Patrick Healy: shredknowledge interview

"Corn Snakes" - Patrick Healy

MARK
what are you top ten guitar influences? and top 5 whole band favorates? plus what in your cd player right now.?


Patrick Healy: Before I became a guitarist I was always influenced by Koji Kondo. I remember being five years old and taking my older brother's Nintendo Gameboy, going to the level in the game with the best music and putting the speaker up to my ear. The emotion in those scores affects me to this day. As a guitar player, people like Zakk Wylde, Randy Rhoads, etc. were important for my development, though these two factors really got me going:

The first was Joe Satriani. As soon as I saw a performance of him playing "Flying in a Blue Dream" it blew my mind how beautiful a guitar could sing. It was the link I hadn't found between my love for guitar and my past with Koji Kondo's beautiful score writing.

The second was Warren Robert. I went to a local guitar camp and heard him shredding his heart out in the other room. I was instantly in awe. He gave us all a big booklet, a shred workshop of sorts, with the history of this "shred" stuff and all of these players I hadn't investigated yet. It was like opening Pandora's Box of guitar, I had opened it, and there was no way I was ever going to be able to close it.

I'd say my favourite artists would be Pink Floyd, Devin Townsend, Buckethead, Neil Young, and anything Joe Satriani is involved with.

full interview