I have an easier time over in Europe than I do here. I live in the Boston area, and Boston being a college town really wants alternative music. So I have a difficult time getting shows and drawing a huge crowd around here. I find it kind of weird. Thankfully that is not the only thing that I have to go on.
G3 is definitely here to stay. People may or may not know, the concept that we came up with a number of years ago was to be able to bring guitarists together that usually spend most of their time trying to stay apart. Managers and record companies are always trying to keep people separate. So we came up with the idea of bringing people together.
Back when I got my hands on my first multi-track recorder, I was fascinated with overdubbing, piling things on top of things, and recording anyone that came in my grip. I recorded hundreds of hours of stuff. Then I released the record `Flexible,` my first solo record.
Favored Nations is my new independent record company. It`s something I knew I was going to do. I knew I was destined to do a record company eventually. It`s a great concept and I found a great partner, Ray Sheer. We had similar concepts on how we would like to construct a label. I`ve been in the business for a long time, and I understand the infrastructure of how a label works and how they promote and market. So we put together this concept, sort of a musicians label.
You know, the early rock bands that I was into, like Deep Purple and Queen were very guitar oriented bands. I just wanted to start playing, so I got a guitar one year for Christmas. I had no interest in the guitar on Christmas day, I played more with the box. It grew on me and I got real serious after a couple of years.
I believe that back in the 80`s it was a very novel thing to be an instrumental rock guitarist. I mean we`ve had rock instrumental songs since rock began, but the technical advances made by many of us were very charming and, for a while, in vogue. These are the very same qualities that almost killed the genre.
I find it hard to believe that some people have trouble getting press. It`s not really that difficult to do. I think the hardest part is letting go of the fear of a bad review. I`ve spoken to colleagues who don`t send their CD out because they`re afraid it`ll get trashed. Yeah, it might. But you have to take that chance.
Well, there really isn`t that big a demand for that kind of music that I write and play over the radio. So what I`ve been able to do by doing my own records and doing my own website is basically ignore the record company thing where the whole machinery has to be in place for airplay, promotions and tours. Now I can make the music I want to make, and so far so good.
I have done interviews with quite a few leading Japanese and European magazines. My experience with them has been very positive. As far as US magazines are concerned, it is hard for me to say how they are handling guitar-oriented music, because I haven`t dealt with them much in the past. There just doesn`t seem to be that much of a market for insturmental music in the US as there is overseas.
We`re definitely going to do another album this year. We`ve got a couple of concepts we`re throwing around. It will be an instrumental album. We`re ready to do that again ourselves. Like I said, we`re extremely proud of "Under The Lash Of Gravity" and we`re doing everything we can to get it out there. Initially, instrumental guitar fans didn`t buy it. But if they give it a chance, it does grow on you.
Don`t get jealous. Don`t put other people down for their playing. You have to concentrate on what you want to do and study and appreciate the works of other people. Don`t rip off works of your friends, take a little from them and add some originality. I have found that the people who take ideas and riffs from others blatantly without giving credit are usually mediocre musicians and writers.
Transcribing is difficult work that takes a lot of concentration--I usually use headphones and I use a switching box which allows me to hear the right or left channel only through both sides of the headphones. This helps when trying to zero in on a particular guitar part. A thorough knowledge of music notation is mandatory also.
