Hi Daniel, how did you get interested in
music and who were some guitarists and
bands that influenced your playing?
Hi!! My started in the
music world was at home. My mother plays
piano and my dad acustic guitar. I like
many musicians, not especificaly guitar
players! The list is so big!! (haha)
Tell me something about
your latest album called “Boo!!” and why
this title ahahah?!
Well… My first official
instrumental project out now, i’ts
something I would like to call Open
Music. It’s something freer, sometimes
progressive or jazz… or brazilian
music.. I don’t know (haha). The band is
Billy Sheehan (Steve Vai, Mr. Big), Mike
Mangini (ex Steve Vai, ex Extreme),
Fábio Laguna (Angra, Hangar) and Yaniel
Matos (Kiko Loureiro). I think the mix
with musicians’ experiences and
diferents styles was the best way now a
day to do something different and do the
music evolition. If you like something
diferent, that’s the project! About the
name… my father died in the
pre-production middle process and… you
know, that surprised me… at “no
conveniente time”, I would say, and
them… BOO!!
How do you go about
composing your music?
Sometimes I compose
melodies first, sometimes the riffs.
It’s indifferent to me. The music
happens!
Which kind of music are
you usually listening to right now?
Cynic, Jeff Beck, ANIM8
and some Brazilian music too.
Now, tell us more about what you usually
use on stage and in studio recording.
It’s a little bit simple.
Ibanez Universe with D’addario 0.11, Amp
Road King – Mesa Boogie, and DL4 –
Line6. But in the studio, I like to add
more diferents effects and amp, but
isn’t usual.
A crazy question for you: what are three
songs of other artists that you wish you
had written?
“Für Elise” -
Ludwig van
Beethoven -
“Alodê” – Baden Powell -
“A Felicidade” – Tom
Jobim/Vinicius de Moraes
Well, what are you
currently working on?
Boo!! It’s something
recently; we will start the CD tour and
some clinics.
The interview is finished ... in your
opinion, Internet is the future of the
music business?
Sure!!!! Thanks |
Hi Jonas, how did you get interested in
music and who were some guitarists and
bands that influenced your playing?
How ya doing Matt, thanks for having me
at GuitarChef! Well, I’ve been always
interested in music but actually I
started playing guitar only at 14. At
that time, I was heavily influenced by
Brian May (Queen), David Gilmour (Pink
Floyd), and of course by some of the
greats of the 70s like Blackmore and
Jimmy Page. Gary Miore has been one of
my favorites as well. Soon I discovered
the virtuoso style and the great players
like Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani,
Steve Vai, Vinnie Moore. When I first
heard them, I was floored and decided
trying to be as good as these monsters!
Back then, there weren’t as many useful
sources for learning the guitar - it was
a few years before the big internet
boom, so no online lessons, no
instructional DVDs, just you and your
guitar all alone. Somehow I have found
out that the local library had some
Yngwie sheet music, so I remember
photocopying the pages all day long -
but it was worth the effort. Not having
the proper learning sources has led to a
bunch of funny things - for example I
didn’t use the pick in the beginning...
I thought “what the hell this piece of
plastic is good for? It is only
hindering me!” Ha-ha! So I used my
fingers for picking in a way like Jeff
Beck does. But after a certain amount of
time I decided to give it a shot again
and it became clear for me what a great
too the pick can be.
Tell me something about
your latest album called “Sharp Guitars
From A Flat Planet”
Sharp Guitars From A Flat
Planet is my debut instrumental guitar
album. I have played in several rock
bands before, and I’d like to highlight
my latest band called Wind’s Eye - we
have made a progressive rock concept
album in 2007 entitled ‘The City’ which
is available on iTunes. But I have
always wanted to create instrumental
guitar albums and last year I had a bit
more time so I went for it! It took 9
months to write, record and mix the
album. Right in the middle of the
recording session I had to put it aside
for a couple of months because I got
involved in a really cool side project
called OSV – Second Thoughts. OSV is a
rock group from the States, who are
writing great instrumental rock songs
and then they give the songs to
different guitar players to record the
guitar melodies and solos. I did 9 songs
for them, and I’m very proud to be on
the same record with Marcel Coenen, one
of the greatest European players, who is
also featured on this OSV album. After
this little and fine intermezzo, I went
back to the solo album works again.
