Heaven + Earth guitar great Stuart Smith talks about the band's comeback record called "Dig" (Originally published in the May 2013 issue of Metal Hammer magazine Hungary)

Fans of classic blues based hard rock music might remember guitar player extraordinaire Stuart Smith, who unleashed two brilliant studio albums under the moniker of Heaven + Earth at the end of the previous century. Now Stuart is back with a brand new record called Dig, which is a must have for every fans of the previous efforts and for also those who miss the vibe of Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow these days...

Heaven + Earth 2013 (left to right): Chuck Wright (bass), Arlan Schierbaum (keyboards), Joe Retta (vocals), Richie Onori (drums), Stuart Smith (guitar)

 

Heaven & Earth was on a long hiatus during the past decade. What was the reason you stopped making H&E records after two critically acclaimed studio albums?

After we lost Kelly Hansen to Foreigner it sort of took the wind out of our sails and we lost momentum.  I couldn’t find the right singer to replace him and in 2008 Steve Priest called me up and asked me if I wanted to help him reform Sweet so I focused on that. It was just something I needed to do at the time.

What was your main musical priority in the meantime?

Survival.  Heaven & Earth was not a going financial concern as record companies couldn’t offer me enough to record a first class album and Sweet was an established name so I didn’t have to starve to do what I love doing which is play the guitar.

What was the driving force behind the reformation of the band?

It would have to be meeting Bruce Quarto who’s now the head of our record company.  He originally offered to back a new Sweet album but when Steve Priest didn’t want to do one he was more than happy to get behind Heaven & Earth.  It all started with us just talking for hours about the idea of a new Heaven & Earth album and then we started writing for it and it became an actuality.

Cover art by Glen Wexler

Was it obvious for you that Chuck Wright and Richie Onori will join H&E once again?

Richie Onori, of course, we’ve been in this together for years. I asked Chuck to join because I really wanted someone who could seriously contribute to the writing of the music.  Chuck’s great at that.  I can throw a riff at him and he instinctually knows the next place to go to make it work.

After such brilliant singers such as Kelly Hansen and Kelly Keeling you've found yet another amazing vocalist in Joe Retta. How did you meet him?

I’m a big fan of really good singers and there are not a lot of them out there.  Joe I’d known from around LA and had jammed with him on a few occasions.  When Steve Priest asked me to reform Sweet with him I first took him to see Joe perform and we thought he’d be ideal so we offered him the gig.  After working with him in Sweet I knew he’d be ideal for Heaven & Earth and like me, he wanted to write new material.

As far as the new record called "Dig", what was your main musical concept when you started to write the new material?

There was no real plan, just to bring out the best album we possibly could. Everyone is saying that we’ve pulled off a 70’s concept album but that was never on our minds when we started writing.  It’s just the musical time period that we all came from and love.

There are some interesting guest appearances on the record, Richie Sambora, Howard Leese and David Paich all layed down cool things. How did you put together this stellar guest line up?

We hadn’t really planned to have any guests on this album except Howard.  He’s a great guy and a superb musician.  I’ve known Howard since the early 90’s and it’s sort of a longstanding tradition with us that whenever we do an acoustic song, Howard and I play it together.  He generally plays the 12 string guitar and I play the 6 so we had him come in and join me on a couple of songs.  He’s also a phenomenal string player/arranger, so we had him play strings on a track as well.

David Paich has been a great friend of mine for many years and I always try to attend his Christmas Eve parties, at which David and I play Christmas carols together. Generally, we never have anyone to sing them, so in 2011 I took Joe Retta with me.  After the party Joe and I went into David’s studio with him and we played the rough track to “I Don’t Know What Love Is” and he absolutely loved it.  He thought it was a definite hit and said he’d like to play some strings on it… so we brought it over and he did his thing. His pieces are amazing and obviously added depth and warmth to an already great song.

