Interview featuring
hard rock band Lazarus X
(Part 2 of 4)
Q: Who were your first music influences and
what impact did they have on your writing?
A: "Well I consider myself a guitarist primarily
and so most of my early influences were guitarists like Hendrix. His music
still blows me away. When I first heard Electric Ladyland I felt like I had
discovered the tenth planet. I listened to that album over and over. Another
early influence was Randy Rhoads former guitarist for Ozzy and the father of
modern heavy music as far as I'm concerned. He's another one that made the
hair stand up on the back of my neck. Then others came later like Jerry
Cantrell solo musician and former member of
Alice in Chains. I loved STP Core also when I first heard it and of course
Nirvana and newer bands like Queens of the Stone Age and Audioslave. As far
as what influence they had on the album I'm not really sure how that fits
it. There are a few things like the backwards solo on Whispering Shadows is
a bit of a nod to Hendrix. I doubled it an octave lower and panned it out a
bit to give it impact. Some of the solos are composed from the Harmonic
minor scale which reminds some people of Randy Rhoads. I don't really think
I sound much like any of them however. I don't know if that's a good thing
or not but I've been told I have a unique sound. I hope that's true."
Q: "You say your primarily a guitarist. How long
have you been playing the guitar?"
A: "Since I was about six but I really got serious
around twelve or thirteen. I used to practice for ten hours
a day as a minimum. I was really fanatical. I loved to play and still do."
Q: "Wow ten hours a day huh? What prompted that?"
A: "Obsession I guess. (Laughs) I wanted to be able
to get to the notes in my head and at first it seemed impossible but the
more I played the closer I got. Now I finally hit the notes in my head, most
of the time anyway. (Smiles) I never wanted to be in a band when I was young
necessarily, I just liked to write on my little four track recorder and jam
with friends. Now I love to play for an audience. It's a great feeling to
bring a song out of your subconscious and have people sing it back to you
and really enjoy it. Its a very strange and wonderful thing in my opinion
and musicians are the luckiest people in the world to get to experience even
a tiny bit of something like that."
Q: "What guitar setup are you currently using?"
A: "I'm using an Ibanez 7 string guitar. It has a
nice fat sound with a lot of lower end plus the extra bass
string allows me to write a darker more growling guitar line."
Q: "Wow a seven string huh? Is that what gives the
guitar that deep dark tone?"
A: "Well that and I use an old Marshall Amp
head and cab with the Celestion speakers. It's one from the early 80's and I like the nice rich
deep sound they produce. I hope
it never goes out cause I'll probably never be able to replace it. I own a
few foot petals but I use mainly reverb with an occasional chorus or delay
effect on the guitar. I don't like
that over processed guitar sound that seems to be so popular today. It's a
real simple set up. I learned a long time ago that the sound comes in large
part from the way the guitar is played so I try to focus on that. I think if
a guitars in tune you can make it sound pretty good."
Q: "What is your ultimate goal? Where do you see
yourself in five years?"
A: "I hope I'll still be playing music for people
who enjoy listening to it and that I will have a chance to reach more people
with my music."
Q: "Do you see yourself being a big success in the
music business?"
A: "I don't know. I never think about that. I can't
imagine it but of course it would be wonderful just to have that many people
acknowledge that they appreciate your music. I just play because I can't
stop. I'm still addicted." (Laughs)
To read the second half of this interview
click here.
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Interview Part 3
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Copyright 2003 Lazarus X - Silver Dragon Records
- All rights reserved.
