Joe
Stump is often credited as taking the neo-classical fury of Malmsteen
and Blackmore to even greater extremes. One listen to his solo
works such as Supersonic Shred Machine or his latest magnum opus
Speed Metal Messiah show an artist with a burning passion for
the genre and great guitar playing. Joe has recently started a
new project Holy Hell which looks likely to elevate his position
higher in the public view. Joe was kind enough to grant baroque
and roll its debut interview and has given us a superb read -
enjoy.
2005
has been a busy year for you so far, can you give baroque and
roll a summary of what you've been up to?
Well lets see, I did release the Shredology
disc, which was an anthology type of collection record and was
packaged along with the live Midwest Shredfest bootleg live cd.
That came out in March 2005. Then in late April I went back to
Europe for a tour playing solo material, Reign of Terror stuff
and some killer Rainbow and Purple stuff. I played a bunch of
shows and clinics over there and was over for a few weeks. After
that I was out on the road for a good portion of time from late
May to late July playing some solo shows and also touring with
the power metal band Holy Hell. We were out with Manowar and Rhapsody
for most of June in the states and then a few large festivals
in Europe in July. After I got back from Europe I went to LA and
did some clinics and master classes for Berklee out there and
then some more solo shows went I got back.
It's currently
early Sept. and I've finally been home for a few weeks. The Berklee
fall semester is about to start up so back to my day job a bit
, but it's always nice to get back home for awhile after so much
travelling, but as usual after I'm home too long I get the itch
to go back out rather quickly. I'm quite fortunate that for more
of an underground guitar hero I get to do fairly sizeable amount
of touring. As you can see my dance card's been quite full these
days.
Holy
Hell is your latest project with Tom Hess; please tell us about
this project.
It's working out nice, in the US and in
Europe the band was really well received as the opener with Manowar
and Rhapsody. We really crushed on a bunch of the shows. A killer
female vocalist Maria Breon is fronting the thing and she's gonna
be a fucking star. She sings like an angel (and a demon as well
at times) looks killer and people really respond to her and the
band. Many of my fans came out to see the thing and really dug
it. And of course while it's no Joe Stump show guitar -wise I
do get plenty of room to do my thing and cause plenty of damage.
So we'll see there's a ton of potential there.
What's
the current state of play with Reign Of Terror?
Well I'm going to start work on the Holy
Hell disc very soon. I've been writing quite a bit and much of
the stuff will be for either Holy Hell or my next Reign of Terror
disc. I'm hoping to release the next Reign of Terror after the
Holy Hell thing drops as with the bigger label support (Magic
Circle Music/SPV) and a lot more promotion behind that release,
my next ROT disc should cross over to a lot more newer fans. In
the meantime I might look back into putting together the live
Reign of Terror stuff for a possible live disc. That should tide
a lot of my hardcore fans over.
Will
you do another album with Mike Vescera as you two were turning
into a very powerful song writing force.
I'm really hoping the next Reign of Terror
disc is gonna cross over to a larger audience (as I said previously).
So of course it'd be great to have Mike onboard with me as he's
such a great singer and writes great vocal lines and lyrics. We
definitely have a song writing chemistry together, so we'll see
what happens when the time comes.
Your
last solo album Speed Metal Messiah, how was the album received
and what are your thoughts on it now?
My finest hour, I came fairly close to getting
it right on that one after 6 solo instrumental records. All my
fans were quite pleased and I'm fairly proud of that record. I
wish I had gotten more coverage in the American guitar mags on
that my best record to date, but Lion a European based label has
a little less pull with the mags in the states as opposed to Leviathan.
For instance on Shredology I appeared in back to back issues of
Guitar World. But overall looking back the Messiah is certainly
my pinnacle of that type of classically influenced guitar work
and composing.
Do
you still get a buzz from neo-classical music?
