003 - Rob Steinway (Greyhawk/Glyph)

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Today we sit down with Rob and I had a great time discussing our inspirations growing up and how they shaped the guitarist we are today!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

And people were uploading that as like, oh, this is one of the one of the demons and wizards songs. That's how I found out about Gravedigger.

SPEAKER_01 0:07

I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

They uploaded Excalibur and they said that that was Demons and Wizards.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Dude, you just memory unlocked. You just, oh my God, dude. What's up everybody? Welcome to Tone Chugs in Harmony. I am here with Rob Steinway of Glyph and Greyhawk. Very excited to have him here today. We've been buds for a while talking guitar, so I'm glad to have him here so we can give you some insight on his plane and what he knows, man. How are you doing today? I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on here, Jason. Really appreciate it. Absolutely, man. Yeah, it's really fun. It's been my favorite thing to get to talk to buddies and guitarists on this and just nitpick their brain. You know, one of my favorite things to do, even as a player of all this time, is you never really stop learning and getting to talk to other players of their approach. Um it's always insightful. It's always fun. And so far already, just doing this podcast, uh, I've learned a few things, you know. Um talking to people, thinking about approaching things a new way and trying things some some different things. Because I don't know about you, but sometimes it's easy to get kind of stuck in how you do things and what you know, and um it's really cool. You know, so I'll give an example because this just popped to me, but and then we'll we'll let you know Rob talk here a little bit. But you know, I'm people who know me, I'm a stifler for the downpicking, right? Um but one great song that actually, and if you hear this podcast, you're gonna call me a liar because I said the opposite of this. But here's the thing like you can you're allowed to change your mind, everybody. Um imagine that. Yeah. Where Eagles Dare by Iron Maiden, right? It's a it's a song with a triplet feel, and I was always like, oh, I downpick it, right? Because if you if you can, why not? But funny enough, that's one of the rare occasions where I feel like the downpicking loses the groove of the riff. You know, we all know that intra riff to Where Eagles Dare. And when I did downpick it, I was like, you know, it actually doesn't flow as nice. So downpicking isn't always the answer, most of the time, but not all.

SPEAKER_00 2:24

Yeah, especially if you wanted to have a little bit more intensity or like maybe aggression too, you just between the two. But I I can see that definitely with like a little bit more swingy type feel, the like almost like that that little the like pickups for the the chord hits and stuff like that, too.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

So yep, and I think that's the intended feeling of that riff because the downpicking sounds cool, don't get me wrong, but like you said, that swing is definitely missing, and it's like, yeah, this sounds like Where Eagles Dare, but it doesn't sound like Where Eagles Dare. And yep, another great example of how like every little thing you do for the Riff does matter and make a difference, you know. Um, but anyways, man, how are you doing? How are things going? You just came off a really big, awesome US tour with L Storm with your band Glyph, and looks like you're doing a Canadian tour with them too. So um, you know, I hope you had fun with that and just how how things have been going in the camps, man, just musically um and all that.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah, you you know, man, uh I've been really lucky to uh in the projects that I've been a part of, uh been afforded some opportunities to go play on some decently sized sages. Um, and uh, you know, going out uh with with them, they've been gracious to bring us out a couple times here um has has been uh a lot of fun. Uh definitely eye-opening because I I come from uh a more DIY background. Like I all through my 20s we were doing tours in like super small, you know, uh 12 passenger vans or minivans, stuff like that. You know, all the seats pulled out, uh, you know, the uh one back row and then all the gear just stuffed behind that last seat. Um coming from that sort of uh approach to then being able to play in some uh, you know, the majority of the venues are over over 1k cap. And like, you know, uh the the first tour we did with them in 2024, uh, you know, like playing for 2200 people was pretty wild in in Montreal. And you know, just uh each each night has been uh was was was a great uh great journey and a lot of fun experiences to have. Uh definitely is very different than playing uh small digi clubs and stuff like that, dives uh to go uh to the next that next level and really uh kind of you have to sort of reapproach the game with uh your live performance and how you present yourself and what you do on stage uh compared to playing in like you know dives and stuff like that, where you can just headbang the whole time as fast as you can and thrash around a whole bunch. But you know, once the moment you're on stage and there's a very big separation between you and the crowd, uh you kind of have to approach things a little differently. So um, but yeah, outside of that, yeah, like you said, the tour coming up here in uh end of May is gonna be uh another great opportunity uh going throughout Canada, um, which I'm I'm really looking forward to as well.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

So that's awesome, man. And what is it about Montreal? Every time I talk to somebody, it's always Montreal. That's that's the show, right? Yep.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Um Canadians love their metal, man, and and and uh Montreal is like I I guess that's the the the mecca there, uh the shows are always packed and uh they're uh they're rabid and ravenous, I guess, for for any type of metal. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Uh when I toured with Archers back during their Apex album uh with Helium Prime uh at the time, we we weren't on the Canadian dates, so those were just Stryker and Archers, you know, Canadian bands. Um and uh I remember looking at the photos of Montreal from that tour, and my god, like it was easily the biggest one of even that tour. So yeah, just man, Montreal, shout out to Montreal. Like, you know when they say like you know, you know, because it's like the thing for singers on the tours and stuff, they're like, You guys are the best crowd. I believe they actually mean that when they're in Montreal. You know, they gotta hype up the other cities, but I think it's true for Montreal.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah, it's it's it's it's it's a wild place there. Like I like I said, the you you going out on stage and like you just like everyone's cheering, which is kind of bizarre, and then that goes all night for every band. Everyone's like on 10 the whole time. So uh it's it's uh it's fun and and it is a crazy uh they're a crazy town and uh the food and the people are really nice there.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

So that's awesome, man. And I assume you're hitting Montreal again on this upcoming one.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

Yeah, I don't I don't have all the dates in front of me, but yeah, the that that is uh I think the the first stop is uh is Montreal.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

So what sort of things do you do to prep yourself before a gig? Um and do you feel any difference from a smaller local gig to like on tour? Like where's the like mindset and performance-wise?

