Born to shred: Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme reviving rock with new music, Ohio tour stop

CANTON − Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt talks about Extreme's return to form as if he's still the 22-year-old Boston musician who went bonkers when the rock band first heard one of its songs played on the radio.

That was the late '80s, when glam rock was commercially mainstream and ruled MTV. And it was before Extreme scored the No. 1 Billboard acoustic ballad, "More Than Words," which has compiled nearly a billion views on YouTube.

Extreme followed up with the No. 4 Billboard smash, "Hole Hearted." Career pinnacles included performing at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992 at Wembley Stadium. Bettencourt would go on to perform with Paul McCartney at the Grammys in 2015 and serve as Rihanna's touring guitarist while taking the stage with the pop icon at last year's Super Bowl.

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But the guitar hotshot still sounds overwhelmed when discussing the reaction to Extreme's 2023 album, "Six." Led by the songwriting tandem of Bettencourt and vocalist Gary Cherone, the diverse and inspired 10-track release has been heaped with praise by rock journalists, guitar aficionados and music fans.

"Like Steve Perry from Journey, and of course I should be okay by now," Bettencourt said. "But when he called me when I was in Japan to say congratulations about the album, I still, when the phone lit up and it says Steve Perry, it's Steve Perry, it's my childhood, it's like sitting in my hometown and listening to those amazing songs and those anthems and all that.

"And I still get that kind of butterfly feeling," he added. "... And the icons and the artists and the superstars that you love, even though I've gotten to meet so many of them, (the excitement) just never goes away."

Bettencourt still sounds like a hungry, aspiring musician when he discusses the new album and current tour, which makes a stop Saturday at MGM Northfield Park in Summit County.

Living Colour will be opening for Extreme at the 8 p.m. concert. Tickets, starting at $42.50, can be purchased at https://mgmnorthfieldpark.mgmresorts.com/en.html and https://www.ticketmaster.com/.

"We're in shock because we're like, man, at our age to be doing an album and people reacting the way they are and a band that's in their mid-50s, early 60s, that doesn't happen very often," Bettencourt said during a phone interview earlier this week.

The band Extreme's new music

Bettencourt and Extreme have been riding that momentum since the March release of the single, "Rise," which has more than 4 million views on YouTube and features a sizzling guitar solo by Bettencourt, where he plays the instrument as if he's a high-wire acrobat, bending strings and coaxing harmonics while drawing comparisons to late guitar trailblazer Eddie Van Halen.

"The secret sauce is always (being) all in (and) passionate," he said of the album's glowing reception. "You don't settle for anything, you don't really leave any filler, you don't leave anything on the table, you have to be excited and thankful for every part and every song that you put on this record − it better be you going for blood.

"If you don't finish an album and you're like man, 'Would you play this for Jimmy Page?,' would you play this for Edward (Van Halen), would you play this for Steve Perry, would you play this for any of these guys, (Tom) Morello, and actually be proud of it?," Bettencourt said. "… If you don't have that kind of confidence, that kind of excitement … (and) giddiness to share with your peers, then it's not ready to be released."

Extreme's new album is characteristically eclectic, veering from full-throttle rockers to quiet acoustic pieces to catchy pop numbers.

Among the mellower compositions is "Hurricane," written by Bettencourt and inspired by the death of a best friend in a motorcycle accident.

"That song, we play a little bit of it every night," he said. "I played it I think the other night, and I couldn't even get the first words out. I was bawling by the middle of the song out of nowhere."

Nuno and Gary: 'It's chemistry.'

Bettencourt and Cherone's paths first crossed in the mid-80s on the Boston music scene. That led to the guitarist leaving a band to team up with the vocalist.

"Those things happen organically," Bettencourt said of Extreme's origins."… These things just happen in your neighborhood, they happen in clubs, they happen locally, they happen by chance, and … it's somebody that you run into that connects with everything you have, (where) you are philosophically in music and especially the bands you like, and you're in the same wheelhouse and you understand the art of it.

"You connect that way first before you can write a song," he explained. "It's way before you ever get in a room (and) … something feels different here; you get a tingle that like why am I really connecting with this guy, like what is going on here … and you just know within five, 10 minutes … and it just invades everything you thought you knew, and then this relationship starts and the next thing you know, within a week you're writing, in a month you're writing like 30, 40, 50 songs that you never thought you could write. It's a chemical thing; it's a chemistry."

More new Extreme music videos coming

Extreme came onto the music scene in the golden age of MTV.

Videos were released for "Decadence Dance," "Get the Funk Out," "Hole Hearted," "Rest In Peace," "Stop the World," "Hip Today" and other songs.

Fast forward to the new album, and Extreme is breaking convention by releasing a video for each of the 10 songs.

"We're releasing a video per track, which is insane," Bettencourt said of the band, which features Pat Badger on bass and Kevin Figueiredo on drums. "We've put out seven videos already, and I think we just shot two more, and we're about to shoot another one, so I wanted a video album when we finished this.

"I wanted somebody to be able to watch the album and listen to it at the same time at one point, and we're almost there, so hopefully by the end of this run, we'll have the full album completely shot and conceptually looked at."

New Extreme music in 2025?

During the alternative rock boom of the '90s, Extreme released "III Sides to Every Story" and then "Waiting for the Punchline" before taking a hiatus. Bettencourt pursued a solo project. Cherone helmed Van Halen.

After reuniting for an album in 2008, the band waited 15 years to release another record. So fans might be surprised to learn Extreme is already working on new material.

"I think we're already kind of talking about some new stuff," Bettencourt said. "I've always got a billion ideas and riffs and songs and stuff always in the works on my phone. I'm always constantly writing and creating, so we've been talking about it already on tour while we're out here jamming on some things and getting things going for maybe something for 2025."

What does Nuno think of grunge rock guitarists?

The glam rock scene of the '80s is forever tied to the grunge phenomenon of the early and mid-'90s that saw Nirvana, Pearl Jam and other alternative rock bands reshape the musical landscape.

Asked his opinion of grunge guitarists, and why they haven't received the same notoriety as their heavy metal counterparts, Bettencourt responded thoughtfully.

"I think it was more the musicality of it," he said. "Really, when you talk about being guitar icons and things like that, I think it's just where the guitar fits within the music. ... Even like Jerry Cantrell (of Alice In Chains), and all the guitarists that were in bands that came out in the early '90s, or even Kurt Cobain as a guitar player ... they all are really special in their own way, just like an Edward (Van Halen) was.

"The only difference is that (with) Edward, it's how much you pour into the guitar and how much the guitar and the soloing matter to the sound of your band.

"… Alice in Chains and a lot of that stuff is guitar driven, as is Van Halen, but it's not as solo driven," Bettencourt said. "Even throughout the song, it's not as playful … where it's a rhythm guitar playing, even though when Jerry (Cantrell) takes a solo or when he's playing those parts, they're so melodic and great, but they're very song orientated, which to me is super special as well.

"… It doesn't make Edward stronger or somebody weaker, it's just what the beauty of it is; it suits whatever they're doing in their culture, so I think it's culturally different," Bettencourt added. "Where in the '80s and '70s and the Jimmy Pages of the world, these guys were trailblazing and changing the game and doing things that were innovative."

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This article originally appeared on The Repository: Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme and Rihanna says new song made him cry