Sunday 19th November...early hours...Not much to add except busy as hell and currently working on doing all my FAVE songs of all-time! Just completed a cover of 'Pink Floyd's 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' with the incomparable Lawrie Rugless on saxamaphone (see The Simpsons episode 412!) who did a BLINDING version of the original guy's solo. Me and Lawrie were in a local Bucks band called Jonesville that never really took off as I went off to the tribute scene and the keys guy Mark moved to Manchester (poor sod!). Lawrie is a true musician in the old sense of the word...feel, feel and a bit more feel. So, an absolute delight to try and do 'Dick Parry' on 'Shine'.

Also in the pipeline is a cover of Thin Lizzy 'Roisin Dubh' or Black Rose as it's better known. I've wanted to do these songs for years and am now finally taking the time to do 'em...for what point, I have no idea as they aren't mine so it's just a tribute (Tenacious D fans salute!) that will make no money but leave a big cobwebby spot on the site...but at least I can say I 'did 'em'. A Richard Marx song also threatens to be covered so your ears are in for a treat/feat depending how and when you see it.

Some new guitars springing up...I have a Ibanez RG470 thing and am just waiting on a Ernie Ball Music Man Eddie Van Halen model to arrive in the post. Pinkish purple is the best I can describe it but when I get some pics, you'll see it's a dream guitar!

That's it for now...as I'm up to my boobies in work, I'll wish you a MERRY XMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR now! I may repeat this unless I'm out looking for a turkey! All the best...if Debenhams can put their deco's up in November, I can wish you all the best!!! Salut!

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Sunday 10th September...BLOODY HELL! HOW TIME FLIES!!! Well, this ain't workin'! 5 months between updates is not good and, to be honest, there's not really a lot of interest in what I'm doing so I don't update that often. At 44, with kids and all the time that takes up, it's finding the motivation to bother. Don't get me wrong, in the land of the guitar, I've never been busier. I look likely to be teaching in 4 schools as well as 30+ students at home. Only thing is, it leaves me little time to do the ME stuff. However, there is a bit of news...

Black Rose finds drummer! Only Malla Smith! The bestest, tightest North East drummer and former member of Black Rose! So now we are three...plus Kiko who is a star with FAR TOO MANY nice guitars. I am going to have a stipulation that Kiko leaves me his gear should his Coca Cola van be KNOCKED OFF THE ROAD by some fat guy travelling too fast in his beat-up Vectra...get it written into a will NOW! On a serious note, having Malla back at the drum helm will make the stuff more 'real' as we've been doing the stuff with (ARGHHHH!), a drum machine!!!! Welcome back Malla...now get it sorted! Once we have got it sorted (i.e re-recorded at least 12 new tracks), we'll see if the same general lockout by the likes of Geoff Barton and the Classic Rock team means we have nowhere to go with the stuff except maybe release it ourselves. Sad but true and, to be honest, inevitable if you are not gigging to promote.

On that note, we recieved an e-mail from Mr Jess Cox (one time shouter with the Tygers Of Pan Tang) with regard to maybe playing some festivals in Germany next year. For me, it's a no-no...too much hassle and not very enjoyable. I'd love the idea of getting on a stage in front of a crowd who knew what we were about...but at 44, I don't relish trying to pretend I'm 20...and ther are lots of people who could easily fill my boots and do the stuff.

On a final note, I've closed the Guestbook at the moment due to the low-life parasitic spamming twats that insist on sending me e-mails to either make my dick larger, harder or maybe a different colour, or links to lesbian scenes (which do nothing for me!). Can you not make the same sort of money by picking weevils out of turds you lowlife tossers?

It's great rock and roll ain't it?

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Monday 10th April 2006...HAPPY EASTER!!! I really need to find some time to update this site more regularly! But the last 3 months since Xmas have been very busy with teaching at both home and in the schools and this easter break has been the first chance I've had to get round to it. There are updates in the gear section as I've bought a number of new guitars including a Levinson Blade, a 50th Anniversary Fender Stratocaster, a Dean Bass and am also waiting on TWO Epiphone Zakk Wylde guitars to arrive from America (more about that further down)! I'm looking for a really nice Ernie Ball Music Man Axis Super Sport or EVH if anybody has one they were thinking of throwing in the bin!!!! I'll even collect! Here's a couple of really bad pictures of all my guitars...I can't get enough space in the studio to take a decent pic but there'll be individual shots in the 'Gear' section any day soon (once my new Fender has joined the happy throng!)