SPEAKER_00 7:12

So for for me, uh I I would say the the prep definitely uh there's certainly some day of prep, but the the prep usually starts for me like well in advance. Um, leading up to the the first tour we did, I was just like, I really need to be dialed in. Um, and I was touring with Glyph as a five piece with just myself on guitar. And I knew that it was one of those situations that I needed to be on 100% of the time, all the time. So um I kind of took a page out of out of what you you do as as on stream, and I was like, I'm gonna I'm gonna start streaming every like as much as I can, like try to do three, four days a week. I'm lucky enough that with Glyph we have all the individual tracks all separated for the um for our album and just basically pulled all the all the guitars out 100%. And I was like, I'm gonna jam as much as I can over these uh just basically the the bass drums and vocals or and just do as much as I can with that. And that was kind of the the the starting point. I know that sounds really stupid to be like, oh well, you just practice of the music, but like really all the to me uh it feels really different to play along to music where there's guitars present. When there's none, you don't get to hide. You can't flub it a little bit, you can't fall off a little bit. If there's a click going and it's just you, if you screw up, you know you've screwed up screwed up, and you can kind of zero in on the parts that are causing you the most issues. Um and then it's just a reps getting the reps in. But day day of um and and prep on before going on stage. I'm I'm a little bit of a of a nerd as in I'm going through like don't mess up, don't mess up, don't mess up. So I usually try to go through like the most difficult parts of the set um playing wise um backstage after getting all geared up, and it's just a you know, it'll be uh one earbud in and then just playing along with what I can and then just really repping those parts that are difficult. And uh with Glyph, um a lot of that comes into the more the lead playing, but uh you know, it's still there's just there's some there's some uh we're we're not we're not in the Hellion Prime tech territory or Jason uh territory for downpicking madness, but there are a couple there are a couple uh sections where we we have some of that and um a couple of parts too where um they were kind of written with alternate picking in mind, and then kind of in the in the studio we were like, hey, let's just downpick all that because it kicks up the intensity of the part and gives it a whole different vibe. And that kind of was like, okay, well, if it's on the record like that, you gotta do it live. Right. So it was lots of you know prepping with that. Um, but but yeah, and a lot of it is just like a lot of it is mental too. You just kind of like gotta shut everything out and and get ready to go. And I I I wouldn't necessarily say there's any like real tricks, it's like a lot of it is I I'm a little bit of an older dude, but I've been doing this a bit, but you know, it's just like you gotta you've been there before. You know, the only difference this time is that the stage is a little bit bigger, there's more people watching you, and like the differentiation between like a bar gig and and and a large, very large club gig, or in you know, in this next tour, like uh like we're playing in like a hockey arena for one of the shows, too. Um it's kind of the same, man. Like, I I I that's kind of a bad answer, but I I think uh if you're doing this uh you know at any level, you should be approaching it as like I'm gonna play how I play for five people, the same way I play for 500 people, the same way I play for 5,000 people, the same way I play for 50,000 people. And the goal, of course, is to not play like you're playing for five people, but play like you're playing for 50,000 people, no matter how many uh people are there. So um yeah, it's just like you gotta give it your all every every show. Um, and uh hope that it's enough.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yeah. Uh on that point of like, you know, the the amount of people, um, you know, uh a good reminder of that for me was on the last prime tour I did about two years ago now, we played this venue, which was sus, right? We've all played the sus venues. Um like we were it wasn't even a venue, man. It was it was upstairs of an antique shop. And it's just like, here you go, here's here's the floor. It was like, all right, cool. And I remember all of us were like, all right, are we cutting the set short tonight? Is that is it one of those nights? And I remember saying, like, I told everybody, I was like, we will do it unless there's a super fan, right? And of course, there was a super fan, dude. Not only not only that, this guy, this guy knew my deep cuts. Like, he was like, I've been following you since the dire peril EPs. Like, you know, we all got the we all got the releases we try to forget about. Um and he's like, not only that, he's like, but my 12-year-old daughter loves your stuff, but she couldn't come. And so, like, uh, I came here for her too, and I'm buying all your shit. And I was like, lesson learned. And you know what, dude? Like, that show was for him. Like, we fucking rocked the house for that guy, but it was just that reminder of like, you know what, man, doesn't matter the venue, doesn't matter the crowd, like they came for you. Give them give them the show. And now that that's a little different of a topic than like preparing for the show, but I think preparing with that mentality, um, you know, don't go on the stage not caring, make sure you're ready to go. Um and rocking it. And you know, something funny enough, of all the random people. I remember watching something with the bass player of Green Day, and again, it might sound like a a no duh, but something I liked of his, I don't do it, but I liked it. I and I think it's a good mentality. But he's like, he's like, man, before I even get on stage, I'm already my energy and my like uh ability is it already like he's like I'm doing jumping jacks, I'm perfor it's like I've already been performing for an hour. Like, so when I hit that stage first song, I'm that's I'm all I'm not warming up. Like I'm already he's like, I'm that's the word I'm sweating before I hit the stage. Now again, yeah, I don't do that, but I don't want to do jumping jacks. But if you got more ambitious than me, everybody, it's not a bad idea.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Um I mean on that point though, I mean there is something to be said for like the the pre-show stretching. Like I'm I'm sure we all watched the uh John Petrucci, what is it, rock discipline or or whatever is uh his little you know stretching routine that he would do. But you know, even even honestly, like doing some stuff where you get your legs kind of loosened up a little bit because you know, hey, striking that power stance for for you know 45 minutes straight, you know, holds up after a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I will do some arm stretching and things like that. Um so on that, do you so I know you mentioned you go through the hard parts of the set and stuff. Do you consider that your warm-up as well? Or do you do any sort of finger exercises or anything like that to get just get the fingers loose?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

I uh so uh I used to be a big like what is it, the the spider, the spider routine, the chromatic spider routine. Um uh but you know, a lot of it to I I as as the years have kind of progressed and and as you start to get a little bit older, uh your um your body doesn't necessarily uh appreciate uh being brutalized continually with uh with exercises and and things like that. So I I try to kind of keep a lot of the and one of the things I I've done too, just to like make it so that the best practice is the one that you want to do, in my opinion. Um and I typically just say like, okay, well, there's this part that kind of exercises these types of things. So I'm gonna maybe play that part of the song, rep it a couple times, and it'll be something that I'll probably want to focus on, anyways. I do a little bit of the you know the chromatic exercises. I'll do some some more um you know specific uh picking. Like you had posted uh online a little bit ago of doing the kind of different iterations of some galloping, uh, and I I kind of will sometimes do that a little bit, but a lot of the time it's it's it's playing parts of songs that um exercise those specific pieces. So like if I'm gonna do something really, really down pick intensive, instead of just kind of maybe doing an exercise, I'll take a portion of a song and that will become the exercise. Right. So uh we had talked about this in one of your uh chats uh when you were doing a trivium song, uh, you were doing uh uh was it like Light to the Flies or whatever uh the name of the song is? Uh-huh. I'll I'll take that sort of basically once the actual downpicking begins, I will play that up through the chorus and then just kind of loop it a little bit because it's just a downpicking workout kind of that has some like you know jumps up for stringscaping and stuff like that. So like that'll be just like I want to do some downpicking exercises, I'll I'll just play that little section of the song a couple times through, looped, and that that kind of becomes an exercise, but it's just playing part of a song kind of. And I do a little bit of the same with some of the glyph things as well. Um, some of the glyph songs. Um, the Greyhawk songs are a little bit different. Um uh with uh with glyph, it's all you know, thumb on behind of the neck, but Greyhawk has a reasonable amount of songs that are thumb over the neck. So the rhythm process changes with that uh for the fingering portion. So yeah, but uh there's just some some some assorted things that I'll do, but nothing like super regiment. Like I don't I don't basically hit 30 minutes before I hit the stage, and I'm gonna do 15 minutes of just like chromatic, alternate picking, down picking exercises over and over and over again. I used to do that, it works just as well. Uh uh, if not maybe a little bit better, but it just like playing the playing parts of songs has always been kind of my uh lately has been kind of the way to do it. Just because to me, that's just so much more fun than just grinding like a chromatic exercise for 15 minutes straight that you're just gonna be listening to it going, ugh, like this again.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

