Johnny Hiland: Matt Blackett Guitar Player interview

Is it at all strange for you to find yourself on Shrapnel Records?
After signing with them, no. Prior to that, yeah, I thought it was a little interesting. But I’ve been a big fan of Mike Varney for a long time and I have a lot of Shrapnel records in my collection. I had the Yngwie Steeler album. I don’t own it now because I wore the thing out. I had a lot of Vinnie Moore, some Tony MacAlpine, some early Paul Gilbert, Scott Henderson—I could go on for days. So to get the chance to even talk to Mike Varney about signing with him was an honor. I think it’s all about the passion we all share for guitar. I was with Steve Vai before, and he has a massive passion for guitar. Mike Varney does too. The lineage of what they’ve both created is amazing, and I’m proud to be a part of it. So I’m very thrilled to be with Shrapnel and I’m so tickled that we’ve accomplished what we have in such a short time.

With all the chops that you’ve got and all the licks you have under your fingers, what do you find difficult on guitar?
I’ve been having this massive love for jazz and I really have a problem with it in my mind I love that whole distorted style jazz that Frank Gambale would play or Scott Henderson and the Vital Tech Tones, some Michael Landau stuff. I love that whole side of jazz, but yet I also love the bounciness and I guess in some ways the aggressive side of bebop jazz like the way Jimmy Bruno would play. But I’m really fighting with myself because as a chicken picker you tend to play in a very pentatonic-based style. It’s very in the box. You never really think outside. Right now I’m kind of messing around with how outside the box I want to get. That’s why I’ve added a lot of chromaticism recently to my playing. There’s a side of me that’s really wanting to delve into the outside the box thing. I’m a bit scared to do that. So I’d say that’s where I’m struggling with myself right now is how far do I want to get into that and how much would it affect what I’m doing. full interview

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