Geffen Records

“It’s not cute any more. It’s seriously ass-whupping. If I was going to pass the baton to somebody, she would be my first choice.” – Carlos Santana

The potential baton-carrier is an audaciously talented guitarist named Orianthi, a blonde 22-year-old from Adelaide, Australia, whose debut album arrives later this year on Geffen Records. The recording, and an impending concert tour, is likely to bring audiences to the same conclusion reached by master-guitarist Santana: Orianthi’s playing, singing and songwriting will quickly disarm anyone who finds the notion of a forceful female ax-slinger novel or “cute.”

If her playing is intense, so is her dedication to a journey embarked upon well before she hit her teens. “I started when I was about 6,” she recalls, “strumming the guitar to Elvis and Beatles songs at school assemblies. If I didn’t bring my guitar to school one day, I usually made one out of a milk carton and rubber bands.” Her fascination with the instrument hasn’t lessened, even after spending three quarters of her life consumed by it. She describes a recent visit to Maryland’s PRS guitar factory as “awesome. I could have stayed there the whole day, watching people turn pieces of wood into these beautiful works of art.”

Orianthi’s first musical inspirations were her father’s, what she refers to as “the old greats”: Roy Orbison, Presley, Hendrix and Clapton, B.B. King, England’s influential instrumentalists the Shadows. “Other kids were listening to New Kids on the Block,” she explains, “but that wasn’t really my taste.” Subsequent influences were Nirvana, Counting Crows, classical guitar, traditional blues and modern country music (in particular, LeAnn Rimes and Faith Hill). At 10, she studied at Australia’s Tafe University, learned to read music and performed in the pit orchestra for a production of Oklahoma!. By 16, she was playing guitar and singing with local cover bands, bashing out current hits in Adelaide clubs till 3 AM. Her commitment to music was obvious—and unstoppable, a fact her parents recognized when they allowed her to leave school at 15 to follow a professional career. “What’s really great is that they agreed to my doing this. They basically said, ‘We can see you’re completely dedicated to playing guitar. That’s your path in life,’ and they totally backed me up.”

Her teenage years also included a couple of auspicious events: Opening for guitarist Steve Vai, ZZ Top and meeting Santana. “Carlos came to Adelaide when I was 18, and my managers had sent him a CD, a video and a press kit of me; they just bombarded him. He invited me to a soundcheck. He probably thought, ‘God, I better put this girl out of her misery and just meet her,’ but he was so nice to me. We wound up jamming, and then he said, ‘I’d like you to join me onstage tonight.’

“It was pretty surreal. I showed up, he called me to the stage and I plugged in—in front of 15,000 people—and he started a song I hadn’t heard before. I had learned all his songs. But that night he decided to play five new ones! That really got my heart pumping. At some point, Carlos turns to me and says, ‘OK, you take a solo now.’ It was great; he kept me up there for 45 minutes. We’ve been in contact ever since.”

Orianthi made sporadic visits to Japan and the States by invitation of PRS Guitars who endorse her, most notably to attend NAMM, the mammoth convention of musical-instrument manufacturers, where she played with Santana and PRS founder Paul Reed Smith. She also independently released her own CD, an ambitious mix of rock, blues and stirring instrumentals, Violet Journey, in 2005, composing all the material, contributing guitar, vocals and drums on most cuts, and producing. Performing at NAMM in Los Angeles promptly led to her meeting Geffen Records president/producer (Christina Aguilera, Black Eyed Peas, Pussycat Dolls) Ron Fair and signing with the label in late 2006 when she relocated permanently to Los Angeles to take the next steps along her career path.

Since then her life has been the proverbial whirlwind of activity: writing songs with a host of top-name composers, laying down tracks for inclusion on her debut long-player, getting ready for the game. That’s taken her to Nashville as well as to L.A.’s Record Plant. That venerated rock studio was the site of a session with another international superstar. “Prince had gotten my EPK and seen the video clip in it [a performance from the Australian TV program Sunrise], and his people contacted me and got my phone number. He actually called me on my cell. I thought, ‘Are you serious?’ He said he loved my guitar playing and asked if I wanted to come out and chat and maybe jam. So we went to the Record Plant, and Sheila E came with him and brought her drum kit. He played bass, I was on guitar, and we jammed for about two and a half hours.”

Audiences will get a chance to hear what turned these superstars into Orianthi cheerleaders this fall when her Geffen CD drops. And that suits the talented musician, singer and writer as just about right. “I do hope what I do will be able to reach a lot of people,” she says. “I think it’s really important for kids to be creative—to have an outlet. If I can inspire them to pick up a guitar, the drums or a paint brush, something, it will be worth it. Inspiring females to get up and play is something I especially would like to do. It’s always been such a guy thing, so that when guys see someone like me step onstage, there’s always the vibe of ‘Oh, here’s a chick. What’s she gonna play?’ It’s like you have to prove yourself to them. Hopefully, I can change that a little bit so guys can look at women playing the guitar and take them seriously. Anyone can do anything if they really have a passion for it.”