Between Testament, Metal Allegiance, an improvisational jazz trio, and other collaborations, Alex Skolnick is one busy guitarist. Shortly after the simultaneous release of the latest Metal Allegiance record, Power Drunk Majesty, and the Alex Skolnick Trio record, Conundrum, I had the chance to do a phoner with Alex, where we discussed all of his various musical projects and how he finds the balance between it all, his involvement with Shredders of Metal, the Slayer tour, and his appreciation for New York. Check out the interview below:

---

The new record Power Drunk Majesty from Metal Allegiance is officially out, you just had the album release show, big event at the Gramercy with some special guests, what was it like to take this project to the stage in a sort of Round Two with the new Volume II full-length?

Overwhelming, but in a good way. Coordinating everybody’s schedules and everything, we don’t know until the show is announced exactly who is going to be in it and then it’s just getting everybody together. But it was really great, a lot of fun. We had a lot of original material to play between the first record and this one, and we’re excited about it. We’re really happy with how the record turned out.

I hear you’re over there at Duff’s in Brooklyn, last time you were there was for the launch of Lager of Sin, I’m seeing a kind of pattern, an ongoing connection with Duff’s there for Metal Allegiance.

It seems to work, you know, it’s a good fit. And it’s funny, we were just doing an interview talking about the album process, and both these last two records, we started out writing in Mike Portnoy’s house, in his basement, it was like a giant man-cave. And it kind of looks like Duff’s! You know, he’s got posters, he’s got drumheads, he’s got autographed photos, so it’s like this whole shrine of music memorabilia, and it’s very fitting, it fits with the project too. 

That’s perfect! And speaking of Lager of Sin, I was there when you guys launched it, and I was curious how much involvement you guys had with the making of that? 

Mark was more of the hands-on person as far as that goes, but I contributed because I am a craft beer enthusiast myself. And we had discussions with the maker about what type of brew we wanted to go for, and listed some favorite beers, and I was mostly on tour when this was going on, so I didn’t engage in any taste tests, but when I tasted it, it was very much like a beer I would order. 

So on a separate note from Metal Allegiance, something else I want to ask you about is the Alex Skolnick Trio – coincidentially, while the new Metal Allegiance record is out, you’ve also got your new record Conundrum. Can you talk about what went into this record, and how did you find the time to do it in between Testament and Metal Allegiance?

Yeah, it’s a big day! *laughs* But I will say, Conundrum was planned for this release day, and Metal Allegiance was initially supposed to come out in the summer, but it [Metal Allegiance] is such a big project with a lot of moving parts, that of course, it can get pushed back, so that’s what happened. But it’s fine, it’s great to have this big day, and as far as Conundrum, I mean, that’s one of the projects I’m most proud of, as the visionary and the producer…but I worked with my guys, Matt Zebroski and Nathan Peck, and it’s a funny thing because Testament is the most visible thing I do, but it’s far from the only thing I do. And I think of myself as like, an all-around guitar player. And I’ve worked with, and sat in with, musicians that really don’t have much to do with metal. But obviously, I love playing metal too, but it’s just one side, but it’s the side that people know the most. So, if I’m going to do something outside of Testament, for the most part, I’m going to go for improvisational instrumental music, because that’s what I listen to often. And even when I warm up to perform with Testament, I’m listening to Pat Metheny and Chick Corea, you know? *laughs* So this album, it’s really a reflection of that. I did spend a few years where I was mostly doing instrumental music, and then gradually sort of found my way into Testament and touring again. I like having the balance, and I will say that this is the first record of all original tunes. And we’re kind of known for doing quirky covers of rock tunes that I turned into jazz arrangements – which we still do live, that’s a big part of what we do. But I also think we really…I’ve been playing with the same musicians now for over ten years, so you really develop a good dialogue musically, and I think that’s really coming forth in these original compositions. 

That’s awesome, and definitely great to hear a different side of the trio, and more of the songwriting that comes from the three of you working together on that. 

Yeah, and I didn’t really answer the question about how I find time. *laughs* I really don’t have a lot of spare time, I’m constantly working on music, and also, you know, say I’m on tour with Testament, and I have to warm up, usually while I warm up, I often come up with musical ideas. I keep track of those musical ideas and then as soon as I get a moment to develop them and go schedule a rehearsal with my guys, we make it work. But no, there’s not a lot of spare time. 

