Thank you very much.

This one is called Songs For Sanity. Tell me where you came up with the title.

Actually, that's a great question. This is odd but if I'm not working or playing, I have these panic attacks and these anxiety attacks that are horrible. I did my first instrumental record which was called Vertigo and it did really well. It sold a lot of records so I wanted to do another one and it's pretty much if I don't do the record, I pretty much lose my mind a little bit. I have these panic attacks and all that stuff so it's like the title tells everything because it's what happens if I don't work all the time. It's not for money or anything like that, it's just for the pure love of the guitar and love of music.

That's a hell of lot better than having to take a bunch of drugs for that sort of thing.

Right.

That's cool. How does this one differ from Vertigo?

This one actually is a little more intense, a little faster, a little heavier, a little crazier, and I also got Steve Vai to play on the song "Perineum". Then I had the great country legend guitar player Albert Lee to play on the song "Death Valley". I think those things alone are enough to check the record out so it's just a new heavier, crazier record with special guests on it.

How did you hook up with Steve Vai?

Steve heard my first record and thought it was really good and all that stuff so he's been such an inspiration to me my whole life. I just said I want to go after my two favorite guitar players and see if they'll contribute to this record and luckily they did with no questions asked. It was perfect and I just gave him a call and he agreed. It was great.

Vertigo did really well then in sales. How is this one doing?

This one is doing a little better than Vertigo so far. It's only been out about three weeks now but it's doing really well. People are eating it up and they like it better than the first so I think I'm doing something right.

Yeah, because again you put out an excellent record of guitar music that catches people's attention and no two songs are the same. It's such a nice even variety like on the last one.

Yeah, I think that also instrumental records can be a little tiresome sometimes and I just wanted to keep people's attention. I think the easiest way for that to happen is to just give someone variety. Just like that in anything you give people variety with clothes or food or anything like that, I think that's what is keeping people's attention.

I had the pleasure of seeing you perform at Ozzfest and that show was just incredible. My favorite part of it was when Rob said his sneakers were melting.

Oh, wow. Just last summer. Great. It's true. It was so hot. I think that was the hottest show of the whole tour. It was so hot I cannot believe it. It was hot for us running around and jumping around and stuff but I was thinking God, what the crowd must feel like. It's really like being brutalized. That heat but then also pressed against so many other people.

Here in Texas you have two options. You can either be used to it or you can turn into a lobster and pass out after five minutes. One of the two.

Yeah, so I guess you're used to it.

Oh yeah. I've grown up here all my life and I'm of Native American descent so I can tolerate that sort of thing a lot better I think. How did the Ozzfest run go?

Ozzfest was so good. Seriously, I've toured with so many artists. I've done a lot of tours and that was probably the best tour I've ever done. It was so much. The people were great, Rob was great, and the band was so fun. It was just a perfect tour. The crowds were crazy and the shows were great. There was not one bad thing with that whole tour. It was just a pleasure every single day.

That's damn good to hear. I thought it was so cool. You came out on stage and you had your makeup done. I was like wow, I wonder if that's going to start melting in the heat.

Luckily I have some kind of a makeup that doesn't run. It stays pretty well.

So it didn't melt off.

No, it didn't melt off. It stays pretty well.

What do you have going on now that Ozzfest is done?

Actually I have my own band called Loser that is signed to Island/Def Jam and that's more of a rock and roll great band, great singer, great songs, and we're going to come out the first of next year. I'm really excited about it because it's my own thing that I've always wanted to do. I write songs for other artists and I was like God, I'd really love to do that for myself and start a band and luckily that Island/Def Jam got a hold of it and really liked it and signed it. So now we are releasing early next year and also I've been working with Rob putting some guitars on his upcoming record and I just got out of the studio with Paul Stanley from KISS and did a couple songs for his upcoming record.

Holy shit, you got to work Paul Stanley.

Yeah, oh yeah. I've known KISS for about 15 years but this is the first time that I've really gotten a chance to work with one of the members though.

Oh my God, that had to be awesome.

Oh yeah, it was great. Actually it was really cool.

I remember the last time I talked to you was when you released Vertigo and you had mentioned your band Loser. When did you guys get signed?

We got signed I think four months ago and so we just mixed the record and mastered it and everything is all done. We're going to start taking pictures and do that and we'll be on our way.

Are you guys going to be touring for that record?

Oh, absolutely. We'll be all over the place and I think our singer was from a band called Jive who is out of Dallas. It will be great. I'm really looking forward to it.

I can imagine you are. Are you going to be doing any touring for Songs For Sanity?

Yeah, I'm going to be doing all sorts of stuff. I work so much just so I don't go out of my mind so I'm going do a little bit of everything.

I think that's so awesome that you have an outlet for your condition there. It's a shame that more people don't have outlets for stuff like that.

Yeah, mostly people's outlets are either drugs or alcohol. I just love to play guitar so that's what I do. It's cool because the public really enjoys it. That's what's most important to me. I love inspiring people. I think that's really cool.

Tell me about some of the songs on the record that stand out the most to you.

There's a song called "Behind The Nut Love" and I love the sound of a pedal steel guitar. What I did is I always tried to create that sound of a pedal steel or lap steel on a guitar and it's pretty difficult because they're two completely different instruments. I just started from the beginning and said all right, the pedal steel is tuned to one chord so that's what I did with my guitar. I tuned it all to one chord and then I said all right, the strings are bent and then the other strings ring out so that's where it got tricky. How could I do that? I did it all behind the nut of the guitar which is near the top of the neck and I just bent those strings while the other strings were ringing out so my hands were not on the neck at all or not on the neck of the guitar. They were near the headstock. It was a new little inventive thing and it sounds really pretty and it's really nice. It's a pun on words with the title.

