I went through a whole blues period in the Nineties, and that had some influence on 'Load' and 'ReLoad.'
Basically I just had to say, 'Screw everyone around me - from now on I'm just gonna play what I think is important to me and our music.' So I gave the big finger to all the current trends in technical wizardry, and just went off and did what I felt was best for the songs.
If I had unlimited funds, wall space and storage, I would collect a lot more things, like 'Planet of the Apes,' 'Star Wars,' science fiction stuff, autographs, and prop guns and weapons. I have to draw the line somewhere.
I love this pedal to death. The only way you could keep me from playing one is by chopping off my legs!
Jeff Beck is one of my heroes and has been since I first picked up a guitar.
One of my favorite horror films of the Nineties was 'Event Horizon.'
I didn't want to fall into the trap of competing with all these other great guitar players. I just want to sidestep the whole thing and get out of the race.
Horror movies started to wane around the onset of World War II, and after World War II, when all the troops came home, people weren't really interested in seeing horror movies, because they had the real horror right on their front doorsteps.
It's definitely true that Stevie Ray Vaughan is one of my all-time favorite guitarists.
We never see ourselves as being on a higher level than our fans.
For the 'Load' album, I was experimenting so much with tone that I had to keep journals on what equipment I was using. For 'Hero of the Day', I know I used a 1958 Les Paul Standard with a Matchless Chieftain, some Boogie amps and a Vox amp - again, they're all blended.
Ampeg made incredible guitar heads in the early Nineties and then stopped. And I don't know why. The one we used had a nice clean, warm sound, and it blended well with the other amps that were in the studio.
I love horror movies in space. I love it when the genre switches over and what was sci-fi becomes horror.
A lot of the main characters in horror movies are outsiders as well, so that outsider syndrome reverberates within horror fans and geeky collectors. It's kind of a rallying call that brings fans and collectors together who are a little socially retarded, maybe.
Getting sequestered and not really knowing what to do with your time and then discovering, 'Oh, I can watch a bunch of horror movies' has probably played out in a lot of people's discovery of horror.
I'm death obsessed. You know, I have death all over my house. I have a stuffed two headed sheep!
It really shocked me just to hear of the fans' response to 'St. Anger' not having guitar solos.
I love 'True Blood.' I love 'The Walking Dead.' Those are fantastic series.
I was really, really wild in my early twenties and a bit self-destructive.
The movie 'Black Cat,' from 1934, is one of my favorite movies.
When you're first starting out, there's always the temptation to hide behind distortion because it lets you get away with murder. But, when it comes to rhythm work, you've gotta back off that gain control a bit, especially if you're playing with another guitarist.
We wanted to offer something new to our audience. I hate it when bands stop taking chances.
Musically, there's a movement called the flatted fifth that's really evil-sounding. It was outlawed by the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages. That movement is what gives you a real evil sound that conjures up dark, fantastic images. It's like an audio horror movie. It personifies what a horror movie is about.
Much of my playing is rhythmic and choppy; I use a lot of double stops. The wah just accents all those stops and chops and brings out the rhythmic aspect that much more.