Yeah, I wouldn’t think so! You’ve also got the Conundrum tour to follow, it’s sort of a brief run compared to something you might do with, say, Testament – do you feel that between the trio and Testament, there is a balance, that the trio is enough for you as an outlet, allowing enough opportunities for you to venture into the jazz/instrumental realm even if it’s not quite as frequent as the more visible metal band like you were saying? 

Well, yeah, I think there’s definitely more of a structure in metal, especially playing in a band like Testament that’s a very established band, there’s these metal festivals, you have these venues like House of Blues for example, which is obviously not just a blues venue, it’s promoted by Live Nation. You know, Testament’s just part of that, whereas the trio, we’ve been going to Europe the last few years, and we’ve played some great places, like The Blue Note in Milan, and Yoshi’s in Oakland, which is where I grew up hearing jazz, that’s what got me into improvisational music. But yeah, it’s harder to do, even well-established jazz artists, other than the big headliners, tend to do brief tours. And you’ll see, they’ll go out for a couple weeks at a time at the most. That is just part of the nature of it, and also I have to work it around my other tour dates, so that has its own challenges. But, you know, we want to play as much as possible, so instead of a long six-week tour, the trio will do a couple weeks here and there. 

So for you as a guitarist, is there a different headspace of Metal vs. Jazz/Improvisational guitar, do you separate it out, does it put you in a different place, or is it all just music to you, and just flows naturally either way, whatever you’re playing?

Yeah, I think it’s all music and it flows naturally, as long as I like it and I can relate to it. There are some musicians that are really genre-bending musicians, like the name Les Paul, which many people associate with a guitar, he was a great musician as well. I’m a big fan of his music, he really was all over the map – you know, country, blues, gypsy, he just had all these styles. And obviously rock, he inspired a lot of rock players. John Zorn, who’s known as this avant-garde jazz musician, but he also produced Mr. Bungle’s first record and, you know, does projects with Mike Patton. So I really admire musicians like that, who are just genre-free and not stuck in any one category. 

And I think you could pretty much be described as that yourself.

Yeah, I’m thinking of another one too, from a totally different side of the spectrum, is somebody like Rick Rubin. I don’t know him, but I’ve always admired him from afar. How does somebody go from producing Reign In Blood to Johnny Cash, American Recordings? Public Enemy to Tom Petty? Whatever it is, it’s all good music. 

Broad genres, but all quality.

Yeah! So I kind of look at it that way as a guitar player. I’ve sat in with Living Colour, I’ve sat in with Robert Randolph, I’ve sat in with Joe Satriani, and Glenn Hughes, to me, it’s all relatable. And I never got the idea that, if you play for a band that’s known as a thrash band that, that’s ALL you do. That’s never made sense to me…but that’s just me. 

No, but that’s great, that open-minded attitude is definitely what makes a great musician as well. 

Oh, thank you. You know, I like a lot of musicians that only do one thing as well, and that’s fine, but I really look up to the guys that just do many types of music. Rick Rubin is an example of somebody that I always look to like, why can’t a guitar player have that kind of diversity? 

Exactly. Now, speaking of guitar players, you’re also involved with Shredders of Metal, as one of the judges on that show, I wanted to ask how you came to be involved with that.

Oh yeah, that was a great time, that was really fun. I’m a fan of Banger Films, I love their documentary on Rush, the Metal Evolution documentary, so if Sam Dunn has an idea, and he wants me involved, I’m going to say yes. I just like his work. I had no idea, honestly, when I got the email from him, I think I was on tour, I really had no idea what they were talking about. *laughs* They sort of described it, but it’s hard to describe what it is. But I finally got the idea, “Oh, this sounds like Top Chef for shredding guitar”. And as much as I tried to differentiate myself from being the “Shredder” guy, I liked the approach of this, it sounded like a lot of fun, and it was. And it was very Canadian, it was done with a lot of humor, very Canadian humor. I think I was the only American on the set. So yeah, that just came from Sam Dunn reaching out, we had a very brief window before I had to head out on tour, but I was able to make it work and I’m really glad. It was a great time, and the people that saw the show seemed to really like it. 

