The Future Of Shred: ANDY JAMES!
Tue, 20/01/2009 - by Rory Sullivan
Elevenses Throws Eleven Quick Questions At 'The Future Of Shred’ Andy James!
Andy James is the highly revered UK guitarist of whom many critics and seasoned players fondly refer to as ‘The Future Of Shred’. Andy is not only a solo artist (currently working on his third album) but also in the midlands-based band ‘Sacred Mother Tongue’, who are also targeted for a bright future.
Andy is a tutor for the premier tutorial site ‘Lick Library’, an Ernie Ball endorsee (terrorizing trade show goers from London to LA) and has performed with such names as Vinnie Moore and Zakk Wylde.
So what’s your drink of choice at 11am in the morning?
Diet coke if there is any going or just some orange squash.
Which song/album really made you want to play guitar?
Appetite for Destruction is the one that got into guitar playing but Surfing with the Alien was the one that got me into shred!
Who’s your favourite guitarist ‘at the moment’?
Its two really. Andy Timmons for phrasing and tone, and Oli Herbert from All That Remains for melodic metal soloing.
Who’s the world’s most underrated band – past or present?
If you had said overrated I could have reeled off a list, but I can’t think of any really.
So what are you up to at the moment?
Sacred Mother Tongue have just finished our debut album The Ruin of Man. It will be out around February/March 2009 time from all good retailers. Clips can be found at www.myspace.com/sacredmothertongue
I’m also going to be doing an instrumental mini-album later this year, that will be just metal shred. No soppy ballads or obligatory country songs will feature, as that seems to be the standard for instrumentals these days. I play metal as I am no good at anything else - LOL!
Where does your heart lie – with Metallica or Megadeth?
Who would be in your dream line-up – past or present?
Megadeth, nuff said on that!
Myles Kennedy on vocals
Billy Sheehan on bass
and Virgil Donati on drums.
(And with Andy on Guitar, that band would f**kin' Rock! Ed)
How many guitars do your own and which one is ‘your precious’?
I have 3 working at the moment. All Musicman, but the one I use the most is a 6 string petrucci model that I fused together with a black OLP Petrucci signiture body, the official EBMM JP neck and EMG pickups. Amazing!
So you’re stranded all alone on a desert island but amazingly there’s a bar, a stereo and some electricity – what 3 albums do you want to find on top of that stereo?
End of the Heartache (Killswitch Engage), Pornograffitti (Extreme) and Crystal Planet (Joe Satriani)!!!
Place these Five guitarists in order of preference – Eddie Van Halen, Vinnie Moore, Chris Broderick, Marco Sfogli and Joe Satriani…
1. Joe Satriani
2. Marco Sfogli
3. Chris Broderick
4. Vinnie Moore
and 5. Eddie Van Halen.
So what’s your drink of choice at 11pm in the evening?
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