Song/MP3 wise there is also a heap of new stuff and I've taken some of the old ones down to give it a spring clean. There's a couple of covers that I'm really chuffed with including a version of Van Halen' 'On Fire' from the infamous Van Halen I album. It's a continuing obsession to try and get the tone thru the PODxt and it's getting closer. This one was done with Johnny Lokke who has done a few things with me and I've done some of his stuff...great metal singer.

I also did a cover of Pink Floyd' 'Have A Cigar' with my good friend from New Orleans, Serge Benoit (known to some on the net as 3fingers tho I've never worked out why!) Serge is a seriously gifted guitarist but also has a great voice and he jumped at doing this track. I had a great time trying to recreate the end where it segues into 'Wish You Were Here' with all the radio static etc...great fun and we've left it so we can come back to it later and maybe do the entire second half of the album!

Other covers include Vinnie Moore's 'Rain' and a similar version to the one he did of George Harrison' While My Guitar Gently Weeps'...one of those songs I promised to cover years ago but never got round to. Also Joe Satriani's 'Mountain Song'; not a 100% accurate but again a load of fun. What else...oh yeah, nearly forgot...Ac/Dc's classic 'Highway to Hell' and also Steve Hackett's 'Fifth on Firth' with another internet collaborator from Australia known to me as Synthz or his name his parents gave him, Yudhi. He's a fantastic player who uses his synth to make outrageous guitar-like solo's ala Eric Johnson...I would have said Jan Hammer but that's lazy because he's the first name you think of when thinking of that kinda sound. We hope to do more stuff if the time is available. He's a real talent and the idea of doing original stuff over the net is very exciting but time-consuming when you can't sit and rub ideas off each other..

Speaking of original stuff, I did a fair bit of new stuff that's posted up including 'Stevie's Dream', 'High 5' and 'Slowburn Sunday'...two of which are very laid back whilst the other is an out and out rocker. I did bass on two of them also. Vocals are gonna be more prominent when I get my voice back...this winter has left me with about 4 bouts of cold or flu!

I also did an article for a guitar site called Guitarz For Ever...it's about how boutique amps and tone are really making people's wallet's lighter! You can read it here

So, what about these two Epiphone Zakk Wyldes then? Well, a company called 357 Customs was doing a crazy promotion. These guys make custom choppers for rock stars and Hollywood actors by the look of it. I suppose the premise being that Harley's are now pretty oversubscribed (by 40+ guys looking for a new buzz and loaded down with cash!) so they may as well make the 'real' thing. So they made a chopper for Zakk Wylde (for those who have been asleep for the past 10 years, he's Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist on a regular bassist and also fronts his own band Black Label Society as well as looking and living like a total biker.) and Zakk has endorsed it by using the same colours on his also endorsed range of Gibson and Epiphone guitars. So, I got a call VERY late sometime in December telling me to get on-line quick for this deal. The deal was you pay for a pewter model of Zakk's bike (like a collectable...same colours etc only 8" in size!!!!) and in return you get a Zakk Wylde Bullseye guitar worth about $700? Also you get $100 of gift vouchers to use in the 357 shop on-line. So I thought about it for a short while and thought, nothing to lose (except money and sleep as you'll read!) and made a purchase. So, in theory, I'm on the up because of the value of the guitar right? So, a few weeks later my certificate turns up with my gift vouchers...that was January...it's now APRIL! Nada...Zilch...NOWT! BUT, in the meantime ANOTHER promotion turned up offering another collectable, PLUS another choice of Epiphone PLUS a 1GB MP4 player!!!! And I could pay for some of it with the gift vouchers I got sent!!!! So I signed up to that one! Now waiting for 2 pewter collectable, 2 Zakk Wylde Epiphones and a 1GB MP4 PLAYER!

There's obviously been a lot of discussion on various forums as over 2,000 guitarists (and pewter collectable enthusists!) have gone for this and most are still waiting for anything to arrive. E-mails have been shot back and forward, Epiphone have blamed EMG who have said not there fault...blah de blah! WILL MY GUITARS (and pewter stuff) AND MP4 EVER TURN UP? If they do, I'll post a picture...if not, I'm going to Tennessee with some sort of sharp object! In all seriousness, this deal has been mentioned on Zakk's own site as well as the Epiphone site amongst others and, it could turn bad as Zakk is an endorsee and it won't reflect well IF it's a con. So, I'm pretty sure I will get my stuff. I think 357 Customs were just OVERAWED at the response and are trying desperately to keep it moving. I'll keep ya posted!

