| Rapid Fire Rondo |
| The absolute pinnacle of my classically
influenced guitar work. The arpeggio section at the top
of the track is insanely difficult. The coolest part of
the tune is that bad ass pentatonic lick after the solo
section. Also the main guitar track containing the melody,
solo sections, classical pedal tone section and arpeggios
was played live in the studio. one take all the way through
with the bass and drums - no punches, no need to fix anything. |
| Echo Andante |
| A short, volume swell, classically influenced
melodic piece. A nice break from the sonic onslaught contained
during the rest of the record. Even I don't have the staying
power to endure too many of my intense tunes consecutively. |
| Thrill Of The
Chase |
| One of my favorites on this record. I love
the rhythm guitar groove after the melody and stop time
section. Thats the problem with a lot of technically adept
instrumental guitar players, they just don't rock. |
| End Of An Era |
| September 18, the anniversary of Jimi Hendrix's
death, also my birthday. This past year (98)on my birthday
I lost my closest friend. His name was Rob Jefferies and
this tune is dedicated to him. He was my best friend for
almost 20 years. I'm not going to go into how close we were
or how I miss him, but when he died a piece of me went with
him. How do you like that, two of of my favorite guys on
my birthday. Needless to say I played my heart out on this
one. |
| Speedball Sonatina |
| I love the 5/4 intro section. Playing all
those 16ths perpetually and evenly for almost 2 minutes
is a pain in the ass. The rest of the track just burns.
There's a lot of interaction between myself and the rhythm
section especially during the lead breaks. Also the arpeggio
section is one of my favorites. |
|
Shredding In Shuffle City |
| Listen to Blackmore's playing
during "Lazy" on "Made in Japan," and you'll know exactly
where I'm coming from on this one. Enough said. |
|
Unrelenting |
| Melody, motivic movement,
counterpoint, form and structure. Back was the master of
them all. This piece was modeled after several of my
favorite inventions. It would be great that after hearing
this piece, young players would be inspired to go back and
listen to some of the beautiful music he composed. Plus,
it's a Joe Stump record, you've got to have at least one
pretentious, self-indulgent solo piece. |
| The
Dominance Factor |
| Long before I was signed to
Leviathan Records, I was a huge David T. Chastain fan. I
love the way he mixed snakey harmonic minor runs with bone
crushing power metal rhythms. On this track, I'm definitely
stealing a page out of his book. During the past few years
working with him at Leviathan, we've become good friends.
I'm extremely grateful for that. |
|
Eurotrashed |
| I love working over this fast
Euro-Metal type of groove. Locking on and playing 16th notes
against this type of time feel just sounds so cool. The
melody soars and the double picking section before the solo
break just plain rules. |
|
Pharaoh's Delight |
| A dark, extremely heavy gothic
sludgefest of a track. The melody was composed using the
Hungarian Minor Scale (one of my favorites), which really
added to the Egyptian feel of the tune, hence the title.This
track has three different sections. |