Yep, yeah. So agreed. Now I kind of cheat. I um I just I don't warm up before a show, and I I I usually just make whatever our first song is a warm-up song. Um, so like you know, the prime tour we opened with the final theory, and it's it's not a hard song, but it's got all the things you need. It's got the downpicking, it's got the strumming, it's got you know all that. Um and so it's like that's my warm-up. Because, you know, obviously I'm sure you'd agree, the adrenaline helps too, you know. Oh yeah. Uh, you know, I find that like when the adrenaline rush is there, my performance is way better than if I'm just sitting in my room. Um like sometimes when I'm streaming, I'm struggling to play something that I'm like, I know I can play this. But it's it's just that it's that mentality of like I'm just standing in my room playing uh compared to like all that. Um but yeah, so I think that's the way to do it, too. Like you said. Now now that exercise that I posted with the, you know, I start with the downpick into alternate picking, gallops, triplets. I do do that as well before I go on stage, but usually it's like when we're waiting to hit the stage, and I do it because I don't gotta think about it, right? I just um and I don't do a lot of the shreds like Rob here does. Uh so I can just do that mindlessly. And also it helps me with the jitters, right? Even now, sometimes you still get those pre-show jitters before hitting the stage, and it's almost like a um a fidget I can do to just sort of like, you know, be an antsy. So it works for two things for me. Um you were coming up as a guitar player, what were either bands or particular guitar players that really in influenced your playing?

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Yeah, um, I think I think it actually is gonna be maybe somewhat similar to your list, I would assume. Um I when when I kind of uh so I my musical background, like my family's not into music at all. Like when I was growing up, we didn't really listen to much music. I think they had maybe like maybe like five to like seven or eight CDs, tapes or whatever of just like greatest hits of like Beatles, Michael Jackson, that like Van Morrison, that type of stuff. And now have yes, exactly, exactly. Like if if um if we had access to it, they would have had the now this is music collections or whatever. Like, but we um Bro, do you still remember now this is music one? Yes. Yep. That that we would we would have had that if they would have like been a little bit more interested in music, but we we didn't really play uh or we didn't have any music, neither of my parents played music either. Um, and I kind of got into metal. Metal was kind of the first music that I was really interested in. Um, and I kind of sought out myself, and luck luckily I had access, internet access, and I would kind of go on there, and I knew of like Metallica and Megadeth. Those were the two bands that I kind of knew, and I went to their uh their forums, you know, back in the day when everyone all the bands had forums and uh kind of checked out the music suggestion stuff, and and that kind of shot me uh down the path of like not going in through the the the new metal route, but I was like Metallica Megeth, and then it was like, Oh, you like you you should check out Slayer, and if you like Slayer, you should see uh check out Morbid Angel and Emperor. So like the the the I was jumping off the cliff immediately. Um, and then it was like, Oh, you like you like uh Metallica and like you like Iron Maiden? Well, check out Halloween. So just there wasn't like a gradual, it was kind of into the deep end pretty early. So I would say early influences, um, you know, Hetfield, obviously, especially from a rhythm perspective, but Metallica in general and and the songwriting. Um I I was really into the band Ice Earth for a number of years. Like that's kind of the early, the early playing, uh rhythm playing, because way back in the day the day, uh I the left hand, all the the the fretting stuff was always a lot a lot of difficulty for me. But uh it ended up just being uh kind of focusing on a lot. Of like rhythm intensive bands where um they were more more often than not kind of in standard tuning or like E flat or something like that. Uh, because you know I just had one guitar at the time, and and I really just spent a lot of my early years playing, just um trying to play along with Metallica songs, trying to play along with Ice Terra songs, and and it and uh that's kind of where the the the early influences came from as as time progressed. Um it was more so I I kind of leaned a little bit more heavily towards uh European metal in general. I and also melodic death metal. I was really I got really into that for a number of years. And uh probably chief influences, like I really was a huge fan of the band, uh power metal band Gravedigger or power metal heavy metal band Gravedigger. Um, because they were just so rhythm guitar like focused, just heavy, like ger German power metal style, just like very um heavy rhythm guitar focused with some really cool leads that were not impossible to play for me at the time. Uh and also Halloween was another really big influence of mine. Kai Hansen as a guitar player, songwriter in general, uh, is probably like maybe the top influence.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yeah, he's fantastic. Real quick, just so we don't get too far. I do want to shout out because I was just talking to another friend about Gravedigger, and I think they are a super unsung band that is great for beginning rhythm players to get into. Because as Rob said, their stuff is I can't think of a single like, wow, this song is fucking hard from Gravedigger, but it's groovy, uh, it's riffy. Um, so it's a it's a great, especially if you like that Euro stuff, it is a good band to kind of get yourself into. Um for up if you're looking for like other bands to sort of learn some simple rhythms to. Uh I never loved the vocals, admittedly, so it's one thing that kind of kept me from really diving into Gravedigger, but they do got some great riffs. Um, so so check them out. Didn't want didn't mean to ruin your flow, but before we got before we got too far, I wanted to shout out Gravedigger. Uh, I think it is a great band to check out uh if you're looking for some like simple stuff uh to get some rhythm chops with.

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Yeah, the the funny thing I found about great I found out about that band because when they announced Demons and Wizards, and I was like, Hanzi from Blind Guardian and John Schaefer, what and um I I guess uh I guess Hanzi did like a guest like choir choral part or something for one of the Gravedigger songs, and people were uploading that as like, oh, this is one of the one of the Demons and Wizards songs. So that's how I found out about Gravedigger.

SPEAKER_01 24:53

I remember that.

SPEAKER_00 24:54

They uploaded Excalibur and they said that that was Demons and Wizards.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

Dude, you just memory unlocked you just oh my god, dude. Okay, you guys, we're talking about the days of downloading shit before Spotify. You okay, so I never saw it as Demons and Wizards. It always, for me, it was always downloaded as Blind Guardian. And you guys don't understand. We're talking about we didn't have things to reference, you know, because I I feel like we're probably around this based on everything you've been saying so far. I feel like you weren't kidding that your your journey sounds identical to mine. Started with Metallica, ventured into the iced earth realm, power metal. But dude, you just unlocked this memory of Excalibur, and I remember being so confused because I was like, I thought it was Blind Guardian. Why would I not think so? But it was like the vocals.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

I was like, this doesn't sound like Hanzi sounds really weird. He must have had a cold or something, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

But oh my dude, I forgot all about that. But for the longest time, I would doubt when we burned CDs, I would put it on Blind Guardian mixes because it said it was Blind Guardian. Damn, dude. Okay, sorry everybody. That was just literally core memory unlocked on that one. Holy shit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

That's how it was. It was the wild, wild west back back in the day. Like you were you were uh however someone labeled something, that's what what it was. And especially I'm I'm sure I don't know if you were in the same boat, but I I didn't I didn't have any like friends or older older folks that were more kind of entrenched in metal to kind of be like, oh here, check this out. It was just like finding out about stuff on the internet or finding out you know through through friends that you you met on on message boards and stuff like that, sending you recommendations of uh stuff. I remember like finding out about like bands like uh let's see, like uh Insomnium and like um even like Sonata Arcta and stuff like that, just from from friends in like Finland that were like, oh, here's uh here's some cool bands that you should check out. And I was like, oh cool.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

