Terence Reis from The Straits Interview

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As part of our ongoing series of interviews with leading guitarists we recently managed to secure an interview with Terence Reis, the lead singer and guitarist with The Straits, which includes three original members of Dire Straits (Alan Clark, Phil Palmer and Chris White).

The band have received praise from critics and fans alike and the upcoming tour is set to be something very special indeed. We caught up with Terence ahead of this defining moment for the band and for me the interview is fascinating. As well as discussing what it was like to have such an amazing opportunity he also provides a wonderful insight into Mark Knopfler’s playing style and how he managed to recreate the tone and style of one of the world’s true guitar icons.

Can you tell us a little bit about how you started working with Alan, Phil and Chris? I believe you thought it was a wind up first?

Terence: Indeed, at times it still feels a bit surreal. It literally was a phone call out of the blue. I saw this number and didn’t recognise it. The guy asked if it was me and asked me a couple more questions to confirm it was definitely me which I thought was a bit odd. Then he said his name was Alan Clarke, that he was the keyboard player for Dire Straits and that the band was thinking of getting back to together. Would I like to front the band?, it was as quick as that!

I just burst out laughing and said you have to be taking the p**s! It had actually been my birthday the day before so I thought it was a joke.

It must have been a dream phone call. Had you been a big Dire Straits fan previous to that?

Terence: Well, yeah. The strange thing was it used to be a bit of a party trick as people used to say I used to play  like Mark Knopfler. People used to ask me to play Dire Straits solos, so it was always there in the background. But I hadn’t been doing covers for a while as all my material was original.

I had always thought Mark was a fabulous player and I think because I was a finger style player it pushed me towards that style of playing.

You have a great finger style technique, can you tell us more about how you learned to play and what influenced your playing?

Terence: I grew up in a little town on the east coast of Africa, my family was English but the area was a Portuguese colony so the local musicians were mainly African street finger pickers really. It was a really similar style, that kind of claw hammer thing and they were the first players that really influenced me.

The finger picking sounded like an orchestra! The melodies being picked out fascinated me.  Later on I graduated to borrowing rock n roll records from friends and it became clear that I would have to put a guitar through an amplifier to try and create even more different sounds. However I found that I still carried on with the fingers and a hybrid style started to come into it. Really I ended up being a turbo boosted acoustic player but it wasn’t by any particular design that I ended up playing like Mark Knopfler, I mean who in their right mind would aim for something like this, it’s so improbable. You would never say “oh I know what I’ll do, I’ll learn some Dire Straits songs and audition for the band”.

But it’s funny, you really have to go back to school as when you start listening to someone like Mark Knopfler you realise how much you don’t sound like them.