When you’re given an endorsement deal by Queen’s Brian May, worked with the likes of David Bowie and been called one of the best by the late great Jeff Healey, you know you’re a bona fide axe-man.
Tony ‘Wild T’ Springer has earned bragging rights to all the above and is ready to take the Banff Rose and Crown stage to prove he hasn’t lost a riff or blues lick along the way. The Trinidadian-born guitar slinger has built a 25-year career with Wild T and the Spirit on being able to bring rock, blues, funk and reggae to every stage they hit around the world.
Wild T and the Spirit play Banff’s Rose and Crown July 8-9.
“I’m a sucker for soccer man; the last time I was in Banff was four years ago during the last World Cup when it was happening. Man, the Rose and Crown, I love that place – I love the people there, the vibe, we’ve always had a great time coming to that place,” Springer said from his home in Toronto.
“It’s all in the little processes. I live in Toronto, but you can’t really play around here too much, it’s good to have the road to go on and the last little while we’ve been going to Europe, but it’s all about Canada this summer.”
Springer can usually be seen with a Fender Stratocaster slung over him onstage, but the guitar gods have put a new guitar in Springer’s hands as of late.
“I’m not really a Strat guy, it’s just a really resilient battle-axe – you can take it and whack it, it’s pretty sturdy. It’s not just squared off like other guitars and rests on your stomach – it’s chiseled away and just fits right in your ribcage like no other guitar,” Springer said.
“But I just got an endorsement deal with Brian May Guitars about six months ago, so that’s the other guitar I’ve been using a lot. It’s the Brian May Special and I love it; it doesn’t have the chiseled away body, but it’s great.
“Every year they have a Queen convention all over the world and last year it was in Toronto and me and the band played and we had the pleasure of doing songs that Queen played but didn’t write and it was a revelation for me because I never knew Freddie Mercury sang Elvis Presley and Little Richard and all this stuff but in a rocking Queen way.”
When Wild T and the Spirit is on the road, they use backline quite a bit for Western Canada gigs and he likes big amps for his big guitar sound.
“For festivals I like to have a Marshall 4x12 with a 100-watt head and with clubs, preferably more than 50 watts. When I play at home I’m on an old Fender Twin, and there’s DV Mark (Amplifiers) from Italy and the speaker cabinets are really light. A few years ago they started making guitar amps and I’m endorsing them too and using their 4x12 cabinet that’s like a Marshall cabinet and it only weighs 20 pounds while a Marshall cabinet usually weighs about 80 pounds,”Springer said. “I go into gigs with this thing with the cabinet in one hand and the amp in the other and all the babes think I’m strong – they think I’m Superman!” Springer said jokingly.
Springer says he still likes the freedom playing in a trio gives Wild T and the Spirit on stage. “I like to drive the bus and take it places. Too many people on the stage can lead to a fight. We’re just finishing a new CD with a lot of organ and piano for that blues rock sound, Hammond B-3 sound, but as a trio, it’s just easier to get out there and crack it up, make a whole bunch of noise and have a good time.”
