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 Well, this was
certainly unknown territory. Listen to an all instrumental album and
interview its creator who just happens to be one of the most
respected technical guitar players of the current generation. Well,
I've said it before; I'm NOT one to turn down a challenge, so
when the promo arrived it went immediately onto repeat play and, boy,
did I enjoy it.
Naturally, I would leave the reviewing to someone
with the technical know-how to do it justice, but I know what I like
to hear, and I liked this very much indeed. It is by no means a
heavy metal shred fest, comprising lots of light and shade and plenty
of different styles to keep the listener's attention.
Any
apprehension was quickly dispelled as I was soon to quickly discover
that the mild mannered Mr Loomis is absolutely fascinating to talk
to, and as he warmed to his subject, I'm afraid I became guilty of
making him a little late for his next telephone appointment.
What was it that
motivated you to do a solo album?
Actually I've been a
fan of instrumental music for ever. When I was sixteen or seventeen
I was very into a lot of the Shrapnel (LA label headed up by Mike
Varney) guitar players like Jason Becker and Marty Friedman, also
Yngwie Malmsteen and people like that, so I'm really a huge fan of
instrumental music, and I've wanted to do something like this for a
very long time. I've always been preoccupied with Nevermore on the
road, though, and then as soon as there would be time to do
something, I'd have to do another Nevermore record. Also, I had to
sign a separate contract to do a solo record, so that took time as
well. So there are little things like this that eat up the whole
timing situation, but by May I got the new contract in place, and
Nevermore wasn't doing anything, so I said, hey, let's get some
musicians together and complete this project, so here I am.
Could you tell us
about some of the players on the album?
There is an amazing
jazz player by the name of Michael Manring who played on the fifth
song on the CD called ‘Cashmere Shiv'. He's an awesome player.
I don't really know him very much friendship-wise. He is more a
friend of the producer Neil Kernon, but anyway, I was happy to have
him on the record. Also Ron Jarzombek who many people know is the
guitar player in Watchtower and he is also in Spastic Ink and Blotted
Science. I've been a fan of his for ages and I met him on the
Gigantour in 2005 when he came out and saw us play. We became
friends and we were talking back then about him playing on some of my
stuff and he agreed to do it, so I was very honoured to have him on
the record. Also Pat O'Brien who, as everybody knows, used to be
in Nevermore back in 1995 through to 1997 and he plays with Cannibal
Corpse now. We have remained friends over the years and I've
always been a fan of his playing, and he played on it as well. Also
the producer for this record Neil Kernon did a couple of guest solo
tracks. So there are four very talented musicians that played on
this record.
There is a bit of
jazz style playing on this album. Are you a closet jazz fan, then?
Yeah, a little bit.
I'm very open to many different kinds of music, from classical,
jazz and fusion and stuff like that. I really wanted to make a
record that had different kinds of musical textures to it; I didn't
want it to sound just one way from beginning to end. This record
definitely has a lot of hills and valleys to it, as far as the
momentum goes, and I think it's a very diverse record to be honest
with you. Out of the different musical textures going on, jazz just
happens to be one of the small little things that fits in there on
‘Cashmere Shiv'.
Why did you decide
not to have any vocalists?
I guess maybe it's
because I've been doing that for so long with Nevermore and stuff,
and I guess Century Media was kind of pushing me towards having a
couple of guest vocalists on the record. I really wanted to make an
all instrumental record, just me and my guitar and drums, and it was
a personal decision really. It didn't have anything to do with me
hating vocalists or anything.
Neil Kernon (Queen,
Kansas, Judas Priest) produced the first 4 Nevermore
albums before you changed to Andy (Sneap). Why
did you decide to bring Neil back to produce this project?
Neil and I have this
great amazing working relationship with guitar playing. Not that
Andy and I don't, it's just that I think that Neil works really
well trying to pull things out of me that I normally wouldn't do in
the studio. When we were together recording the first four Nevermore
records, we were talking about if I ever did a solo record he would
produce it, so this goes way back to years and years ago. I guess it
was almost a promise to him that he would be the one that did the
record (laughs).
