Heya! My name is Dustin Belanger and I play for Chasing After Alice, in Austin Tx!
2.Who made you want to pick up the guitar
Im gonna have to go with Angus Young on this one. I kind of picked up a guitar by chance really.
It was my parents idea to get me one, but I think the reason they originally thought to put a
guitar in my hands was because I was always playing air guitar to AC/DC songs, namely Hells
Bells. Haha that was also the first guitar riff I ever learned and I will never forget how cool it felt
to play the opening riff to that song.
3.Are you self taught or did you take lessons?
A little bit of both. I took lessons when I was quite young, from probably 10 years old to around
15 or 16. But when I did that I was always covering music that I enjoyed listening to. I definitely
developed my own writing style outside of lessons on my own though. I discovered drop tuning
guitars and realized that there was so much more to playing guitar than I had originally thought. This really shaped the way I wrote music.
4. Can you read music, Can you read tab?
Though It has been many years, yes I can read music. I actually played the trumpet in grade
school and that taught me everything I know about reading sheet music. And guitar tabs were
always a necessity in my lessons back in the day and I still read and use tabs today when I want
to learn something quickly.
5.Do you feel like you have your own sound / tone ?
I absolutely feel like I have my own sound. And I’ve always been told that by my friends and
family. Something about the way I play apparently just sounds like me. I think that has
something to do with my influences starting in classic rock and having dabbled a lot in the blues, before eventually finding my home in metal music. And tone is one that I think I will always be
chasing. I enjoy having a variety of guitar tones that I can use at any time. But finding the
perfect guitar tone is a never ending journey.
6.Tell us about your guitar ( brand ,model . year , color )
Well, my guitar that I use the most is a Korean made model from a company called Rondo
Music. It is an Agile Interceptor 626. Its a red tiger color with active EMG pickups and a Floyd
Rose floating bridge. This guitar is extremely sturdy and has been my main stage guitar for a
long long time now. But as well as some of the other members of the band I am a huge Ibanez
fan and my RG model with humbucker passive pickups definitely gets the job done and also has
a ton of hours of playtime.
7.What about pickups? Passive or active ? Tell us about them
I really love active pickups. Something about the intensity just resonates well with me. I love
passives as well but I personally just feel more satisfied when using my guitars that have active
pickups. Ive always used the EMG 81 actives, however I have recently gotten myself a new
guitar with Fishman Fluence active pickups that sound absolutely AMAZING and I cant wait to
get that bad boy up and running on stage!
8.Lets get into amplification, Same drill brand , model , speakers etc
So as far as amplification, I don’t do any of the tube stuff. While I love the vintage tone of a nice
marshall stack or even my own personal Egnator Vengeance 120W, I prefer the practicality and
convenience of having a digital power amp running into a small 2x12 cab for my live sound. All
of my tone comes through my pedal board which can run direct to the front of house, so the only
necessity for my amp and cabinet (Custom 440Live cab with 2-12inch Celestion g12k-100s) is
just for the people right in front of the stage to hear whats going on. In short my digital setup is
just way smaller and more convenient than having to lug around giant 60 pound amp heads with
huge 4x12 cabinets.
9.Do you have a pedal board?
Tell us about that badboy
So over the years I have had a ton of outboard pedals and whatnot. However once moving to a
digital realm I have settled on modelers. And specifically I use a POD HD500 which can
basically emulate all guitar cabs and amps, as well as pedals and effects. Upgrades to be made
once I settle on which of the big boy rigs I want to invest in.. (Line 6 Helix, AXE FX, Neural DSP
Quad Cortex…etc) the options are endless.
10..Now tell us your Dream Rig in detail…..
Im really almost there.. With the ability you unlock with multi-fx units like the ones I talked about
in the last question, you are never too far away from having access to all the sound you could
ever want. Other than all the beautiful guitars I dream about and drool over, and maybe a
couple outboard pedals just for a bit of fun, I am actually really close to having the setup I desire. Once I decide on which multi-fx unit is right for me I will be well satisfied for many years to come.
11.What guitarist can you not stand?
Me, I piss myself off on a daily basis.
12. Is tone more important or is technique?
They are both 100% equally important. Don’t have a crap tone, and practice your scales kids. 13. Name your top 5 guitarist
Ill give you 3
Misha Mansoor
David Maxim Micic
Carson Carter
13. Who is the most overrated guitarist
Dustin Belanger, seriously… screw that guy.
15.Who would you like a one hour private sit down lessons with anyone dead or alive?
Dave Grohl (Foo Fighters), Misha Mansoor, Some Australian bloke from that band Thornhill. Those guys are crazy good.
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