Well, that's about it for now. Please keep listening to the stuff and leaving comments about the playing or what you like or dislike...just make them constructive!

Cheers,

Chris..

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Monday 19th December...HAPPY XMAS! Just wanted to wish all a HAPPY XMAS and a great 2006! Just noticed that it was the anniversary of Dimebag's death a couple of days ago and that was the first item on this News Page. Still missed and can't understand one moment of sheer madness.

QUIT MY JOB!!!! Yep, handed me notice in as the tuition has gone BALLISTIC and I've now managed to find some tuition work in the local schools to me. Being back as a full-time musician was very important to me so being able to be busy enough to follow this path is a very important break for this year. Now if only we can sell 5 million of the item below!!!!!!!!!

BLACK ROSE ALBUM IS OUT!!!

GO TO THE LINK BELOW TO ORDER A COPY FROM MAJESTIC ROCK NOW!!!!

http://www.majesticrock.com/catalogue.php

Artist - BLACK ROSE
BRIGHT LIGHTS BURNIN` - THE ANTHOLOGY - MAJCD068
Released 06-12-2005

Price: £11.99
Barcode: 842051006828

“Maybe third in line after Def Leppard and Heavy Pettin’, Black Rose had the stadium riffs but never got the producer nor the studio time they needed to break radio big...” – Martin Popoff, ‘The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal Singles’

That says it all – Black Rose where a band that, given the breaks, could genuinely have been amongst the big boys. Sure, that may have been true of a lot of bands..but listen to this disc and tell me we’re wrong here.

Covering their complete career and containing a number of rare tracks and previously unseen photos plus sleeve notes from respected NWOBHM scribe John Tucker, this goes some way towards redressing the balance and giving Black Rose the kudos they so richly deserve….


1.No Point Runnin’2.Sucker For Your Love3.Red Light Lady4.We’re Gonna Rock You5.Boys Will Be Boys6.Stand Your Ground7.Fun & Games8.Baby Believe Me9.Party Animal10. California U.S.A.11. E.Z.L.Y.12. Walk It How You Talk It13. Wanted14. Bright Lights Burnin’15. I Want Your Love

NEW DEMO'S STILL BEING WORKED ON...recently sent some of the new stuff to Geoff Barton and Dave Reynolds of Classic Rock...not heard a dicky-bird so nothing new there in terms of Black Rose having to bloody struggle at every avenue! BUT, the new stuff is still taking shape and we'll definitely have a full albums worth sometime in the Spring. Watch this space.

MESSAGEBOARD DOWN AT THE MOMENT...Have taken the messageboard down as it was getting too many 'junk' and spam replies. It seems to be inherent with that type of messageboard cos when I went to the website of the guy who developed it, his own was full of this CRAP as well???? Unbelievable! Still waiting for my man from Scotland to remove said finger from said orifice and get a new beginning sorted....howay Paul, get on with it!

Well that's all for now. Enjoy the break with your family and here's to 2006!

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Thursday 17th November 2005...bloody flu again! Sat, sneezing, feeling like shit so thought I'd better get something done! So here is the news!

Black Rose NEW release "Bright Lights Burnin" released December on Majestic Rock. Track-listing is done, artwork is complete and so just the release date to be finalised and that's looking likely to be early December. This is a retrospective compilation of our released AND unreleased stuff from 1982-1988. Check out the Majestic Rock web site for news on the release.

NEW demo songs of Black Rose material continue to be completed at a RAPID rate! Latest additions are "Fight For Your Life", "So Predictable", "Twice Shy Once Bitten" and the current one I'm working on called "Freefall". All the tracks have the Black Rose vibe thru them and it's fun seeing what my e-mail brings in the morning! (except the Daily Spam from Monsieur Stoopid!)

Tuition continues to grow...I now have approx. 20 students and am looking to get into the local schools to teach next year. If you wish to find out more about the tuition side of things, go to the Gigajam website now!

Other stuff...well I'm hopeful of getting some guitar onto David Readman's new solo album but we'll wait and see what happens. David is easily one of my favourite singer's but I believe he has a few better known players in the pipeline so it'll be a result if I can get my stuff wedged onto his album!