Was the working
relationship any different, this being a solo project rather than a
band project?
Kind of, yes. Normally
when you're with the whole band, you have other members that come
into the studio and do tracks and stuff like that, and with this
record it was really just me and Neil and it was a one on one
situation, so things got a little tense sometimes. It was just odd
because we didn't really have anybody else there to voice opinion
at; it was just me and him. When it comes into that kind of
scenario, sometimes things can get a little intense. It was awesome,
I mean, we worked well together and we became better friends, and it
was rough at times, but, hey, we got through it and it was a blast.
I would definitely do it again with him. Normally when you're in
the studio, you can go OK, I'm sick of you now, let's get the
bass player in here, let's work with him, but it wasn't like
that. We had to work with each other 24 hours a day, but it was a
good intense, not a bad intense.
How were the pieces
composed and compiled? Did you write specifically for this, or was
it stuff you had that didn't suit a Nevermore album?
Basically, there is one
song on the record that could have been a Nevermore tune, and that
would be the very first song ‘Shouting Fire at a Funeral'. For
some reason I just thought it would make a great instrumental, and I
decided to use that, but every other song is basically fresh material
that I wrote over the last, say, four to five months that was totally
meant for this instrumental album. I actually have six or seven
songs already for the new Nevermore record. I'm about half way
there, and we're going to be going into the studio probably some
time in the early Fall. So, yeah, this was all music for my
instrumental record and the Nevermore stuff is totally separate.
What do you feel is
your unique contribution as a guitar player in today's rock world?
How would you describe your playing?
Very eclectic (laughs).
Very sporadic, very off the cuff, very "improv" at times. I
like to go into the studio when we're recording and just play stuff
off the top; not having anything worked out. I tend to think that if
you sit down for hours and hours and work out a piece of music or a
solo or something, it sounds too worked out and too emphasised with
the track. I like to have a good idea and knowledge of what the
track is about and just go in there and fire something off because I
think the energy comes across better that way and it is more
inspiring to the listeners. So, that would be four good words that I
could describe myself as today's guitar player - very sporadic,
eclectic, off the cuff, very improvised. I try to keep things fresh.
You lose all the vibe if you make it too clinical.
Nevermore is very
much a band of the now and has a young fan base. Would it please you
to think that your playing and this album encouraged young players to
aspire to a more technical style and approach?
I would hope so, I
really would. I think that one of the biggest mistakes that guitar
players make ... well I wouldn't necessarily call it a mistake ...
I guess it's down to personal preference of what a guitar player
listens to, but I think that with listening to this album, there are
a lot of different ideas, and I think that guitarists should do the
same when they're listening to music, and not limit themselves
purely to what they like to listen to. My advice is to try to listen
to different musical styles like classical, jazz, rock or heavy
metal, whatever it may be, just try not to be limited to one thing.
I would hope that my album will influence or excite somebody to go
off on that venture, to try to explore new territories of musical
textures, if that makes sense.
Has anybody new
caught your ear recently that you would recommend fans to listen to?
Oh, man there are so
many. Let's see ... I'm really loving the new Meshuggah.
Talking from a metal standpoint I think that Fredrik Thordendal and
Marten Hagstrom are two guitar players that are really doing
something at a technical level that is mind-blowing with their
off-time rhythms and stuff like that. I would definitely start
listening to a lot of Frank Gambale (Australian jazz fusion
guitarist), who was a great jazz player, and of course Jason
Becker, Marty Friedman, players like that. That would be a good
start.
Are there any other
guitarists with whom you would aspire to play, and get involved with
in other projects - along the lines of the Becker/Friedman speed
metal symphony (released as Cacophony)?
Well,
in terms of other guitarists in this day and age, I don't really
think there are any other guitar players that are doing things at
that technical a level nowadays. That was really extreme for back
then (laughs). God, you know, that's a really good question. If I
had heard guitar players like them I would definitely mention them,
but since Marty and Jason I really haven't heard anything that
technical. In terms of guitar players that play well together, I
think two of the best are Adrian Smith and Dave Murray from Iron
Maiden, and when John Alderete and Paul Gilbert were together in
Racer X, they were a good duo. That's who I can name off the top
of my head right now.
