Knox Chandler's résumé includes stints with Depeche Mode, the Psychedelic Furs, R.E.M., Siouxsie and the Banshees... and the roster of music stars goes on.
While primarily a guitarist, the multi-instrumentalist carved a niche for himself by trading guitars for cellos and writing string arrangements, and vice versa – which explains his rich repertoire. And aside from the more alternative-leaning names on his list, Chandler also had a decade-long working relationship with one of the most multi-faceted names in pop: Cyndi Lauper.
“That’s a funny story,” Chandler recalls in a new Guitar World interview. “She was recording a record at my friend Sammy Merendino’s studio. It was the end of the ’90s. Sammy called me up and said that she could really use my sounds on it and booked me. I brought my rig, a guitar, and an electric cello.
“We waited about an hour for Cyndi to show up, when Sammy suggested I go ahead and try some stuff out. I tracked over several songs. A couple of hours later, she arrived.”
Turns out, Chandler's improvised parts weren't as well received as he hoped. “Sammy tells her she needs to hear what I’ve done, and she immediately freaks out. In short, we shouldn’t have touched her music when she wasn’t around.
“She said, ‘I know exactly what I want him to play,’ and we spent the rest of the session doing exactly that.” That night, Chandler and Merendino were also playing a show at CBGB’s Canteen – the record shop, café, and later, performance space, right next to the iconic East Village venue – when an incensed Lauper showed up. “She heckled me throughout the show. I thought I would never see her again.”
However, the tables turned just a couple of weeks later: “I got a call from her raving about the work I did,” he explains. “Apparently, Sammy didn’t wipe my ‘pre-Cyndi showing up’ tracks, and she loved what I had done. She booked me to fly to LA that weekend to do some TV stuff.
“That was the beginning of a 10-year working relationship. Thank you, Sammy. I got along great with Cyndi. She is a real tough woman who works incredibly hard. I’ve never worked with a singer so devoted to her voice.”
“Yes, ‘She is so unusual,’” he quips, a nod to the title of her debut album.
Guitarist Eric Bazilian, who recorded on Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun, recently described how the star initially couldn't get behind the song that would later become an enduring mega-hit.
Guitar World's full interview with Knox Chandler will be published in the coming weeks.