NEW GEAR...Bought a few items for the studio to allow me to play more stuff and get it recorded quickly and easily. Look in the Gallery for some pics and updates.

So that's about it for now...I'm still pestered by someone on my Guest Book but it's getting to be fun to see what Monsieur Stoopid has brought to the mix overnight. God knows why...surely there must be a village somewhere that requires his services! Later...

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Saturday 1st October 2005...A song is finished...2 years after I wrote it! I came up with this really heavy riff just before Xmas 2003 and it's taken me this long just to get it completed! The problem was that it NEEDED a seriously heavy drum track and I knew I'd never come up with something with samples or a drum machine that would do it justice. Over the next 18 months I asked various drummers if they could help out (mainly on the guitars101 website) and, a couple either tried or promised they'd try but never came back with anything. Fast-forward to May of this year and I'd lost all hope of ever getting this song finished. This was a bit depressing as I thought this was a very strong track. Then I remembered SKINBASHER aka Scot Goacher. I'd done a track on an album that Johnny Lokke was putting together to raise some funds for Scot...he'd broken his hip and had no medical insurance (not good in the US!). Anyway, the track was finished, the album came out (see Johnny's website for more details) and Scot was able to get well with a few funds from his mates. He then e-mailed me and said that if he could ever do me a favour...that was probably a BIG mistake!!!! I asked him if he would help me with this song and he agreed. The only problem was that I only had the main riff and the rest in my head. So began a three month correspondense via e-mail of various drum tracks. Give Scot his dues, he kept in coming back! I'd say really helpful stuff like, "that's not right"! and so he'd go back to the lab and re-do. After about 4 attempts over the course of a few months, Scot finally came back with some abso-fooking-lutely thunderous drumming...I HAD THE DRUMS DOWN!!!

Next step was the bass line. For some bizarre reason I'd written a middle section that would do Billy Sheehan proud!!! Only thing to do...buy a bass guitar. So I did and then tried to again learn what was in my head! After a coupla weeks I felt that I had a bass track that didn't sound like a guitarist was playing it so finally got to work of putting all the ideas down in the studio. Lyrics came pretty quick to me cos this idea had been in my head for so long. Everything was going great now. I knew I wanted to use the song for the new Black Rose stuff BUT I also wanted to try with a few different vocalists to see what everyone would bring to it. A quick e-mail to Oslo and I started the process again with my good mate and great singer Roy Bratbakken. Now Roy has to voice to die for...imagine Sammy Hagar and Chris Cornell had a love-child...that'd be ROY!!!! Roy has done an AMAZING job and the track was finally mixed down last earlier this week. The song is called "I DON'T NEED NOBODY" and I hope to have some snippets up soon in the mp3 page. Prolly the heaviest yet commercial song I've written over the years. Just shows...perseverance if you believe in something! I wanna thank both guys for been absolute STARS and helping me out on this one. Cheers guys...amazing job!

My gear with "Unchained" Van Halen tribute band, JB's, Dudley, 2003.

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Sunday 11th September 2005...Summer over...BACK TO WORK! Summer holidays gone...Cornwall and it piggin' rained none stop! So back to work and what's new? Majestic Rock have begun work on the Black Rose compilation album and we're up to putting sleeve notes together and looking at photographs to sort out which look like intelligable life and which look like Yeti's! Sadly, all mine look like the latter but that's what you get for not visiting a Barber's shop from the age of 19 to 24!

Work also continues on the new Black Rose stuff. We've re-recorded a track from the first album called "Baby Believe Me" which is near completion and sounding nice. Still doing all this over the internet which still amazes me what can be achieved without stepping in the same room.

The best news for me is that my tuition has taken off big-time now the schools are back and I'm pretty much full to the brim! I'm hoping this means I can go full-time with it in the New Year and spend all my time writing, recording and teaching...here's hoping.

Found this interview I did a while ago over the net. Thought I'd post it up.

 

 

                       

 

Chris Watson was the lead guitarist for the NWOBHM (new wave of British heavy metal) band Black Rose. The band never really got the big break they needed and remained a largely underground act during their career. Black Rose released two full-length albums (one with and one without Chris) before splitting up. Since leaving Black Rose Chris has been a member of a Van Halen tribute band (Unchained) and an Alice Cooper tribute band.

First off, congratulations on the newborn! Have you been losing much sleep?

 

ZZZZZZZZ.....You could say that! But she’s worth it!

What was the reason for Black Rose breaking up?

