that high-pitched wankery. Then I remember
being in a high-school cafeteria and this dude was
like, “Check this out!” It was King Diamond’s “A
Mansion In Darkness.” I’m listening to it and the
solo comes and I was like, “Oh my God! Whoever
this guy is, he’s now my favorite guitar player!”
Andy LaRocque.
Herbert: Yeah! His playing just spoke to me.
Yngwie-ish but not so over the top. He plays
to the song, and that’s kind of who I’ve latched
onto for all these years. Also all the guys of that
era, like Marty Friedman, Alex Skolnick, and Jeff
Waters from Annihilator.
“I understand how amazing
Buckethead is, but guitar players
like that don’t do anything for me
because it sounds like someone
throwing ping-pong balls on the
fretboard.” —Mike Martin
Do you guys challenge yourself with other
styles outside of the band?
Martin: No. I don’t practice enough to be ver-
satile. Oli is in the back of the bus practicing 10
hours a day. I have no attention span for that
at all. But I have been going on You Tube just
to learn songs for fun. There’s a song by John
Mayer called “Edge of Desire” that has a really
cool guitar line through the whole thing.
Herbert: I’m really concentrating on jazz. I’m
trying to perfect all my melodic minor scales and
arpeggio fingerings—just trying to get the feel
for it. It’s fun for me, and it’s interesting. I think it’s opened me up more. I’ve always dabbled, but I never really went full bore.
Do you play with any other bands?
Herbert: No. I’m doing instructional material
for Rock House. I’d rather focus on that first to
kind of get my points across. When I feel like
the time is right, I’ll do a solo album and clinics
and all that stuff.
Martin: The touring that we do is so unhealthy
that there’s no time for anything else. [Laughs.] I’m
not good enough to do a solo record by any means.
Oh please! I really dig your playing.
Martin: Thank you! But I don’t think I have
enough material—I don’t think I could write a
whole record by myself. If there was time to do a
side thing, I would like to play in a regular rock
band. Something less heavy.
“Are you going
to hear a difference?”
“YES”“YES”
PREMIERGuitar
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PSE i ssent al n ou d u t rod c s, Inc. ® by Winter NAMM 2011 Hall “B”, Booth 5725 Winter NAMM 2011 Hall “B”, Booth 5725
