Dee Snider has just unleashed a brand-new music video, the sixth to come off of last year’s successful Jamey Jasta-produced Napalm Records release, For The Love of Metal. “Lies Are A Business” is the track, and who better to describe the concept than Dee Snider himself?: “The socio-political message of ‘Lies Are a Business’ is more important at this moment in time than ever before. The movement toward more controlling, all-powerful governments continues to grow and the current nightmarish situation in Venezuela is emblematic of the direction our world is sadly heading in. The incredible video for this song by award winning director Leo Liberti of Liberta Filmes truly captures my message with powerful metaphoric imagery while taking nothing away from the metallic power of the song!” You can check out the video right here. Dee Snider has also just announced a new run of tour dates for South America, Europe, and the U.S. Visit: http://www.deesnider.com/ for all the info.
August Burns Red is preparing for a large-scale celebration of their third album, Constellations, as the band has just announced a lengthy tour, where they’ll be performing the record in full throughout the rest of 2019. The North American run hits right at home for August Burns Red, as they start things off in their hometown of Lancaster, PA. This leg of the tour runs through August 11th, wrapping up in NYC as Silverstein and Silent Planet come along for the ride. Then, the fall brings the band to Australia then Europe, as this leg of the run spans the months of October-December, with support from Erra and Currents. The full listing of dates can be found via: https://www.augustburnsred.com//.
The Constellation Of The Black Light Above The World Tour just kicked off last night, featuring Children of Bodom, Swallow The Sun, and Wolfheart on the first leg of this world tour as they start things off in North America. Quebec City, QC was the first destination, with dates running through April 19th to wrap up in NYC. Here’s what Wolfheart frontman Tuomas Saukkonen had to say about the US/Canadian run: “I could not imagine a better start for 2019 than sharing the stages of North America with legendary CoB and StS. We are extremely proud to be part of this superior Finnish line up and already counting the hours to unleash our gale of winter upon the American and Canadian fans”. Visit: https://www.facebook.com/WolfheartRealm/ for more.
Entombed has a new live album on the way, revisiting one of the Swedish Music Hall of Famers’ classic records, 1991’s Clandestine, on its 25th Anniversary. Featuring the band’s original members Nicke Andersson, Uffe Cederlund and Alex Hellid, the live album includes two acts, the first of which is an orchestral arrangement of Clandestine, before part two sees the band performing the album in its original style in full for the first time ever. Entombed has just revealed the first taste of this live album in the form of the single, “Sinners Bleed”, which you can check out right here. For more on the band, head to: https://entombed.org/.
It seems the U.S. can’t get enough of U.K. Doomers Conan, as they’ve just announced an additional North American run to supplement their current tour. Conan has been on the road for several weeks, and while they do plan to wrap things up on March 15th at SXSW, after a brief break, then a run in support of Black Label Society and Atomic Bitchwax, the band will be back in headlining action alongside Witchkiss, starting on June 23rd at Maryland Doom Fest, running through July 6th and wrapping up in North Dakota. To keep up with all the latest, check out: https://www.facebook.com/hailconan/.
Doro has just released a brand-new EP, following up on 2018’s double release of Forever Warriors, Forever United. Now, 2019 brings Backstage to Heaven, a half-studio/half-live four-track vinyl featuring special guests Doug Aldrich, Johan Hegg and Helge Schneider alongside the Metal Queen. The record has just been released this week, on the same day Doro kicked off the second leg of her European run. Next month, Doro will be hitting the States on the U.S. run alongside Metal Church, with support from Images of Eden – April 17th marks the start of the run in Las Vegas, NV, spanning through May 11th and wrapping up in New Bedford, MA. Head to: https://www.facebook.com/DoroPeschOfficial for all the info.