Richie is the nicest guy in the business.  He’s my ex brother in law and when he was recording his latest solo album, “Aftermath of a Lowdown” in East West Studios, I went down to have a listen and borrow a Gibson SG off him as I didn’t have one at the time and we needed that particular guitar sound for one of our songs.  While I was down there we both signed a guitar to be auctioned off at a charity event and his producer Luke Ebins, took a photo of us both with the guitar.  The picture soon got out on the Internet and I had hundreds of requests from fans who asked if we were going to do something together again as they loved “When a Blind Man Cries” which we did together on the first album. One day, I asked Richie what he thought about the idea and he said, Yes, let’s do it.  We set a day to come down to East West but on that particular day there were some technical issues there so we couldn’t do it. Then Richie got extremely busy as his solo album was just released and he was flying all over the country promoting it. He then began playing with Bon Jovi and also started touring to support his solo album.  On his first and only day off in 3 months he came into a local studio with us and spent 6 hours adding all sorts of guitars and even his signature talk box on “Man & Machine”… so he has my undying love and respect for that.

Is it exciting for you when you got the chance to trade riffs and solos with such renowned players like Richie and Howard?

Of course, it’s always great to play with great players and I always learn a lot from Howard and Richie as well as it being a lot of fun.

On your first record there were some really great instrumental tunes. Was it conscious decision this time you'd rather focus on blues based melodic hard rock with catchy as hell vocals than shred guitar stuff?

Not really.  If I’d had anything to offer in the instrumental department we would have done them.

The previous H&E album was released via Frontiers Records and I'm a little bit surprised this new effort does not supported by that particular label. Weren't they interested in this project?

I don’t know, we haven’t even gotten around to thinking about releasing it in Europe yet.  The people at Quarto Valley Records are concentrating on the States release at the moment but we’ll definitely get around to it. 

Do you have any plan to tour with this record in the foreseeable future?

Definitely.  We’ve been in constant rehearsals for the last four weeks at Third Encore in Burbank and are playing a showcase at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood on April 10^th to get an agent sorted out for us.  The band is sounding great and I can’t wait to get it out on tour.

Check out the first video from Dig:

Heaven + Earth - No Money, No Love (official video)

www.heavenandearthband.com

www.facebook.com/officialheavenandearth

JASON BECKER interview (originally published in Metal Hammer Hungary in 2010)

Alright, here is the interview I'm the most proud of yet! Jason Becker is one of my all time favorite guitar players ever. I can still remember how much I was floored when I first heard his Perpetual Burn album! At the age of 19, Jason had flawless technique, unbelievable compositional skills, unique chops and truly one of a kind sense of melody. This cassette is still on my shelf along with all his latter works.

In my humble opinion Jason should have been the biggest guitar player on the planet durning the 1990s if the terrible ALS disease had not forced him first into wheelchair, then into total immobility. That was more than 20 years ago, and Jason is still battling with ALS, while others could survive only 3-5 years...

In 2010 I was lucky enough to get in touch with Jason via e-mail and send questions to him - special thanks to his wonderful mother, who conducted our communications.

All in all, here it is - the heartbreaking story of a beautiful mind...

First and foremost, thank you so much for this interview opportunity, it’s a huge honour and a great pleasure for me!

My pleasure! Thank you for your interest and support. I remember Metal Hammer being the first magazine to do a piece on ‘Cacophony’ when we first came out. 

How are you these days? How is your mood most of the time?

I am doing well and my mood is pretty good most of the time. I have my ups and downs, but generally, I’m feeling pretty good. My health is stable, although I did just lose the use of my thumb; good thing I can still use my middle finger. Thanks for asking.

Paradise Guitars have just released a new Jason Becker Signature model. It was your idea, or did the company ask you to do it?

They approached me and I was happy to work with them because I have wanted my guitar to be available to my fans for a long time. They made that happen. My next goal with Paradise is to make a copy of my blue Carvin available.

For the first sight, this guitar is very similar to one of your custom Peavey guitars you used in the past. Could you please tell me what are the most important similarities and differences between the two?

Yes, it is based on my design I did for that first Peavey guitar. The similarities are the natural wood finish and the big colorful numbers on the neck. When I had that guitar designed years ago, I had an old-fashioned toy in mind. I love the guitar and it represents a fun thing to me, like a toy. The numbers were a joke at first (although I liked them and I love color) but I decided to keep them because, not only did I like the way they looked, they seemed to help some of my students at the time. The biggest difference is the headstock, which I designed myself. I love it. Also the pickups are different. DiMarzio makes the newer pickups because they have an easier time making the color schemes than Seymour Duncan. They also sound great.

Could you please tell me how you are able to answer these questions?