 

Well I left in 1986 to move to London; you know, big city lights and all that. I felt that we wouldn’t get the big break onto a major label so would never be able to make a living at it…like 99% of musicians, it’s tough trying to make enough to buy a house, run a car and raise a family. The band went on for a couple more years and released a second album but then they received a letter from another Black Rose in the US, saying they would sue if anything was released under that name. That was pretty much the death knell.

Do you have any desire to reform black rose or start/join another originals band?

 

Well, we’ve been writing stuff together but we live 300 miles apart and, besides maybe Germany and Japan, there wouldn’t be a lot of interest in a bunch of 40-year-old rockers in the UK! If the writing comes to anything, we hoped to maybe do a few festivals and go and do some dates in Japan but it’s a bit early to say whether that will happen. We all have family and stuff now so it’s not an easy choice.

What was the biggest guitar rig you can remember playing through for concerts during the 80’s?

 

The biggest rig I used was 6 Marshall 4x12’s, 3 100w Marshall JCM’s and 2 50w Marshalls (see photo) This was for the bigger venues and don’t forget we were going out when the likes of Gary Moore and Y&T were putting up a wall of speakers!

                       

                      

What are the best and worst gigs you’ve played?

 

Best gigs were Newcastle City Hall which is the place where I saw all my heroes; Rush, VH, Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher…it was an amazing experience to be on the same stage that I’d seen those guys 6 years earlier…I was only 21!

 

The other gig would be The Dynamo Club in Eindhoven, Holland. In the UK we were just another band but in Europe, they really liked the band and treated us like stars! I remember that we had 3 magazine interviews that day and we talked to people after the gig that had come from Germany, Belgium and Switzerland for that one night! Amazing…we also had the biggest drinks rider any of us had ever seen!

Worst gig would have to be with Unchained in South Shields...they hated us! When we came on the house lights were still on...the queue at the bar was about 40 minutes long and the 'Guitar Mafia' were out in force. I could see we'd 'dared' to try and compare ourselves to the sacred cow that is Van Halen. Get real! It's fu-kin' entertainment. The number of gigs where drunken people would come up and say, "So' YOU think you're Eddie Van Halen do you?" Er, no, it's me day job!

Are there any specific memories you have from the songwriting/recording process of Black Rose’s 2 albums?

 

I remember the two weeks we spent doing the first album very clearly. We wrote a lot of stuff in the studio and a ballad we did called ‘Baby Believe Me’ was a definite high point. It was the first time I’d really structured a solo and not just tried to burn round the neck. When we finished recording it, we sat and listened and had big cheesy grins for days!

 

The other thing I remember was meeting Venom! That was fun. Neat Records and Impulse Studios were like a second home to those guys. If they weren’t recording they were hanging around drinking coffee. The first time I met Geoff (Mantas!) was when I was trying to record an acoustic guitar solo and everytime I started, this drilling would come on and ruin the recording…the mic was VERY expensive and picked up sounds 2 floors away. Anyway, I was sent to find out who was making the noise and there was this guy making up 36 4x12 cabs with all this plywood! They were getting ready for the ‘7 Dates Of Hell’ tour and Venom always did things on a big scale! One day they were showing us photos and one had a backdrop with VENOM in big 6 foot high letters. So I jokingly said, ‘That’s nothing…our backdrop is bigger than that’. The guys looked at each other, laughed and said, ‘Yeah, but that’s on the drum riser!!!’ Sure enough there’s another pic of this monstrous 10 foot high drum riser with all the drums you could ever own on it! Good guys tho…they started a lot of bands like Metallica, Megadeth and Anthrax off on that road.

 

                   

                      (above) Chris’s axes during the Black Rose days

There seems to be a lot of hype surrounding The Darkness. In your opinion, are they good old-fashioned rock n roll? Or derivative garbage?

 

I’m sorta stuck in two camps on this one. I think any rock band getting exposure in the UK is good for all of us rockers as there is so much dance and chart stuff here and kids don’t see a lot of bands playing instruments. The Darkness are one of a few that are doing good business at the moment. The other’s would be the likes of Funeral For A Friend, Lost Prophets and, funnily enough, Busted! Yeah, I know they are sorta a boy band but they play their instruments and try to do a UK version of watered down Blink 182. The Darkness are a great idea…FUN back in music! I think a lot of rock musicians in the UK have been very critical of them but they want to be thankful there are some guys playing Les Pauls thru stacks on the TV alongside all the Pap Idol stuff! The band come across as not taking themselves seriously but they have big plans and I think a lot is gonna depend on the second album. I have only heard a couple of songs that I could honestly say I liked off of the first album…but both the guys can play guitar! Ask me again after I’ve heard the second album!