I read an interview
with Slash the other day. He reckons that Guitar Hero is the way
forward for getting kids interested. Do you ever see yourself
getting involved and maybe having a Jeff Loomis Special Edition?
That would be totally
awesome. I actually went to YouTube recently and typed in Nevermore
Guitar Hero, and there are people out there that somehow .... I don't
know how they do it ... but they end up putting Nevermore songs into
Guitar Hero and playing along with it. They import the song and play
with it. Hey, if that's what is influencing kids to at least get
started in music, I think it's a good way for them to move forward
with it. Music is a good thing for kids, and it's better than them
hanging out and joining a gang or doing drugs. Music is very
mathematical, too, so it can open up their minds in that sense. So,
yeah, if it gets them involved, it's a good positive thing. Have
you ever played it yourself?
No, actually, but
I've become more tempted recently to have a go ... maybe after
several beers. How about you?
I've played it only
once, when my friend was here recently, and she had it on my X-Box or
something, and it was really fun. Man, it's a lot harder than you
think, too. You have to use both sides of your brain, you know
(laughs).
Well, you've
thrown down the gauntlet now, haven't you? Another Nevermore
question for you. Is the band back to being a four piece after Steve
Smyth departed last year?
That's correct, yes.
Steve had some health issues and he had to get a kidney transplant,
so he was out of the whole scenario for a while. He's doing
something else now, and then we had Chris Broderick from the band Jag
Panzer join us for the last couple of years and he was out on the
road with us, but he got the Megadeth audition, so he's playing
with them now as Glenn is not in the band any more. Chris has been a
working Megadeth musician now since September last year, so about 10
months now, so we are back to a four piece. We are actually playing
two shows, one in Seattle next week and one in Tel Aviv, Israel in
two weeks as a four piece band, and we really have no choice, we have
to do it because we want to play. Going into the studio for our next
record, we are going to stay as a four piece just to keep things kind
of closer to the family, and when we go back out on the road we'll
look for a touring guitar player. It's too intense in the studio;
it can be too much sometimes with five people in there, so we tend to
keep things a little more relaxed in the studio as a four piece and
then we'll work with somebody else in the future I think.
There are a number
of bands who adopt the "touring member" approach these days ...
Yes, and it's
unfortunate that we've had bad luck with holding onto a fifth
member, but I guess it just happens and it's one of those things.
It's bad luck for us, I guess, but we'll keep moving on as a band
and nothing will hold us back.
It must be the Curse
of Nevermore ...
I said that the other
day, actually, so you're not too far off the mark.
I saw Chris playing
with you last year at Bloodstock and he's an awesome guitarist. I
couldn't help notice the size of his arms - he must go to the gym
every day?
He does, as a matter of
fact. Every goddammed day he goes to the gym. He's really
dedicated when it comes to working out and staying in shape. I wish
I could say the same for myself (laughs). I do 12 ounce beer curls.
Well, I can
definitely empathise with that! I understand you played some stuff
on Warrell's album (Praises to the War Machine)?
Yes, I did, I played
one guitar solo on his record, on a song called ‘Messenger'. He
asked me to do a guest spot on it and of course I agreed, I'm not
going to say no. He was really cool about it. As he was recording
his record in Nashville, Tennessee, he sent me the song via email and
I cut my solo for it and sent it back the next day.
Did you go through a
similar process with the guest musicians on your own album?
That's correct, yes,
because all the other musicians that I had play on the record live in
different parts of the United States. Pat lives in Florida, I'm
not sure where Michael lives, and Ron is in Texas. So we just made a
copy of the rhythm and the drums and sent them to all the musicians
via email and they recorded them at their own home studios and sent
them back to us in Seattle. Yeah, it's pretty awesome that you can
do that in this day and age. It saves a lot of time, of course, and
money.
