Interviews: Interview with DEREK SHERINIAN (ex-Dream Theater, Planet X, etc..)
Posted on Saturday, March 07 @ 18:39:03 EST
Topic: Interviews
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Derek Sherinian:
Molecular Intensity
by Tommy “Hashman” Hash
Having tickled the ivories for Kiss, Billy Idol, Alice Cooper, Malmsteen, Planet X, and of course Dream Theater, keyboardist Derek Sherinian has had a multifaceted career in music. With his focus on providing an additional type of lead and soundscape to metal and hard rock bands, his solo endeavors have shown his execution of styles ranging from fusion to metal to jazz; and along the way he has brought on several axemen with him to share in the intense fire that he performs including Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, and Steve Lukather among others.
With six solo albums under his belt, his latest, Molecular Heinosity is his most focused; away went all the jazz/fusion experimentation in favor of a record that leaned into a metal album that would be led not only by the six strings, but actually by the keyboards – where his arsenal of sounds include distorted synths that play with intensity of a Les Paul through a Marshall, where he lets Zakk among others handle the latter. This different approach for his latest offering was set by the fact that his long-time collaborator, drummer Simon Phillips (Toto) was unable to participate, as many know, the skinsman has a multitude of fusion percussive talents. Nevertheless, Sherinian took the best metal moments & most aggressive styles from records such as Black Utopia and Mythology and melded them into the new record.
“I didn’t want to genre swap between the songs,” begins Sherinian, “I wanted to focus it a little more; the record just ended up being the heaviest out of all of my releases. A lot of it is due to not working with Simon Phillips, he was busy with other things so unfortunately so I didn’t have a chance to work with him, but when I work with him, It usually always comes out Jazz/Fusion oriented, which Jazz/Fusion is a big part of my sound as well, but with his absence, it forced me to go more into a metal direction. My records usually end up sounding like who ever I choose to collaborate with at the time. Without Simon there, I kind of neglected my Jazz/Fusion roots”
As far as the musical inspiration of this record is concerned, nothing has changed – he still has the camaraderie that he has always had with Zakk Wylde, and along with other axemen such as Rusty Cooley and Brett Garsed and, Taka Minamino, life was brought to the his compositions in ways like no other,“(the inspiration for my music) comes from everywhere,” explains Sherinian, “a lot of times I’m inspired by whomever I’m collaborating with, which just starts with a riff, whether they come up with it or I do – I expand it, tweak it so the song is complete; also if I have a specific guest star that is playing on the record – for example if I knew that Al Di Meola or Yngwie Malmsteen were going to be on a song, I would write a song that would feature both them in a very cool way, but different way than people would hear them on their own records, and the same thing goes with Allan Holdsworth, and whoever.”
A new project is in the embryonic stages from Sherinian, and it’s going to be something that will feature a vocalist – and by the looks of the requirements, it promises to be one heavy record, pondering upon the lines of extreme, as the criteria strictly says, ‘no prog /operatic (hey abbot) style, looking for Hetfield meets Meshuggah.’
The process has been mind-numbing listening through all of the tapes, or should I say MP3’s sent in, and it will get more and more boggling as it get to the point when the finalists are narrowed down, “I think the sound (of the upcoming project) is not going to stray too far from the music that you hear on this new record, but imagine a vocalist on top of it, real melodic but aggressive – certain heavy sections, brutal vocals,” explains Sherinian, “I defiantly want it to be very heavy with no ‘opera vocals,’ but I want the band to be very ‘progressive’ sounding also, especially in the middle sections where the band goes off and does whatever. It’s going to add another element to my sound, I’ve made six instrumental records so far and I want to kick things up a notch, go play stuff live and tour – the instrumental stuff is really difficult to do live. At this time, I can say that I will definitely working with Rusty Cooley on guitar, he plays on a track called “Frozen by Fire,” and that’s pretty much the only solid person in the lineup at this time. (As far as finding a vocalist) there have been about a hundred submissions; I’m looking for an American male that fits the criteria. It is tedious, and it’s going to be even more tedious as time goes on, but I have to go through it all to find the guy and I will know it when I hear it.”
So as the search for the vocalist continues, that and the promotion of Molecular Heinosity are the main focuses at this point in time - but anyway you look at it, it’s hard to believe that it has been ten years since he established himself as a solo artist, post-Dream Theater, “There is talk about a Planet X reunion with Tony MacAlpine playing some shows and at the end of this year I will be releasing my ten-year anthology for my solo career. I’m trying to write and focus on the new album finding the vocalist and releasing the record next year (with the new prog-metal band).”
Besides staying active recording for well known acts, Sherinian shares his talents with many other artists, as he runs his own studio known as Beachwood Manor Studios located in L.A. Will he play on anything you ask, not everything, the man stays busy, but whatever he appears on or mixes, he does add his own signature element to any artist or band. “That has been going great, I get tons of bands sending me stuff to mix and play on,” concludes Sherinian, “it’s impossible to do all of it, but I pick the stuff that I would be proud to be a part of, where it would be a pleasure. That takes up a few days a week, doing that stuff it’s cool, the most satisfying thing about it is that these bands get so excited about the end result because their music has come up another level or notch, plus they are excited to have me play on it. It’s always a positive win-win situation.”
Copyright & Publishing: 2009 Tommy Hash for Ytsejam.com
CLICK HERE to Read a Review of Molecular Heinosity
CLICK HERE to Read a Review of Blood of the Snake
Please Visit:
Derek Sherinian Website
Derek Sherinian at MySpace
Inside Out Records
Inside Out Records at MySpace
SPV Records USA
SPV Records at MySpace
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