When I was losing my voice, my father, who is an artist, was afraid I would not be able to communicate any pain, feelings or thoughts I may have. He went to his studio and created a grid-like alphabet with 4 to 6 letters in six boxes. I am able to look at each square and then indicate a specific letter using two eye movements for each letter. My mom/dad and caregivers all have the board memorized by now so I can carry on a conversation pretty quickly. You can see a demonstration of this on my new website at www.jasonbecker.com Go to “how I communicate.”

Let’s take a look at the past. Right after the first Cacophony album you released your first solo record “Perpetual Burn,” and you quickly became the new king of the neoclassical shreds scene, the world was amazed by your flawless yet melodic technique and compositional skills. This record is still one of the milestones of the instrumental guitar music. How do you remember those times?

Thank you! I remember those times as nothing but fun. I was doing exactly what I wanted to be doing and I was working with Marty Friedman, who I respected and learned so much from. I was really living what I had dreamed about doing since I was about 8 years old. They were extremely creative times. I was writing like a fiend. I didn’t have any girls to distract me. Marty and I were just having a blast making music.

I wish I had felt all of that cool stuff coming from the world. I just remember people thinking it was fast. I thought no one understood the depth and feeling of the compositions and playing that accompanied the technique. I thought it must have been ahead of it’s time.

In the song “Dweller In The Cellar” there is one of the greatest guitar solos I have ever heard – I think about the first fast section solo right now. Do you remember this one?

Ah, yes. Thank you very much. If I remember correctly, that solo was something that was meant to be in ‘Air,’ but I decided to stick it in Dweller instead.

In 1989 you replaced Steve Vai in David Lee Roth’s band. Was it a challenge for you to fill Steve’s large shoes?

Well, yes and no. If I had been completely healthy, it would have been all good. No pressure at all. Although I loved Vai, I was doing my own thing, which was unique as well. But since I was limping, tripping, very weak and losing my left hand, I felt like I couldn’t even fill my own shoes. I wasn’t comparing myself to Steve, but rather to myself. No one in the band, including Dave, ever talked about Steve to me. They weren’t living in the past. They were just happy to have me, even though I was struggling.

During the recording sessions of the now classic “A Little Ain’t Enough” album, you discovered the first symptoms of the later diagnosed Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. What were the first signs of it?

A few months before I met Dave, I had been limping on my left leg. I even did a month long tour with ‘Cacophony’ and did some solo shows in Japan like that. It started with a painful cramp in my left calf muscle, in the middle of the night. It became a lazy feeling in the leg. I spent months jogging, stretching and lifting weights to get rid of it. My parents kept nagging me to go get it checked out. When I finally did, it turned out to be a lot more serious than a pinched nerve or too-tight pants. I had more tests before I was diagnosed – about a week after I got the David Lee Roth gig. I didn’t believe the diagnosis; I thought I would get rid of it.

How could you finish the recording process?

I finished just in time. The muscle between my left first finger and thumb was disappearing. That space on my hand was now concave instead of round and bulging. I especially noticed it when recording the acoustic part in Drop in the Bucket. I could barely push the strings hard enough. Afterwards, I went in the bathroom and cried. I would sometimes trip and fall in clubs at night. People thought I had been drinking too much. I was very lucky to have finished the album, but I didn’t kick ass like I should have.

Could you remember what did you feel when the doctors diagnosed this terrible disease?

I didn’t believe them. I actually had a smile on my face. I remember I felt like I was invincible. I didn’t know anything about ALS and I didn’t research it. I concentrated on my music. I was sure that, whatever it was, I could get rid of it. I was positive about it, probably for way too long. Well, maybe not, huh? Maybe that is why I am still here.

You were already affected by ALS, when you started to work on “Perspective”. What kind of memories do you have about the writing process?

I remember that the music just flowed out of me. It seems that when I was forced to slow down, and often just listen to the silence, music would come to me rather than having to go and get it. Some parts I had written, some parts were new, but it all came together in a way that was exactly what I wanted. The hardest part was making it all work like I wanted with all the new limitations I was dealing with. I had finally succumbed to a wheelchair, and only my right hand was barely working. My great buddies, Mike Bemesderfer and Dan Alvarez helped me make that album possible. And, Michael Lee Firkin’s guitar solo on ‘End of the Beginning’ was beautiful.

A few years ago two Jason Becker tribute albums were made by guitar greats such as Marty Friedman, Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Vinnie Moore, Steve Morse, Jeff Watson, Ron Thal, and so forth. What do you think when you first heard these records?

