Harvey: Not really. We transition into
it in some shape or form by combining
some of the material from the tone
row and some of the material from
the next riff.
Are the songs conceived in 4/4 with
superimposed meters, or is it all different
time signatures?
Waterhouse: It’s all different time signa-
tures. But one of the big efforts with this
album was for it to be as close to 4/4 as
possible. So it would be, like, 15/16, but
if you play it four times through you get
that feel.
Tom and A.J., you guys seem to be
coming from different schools of shred
articulation—A.J.’s doing more alternate
picking, and Tom’s playing more legato.
Harvey: Yeah, John Petrucci was definitely
an influence. I mostly use alternate picking
in our material—all the sixteenth-notes and
sixteenth-note triplets are played that way.
Waterhouse: I’m definitely more of the
legato guy, coming from my background
listening to Allan Holdsworth and Brett
Garsed [The Mike Varney Project, Derek
Sherinian]—who’s my favorite. I’ve been
really working on his hybrid picking
technique and trying to incorporate it
into the riffs. It’s more fluid and requires
less movement.