So the the way I did it, so I had a friend Anthony, he was like 17, 18 at the time. I was 12. His family was friends with my family. And at the all I knew was like Metallica, dude. I thought like Lincoln Park was fucking, oh my god, dude, like that's so you know, he showed me Iced Earth and Blind Guardian, uh, and all that stuff. And it was funny because he wasn't really in a superpower model, he just knew these bands, like I eventually surpassed him. But two ways that worked for me, uh, I got into Iced Earth and Blind Guardian, both of them at the time were on Century Media, so I would just go on the Century Media website and look at their roster. That's how I discovered Avantagia, it's how I discovered Dream Evil back when like Dream Evil just had Dragon Slayer. Uh, or I think I used Kazam to download shit. And when you would download stuff from Kazam, they would show you like related artists, and I would just start downloading related artists. That's how I discovered like Merciful Fate. Um, pretty sure Sonata Artica was that way. So that's that's how it worked for me. I was I didn't, yeah, I didn't do the forums and stuff because I just didn't know that was a thing uh when I was younger. Um but yeah, sort of similar is yeah, we would have to go dig it up. Here, yeah. Sorry, this turn into the podcast of two old men saying back in back in our day. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Oh, you young ripper schnappers have so good nowadays.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

We didn't have Spotify, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

With your metal archives and your shazams and all that.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

Exactly. Um, but on on Excalibur, that is a fun riff. Go learn it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Yeah, that and uh what is it? Uh like the Scotland United riff. You you drop your guitar, drop D, you're all set to go, and you can just like the whole time. Just alternate picking and then have some cool accents in there.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Oh yeah. So uh if if you have more to say on that thought, uh please do. But it did spark a question for me.

SPEAKER_00 28:56

Um no, I mean like the those were kind of the the early influences, really. Like uh, like I said, it was it was like start with like the big the big four or like the the the most mainstream of like the bigger bands, and then it was like kind of there was no sort of gradual progression. It was like I was checking out like death metal, black metal, melodic death metal, and like power metal, like immediately pretty early on, once I kind of got rec recommendations for those. And um the only thing that's that was was so frustrating about uh getting more into the extreme genres though is like like when you when you're just learning, it's it's so hard to play that stuff, and they're all in like wacky tuning, or a lot of them are in wacky tunings. You know, all a bunch of the death metal bands are in like you know, C or B, and like here I am with my uh knockoff Stratocaster uh that can barely hold a tune uh when it's down to E flat.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

So I remember trying to learn Blinded by Fear by At the Gates. At the time, I still didn't know alt alternate tuning existed. Um maybe half step, maybe I knew about EB because like I was into iced earth pretty early on in my metal journey, but I vividly remember like learning the song and just being so confused. Like, why does it sound wrong? I'm I'm playing what the tabs say, but when I try to play it to the album, it doesn't sound close at all, and my little brain couldn't understand it. And then when I learned they were in like A sharp or something, I was like, oh my god, what is this? And then of course, like we know nothing about setting up a guitar properly, so I tune my yeah, whatever my shitty guitar at the time was. I tune it to A sharp, and the strings are just you know, so fucking flimsy. Wobbling all around, and I'm like, this still doesn't sound good. What's happening? Uh yeah, you're like you're playing with spaghetti, basically. Exactly. Um yeah, man, I remember those days. So that uh so the the thought I had, the question was um, because back then we didn't have like a lot of like you know, stuff I'm posting or a lot of other guys posting of these quick little 10-second how-tos or even going on YouTube for instructions like if you didn't have a buddy who already knew, or like you said, talking to someone, like you're kind of figuring out these techniques on your own. Um, so especially obviously Metallica, you know, and I've been learning a lot more Metallica lately because I learned Metallica back when I was a kid and I haven't really since, so I've been like relearning a lot of it, and I'm I'm being reminded of why James Hetfield used to be the I shouldn't say used to be, uh, is the powerhouse that he is, especially those younger years. Because, you know, one of the things, okay, I'm I'm I've lost my thought question for Rob just to say something about James Hetfield real quick, but one of the things I'm I'm regaining my appreciation for with James and or Metallica back in the day is how creative they were with their songs. Uh relearning things from Puppets and Um and Justice for All is they're just they really were in the zone of just like how wacky can we fucking make this shit? Because they'll they do these random little changes that like wasn't really necessary and it doesn't really add anything to the song, but it's just cool from a musician perspective. And I think it's great because you don't really notice it. Like I was learning, I was working on uh I played disposable heroes on uh my stream and in like the chorus riff, it's like they jump from a 4-4 to a 3-4 with the same riff, and it's like it's something I wouldn't think to do because like when you're you're kind of in the groove, but it doesn't really affect the riff, but it's just a cool little like oh shit, oh my god, you know, this little jump, but it's it's I don't know. I just thought it was cool, man. They did a lot of little shit like that where they jump time signatures, not uh I don't know how to explain it because it doesn't feel like they're doing it in a proggy way, if that makes sense to you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

But yeah, they kind of like dropped in little little extra. It almost seems like too they they they they were perfectly fine with dropping in an extra beat here or there. Yeah. Just to make a part go a little bit longer to like have a little extra like flair to something, or kind of spill into like not a full repeat, but like a partial repeat of something. Yeah, and they also really like the also like sort of the modulate kind of revisiting rifts with like slightly adjusted or modulated parts. Um and that's all over disposable heroes, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like you got the the way it starts, yeah. That one for sure. That that was such that song. I remember being to the point of being able to kind of play along with that and feeling so proud of myself when I was able to do that. I was just like, man, it it's it's not more difficult, you know. This is the way like that song's like nine minutes long almost or something like crazy like that. Yeah, and just being able to play along in like a little bit, I was just like, Yeah, I'm doing good.

SPEAKER_01 33:58

Yep. Um, so speaking of that, the question I had for you before I went on the the little Metallica tangent there is how what what really locked in for you when you were younger, uh trying to learn these techniques, these rhythm styles? Um, you know, did you have someone that sort of guided you and showed you, or did you quite literally figure it out on your own? And if so, what was the moment where you're like, oh fuck, I get it? And what helped you really lock it in?

