Interviews

Interviews: Attention Deficit

Jeremy talks to Alex Skolnick of Attention Deficit and discovers that there can be life after Metal.

Jeremy: You used to be one of the greatest Thrash guitarists and now you’re mastering Jazz. What sequence of events led you here?

Alex Skolnick: It was an ongoing process. I left Testament almost 10 years ago and in that whole time I’ve been developing my other musical interests which involved various types of improvisation and a lot of Jazz study. In fact, I just got my music degree from the Musical University in New York Even though I liked Jazz while I was in Testament, I didn’t get serious about it until right after I left the band.

Jeremy: There are a lot of rumors around the Internet about you getting a biology degree.

Alex: I haven’t heard that; although, it’s very funny because there’s a guy on the Internet and he used to call himself Alex Skolnick. That’s his real name, but he calls himself Alexander J. Skolnick now so he doesn’t get confused with me. He has a PhD in animal psychology. If there’s any rumors like that, maybe I’m being confused with him. It’s funny because people think he’s me and he posts these letters on the Internet. He’s got a great sense of humor.

Jeremy: The other members of Attention Deficit have varied musical backgrounds. How does all that come together when you write?

Alex: Well we all just bring our backgrounds and influences to the table. Michael [Manring, bass] tends to bring more textural stuff and Tim [Alexander, drums] has his own style of drumming and you can hear the influence of groups such as King Crimson and Zappa. I try to bring a lot of different stuff, some of the energy from the Rock stuff I’ve done, but harmonically, I try to bring some of the Jazz stuff I’ve done more recently but at the same time I limit it to ideas that I think will work for this project.

Jeremy: What’s the deal with the political overtones on this record?

Alex: Slightly. It’s easy to detect. When we did this recording, it was right at the end of the whole election fiasco and [Bush] had just officially won the election but there was still a lot of fallout from it and it was a big topic of discussion as were a lot of his quotes, which worked their way into the song titles. It permeated the whole process and as we were naming song, we got caught up in the whole Florida recount theory. We didn’t go into it to make a big political statement, but it was in the air and it ended up permeating the project.

Jeremy: When you write, is it pre-conceived or all improv?

Alex: The first recording was all improv. It was going into a studio and improvising and throwing that into a blender. It was very experimental. On this recording, we had a lot more stuff worked out. We had a lot of experimenting going on, but we had a lot more ideas to start with. Tim and Michael had some loops that they brought in from their home studios and I wrote down some charts and some chord changes that I had sent to Michael. With each of our pieces, the rest of us would help build on top of them. Most of this record started as a preconceived idea.

Jeremy: Do you find this music more fulfilling than Thrash?

Alex: I think it is now. When I started playing Thrash, I was 16, so I was much more in the mindset of that music. I was a fan. I still appreciate it, but I couldn’t imagine doing it now. I have so many different interests musically that I feel projects like Attention Deficit are a better vehicle for the different influences I have, as well as the interaction between the different instruments. When you play Thrash, it’s based around these riffs and maybe you have a short solo and with this stuff there’s a lot more spontaneity. It’s just one project. It’s not the only thing I’m doing. I have a couple groups of my own here in New York. One’s called the Skol Patrol and one’s called the Skol Trio and they’re both Jazz groups with a twist. I wouldn’t say they’re traditional Jazz in any way.

Jeremy: Neither is Attention Deficit.

Alex: That has elements of Jazz, but there’s more to it than that. At this point, I’d rather be somebody who does a lot of different projects than just do one thing. Back when I was playing in Testament, when you’re in a band like that, that’s your life. You have to live, breathe, eat that music.

Jeremy: So you have more freedom now?

Alex: Everybody I play with in all the different projects, they play with different groups as well. So, there’s no discomfort or tension when one person starts playing with another group. It’s not looked at as strange or threatening. Back when I was in Testament when it was a real band situation and everybody was 100% committed to the band, they weren’t really comfortable with me doing outside projects.

Jeremy: Do you feel you’ve grown as a musician?