Slipknot has a lengthy 28-date tour lined up for this summer, but they won’t go it alone – Volbeat, Gojira, and Behemoth are all along for the ride, forming the new Knotfest Roadshow, taking a portable version of Slipknot’s usual Knotfest festival on the road. Knotfest Roadshow may be on the move, but it’s by no means pocket-sized – the massive lineup of Rock and Metal giants is sure to hit hard from east to west and everywhere in between. The tour runs July 26th, kicking off in Mountain View, CA, and wraps up September 8th in The Woodlands, TX. For more details and the full listing of tour dates, head to:
The Fifth Annual Ride for Ronnie has just been announced, and the motorcycle ride/concert for charity will take place on Sunday, May 5th, 2019 at the usual starting location of Harley-Davidson of Glendale. Los Encinos Park in Encino will be the destination for the concert portion of the event, hosted by Eddie Trunk and featuring a new group of rock musicians personally curated by the personality and known as Eddie Trunk’s All Star Band, in addition to Budderside, Petty Cash, DC4, and Dio cover band Dia. 2018’s Ride for Ronnie brought in over $50,000 for the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up and Shout Cancer Fund, and this year the charity will be aiming to beat that record. For more on the Fund, and all the info on the event, visit: http://diocancerfund.com/events/RideForRonnie_2019.asp.
Of Mice & Men has just kicked off the start of a long run of tour dates, as the band headed out on the road for the first in a series of shows alongside Nothing More last night. These dates will run through March 23rd, then OM&M will have a brief break before heading right back out, this time alongside Beartooth and Hands Like Houses for a run April-May followed by several summer festivals. The summer will be jam packed for the band as well, with UK/European touring lined up to follow the two North American runs. Amidst all the tour plans, the band is also in studio, and just released a brand-new music video for the track “How To Survive”, which you can check out here. Keep an eye on: https://www.facebook.com/ofmice/ for more info.
Chevalier is a group of metallers out of Finland who dub their own sound “Medieval Speed Metal” as they prepare to make their full-length debut on Gates of Hell Records next month. Destiny Calls will mark the third release from Chevalier, following up on their EPs, Call To Arms and Chapitre II. The band recently unveiled the first single off Destiny Calls, entitled “In The Grip Of The Night”, and you can check it out right here. For more on Chevalier and their upcoming April 26th release, head to: https://www.facebook.com/Chevaliermetal/.
Nile has just declared their plans to “attack” the U.S. later this year, as they announce their 2019 A Vile Caustic Attack tour alongside special guest Terrorizer. While Terrorizer will tour in support of their recent release, Caustic Attack, Nile will be on the road during this fall run to support their record, What Should Not Be Unearthed, out on August 28th via Nuclear Blast. Nile recently revealed a lyric video for the first single, “Call To Destruction”, available via the Nuclear Blast Official YouTube Channel right here.A Vile Caustic Attack will hit the road on November 1st and run through December 14th, covering plenty of ground on all the coasts and everything in between. Keep an eye on: https://www.facebook.com/nilecatacombs/ for further details coming soon.
Long Island’s Moon Tooth have just released the second single off their upcoming record, Crux, which is set to be out March 29thvia Modern Static Records. The band has teamed up with Metal Injection to premiere “Omega Days”, available in album art visualizer form right here. Moon Tooth are just about to embark on a U.S. tour in support of Mark Morton (who worked together with producer Machine on the pre-production of Crux) and Light The Torch next week. All the info on Crux and Moon Tooth’s upcoming show dates can be found via: https://moontoothny.bandcamp.com/album/crux.
Mark Morton just released his highly anticipated solo record Anesthetic last week on WPP Records/Spinefarm. With a wide array of guest artists permeating each track, the Josh Wilbur and Jake Oni produced full-length features one song with vocals by the late Chester Bennington – Morton has just revealed a music video for the track, entitled “Cross Off”, which you can check out right here. Mark Morton is just about to head out on a co-headline spring tour next week alongside Light The Torch, with Moon Tooth coming along for the ride. https://www.facebook.com/markmortonmusic/ has all the details.