You've already
mentioned the Gigantour, and I have a question for you about Dave
Mustaine. He turned you down in 1987 as Jeff Young's replacement
because of your age. What was it like to share the stage with him 3
years ago as part of the Gigantour? Did he remember you?
It was really cool, and
I think he did remember me, yeah. To make a long story short, I
auditioned for Megadeth when I was sixteen. I flew to Los Angeles
and ended up playing about five songs with them. Dave didn't sing
anything at the time, we just played them instrumentally, and after
the auditions he came up to me and said, hey, I really appreciate you
coming out to audition for us, and I just want to tell you that
you're too young and too inexperienced, and I totally agreed. I
wasn't even finishing high school, so he said just stick with it
and one day you'll become a great guitar player. So I took his
advice and basically just practised and practised and twenty years
later I was sitting in the Guitar World offices with him in New York
and we were doing an interview for the Gigantour. It was really
funny and ironic at the same time, because there I was talking to him
and it was just awesome to rekindle a relationship or whatever you
want to say, as friends, and to talk about the past. It was really
cool. He is a very nice guy and obviously a heavy metal icon and I
was just honoured to be able to go out with him in 2005 on the
Gigantour with Nevermore and be part of that whole touring bill. It
was great.
You used to do a
column for Guitar World, didn't you?
Yes, it was called the
Merchant of Menace. I did lessons and stuff, and it actually ran for
over a year. I got very positive feedback regarding that, so it was
very cool.
What was it like to
try to get established as a metal band, and for yourself as a highly
technical guitar player, in the home of grunge in the early to mid
nineties?
That's a question
that gets asked a lot and it's a good question. It was hard,
actually, because I moved out to Seattle in 1991 to join Sanctuary,
which was Warrel and Jim's first band, and that fell apart and we
decided that Warrel, Jim and I would stay together and form
Nevermore, and right at the time of forming Nevermore the grunge
explosion happened in Seattle, with bands like Alice in Chains,
Nirvana and Soundgarden. It's funny because all those bands
practised in the same practise spot that we played at - one big
happy family, you know (laughs). But yeah, it was very difficult to
kind of keep our heads above water, if you will, in that day and age
of grunge. But I tell you what, to make a long story short, we kept
our heads up high and we still played shows pretty much every weekend
at certain clubs and bars, and we still had an audience. We just
kept on playing and playing and finally we got signed in 1994 or 95
and started touring professionally, so it didn't hurt us in any
sense, really, it was just that at that point in time it was
happening right in the heart of Seattle where Nevermore was from, so
it was very interesting, to say the least, that we made it through
all that. I don't frown upon the whole grunge scene, I don't
think it's a bad thing at all, I think that it was a major thing
for this city at the time, and a lot of good music came out of it as
well. I love Alice in Chains; I think they are a great band.
Yes, I agree, I
loved them, also Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and some Nirvana. But a lot
of it was shit, too.
Yeah, I hear ya. I
would agree; I'll never forget it. Do you remember how everybody
was dressing back then, with the flannel shirts, the long johns
underneath the jeans? You'd walk by a store like Sears and you'd
see mannequins wearing this clothing style. It was out of hand, it
was crazy, and I couldn't believe it - the fact that they dressed
the mannequins in this type of clothing and were actually selling it.
But it was HUGE. The music scene has obviously changed quite
a bit since. There is a metal scene here of course, but it's just
kind of stagnant really. It's kinda laid back right now.
Do you think your
popularity lies more in Europe than in the States?
I think so, probably
because we tour a lot more over in Europe. We spend the majority of
our time over there, and do numerous tours, so maybe our musical
style just caters more to a European audience, I'm not sure. We
still tour a lot in the States, and we still get a great response,
but I would say you're right, though, about the European audiences
being more into it. Or maybe they're just larger audiences.
If you were to cite
a favourite city in Europe, what would it be?
Oh, man, I don't
know, they're all so amazing. I love them all, I really do.
