Ok, let’s get rolling before we ask any questions we would like you to answer the questions like you are speaking to an absolute guitar nerd who cares what color your hardware is because that’s me!
1. Who are we speaking with and what band do you play with? And how did you get in the band? I.e. did you start the band, audition for the band, was the guitar tech and advanced?
I’M MURDOCK, ONE OF THE GUITARIST IN THE BAND BRACKISH TIDE AND ONE OF THE FOUNDING MEMBERS.
2. Tell us about your first guitar and how you have advanced too what you play today, and is what you are playing your final destination guitar, or will you continue to evolve?
MY FIRST GUITAR WAS A CLASSICAL ACOUSTIC WHICH BASICALLY MEANT IT HAD NYLON STRINGS AND THEY WERE A MILE FROM THE FRETBOARD!! (THIS IS PROBABLY WHY I SWITCHED TO DRUMS FOR SEVERAL YEARS) SINCE THEN ITS BEEN A RELATIVELY STEADY INCLINE OF MORE EXPENSIVE AND NICER AXES AND I THINK I WILL STILL BE SEARCHING FOR THAT FINAL DESTINATION FOR A BIT!!
3.Same question as above with amplification.
MY FIRST AMP WAS A FENDER OF SOME SORT THAT I GOT FROM A FRIEND – BUT I HAD SOME STOMPBOX DISTORTION SO IT SUCKED LESS!! NEXT
WAS A STRING OF BETTER MORE EXPENSIVE GEAR UNTIL I GRABBED MY CURRENT RANDALL. STILL SEARCHING FOR THAT PERFECT TONE THO..
4. Are you a terribly complicated guitarist? Are you a cord to amp player or do you have a rig that confuses the average joe? And why? Did you set out to sound like somebody or were there just possibilities you wanted to explore and started trying to find the sounds, tones you wanted?
WELL I’M DEFINITELY NOT A COMPLICATED GUITARIST – LoL! FOR A CONSIDERABLE TIME I’VE HAD A PEDAL BOARD WITH A DELAY, PHASE 90, WAH, AND VOLUME BUT USING THE AMP DISTORTION. MORE RECENTLY I PURCHASED A MOOER GE200 THAT HAS PROVIDED ME WITH A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF DIFFERENT EFFECTS, AMPS AND CAB SIMS AND ITS GIVEN ME QUITE AN ARRAY OF SOUNDS AT MY FINGERTIPS.
5. Who did you see that made you want to play guitar and was it because the looked cool or sounded cool or both? And then later when you started to understand the guitar did you discover that made you just say WOW!?
PROBABLY MY FIRST INFLUENCE WAS JIMI BUT NOT BECAUSE I ACTUALLY SAW HIM BUT HEARD HIM AND OF COURSE BECAUSE HE SOUNDED KEWL!! NOW THE WOW FACTOR WOULD BE BECAUSE HE PLAYED GUITAR UPSIDE DOWN/BACKWARDS – STILL BLOWS MY FUCKING MIND!!
6. Do you believe looks are part of the guitarist? To put it differently, would you feel comfortable watching Angus Young on a Fender Strat or Lord Iommi on a Les Paul?
I THINK THAT LOOKS REALLY DONT MATTER AS MUCH AS SKILL, PASSION AND HARD WORK. THAT BEING SAID, WATCHING ANGUS WITH A STRAT WOULD BE COMPLETELY STRANGE AND WOULD NOT HAVE GIVEN HIM HIS SIGNATURE TONE. TONY, ON THE OTHER HAND, WOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM CONQUERING THE METAL KINGDOM WITH AN LP LIKE THE GOD HE IS!!
7. What is more impressive to you, watching Jennifer Battan 8 finger tap or listening to BB King squeeze the emotion out of 3 notes?
I CAN ENJOY AND BE THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED WITH EITHER DEPENDING ON MY MOOD AT THE TIME. I’LL GO ON YOUTUBE AND ‘FALL DOWN A RABBIT HOLE’ – NEVER KNOWING WHAT I’LL LISTEN TO NEXT BUT ENJOYING THE HELL OUT OF IT!
8. Do you feel technique and tone can get in the way of playing? In other words, when listening to a djent player like Pilini do you wish you could just plug him straight into a Fender Twin and if you did would it have the same effect on you?
HMMMM… I THINK THAT TECHNIQUE AND TONE CAN GET IN THE WAY OF FEEL SOMETIMES BUT SOME GUITARISTS ARE TALENTED ENOUGH THAT YOU CAN PICK THEM OUT NO MATTER WHAT EQUIPMENT THEY HAPPENED TO BE USING!
9. Who is the guitarist you love that you hope nobody ever finds out AND do you have a guitarist that nobody knows about that you just love?
MAYBE THE GUITARIST THAT WOULD SURPRISE PEOPLE THAT I LOVE IS JONNY LANG. THE GUITARIST THAT ALMOST NOONE KNOWS IS A FACEBOOK/YOUTUBE SENSATION NAMED JAMIE JENSEN! KILLER SKILLS AND HIS ORIGINAL STUFF IS GREAT ALSO..
10. Ok here we go from pick brand to cable brand and on down the line until the noise hits the air we want the definitive rundown of everything you use and WHY?
INTUNE GUITAR PICKS; SIT STRINGS; JACKSON, SCHECTER AND PRS GUITARS; RANDALL AMPS; LANEY CABS. WHY I USE THESE IS KIND OF A MYSTERY BUT I’M EXTREMELY HAPPY WITH ALL OF THEM CURRENTLY!!
11.Devin Townsend or Kurt Cobain? Mesa Boogie or HiWatt? Paul Reed Smith or Gretch White Falcon? DEVIN TOWNSEND, MESA, AND PRS
12. Top 5 and Bottom 5 (must include both) its not rude or insulting to have least favorites
TOP 5 (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) : EDDIE VAN HALEN, STEVE VAI, JIMI HENDRIX, DIMEBAG DARRELL, STEVIE RAY VAUGHN
BOTTOM (IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER) : UMMMMM… STILL THINKING..
13. Who has had the more influential players in your opinion the USA or England?
GONNA GO WITH USA!!
14. Who would you play naked in front of thousands to meet?
I SUPPOSE I WOULD LIKE TO MEET STEVE VAI BUT YOU’LL PROBABLY HAVE A STAMPEDE ON YOUR HANDS FROM PEOPLE TRYING TO EXIT THE BUILDING – LMFAO!!
15. Do men or women make better players? Don’t wimp out on me now.
THAT DEPENDS ON THE PLAYER!!
16. Bonus question. Without the assumption, you condone or do not condone would Jimi Hendrix have been as much of influence without the use of drugs?
THAT’S THE 64,000 DOLLAR QUESTION!! I THINK IT PROBABLY SENT HIM INTO UNCHARTERED TERRITORY BUT HE WAS A GREAT MUSICIAN BEFORE ANY OF THAT…