Starbreaker released their first new album in over ten years at the start of 2019, to great critical acclaim and a solid spot in the Billboard charts. I had the chance to talk with frontman Tony Harnell (best known as the former frontman of TNT) just after Dysphoria came out, discussing the making of the record in depth, the experience of recording an album remotely across multiple countries, Tony’s side work as a vocal coach, and a bit about his recent move to Nashville.
What brings you on the phone with me today is the recent release of Starbreaker’s new record Dysphoria, of course, it came out just the other day, and it’s been around ten years since the last Starbreaker record, what brought you and Magnus Karlsson back to the studio for this?
We wanted to do it, and the record label was ready. We actually planned on doing it a few years ago, but I got back into TNT and that kind of delayed things a little bit. But I think it was always something we thought about. It was a hard decision for me, because I want to tour behind each record, and Magnus doesn’t tour a lot. But we actually just got off the phone and we were talking about playing some shows, so that was encouraging. I think there’s a lot of potential for this project to be more than just the recording project, so I’m excited about the potential in the future there. But yeah, it was time to do it, Magnus and I love working together, and honestly, I always know we’re going to make a great album, but I didn’t know that we were going to make something that I would say is…you know, it’s not hard for people that have been doing this a long time to make a good album, but I think it’s not something in your control completely when you get lucky and put out something that’s kind of special. I think this album is special, for lack of a better word, I think it came out really unique.
I’d like to go a little into the origins of Starbreaker, it was, from what I’ve heard, originally intended as a solo record project for you, how did it develop into what it is now as a band?
Right, you know, it’s funny, it never was…I don’t know why that’s going out to the press, but it was never a solo project. But it’s okay, I’ve tried to correct it but it hasn’t yet been corrected, but no, it never was intended to be that. It was always what it is, which is a band project. And when it originally came together, the hope was that we’d be touring and it would be a full-fledged band. So that’s the beginning of that. I actually was originally contacted, made a deal with the label, and I received a bunch of music for the first album and then went into the studio and started writing and recording it. So that was it. And then all of a sudden we were in California making a video, and the first record came out, it got a lot of attention and sold really well too. And so I think from that point forward, Magnus and I forged a bond and wanted to keep making music together, and so we did. He’s a great guy, first of all, and he’s a dedicated musician, it’s what he does 24 hours a day, and he’s very good at it and very talented. I’m lucky that over the course of my career I’m blessed to work with such talented musicians, and Magnus is right up there with the best of the best that I’ve worked with. All the musicians that I’ve worked with have different qualities that they bring to the table, and Magnus just has so many great qualities as a musician and as a person, that he brings to this, and I’m very lucky.
That’s awesome, and a great perspective and attitude to have as well. You and Magnus are basically the staples, the core members there since the beginning, could you talk a bit about how the other members of the band who are here now for this record got involved?
Well, we landed on this current lineup mostly with logistics. So, Jonni is somebody I brought in for the second album, because on the first album we had Fabrizio Grossi, who is a very brilliant, talented musician and producer – he didn’t necessarily want to be involved again, so we brought in Jonni, a friend of mine, and he’s been a Hard Rock/Metal and Progressive musician for all of his career. But he happened to be the musical director and bass player for Air Supply, I think at least ten years, maybe even fifteen, and that’s how I met him. But when he played me everything that he was doing, I was like, “This guy is like a mini Billy Sheehan!”, he’s like the second coming, he’s really got that flavor to playing, he can just play anything, he can sing. He’s just a really super talented and nice guy, and he’s got the ability to record his own tracks, so I thought, “Perfect, let’s see if this works”, and Magnus loved his playing, so we used him on the second record, and I suggested that we use him on this one, so we did. And when it came time to get the drums together…yeah, we talked about John again, from the first two albums, but we thought logistically, I thought it was important that Magnus get as much as he could get done in Sweden as possible, and the drums are just so important to how a record’s going to come out. And we’ve had issues with the drums not being recorded as well as we’d like in the past, so I thought it was best for him to have as much control over the project as possible, and record the drums close to home, so he did. And he chose Anders Köllerfors, and he did a fantastic job in every way. He played perfectly and just beautifully. It all just fell together, and a lot of it, again, was based on logistics, on “Let’s make it easy, but also pick great guys”. And, we weren’t really worried about who could or couldn’t tour, we just wanted to make a great record and worry about all that later.
