Interview: 3 Frontman Joey Eppard Talks About Finger-Picking, Musical Experimentation (Audio)

By Andrew Bansal

Technically, 3 is described as a progressive metal band, but in reality, they are a genre defying band and there are simply no boundaries to what they can achieve with their music. What sets them apart from other bands playing a similar style of music is frontman Joey Eppard’s use of acoustic-electric guitars and finger-picking, slap guitar techniques that add a powerful new dimension to their sound. They are pushing their envelope further and further with every album of theirs, and the latest effort “The Ghost You Gave To Me” proves just that. Continue reading “Interview: 3 Frontman Joey Eppard Talks About Finger-Picking, Musical Experimentation (Audio)”

Interview: Scale The Summit’s Chris Letchford Discusses Touring, Fractal Axe-FX (Audio)

By Andrew Bansal

Instrumental progressive metal band Scale The Summit is undoubtedly one of the best bands I’ve seen and heard in the past two years. Despite the fact that there are no vocals, their music is compelling enough to hold the listener’s attention very well. Till date they have released three studio albums. The latest of them, The Collective, was released in March of this year on Prosthetic Records, certainly a great piece of music, and right up there with the best albums released whole year. Besides the awesome music, they put on a great live performance as well. Having toured with bands like Dream Theater, Periphery and most recently Cynic, they’ve had plenty of opportunities to do that and in the process they’ve been winning new fans every night. Continue reading “Interview: Scale The Summit’s Chris Letchford Discusses Touring, Fractal Axe-FX (Audio)”

Interview: Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser Talks Gear, Recording Process, Ministry Influence

By Andrew Bansal

Whenever the word Sepultura is mentioned, talks of the classic line-up and reunion invariably become part of the discussion. But that doesn’t take anything away from the current line-up of the band. Their latest studio album “Kairos” was released this year on Nuclear Blast, and has been very well received by everyone. There is no denying the fact that these guys are excellent musicians, on stage and in the studio, and this album is solid proof of that. Just before the release of the album, they did a North American tour, and after the release they’ve been touring in other territories. Just a few days before they played the ever-amazing Rock In Rio festival in October this year and embarked on a new touring cycle, I spoke to guitarist Andreas Kisser to talk in detail about the recording process and things like gear set-up, production, label support, touring plans and even industrial rock influences. Continue reading “Interview: Sepultura’s Andreas Kisser Talks Gear, Recording Process, Ministry Influence”

Interview: Iced Earth’s Jon Schaffer Talks In Detail About New Vocalist, “Dystopia” Album

By Andrew Bansal

The year of 2011 marks a new chapter in Iced Earth’s career. In the early part of the year, vocalist Matt Barlow announced his retirement and amicably parted ways with the band. This led to the introduction of Into Eternity’s Stu Block as the new Iced Earth frontman, and “Dystopia”, his first album with the band, came out on October 18th on Century Media Records. In my opinion, the album is a success, and Stu justifies his new role to perfection. Recently, before the release of the album, I spoke to guitarist and principal songwriter Jon Schaffer to talk about the vocalist change, the new album, and a few other topics in great detail. For me personally, this was one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve ever done, and I hope you feel the same once you’re done reading. Continue reading “Interview: Iced Earth’s Jon Schaffer Talks In Detail About New Vocalist, “Dystopia” Album”