“The Bigsby Standard actually made by Paul Bigsby is one of the most special – there’s only 25 or so known to still exist”: Meet Amy Rose Mills, the accidental luthier who sets up some of the rarest guitars on the planet
The noise improv specialist for Brooklyn’s Couch Slut is also a luthier at NYC institution Retrofret. She details some of the most treasured instruments she’s encountered, the magic of running a Gretsch at high gain, and grabbing one of her hero’s pedals before anyone else got the chance
(Image credit: Steven Rachmuth)
With You Could Do It Tonight, Brooklyn’s Couch Slut just gave 2024 one of its most dynamically distressing albums yet. You can credit guitarists Amy Rose Mills and Dylan Dillela for much of its towering terror.
Across nine numbers, the pair lock into wide stretches of two-chord chromatic gloom, delivering dissonantly arpeggiating pseudo-harmonies and shivering through soft-touch improv spookiness. Their riffage often roils beneath jarringly visceral lyrical themes of self-harm, violent assaults and surrealistic carnage.
All told, Mills feels that Couch Slut’s “monstrously weird” fourth album is their best work to date. “I think as a band, we’re at our highest point ever,” she says. “The structural elements of the songs are a lot more complicated than they have been in the past. I’ve told people that it’s more like playing a piece of chamber music than like playing in a weird metal band.”
Mills’ playing style may owe more to the minimalist fury of first-gen New York No Wave and John Zorn-adjacent avant jazz than a mediaeval chamber quartet – though that’s not to say she’s unfamiliar with ornate string work.
When not on stage with Couch Slut or punk band Adult Human Females, Mills is re-fretting necks and fixing bridges as a luthier at Retrofret Vintage Guitars, a Brooklyn shop specializing in spectacularly rare instruments – many of which selling in the six-figure range.
That’s where she secured a one-of-a-kind, stereo output-modded Chet Atkins 6120, which features an elaborate piece of floral woodwork glued into its backside. The Bigsby bending she brings to Couch Slut’s rage-waltzed The Donkey, you could argue, is a subversive tribute to that Gretsch’s unique beauty.
How did you get into luthiery?
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“By accident – I was working on my master’s degree at Purchase College of music in New York, and I made friends with a piano technician who had a repair shop. I’d been playing guitar for a little bit, and I had some interest in working on them, so I started fiddling around with guitars with him.
“At the same time, I made friends with the people at Retrofret. A friend was like, 'You should go there and talk to Peter Kohman about Burns Double Six guitars,' because I was really into the 12-string. I showed up, talked to Peter, and it just went from there. A lot of it is self-taught, but I’ve also learned a lot on the job.”
Bill Frisell can play heavy or pretty, and all this amazing harmonic stuff. That expanded my idea of what sounds were possible with the guitar
What are some of the wildest character pieces you’ve seen come through the shop?
“I’d say the Bigsby Standard guitar actually made by Paul Bigsby is one of the most special. I think there’s only 25 or so of those guitars known to still exist.
“There’s a Tony Mottola guitar that came in recently that’s pretty wild. It’s an L-5 that was originally made for Charlie Christian, so it had two Charlie Christian pickups in it.
“Tony Mottola ended up getting it after Charlie died, and he put a humbucker in the bridge, but kept the Charlie pickup in the neck. Tony basically used that for all of his session work from the ‘50s to the ‘80s. That guitar is a spectacular piece of history.
Retrofret Presents: Bill Frisell & Larry -- A 1958 Bigsby Standard - YouTube
“We also have Vivi-Tone guitars. They’re technically the earliest examples of solidbody electric guitars, where it’s like a flat plank of wood with strings on it.”
Tell us about the vintage Gretsch you’re playing in Couch Slut and Adult Human Females. That’s an oddly ornate piece…
“That’s a 1966 6120. It was originally owned by Wayne Stoops, a country-western guy. When it came into the shop I was immediately attracted to it because the back had that big floral marquetry piece on it.
“I guess the story is that he wanted his guitar to run stereo. Because it’s so hard to get at the electronics in a Gretsch, he cut a hole in the back and rewired it. Instead of just gluing it back together, he had that piece of marquetry made for it. It’s probably the best guitar I’ve ever played.”
As the resident fixer-upper in your various projects, how often are you working on your bandmates’ gear?
“Pretty regularly! I’ve set up Couch Slut bassist Kevin Hall’s bass several times. Anyone that plays music with me ends up asking me for a setup, or some advice about their guitar, which I’m always happy to do, because then everyone plays better!”