So now you’re at the stage where you’re starting to think about that part, right?
Well yeah, especially…Magnus is a producer and guitar player with his own studio, and he just basically does back-to-back projects, and for me, I’m more traditional in that I do a lot of recording, but also would really like to get into the touring more, because that’s where it’s at. To get out there and play for your fans, and meet them, and just get out and play live, that’s where it’s at. So I prefer if I can make a record, especially one that’s getting so much positive attention like this one is, it’s great to be able to get out and support it live.
Absolutely. And I think it’s something to look forward to, because it is a really great record, and I’m sure plenty of fans would love to see it live on stage in a show, and I also noticed the positive recognition it’s been getting – some Billboard recognition there as well, some good numbers, and really great all around.
It feels good, yeah.
You had mentioned before that you and Magnus both had this mind, you had both been wanting this for a while, but other band obligations, let’s say, had gotten in the way…but when it came time to get right to it, was it that you were approached by the label for it, or is it that you and Magnus just said, “Okay, it’s time to go forward with this record”?
It was both. And, you know, we did have a delay on making the record, and when we finally got to it, it wasn’t until the end of 2017 going into 2018 that we actually started to get into it for real. It was hard for me to get into, I was really going through a lot of personal stuff, and I had to push to get to the point where things were really starting to come out of me, and I could really focus on singing and writing. But ultimately, it was really a cathartic, important album for me to do, from the standpoint of just, as an artist, making music becomes your therapy a lot of times, and so I’ve been lucky that I’ve always had the music to keep me going and inspire me and get me through really tough times. This is no different, this record was done under very difficult personal circumstances, and I’m really proud of how it came out. I think, often those are the times where you end up making something really special, because it’s not just a record, it ends up being so much more.
Definitely, music can be very powerful, and of course, I’m sorry to hear that it was under difficult circumstances, but especially if that was the case, it does make it something to be proud of on the other end. And I mean, given the length of time since the last Starbreaker album, how do you feel your other musical – or maybe even life – experiences in between have influenced you as a writer? In other words, if you had to compare your perspectives or yourself as a musician between the last one, Love’s Dying Wish, and Dysphoria, what would you say about that?
Well, I’m influenced by life and what’s going on around me as much as I am music, and I think a couple of things. One is, sometimes by stepping back and not recording for a while, you absorb a lot more. And it’s always surprising to me that, on one hand, I think you can work too much. Especially if you’re not working from a place of genuine artistry, if you’re working from a place of, “Oh, just record some music and put it out”, I think there are a lot of those records being put out these days. But if you’re really working from an artistic place of experimenting constantly – like, for example, if you take The Beatles in the 60’s, or you take Prince through most of his career, he had his own studio, and he just loved to experiment and work all the time, but that made things better and better and more interesting, because he was looking for something, and he had complete artistic freedom. So that’s a time where it’s a positive to be working in the studio all the time. If you’re in a situation more like musicians like myself, where you always get to make music that is a pure artistic expression, meaning you might have a label that’s like, “We see you as this thing, and so we want you to make records that represent this box that we see you in”, that’s a double-edged thing for an artist, because on one hand, you’re going, “Well, I’m grateful somebody wants me to make a record”, but at least for me, you immediately get this little shock of disappointment running through you saying, but they don’t want me to do exactly what I want to do. So I guess, to answer your question, having time away from it to just absorb life, good and bad, listen to music that’s happening, really just kind of absorb everything. For me, that makes me better. Because I sort of come back to it fresh and I have maybe a better perspective on what could work, what can’t work…I’m still doing these long-distance albums, under some constraints in that you’re not in the same room, you’re producing your own stuff with your partner that’s also involved, like in this case, Magnus, he’s brilliant, but you don’t have 100% freedom because the guy you’re working with is so far away, and also the music is more or less set up the way it is. You can make adjustments, and we do make adjustments, and sometimes things will change, arrangements will change, chords will change. But sometimes, I’m taking the creative work he’s done, I’m putting my creative work together with that. And that music he sends me is generally my…nine times out of ten, sort of an unmovable blueprint. Usually, i don’t try to make a lot of changes to what he’s done, out of respect for what he’s done. So I try to write the best melodies, and the best lyrics that I can, and make the songs really shine, and add my bit to what he’s done, and try to make it as artistic as possible. So, in saying all that I’ve said, I think that in the confines of what we do with this kind of music and these kinds of records, which are relatively low-budget, I still try to pour my heart and soul into them and make them as artistic as possible, and as much of an artistic expression as possible. I think if people give this record a little time, and get past what they might think on the surface, sounds like something they’ve heard before, I think they’ll hear a lot more.