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Oh man. So I I did, I did, I took some guitar lessons uh when I was very young, uh, or well, like early on playing playing guitar in my teens, but I I anytime I took lessons from it was never from people that were anywhere into any sort of metal stuff at all. It was all very mainstream music or just like kind of the the like top top 40 or classic rock type stuff, which is great. But uh a lot of the stuff when I was learning metal, I I kind of just sort of strong armed it, like brute forced my way through it, trying to figure everything out. Um and what what kind of hmm, what what sort of was the the moment that everything sort of locked in? I I think maybe a lot of it was sort of like forcing myself to slow down, it sounds silly to say, but forcing yourself to slow down because when when you're when you're first learning, it's so difficult to just be playing along the stuff or trying to play along the stuff and it's just it's out of your your your ability, it's beyond your abilities. And honestly, one of the things that helped a lot was just sort of taking some of those mechanics, some of those those moves um in the picking styles, and just sort of slowing things down a little bit and kind of really dissecting what is being played and how it's being played and or how you would play it. And then, you know, kind of figuring out the like when you're doing like gallops, for example, you're you're for me, I I don't know how you you might play them differently, but I always was initially it was really challenging for me to make everything sound smooth because I was just alternate picking everything all the time. So I would do like instead of just doing down, up, down, down, up, down, down, up, down on the picking, I would do down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, and it would always sound weird and disjointed to me. So it sounds really stupid and silly to say, like, just kind of getting those mechanics down at the very base level and figuring out kind of like what works for me, what makes things uh sound a little bit more accurate and on point. Uh, because back in when when I was starting off, it was definitely like I was really, I wanted to be doing gallops and and playing along with these songs where there was a lot of that, and and and and just sort of not having uh someone to say, hey, stop, like what are you doing? Do it this way or try it this way instead. Um, I remember there there's a friend of mine that this is it sounds really weird. He he learned everything upstrokes, he didn't get the downpicking, everything he played was upstrokes. So if there was ever a section where there was just like all like downpicking, like James Hetfield or whatever, he would do it all upstrokes. And so for him, I remember me talking with him and just be my mind being completely blown that that's how someone would play it like that. And I sort of was like, well, maybe I should try doing it a little bit differently and uh things a little bit differently, and showed him like how I would play things, and he would show me how he played things, and it would sound completely different, but sorry, minor tangent, but yeah, like just back in the wild west, like you said, there weren't there weren't these you you couldn't go on uh on YouTube and pull up like how to play disposable heroes and then press click make a couple clicks and then you have a video of someone that has close-up angles of how they're picking and where their hands are at. Um, so you kind of had to either brute force it or uh or what have you. But yeah, like slow slowing down was was honestly the big thing. Um and I I kind of go back to that fairly regularly uh with sort of metronome work, especially when learning new songs. Um I'll try to back things off by you know, like 20%, get it 80% of the speed, and then kind of play along and really focus in on the mechanics of what's going on, uh the picking, especially uh rhythm and things like that too, um, for the counting. Um but yeah, like that it's so silly, and that's like a super frustrating thing for people to hear of like just slow down, you know, play play things slowly, get those mechanics in good, get the movements in solid, and then let's worry about going full full speed, let's build up that that um let's build up that ability.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

So right. But you said two things that I think are important that I want people listening to kind of soak in. So I know Rob said it's silly, but if you've heard a common theme with everyone I've been talking to, it is slow down. We're we're we're in the genre of metal, so we all want to play fast, but to get these mechanics, like you said, you gotta dissect them, you gotta understand, you gotta understand what you're doing before you go fast, or else you develop these habits and these muscle memory patterns that are wrong. Yeah, you're playing fast, but you're not playing right, and I think it's more important to play right than fast. Um so slowing down, right? That's a common thing we've heard with almost every guest, and it is important. And that, by the way, that goes with everything, not just rhythm, solos, slow down. Every friend of mine I've asked who just fucking shreds, you know, slow down. I they're like, I like I was talking to it was Donnie, yeah. First episode, he was talking about this sweep technique. He's like, I literally played that shit slow for a year, right? No one wants to hear that, but sometimes there you go. Um and another thing you mentioned, right? The again, the wild, wild west or figuring things out, or your buddy does it this way or that way. I think another important thing to remember, especially in a world of uh everyone online telling you their way is the right way, there's there are multiple ways to do something. Now, there are efficient ways to do things and you should learn proper techniques, but you know, if trust your body, right? Like you were saying, Rob, you would do it a certain way and it just didn't feel right, you know, that's different than there being one way to do something. Like if you're doing something a way that's not the norm, but it sounds good and feels right, then it's probably okay. To use James Hetfield as a again as an example, and that I've said this before on uh other episodes, that dude uses three fingers holding his pick. Most people don't. Um that doesn't mean you know, that but holding your pick with three fingers isn't going to get you some secret sauce to the down picking. You know, there are plenty of amazing rhythm players who do it the quote traditional way of just holding your pick with two fingers. But that's what worked for Hetfield, you know.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

And so yeah, I mean I've even even people, you know, I've seen folks do two fingers with these two and just pick pick that way. And then those are the what uh I think it is um yeah, Andy Gillian from from Morse Principium Est. I I was watching him play live, and I was like, what the heck? He's picking like this, like with his middle finger and his and his thumb. And I was like, why the heck would he do that? And I guess he comes from a piano background, so maybe he has something to do with that. But then I I was watching him play, and whenever he he does a lot of sweep tapping, and I was like, Oh, he he he's set, like it's literally he doesn't have any movement. He is his finger is his index finger is right there for the tap, so he sweeps and just immediately taps, and there's no adjusting or anything like that. He doesn't have to pull a finger out or twist his wrist or anything. That's brilliant, just right there, ready to go. Now that being said, you probably you should find out what works best for you. It's just it's a lot of the same thing, too, when people say, Well, what what picks do you use? Like, what picks do you use? And it's less like figure out what works best for you. Like if you're you're if you're a nerd like me, you got the the the jazz three style, the small ones.

SPEAKER_01 42:11

And then I'm over here with these giant motherfuckers. Yeah. And so yeah, yeah. And it but it works for us, you know. Yeah, exactly. And and that's the funny thing too, because like if I if I play at Jazz 3, dude, I'm so I'm so lost. I'm out of my element, you know. And you know, but it's just what I'm used to, what I'm accustomed to. And that's the thing too, is like subconsciously, you know, I I've molded my plane to these big ass picks, and so it's like anything else just feels so weird. Um, and you have to, you know, it's not that you can't get it real quick. Like, obviously, you can pick it up a little quicker when you've been playing for so long, but it still initially feels weird. And that goes back to string gauges. And I was talking about this with someone else too. Like, I use heavy fucking strings, I just like it. But the thing is, is I like feeling like I'm fighting my guitar. I don't know, like I just I do. I like a heavy guitar, heavy strings, I like that fight, you know. But a guitarist we were talking about, Taylor Washington from Paladin, fucking masterclass motherfucker. Uh he uses some thin motherfucking strings. Like we were like, I remember he shared a photo of his strings, and I think they were like sevens, dude. Like But am I am I gonna fucking say Taylor's wrong? Hell no.

