John’s interview below, To view the mag in its entirety please click HERE.
1/Why chose this photo for the cover and what does it mean to the theme?
I was deep into working on the musical material at that time and spent all my time in the studio. But I have a friend, a motorcyclist named Andriyan Izmailov, who is an amazing artist and designer. I asked him to create a logo for the album. The John Ivan GuitarSlingers logo is his work. He also sent me a few humorous memes hed come up with recently. One of them featured those very indigenous people. As soon as I saw them, I knew we had to use it for the cover. Their gazes say it all unwavering, fearless, indifferent to what doesn’t concern them, confident in what they’re doing and will keep doing, and enjoying what they have-new days and loved ones around them. That’s exactly how It feel about the world. I think it’s the same vibes, the same vibe. So i it’s not about who’s in the photo, but what’s in their eyes. We tweaked the drawings a bit, and they became the album cover. I also love that people ask about this cover-it means it hits, grabs attention, and doesn’t let you walk by!
2/How and why did you choose those artista to perform on this album?
Around late 2017 to early 2018, a couple of promoters from Latin America I was working with and I decided to kick off the Voices of Metal (The Voices of Metal United) project. The idea was to have a bunch of killer vocalists an one band, each doing their own set during the show, and then coming together to jam out a few well-known rock hits. We wanted a solid lineup of musicians who could nail every vocalist’s set. The cool part was that the vocalists and musicians could switch out from tour to tour. It turned out pretty awesome, and we kicked things off in Latin America (Mexico) before heading over to Europe.
At the start, I locked in some heavy hitters like Mike Vescera, who I’d already worked with on the Michael Vescera Project, Neil Turbin (the first vocalist of Anthrax), and Mark Boals. All three of these guys are just badass, in my opinion. We had a few different options for musicians too, and I knew for sure that we needed a strong keyboardist for this project. So I gave a call to my old buddy Michael Troy, the former keyboardist for Yngwie Malmsteen. Even though we’d been talking about working together for a while, his busy schedule meant he had to pass. But he suggested I check out the current keyboardist (and also a vocalist) for Yngwie Malmsteen, Nick Marino. I checked out Nick’s own project NZM on YouTube and got in touch with him right away. When we flew to Mexico for rehearsals before the tour, after the very first session, I was absolutely blown away by what Nick was doing. I straight-up told him, in front of everyone in the studio, that he was the best musician I’d ever played with in my life. And that wast the honest truth. On top of that, Nick turned out to be an awesome dude, and we hit it off big time. Naturally, Nick aho did his own set in the project.
So, when it came time to figure out who would be singing on my album, I knew I wanted some of these badass guys wed already rocked out with on stage. It was a win no matter how you looked at it. Plus, each of them has
their own unique charisma. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get some of the other vocalists I really wanted, mainly because a CD is limited to 60 minutes, and I had a lot of instrumental material. So I had to shelve some of the material for later. But hey, I’m hopeful this is just the beginning, and there’s a lot more to come!
3/Was it an easy task to contact them to be part of it? How long did it take for everyone to complete the album?
These guys are pros, and working with them is a blast. They know exactly where to add extra vocals and where to do something I hadn’t even thought of. As for timing, it varied-depended on whether they were busy with tours or their own projects at the time. But I had some leeway because while I was sending out the instrumen- tal demos. I still had to finish up some solo or other guitar parts. And man, there are a LOT of guitars on this album-like, seriously, a ton! LOL!
Oh, and I’ve got to tell you this I called Nick and asked if he had time to work on my track. (While we were still in Mexico, Nick asked me to play him my material. He said, “I know what I’d do here.”) So I sent him the ins
trumental mix, and about 4-5 hours later, I get a file back from Nick. I load it up in the studio, and I’m blown away! Nick had sung the entire song with layers of vocals, wrote lyrics, and even played an amazing keyboard solo! I’m like, “WHAT!?! How is this even possible?” A few minutes later, Nick calls me and says, “Check it out.
listen to it, maybe we need to change something?” And I’m thinking, it’s like 5 or 6 in the morning in Florida at that point. And I’m like, “What? No, just send me the files in studio format. I’ve honestly never seen anyone work that fast before totally shocked! LOL
4/Some songs remind Thrash Metal band’s ballads and such, was there intended or did it just happen?
In 1990, my best buddy Nick Tinigin and I formed the band Bestia. Back then, we were all about Thrash Metal. l’echno-Thrash, and the like. I’d say we were one of the top metal bands not just in Ukraine but across the entire post-Soviet space. We always hit the stage tight and confident because we rehearsed several times a week (5-7 days), for hours on end (sometimes up to 12 hours). We were hardcore metalheads, pure and simple.
