Interview with Michael Spitzer (Lead Guitarist In Maalstroom)
April 8th 1999.
Interview By Chris A. Erikson
Chris: Hello there Bob...
Chris: OOPS...Michael..
MS: That's a good start
MS: Rewind the tape.. Take 2
Chris: OK...haha...
Chris: Hello Michael...How are we doing today eh?
MS: Doing great
Chris: I just got your new CD in the mail a couple days ago...I must say that I was impressed!!
MS: Thank you very much. Anything particular stand out for you?
Chris: Yes....I found it VERY similar to Yngwie Malmsteen's tone and style. And sense I am a huge Yngwie fan I loved it!!
MS: Yes there was certainly a strong Yngwie influence on many of those songs.
Chris: But didn't you copy some stuff straight from a couple of Yngwie songs? Like the Never Die solo that you used in the song Prophecy....Tell the truth now!
Chris: I recognized it right of the first time I heard you play that solo in your song
MS: If you have tablature available for the song I don't think it is identical by any means.. BUT you have a good ear, I was trying to get that style of solo for that song so it is very similar.
Chris: Believe me....You'll have a hard time telling them apart if you have listened to Never Die atleast 2000 times!! One of my favorite songs!
MS: I will have to play the two songs side by side tonight now to see again just how similar I got it.
Chris: Another thing I found to be great was the Solo to Death Walks...You truly use great scales it seems like...The solo overall sounds very dark...what where you thinking when you made that solo?
MS: I wanted Death Walks to be my personal tribute to the neoclassical style. It is kind of like Yngwie's Black Star, Perpetual, Krakatau, etc... all rolled into one long 7 minute solo. You know what I mean the heavy slow riff with the solo guitar racing around over top of it.
Chris: On to next Question...I found your Acoustic sound very nice. Its very warm and has a full tone. What are you using to get that sound?
MS: The opening acoustic sound is actually Yngwie's Classical Nylon String Stratocaster. The acoustic on the last song is a Takamine acoustic, miked from 12" away pointed at the neck-body joint with some Lexicon reverb
Chris: Yngwie actually let you borrow his Guitar to record that intro??
MS: No. I saw his at his studio and ordered one for myself from Fender-Japan.
MS: The guitar is shaped like a Strat, but has Mike Christian pickups in the bridge and uses classical nylon strings. It is convenient because you plug it right into the mixer.... No mics needed.
Chris: Ohh...That's cool!!! Yngwie used that guitar for recording the acoustic parts in Concerto Suite right?
MS: I know he used it for all of the acoustic parts on Magnum Opus.... I am not sure about the Concerto Suite.
Chris: OK....I have always wanted to know this... Is Yngwie's Dick as big as his ego?
Chris: HAHAHA...just kidding!!
Chris: Oh well...Never mind that....You there?
Chris: Hmm....I am sorry that I have been asking all these questions about yngwie, Its just that I don't know anyone that knows yngwie personally...So IM kinda wondering something's...
MS: That's okay.
MS: Yngwie himself was actually honored by this CD when he listened to it.... He commented..."Hey, you gave me credit in your liner notes. That's cool. Allot of people are influenced by me but never give me the credit."
Chris: I have seen many artists Thanking Yngwie on there CD's...The guitarist for Swedish Hammerfall did...
MS: Yngwie also said.... "Mike, work some more on your vibrato and wide bends and you will be dangerous. You are already better than half the guys out there." Coming from him that was the best comment I could have received. It also gave me something to work on.
Chris: Yes....that was a good comment from the master himself...But just one final question about Yngwie than well go on to you again!
MS: Shoot!
Chris: I saw Yngwie live in 1998...he was "Fat"...well...he looked warn out.. I am wondering if he has lost any weight? Stupid question...yes I know. Haha
Chris: Because on many of the live pictures I have seen he looks like a Swedish meatball but on ALL his front covers he suddenly appears real skinny...
MS: In the Facing The Animal video for example, he did not look his absolute best... you are right. However, since that time and up to about 2 months ago when I saw him last he had slimmed down by about 15-20 pounds and was living more healthy.
MS: He is certainly keeping himself in better shape these days and has a renewed energy about life.
Chris: Think that's because April is alittle more active in bed than Amberdawn was? haha...or is it just exercise?
MS: I visited your new web site. You think my electric guitar tone is good ?