I was totally touched and honored. Man, to have such brilliant and creative players do that for me was so cool. Some of them were influences on me. Each tune was an adventure to hear.

Are you still in touch with your musician friends, like Marty, Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai and Michael Lee Firkins?

I am still very much in touch with Marty, Firkins, Steve Vai, Steve Hunter, Greg Howe, Richie Kotzen, Uli Jon Roth, and all of my musician friends. Firkins and I live close to each other so we occasionally hang out. Unfortunately, I haven’t talked with Steve Perry or Eddie Van Halen in a long time, but I hope they are doing well.

How often do you compose new songs?

The last complete songs I composed were the new songs on my “Collection” CD. It is very difficult and tedious because of all the communication that has to be done, not only to talk but to convey feelings I want in the music and things like that. I have so many things I have written in the past, which I will use for building new songs. I hope to get into that again very soon. Writing music is such a high for me, even though the process is slow.

I’m sure this illness drastically changed your and your family’s whole life. Which was the hardest period of time for you in the last 20 years?

Yes, it has. I think the hardest period for me was shortly before I got my tracheotomy (breathing tube) and gastronomy (feeding tube) because I was struggling to breathe and couldn’t eat without being totally miserable. Sometimes I got food in my chest, and I didn’t have the strength to cough it out. To drink, someone had to hold a glass up to my mouth just right or I couldn’t suck the straw enough. Everything took an unbelievably long time. I could barely breath unless I was totally reclined. It was very scary and made it hard to be in a good mood. My family was tired, my girlfriend wasn’t getting any sleep, I was always uncomfortable. It was rough.

You have been fighting against your illness for 20 years now. Do you ever think about giving it up?

In the past, I have thought about it. When things seemed hopeless and like they would never change, and when everyone around me was suffering, I have considered it. That has happened a couple of times. Not in many years. I hope those thoughts and feelings are behind me.

Have you ever accepted your state of health or you still battle against it?

Well, as much as a person can accept something like ALS, I guess I have. I accept my health as it is, but I am always open to trying different treatments. When I do try things, I am not attached to any kind of results, though.

Most people with ALS are given 3 to 5 years to live. Thank God, you are still with us, your inner power is totally incomparable, so hats off to you. What’s the secret behind it?

I think my youth and excitement about my life was part of it. My parents gave me a fun and creative feeling for life. I don’t just identify myself as a guitar player. I am a loving and good person, surrounded by assholes, oops, I mean loving and good people. Having a village of helpers is necessary. I believe that meditation and the grace of God are big for me. Having humor is huge. A healthy diet with lots of water helps. Still living a productive and creative life is definitely a key. That makes me feel like I have a purpose for being here. I wouldn’t be here if I couldn’t communicate using my Dad’s system.

Do you ever think you should write a book about your experiences with ALS? I think you could give power and strength to most people who live with this disease…

I would love to write a book. In fact, I have written a lot of a books. It’s one of those things I need to put all together the way I want it and finish it - another thing that takes lots of time. It will be about my whole life.

I guess your medical treatments might be expensive. How could your family pay those huge medical bills?

We walk on a thin line. We are lucky to have insurance. Our country is going through a bad economic time, with cuts and downsizing everywhere. It’s scary enough for folks who are not disabled, but for disabled folks, it’s pretty much a constant state of panic. Thank God for Obama’s health care plan.

Maybe it’s a silly question, but do miss your previous life when you were physically healthy?

It’s not a silly question. When I dwell on it, definitely. I miss being able to make music at will with my own hands. I miss playing basketball and football. I miss riding my bike. I miss being able to hug. I miss being able to make jokes at a fast pace. I miss many things, but I am lucky to be able to usually control my mind from thinking about what I am missing. I am able to focus on the present moment and enjoy what I do have.

How do you feel, have you already found your inner peace?

I don’t think so, because situations in life can still affect my mood and happiness. I think I am somewhere between inner peace and normal craziness, but I usually feel pretty good.

Your body is unable to move since 1996, but you remained mentally sharp. How do you maintain your mind these days?