I understand what you’re saying, that’s actually a really interesting perspective, because there are a lot of bands these days who are doing the whole “working remotely” kind of thing. Somebody’s in one country, somebody’s in another, and a lot of it is done digitally, virtually, something’s set up already…and I haven’t heard it described from that perspective before, how it’s kind of like a blueprint, not so naturally flowing as when you’re in the room with the person, and can just say on a whim, “oh hey, let’s change that arrangement, let’s do it this way instead”, it seems more challenging when you’re doing it remotely to be able to put in those changes and on-the-spot creative ideas into it.
Yeah, 100% right, absolutely. You know, I think that for me, it’s a pride thing. For me, I want to make sure that when I put something out, I don’t expect that everyone’s going to love it, and I’m not going to sit and make excuses about something I put out like, “Well, we didn’t have this, we didn’t have that”, it’s going to be what it is. And so, I know that, so in the context of what a Starbreaker record is, I’m going to make it as artistic as I possibly can, because so far, the feedback doesn’t show me across the board that the fans or the critics have been overly concerned with any of the stuff I’ve been talking about. They’re hearing the music purely on its own merit.
Exactly, myself included in that, I did enjoy the record, I think you got some great results, and especially now that I’m hearing some background on how challenging it may have been from the recording perspective, all the better for that. I agree it’s something to be proud of. Outside of all the latest with Starbreaker and the new Dysphoria record, you also do personal vocal coaching, I’m curious how you got into the teaching side of music?
You know, it’s not something that I really throw out there – I’m first and foremost an artist, that’s where my heart is, but at the same time, my mother was an opera singer, and I’ve been around singing and I started taking voice lessons with a very, very special world-renowned teacher in New York City when I was 18 years old to get better. I was already singing professionally for at least a year before I started taking lessons, and had discovered that there were some things I wanted to improve upon, and so I have a long history with just trying to perfect the technical side of things. It’s funny to say that because when I work with people, yes, I focus on the technical side because everybody wants to improve various things, whether it be their range or their stamina, so yes there’s that, and I do work with that and I understand that pretty well…I guess that’s why I still have a voice today. But really, I’m just as interested, if not more interested, in helping them find their own voice, their own sound, and to try to tap into deeper emotions when they sing, and so on and so on. Because singing, a lot of people miss this fact, but it’s a form of acting, and you have to express yourself in the best way possible, and get the lyrics to come across. I mean, to me, if I listen to a song, it’s great if the singer is really good, but it’s even better if there’s something going on with the way their delivery is that’s pulling me in and making me feel something. There’s nothing worse than a technically great singer that doesn’t touch any nerves, and to me, that’s a waste of a great voice, and there’s a lot of those out there. There’s so many technically amazing singers that I don’t hear any heart, or any soul or emotion, I just hear amazing singing from a technical standpoint, and honestly, I’d rather hear Bob Dylan singing something really emotional than somebody with a big huge crazy voice that has no emotion or anything interesting about it, you know?
Definitely! Expression is key, it’s the emotions flowing through the voice just as it would an instrument, you have to be able to express in your own way. I sing myself, and it definitely should never be about just, “Get these notes technically right”, it’s like, yes, that’ll be the start, that should be the basis for singing accurately to some degree, but then once you get that down, that’s when the expression is supposed to come out.