SPEAKER_00 43:28

So it it a lot of the I think one of the things that probably a lot of your guests too will say, like, I mean, there's certainly something to be said for for learning techniques, and and it a lot of it is kind of figuring out what works best for you, what what unlocks things for you. And you know, if it if you're if you're really just struggling with like some of these more intricate rhythm patterns and and and fast rhythms, maybe it's time to take a peek at like what's going on. Uh you know, you've looked at your technique and stuff like that. Change it up, maybe like Up the gauge of the strings, low the lower the gauge of the strings. You might have you might that find that you have like a lighter touch. And so you're probably maybe would be beneficial to get to some lighter gauge strings or thinner pick. You never know. You know, it experiment. That's that's that's the nice thing about uh where we're at right now is there's just so there's so much of all these different uh you know string brands, gauges, all that picks, same thing. You can try out all sorts of different things and find something that works for you. And and you know, Jason might say, Oh, the big the big picks, the thick strings. I might be like, Oh, I like a little tiny pick, but like thick strings as well. But you know, for you it might be like you have a really thick, gigantic, big old pick and you have uh really light gauge strings, but that just works best for your playing. It's just figure out what works best for you, is is kind of one of the main things. Don't don't listen to these talking heads on the internet telling you to buy things, right? Um you know, find what works best for you.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Yeah, and I think that's that's very important. Um, like if you watch my videos or other people's videos and they're telling you like that's the thing to remember too, is like if someone because I might even do it in my videos where I'm like, do this. I'm just showing you what works for me. So if you do it and you're like it's not working, or you might see people be like, Oh, that's not right. I'm like, well, what's not right about it? You know, does it sound good? Does uh am I playing it correctly? Like um, there's multiple ways, and you're gonna hear different things, and you should hear different things. And that's another thing I'm hoping comes from this is to hear the different mindset of many players who are all great players, and that's the point is they all have their way, and you might hear similarities, and that's a good thing too, because again, one thing we've heard that's repeating slow down, take a breath, you know. And um, you know, so if you hear a c if you hear a common denominator, then that's probably a good thing to pursue, right? Uh and now, of course, that's more with practice, but yeah, just don't be don't be afraid to fuck around and find out. And I'm pretty sure I said that before too, but that might be the most important thing. Fuck around, find out, and you'll get there. You know, I've uh I've seen people commenting like, I've been trying and trying, I just can't do it. It's like uh you can do it, I promise you. We just gotta figure out, you know, what it's gonna take for you to be able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

Yeah, and and plateaus are a real thing, man, in playing. I'm sure you you for you're probably in the same boat as I and I'm sure everyone that's been on this uh pod with you has the same thing. It's just like you're gonna hit these points where you're just gonna be stuck, and you are gonna be banging your head against the wall, and you're not gonna be progressing. You're you're gonna hit like a be it a speed point, be it like something with uh intricate rhythms or anything like that, lead playing, whatever, you're gonna hit a point where you're just gonna get stuck and you're gonna be stuck for a bit, and then you're gonna just go to sleep one night and you're gonna wake up the next, and suddenly everything will click perfectly together, and you'll be like, Wow, that tempo, I I was having trouble with that yesterday. What the heck? It's just there's something in our brains in in the mind-body connection that like you get stuck on some things, and then you just something happens. I I wish I knew what it was, because if if that if I could, then I wouldn't have to deal with it. But like, no, there were there were situations too where I would be like just pounding away at like a song and just not able to get it up to speed, and then I would take a break for like a long weekend, four four or five days or whatever, and you know, go do something else, not maybe maybe not a sacrilege to say, but not pick up the guitar at all and don't play. And then you come back to it, and there's just something different about your approach, your mind, and you just you hit it, and you're and you're able to hit that that level where you need to hit.

SPEAKER_01 47:46

So yeah, I don't remember the exact phrase, but it's that whole like sometimes the right action is no action, you know. Um, and sometimes that's what you need. And uh a very recent example for me is I was streaming the other day and it just wasn't happening. No matter what I played, no matter what, I was like, I am just not locking in today. I was I couldn't get warmed up, my my plane was slop, and then the next day I streamed again. That's fine. Sometimes you just have off days, and that's cool. You know, it just happens.

SPEAKER_00 48:18

Um and part of part of all this game too is just like doing all the homework, doing all the prep so that when you hit these you hit these like hurdles where you're you're stuck or you're just struggling to make things work, you're able to kind of push through it as much as you can if you're in a spot where you have to perform. So say like, you know, it's the same thing with you. If you if you got a live show and you're you're not feeling it today, you you gotta just muscle your way through it somehow by hell or high water. And and and you know, like, you know, look luckily that's why we put all this time in, that's why we put all this practice in. Um, to hopefully when we get to that point, if we if we're feeling a little bit down or whatever, or just struggling with things uh playing wise, we can kind of push through it.

SPEAKER_01 48:59

So yeah, absolutely. And through this, we you kind of uh sparked some questions that I like to ask too. Uh so we've talked about live, we've talked about just sort of practicing or you know figuring things out and stuff. But is there anything specific that might help you sort of in the studio? Because that is such a different beast, right? And there's days when I'm recording that it's like not locking in. And the same thing for me goes of like, look, man, if you're not getting the take, then come back to it, right? But what are some things you do uh to prep your guitars for the studio? Um not so much like uh maintenance, but just playing and in the studio, uh what helps you kind of get the best solid takes?

SPEAKER_00 49:50

Yeah, this when the red light is on, that's that's when the uh that's when the pain begins. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you know, uh the the thing that really sucks about recording is that you might nail the part, like it might you might play it perfectly fine, but you might be a little smidgen out of tune. We don't have to worry about that because we got the ever tunes, but that's a whole nother conversation. But uh yeah, what when uh when you're in the studio, you you might nail a take playing wise, but like you know what, like you're a little bit out of tune, or you maybe you press a little the strings a little bit too hard and everything's a little sharp or whatever. Um but yeah, honestly, the the one of the main tricks um that I've found that is a little bit of a helper for going into the studio, and and and this is maybe a little specific to like rhythm playing. Um, I will sometimes kind of play a part or like when I'm when I'm doing the prep for the studio time in advance, I'll just bump the uh the tempo up to like instead of being uh I'll bump it up maybe like 10%. So we'll be playing a song at like 110% versus playing it at like just the normal speed. So just to like make it a little bit more challenging, and if you if in theory, the the the thinking would be if I could play it, you know, 15 beats per minute faster, then when I hit the studio, that dropping it down a little bit will make it the song a little easier to record. Um that would be my my one main sort of practice trick, I guess. Um I like it.

SPEAKER_01 51:28

Obviously, I've never done that, but I might try it.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Honestly, it sounds so silly to be like, oh, just bump it up five beats per minute or seven beats per minute, but it makes a difference. Like if you're uh I'm I've one of the things I I've do every once in a while uh for just like getting the rhythm chops down a little bit is I'll take songs and just kind of again loop them and play along and then just mess around a little bit with the the the tempo, like bumping it up maybe like like five, ten beat beats per minute, um, and then just try to play along and like that when some of the songs the pain really begins with that. But honestly, like if if you go from that point where you're maybe like getting close to being comfortable playing something like five beats per minute faster, and you drop it down a little bit, you'll you'll feel the difference, and you'll be like, This is so much easier now. Now that's specific for for for fast rhythms, and obviously, when when we're getting into um some really fast stuff, doing that sort of modulation a little bit faster is is gets to be really difficult because you're really going fast.

