Influences and Inspiration

This is the music that has influenced the type of music I write, and from which I draw most of my inspiration from. Even though this is not an all-inclusive list, at the end of this page you'll find that these the main ones. I could also list Kiss, Elton John, Ozzy, The Beatles, Jethro Tull, Rush, Deep Purple, The Scorpions, ("Blackout", "Love at First Sting" and "Acoustica" - an import recorded in Lisbon, Portugal in 2001, where the Scorps do a fantastic 'unplugged' concert: including covers of Queen, Cars, and Kansas tunes, mixed in with their own material. On the international market, there's also a PAL format DVD of this show available.) The Doors, Metallica and Dream Theater. But I consider the ones I've listed below to be the music that has, and continues to, affect me most deeply. Under more recent influences I'd include Rob Zombie: "The Sinister Urge", Geezer: "Black Science", Down: "Down II" and Megadeth: "Countdown to Extinction".

Even though most of these bands would fall under the rubric of "classic rock", I tend to shirk from that appellation, simply because I tend to view it along the lines of John Lennon's well-documented mocking, and sarcastically derisive allusion to "moldy oldies", which he used when referring to the music he grew up on. I don't think that "classic rock" sounds at all dated today: unlike 'Fifties/doo-wop did in the 'Sixties and 'Seventies.

Now that having been said, perhaps between my influences, and samples of my music, you can begin to see what I mean by "Progressive Metal": progressive/melodic rock, with a heavy, powerful feel. Zebra and Dream Theater, I think, would best and most accurately encapsulate this genre.

Like many artists, I'm still refining my own sound and style. I compose songs based on groove, texture and feel. I've run into other musicians that have fantastic technical chops: they're masters of copping licks, rhythms, and entire songs off other people's recordings. Yet, when it comes to composing, recording and promoting their own material, I'm not sure if they lack the creative spark, or if they've become trapped by their mastery of other people's styles: because, even though they have some ideas, any serious committment to writing their own music seems to be something that may eventually occur in the far-off, indeterminate future.

Unlike many typical heavy metal fans, I don't get that excited about the bodies of work as a whole for either Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. Then again, how many contemporary metal musicians remember playing Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath tunes in their local neighborhood bands (when their music, like Tony Iommi's guitar tour-de-force "Warning" and Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" were new and fresh)? Back when Priest had just released "Unleashed in the East" (making their renditions of folkie Joan Baez' "Diamonds and Rust" and Fleetwood Mac's psychedic "Green Manalishi With the Two-Pronged Crown" instant metal classics).

From Priest, I would definitely include "Victim of Changes", "Diamonds and Rust", "Green Manalishi" and "Delivering the Goods" among four of heavy metal's greatest classics. Halford's solo disc "Crucible" has some absolutely great, powerful music on it: "Weaving Sorrow" and "Golgotha" are two of the top tracks on that release.

For Bruce Dickinson, I generally prefer his solo work to what he did with Maiden, except for 2000's "Brave New World", which reflects the songwriting skill and flavor of masterful Dickinson releases like "Chemical Wedding", "Skunkworks" and "Accident of Birth".

I was a young twenty-something at the time that Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Ratt, and Motley Crue had just released their first albums. Before "metal" was "metal"; when the world believed that the music was a sinister form of nihilistic mind-control; when people were sure that Ozzy Osbourne had to be the Antichrist incarnate, and that Black Sabbath were devout Satanists. As the years have passed, and metal has developed some respectability, it's become clear that it has grown into an obsessive passion that won't die; like a chronic blood disease - once you've caught it, it's an incurable lifelong affliction (much more fun than Herpes, though). Why do you think Ozzy can't stay retired?

I play a customized Epiphone EB-0. I really like the fast, narrow neck, and the light feel of the bass, and I prefer the short scale, as did Jack Bruce in Cream's heyday. I originally paid $249 for mine (bass only), from Media Play when it first came out under the Epiphone rubric (as no one else had it yet at the time). It's a good off-the-shelf instrument - I'm just a very demanding bassist when it comes to feel and tone. It had the perfect feel, and I had it "modded" and processed to produce the tone I wanted.

I didn't care for the muddy tone of the neck pickup, and I was getting amp feedback from loose windings on it. I also preferred the bright Rickenbacker sound of Geddy Lee and Chris Squire, but I wanted the short scale, high speed neck. So I had a Basslines SRB-1 (Rickenbacker replacement) bridge pickup custom installed, and replaced the neck pickup with a DiMarzio DP120. I'm running it through a Behringer BX3000T 300W bass head driving one Fender 300W 4x10 Bassman cab and one Behringer 1x15 600W cab with a Bugera aluminum cone speaker. I'm also using several stomp boxes to shape the sound going into the amp head: a RockTek Bass Compressor and Bass EQ, a Digitech BP50, a Korg Ampworks bass processor, and an MXR Smart-Gate. It gives me all the growl, bite, power and sustain I need for Power Metal—and the gate kills most of the unwanted feedback and buzz. So now it’s more like a high-powered, customized EB-3.

I know that it's more common for lead guitarists to customize their instruments than bassists - like Brian May and Eddie Van Halen - but these mods don't make it any less valuable an instrument (in spite of what some purists might think). Consider Billy Sheehan, for instance. He reduces his basses to their simplest elements in order to enhance their live playability in support of his unique style. Although Sheehan's a finger player, his style on the electric bass is unique, much as the late John Entwistle's was. Sheehan firmly anchors his thumb above or on the pickup, and uses a modified hammerstroke, where he bends his fingers not from the knuckles closest to the wrist, but from the middle knuckle. Entwistle, having started off as a brass player, used all five fingers of his right hand, straying from convention, and playing his electric bass more like a classical guitar. Considering the gear customization and unique styles I've cited above, this opens up a whole new realm of thinking for the bass player who wants to go beyond just being in the background acting as the glue between the kick drum and the rhythm guitar(s) or keys.

My playing style is modeled mostly after Sabbath’s Geezer Butler. I have a very aggressive picking style, and will often fire off high-speed pentatonic minor runs and dominant-seventh arpeggio sweeps (which I developed after listening to Chris Squire's playing on "Roundabout" and "Heart of the Sunrise") as fills in a funk-rock rhythm style: hence the reason I need depth and brightness in my tone. This rig does it for me. I previously had an off-the-rack Ibanez bass (about $200, have forgotten the model) – and although the tone was fine, I didn’t care for the standard scale neck (hence the reason I don’t play an actual Rickenbacker, much as I love its tone).