During the whole writing process, my
main goal was to create some new and
fresh vibe, to avoid the average ‘shred’
album approach. I didn’t want to
constantly run up and down the neck, but
I wanted to show what is possible on the
instrument if the musical situation
needs it. Man, it is always the hardest
thing to create something new and fresh,
because you can’t sit down and say to
yourself “OK, now I’m gonna cook up a
new style!” It just won’t work that way.
The only thing you can do is trying to
play from the heart, and if a new sound
comes out then it’s great, and if
nothing happens then try it again. But
after a lot of efforts, the album turned
out to be really cool, I showed some
songs and moments to friends and I’ve
put some samples on my MySpace page, and
the feedback has been very positive. I
feel I've managed to establish a style
where technique serves the purpose of
the song - no pointless shredding, there
is a balance between fast runs and
soaring tunes. But if there is a need
for speed then I do it at full throttle.
How do you go about
composing your music?
I have different
approaches. Sometimes I’m just noodling
around on the piano, trying to capture
some nice tunes and chords - this is the
way that the album’s slowest song called
“I Feel Sorry” has emerged. But most of
the time, I write on a guitar, playing
riffs or chord progressions, and when
I’m feeling that I have come up with
something interesting, then I record the
idea while it is fresh. The instinctive
tunes and rhythms tend to carry a lot of
energy and passion, and it occurs
frequently that these initial ideas
appear unchanged in the final song. A
good example for that is the opening
riff of the song “Conversion” - I
remember suddenly coming up with this
riff based on the pitch axis theory, and
I immediately felt that it has to be
captured because it is a so strong
theme, combining complex modal
structures with a more straightforward
rhythm. I’m always searching for this
duality. I like weird stuff and I’m
really often writing unusual tonal or
rhythmic passages, but I also want the
listener to get the meaning easily,
saying “Wow, cool idea, I like it”.
Sometimes I’m also writing music on a
paper, especially when doing
orchestrations or specific, many-voiced
parts.
Which kind of music are
you usually listening to right now?
Right now I have a little
bit more time for listening to music.
When doing an album, you want to put all
your creative energy into your own
stuff, so at such times I tend to prefer
silence after a long day of recording
session. Now that my album is done, I’m
enjoying the opportunity to check out
some really great stuff. I listen pretty
much everything, classical, rock, metal,
jazz - it only has to be good,
irrespective of the actual genre. I like
Circus Maximus and Illusion Suite from
the newer prog metal bands, but I’m
listening to older stuff like The Smiths
or Dead Can Dance. Recently I have
discovered a great fusion player, Alex
Hutchings - he is a jaw-dropping
guitarist, so you should check him out.
And of course it holds true that my big
composer idol is invariably George
Frideric Handel. I have the scores of
some of his operas, oratorios and
orchestral works, and one of my greatest
enjoyments is to play his music on a
single guitar. It is kinda tough because
you have to read in different clefs
simultaneously, but I’m fortunate enough
to be able to read music in all of these
clefs, so I play the cello lines while
trying to fret the oboe or violin runs -
a good fingering exercise too! On my
homepage http://jonastamas.com there is
a section where I list my CDs of choice
under funny categories as “The 10 rock
albums for a year on a desert island” or
“The 10 guitar albums for a year on a
remote planet”, and there is a category
called “The 10 classical albums for a
year in exile”, obviously with an
overwhelming predominance of Handel
works.
Now, tell us more about what you usually
use on stage and in studio recording.
I’m really content with my equipment. My
main guitar, which is a Samick Artist
Model, feels just like the extension of
my body - I just love this axe! I’m also
using my Fender Strat for cleaner or
crunch-type tones. During the recording
of my album I used sevenstring guitars
on 3 songs: “Tight Squeeze",
“Stormbeaten” and “Golden Sun”. I use
mostly Marshall amps, and sometimes my
Boss GT-3 effects processor too. Of
course I add some other effects in the
studio environment, but live it is only
overdrive and a bit of delay plus wah
when it is needed. I’m not the ultimate
gear freak, to me is more important
what to play than on what I
play, ha-ha! It is a perpetual truth:
the music is in your heart, in your
mind, and in your hands.
A crazy question for you: what are three
songs of other artists that you wish you
had written?
A good one, Matt! I don’t
remember getting this question asked
ever before. Let me think...
