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MARTY FRIEDMAN - STEF BURNS - ROB SBAR

Marty , how did you get interested in music and who were some guitarists that influenced your musical taste ?

I saw Kiss in concert and that was enough !

High energy music that rocks hard .

There are 2 songs on the record that might fit on Scenes , but other than tha t, it's the heaviest record I've done yet .

I do it all , my friend .

Glad ya like it! We were trying to grow as musicians . It's a challenge .

Meditation from Thais by Jules Massenet , Wasted by Def Leppard (!) and anything by Elvis .

A big part of i t. Not only music , many businesses .

Play your favorite music and you won't be disappointed !

Thank you !

Hi Stef , how did you get interested in music and who were some guitarists and bands that influenced your musical taste ?

I became interested because my father played guitar and my mother played piano and there was always music in the house. I was influenced by a variety of music including jazz, rock, r&b etc. B.B. King, Beatles, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Montrose, Allman Bros, Then Jeff Beck, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Mike Stern.

"Swamp Tea" is the title of your first solo cd , tell me something about and ... why a title like this ?

Well, it's kind of like a mix of styles. The song "Swamp Tea" has a Louisiana feel in the drums and that led to the album title.

The album plays rock ! But with many fusion atmospheres and beautiful ballads !

Thank you !

"Swamp Tea" is played by great musicians like Narada Michael Walden , Jimmy DeGrasso , Deen Castronovo , Steve Smith etc etc ... Was it played and recorded during the pause from tour to tour like a session player ?

I had recorded 5 of the songs back in '91 after the Alice Cooper tour, and 4 in '97 while I was not touring." I worked around the other musicians schedules a little bit to get all of these great players to participate.

You know , I'm italian and here in italian we have a great pop-rock god artist like Vasco Rossi , Vasco says (from an italian magazine) "... Stef translates my words into music , is the best expression of my music and one of the best guitarist in the world " ... what do you think about Vasco Rossi and your experience with him ...

It has been an amazing experience. Vasco is a great artist with a very unique style. He always does what he feels and the music has more honesty because of that. I think that is why so many people can relate to him. If the world spoke Italian he would probably be the biggest star in the world." To play with him is so satisfying because he gives me the freedom to express myself through my guitar the way that feels the best.

Which kind of music do you usually listening to right now ?

I am listening to this great guitarist from France si chiama, Romane. He is fantastic in the style of Django Reinhart. In fact Peppino and I are performing a song that he recorded called 'Passion"
I have been listening to Coldplay, Bonnie Raitt, Clara Moroni's soon to be released CD, Pat Metheny, Steely Dan, and my friend Lyle Workman. His CD "Tabula Rasa", is one of the best CDs that I have ever heard.

Now , tell us more about what you usually use on stage and in studio recording .

My custom made Fender Strat, 68 Les Paul, and a Tele, a collection of amps including Marshall JCM 900, Orange, Fender Hot Rod DeVille, Mesa Boogie MK III.

A crazy question for you : what are three songs of other artists that you wish you had written ?

Well, anything that sold 5 million copies, ha ha ha.

The interview is finished , In your opinion , Internet is the future of (music) business ?

No, I think it is and will be a very big part but I think people will always want to shop and browse through a record store. At least I do.

Hi Rob , how did you get interested in music and who were some guitarists and bands that influenced your musical taste ?

Art and culture have always been a significant part of my life since early childhood. It has always been clear to me that I would pursue the arts; I just had to find my paintbrush. The guitar became that outlet. I have a deep and abiding passion for the instrument and for music as my form of expression since I was very young. Growing up, much of my musical influence came from alternative and indie rock bands like Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Sonic Youth and The Cure. Later, when I began to develop my musical and guitar skills, I became interested in many of the virtuosic guitar players who had a more experimental or cerebral approach to the instrument. For example, John McLaughlin, Shawn Lane, Steve Vai and Allan Holdsworth. These artists made their mark on my aesthetic sensibilities. In the years that followed, I began to more fully explore and examine my compositional development and became interested in such jazz composers as John Coltrane, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, as well as contemporary chromatic composers like Elliot Carter, Stefan Wolpe and Edgar Varese.

