Interview to..... Tom Hess

Interview by Roberto Guarnieri

A brief story of your career....

" I began playing guitar in 1986. I studied with several private guitar teachers (including George Bellas for 5 years). I attended Harper college and Roosevelt University to study music composition. I formed Hess (with my brother Scott) in late 1994/early 1995. We had a different name for the band at that time. We went through a few lineup changes. Opus 1 was composed between 1995-1998. Opus 1 was recorded in 1999 and was released April 20, 2000. I composed Opus 2 1998-2002, we are recording it now and are hoping to release it sometime in late 2002"

What is your opinion about the modern scene of neo-classical music?

"In America the scene for virtuoso guitar music and neo-classical music is not good. I do think there are some really great players in the world that are putting out great neo-classical music. Of course there are the obvious big name players like Yngwie and George Bellas that are still making great music. There are some other really excellent players that have great CDs too, Francesco Ferari, Borislav Mitic, and Theodore Ziras are a few of them. www.guitar9.com has a lot of great players that people can go to hear more of these kinds of players"

Is it very difficult for recording a cd of instrumental guitar, in a world full of instrumental guitarists?

"The number of other instrumental guitar CDs is totally irrelevant to me. It doesn't matter to me if there are 1,000,000 other CDs in the same genre or if there are 0. The Hess band is doing our own thing and we are not restricted in any way due to what other players/bands are doing. I own the tiny record label that we are on, so we still have 100% control over what we do. Obviously, we don't have CD sales in the millions, but we have made some decent money from the sale of Opus 1. We get all the profit from Opus 1 sales and we have saved every dollar of that money to spend on Opus 2. Our budget for Opus 2 will be about double what it was for Opus 1"

Your experience with Guitar9....

"It has been wonderful! Guitar9 has done a lot more for us than selling our CD. Opus 1 is currently the #3 all-time best selling progressive CD on guitar9.com And Opus 1 is also currently the #5 all-time best selling neo-classical CD on guitar9.com too. We are very happy about the high ranking of sales (Guitar9.com currently sells over 800 CDs"

About your cd, which track was more difficult to play?

"Technically the most difficult piece was probably Empire (track 4)"

A new talent like Tom Hess finds more difficulties in obtain live dates or guitar clinics?

"Yes it is true. Hess is based in America and it is harder to get the better gigs here. Most of our CD sales have been from outside the United States (Japan is currently our biggest market). We would be more successful to do concerts in Europe and Japan. The US is just weak for this"

What do you shows in guitar clinics?

"As far as clinics go, we really don't do those. Mike Walsh (the other Hess guitarist), Mark Carozza (Hess bass player) and I all have full teaching schedules. I currently have about 60 private students every week and I have a correspondence lesson program where I teach students from all over the world through the mail (and e-mail)"

Tell me something about your live band....

"When we play live, there is no live keyboard player. We use a sequencer and the orchestral parts that I composed for the CD to play along with"

Is very difficult in USA to find a good bass player and a good drummer?

"Compared to other countries, my assumption is yes. I have always been very fortunate to have excellent musicians in the Hess band. I am even more grateful for having guys in the band that have been easy to work with, have good personalities, are responsible, do not do any drugs and do not drink any alcohol at rehearsal or before or during our concerts"

What is your opinion about Yngwie Malmsteen and Michael Romeo?

"I don't like to talk about who I think is the best guitarist because I don't think it is important, but in my view, Yngwie is the #1 most important electric guitarist of the 20th century. He advanced electric guitar to the virtuoso level and is a master at improvisation. I also like Michael Romeo too. I have a lot of respect for both of these players"

What about Michael Angelo?

"Mike is an amazing player. I really like his No Boundaries and Planet Gemini CDs. I don't really like the other CDs as much. Mike and I live close to each other and he and I have talked a few times about doing some concerts together. We will probably do some gigs when Opus 2 is released and Hess is ready to play live again"

Which kind of guitar do you use?

"I have several guitars, but my favorite is my Carvin V220. I have another V220, but it has a Kahler bridge on it and it doesn't stay in tune well because of the bridge. I am looking to by another V220 with either a standard bridge or with a Floyd Rose bridge on it"

Your worst live experience and the better...

"My worst live experience was back in 1996. We played a small club outside of Chicago and our sequencer broke and the gig turned out to be a disaster. The best live show was probably a show we did with Rik Emmit (from Triumph) there were about 1,100 people at this large club and we just played great"

Your old influences and the new one....

"My earliest influences were Def Leppard, Metallica and Iron Maiden (this was between 1983-1984). I later discovered Yngwie, Jason Becker, Andy LaRocque, Bellas, Dream Theater, Bach, Chopin (and the other 19th century composers)"