NIGHTMARE TOYS

Sunday, December 22, 2019

AXEMEN SERIES GUITAR INTERVIEW / Max, Alwaid

1.Tell us your name and the band you play for


My name is Max, I’ve been playing the guitar in Alwaid, a French melodic metal band, since its creation in 2010.





2.Who made you want to pick up the guitar?

 



To be honest, when I was young I was more into drums, but my parents were not ! A close friend of mine introduced me to guitar when I was about 15 or 16. And I have never stopped since then! (btw I still love the drums!)



3.Are you self taught or did you take lessons?


I didn’t take any lessons, I just practiced a lot with friends and many of them were guitarists so they taught me some techniques, but most of the time, I just played over the music of my favourite bands. Learning to “place myself” to find the good note, and eventually improvise on the scale as I’m listening. But I think it would be useful to take a few lessons to learn hard solo techniques for example.



4. Can you read music, Can you read tab?


Even if I’ve made a lot of progress over the past few years by playing covers on acoustic guitar, I’m still lost when I have to read a proper music scoresheet or to know which note I’m playing. But tabs are a very good thing when you can’t read music, it’s quite easy to find the notes on the neck reading just the numbers.



5.Do you feel like you have your own sound / tone ?


Yes, indeed! That’s why sometimes I can be so annoying with the other members of the band on a show, I often insist on playing on my own rig, to make sure my sound is exactly how I want it to be.

Btw, it has taken a lot of time to find it, and even now, I’m not completely sure that I have found it even if I’m really close



6.Tell us about your guitar ( brand ,model . year , color )


 
The guitar I use the most on stage is a Jackson Randy Rhoads RR5-FR, in Ivory color with black stripes. It’s the Japanese version of the famous Randy Rhoad, but I really like this guitar! The neck is really cool, and despite the form, it’s very comfortable when you’re standing, and it is quite light!

Of course it sounds great too! And what about the style! (But I have to say, I really like V-shaped guitars.)

I don’t remember exactly when I bought it, but I think I’ve had it for about 10 or 12 years (and since then, it has known a lot of gigs!)



7.What about pickups? Passive or active? Tell us about them


I like both. On my Jackson RR5, I have a couple of Seymour Duncan’s SH2 and SH4. I really like the sound, very “hot” and “hard rock”, which is very good for me, but I’m also a big fan of the EMG’s. The 81 is one of my favourites essentially because it makes rhythmic parts sound very precise and with a high gain (which is great when you play metal music)





8.Let’s get into amplification, Same drill brand , model , speakers etc


When I started to play in bands, I used to play on a Peavey Triple XXX head, which is a very good amp, but for years now I’ve played on a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier. Its sound is closer to what I searched for my own tone.
When I was young I liked to go to the music store and test a lot of amps, and I am still doing this but the rectifier gives me what I need so it’s great!

For speakers, I have tested a lot but for now I still play on my Marshall 1960 AV, it’s the vintage version of the classic 1960 but it has the equivalent of the Celestion V30’s. I like the combination of these two, head and cab; because it’s like a mix between “American” and “British” sound



9.Do you have a pedal board? Tell us about that badboy


I do! I’ve played a lot on my own pedalboard , I like finding the right pedal for what I need, and I’m not familiar with the « all-digital » approach which does thousands of sounds… For now I’m using the following :

Maxon OD9 (ideal with the Rectifier), Dunlop ZW 45 Wha, TC Electronics Hall of Fame and Polytune, Boss RV-3, GE-7 and CE-5, MXR Boost line driver, and an ISP Decimator.

I have played a few gigs with a FCB-1010 connected to a G-Major but I always find it much more complicated than my own pedalboard to find new sounds and program them, although it’s easier and quicker to set up on a stage.





10..Now tell us your Dream Rig in detail…..


 
Ouch that’s a hard one! I have a ton of ideas!

I think I will continue to play on a Mesa boogie rectifier head, I really like the sound but I think it will great to couple it with a Marshall JCM 800 head, I’m still a big fan of this old beast.

For the cabs, the dream will be a big wall of Marshall 4x12 cabs, THE wall of sound ! ^^



11.What guitarist can you not stand?


To be honest I don’t really know. Even if I don’t like the style, or what the musician is playing, they’re still musicians and I respect that.



I12. Is tone more important or is technique?


For me the tone is more important but you shouldn’t ignore the technique.

Technique is great and necessary, but in a song, you shouldn’t put a lot of long technical parts because I think it’s not very interesting to listen to that. But, if you combine technique with good emotional parts which are more based on melodies, you have a great thing. It’s like cooking ! You have to respect some doses to do something good.

You can find it in Iron Maiden songs for example, they are amazingly talented musicians but in their solos, you always find a big place for melodies between hard parts, and I think that’s what people like the most, when they can even sing along!



13. Name your top 5 guitarist


Zakk Wylde (this guy is so amazing!)

Randy Rhoads (his solos are a great mix between classical music and heavy metal!)

Tony Iommi (Riff-master for years)

James Hetfield (Metallica is still a big influence for me)

Adrian Smith (he has written great songs, Wasted years for example !)





14.Who is the most overrated guitarist


Trick question! ^^

I don’t really know, for example even if I don’t really like what John Petrucci does, I still think he’s a amazingly great musician!





15.Who would you like a one hour private sit down lessons with anyone dead or alive?
  


Maybe James Hetfield, it will be great to jam with him !

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