in a trio with drummer Jeff Brown and bass player Kevin Hornback ("Reeves Gabrels and His Imaginary Friends").

Reeves Gabrels – Selected Reviews & Comments

"Sonic alchemist Reeves Gabrels now calls Nashville home.  Check out his wild and weird world of aggro guitar sounds at www.myspace.com/reeves13 –Michael Molenda in Guitar Player (Oct 2008)

"Throughout the set, Mr. Gabrels was consistently startling, playing bitten-off blues lines in one song, keening sustained notes in another, and writhing, sliding notes in a third." –Jon Pareles, New York Times

"I hope I am not overstating the case, but Reeves Gabrels is the Master of the Universe. No other guitarist (Vai, Satriani, Eric Johnson and Steve Morse included) so consistently challenges, surprises, and stimulates me as this renegade six-stringer." –Bill Milkowski, Guitar World

"Lead guitarist Reeves Gabrels is a show just by himself.  His guitar work – alternately blues and power rock, alternately blistering and poetic – reminds of Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck." –Joe Konz, The Indianapolis Star

"You wouldn't wish to meet guitarist Reeves Gabrels down a dark alley in case he whipped out a Stratocaster and blew your head off." –Max Bell, Evening Standard (UK)

  "Gabrels' new solo album, Ulysses (della notte)...is anything but traditional, careening as it does from hard-hitting blues rock to 21st century electronica." –Gary Graff, Guitar World

"[H]is second solo effort...Ulysses...is a glorious mess of an album that echoes the playfulness and energy of a computerized game/studio world as well as the solo work of fellow tech-nerd axemen Adrian Belew and Bill Nelson. Gabrels sings on all nine tracks, layering his vocals both harmonically and nightmarishly. ...Glorious industrial clatter clashes with tortured funk textures that butt up against tick-tock synth rhythms and swarming clouds of buzzing wasps and intergalactic space whirs, all over-laid with the yowling melody lines and Gabrels' trademark atonal solos." –Buzz Morison, Guitar.com

"Reeves Gabrels, known generally for his guitar playing, stands out on his own as a full time performer, producer -- double-edged sword in human guise, manning the full instrumental scheme, vocals (both real and imagined) and some very uniquely styled mixes and meandering crossways for song structures... All at once illustrious and haunting, Gabrels' latest [Ulysses] proves he's a technically advanced creator, conspirator and a dynamic talent. With a flair for the dramatic, Reeves Gabrels is a master navigator of the road less traveled." –Vinnie Apicella, AMZmusiczine.com

"Reeves Gabrels walks the line between song structure and wiggy sonics like no one else. His tunes on Rockonica have familiar verse/chorus construction (and are often maddeningly catchy), and his riffs and solos typically possess the contours that define classic rock. But bubbling and roiling under and around this foundation are layers of eerie, broken sounds and oddball textures. And Gabrels isn't shy about juxtaposing genres. For example, 'Underneath' ends with a trippy melange of Wheels of Fire-era Clapton licks, acoustic Delta blues riffs, and fluttering, guitar-generated helicopter sounds. The album careens from jangly acoustic picking to brutally distorted riffage, and includes enough sustain and howling harmonics - courtesy of Gabrels' Sustainer-equipped signature-model Fernandes - to satisfy diehard guitar geeks. Anyone seeking the predictable, manicured shred served up by some of Gabrels' label mates won't find it in the edgy, often-ominous Rockonica. But if you're drawn to bold, unexpected colors - and the notion that the guitar is a fabulous tone-generator, rather than a sharp tool for delivering speedy scale passages - you'll dig this journey into Gabrels' seething psyche. In 'Continue,' he sings, 'Let me bend your ear and your mind a little too.' No kidding
–Andy Ellis, Guitar Player (June 2005)

"The one and only Reeves Gabrels has been appearing every Sunday down at the Family Wash with Loud Night... Sets consist of a variety of Gabrels' original material: mostly straight-up rockers penned by the virtuoso guitarist featuring intelligent arrangements and sharply crafted lyrics. Of course, you can also expect extended improvisations with Gabrels experimenting with digital toys, in particular a (Korg?) tone pad that allows him to dramatically bend and modulate his signal using a touchpad.
–NashvilleSkyline.org (Oct 2006)