What’s your opinion on the whole retro rock thing that’s going on at the moment e.g. the strokes, jet, the white stripes etc.?

 

What goes around comes around! When I hear The Strokes, I hear Television and The Stooges circa 1978. Jet sound a bit like The Stones…that ‘Are You Gonna Be My Girl’ is a great song! I think that if you’re old enough to remember this stuff the first time round, it doesn’t come as such a surprise. What usually happens is the big record companies look desperately for a Strokes sound a like and sign them. Two or three bands end up coming thru before the door closes. Think Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and you’ll see what I mean. Other bands came thru but most went by the wayside. Most new ‘scenes’ are over before they’ve really got mainstream…to make way for the next! Maybe we’ll be harking back to the likes and looks of Guns and Roses, Love/Hate and Faster Pussycat next!

         

              (above) Black Rose: Rocking out Status Quo style!

Which players would you say have been the most influential towards your playing?

 

There are 100’s! My influences go back to when I was a kid starting out. I started playing the guitar at about 8 years old but didn’t really get into it big time until I was about 14. The first person who made me really want to play was a guy called Bill Nelson who was in a band called Be Bop Deluxe…he was amazing. Then I got into Alex Lifeson of Rush and around about the same time I got to hear Eddie Van Halen. Hearing ‘Eruption’ for the first time in 1978 is a lot different to hearing it today for the first time as no one had heard anything like it before! Eddie changed the way the guitar would be played for decades. I like players who really put their all into playing. Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck and Neal Schon for emotion. Eddie, George Lynch, Zakk Wylde, Doug Aldrich for tone and attack, and Paul Gilbert, John Petrucci for dazzling over-the-top playing. Slash, Angus Young and Joe Perry for that rock and roll thing…Kelly Joe Phelps for his acoustic playing…the list goes on and on!

Are there any new players/bands that have impressed you over the last 5 years?

 

I reckon John Petrucci and Doug Aldrich have had the biggest effect on me as a player recently. Dream Theater continue to be my fave band and have been for about 10 years. I don’t necessarily play Petrucci’s licks or style but he just can turn his hand to any damn style! With Doug Aldrich, it’s the tone in his fingers that makes him unbeatable. He’s very George Lynch to my ears and every note is squeezed out of the guitar…awesome!

As a big Van Halen fan, what’s your opinion on them reforming? Do you think its money fuelled?

 

I’m not sure…the latest songs haven’t caught my attention. I was a real big fan of the DLR era VH and, though I didn’t dislike the Hagar era, it wasn’t as productive in jaw-dropping stuff like ‘Unchained’, ‘Mean Streets’ or ‘Push Come To Shove’. THAT was the era when they were the best for me. I’m sure the money is a factor but if Ed is like me, he just has to play, and he hasn’t done that for a long time now. He certainly looks happy to be on a stage again! I’d like to see ém…Ed is one of my heroes so I’d just get a big cheesy grin catching up with him. I’m thinking of going to see Rush in September for the same reason…I’ve seen ém 9 times and feel this will probably be the last time they’ll come over to the UK. I wanna say thanks and goodbye to a band that gave me some amazing music.

 

                             

                        (above) Black Rose. Chris is second from the right.

What CD’s are currently in your stereo?

 

That’s a tough one cos most of my stuff is on my hard drive and I play allsorts of weird and wonderful stuff. In the car I’m listening to the latest Dream Theater album ‘Train Of Thought’, a guitar compilation cd I made up and believe it or not, Extreme ‘Pornograffiti’and Mr. Big ‘Lean Into It’! Can’t beat Old Skool rock!!!

You are stranded on a desert island and can only take 5 albums with you. Which albums would you take and why?

 

What advice or words of wisdom would you give to aspiring musicians?

 

Try your damnest! Don’t just listen to one player, take it all in and find the things that make you play music not just scales and patterns. Work hard on putting emotion into your music whether it be anger, sorrow or laughter…try and make your playing cover all the bases. Get in a band-don’t just sit at home…you need to be out there to improve. Finally, stick to your guns and be your own player. Playing like Vai or Satriani isn’t going to make you rich!

 

                                

(interview from 2004)

 

 

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