tell there is a deep appreciation for music. I am sure my
gratitude for being invited to India will reach the audience.
Largely, the world recognizes you as a heavy metal icon. But you've
actually done things like play with Astor Piazzolla's grandson,
among other things. Not to mention your love for Japanese pop.
What keeps you reaching for such variation in your craft?
I keep searching for the magic in music, something
new and unique that I could possibly be a part of. I am
very afraid that I will find some of that "magic" in India
and that will set me off in a whole new direction...
What makes a song a great song?
That feeling you get when you want to hear it twice in a
row. How to actually create that, how to make that happen,
I don't know. Luck plays a part. Personally I like a song
that has all of it`s innovative technical wizardry well
hidden, so you only find it if in fact you are looking for it.
When listening to a song, I like to enjoy it strictly on face
value--not appreciating or caring about the work that went
into it. I just want to enjoy the benefits of the music itself.
There is time to analyze and appreciate later, if need be.
Could you reveal a bit more about your dislike for the term "shredder"?
Are there any other concepts that you consider equally uninteresting?
I absolutely love a well placed burning ultra high speed
solo-when placed somewhere in the arrangement of the
song with great impact. The vast majority of "shredding"
that I hear, frankly turns me off, because for the most
part it is just random overplaying, with little or no regard
whatsoever to the music it is supposed to be a part of.
Also quite often the music that overplayers tend to write
to feature their "shredding" is of little interest anyway. I
don`t think many people want to hear 64th notes for more
than a couple seconds anyway. That said, I was guilty of
some "shredding" tendencies on the Cacophony albums
myself. The vast majority of Cacophony was well thought
out, and many of the fast passages had a solid musical
purpose, but I do think a certain percentage of it was a
bit mindless and ineffective. Sometimes when you are
really young, you tend to want to show off, especially
when you are unknown. That's still no excuse, though.
I know everyone asks you this, but what took you
to Japan? And what keeps you there?
The music. Once I started listening to Japanese music of
all genres 24/7 I knew that I really wanted to contribute to
it in my own way somehow. I still enjoy it more than ever.
The music hits me in a way that I really like. The melodies
are front and center. In America, melody is usually in the
back seat, and often times not existent at all. Often the
melody hooks that become popular in the US lately are
annoying to me and I just can`t relate to what so many
people see in those melodies. I get the feeling that people
in the overall mainstream care less about music than ever,
and people on the fringe of mainstream tastes care more
about music than ever. It`s always been that way, but that
phenomenon has expanded greatly lately. I really don`t
know what I`m talking about because I haven`t lived in
the US for 15 years, but what`s for sure is Japanese music
lives or dies on the strength of its melody and I like that.
In the US, there is more emphasis on lyrics and the image
of the artist than the melodies. That is all fine as well,
its just a matter of personal taste. I am a melody fan.
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A metal icon like you has spoken about his love for enka singing
from Japan. You've also said you would have played with Madonna
in a heartbeat. Why do you think more musicians associated
with metal are not upfront about their love for diverse music?
Could it be an issue of maintaining a certain image?
I think metal musicians nowadays are way more open about
being fans of other genres than they were before. Fans tend
to be stricter than artists, more "Metal or DIE!" with their
attitudes, but even fans nowadays have loosened up on that
because they have discovered diverse music on the internet
that they like. Its a very healthy time. Ironically Madonna`s
guitarist, Monte Pittman is a full on insane metal guitarist!
Have you ever played around with Indian sounds?
Yes. As a teen, I learned and analyzed a lot of Ravi Shankar`s
music. It was mind opening. I also am a bit influenced by the
unique time signatures in Indian music and I love the unison
string lines and exotic motifs that I hear in Bollywood stuff.
I'm by no means an expert, and I am not good at replicating it.
In your own words, can you describe your picking
technique for our technically minded readers?
It is a waste of time. If you are going to analyze my music,
analyze the melodies, the arrangements and the phrasing.
That is where you will find endless unique things that
you might not learn anywhere else. It doesn't matter how
you pick, what matters is that you learn how to create
melodies that represent you, and that you figure out a way
to get them out of your guitar. There is no right, wrong,
better, worse way to pick. Just get the notes out. A guitar
teacher would likely tell you that there is a right and
wrong way to pick, but I bet most recording artists would
say there is not. The mindsets are totally different.
What inspires your music? I mean, is it the fascination
attached to a certain book/film/event/person? Do ideas
come to you out of thin air? How does it work?
Pretty much thin air. Sometimes I`ll hear 5 seconds of
music in the background somewhere and that will spark
me to write 4 minutes of music. Usually the original 5
seconds that inspired me gets thrown away at some point.
Anything can be a spark. New surroundings are often
helpful. I'm convinced I will be inspired by some new
rhythm or melody the second I touch down in India.
What would you be willing to reveal about your upcoming gig in India?
Since its the first time there, I'm going to do a lot more older
stuff than I usually do because no one has seen us before. I'm
not there just to promote my latest album, so it frees me up
to do things I haven't done in a while, and lets the people in
India catch up. Next time I`ll play more of the newer stuff.
What excites you about a potential collaboration? How do you
spot someone you can get along with on an artistic level?
My friend Keshav Dhar is a good example. I heard his
playing on YouTube, and it inspired me to come up
with all kinds of stuff, so when I contacted him and he
agreed to work with me, I made use of the differences
in our styles and it was a great fresh combination. His
interesting chord voicings and unique rhythmic concepts
made an extremely fresh new backdrop for my melody
sense. We did several songs together. That guy is a star.