"Gabrels...played an epic guitar solo...at The Basement a couple weeks back—so epic that musicians in the audience looked at each other afterward with a stupefied, 'Did he really just do that?' grin." –Nashville Scene (Oct 2006)

"Rockonica is, first and foremost, a showcase for Gabrels' enormous skills. A vastly underrated guitarist often overlooked in the music media's rush to crown a new 'guitar god,' Gabrels is a hard rock instrumentalist with an avant-garde heart. Think of a cross between Johnny Thunders and Robert Quine and you're probably in the right ballpark. Gabrels' material cuts across stylistic barriers and genre considerations, the six-string maestro mixing straight-ahead rock riffs with taut leads that unwind like a runaway spool of razor wire. Angular, prog-flavored song structure, heavy metal thunder and jazzy, free-form improvisational soloing are blended together with incredible phrasing, unmistakable tone and breathtaking dynamics." –Keith A. Gordon, alt.culture.guide (Dec 2007)

"Reeves Gabrels will go down as one of the true originals in the guitar-hero pantheon, even as his fusion of fretwork and computer processing questions and redefines that instrument's very place in the rock canon. A furious cut-and-paster in the studio and an evil genius of atonal improvisation on stage, Gabrels explores sonic extremes with a great, adaptive intuition for what each song needs most. Among those who know him at all, he is either loved or hated but never ignored; this alone guarantees his staying power. After an apprenticeship in several Boston-area indie bands, Gabrels was put in the spotlight -- and hot seat -- as head axeman for David Bowie's controversial Tin Machine project. He has resurfaced as the musical director for Bowie's late '90s electronica-derived comeback. In between, he released one of the most engaging -- and overlooked -- alterna-pop albums of the decade, The Sacred Squall of Now. Behind the scenes but influential, you'll be hearing a lot more from him -- whether or not you know it's him you're hearing."  –Adam McGovern, Encyclopedia of Rock

  About Reeves Gabrels' collaborations with David Bowie (1987-1999)

  "It's not to embarrass him, but of any of the guitar players I've ever worked with, without doubt, Reeves is the most musically accomplished. He's an extraordinary musician, absolutely extraordinary."  –David Bowie, about Reeves Gabrels in Melody Maker (UK)

  "[Bowie is] given good support from guitarist and co-writer Reeves Gabrels, who evokes the memory of Mick Ronson while retaining his own distinctive touch." –BBC Teletext

  "The guitarist's fiery work on the Tin Machine album pulls in two directions.  First back to the garage days, when sheer volume and distortion reigned supreme, and then into the post fusion future, where technique, solid harmonic knowledge and a Renaissance man's facility with heavy metal, country, funk, jazz, rockabilly, fusion, Motown, punk and experimental guitar threatens to create something fresh and new at any moment.  This is just the first we'll hear of Reeves Gabrels' brave new guitar playing."  –Pete Prown, Guitar for the Practicing Musician

"Garson brings lots of colour and class to the arrangements, but it's Gabrels who gives the album [Earthling] its teeth. Gabrels may not have the profile of Bowie's early guitarists (think Mick Ronson, Robert Fripp, Adrian Belew), but he has more chops and imagination than any of them. His approach to the instrument is totally chameleonic. One minute, his sound is thick and crunchy, almost a parody of power guitar; a moment later, it's sonic quicksilver, all shiny and squiggly and dangerous."  –JD Considine, Sunday Star

"From beginning to end, Hours… is a masterful blend of spacey pop rock filled with great hooks. ... Reeves Gabrels, the lead guitarist here who has worked on every 90s solo Bowie album in addition to being his band mate in Tin Machine, shows once again how supremely talented he is. He routinely comes up with tasteful, engaging, unique guitar melodies which suit the songs perfectly without ever becoming an intrusion. ... I also want to add that the production of this album is pristine - it's nicely layered, everything is lush, loud, crystal clear, and the mix gives equal prominence to all aspects of the music." –Roland Fratzl, The Daily Vault/dailyvault.com (30 May 2008)