One of the most intense sections on the new album is the opening of The Weaversville Home For Boys. You and Dylan Dillela are almost doubling each other, but one of you is playing the line a half-step off. How easy was that?
I was like, ‘A pedal from one of my musical heroes? I would love to add that to my pedalboard.’ I grabbed that one before it hit the floor
“It’s probably the hardest song to play on the record, but it’s not too difficult. It’s pre-composed. There’s no way I’m going to accidentally play it in the wrong position.
“Dylan is playing it in standard, but I’m in a weird tuning: EADEC#E. Theo [Nobel, drummer] and I ended up coming up with an alternate tuning so I could barre a lot of those weird chords. If I get in the right position, I’m very focused on making sure I’m playing that part right. And when the sound that comes out is so dissonant, I’m just like, ‘That must be perfect!’”
COUCH SLUT - "Ode To Jimbo" (Official Music Video) - YouTube
You’re attracted to noise and dissonance, but there’s also a lot of sneaky melody in Couch Slut. Which players inspired you when you were coming up?
“Arto Lindsay from DNA and Lydia Lunch from Teenage Jesus & the Jerks are the reasons I bought a guitar and started a band in college.
“When I started getting into heavier music, Bill Frisell’s playing with Naked City blew my mind. He’s such a versatile player – he can play heavy or pretty, and all this amazing harmonic stuff. That expanded my idea of what sounds were possible with the guitar.”
How did you end up with Bill’s old Boss DD-7 pedal?
“He consigns a lot of stuff to Retrofret. He brought a big bag of pedals into the shop one day and I was like, ‘A pedal Bill used? One of my musical heroes? I would love to add that to my pedalboard.’ I grabbed that one before it hit the floor.”
COUCH SLUT - The Donkey (Abridged) (Official Lyric Video) - YouTube
Does having some of his gear further inspire or impact your playing?
“I think it does, definitely. I’ll think about the way Bill will play a note, just his touch and feel. And then I’ll be using his pedal and think about the weird sounds that he might have made with it. That influences how I might set the pedal, or how I might attack the note.”
On a song like Couch Slut’s The Donkey, are you handling the carnival music-like trem-bar work with the Gretsch?
The way the Gretsch responds to high-gain amps, in addition to the Bigsby, makes it an amazingly weird sonic force
“I’m doing all the lead melodic lines. A lot of trem. I really abuse the Bigsby on that song. I tracked that in the studio with the Gretsch – the way that guitar feeds back and responds to high-gain amps, in addition to the Bigsby, makes it an amazingly weird sonic force.”
The song also has an eerie, extended spoken word outro that features a lot of bass ambiance, and some spectral guitar playing. How does the band work around that kind of improv-based minimalism?
“We’re all very rooted in experimental improv and noise music. When we have a spacey section like that it comes naturally to us. I believe Kevin’s bass line is a reference to a Coil song. I’m doing a lot of volume swells with the DD-7, and adding a bunch of reverb. I think I have the reverse delay setting going on the DD-7.”
There’s a segue on the album where the self-proclaimed ‘president of the B-side’ advises everyone to crank it up loud. What are you cranking rig-wise?
“I used a ‘66 Deluxe Reverb. My distortion was an Alairex HALO overdrive, which is like a hi-fi overdrive. When I’m playing live, though, I use a Kustom 100, with the tuck and roll padding. I’ve thought about bringing the Deluxe Reverb out and just running it through a PA, though. I think it would have enough output, even though it’s a smaller amp.”
The record ends on a poetically haunting maxim: ‘When all you’ve got is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’ What’s the equivalent menacing hammer in your gear collection?
“I’ve never thought of my gear as menacing before! I have a really beat-up ‘79 Boss DS-1 distortion pedal – that’s pretty nasty. It’s either that or a VamPower 100-watt tube head that unfortunately is in need of some servicing. That thing is aggressive. I was using it for live shows before it started smoking at practice one day. I haven’t had a chance to get it serviced yet.”
You’re in the right line of work to have that looked at, you know…
Gregory Adams is a Vancouver-based arts reporter. From metal legends to emerging pop icons to the best of the basement circuit, he’s interviewed musicians across countless genres for nearly two decades, most recently with Guitar World, Bass Player, Revolver, and more – as well as through his independent newsletter, Gut Feeling. This all still blows his mind. He’s a guitar player, generally bouncing hardcore riffs off his ’52 Tele reissue and a dinged-up SG.
