Photo by Charles Shouse

Interview by Rafael Nery

01-   Hello Michael, thanks a lot for the opportunity of the interview.  Please start by telling us how you got interested with music and who were your first  influences?

Thanks Rafael, and thanks to Guitar Clinic. Ive been involved with music, in general, for most of my life. I played the saxophone through school. When I was a senior in high school I saw the music video to Van Halen's "Jump" and freaked out over the solo and what Eddie was doing. Thats the moment I wanted to try gitar. A friend of the family let me borrow his guitar and amp, and I quickly picked it up on my own, learning from a VHS tape for beginners. My parents bought me a cheap guitar and I never looked back. In college I heard Satriani's "Surfing with an Alien" and I decided that I wanting to do that and learn everything I could about the guitar.

02-   Have you ever taken guitar lessons?
    
 I am self taught, but I did take some lessons on Classical guitar when I was in college. I loved it but saw no future in it. I didnt like or want to play cover songs and playing the classic master's peices felt like I was copying and not creating, which is what I wanted to do.

03-   Your newest album called "Alone on the sun" is very cool and we can see a lot of different influences. How did you come up with the idea for this album?

I never had any want to create an instrumental album initially. A close friend and guitar student, Alex Hudson, died in a car accident and I wanted to record an instrumental for his memory. That was the first track and it is the longest and last track on the CD "For Alex". A mutual friend, Travis Nichols, played bass on the track as well. From there I wanted to keep going and I recorded the CD over the next several months. The title track "Alone on the sun" came from the fact that I am an instrumental rock guitarist from the poorest part of Appallachia Kentucky and I am the only one in the state.

04-   How did you choose the vocalists for your album? Since you got two vocal tracks.

Gene Booth sang vocals on the CD. He is a good friend and lead singer for the rock band "Stitch Rivet". We first met when my brother and I shot a music video for the band. I loved his sound and asked him to record with me.

05-   What was the writing process like? Did you write the lyrics too?

I did all of the writing and recorded all the guitar at home with Pro Tools to a click track. I then got several bassists world wide to record the bass and after that I sent it to one of the three drummers on the CD. After I had all the tracks recorded, I took it to Nashville and had it mixed and mastered by Nashville great Billy Decker. It was really cool. I never met or even talked to any of the musicians other than through email. There are two vocal tracks on the CD. The first is an original rock version of the bluegrass classic "Man of Constant Sorrow" made famous by the George Clooney movie "O brother where art thou." The second, "Don't Remember Me", is an original song I wrote.

06-   What was the gear used on the album for the recording process? And what was it like?

I only use Carvin guitars and Marshall amps. I recorded at home with Pro Tools on my Imac. The effects I use are simple, Boss distortion and reverb, Crybaby Whah and Digitech Whammy pedal with Zoom noise reduction. There arent many musicians locally that I thought would fit the project so getting master musicians from all over the world was really great and each player brought their own unique style and sound which helped make each song more have its own identity.

        07- Your endorsee Carvin Guitars. Tell us about them.

I have played Carvin since 1992 and have never played anything else. No where can you find a better instrument, individually hand made, with the level of support as with a Carvin. The few times that I have had a pot go bad or I had some fire damage recently they always fix it back to new and usually only charge me shipping. I own seven guitars including 4 6 string electrics, one acoust electric, one classical electric and a seven string electric.

07-   Please leave a message for our viewers;

I just want to say how much I love Guitar Clinic and what you do for guitar enthusiasts world wide. I would hope that everyone checks out the new enhanced CD "Alone on the sun" which you can buy on numerous sites and on ITunes. If you buy the CD, it comes with the music video to "Alone on the sun", which you can also watch on Youtube and the guitar tab to the instrumental tracks. Also, visit the website www.mikeshousemusic.com and read the over 30 world wide rave reviews the CD has gotten as well as interviews and news. You can also download the tab and backing tracks for the instrumental songs for FREE!