The concept behind this CD was to develop a project that unites the mediums of music, visual art and written word (aural, visual, and cerebral) in a unified and cumulative sensory and arts experience. These three elements are intended to complement each other and together tell a story from varied aspects and dimensional perspectives. My intention is to present in metaphorical representation a psychological and philosopical exploration of the individual as a part of as well as displaced from society. Using my own perspective as a template, I paint a symbolic self-portrait through multi-dimensional perspectives. The purpose behind the three elements together, as well as each separate component, is to provoke multiple, simultaneous viewpoints in a cubistic or prismatic approach. The project’s title, “Wagon Wheels and Atom Bombs,” is representational of two, feuding Dionysian entities existing within the individual. The wheel represents man’s first significant invention that began to ease basic work activities and transportation, advancing society’s productivity. The Atom Bomb often is considered to be man’s final invention and perhaps will be responsible for society’s demise. This represents our self-destructive impulse; we invented it to destroy ourselves.

Now tell me something about your band Noesis Band .

My intention with The Rob Sbar Noesis is to create a project whereas the intended result is a high level of skillful performances, as well as a strong concentration on composition. Here I can explore my compositional aesthetics in a stripped-down trio situation, allowing me control over both elements of composition and performance. I employ such compositional concepts here as a modern, post-tonal and chromatic counterpoint and harmony, using wide and unusual intervalic combinations with rhythmically convoluted, cubistic and multi-faceted phrases that imply varied time and kaleidoscopic textures.

In using the piece, “Wagon Wheels and Atom Bombs, broken into the CD’s Intro and Reprise Outro, I represent the fine line between the impulse to be creative or productive versus the impulse to self-destruct. The cyclical nature of the story and its conclusion are demonstrated here by returning to the original point of departure. The same form of self-realization exists from the beginning of the analysis to its conclusion. The Intro fades out at approximately the same point of the head that the Outro fades back in as a subliminal representation of the entire process of internal, subconscious activity presented by the music, art and written word. This shows the entire process to exist within a split-second of thought.The whimsical bebop arrangement in the Intro is positioned to contrast in a sort of tongue-in-cheek, ironic and startling way to the intense entrance of “Lexical Gap.” The same situation occurs as the Outro contrasts pointedly with “Diet Soda, Chinese Food and a Single, Yellow Daisy’s” hysterics, as well as the desperation and sobriety of the written word’s conclusion. Also, the whimsy of the Intro/Outro are intended to remind us that throughout this very personal and internal struggle, there is ultimately an audience watching. The seriousness that ends both the CD and written word is set off by the applause ending the CD, sort of poking fun at myself.

At this point, I listen to a wide variety of music. It is unpredictable where inspiration can be found; sometimes it creeps out of the most unusual places. For the most part, I listen to a combination of composers and musicians who have modern apporaches to jazz and contemporary classical composition, as well as skilled and technical guitarists of varied genre with a dose of modern and alternative rock bands that have original approaches to that form. Balancing these combined styles in my listening diet has influenced my own approach to how I pursue my own music.

On stage, I use a combination of a Marshall JMP-1 preamp with a Mesa/Boogie 2:90 power amp through a Marshall 4 X 12. For effects and pedals, I use a Rocktron Intellifex for chorus, delays, reverbs, etc. I also use a Morley Bad Horsie Wah pedal, Digitech Whammy pedal and a Boss DS-1. In the studio, I use a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV head through a Mesa/Boogie 4 X 12 recto cabinet, a Bruno custom amp, and a Marshall 2000 DSL head.My guitars are a Tom Anderson Drop-Top, a customized Ibanez 570 and 250 DX both with DiMarzio pickups, a Fender Stratocaster with Seymour Duncan pickups and a Les Paul Standard.

This is a very difficult question for me to answer. I guess if I have to respond I would say Stefan Wolpe’s “Battlepiece” for piano, Elliot Carter’s “Concerto for Orchestra,” and Hüsker Dü’s “Celebrated Summer.”

Music is an abstract, diachronic art form that requires a balance of practical skills and techniques with inspiration and creativity. According to the 19th century German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, music surpasses the phenominal or real world and exists without the world itself, stepping beyond it. It is a representation of the abstract world of Platonic ideas. In effect, music is a very elusive language and in order to speak using it in the most fluent and unencumbered manner, one must understand all levels of its vocabulary and grammar.The internet has made an enormous contribution to independent artists, musicians, journalists, etc., working within the music business, allowing them to communicate and promote on a far wider scale than ever before. Clearly, much of the internet’s potential remains uncultivated. Eventually, as it continues to develop, the possibilites will expand to allow artists to be seen and trade information throughout this rapidly growingnetwork and permit the consumer to decide and select what interests them as opposed to falling victim to the marketing executives to make these decisions.