Well, ALS doesn’t affect the sharpness of the mind. It does affect the emotions in weird ways, though. You can be sitting there and, all of a sudden, you might start laughing, crying, or getting mad unexpectedly. I often laugh at the most inappropriate times. I am a naturally sharp person. It was always easy for me to remember things I cared about.  As a kid, I counted things constantly; steps, objects. I remember football statistics and plays, and musical things. That might have something to do with it, I’m not sure. My family refuses to bet with me anymore, because I’m usually right about whatever small thing we are trying to figure out and disagree about. Funny.

Do you believe in God?

Yes, I do, because of the experiences I have had with God. It is more real than “reality,” but it isn’t so black and white like most people insist it is from just reading books about God. People are ready to kill in the name of God, just from their own limited interpretations of words. God is mysterious. Just chill, and do your best to be nice to people. God is in everyone.

Do you follow what happens in the world these days?

Yes, pretty much. I won’t watch the news because it never tells the whole truth, and there is too much cruelty and fear. I get my news from two “fake” American news shows, ‘The Daily Show’ with Jon Stewart and ‘The Colbert Report’ with Stephen Colbert. They are hilarious comedians, and are brilliant people. They call people on their hypocrisy in a funny way. Those shows are about things going on in the world, but they lean toward the humor or irony of it, which appeals to me, and I find that to be more like the truth and easier to swallow. Some things are just too sad to believe any human being would be capable of doing. I don’t understand war, animal cruelty, racism, homophobia, or any kind of cruelty from one human being to another.

Maybe it’s a tough question, but what is the meaning of life for you?

It’s pretty simple (and corny) but the meaning of life for me is love. From my experiences with ALS, music, and relationships I have had, it all boils down to that. It seems to be the answer to almost everything and it seems that things fall into place around it – love and compassion.

Gyorgy,

Thank you so much for doing it and for your patience. You asked some great questions! I am grateful to you, my friend.

Peace,

Jason

Guthrie Govan interview - Hangfoglalás magazine 2012/2 cover story

Let's start with your earliest memories about music. When did you picked up the guitar first?

They tell me I was three years old - to be honest, all I really remember about my earliest playing experiences is that my first guitar seemed enormous, so I suppose I must have been pretty young!

Who were your guitar idols when you were young?

Initially, I was heavily into '50s rock 'n' roll - early Elvis, Chuck Berry etc - and I guess I was probably fascinated by the "high energy" aspect of that music. After that, I discovered stuff like The Beatles, Cream and Hendrix through my parents' record collections... and as far back as I can remember I was always a big fan of Zal Cleminson, from the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

You got your own tone and style, though the impact of Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck and Steve Vai can be discovered in it for me. What do you think?

 I'm not aware of a big Holdsworth influence in my playing, actually: he's incredible but I never really tried to emulate what he does. His technique is otherworldly, of course, but even more amazing is the fact that he's invented an entire musical language all of his own: his harmonic concepts and chord vocabulary are totally unique, so to my ears a lot of Allan's style only truly makes sense within the context of his own musical universe... and perhaps that's why I never felt a desire to "steal" any of it ;-)

Hearing Steve Vai certainly was a pivotal moment in my musical development - Steve has expanded the vocabulary of rock guitar in countless ways, and I was particularly inspired by the way he played on the DLR album Eat 'Em And Smile: I thought it was very cool that he managed to convey so much of his quirky musical personality within the constraints of a "normal" rock record!

For some reason I was never really exposed to Jeff Beck's playing when I was younger - I was a lot more aware of Hendrix/Clapton etc - but of course I "got it" immediately when I did finally hear him. (Of all the guitar players from that generation, he seems to me like the only one who is still pushing the boundaries of the instrument even to this day, and still getting better with each release...)

Is it true that you refused Mike Varney, when he offered a record deal for you in the early '90s? What was the reason behind your decision behind that? Most players would have died for a Shrapnel deal back then... ;-)

Yes, it's true - though of course I did consider his offer, and was very flattered by it. Mainly, I think I was just becoming a little disillusioned with the whole "gratuitously virtuosic guitar" scene at that time in my life, and wanted to focus more on the compositional aspects of my music.

In 1993 you won Guitarist Magazine's "Guitarist Of The Year" award. In spite of that you didn't end up in the spotlight, you'd rather countinued teaching guitar at various places. What do you think why? Was it because grunge swept skilled players from the mainstream and there weren't

opportunities at all?

Interesting.... actually, I never had a problem with the emergence of grunge - after all the spandex excesses of the '80s, I think rock actually needed someone like Kurt Cobain to shake things up a little!