The first one would be
“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” from Pink
Floyd. It is on their Wish You Were Here
album from 1975. This is such a
beautiful song!
The second one... “Far
Beyond The Sun” from Yngwie Malmsteen.
And the third song would
be “Learning to Live” from Dream
Theater. These guys are monsters!
Needless to say, I wish I
had written the Op.6 Concerti Grossi of
George Frideric Handel, so that is my
bonus fourth choice, but of course it
isn’t a single song, but more than 2
hours of the finest compositions of the
history.
Well, what are you
currently working on?
Besides promoting my
debut album, I’m involved in several
projects now. I’m proud to be featured
on the newest shred guitar compilation
Shredding Across The World Vol. 3
(Shredguy Records), out now on Guitar9.
My song “Golden Sun”, which is a
neoclassical tune, is on this record.
There are some great players on this
compilation like Rob Johnson from
Magnitude 9, Chris Lasegue from Jag
Panzer or Adrian English who is an
awesome shredder. Recently, I did 3
songs for the Australian artist Pete M
for his new record. It is an
all-instrumental album where each song
features a different guitar player, like
Tore Moren (Jorn Lande) or Thorsten
Koehne (Eden’s Curse). However, I had
the opportunity for playing more than
one song, so check out “Soul
Hibernation”, “Blindness” and “Tide of
Destiny” on this album, which is just
out and available on iTunes - the album
title is “Pete M: Alien-8 Yourself”.
The genre of this record is very
interesting: rock music combined with
electro plus virtuoso-style guitar
playing on the top of it. Pete calls
this genre “shredtronica” which is a
really cool name. As far as I know, the
purchasers can get a free 2010 calendar
as well, containing the pics of the 12
players. And that’s not enough - I’ve
already started recording demos for my
second album which is planned to be out
April or May 2010. So busy times, but I
like that!
The
interview is finished ... in your
opinion, Internet is the future of the
music business?
I see the impacts of the internet to
musicians as a two-edged sword. On the
one hand, it can be very useful because
you can get your music out there and
people can discover new stuff, even if
you are an independent artist with no
budget for mainstream media promotion
and stuff like that. If you are good
enough, then chances are that you’ll be
discovered by lot of music fans, even if
you are playing the weirdest possible
genre like techno-jazz-metal, ha-ha!.
There will be always some guys who dig
techno-jazz-metal and they will support
you. Of course I have a bit easier
because I’m not playing
techno-jazz-metal, and my style,
instrumental rock guitar is quite
popular, although it is still far from
mainstream. It was a great experience
that just 2 days after releasing my
debut album, there were already
purchasers of the CD from all the 5
continents - the States, Canada,
England, Italy, Japan, Australia, and to
my big surprise even in the middle of
Africa, in the beautiful country of
Kenya somebody decided to buy my album.
So it couldn’t have happened without the
internet. I’d like to add that there
were lots of purchasers from Italy so
you guys are very cool indeed! I know
the Italians have a magical music taste.
They also give the world the finest
composers and musicians, from Corelli to
Verdi, and if I’m not mistaken, even
Satriani, Vai and Petrucci have Italian
ancestors. On the other hand, internet
could kill the music too. When lots of
people are downloading an album for free
then the artist won’t be able to cover
his recording costs and manufacturing
costs, both of which can be surprisingly
high if you don’t have a big label
behind you. But I’m seeing the internet
mainly as a positive tool for
communicating with a lot of cool people,
getting new fans and new friends too,
seeking advice, asking for feedback. So
anyway, thanks again for this
opportunity Matt, it was a pleasure! And
my last message for guitar fans: check
out my debut album Sharp Guitars From A
Flat Planet, I hope you will like it and
you can spread the word. Rock on &
arrivederci!
http://jonastamas.com
http://myspace.com/jonastamas
http://facebook.com/jonastamas |
Hi Jimmy, how did you get
interested in music and who were some
guitarists and bands that influenced
your playing?
I came across Kiss like
most kids did in the 80`s. Started
playing when I was around ten and
discovered bands like Whitesnake with
John Sykes and Extreme with Nuno
Bettencourt. Later on in my teens I got
to know a guitar player called Lasse
Englund and got introduced to the world
of open tunings. I started focusing on
playing acoustic guitar, listening to
artists like Rickie Lee Jones, John
Martyn, Paul Simon and Dave Mathews band
. I´ve been writing instrumental songs
ever since but never realized how big
the whole acoustic scene was until I
started exploring youtube and it´s
possibilities.
