Devin Powers on his career trajectory from Blind Date to Wakanda Forever

From the gritty rock clubs of the San Francisco Bay Area to the high-pressure production suites of Hollywood, Devin Powers has spent over four decades as a titan of tone. An Emmy-winning composer whose work spans global hits like The Bachelor and films such as Wakanda Forever, Powers has transitioned from touring with rock legends like John Entwistle to becoming one of the most prolific architects of television underscore. Throughout every chapter of this extraordinary 45-year career, his signature sound has been anchored by one legendary name: Celestion. Whether he is driving a Marshall stack or refining a country-rock track in his Nashville studio, Powers relies on the Alnico Blue, Gold, and G12 EVH to deliver the magical interplay that defines his world-class sound. Headliner learns about his inspiring career so far.

How did your journey into music and guitar playing first begin?

I grew up in Redwood City, California, and came from a working-class family. My father was a war hero who stormed the beaches at Normandy and brought a large hollow-body acoustic guitar back from Europe, which was my first exposure to music. I started learning songs around four or five years old. 

By sixth grade, I got my first electric guitar, a broken SG that my dad had re-glued because we were poor. I worked constantly after school to buy gear, eventually acquiring a nice Les Paul and a Marshall stack. By my mid-teens, I was getting mentored by Neal Schon and jamming with local legends in the San Francisco Bay Area like the guys from Tower of Power. My high school band, The Kids, began opening for groups like Journey, The Tubes, and Greg Kihn, eventually headlining gigs. 

We landed a worldwide 7-Up commercial, which helped us buy better amps, including my first Hiwatt amp. When we returned from a 60-day, sold-out tour of Japan in 1983, my bandmates were ready for regular jobs, but I knew I was a lifer.

Can you tell us how your path crossed with the legendary John Entwistle?

After my rock band failed to get signed following an Atlantic Records development deal (due to our manager leaving to work with Sammy Hagar and Van Halen), my musical godfather took my demo tape to England. I later got a phone call from a heavily accented voice saying, "It's John from The Who". I didn’t believe it at first, but he had five of my songs and wanted to record them for his new band, The Rock. Walking into his 140-acre estate in Gloucestershire was one of the most surreal moments of my life. 

We recorded, mixed, and mastered an album, even signed a deal with Warner Bros, but the record was shelved one day after a call from Pete Townshend. John’s manager explained that The Who was getting back together for a reunion tour, and they would make more money from one night of Who T-shirts sales than they would from 10 Entwistle albums. I later toured with Lee Rocker of The Stray Cats before my band, The Vents, signed with Universal Records in 1998.

What inspired your move from the touring circuit to the world of television composition?

A friend I was producing connected me with a team looking for a rock guy to do music for TV shows. Turns out, they were huge Who fans and bonded with me over playing with John Entwistle. They hired me for a new unscripted show called Blind Date, allowing me to keep all my publishing and writing, and paying me a significant weekly salary. I brought in my gear — including a Celestion-loaded Marshall stack — and started writing. I did 500 pieces of music for Blind Date before the first Christmas. 

When I received my first ASCAP check in January, I called my mom and told her I wasn't quitting; I realised I could do this. I ended up doing 1,500 episodes of Blind Date and many other shows, winning the ASCAP award for Most Performed Television Underscore for several years. My heavy rock music style was a new thing on TV, differentiating me from traditional library music.

How were you able to scale your composing business to the next level?

Around year four or five of my TV career, I ran into Hans Zimmer at the ASCAP Awards red carpet. I asked him how he managed to score so many films annually. He asked the size of my team, and when I admitted I was doing it all myself, he essentially told me that approach would kill me, and I couldn't have a long career doing that. He advised me to find people who could "clone" my style and assign them different shows, while I remained the lead composer, providing the themes and vibe. 

The next day, I began hiring rock musician friends and training them. Today, I lead a team of about nine master composers. This advice was instrumental in allowing me to continue composing, leading to 27 years in TV and scoring massive shows like Naked & Afraid for Discovery. Currently, I reside in Nashville, focusing on cutting country rock, blues rock, and heavy rock records while still running Powers Music Group.

When did you first realise that Celestion speakers were central to your sound?

I took the back off my first 4x12 Marshall cab and saw the name on the speakers. I soon realised that Marshalls often contained different types of Celestions. 

I have been a Celestion player since I was 18 years old, and I have remained a Celestion player because the speakers are the truest to a guitar’s sound. When I play through a Celestion, I can clearly hear the difference between a Stratocaster, a Les Paul Jr., and a Les Paul Custom.

Which specific Celestion drivers have become your go-to tools in the studio?

I have a large collection of Celestion speakers loaded into various cabinets in my studio. I use a 4x12 cabinet loaded with Alnico Blues at the bottom and Reds at the top, along with cabinets featuring Creams and Golds. If I am looking for a jangly, compressed sound, similar to Tom Petty, I often use the Alnico Gold in my Silent Sister isolation cabinet. For more of a Jimi Hendrix-type bite, I might use 30-watt drivers.

My two favourite Celestion drivers are the Alnico Blue and the 20-watt Greenback (which is now the G12 EVH). They are in a dead heat, depending on what I am trying to achieve. I love the EVH with my 100-watt Wizard head. It’s perfection. This combination allows the tone to break up and sustain when the volume is all the way up for solos, but remains distinct and clear when I turn the volume down.

Could you walk us through your overall philosophy for achieving great guitar tones?

My philosophy for tone starts with getting the sound right out of the gate. I almost always use Neve EQs on the microphones (often blending a Royer 121 with an SM58). I do not use compression on guitar when tracking because a good speaker already compresses the signal. A critical element for my preferred tone is rolling the low end off the guitar and using treble bleeds on my volume knobs. This is essential because, on a Les Paul, turning down the volume often results in ‘mud’. 

By using treble bleeds and a specific capacitor (like a .015) for the ‘woman tone’ on the tone knob, I can roll back the volume during a solo (usually to three or four) to cut off the high end, making the note speak more like a horn. In my opinion, Celestion gives every guitar player the best tone possible. It facilitates a magical interplay between the artist, the amplifier, and the tone of the speaker.