CHRIS IMPELLITTERI Doesn't Care About Being The World's Fastest Guitar Player: 'I Just Want To Be In A Metal Band'

By David E. Gehlke

Veteran shredder Chris Impellitteri's reputation as a guy who can play really fast overshadows the fact that he's actually a pretty good riff writer, too. Part of the late 1980s surge that turned guitar playing into a competition and/or arms race, Impellitteri's breakout moment came via the 1988 "Stand In Line" single and video with ex-ALCATRAZZand RAINBOW frontman Graham Bonnet. Before long, Impellitteri was then very much in the thick of things with Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Greg Howe, Jason Becker and Paul Gilbert in the guitar hero department, which was great for publicity yet an albatross for his career as a whole. When the tide turned and metal was no longer a commercial force, Impellitteri and his band found a safe haven in Japan, where they've remained popular ever since.

Circa late 2024, Impellitteri and his eponymous band are back with "War Machine", their first studio album in six years. Featuring longtime frontman Rob Rock and drums courtesy of none other than SLAYER / KERRY KING skin-basher Paul Bostaph, "War Machine" crosses Impellitteri's guitar pyro and Rock with a litany of killer riffs. When BLABBERMOUTH.NET caught up with the guitarist, it was clear he was still fighting the perception bestowed upon him more than three decades ago.

Blabbermouth: What led you to do a new IMPELLITTERI after being six years removed from "The Nature Of The Beast"?

Chris: "I guess it was just time. We had five years, basically, from the previous release and the tour. We always tour in Japan and certain places in continental Europe. I've been working on the music with Rob and James [Pulli, bass] for about three and a half years, four years, trying to evolve the band. I think the one nice thing about this band is that we've always been pushed aside. We're this underground cult. Some people love us and some people hate us, which is cool. We're always trying to push ourselves musically. I think it was a culmination of a lot of ideas that came together at the right time. We started recording and things started happening very quickly—in a good way. The stuff sounded really good. At least to us, it sounded great. It was like, 'I think we're on to something.'"

Blabbermouth: Do your riffs play a part in this? You're known for being able to play fast, but not a lot of guys of your ilk can write riffs like the ones you have on "Superkingdom" and "What Lies Beneath". Is that what you're referencing?

Chris: "It's been a battle and it's my fault. When I started writing the very first IMPELLITTERI'Black' [1987 self-titled] EP that Rob Rock and I did, our goal was to be JUDAS PRIEST, IRON MAIDEN on steroids. You mix that Vivaldi. He's probably my favorite composer. I love Yngwie; nothing against him. I always loved classical music because my grandparents taught me. I love Vivaldi, Mozart and Beethoven. That's what we wanted to be. When you're 18 or 19 and you're playing, I guess I had my moments when I was playing well. It's like anything: You want to have the fastest fastball. If you're a tennis player, you want the fastest serve. I got sucked into that. This is the problem I always have: People always want to compare me to the Yngwies and Paul Gilberts [MR. BIG]. IMPELLITTERI has never been about me, believe it or not. There's a reason we call it IMPELLITTERI, but the reason I think we struggled in our career, and in some ways, it's been a blessing, is the fact that people try to pigeonhole us as having a 'wanking guitar player.' I get it. If you listen to our music, we started with the 'Black' EP and I thought we sounded like a cross between speed metal, a little bit of thrash, power metal and the silly guitar stuff and the screaming vocals like [Rob] Halford [JUDAS PRIEST]. That's what we wanted to be. Then, of course, marketing gets focused right back on the guitar player: 'He must be an instrumental guy.' I like that stuff and, in all sincerity, and I don't mean it negatively, but after three songs, it bores me. A lot of kids will play my instrumental, '17th Century Chicken Pickin'. I liked that stuff but in small increments. For me, I just want to be in a metal band. It's all I ever wanted."

Blabbermouth: Conversely, people would probably be upset if you didn't play any flashy guitar on the new record.

Chris: "We always begin our songs with a riff. That usually evolves or starts when you're playing the guitar and you're always working. Yes, a lot of times, I'm playing fast scales to keep the muscle memory going. A lot of times, you have an accident. It's that happy mistake that makes you go, 'What was that that sounded really cool?' Then you try to do it again and if it's something that grabs your ear, you find something to record with, like an iPhone. That's how our music has always begun. Every record from inception. It's always the riff. I have a love for guys like Tony Iommi [BLACK SABBATH]. I also love Ritchie Blackmore [DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW], but think about 'Smoke On The Water', 'Highway Star', 'Burn'. Everything is in the key of G. It always began with a magical riff."

Blabbermouth: How did Paul Bostaph get involved in "War Machine"?

Chris: "As we got closer to the end of our writing process and we had about 10 or 15 songs, we started listening to the music, somewhat objectively and thinking, 'Who would be a good complement?' We know a handful of really known guys and thought, 'Maybe we should talk to them and see what they bring to the table.' I was talking to a friend of mine, Giles Lavery and said, 'Paul Bostaph.' Believe it or not, it wasn't because of SLAYER; it was because of TESTAMENT. I thought he had a great feel; he could play technical and fast double bass and it seemed like he had a lot of weight to his playing. When I mean by that, I mean when you listen to John Bonham [LED ZEPPELIN] on 'When The Levee Breaks'. I asked Giles to call Paul and see if he'd be interested. He called him and within a week, Paul and I were on the phone and that was it. He was in. I'll tell you: He made such a huge impact on the way this record sounds. We thought he'd do fast stuff. He'd be grooving. We were like, 'Huh?' The songs got bigger and more powerful. He's such a huge, positive impact on this new record."

