Some people said that you’re a foster son of Allan Holdsworth in music. How’d you response this?
That's pretty funny! I'll say this right now…Allan is a legitimate musical genius with one of the most unique visions of how music is created that the world will probably ever see. I'm a guy mucking around on a guitar trying to have some fun who is heavily influenced by Allan so there's no comparison. It was very natural for me to be a legato player as that's how I initially approached the instrument. When I was about 17 I heard about Allan from an interview with Eddie Van Halen so I bought the UK album. It was at this time that I was being judged by a lot of people because I didn't pick all the notes and they questioned my ability as a musician. When I heard Allan I recognised the legato sound immediately and also his incredibly original sound and approach so in an instant his playing made me realise it's important to firstly, follow your own vision as to what kind of musician you want to be and secondly, try to develop a unique voice on your instrument, above and beyond technique. Allan is a gift to the musical world and I'm grateful for what his music has meant to me in my life even though I'm nowhere near a good enough musician to ever understand it at a deeper level than that fact that I enjoy it. I consider that proof that his music can reach everyone and it not "just for musicians".
You’re name is now spread everywhere on this planet. If there’s a fusion-guitar discussion, your name would become the most mentioned name during it. I bet that it was not easy to gain the popularity on this level when you started the journey in music career. What difficulties you often faced when searching for record deals and professional contracts at that time?
See, I just don't really agree with that. It's been my experience lately that I'm still largely unknown in the guitar world, let alone the general world of music. I can't even get a review or interview in my own country of Australia for my latest album. There are 2 guitar magazines in this country and neither of them have given me any press at all so I have to put that down to just not being popular enough. Compared to Greg Howe or Guthrie Govan, I'm a complete unknown so I'm not sure how to react to that question. I've been doing this at a professional level for a long time so it hasn't been from a lack of trying. My first appearance on an album was John Farnham's "Whispering Jack" in 1986 and it's the highest-selling album in Australian history but despite that I'm largely unknown except to a few guitar players that have directly heard my music. I don't mind as I'm happy that I'm able to play music and make somewhat of a living from it so no complaints. From what I've seen of high level fame I'm not sure I'd be too happy with it anyway!
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