Yes I love it; I never seem to tire of listening
to it or playing it. Even as I've gotten older, I'm still balls
out, more so than ever. I'm not about to slow down, or become
an old bluesman, or some whacky fusion player. I love metal, especially
neo-classical European style stuff and it's what I've chosen to
pursue for sometime now and I have no desire to abandon what I
love to do. Of course my instrumental stuff covers a fairly large
spectrum stylistically, but the classical influence always seems
to be there outside of my bluesier Hendrix-y /Frank Marino-ish
exploits.
The
genre itself seems to be getting new life into it with bands like
Ark Storm and Concerto Moon, are you aware of any of these new
acts and if so what's your opinion on them?
I like both those bands very much and both
Norifumi Shima and Katsu Ohta are outstanding players, killing.
Many people that are a bit on the uneducated side tend to lump
all of us in together, (meaning classically influenced players)
but I can certainly hear the distinct difference between the various
bands and players. Both Ark Storm and Concerto Moon have been
around for a while , I'm pretty familiar with many of the artists
in my same genre, one because I enjoy some of the stuff as a fan
and of course because it's good to be aware of the other artists
in your field because you're appealing to much of the same fan-base.
I
know your very knowledgeable on the history of neo-classical guitar,
in your eyes were did it start and do you feel it has yet to be
perfected?
Well as I've said it before the holy trinity
responsible for the whole genre is Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth and
Yngwie. Michael Schenker contributed as well; Randy Rhoads was
heavily influenced by both him and Gary Moore guitar-wise. But
the big three really wrote the book with Yng obviously taking
it further both technically and having a more extreme classical
influence, Malmsteen`s compositions were also much more classically
influenced also. Where as Uli and Ritchie would infuse the classical
elements more into their lead work in the context of a hard rock
tune. As far as someone perfecting it that's really more of an
objective thing and of course it depends on what you like taste
wise as well. Someone once described my playing as bridging the
gap between the older school guys like Uli and Blackmore and the
newer super shred players, I thought it wasn't that far off.
You
favour an ESP Strat through various amps, do you have a particular
tone you are chasing and how close to it are you?
Well my favorite records guitar tone wise
are --- Deep Purple `s Made in Japan, Made in Europe and Rainbow's
Live on Stage. Uli's early Scorpions records like Toyko Tapes,
Taken By Force and Virgin Killers. Gary Moore's Corridor's of
Power, Victim's of the Future and Want Moore. And the first Rising
Force disc along with Marching Out and Trilogy. My tone is basically
a more aggressive blend of the tones of all my heroes and in my
hands it always comes out sounding like me. My tone is a bit less
gainy than in the past on my earlier records and I quite pleased
with it these days. But one common thread between myself and all
my heroes is Marshall, there is no substitute. As Jeff Beck says
it's the big Daddy, there is no other fucking amp. I'll always
have at least one Marshall in my rig whether it be live or on
record.
What
would you recommend as a starting point for guitar players wishing
to play this sort of music?
To listen to the men, don't listen to the
fucking boys. Players ask me all the time if I heard this new
shred guy or that new guy that plays with insane technique a billion
miles an hour. I tell them I don't listen to that type of stuff,
when I wanna hear guitar I put on one of the men - meaning Blakemore,
Malmsteen, Schenker, Gary Moore or Uli Of course there's a bunch
of other guys I could mention as well. But a lot more of the newer
more technical players are leaving way too much of the cool -ass
element of rock guitar out. There's melody, vibrato, control and
vibe, you need that shit along with all the technical command.
Rock guitar isn't hot lick number 64 or this fancy ass sweep arpeggio
shape.
You
have a couple of instructional DVD available on your website,
we have just given a glowing review to Neo Classical Guitar vol.1,
I believe you are about to start filming vol.2, what will this
second instalment cover?
The second neo-classical DVD will be much
more advanced and longer as well. I'll cover transcriptions to
a few of my solos and pieces of various tunes of mine. In those
transcriptions a wide range of techniques will be covered (multi
string arpeggios, economy and alternate picking, classical licks
and sequences, etc.) I'll also do a section on pedal tones that
will be fairly extensive. There will also be a bunch of performance
footage as well with me playing full tunes from my various recordings.