Well, teaching can certainly be fun and rewarding but, to be honest, I've always been much more interested in writing, gigging and recording etc, so essentially I ended up working in all of those guitar schools because I wanted to make a living using my ability to play music, and I couldn't see any other way of doing so at that time.

(I've never had a great instinct for business or self-promotion: as you'll remember from one of the earlier questions, I learned music in the same kind of way that I learned to speak English - and probably for similar reasons - so maybe there were some interesting opportunities after I won that contest, but I never noticed them. Who knows?)

Did you enjoy your time as a columnist at Guitar Techniques? (I tell you the truth, those lessons were very useful for me as well!)

Yes - I've always transcribed music anyhow, for personal reasons, so it was nice to find a way of making a living out of something which came naturally to me. The team of Guitar Techniques contributors included quite a few great UK players, and everyone took a pride in doing the job properly... which is always a cool thing.

Which was more challenging, working as a contributing editor at this mag or teaching students at such famous places like GI, Brighton Institute Of Modern Music, Academy Of Contemporary Music, and Thames Valley University?

Well, the teaching stuff occurs in "real time", so you have to be prepared for unusual questions and problems, and to be able to respond to them on the spot. The magazine work required some knowledge of recording and engineering techniques, so I had to adapt to that in order to provide the required audio content for the cover CD... totally different challenges, I guess: I couldn't really say which was more demanding!

I first met with your name on ASIA's Aura record in 2001. How did you get in touch with John Payne and Geoff Downes?

Through teaching at the ACM school in Guildford, where the head of the drum department was Mike Sturgess. Mike had recorded most of the drum tracks for the Aura  album, and when John and Geoff asked him to recommend a session guitar player to help them finish the tracks, he mentioned my name and the guys got in touch.

Am I right Payne was the driving force in the band rather than Downes at that time? What do you think about Aura and Silent Nation?

I think John and Geoff saw their musical partnership as a kind of melodic rock version of Steely Dan, where the two main guys would work together to act as the "driving force" behind the band. As for those albums... I was a session guitarist on Aura and more of a permanent band member by the time of Silent Nation, so there was a different vibe during the recording of each. I must say I do prefer the production on Aura, and I remember being very excited to be featured on tracks alongside guys like Vinnie Colaiuta, Simon Phillips, Elliot Randall etc on that album - but I probably had a little more input on Silent Nation. Very different experiences...

In 2006 Downes left the band, but you guys continued as GPS, later as ASIA FTJP. Was it a difficult time for you guys?

Well, we were actually in the studio, recording Jay's final drum parts for a new Asia album, when Geoff announced his plans to tour with the original members of the band, so… the timing wasn't exactly ideal! On the other hand, the GPS album came out of that experience, and it was certainly a lot of fun to meet and work with Ryo Okumoto - he's a very musical guy, with great sounds and a unique personality - so it wasn't all bad!

Around that time you released your first instrumental stuff called Erotic Cakes, and signed with Jam Track Central. Since then your popularity grows quite fast. How do you see exactly what was the breakthrough moment? Maybe your instructional stuff at JTC?

Actually, I initially released Erotic Cakes through Cornford Records, who played a big part in making the recording happen in terms of funding, etc. The Cornford label started to struggle a few years ago, and for a while my album was "in limbo", until we worked out a way of re-releasing it via the JTC company. It's nice to know that my album is alive again, anyhow ;-)

In terms of a "breakthrough moment", I don't really know. About 6-7 years ago,I remember a lot of people were circulating DVDs of some gigs I played in Tone Merchants (a boutique music store in Anaheim, CA) and then, when YouTube was launched, I suppose a lot of that footage probably ended up being posted on there. Then, those first JTC demo solos certainly seemed to attract a lot of "hits", but I really don't claim to understand how any of that stuff works - as soon as something is posted online, it seems to take on a life of its own, and nobody can really control - or take credit for - the amount of attention it receives. I'm grateful that the online guitar community has expressed an interest in my playing - that's all I really know!

Back to GPS, I've heard that a live DVD is due to be released later this year. Is this band still alive anyway?