Chris: Yes it is Very good...Nice and Clear...Its a tone I have never heard before. To be honest you play clearer than Yngwie himself!
MS: I don't know about that statement .. but thanks.
Chris: No I mean it....You have a extremely clear tone..
MS: There are almost no effects on it. I was striving for the early Yngwie tone. Just as when I do a Van Halen like song, I aim for the type of tone Eddie used in his early days.
Chris: So...How long have you been playing guitar now?
MS: I got a late start on guitar actually. I'm the same age as Yngwie (35). I had many false starts, meaning I would play for awhile and then give it up, etc.... Finally around 1988 I got serious and stuck with it.
Chris: 35 years?
MS: That makes 11 years now.. (and 2 CDs) The only negative is I jumped right into learning basic music theory and writing my own stuff so I never did the "cover tune" type routine. To this day I can't play any other artist's songs 100% of the way thru from beginning to end.
Chris: That's cool....Personally I go crazy if I don't play everyday....Where there any things that really helped you to develop as a guitarist under the years??
MS: The most important thing for me was learning how chords are built... how modes relate to each other...and how scales fit over the underlying chord progressions.
Chris: Oh shit...IM screwed than!!! I don't know a single scale or mode...or what the hell all that stuff is..
MS: Actually the secret is you only need to learn and memorize one scale and you can understand 90% of all other musical relationships.
MS: For example..... If you learn the fingering for E Natural Minor, you automatically and instantly already know G major, A Dorian and C Lydian by relative comparison..... SO if you use the E minor scale over the C Major 7th based chord progression (based around tonic note C) you are playing Lydian like Steve Vai.... Just be sure to use the notes in the scale differently than you would if playing over an Em progression.
Chris: Huh? could you put that in English? Oh well...I AM hopeless!
Chris: OK....What would you rather do... 1. Chop your hands off and never be able to shred again 2. Start playing the Triangle in Hanson and not get your hands chopped off...
MS: I like my hands so I would reluctantly play the triangle with Hanson.
Chris: Good choice....BTW I heard that Hanson is looking for a Shredding Solo Guitarist!! :)
MS: I have just moved to a new house (March 1st), so it will be about another month until my studio is re-assembled and up and running again.
Chris: Are you going to make a new album then?
MS: A new Album ? Certainly . Expect some diversity on the next CD.... Of course some double bass drum fast shred tunes... BUT.. also some Blues, a ballad or two, a Metallica like tune, and even a Lydian based Steve-Vai like instrumental. Despite the variety, SHRED is still my favorite !!! I just want to show a little diversity. Pizza is great for example, But you don't want ONLY pizza all the time.
Chris: Hey......Metallica like song??? ARE YOU GOING TO SELL OUT TOO???
Chris: Please don't do a metallica song....For the sake of shred...don't...
MS: I like Metallica's "Black" album ..... It is Load and ReLoad which didn't grab me.
MS: I have to do a Metallica like song for my wife. They were her favorite band until the Load album.... Now she can't stand them. I'm writing it for her.
Chris: OK....I have 2 more questions...
Chris: Did you like Yngwie's song TEASER on the Fire And Ice album? Plus what do you think in general about all of the cheesy lyrics on the love songs Yngwie has on his CD's?
Chris: "Getting Dressed For The Masquerade, To Be The Main Attraction...Might Become Someone Someday, With The Right Connections.
TEASER!!!! You set my heart on fire, TEASER!!! Put out the flames of my desire"
Those are the WORST lyrics I have EVER heard!!! Ahaha!
MS: Most of Yngwie's ballads I like. I did not care for Teaser of "Fire and Ice". Neither did I like Alone in Paradise on Facing the Animal.
Chris: But admit that the Lyrics on TEASER are just Horrible!!!!
Chris: Last question.... Are you Addicted to Shred?
MS: Shred for my breakfast... Shred for lunch.....Shred for my dinner...Munch Munch Munch!!!
Chris: Thank you for you time Michael!!!! Hope you didn't think that any of my odd questions where offensive or anything?
MS: Not at all. I enjoyed it.
MS: I think to help resurrect shred guitar playing, your readers should start a sort of underground movement. Have them EMAIL and write to the different guitar magazines asking to hear and read more about the different shredders on your page. After about 100-200 contacts, the magazines will probably start trying to find out what the buzz is about.
Chris: Yeah Yeah....