MAB European Tour Interviews 2016

[Deleted]

As you all know MAB is on tour right now with the Black Hornets in Europe promoting the new album "Soul in Sight" This is one of the few interviews he has done along the way. I will post others as they become available.

[blackjack]

This is a good interview. I like his answers.

[Deleted]

Yes, that was a good one. Here is another with the band.

[razorshred]

Thank you for all of this !

[jacoby3mnk]

Long Way From Home Live

[blackjack]

When that interviewer said the expression "less is more" and talked about how that's not possible and that more is more and MAB agreed. I have a comment about that. I think that "less is more" is an expression that applies to some things in life but not all things. I think it does apply here though and explain what I think it means.

MAB can play extremely fast and play more notes in a second than almost any other guitarist. In that sense, yes, more is more. The more notes you can play per second, the more fast you are. However, when referring to the quantity of notes per second played and (here is the key) the emotional impact on the listener, it is better to be very careful to not overexpose one's technique, because everything is relative. Without soft, there is no loud - everything would just sound the same volume. If you don't play any slow parts in your solos, then there aren't fast parts and slow parts in your solos, just one speed which while it may be your fastest playing, doesn't sound as fast as it should and most importantly doesn't have the emotional impact it should because relative to each other, none of the notes are faster than others, nor are any notes that sound slower than others since they are all played at the same speed. Keep in mind this a hypothetical solo we're talking about - not an actual solo you have played.

So, since all the notes in this solo we're imagining you are playing are played at the same speed, none of licks in the solo sound as impressive as they should because there are no slow licks to provide contrast! Since all the notes are played at the same speed, it doesn't have the emotional impact it should because relative to each other, none of the licks in the solo stand out as being particularly impressive!

However, if you start out playing mostly eight notes in the solo and then gradually build to more and more sixteenth notes mixed in with the eigth notes, it builds in intensity. You might then slow down a little for a while before eventually going back to a mix of eight notes and sixteenth notes, and then finally in the last couple bars of the solo, you switch into 5th gear in your Lamborghini and play a furious lick comprised of thirty second notes, it will make the audience just lose their minds with the excitement of hearing such a dramatic ending to your solo!

So, in closing, less is more is an expression that as I understand it means to be very careful with where you use your top speed so that there are slow and medium speed parts to your solos and when you do choose to use your technique to its fullest, use it in places of the solo where it will matter the most. Thus by playing fast less often, when you do play fast, the emotional impact will be more.

Again, this is just hypothetical, not a critique on your playing at all, just a way of explaining what "less is more" means to me.

[Deleted]

Radio interview part 1

[Deleted]

Radio interview part 2 

[blackjack]

Michael, it's interesting that you seem to have such a positive attitude towards the current state of the music industry. You don't seem bitter at all about the effects of the internet such as the illegal downloading which has killed album sales.

In contrast, Gene Simmons of KISS was recently interviewed by Rolling Stone and said: "I hate the Internet," he says. "I make a living, but to be a new band now and just give out your music for free, it's the crime of the century."

What do you think of his remarks?

[Deleted]

So the European tour has ended and MAB is back in The U.S. This is another great interview from a few days ago if you haven't checked it out yet. The intro is long on this so if you want to skip it MAB Starts talking 19 minutes in. 


directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/4385320