SPEAKER_01 52:31

Hey, what's up, everyone? We had an internet issue and it sort of cut out our feed, but here we here we are a day later. We're gonna wrap up this interview with Rob and get him out of here. So if you're wondering why I'm wearing a different t-shirt and my camera looks better, that's why. Um, but Rob, you were telling us about uh recording techniques, kind of what you do in the studio. If is there anything you wanted to wrap up with that?

SPEAKER_00 52:53

Yeah, sure. Um, my other technique that I use, uh, while I'm actually doing the physical recording process, uh I use a lot of looping parts. Uh so in the past, uh when I when I recorded myself, I would start recording, uh, stop the take, listen back to the take, be like, oh, that's not good enough, whatever, and then start all over again. But I um more recently I've been I mess around a lot with just looping where you just kind of have a specific section, usually a full repeat of a riff or something like that, especially it's great for rhythm playing, but a full repeat of the riff and just have it run and just get like lay down like 10 to 15 takes. And usually the first like six or seven takes are usually pretty trash. They're you know, they're not even worth literally listening to. But I found that I'll usually get in a little little bit of a groove and start to really feel the part and and feel the flow of the the riff, and then be able to have like you know, uh at least four or five really solid takes that I can choose from, or in turn use as like a like a quad track, a dual track, whatever, however many tracks you want to use for that part. And that usually gets like at least have I found uh some of the best takes. Um, I don't think nothing really compares to having someone in the room with you doing all the producing and you know, starting and stopping and picking out takes. But uh, if you're just by yourself, like many uh internet guitar players are, and people in bands that are doing home recording and then taking those DI tracks and bringing them to a studio to re-amp or sending them to someone, uh just the looping trick. And I'm sure probably a lot of people they already do something like that, but uh, but for me at least it it was a pretty big game changer when I started getting into that, and then just you know, you spend, like I said, drop down 10 to 15 takes of one section of a song, and then just listen through, find the best, you know, two, three, four, however many takes, and then pull those aside, and then you know, you can you you're right there, you have a quad track right there, or or a dual track, whatever you'd like.

SPEAKER_01 54:50

So very cool, man. Um, is there any like crucial I I we might have talked about this again. Apologize, everybody. Uh we are um, but any crucial differences you approach your rhythm guitar playing from studio to the to the live?

SPEAKER_00 55:12

Okay, well to to to to me, um you obviously want to capture a lot of energy in the studio, um, and you but you also I I I feel um usually getting as close to perfection or or or really really good in the studio is where you want to be. For me, live um I think live's a whole different animal. You you have to really bring uh a lot more energy, a lot more visual performance live, especially um if you just think of some of the favorite live shows you've seen, I think for a lot of people, those favorite live shows aren't those uh the shows where the guitar player, the everyone played absolutely perfectly 100% of the time, and they were just statues and they just ripped through all the songs flawlessly. You're not really remembering that as much. You're remembering those moments where uh you know the guy ripping a solo is one foot up on the monitor, the guitar's way up high, he's rocking and rolling, and there's a lot of feel, and he's connecting with people. I I think to me, live live is a lot more about the connection with the crowd, the connection with the audience. Um, you having fun, what you're doing, I feel translates very well to the crowd. Um, and you know, think of it this way if someone's on stage and they look like they're just phoning it in, they might be playing perfectly. But if they look completely disinterested in what they're doing, um, you're probably not going to enjoy it as much. But when you think of all the greats, you think of Iron Maiden, what does Iron Maiden do when they're playing live? They're running around the stage. What is Bruce Dickens Dickinson doing? He's running all around the stage, waving flags, jump doing jumps off monitors. Uh uh, you know, you got Dave Murray's, he's smiling and like big guitar shapes with the arms, things like that. That that to me, like I feel uh live performance, you got to bring in a lot of visual aspect of it. And it it for me at least personally, and I'm sure with you too, uh, some of our favorite performers and performances are the ones where you know you you visually have something to lock in on. And um until you have a really big budget to have fancy light shows, costumes, uh, props, whatever, you know, the way you do that is you go out and I guess just rock the hell out and and and have a really fun time, and hopefully that translates to the crowd.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

Yeah, absolutely. Um I agree, man. So Rob, I want to thank you so much for being here and for doing this and coming back a second time so we could actually finish it up and stuff. And I appreciate your time, man. So I want you to know that. Um, and thank you for all this great wisdom you gave. I had a really good time with this one. Uh before we go, though, we're gonna hit you with some rapid fire questions that I usually like to last or ask all the guests before they get out of here. So these are more fun, just nothing too serious, and just sort of whatever comes to mind first, go for it. And uh usually have them written down, but not tonight. So we're just gonna go off memory here. But speaking of just the last thing we kind of talked about, who is a band that you would love to go out on the road with?

SPEAKER_00 58:22

Personally, um there are two bands stick out in my mind. Uh number one, uh, we've we've played a couple festival gigs with them, but uh Stryker from uh Canada is a band that every time I've seen perform, they've been awesome. They're a lot of fun to watch live, but I would I would really love to be on the road for you know a couple weeks with those guys and see see them uh do the good work that they do every night. Um, I mean that's like a band where there's literally like four lead vocalists in the band.

SPEAKER_01 58:53

Um speaking of like the difference of recording and studio and like being more flashy, striker is a band that pulls both off live.

SPEAKER_00 59:04

Oh, 100%. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 59:06

I yeah, they're a band I actually, you know, there's some bands you say like, oh, I like them better live. That is Stryker.

SPEAKER_00 59:12

Yeah, 100%. They they're they're an amazing live band. They they uh they epitomize that um thing we were just talking about live where there's a lot going on visually, they really give it their all. Um another band that I would absolutely love to go on tour with, um, Unleash the Archers, is we're going we're going full Canada. Uh I would I would love to be on the road with Unleash the Archers. Those those folks are amazing. Um and uh their music's great as well, and they're good live performers too. Like it's just they would being on the road with both those uh those groups would be just like a uh a blast and and just a pleasure each night because both bands, they're every member of that band, those bands are at like you know the pinnacle. They're at the top for for the uh North American, you know, power metal, whatever you want to call it, you know, heavy metal scene. They're all killer players and great live performers as well at every level.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:05

I feel bad. I lived your dream, brother. Uh on the apex tour, it was Archer's striker prime. So it wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:14

Yeah, and on Apex too.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:15

The the Yeah, we uh I I wasn't on that one, but yeah, so it was it was the two of them. So it could happen, man, when Archer's is ready again, right? Archer, striker, glyph or Great Hunt. Make it happen. Whoever.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:28

Yeah, make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

Call us, call us folks. Yep, yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:32

Um how about you? What would what would your pick be out of curiosity? I don't know if you've answered it in other in other words.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:37

No, no one's no one's asked me. Um God, for me. It's it's so weird, man, because like the people I would pick wouldn't don't really fit my band. Well, no, that's not true. So trivium for sure. Oh, yeah, yeah. Uh I mean, I think trivium would work. We're cl we're close, you know. Uh um I always jokingly say when Trivium has a new album, I've got new material, you know. Um Trivium for sure, Devin Townsend. I'm also gonna go Canadian on that one. Uh Devin Townsend for sure. Uh Blind Guardian, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:18