Whenever we tour Europe, I just have the best time. I think one of
the crazier audiences that we have is definitely the Greeks. They're
amazing. They know all the lyrics of the songs and, I swear to God,
one time we were playing in Athens and I think the audience was
louder than the PA. It was mind-blowing, to say the least. They are
definitely a memorable audience.
Is there anything
else you would like to be able to achieve as a musician?
Yeah, I think
definitely I'm not going to be touring for ever. One of my goals
that I'd like to achieve is write sound tracks for movies, being
able to stay at home and compose. I've always been into
soundtracks and stuff like that, and I think it's an awesome thing
to do. People like Danny Elfman who writes music for Batman, and all
the other amazing stuff that he does, well, it's something that I
would like to do in the future, so that's definitely one of my
goals.
You're a bit of a
film buff, then? Do you have a favourite genre?
Well, I have to do
something in my off time (laughs). I don't play guitar all of the
time. I'm really a fan of action flicks and stuff like that. I
just went and saw the new Batman movie the other day and that was
pretty cool. Anything with action, and I love comedies as well. I
like pretty much everything.
Do I detect a bit of
a Canadian accent, or have I just put my foot in it? Where are you
from?
I'm from the Mid
West, Wisconsin, so I definitely have a little bit of that in the
tone of my voice. I've been on the West Coast for seventeen years
and I still have it (laughs). I detect a little bit of Irish in your
voice, am I right?
You're absolutely
correct, I'm from Northern Ireland, and I've been living in
London for 14 years now, and my accent hasn't gone either. When I
get back from a visit there, people can't understand me ...
Yeah, I hear ya
(laughs). We played in Ireland recently - help me out, where did
we play? Oh, man I can't remember. It was a festival - oh, it
was in Belfast! It was a very cool show.
Glad to hear it
because that's where I'm from. Would you like to tell me what
your favourite track is on this album, and why?
Well, I'm going to
say ‘Cashmere Shiv'. Basically the reason I like it so much is
because it's so diverse in musical style and it has many different
elements of my playing in it, and that's what I was shooting for in
this whole record. That's one of my favourites right now. I'll
have another favourite tomorrow. I'm close to all of them, and
it's ever changing, but I'm very happy with this record. I hope
that everybody who listens to it enjoys it and I think that anybody
who is a Nevermore fan will definitely get something out of it. I
think it shows another side of Jeff Loomis and I think they'll
really like it.
I know you're self
taught, but did you ever have any lessons, or were you standing in
the front of queue when natural ability was handed out?
I had a few lessons,
but they were such basic lessons that I wouldn't even really call
them lessons. It was simple chords and learning little bits of notes
here and there out of Book 1, you know what I mean? I found myself
getting bored with that, and I had so much more fun sitting at home
and learning songs by ear. I guess I was blessed with having a good
ear, because I'd be sitting down at the kitchen table with my Mom
and Dad, my guitar in my lap and listening to a commercial on the
television and I would be able to mimic it as soon as I heard it. So
I would just sit in my room and just play and learn off of records
and stuff like that. I guess that's been the most beneficial part
of my guitar career, just sitting in my room and putting in the time.
That's kind of led
me to a comparison with the likes of Schenker and Malmsteen, both of
whom spent their formative years practising in their bedrooms. Do
you feel that you missed out on the whole teenage socialising thing?
Yeah, I think the whole
social relationship with friends and stuff suffered a little bit
between the ages of sixteen to nineteen, but in the long run I knew
that guitar playing was something that I wanted to do for the rest of
my life, so why not put all my time into it? I think I got the
social aspect of my life sorted out after I started touring and being
on the road, then you start meeting people and I think everything
worked out for itself timing-wise. It just so happens that I spent a
lot of my time wood shredding in my bedroom and benefitted a lot from
it. If I was to give a world of advice to anybody, it would be try
to top up your time with other things as well, don't give it all up
to music. Spend time with your family or go out and do something
else, too.
Zero Order Phase
is due for release on 25th August via Century Media in the UK.
Check out www.jeffloomis.com
or www.myspace.com/jeffloomis
for more information.
- Dawn Irwin
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