Definitely, it is a lot of fun – it’s good that you said it was a lot of fun to work on, because it was a lot of fun to watch too, so overall good vibes from that show.

Yeah, which is how it should be. 

Part of it, your contribution to that show, is that you’re definitely quite the authority on guitar, I mean, you’ve done so many master classes, clinics, even keynotes and lectures, plus you’re a published writer – no matter who you ask, you are an authority, but is that something you aspired toward becoming when you first started playing guitar?

Not at all. *laughs* In total honesty, I think, like a lot of young people that have this fantasy of becoming a well-known artist, it’s this rock star fantasy, right? It looks great, rocking out on stage, you have this high-class lifestyle, everybody wants to hang out with you, and you gradually realize it’s a fantasy. I think the people who have longevity in this business, they realize that – you get beyond that, you’re not playing for that reason. You do it for a true love of music, and the art, and creativity. So I think all along the way, I discovered I just really like being a creative person. And as much as I love to play guitar, I enjoy words as well, and the same way that I feel a connection with great music that I listen to, I’ve felt that with books I’ve read. And occasionally, you’ll come across somebody that does both, and does both well. I think the first musical autobiography I read by somebody current, was Joe Jackson…not that he’s current now, but like in the 90’s, I read Joe Jackson’s book and I’m actually surprised that more people don’t know about this book, it was really great. But of course, everybody’s familiar with Henry Rollins, and I started reading his books and I thought, “Wow, this is really great”, and he’s somebody that’s just constantly creating. Whether it’s his spoken word show, or books…so yeah, I look at somebody like that and I’m just like, “Wow, there’s so much to do besides playing”. But that all came later, when I first started it was just like, “I want to be on stage, and I want to be able to play loud, screaming guitar solos like Eddie Van Halen”. 

Who didn’t, right!

Exactly.

So on something of a different note, I mentioned earlier about the Duff’s connection for Metal Allegiance, but there also seems to be something of a New York connection in general, you’ve got lots of New York events lately and coming up, but this is the place you call home –  you are from the Bay Area originally, what drew you to become an official New Yorker?

Well yeah, it’s funny because if you grow up in the Bay Area, people think you’re crazy to leave, and they especially think you’re crazy if you move to the East Coast. 

Especially New York!

Especially! Even more, New York, yeah. They just have this image of New York as like, this monster, you know? *laughs* It’s like this fantasy image where everybody’s rude to each other and mean and, *laughs* it’s just funny.

It does have that side to it, it does.

It does, yeah, and I understand that, and I also understand it’s not for everybody. I think that having grown up in the Bay Area and spending so many years there, I just felt very incomplete. I felt like I needed the experience of being somewhere else. And I also realized that in music, the people that struck me as the most successful all came from someplace else as adults, or as young adults. Carlos Santana, he came from Mexico. Metallica’s there, guess what, Lars Ulrich came from Denmark. James Hetfield came from Southern California. You know, everybody moved there. But if you grow up there, it just felt very slow and I wasn’t inspired there. And I just found myself visiting New York in the 90’s and just being inspired. Inspired by the pace of life, inspired by the constant creative stimulation, there’s always great music happening. Of course, I was really buckling down on my improvisation and my jazz playing, and New York is a great place to be, but also I liked the bookstores and museums, I like the fact that it doesn’t take that long to get from Point A to Point B, and in one day you can bounce around from a book reading to an art exhibit, to a concert…I mean, yeah, I can go on and on. The people who like living here really like it, and it’s hard to imagine living anywhere else. 

That is true, and it’s a refreshing perspective to hear because I feel like a lot of people who do live in New York get caught up in, you know, like what you were saying before – the rudeness, stress, tension, even prices, and they don’t take advantage of the things you were talking about, all the wonders that it holds, really. Art and music and creativity…so that’s really refreshing to hear your perspective on it, and I agree with you as well. 