Alex: I’ve grown tremendously. In the last few years, I’ve felt more growth than in the previous ten. Every year I want to grow. After leaving Testament, there were a couple of years when my playing really felt the same. Of course, I was practicing, but it takes a lot to maintain a high level of playing. I got to this point where I really missed that period of time in my first few years of playing where every year made a difference. There were friends that you knew who played guitar and if somebody played a year longer, you could hear the difference, so you couldn’t wait until you played another year because you’d have that behind you. What happens to a lot of us is that we get to a certain level and we lose that childhood enthusiasm for growing.

Jeremy: That’s when you get in a rut.

Alex: Yeah, yeah! I had a year or two like that and ever since then I’ve been growing more every year. I’ve been studying since then, fist with a guy named Charlie Benaccos. Great musicians like Mike Stern still study with this guy. I ended up deciding to come to New York and get my music degree. I noticed a huge difference. A lot of the music I listen to, I can relate to it now. It’s not that I can play everything I hear records, but I can play some of it and I can use it to influence my own playing and my own composition. A lot of my favorite music, I didn’t understand 10 or 15 years ago. For example, Weather Report. I didn’t know why I liked it; I just liked it. I thought it was impossible to play guitar along with it. When I do a project like Attention Deficit, I’m influenced by this music.

Jeremy: Here comes one of the inevitable questions in an interview with a guitarist. What kind of equipment do you use?

Alex: It’s always changing, so there’s no one right answer.

Jeremy: So, there aren’t any endorsements?

Alex: I had endorsements for a while and I never felt comfortable with them. When I got my first guitar endorsement, it was great to get these free guitars, but what if you fall in love with a guitar in a music store and it’s by some other company? You’re sort of obliged to have all of your photos and publicity shots taken with the company you’re endorsing. I couldn’t deal with that after a while. I have two partial endorsements with amplifier companies. One is Tech 21, the same people that make SansAmp. I play an amp called a Trademark 60. It’s very portable. It’s solid state but it sounds like a tube amp. It’s my New York amp. I play it in all the gigs I do in the city. Back in California, I have a Rivera. It’s an amazing amp. It’s so big and heavy that I can’t really use it in New York. I have it in storage and that’s what I used on the Attention Deficit album. As far as effects, I don’t use many. I use a Rocktron Intellifex. For Attention Deficit, I used a! lot of pedals that I borrowed from our engineer. There were a lot of old 70’s boxes. There were a couple I really liked and I want to buy them, but they’re pretty rare.

Jeremy: How is “Idiot King” being received?

Alex: So far, it’s pretty good. It only came out a few days ago, but I’ve gotten some emails from a few people who seemed to really like it. When we did the first record, it took a while for people to get into it. It got a good response after time, but it had to grow on you. This record, people seemed to like it right away.

Jeremy: Do you think some people are going to pick up this record thinking it’ll be heavy because you’re on it?

Alex: I think most Metal fans that are familiar with me at all know that I’m not doing Metal now. I don’t think they’d buy anything from me now and expect it to be heavy in that way. I think the music is heavy. It’s heavy in its own way because there are dynamics because it can be quiet and then get loud. All the Thrash stuff, it was just loud all the time.

Jeremy: Did that get old after a while?

Alex: Yeah! It was constantly loud and constantly fast. I think it’s better to have changes in the speed, changes in the dynamics. To me, that’s heavy. To some people, if it’s not Metal, it’s not Heavy. I am going to be a guest on the next Testament recording. If people want to hear me play Metal, they can buy that. It’s going to be a tribute to the early Testament material.

Jeremy: What else is in the future?

Alex: We’re exploring some offers to play live. We really want to do it this time around. As far as myself, I’m currently shopping my projects. Skol Patrol is electric 70’s Jazz/Funk inspired by action/adventure themes. The Skol Trio is acoustic Jazz with upright bass and I play a hollowbody guitar. I’ve actually got some arrangements of some hard rock tunes. Over the last few years I’ve been so busy getting my degree and now my focus is getting these projects recorded and distributed professionally.