Tell me something about
your career and as session-musician on
Sweden.
When I was in my early
twenties I started touring
internationally with Swedish pop
artists. The pop scene has always been
my platform as a session player and I´ve
had the opportunity to travel a lot
touring with many different Swedish
exporting artists. Beeing an acoustic
guitar player there are always gigs to
get on international showcases, radio
tours etc. I like to be a part of the
whole progress when I take on a new
artist. Today I get a lot of musical
director jobs and my main focus over the
last years has been television.
Can you talk anout your
upcoming new solo album called “181st
Songs”? All acoustic instrumental tunes?
The title 181st songs
comes from the street in N.Y where I
stayed for a while in 2006. That´s where
I wrote 181st song. The album is all
instrumental and all the songs are based
on the acoustic guitar. I use electric
guitars only for effects and atmospheric
sounds. The productions are essential
for the songs on the album. All songs
are played through once with one lead
acoustic. After that I start doing dub
overs and bring in other instruments
like strings, horns and percussions. I
fool around a lot with percusive ideas
played on the guitar but I also brought
in some extra drums for a couple of
tracks. My music is clearly pop
inspired. The songs mostly have the
length of a regular pop track and are
arranged in that spirit as well. It´s
important to me that every song can be
played live with only me on stage, but I
also like the idea of giving the
audience a different eperience seeing me
live than listening to the album.
How do you go about
composing your music?
I write riffs. That´s the
only way I ever practised playing. If I
come up with something I like I can sit
with it for hours to make it perfect.
Usually it takes me a while to finish a
song. I can have a riff laying around
for months without the right chorus to
go with it. I know I´ll get it in the
end but it can be quite a struggle. The
title is very important to me. Once I
come up with one that suits the riff it
usually speeds up the process a bit.
Which kind of music are
you usually listening to right now?
As we speak I´m listening
to "Cigarettes" with Daniel
Merriwheather. In genereal I listen to
most everyting that sounds genuine to
me.
Now, tell us more about
what you usually use on stage and in
studio recording.
On stage I use a Larrivée
acoustic. I blend the signals from two
different pick up systems, Sunrise and
K&K, through a Mackie mixer. From the
mixer I send three different signals.
One that
goes directly to the PA,
one that runs through a
Boss loop station with a different boost
and EQ and one that runs through the FX
pedal board. I can mute each line and
use them seperately. It´s also nice to
blend the FX line with the clean line to
make choruses bigger for example.
The FX pedals I use are:
The holy grail (reverb), the Tremulator
(tremolo), Carl Martin Vibrato/Tremolo,
Boss Dimension C (stereo chorus), Boss
RE-20 Space Echo, Boss Stereo tremolo,
Line 6 delay and the purple Line 6 for
wierd sounds. In studio I use Larrivée
acoustics together with an AKG the tube
mic. I usually put the AKG somewhere
around the 12th fret and another mic at
the head of the guitar just to add some
more high mid. I record evertihng
through my Universal audio LA-610
compressor.
A crazy question for you
and I like this question: what are three
songs of other artists that you wish you
had written?
Ok. Three great guitar
tracks:
"Berkley springs" wth Don
Ross.
"Protecting green" with
Lasse Englund.
"Midnight epress" with
Nuno Bettencourt.
Well, what are you
currently working on?
I´m focusing real hard on
finishing the last recordings of the
album. I thougth I was done composing it
but I came up wih a great riff the other
day so I´m replacing one of the songs.
I´m also preparing for some live gigs in
Sweden during the fall as well as
preparing for new video shoots. I think
videos are the way to gain exposure
today and I have plans for making at
least two new ones in september.
The interview is finished
... what do you think about the music
business today and the music business on
Internet?
I´m excited about all the
possibilities that the internet
provides. It´s easy for everyone to find
somethng they like and you can build
yourself a name without having to be
signed by a major lable. I thinks videos
are really important for exposure today.
There are lots of interesting video
sites on the web. My stuff is best
viewed on:
http://www.youtube.com/jimmywahlsteen
and
http://www.dailymotion.com/jwahlsteen
Thanks for listening, jimmy wahlsteen |