The reaction from the first neo-classical DVD was very positive
so I'm sure everyone will be completely thrilled with the next
one.
Do
you feel that public interest in the neo-classical genre is better
known than it was say 10 years ago?
Yes, It seems like in general more accomplished,
technical playing is being embraced and celebrated by a whole
new generation of players, which to me is a very healthy thing.
10-12 years ago you were considered uncool as a younger guitarist
if you played solos, practiced and aspired to be a virtuoso type
of player. The press looked down their nose at it as well. It
was certainly a dark period for actual musicians. Plus you see
that feature in Guitar World called "Betcha Can`t Play This",
I've done one so have Michael Angelo, Rusty Cooley , John Petrucci
and ton of other cool players. Plus Yngwie's got a Guitar World
instructional column and he's also on the cover of the new Guitar
Player issue, so things are certainly headed in the right direction.
Guitar
Dominance to Speed Metal Messiah has been quite a journey, do
you have any special fond memories of the recording of any of
your albums?
Each one of my albums marks a particular
period in not just my career, but my life, so I have a ton of
memories from all those past experiences. I remember certain tours,
shows; trips out of the country for live full on band touring
and or clinic tours. Going to countries and cities for the first
time. I remember my first sizeable royalty check, the first times
I appeared in various guitar magazines and other well known metal
fanzines. Guitar players I opened shows for and met that were
and still are my heroes, and how many of my heroes became my peers
and how I gained their respect, my first major endorsements all
the great stuff all players aspire to. Let me tell you that a
day doesn't go by that I don't feel completely blessed that I
get to do what I love for a living; I never ever take that for
granted. I spend every fucking day with a guitar in my hands for
hours on end. The best part of it for me has always been the playing,
I love to play, I'm more addicted to it now than I ever was and
I've continued to grow and progress as a player, all round musician
and composer throughout the spectrum of my career. The more I
play, the more I tour the better I get. I've just got done playing
a ton of shows over the last few months and I'm at the top of
my game and then some.
Another
thing I do recall is that many of my early records- Night of the
Living Shred, Super Sonic Shred Machine, Rapid Fire Rondo were
all made when I was doing some fairly reckless living, whether
it be boozing, drugs and of course you've gotta have some womanizing
in there as well, man does not live by the sweep arpeggio alone.
I'm older, wiser and much more focused now and as a result my
playing is constantly getting better. If you listen to the Messiah
disc you know what I mean. So yeah it's been quite a fun ride.
What
would you say the defining moment in your career has been to date?
My career has had many nice moments but
as far as he pinnacle of my classically influenced playing and
composing goes Speed Metal Messiah would have be it. Granted looking
back you're always gonna have things on every record you wish
came out differently, but on that one I came pretty fucking close
to getting it right and I'm very proud of that record.
What
do you have planned for the rest of 2005/2006?
I'll be recording the Holy Hell record,
a new Reign of Terror; maybe the live Reign of Terror disc will
finally be released. Another neo-classical instructional DVD,
maybe a high quality concert solo DVD. A world tour in 2006 with
Manowar, Rhapsody and Holy Hell, very long lots of countries and
shows. Of course more clinics and solo shows. I've also got a
fairly good idea of what my next solo disc will be like and have
a bunch of tunes in the pipes for that as well. So tons of cool
shit to do, looking forward to the work.
Joe
anything else you would like to tell the readers of Baroque &
Roll?
Just as always the most sincere, heartfelt
thanks to all the fans that have continued to support my stuff
over the years and if you haven't been saved by the Messiah as
of yet I strongly urge you to pick up Speed Metal Messiah, if
you like amazing guitar work and killer guitar driven metal tunes
I think you'll be quite pleased. My best to everyone. Thanks Joe
Stump
Web Links
http://www.joestump.com
http://www.holyhell.com