I’ve always loved shredders guitar albums from Shrapnel Records and such. But sometimes, those albums felt like they were missing killer riffs and some solid structure. There would be a melody, and everything seemed to revolve around that add drums, bass just holding the harmony, and voilà, you’ve got an album slapped together in a hurry. We were always into bands that really paid attention to riffslike Metallica, Judas Priest, Exodus, and so on.
So, when it came to my album, I approached it like it was all about riffs and the interplay between guitar and
drums. The solo guitar is like the lead vocalist, taking center stage and shining. Everything was meticulously planned and rehearsed long before we hit the studio, Old school all the way. If it sounds like thrash metal bal- Jads, well, that’s what it is. I’m no music critic-I’m just doing my thing. But I definitely don’t want to be making stuff like what you often hear these days-like programming drum parts in a software editor and so on. If it’s ballads with Mark Boals singing, then hell yeah, I’m all in for that kind of music!
5/Have you used old riffs you’ve kept on a shelf for years?
To be honest, it’s a bit of both. When my drummer Nick and I started working on this material, we were siming
for a pure guitar album with tons of guitar parts, solos, melodies, and all that good stuff right from the start. As we were working and writing, some of the tracks turned into full-blown songs, and I thought. “Why not?” So I decided to make it half instrumental and half songs. This way, listeners (hopefully LOL) might find it easier to get through, since not everyone can handle a whole album of guitar wankery. You know what I mean.
Meanwhile, we recorded a few tracks with Elvin Rodriguez, a guy who used to sing for Tracy Gis project (ex-Dio guitarist). I thought it would be cool to include one of those tracks on the album. Elvin’s a great vocalist and a good friend of mine. I just added some guitars and tried to match the sound to the rest of the tracks. I knew my album had tracks that sometimes differed quite a bit in concept, but I actually liked that. It’s like-variety that’s
not boring. The common thread was that it was all played by the same people.
But yeah, I pulled out one of my old songs, Flyin’ Plane of a Dreams, which we recorded back in the early 2000s and played a lot with my band Bestia. We just re-recorded it with better drums, expensive cymbals and mics, and new guitar sounds. Originally, I wanted Mike Vescera to sing on it, and we even started working on it in my studio during a tour in Ukraine. But Mike was really busy with his D-Metal Stars project and recording for Disney. So, I asked Mark Boals, and his voice just nailed it. I’m thrilled that we revived it and that Mark’s singing on it. Mark is a total titan, a legend. I remember buying the Trilogy album by Yngwie Malmsteen with Mark on vocals back in 1986, which was probably the first foreign band vinyl officially released by the Melodiya label in the Soviet Union. So, think about how cool it is that 38 years later, Mark is singing on my own album! With that said, I had to cut a few tracks from the album. Maybe 1 just need a bit more time to get them where I want them. Or maybe I’ll come up with some new ones.
6/Did you participate in the lyrics? Is it something you often do?
In Bestia, I wrote both the music and the lyrics because I was also singing for a while. The lyrics for “Flyin’ Plane of a Dream” were originally penned by my good buddy Vladimir Makarovsky (Mc Car Up), the legendary vocalist-guitarist from Foxtrott. Actually, Makar wrote them ages ago and gave them to me, and I just edited and tweaked them a bit to fit the melody. Sadly, Makar was killed last year in Ukraine when a missile hit his house. A huge loss for the Ukrainian rock scene.
Nick Z Marino wrote the lyrics for two songs that he sang. I love how Nick works he’s amazing! I didn’t even touch his lyrics; I totally trusted him with that. For the song “The Prison Sell,” I used a poem by Mussa Jalil ((Musa Çälil in Tatar) was a Soviet Tatar poet and resistance fighter), and that was probably the most challen ging task on the album. Neil Turbin nailed it, as expected-experience counts for a lot!
The lyrics for “The Last Loaded Brain-Storming” might be a bit abstract and cryptic, but it’s really about heavy drugs and how they take over people. We probably should’ve included a booklet with all the lyrics. Maybe I’II ask my buddy Rikk, who runs the website johnivanguitarslinger.com, to upload them there.
7/Have you written the songs and then sent them to have each part done or have you rehearsed with each musician?
So, the backbone of the album was all set and done before I even sent the tracks out to the vocalists. I even took a crack at singing some rough drafts myself. But when it came to the two songs Nick was on, I just let him run wild. I gave him a few hints here and there, but honestly, the guy’s a total beast!
