PJ Harvey’s greatest guitar inspiration: “I learned everything from him”
PJ Harvey is the player that launches a thousand guitarists. In the years since her breakout, hoards of artists have referenced the British musician as a vital inspiration, with her impact heard loud and clear in the work of Nilufer Yanya, Lorde, Sky Ferrera and more. But when it comes to Harvey’s own guitar inspiration, she doesn’t have to look very far.
Sure, Polly Jean Harvey has referenced several artists as inspirations throughout her career, especially as her sound has morphed and changed, moving from more punk-leaning sounds into the twisted folk of her recent works. She’s spoken about the impact that Captain Beefheart had on her, stating that while as a child his music used to “make me feel ill”, the two became friends later in life. She recalled, “I learnt an enormous amount from him. He was just full of enthusiasm to tell me about things I should listen to, things that he thought I would like to see and wanted to know what artists I liked.”
Another vital inspiration comes in the form of Bob Dylan, an artist whose impact Harvey claims goes “beyond music“ and into a new tier of artistry. She’s also inspired by the world outside of her chosen career path, looking to the realms of folklore and politics for crucial inspiration.
But from the beginning of her career, her biggest influence, especially when it comes to her guitar playing, is always stood right next to her. “John taught me everything about playing guitar,” she told The Guardian, picking out her own bandmate, John Parish, as her ultimate inspiration and guitar hero.
“I’d just begun to play the guitar when I first met John. He spent hours teaching me how to play the parts for the band we were in,” she recalled. It was 1988, and a young Polly Jean had just joined Automatic Dlamini. They’d be in the band together for several years, setting the scene for their ongoing and enduring collaboration. But even before Harvey was an artist in her own right, employing Parish to be in her band and play on her records, she was his student, and in her eyes, he was the master.
“I learned everything from him to do with guitar playing. If I ask him to play a guitar part that I’ve originally played then it sounds like me, or I sound like him playing, because he taught me how to play,” she said in a beautiful statement about his impact and the connection between them. She continued, “We have the same feel. I think that’s the reason why it’s so natural when we work together. With someone like John, who’s a lifelong friend and I trust implicitly, I know I can say to him, ‘Can you make this music for me to play with?’ And I know that what he’ll come up with will be absolutely right.”
Even when Automatic Dlamini disbanded, and Harvey went solo, making her name with early albums like the 1993 record Rid of Me, Parish was always right there. Even though Steve Albini is routinely cited as a vital collaborator in Harvey’s career and a key part of finding her recognisable sound, Parish’s influence was still there, even if the man himself wasn’t playing on the record. Having taught the artist how to play, crafting her style through his own and sharing an enduring and inspiring friendship that gave her a playground for musical experimentation, Parish’s role in her life is crucial to her music.
Still, today, if you go to any PJ Harvey gig, John Parish is right there. After years of working together, years of being friends, and even creating some collaborative records as a joint project, like the 2009 album A Woman a Man Walked By, their musical connection is as tight as ever.