Yeah, exactly! So what I do is, I think I’m definitely a vocal coach versus a teacher in that, like I said, I do help people with technical quite a bit, but I’m definitely looking to coach them in all different ways as a singer, as an artist, and a mentor. And that’s a big part of what I do, and I love it. I’ve been very successful working with other singers and watched them go on to do really great things, and I’m always super proud of that, and would love to keep doing it in one way or another. It definitely is one of the things that I do, but I do consider myself a songwriter and a singer first and foremost! *laughs*
Of course! Now, something else about your life, you recently relocated to Nashville, I heard. A lot of people tend to pigeonhole that, stereotype it as “oh, country music, country scene”, but to my understanding there’s a lot there in terms of all genres really, and a growing rock scene too. It seems like a lot of artists, especially from the classic hard rock genre seem to be flocking there lately. I’m curious, what’s the appeal as a rock musician? And have you found that there is a kind of scene you’re joining in on?
Yeah, there definitely is a lot of musicians to interact with, a lot of my peers are here, so there’s that. I mean, look, that’s the reason why everybody was flocking to Los Angeles, and still is flocking to Los Angeles. And L.A. is not necessarily a place where you make money, although you can, it’s more a place where you network with your fellow musicians, because so many of them are there, which is why everybody goes to NAMM once a year to just network and meet with people and say hi. And Nashville is, to me, great because it’s more down to earth, everybody’s pretty welcoming here, and it’s very friendly, and there’s an air of wanting to help. Definitely a quality of all of the musicians here of wanting to help each other. So I really love that, and I haven’t been here for very long so I’m still getting my feet wet and doing a lot of work outside of Nashville, recording, and various other things which I’ll continue doing. But being here and having access to so many musicians is a really great thing, and really cool.
That definitely seems to be the appeal, I’m hearing from different people the same kind of perspective on that. You mentioned NAMM, did you go this year?
I didn’t! I had another show in Europe at the same time, so I couldn’t go.
Okay, I think I actually know what event you’re talking about, since there was one I wanted to ask you about, would that be the Rock the Boat Cruise in Norway?
Yeah, I was just there. It was great, I got to sing with my old buddy, Joe Lynn Turner during his show, and hang out with him, it’s been a long time and he’s a dear, dear friend. And Michael Monroe, I got to hear a good half of his new record, which is amazing, and I used to hang out quite a bit in New York City in the 80’s, so it was really cool just playing to my fans, a nice acoustic show that a lot of them had never seen before, and also reconnect with some old friends, so it was a lot of fun.
Awesome, so you didn’t get the NAMM networking, but you got networking in Norway instead, right?
Very, very different and a lot less tiring on the feet.
Good point! So, going back to Starbreaker, moving forward, can we expect any music videos coming from you guys?
You know, we have been working on getting — the lyric video came out for “Wild Butterflies”, and we have been working on doing a proper music video, it’s just, with my move which was pretty intense, from New York to Nashville, which seems like it shouldn’t be a big deal, but it kind of was, it happened at the same time that the record was being prepared, and stuff just kind of got delayed or we had some false starts here and there. So we’re still trying to remedy that somehow, and hopefully we will.
I always like to wrap up with a little summary of the near future for an artist, so give us some outlook on the near future for Tony Harnell.
Well, I’m enjoying having a new record out, so that’s exciting because it’s been a long time, it’s exciting that it’s on the charts, and otherwise, the TNT DVD will be out in March, which was interesting. One of the last shows we did in 2017, and then I have another project that’s getting worked on for release later this year. So it’s all good, it’s all heading in the right direction, I’m just plugging ahead, plan on recording, and playing live shows, looking to book as many shows as possible both here and abroad in the coming months and years. Just looking to keep busy, keep making music and hopefully people like it. I’m really pleased that this album’s getting such a good response.
Awesome, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me, Tony, it’s been really great.
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.