We even broke down a track with my good buddy Gorka Alegre-yeah, the Spanish bass legend from Baron Rojo-right here in my studio while he was crashing at my place in Nikolaev before the Voices of Metal tour. He knocked out his parts in his own studio in Burgos and sent them over. I gotta say, I adore that dude like a younger brother. He’s got serious talent, and he’s a blast to work with!
8/You’ve been with Bestia Records for a few years, is it your main label?
Well, actually, I started it! We kicked things off in the late ’90s after I got back from Los Angeles, where I was studying at the Musicians Institute of Hollywood. My small team and I were all about recording and releasing albums-both our own and those of other bands and musicians. We also threw some pretty epic festivals, including a few big international ones. It was always a blast. I love those crazy folks I worked with also shoutout to other studios like Luna Records, Dinamix Audio, and SkyBars with my buddy Denys Leontyev and his video studio.
Having your own label is awesome because you don’t Lowe anyone anything and you get to do whatever you want. I always wanted that freedom. I mean, not every producer is gonna be down for a 9-minute instrumental track, right? Haha. But if it weren’t for this album, no one would have seen my vision!
9/What’s your gear!
I’m an old-school guy-I love cranking up those loud tube amps. Back home, I’ve got some top-tier gear like a hand-built Marshall TSL-100 and a custom Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier, both paired with cabs loaded with Celestion Vintage-30s. My studio’s stocked with a bunch of mics, tube gear, and all the other goodies a guitarist needs to get that fat, juicy tone splitters, MIDI controllers, compressors, processors, you name it. But right now, here in California, since I had to leave home with just two guitars and a backpack full of socks, I’m rocking the Quad Cortex Neural DSP. To be honest, I’m still figuring it out, but I can’t say a bad word about it. It’s considered one of the best amp modelers out there. And it’s definitely super handy on the road-everything you need for a live gig in a 2-kilogram box? That’s just fantastic!
10/Are you endorsed?
So, for over 30 years, I’ve been shredding on guitars that were not only custom built just for me but also designed by yours truly, thanks to the legendary Guitar MasterBuilder Valek Trubnikov from Tretyakov & Trub nikov Guitars! Sadly, Valek passed away a few years back. And then there’s my awesome MIDI controller from BJ Devices, which I used to control all my amps and gear on stage-maybe I should say used to before the war? They even hooked me up with some one-of-a-kind cables! All of this was put together when I was gearing up for a tour in Ukraine with the Michael Vescera Project.
11/Do you intend to have many albums in this form or will you release solo albums like any shredder? The song guitarslinger is one of them…
hard to say what the future holds, but today, I’ll let you in on a little secret. I decided to put out the GuitarSlinger album instead of releasing my newer material. After the first tour with Tim Ripper Owens (KKS Priest, Judas Priest), I got so caught up in organizing gigs and shows that a lot of material just piled up. I really wanted to drop some new songs and instrumental tracks, but after some thinking, I decided to dig out the old stuff and finish it up. Artists know how tempting it is to show off the latest and greatest, right? But I’m sure that what seems old and done a thousand times to me will be new to someone else. So, my new material, which cleverly saved from the studio computer, is chilling in my guitar case, just waiting for the perfect moment. Plus, I’ve got new ideas and riffs brewing that might end up in my solo album or in projects we’re working on right now. I can’t drop any names yet for certain reasons, but stay tuned. The new stuff will definitely sound different-I’ve been experimenting with tunings, string gauges, amp channels, and pickups. And my network is expanding, so we’ll see and hopefully chat more about it later!
12/Do you teach?
So, I’ve been teaching private guitar lessons for years, starting around 1994. Not long after, I got invited to teach neo-classical guitar at the Guitar College in Moscow. Later on, I started writing instructional articles and made a series of video lessons for some of the top magazines in Russia and Ukraine-Music Box in Moscow and PRO in Kiev. These magazines were kind of like the Russian and Ukrainian versions of Guitar World, Guitarist or Guitar One. Plus, with my close friend and fellow guitarist from Bestia, Gena Grimoff-who was officially considered the best guitarist in Ukraine for many years we held masterclasses and performed at exhibitions. I gotta say, I’ve been pretty lucky with the musicians I’ve had the chance to work with!
13/Can you explain what is Voice of Metal? it’s your Instagram name…
The name Voices of Metals on my Instagram is a a shoutout to this awesome project that brings together some of the best voices in the metal scene and also reflects my deep connection to the metal community. Now that I’ve moved to the States, I’m hoping we can take this project to the next level. I’ve also been in talks with some well-known musicians about collaborating on new projects, but it’s still too early to drop any names. Gotta wait for some responses from the promoters first!
14/You once had Nick Marino, would you release a complete album with him? You have a good connection….