Yeah, I mean, it’s true, there’s plenty to get annoyed with. You know, the parking is awful, sometimes if you take a car from Point A to Point B in Manhattan, it’s ridiculous, you’re better off walking. But then, there’s all these great qualities that people tend to overlook. So you learn to work around the challenging parts and take advantage of the parts you can enjoy, and yeah, I never think about moving back. It’s never occurred to me once, not an option. 

Well, New York is happy to have you then, Alex, it sounds like you adapted well. 

Oh, thank you. I still like visiting the Bay Area, the Slayer tour I was just on ended in San Jose, California, and it’s great. It was nice, it seems like a nice place to be if you’re…doing software. 

*laughs* But not music.

Yeah, yeah, I mean…what do people do there? Everything closes early. So even if I go out there on tour, if I play with my Trio, I have to say hi to my friends so fast because they kick everybody out, it’s not even midnight.

Oh, that’s wild.

Yeah, and the bars are all closing early, and the train stops running early *laughs*.

Meanwhile, New York, you’re out til about 4 AM and you’re still not done, right?

Yeah! And I tell people that! I’m like, you realize if we were in New York, we could hang out, right? And that’s when I’m most available to hang out, I’ve just played a concert, I’m ready to let loose, I’m not preparing for the next concert or planning the next trip, that’s like my little window to hang out, and have fun with friends, and it’s just so much better out here. 

Definitely a lot of perks to New York. So you mentioned in the course of that, the Slayer tour, and of course I did want to squeeze that into the interview a little bit, it was the Final World Tour. So what was it like to contribute to saying farewell to a band cut from such a similar cloth – not the same, obviously, you’re Bay Area they’re Southern California – but a similar West Coast thrash scene just like you?

Right, well, we sort of found ourselves in similar categories. Even though, when they came out, they were pretty extreme. Nobody was playing that fast other than some European groups, groups like Venom, for example. But they were doing it in a way that was just so solid, especially the drumming, nobody had heard drumming like that. It’s great to be considered peers of a band like that, and to be chosen to help send them off in style. Even though I think most of the guys are still going to do music, the Slayer guys, just in different projects…

Right, it’s just the entity of Slayer as a whole.

Yeah! But what a great thing to be a part of. The tour was just packed, it was almost sold out everywhere. Great crowds, arenas, amphitheaters, it was really nice to see the music getting the respect that it doesn’t always get. It hasn’t always had mainstream support. 

That is true, especially on the really heavy side of things, the more extreme metal styles. But yeah, that’s awesome, and it was definitely a great thing to be a part of, not only for you guys who were on the bill, but from the audience perspective as well. I was fortunate enough to catch one of the shows at Jones Beach theater, and it was just absolutely amazing. 

Oh, cool, that was a really fun one. 

Definitely! Well, I usually like to close things off in interviews with a look into the near future, we have touched upon some of the stuff you’ve got coming up, but give us a brief look at what’s on the horizon for Alex Skolnick.

Okay, let’s see, coming up I have a bunch of album launches for Conundrum, Chicago, two nights in New York, LA, San Diego, and then there’s a week of those in Texas as well. We’re looking at other Metal Allegiance shows, but they’re not announce-able yet. Testament has two shows, the Metal and Beer Fest, and the Horsefest in Mexico City which is a huge festival with Alice In Chains, System of a Down, Slayer, Anthrax, all these other bands. I will also be filming an instructional series, which I’m really looking forward to, with a company called TrueFire, that has this great platform. Steve Vai has courses on there, and a number of other guitarists, so it’s an honor to be a part of that, and the Trio’s looking at some overseas trips, it looks like something’s going to happen there in December, and we’re going to Europe in March 2019, Metal Allegiance is going to play at NAMM, and the whole time I’m going to be working on new ideas for the next Testament record. 

That’s amazing, you definitely keep yourself busy for sure. 

That’s me, I’m not a guy my friends call to just come over, hang out, and play cards or whatever, watch Netflix. No, sorry, it just doesn’t happen. *laughs*

*laughs* No, but you’ve got a lot of awesome stuff going on, and plenty of exciting things to look forward to, so thanks so much for taking the time to do this interview.

Oh, my pleasure, Chelsea, thank you!

---

Keep up with the latest on Alex Skolnick via: http://alexskolnick.com