Volcano Blues

Question: What happens when you combine the Icelandic volcano with a European jazz tour and a heavy metal festival in the Philippines?

Answer: A guitarist who has circumnavigated the globe.

In a matter of days, I have flown from New York to Europe, Europe to Asia, Asia to New York. Around the planet Earth, all because of a volcano. Welcome to my world.

I write this, I am resting comfortably at home in Brooklyn, NY while the two guys in my band, Alex Skolnick Trio, remain stuck in Europe. We were all supposed to fly back together, but the aftermath of the eruption, specifically the grounding of flights in Europe, changed all that.

It was just over two weeks ago we all flew from New York to Amsterdam to support the hugely popular acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo Y Gabriela. Since the trio had yet to have made it to Europe, supporting Rod And Gab presented the perfect opportunity for us to debut overseas, before continuing with them in the US. But I never could have predicted how this run of the tour would end.

After the final French show, in Toulouse, I flew to the Philippines for a metal festival with my longtime band Testament and the popular metal group Lamb Of God. This show had been booked for a long time and marked the first time the group had ever been in the Philippines. I couldn’t let the bands or the Filipino fans down. I had to be there. Besides, it coincided with some festival dates that Rod and Gab were playing on their own, so the trio had the time off anyway.



It should have been a perfect scenario. The trio stays with friends of ours in Paris for a few days, then meets me in Luxembourg. I fly to Manila from Toulouse, play the gig, then fly back to Europe and play the last two shows with the trio and RodYGab in Luxembourg and Brussels, Belgium.

Ok, it was a little crazy, but I’ve done stuff like this before. And it would have worked out perfectly. Who could have predicted that a volcano would erupt in Iceland, creating a massive ash cloud that would engulf the continent and cause a complete shutdown of every major airport in Western Europe?

I flew to Manila with no issues, had a bleary eyed dinner and wine with my buddies in Lamb Of God and a great nights sleep. The next day, I met up with my band who had landed in the middle of the night. We played a successful show for 30,000 Filipino fans. The following morning, rides to the airport were organized.

When I checked on my flight, I realized that it and every other flight to Europe had been canceled. My heart sank as realized I would miss the last two shows of the trio/RyG tour. including a sold out concert at for 5,000 people in Brussels, Belgium.

There was nothing I could do except try and get home or risk getting stuck in Manila. I called my airline, Etihad Airways, but the best they could do was reissue the ticket at another date. That was no help at all. When else will I need a ticket from Manilla to Luxembourg?

I asked about transferring the flight towards purchase of a flight to the United States. I was told that would be an ‘additional’ $5,500. No thanks. Meanwhile flights to the US were being snatched up left and right by people in my situation: scheduled to fly from Asia to Europe but forced to fly home instead.

Fortunately I was helped by a couple sources. First, American Express came to the rescue. While I’ve sometimes questioned the high annual fee I pay for the my Platinum card, their premium travel service came in very handy that day. They found me flight for under a thousand dollars. This service, which I pay the high fee for, actually saved me a lot of money and trouble. (Forgive me if I sound like a commercial for AmEx). Also, the Filippino promoter, Vernon from Pulp Productions, was also extremely helpful and extended my hotel stay for an extra night. And his assistant Karen and her friend Ivan took me out for an impromptu evening of food and drink in Manilla. The next day I caught my flight and after nearly twenty hours of travel, made it home.

I am still sad about missing those last two shows, and worried about my guys. But I take some consolation that we had some great European gigs, the Netherlands, Zurich, Switzerland and three cities in France, Paris, Marseille and Tousouse. The highlight was the two sold out shows at the legendary theatre, L’Olympia, considered the “Radio City Music Hall” of Paris.

Next week we are scheduled to play the real Radio City here in New York City. That is, if my band can make it over here by then.

As I write this, the band is scheduled to fly home tomorrow from Amsterdam, but everything is up in the air, pun not intended. Flight restrictions continue to be lifted, then put back into effect. Their connection is through London Heathrow, the airport which has suffered the most from the aftermath and continued eruption of the Icelandic Volcano. Many fingers are crossed that they make it.

This is one of those situations that will only make our band stronger. When this is all over, we will have one heck of a story.

Quick Update From The Road

Hey folks- thanks for all the positive comments here and over on the GP page. I figured that ought to hold everyone for now.

As we tour with Rodrigo Y Gabriela across Europe, we are playing for the biggest crowds we've ever seen as the AS Trio. The pic at right, taken from the stage after our set, represents a typical night. As you can see, the crowds are really getting it.

In other words, things are great but it's very tough to blog right now! So please hang in there while this very important business is taken care of. The regular blogs will start up again once we get back to the US and things settle down.

Cheers!

Guitar Player II

Here's my second blog for Guitar Player Magazine. It's about guitar players who are their own worst enemy, (kind of like the guy at the right), entitled
"How To Lose Your Envy And Become Your Own Best Guitar Player"

Click and enjoy : )

Alex

PS Feel free to comment here and/or on the GP Blog.

Further Thoughts On Great Songs With Bad Lyrics

Some of my favorite hard rock songs have terrible lyrics, it’s true. Especially the songs in last weeks post.

When I listen to these songs, it is not for the words, but for the sound. The lyrics just blend into the background as the timbre, annunciation and rhythmic inflection of the voice simply become part of the overall picture. It almost becomes instrumental music.

One can listen to different music for different reasons. For example, lets look at some music from a completely different genre than hard rock: the music of James Brown. As a regular listener of the JB box set "Star Time," and several other albums, I consider his work to be some of the best popular music of the 20th Century. Millions of other listeners, fans and critics alike, seem to agree.

Yet it would be easy to point a finger at James Brown's music and critique it for lack of melodies. Unlike other soul singers of the day such as Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, his music doesn't lend itself to good covers and instrumental arrangements. There is little content for melodic vocal study or for an improviser to quote, embellish and explore as a thematic interpretation.

Does that make it bad? Of course not. James' music has something else, something so strong it makes up for it: rhythm. The rhythm is so great in fact, that too much melodic movement would get in the way. It is, at its core, music for the purpose of bobbing heads, tapping feet, full on dancing or otherwise feeding off the groove of the rhythm.

Just as the strength of James Brown's music does not lie in its melodic content, the strength of these great hard rock songs does not lie in their lyrical content. Both styles have their own unique qualities that are separate from other genres of pop music. James makes you want to dance while AC/DC, Scorpions and Kiss make you want to play air guitar. James inspires headbobbing, these bands inspire headbanging.

If you were to ask most listeners and fans what they like best about hard rock, a short list of these qualities might include the following: memorable guitar riffs, sing-along choruses, driving movement of the bass and drums, high energy and a sense of power. Lyrical content wouldn't even make the list. Like the great music of James Brown, hard rock is subject to certain limitations, and that doesn't make it bad. It can even be argued that the limitations even become part of their strength. Hard rock is not music to be listened to for depth of words, but for power of sound.

As a young boy, it was this power which drew me in and got me into music in the first place. Despite my later appreciation of depth, lyrical and otherwise, this powerful sound of hard rock will always hold a special place in my heart. Like many others out there, I started as a youthful hard rock fan and then in the blink of an eye, unwittingly found myself transformed into an adult with good taste and high artistic standards.

Today, I can't help but look at these lyrics without pangs of embarrassment and snickers. But my outer sophisticated adult co-exists with a kid inside. This kid still hears these songs at nightclubs and parties, sometimes unable to resist the urge to pump a fist in the air, play air guitar, sing at the top of his lungs and, to quote one of the biggest offenders of bad lyrics: shout it out loud.