Nick Z. Marino is a fantastic part of the Voices of Metal project, and we really have a strong connection and un- derstanding-he’s like an older brother to me. Our stories and paths are very similar. Many years ago, Nick also fled the bombings in Yugoslavia, and before that, he was one of the standout musicians in Serbia. He brought a ton of energy and talent into everything we did together. We’re constantly in touch. As for releasing a full album with him, it’s something I’d definitely consider. We’ve got great chemistry, and working on a full album could be a blast. It all depends on timing, schedules, and, to really nail what we both want, wed probably need to lock ourselves in a studio together for some real-time rehearsals. It’d be casier and faster than sending files back and forth. So who knows? Maybe I need to take a trip to Miami, or Nick can come out to see me!
15/Initially this album came out in 2020, and you had reviews. Have you remastered it or changed a few things?
Yea, you’re right! it was originally planned for release in 2020. But with the pandemic hitting and all the craziness that followed, we had to cancel all our tours. So, I decided to take advantage of the situation to make some changes and tweaks. We even shot a video with Elvin Rodriguez for “”The Last Loaded Brain-Storming By early 2022, the album was ready in its current form and pretty much mixed.
Then, with the war breaking out, the area where I live (south of Nikolaev) was right in the line of fire and constantly shelled. After one particularly nasty rocket attack, we decided it was time to get out of dodge. I managed to copy the material from the studio computer to an external hard drive, pack up the studio, and hide the gear in safe spots. Later, I found out that I only copied the raw song files and not the mixed tracks. So, no biggie when I finally had the chance a year later, I dove back into mixing everything from scratch. It’s been quite the journey, but the album is still here!
16/Who directed your videos? They are great and very professional
Thanks! I’m stoked you like them. The videos were directed by my great buddy Denys Leontyev and his awesome team. I got to be hands on in the process and learned a lot along the way. For the “Never Give Up” video we shot it on a day off between concerts during the Voices of Metal tour in Ukraine. We were on a tight schedule, so I’m super grateful to everyone who helped make it happen. It was a big team of like-minded folks who are passionate about what they do.
As for the video with Elvin, we filmed it at various locations based on a pre-arranged plan of what and how things should be. Then, we edited it with Denys in my studio on a new powerhouse computer that my friends had just built for me. It was a blast working on it!
17/Have you got tour dates booked? Will you have some of those artists with you?
I’m working on setting up some tour dates right now and also in the process of getting a new status here in the US. So, for the near future, it’ll be Latin American countries. Just yesterday, my good friend and promoter from Costa Rica called me with some great news about this. Fingers crossed!
Earlier this summer, I got an incredible offer a big-time promoter from New York called and invited me to join a major US tour (over two months) opening for a huge name in the metal scene. Unfortunately, since I’m not able to work in the US yet, I had to turn down the offer. But I’m not bummed out because I’m sure this is just the beginning. I’m hoping to get the necessary documents soon and start touring the States as well.
And of course, being here makes it easier to invite the artists I’ve worked with since they’re around too. For example, Neil Turbin lives just an hour away, and Mark Boals is in nearby Las Vegas. How cool is that!? As soon as everything is finalized, I’ll definitely share the details. Stay tuned!
18/Are you involved in other bands?
Yes, I’m involved in a few projects and bands. Besides my solo work, I’m part of the Voices of Metal project and collaborate with other musicians on various projects. Recently, I did some initial recordings here in California for a well-known artist, and there’s a chance we might head out on a US tour together in the coming months. I just need to wait for my status approval and work permit, and the band also needs to iron out a few details with
the label’s producers. Once everything is set, I’ll be sure to drop all the juicy details. So, keep your eyes peeled for some epic updates!
19/What is your practice routine? Do you play your favorite guitar songs?
I don’t have a set daily routine. It all depends on my mood and the tasks for the day. Usually, I improvise in different scales and tonalities, play some of my favorite classical études-like Paganini or something similar. I might focus on some arpeggios or scales and play them for hours if I feel something isn’t quite right. Or I could spend hours working on a riff that just popped into my head until I’m exhausted and ready for bed. Sometimes I plug in backing tracks and go through material that I’m planning to play on tour.
Maybe my method seems unconventional to some, since everyone is used to following a specific plan: chromatics, scales, arpeggios, technically challenging elements, and so on. I used to do all that a long time ago-me tronome and all that. Now, for me, the main thing is inspiration; I just plug in the guitar and play. Whether it’s an old riff of mine or a favorite riff from Megadeth, it doesn’t matter. Anything you do makes you better. Just do it, play, that’s it.
Thanks, John Ivan
https://www.instagram.com/voices.of.metal/
