I have always played because I love the guitar and now since 1994, when I again started being in charge of the projects I was involved in I have felt the freedom to make the music I want to make and that I personally enjoy.
Transcribing is difficult work that takes a lot of concentration--I usually use headphones and I use a switching box which allows me to hear the right or left channel only through both sides of the headphones. This helps when trying to zero in on a particular guitar part. A thorough knowledge of music notation is mandatory also.
I think the stylistic variety comes from the fact that I love so many different kinds of music and I`ve played with a lot of different kinds of artists. I`ve played with a salsa band, a blues band, numerous pop bands, and an avant-garde jammy classical-jazz band.
All Latin or world music requires a very strong groove even if it is slow. That was a challenge since I am coming from a rock/fusion area. It helped my playing that way. Also when it came to soloing, I could not rely on my legato technique as much since it would not come out as well. Thus I worked on my alternate picking for a few months before the recording.
I wanted to record this album as a band. The intensity and energy you get from recording as a band is far superior than to that of using hired guns. Being very influenced by bands like Dream Theater, Symphony X etc., I wanted the new material to be more aggressive and somewhat progressive, however still keeping everything very melodic.
We`re definitely going to do another album this year. We`ve got a couple of concepts we`re throwing around. It will be an instrumental album. We`re ready to do that again ourselves. Like I said, we`re extremely proud of "Under The Lash Of Gravity" and we`re doing everything we can to get it out there. Initially, instrumental guitar fans didn`t buy it. But if they give it a chance, it does grow on you.
I have done interviews with quite a few leading Japanese and European magazines. My experience with them has been very positive. As far as US magazines are concerned, it is hard for me to say how they are handling guitar-oriented music, because I haven`t dealt with them much in the past. There just doesn`t seem to be that much of a market for insturmental music in the US as there is overseas.
Don`t get jealous. Don`t put other people down for their playing. You have to concentrate on what you want to do and study and appreciate the works of other people. Don`t rip off works of your friends, take a little from them and add some originality. I have found that the people who take ideas and riffs from others blatantly without giving credit are usually mediocre musicians and writers.
I never thought I`d be CEO of Virgin Independent, nor would I want to. I had material to release. No major or indie label wanted to hear about it, so I did it myself. And let`s face it: guitar music is a tough sell, so most majors won`t cut you any slack.
I love it at home, but you can`t play here. You can`t play in L.A. every night. We`re lucky to play once a week here. It`s just the nature of being a musician. People won`t pay to see you every single week. You have to travel and change your audience to be able to play every night.
