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 e
njoy
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.
Interview Part 3
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Next Feature
Copyright 2003 Lazarus X - Silver Dragon Records
- All rights reserved.