Um, that's a that's a that's a killer one. Hopefully, yeah. That would I wouldn't mind that one either, too.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:23

Yeah, uh I think those would be top three for sure. Um in another maybe Symphony X. No, not maybe definitely. There's a lot, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:32

Yeah, um all bands, all all those bands would be like absolute pleasure just to see perform every night because you know they're they're all great at what they do, and uh, you know, especially uh I think uh I know in some circles trivium they're they're not they're not super popular, but uh I think a lot of people if they really delve into their catalog would be impressed by the songwriting, and then also to the playing is at an extremely high level. Um, and they're really, really they're the those guys all can rip, but there's such an emphasis on songwriting, hooks, and just like delivering at like a really high level.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

So to me, they're one of those bands that they're still just getting better. Like, I don't think we've heard the best of them yet. Um and you know, funny enough, not to go on a trivium rant real quick, everyone, but I always say about when I when I hear people say they don't like trivium, I have to ask why, because the way I came to love trivium was from not liking them, right? You know, when I was younger and more metal elitist and like, oh metal chord, nah, dude. And I'd always be like, nah, trivium sucks, trivium sucks. And Heather Michelle, you know, my best friend singer and stuff, she finally one day I think she was annoyed with me saying it, and she's like, Well, why do they suck? And trying to prove to her why, like, listen to this song. I'd be like, Okay, that song's not that bad, but listen to this song. Okay, that one wasn't too bad, but listen to this one sucks. And I was like, shit, I think I like Trivium. And now they're one of my favorite bands.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

To me, again, we're a little diversion here at the end of the podcast, but it's really interesting how I I feel like they they above everyone, they took the hate, they took the memes, the all the like the people poking fun at them, and they just said, fuck it. And they embraced it, and they just kind of almost seemingly encouraged it and said, sure, do do your worst, and then laughed at the the stuff that people came up with with everyone. And then I think eventually like people just realized, you know what, like they're they got a good sense of humor, they're they're good people, they're they clearly like to have fun and and are and enjoy a good joke and can take a joke. Yeah, and you know, it kind of their their music, like I again. I mean, I'm I I'm not the biggest fan, but they they have a very, very solid catalog, they're great players, and they they uh definitely care about uh delivering the goods at high levels, and they're also not uh adverse to um you know changes. And like they had the the album or two where uh Matt's voice was all messed up and he couldn't do the extreme vocals anymore. So they they reinvented the wheel there and and kind of changed their sound a little bit for an album. And then when he was ready to come back with his uh more extreme vocals again, they went back to that and they've seen a lot of success. And like I I think we talked uh before offline here uh that you know, like it's kind of wild that their last number of albums that they've been releasing have have been very, very impressive, and like it's not like any reduction in quality, or like you're just like oh, they wrote the same songs all over again. It's like new fresh ideas, new riffs, new new things.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:45

So yeah, yeah, I always say like their last three are actually my favorite. So to make it make sense in this podcast, for those listening, they are beast rhythm players as well. So go listen. Yeah, but all right, we'll get back to our rapid fire questions, though. So speaking of albums, of every album you've done so far, what are you most impressed with as far as your playing? Which one are you like do you listen to and you're like, damn, I'm very proud of myself for this? And all could all could be the right answer, but I'm more looking for even a specific song, just something that you're like, fuck, man, I did that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:25

Um so let's see here. I I think from from me, um the the glyph full length uh album, I was I was really, really pleased on how that came out. Like that was probably the first the first album that I that I've played on where I kind of listened back after the fact and and I didn't really I didn't have anything that like was like glaringly like just staring straight at me. that I was like oh I wish I could have changed that uh that album and then honestly too the the new the new Greyhawk as well um though both those albums I I was really happy with how they turned out um playing wise I I think like if we're if we're talking strictly rhythm playing I I I felt like the uh the stuff that I did on the glyph album specifically um and and you know that there's nothing that's super crazy on that but like um myself and and and Jeff um Jeff Black uh who uh is the main person of of uh glyph um he basically tracked he produced all the all the the takes and we just had like I think like a I think it was like four or five days at my uh house and then we wrapped up like with one day at his place maybe it was two days at his place uh or sorry his wife's place um before he had um you know while we were still uh doing the the lot more long distance stuff um I was really just pleased with how all that turned out and and uh you know we really meticulously recorded things we went the we went full nerd mode we were we bought I bought this the super expensive guitar strings that you know that are the was it the $15 a pack strings for a guitar we were changing them every song we we were just like being pretty brutally honest about like every take that we recorded and if something wasn't good enough we were doing it over again and and I was just really pleased start to finish how that turned out um so that's that's probably my short answer. My my not so short or I guess my not so short answer but my my lead uh my lead answer for lead playing I know this is we're rhythm podcasts but I was actually really happy with um the guest solo I did on the Owlbear most recent owl bear album uh they asked me to do a uh guest solo on uh what is it Hawk Riders of the Wastes um or Hawk Riders of the Wastes I can't remember if it's uh wastes or wastes um but uh they um they asked me to do a guest solo and I was really pleased with how my solo that I recorded with that turned out and I'm I'm primarily a rhythm guy that's in every band that I'm in I'm usually mostly playing rhythm stuff um the glyph uh in glyph I I'm I'm taking solos here and there um live more so but um as far as recorded stuff that the the the the glyph album for rhythm uh the greyhawk album for rhythm and then that guest solo that I did on the Owlbear album I I was really happy with the lead playing so all right so everybody listening you have starting points of what to go listen to uh for his for the for Rob's music yeah cool man all right well we're gonna get you out of here and um I again appreciate your time but before we go let's let people know what you're doing what you're up to and where they can find you great I guess uh just the the the the quick the sales pitch or whatever if you if you're uh if you're interested in I guess uh power metal or power metal heavily influenced by heavy metal um I I play in two bands uh glyph uh and as well as Greyhawk um and that's greyhawk with G-R-E-Y hawk um yeah those are the two bands I play in I I play guitar in both bands um and then uh this coming up in the end of the may end of May last two weeks of May I'm doing a Canada tour with uh Greyhawk we're opening for Ailstorm and Twilight Forces direct support for Aylstorm so we're gonna be on with them for about two weeks and then if anyone is in the Midwest Chicago Southern Canada area and you're gonna be at Legions of Metal um coming up here uh in the next I guess it's in about a week uh I'll be filling in on second guitar for Owlbear uh at that festival as well. So um come say hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:59

Awesome. Uh is there anywhere maybe they can find you specifically if uh they want to follow your work like um anything that you do?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:06

Yeah. Basically if you if you want to the if you want to see my uh my band posts and my band reels and things like that and advertisements uh as well as uh stories that involve what concerts I'm going to and what books I'm reading um you can find me on Instagram and that would be stoneway zero stoneway number zero awesome cool well thank you again man and everyone listening please go follow Rob here he's a great guy great guitarist and if you want to join a community with other like minded rhythm guitarists or just guitar lovers join the rhythm dominion discord uh follow this podcast share it rate it do whatever tell your friends uh and I hope to see you guys on the next one thanks for having me on Jason of course see you soon