Instead of just going out and using a steel pedal thing, you just experimented with a regular guitar.

Yeah, that's just me sitting in front of the TV too long with my guitar in my hands. It just really worked out nice. Then the other songs, there's a song called "Fiddler's" on there which is the place where I learned how to play guitar and I named it after that place. "Perineum" which is a crazy heavy song with Steve Vai on it but most people don't know that perineum is the space between the vagina and the anus and that's what "Perineum" is. The song "Gein With Envy" is kind of a tribute to Ed Gein because he was a serial killer. He lived in the backwoods in the country up in Wisconsin and I always kind of envisioned that was the kind of music that Ed Gein listened to so that's why it's called "Gein With Envy". All of them tell pretty much a story so it's cool.

I always enjoy your song titles. "Gods And Monsters" is my favorite though.

It's so funny because so many people love that song. People just really that song. It's a trip. That song is wild. It's like the good and evil because that chant is a Hebrew prayer and there's Hitler cries in the chorus. It's a good and evil type of song. It's wild but people really love that song.

It just sounds so fucking cool and you've got people chanting in a language you don't understand which makes it sound so cool and it's eerie.

Oh yeah, it's really cool. I'm pretty proud of that one. It's really neat.

I also like "Blues Balls". That one is cool.

Yeah, that's another good title. That one is a cool bluesy thing that I haven't done yet and it just came out really well. I'm really happy about all of it.

You basically tried out some other things that you haven't tried out on the first one.

Right.

A lot of times when people put out a record they have ideas for upcoming stuff. Have you been working on some stuff for a third record at this point?

Actually yes and I was like I have to do something to change it up a little bit. How can I even make it crazier and more extreme and what I am going to try to do is I'm making the songs nine minutes. It's just all these crazy changes and parts and things and ideas. Just crazy, crazy stuff that's going to happen and the songs are going to be really long. Kind of like "Gods And Monsters", how it has those parts and weird things going on. I'm going to give a stab at that but of course I've already been working on it because I just do it for my own sanity. I'm just working, working, working already.

That song is incredible. To me it's the most incredible song on the whole record.

Yeah, thank you.

You know what would be a really funny record to put out? An instrumental record where all the songs have to do with different serial killers.

Not a bad idea.

Especially since some of them have these weird names.

Yeah, the titles are fun. I try to put as much thought and time into the art and the title just to make it all around everything important.

Have you been getting a lot of really cool reviews for the record?

Yeah, I haven't gotten any bad ones yet luckily. I'm really excited about that. I haven't gotten one bad review yet. It's really cool.

When you are hitting the road and where will you tour?

I don't know. I know that I have a Halloween show to do with Zombie. We're going to be doing Anthrax, Rob Zombie, and Judas Priest. That's Long Beach Arena and that's October 30. I'm not sure. I'm going to start looking into it right after that. I know that Loser is going to play November 14 here in L.A. I'm going to start planning things right after October.

I was curious about something. The makeup design that you had on at Ozzfest, do you use the same design all the time and is that from your Manson days or do you change up a little bit?

No, I change up a little bit. I used that during Vertigo and I think it really is effective because people can see it from far away. It looks kind of neat and out of proportion.

Yeah, I loved that when I was in the photo pit taking pictures of you guys. I thought that was cool. I was just wondering if you had changed your makeup from the Manson days.

Oh yeah, I used to have an X on my face and I had a square over one eye so I've had many different looks.

One thing that was appealing to me about KISS was the outrageous makeup thing they had going.

Yeah, it's really cool. There's so many different things that I got from KISS and I really respect them and love them so much.

How did you get the opportunity to work with Paul?

Again, I've known Gene and Paul and Ace and Peter and Tommy and Bruce and Eric, all those guys for years and years and years. They're all really good friends of mine. I can call them for advice or whatever like that. Paul wanted to write another song for his solo record and Desmond Child asked if he knew any guitar players they could use to write this next song with and Paul said yeah, he knows me and he'll call me. I just went over to his house and we wrote an awesome, awesome, awesome song and went into the studio and knocked it out. It's funny because Steve Perry from Journey called me the day before and I was supposed to work with him but I said I've got to record with Paul. Steve Perry came down to the studio so it was me, Steve Perry, and Paul Stanley all in the studio just hanging out. Pretty cool.

When do we get to hear the new Paul Stanley solo record?

I don't know. I'm not really sure.

And the Rob Zombie one?

I don't know his release date. I would think pretty soon. Boy, he's got some great songs. Oh my God.

That guy is absolutely incredible. Especially that last movie he put out. That ruled.

It is so great. I love that movie and I just love those movies. Rob's my friend and I went to see the movie and it was just perfect for me. I love that movie. I'm going to get it on DVD the day it comes out. I'm so proud to have been a part of Ozzfest and to be working with him. I just think that he's just the greatest.

I have his first movie on DVD and I'm waiting impatiently for this one to come out on DVD because that guy really knows how to make a good horror flick. He doesn't leave anything untouched. He doesn't feel like he needs to be politically correct about anything. He's not afraid to make it really nice and gory.

He knows how to make movies and he knows how to make records. He's just so talented.

Any other thoughts or comments?