I've heard those rumours, too, but I wouldn't take them too seriously! I don't expect GPS to record or tour any time in the near future - it was an interesting band, but keeping it going would require a lot of effort and commitment from four band members who are all busy doing other things... and scattered across the globe. These days, it seems to me that John's main priority is the "Asia featuring John Payne" band, anyhow: JP wrote a lot of material in his Asia days, and I think he wants to preserve that musical legacy…

I strongly think that the Aristocrats' eponymous debut album is the best fusion record in the last couple of years. How do you describe ther style of this unique band?

It's easier to describe what the style isn't, rather than what it is! We didn't want to make the stereotypical "fusion supergroup" album: most of those recordings tend to sound very musically accomplished but somehow sterile, so we wanted to capture more of a raw, "rock" energy. Everyone in the band writes music - for that début album, each of us contributed three songs - so I guess the style of the band is just a big mix of everyone's different influences. Our musical tastes certainly overlap, but they're not exactly the same: Marco and Bryan have a great passion for metal - the heavier the better! - but then again Marco and I are huge Björk fans. I suppose the one thing we all have in common is our fondness for the music of Frank Zappa, which for us represents the perfect balance between playing challenging music and retaining a sense of humor and fun.

How did you get in touch with Bryan and Marco?

It was one of those fortunate accidents, I guess! In January of last year, Bryan was scheduled to perform a 30 minute set at an event called the Bass Bash, in Anaheim CA, which coincided with the annual NAMM show. Originally the lineup was meant to be Bryan, Marco and Greg Howe" but Greg had to cancel at short notice and I believe some people on Facebook suggested to Bryan that it might be worth asking me to fill in! When we did that short gig, we were all aware of a rare kind of musical chemistry within the lineup: naturally we wanted to capture more of this chemistry, so… we started a band ;-)

How did you work out the guitar parts? The record sounds so spontaneous, I only can hear one guitar track at a time in the songs. Am I'm right?

There's one short section in Boing… where you can hear two guitar parts, but apart from that the intention was to capture the sound of a live band in a room, so we kept the instrumentation as sparse as possible. All the guitar solos are totally improvised - though, of course, there are some composed melodic sections in each tune, too. Basically, If you hear a part more than once, it was written: if not, it was improvised!) One of the main thing we're trying to capture with this band is the interplay between the three members, and all that stuff all happens spontaneously.

Believe or not I can hear a little Andy Timmons influence in Sweaty Knockers. Can it be possible?

Not really. I dig Andy's playing a lot - he has that authoritative "touch" whereby every note he plays sounds very musical - but if you hear any similarities between his playing and mine, it's more because we probably have shared influences, and I get the sense that we have the same basic priorities when we play.

Sweaty Knockers is one of Bryan's tunes and, interestingly, he told me that his guitar reference point when he wrote it was actually Mike Landau!

Bad Asteroid is one of your earliest tunes. Why did you decide to re-arrange it?

Well, I had played a simplified version of the tune with Asia, but I realised that I had never recorded a studio version of the whole structure of the song, the way it was when I wrote it 20 or so years ago. I quite like the tune, and I was curious to hear what flavours the wonderful BB/MM rhythm section might add to it!

Furtive Jack has a huge Jeff Beck vibe guitar wise. Do you agree?

I'm honestly not sure - if you hear any Beck in there, it must have happened on a purely subconscious level! I actually wrote that song as the "soundtrack" to the life of an imaginary character called Jack, who likes to steal things and is always sneaking around, on the run, to avoid getting caught. The main vibe of the guitar part was meant to be an electric re-invention of certain folk/gypsy elements - I can imagine that the main melody would work really well on a violin, for instance ;-)

Could you please introduce your studio gear what you used during the recording process - piece by piece? Does your stage equipment differ from it?

Okay... guitars first! I used my early '70s Gibson ES-335 for Get It Like That: everything else on the album was recorded using my Suhr Antique Modern signature guitar, which features a roasted maple neck and a basswood body with a plain maple top. Usually I prefer mahogany guitars, but for the exposed trio format of the Aristocrats, I thought I'd try a guitar with a wider range of frequencies, just to fill up a little more sonic space. (Now, I've grown to like that guitar so much that I use it for pretty much everything!)

I split the guitar signal using an Axess buffer unit, and played through two amps simultaneously: most of what you hear on the album is a Suhr Badger 30 head with a 2x12 open-backed cabinet, but in certain places we mixed in a hint of the other amp (a Custom Audio Electronics PT-100 with a 4x12) to get a slightly more aggressive, "modern" tone.

