Jeff “Skunk” Baxter

Guitar Maestro 1986

Jeff Baxter, LA 1986

Is the guitar your main form of expression?

If your main instrument is the one where you have the widest vocabulary, then sure, it’s the guitar for me. But when you sit down with a computer and sequencer and a bank of synthesizers and samplers, it’s hard to say what instrument you’re playing. I started out playing piano as a kid, and learned harmony, theory, counterpoint. This has been invaluable in my use of the guitar synthesizer.

You grew up with electronics?

Yeah, I’ve been a diode head since I was getting shocked taking apart radios.

When did you have your first taste of fame and fortune?

As a teenager, I was making $300 a week as a studio session player, but the first real money came with a band called Ultimate Spinach in Boston, ’67 and ’68. I was quite amazed that we played for people and they liked it. I had the world’s loudest, biggest guitar amplifier, built by Pete Atrainer. He built this 1000-watt monster with no knobs, just an on-off switch and a standby switch. My god, it was outrageous—had four fans. This was during the psychedelic era and it was hard to tell who was more psychedelic, the band or the audience.