Friday, April 17, 2020

THE AXEMEN GUITAR INTERVIEW : Trevor Layton / Crawling Manifest

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

My name is Trevor Layton, I'm 24 years old, and I'm the guitarist for Maryland-based Thrash metal band Crawling Manifest. I've been with the group for over 5 years now, having joined up in February of 2015.
   
2.Who made you want to pick up the guitar

It'd be easy to name bands and artists that really drove me to want to get into music, but the honest answer would be my father, Jim. He taught me the first few songs I ever learned, the main one that sticks out being Destroyer by The Kinks. I definitely have him to thank for my broad music tastes, not to mention for buying me my first guitar, haha!

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

I'm self taught, been playing for 19, almost 20 years now. Of course, I wasn’t treating it nearly as seriously at 5 years old as I am now. I'd say it wasn’t until I was maybe 11 that I started really thinking “Hey, this is what I want to do forever, I better start putting in some work!”

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

Tabs, absolutely. Sheet music? Gimme a couple days and I could probably struggle my way through,  haha. I recently started trying to really buckle down on music theory, and that's helped me get a lot more familiar with it, but it definitely still gives me major trouble

5.Do you feel like you have your own sound / tone ?
  
I do, I'll spend hours at a time playing with tone to find one I like, but I’d be lying if I said I feel like I’ve found ‘the one'. You always want a tweak here or a tweak there, but I get closer with every new piece of gear, or writing a new song can definitely help me hear a better sound in my head.

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

I have 7 different electrics and 2 acoustics, but my main guitar is my absolute jewel. It's gotten me through 2 tours and numerous live shows, not to mention recording. It’s a 2017 Jackson Kelly X series KEXQ. It’s a black-burst quilt top with pearloid sharkfin fret inlays a floyd rose locking nut and bridge, a 24 fret 12”-16" compound radius fretboard, with .009 - .042 Gauge strings. Absolutely my favorite guitar!

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

Dual passive pickups, they’re both high output Jackson Humbuckers. My older Jackson Dinky has a Seymour Duncan Blackout active pickup in the bridge. Active pickups sound great, but I'm a forgetful guy, and I definitely prefer not having to replace the batteries in my guitar!

8.Lets get into amplification, Same drill brand , model , speakers etc

My amp setup is way less exciting, I started out with a Crate GT1200H head with a matching G412SL cabinet that I borrowed from my older brother Kevin, who has always been a big supporter and influencer when it came to my music career and my musical drive. Before our last tour in May, I switched out the cabinet for a Seismic Audio SA212 which has been great, and way better to carry around, and a Boss Katana MKII 100w head, which has amazing tone control and recording capabilities, and I can't wait to give it its first live run!

9.Do you have a pedal board? Tell us about that badboy
   
I don't, actually the only pedals I own are a Zoom G1on multi-effect pedal, a Wylde Overdrive, and a Dunlop Crybaby wah, neither of which I use live. I have nothing against pedalboards, and they're very fun at home for me, but I truthfully just don't know enough about pedals to make them a staple of my playing and performing

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

I don’t really have a set in stone dream rig, definitely not a realistic one anyway. My dream rig would honestly be something that didn't take much work.  I feel like almost every guitarist’s dream rig would be the one that you just turn on and it sounds exactly the way you want it. There are way too many amps I love to really narrow it down, but to name a few I'd have to say for a head I’d love to have a Randall Satan, a Randall Thrasher, an Orange Dual Dark, or a Mesa Boogie Mk IV. And for it to be a true dream rig it would have to be hooked up to a wall of vintage Marshall cabinets!

11.What guitarist can you not stand?

There are definitely guitarists I don’t like for personal preference reasons musically, both famous and not,  and of course some guitarists’ egos can really sour your views of them enough that no matter how talented they are, its insufferable to be around them. But realistically there aren't any guitarists I can’t stand as a guitarist,  just ones I can’t stand as people

12. Is tone more important or is technique?

Honestly, you can’t have one without the other.  No matter how good someone ELSE can make your tone sound, its gonna sound like shit if you don't know what you're doing, and even if you're a virtuoso, a bad tone can make it unlistenable from before you make it to the 5th note. In my opinion, technique is more important than tone, but that definitely doesn't mean you can just ignore it until you mastered your instrument

13. Name your top 5 guitarist

It's not easy to pick a top 5! There are so many that have either been a huge influence on my playing personally, or just amazing to listen to and enjoy, but here goes! In no particular order, Nuno Bettencourt, John Petrucci, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Dimebag Darrell, and as of recently Greg Burgess.

14.Who is the most overrated guitarist

I'm not a huge fan of questions like this, because I know that just because I might not like them doesn't mean they're overrated. I mean, they've gotta be doing something right just to get to that point, you know? For me personally it would be Yngwie Malmsteen. I totally recognize his skill and his talent, but it's gotta be some of the most boring “look what I can do" music I’ve ever listened to haha. But like I said, that doesn't mean I don't see why/don't think people should enjoy it, it just ain't for me

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

As amazing as it would be to use that hour to get a lesson from one of my long dead heroes, I'd have to pick John Petrucci, because I feel like it would be more than just improving my guitar skills, but my understanding of music overall. Not to mention, he just seems like a genuinely great guy!

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