In terms of pedals, I mainly used a Suhr Koko Boost in front of the Badger, to boost the mids slightly. (For the PT-100, I borrowed a pedal from one of the guys who worked in the studio: I think it was called a Sex Drive, but I really can't remember the name of the company who made it…) In places, you'll hear my AnalogMan chorus or an old Maestro phaser (again, borrowed from the studio, though it was hard to give back at the end of the sessions!) but for the most part I avoided using too many pedals: I wanted to preserve that raw, honest sound…

Which do you prefer and why:

Okay: I'll be brief here - I've probably talked way too much already!

  - Double locking trem or vintage whammy bar?

Locking terms stay in tune better, but they're complicated to maintain and they're usually too sensitive, so… vintage whammy it is. If you stretch the strings properly and lubricate all the contact points, a retro style term can stay in tune pretty well.

  - Humbuckers or single coils?

They're both great, but for different things. Do I have to choose?

  - Thick or thin strings/picks?

I tend to use very thick Red Bear picks: I can have more control that way. In the studio, I might use a thinner pick for a funky strumming part or an acoustic track - the EQ sounds very different, and sometimes that's what you want - but generally I can get through any gig or session with my trusty Red Bear.

For strings, I normally use Rotosound .010-.046: I'd break anything lighter that that, but if I go much heavier than .010s, I seem to lose the dynamic balance between picked and legato notes. (I'll happily use .014s on an arch top jazz guitar, though - it all depends on the situation.)

  - High or low string action?

High enough that the notes sustain properly, low enough that playing doesn't feel too difficult.

  - High or low gain amps?

There are different kinds of high gain: a Dual Rectifier and a Cornford MK50 both have huge amounts of gain, but they feel very different. I prefer the kind of gain which helps notes to sustain and feed back in a musical way, but still manages to preserve the detail in each note: I like it when an amp responds differently to each of the various ways you might hit the strings: you have to "fight" the amp a little more, but it's worth it ;-)

  - British or American amp characteristic?

This probably sounds a bit weird, but I think the UK and US tend to voice amps in a way which reflects the way the people speak in each of those countries: the American style of amp voicing has a slightly more strident type of midrange which reminds me of an American accent. Perhaps that's why I feel more comfortable with a British kind of amp voicing: in some strange way, it sounds more like me!

  - Rack effects or stomp boxes?

I've always been a "pedal" kind of guy…

Last December some of your gear has been stolen in Italy while you were touring there. What happened exactly?

Well, you covered all the main points right there! We stopped off at the Colosseum on our way to the soundcheck for a gig in Rome: we left the van in what seemed like a safe place, but when we returned, the vehicle was totally empty and we had to replace €15000 worth of gear. It sucked!(Of course, the local police did absolutely nothing to help, other than to inform us that incidents like this happen all the time in Rome, so what can you do?)

As far as touring, how is you schedule for this year?

Pretty busy - there are lots of Aristocrats gigs coming up (we're working on another European tour for October-November time, for instance) and a big run of solo clinics in the US this summer. Various other things, too - I won't bore you with all the details! - but in fact one of my main priorities for this year is to make sure I can find the time to write lots of new material. These days, I'm starting to find that I need to book writing time, in the same way that someone with a more conventional job might book a holiday: if I don't make an effort to keep some space in my diary, it simply won't happen! (This is a good problem to have, though - please don't think I'm complaining about the situation, because I'm really not!)

What are your recording plans for the near future? Any chance for a new instrumental album?

I'd very much like to get a new solo album done this year, and we're also working on the logistics of recording the next Aristocrats album ASAP. (We may even release some kind of live DVD from one of our Aristocrats gigs - let's see what happens!)

With so many years teaching under your belt, what advice could you give to young players who want to achieve great tone and technique?

Practice playing things perfectly, rather than just being obsessive about speed. Be aware that most of your tone comes from your fingers, and that you can't always blame your gear if your tone sucks. Work on developing your ear, by transcribing as much as possible and by trying to sing the notes you play (even if you only do so internally: not everyone can be George Benson, but the important thing is the mental process of trying to feel responsible for each note…) Don't rely on other people's tablature for everything you learn. Finally: try to have specific goals - if you know exactly what it is that you're trying to achieve, you're far less likely to waste any valuable time in your practice sessions!

Check out Guthrie at:

the-aristocrats-band.com