Blabbermouth: Did you have to reel him back at all? It actually sounds like it was the opposite, though.

Chris: "The rule we have is Rob writes the lyrics and melodies. He's free to do whatever he does. Same with our bass player, James. He comes in and does what he wants — the same thing with Paul. We said, 'Paul, be yourself. I'll play and we'll get a feel and let's go for it. Press record. Let's see what we get.' I was amazed by the way he played because he could do all the really fast, intricate drums. He can do all of the fast double bass drumming, but what he does is bring a groove to it. Even when you're playing speed metal, how do you make that groove? Yet he does. And his tom-work is bar none. I've played with some of the best drummers out there. I mean that humbly and not in an arrogant way, but I've played with some of the best drummers. Paul is easily in that league. I can see why he's the drummer of SLAYER."

Blabbermouth: I love the "Hell On Earth" video. Whose idea was it to put you in the dumpster?

Chris: [Laughs] "I'm being honest: We have our marketplace where we're really lucky that people seem to like us and have been loyal. But equally, in some places in the industry, they hate us and they hate me. We're trash and garbage. We thought it was funny. We love the song 'Hell On Earth'. It has an addictive riff. Everything in it works. We said, 'Here's our resurrection. Pull me out of the garbage.' And, of course, we're a little like 'Spinal Tap'. We've had quite a few drummers, so we thought at the end, Paul is just a skeleton. [Laughs]"

Blabbermouth: Watching that video, it's evident that you don't take yourself too seriously. Do you?

Chris: "No and it's hard because when you talk about the fastest guitar stuff, I remember when I started. When we released the 'Black' EP, there was a song called 'Lost In The Rain', which was the first song we recorded. It's pretty much live. I think we over-dubbed rhythm guitars, but it's live. You can hear the playing. I remember, and I think it was Kerrang! , who was a big magazine at the time. I believe they gave us four or five out of five stars. I think it was them who called me 'The fastest guitar player in the world.' I think that's bullshit. I never believed it."

Blabbermouth: Right. How do you measure that?

Chris: "I was never the fastest, nor would I want to be. This is where I shot myself in the foot: When we did the 'Stand In Line' record, we changed musical direction because Graham Bonnet came in. They asked for a quote: 'My solos will only get faster.' It's like, 'Really? How much faster can I play?' It was pure masturbation. Then, I noticed that it became a competition. You had other guitar players in L.A. saying they were the fastest, but I wanted nothing to do with it. But I was thrown in that lane. Seriously, if people listen to our records, if I'm masturbating on the guitar, look, I love playing the guitar. It's my release because of what happened to me. I had a pretty tragic childhood and the anger and me being able to use the instrument as a voice to express that frustration and anger, maybe that comes out with the speed. But I've never made someone listen to me for four minutes non-stop. It's always had its place in the song."

Blabbermouth: Can we go into the 1990s and talk about Japan? How much of a lifeline was it for your career?

Chris: "It was pure luck. I've always asked myself why we have so much success or why we've been able to have such a long career in Japan. I have a couple of things that I think happened. Japan is a very educated society. So, yeah, when I'm playing technical and doing Vivaldi and Mozart and people say it's Yngwie or Paul Gilbert, when I do it well, they seem to appreciate that. That gained a certain amount of momentum for us with credibility among musicians. It wasn't just me — it was also the way Rob sang. Whether people like him or not, he can sing like Bruce Dickinson [IRON MAIDEN] or Halford. It's easy for him. Having said that, Japan, right there, gave us some serious credibility, but I think what really pushed it over the top was when Rob Rock quit, I had to do 'Stand In Line'. It shouldn't have been called IMPELLITTERI; it was more of a tribute to RAINBOW because of Graham. We thought about the musical direction we thought would be better for his voice. Because Graham joined IMPELLITTERI, he was still really well known. People don't realize that. They headlined the show at Castle Donington that Bruce Dickinson was at. When Graham was in that band, they were legendary. In Japan, Ritchie Blackmore was like a god. Because Graham was in that band and he joined me after playing with Ritchie, then he played with Michael Schenker, Yngwie, Steve Vai and me. Whether I was great or sucked, I think I got a free pass. They were like, 'If Graham is playing with Chris. Chris must be like Yngwie and Vai.' That record blew up in Japan. It was insane. That gave us that validity. But in the late '80s, metal was dying, and I don't know why. People always say grunge or rap—I don't know what the reality is, but we could never fit in with the hair bands and guyliner. We never fit in. We are much more into DEEP PURPLE, MAIDEN and PRIEST, so in Japan, they just embraced our music.

"The first record after we did 'Stand In Line', Rob came back to the band. This is around '92 or '93. At that point, everything was much more like GUNS N' ROSES if you were allowed to play rock or bands like EXTREME. We did that with 'Grin And Bear It'. People really dug the record, but the fans hated it. It bombed. The record company was like, 'You get one more shot.' We did 'Victim Of The System' and this is where we started to use the more aggressive stuff like METALLICA. That EP pushed us over the top. People really dug it. Then we did 'Answer To The Master'. We played our first three shows in Tokyo. I don't remember the venue, but we sold out three nights back-to-back. And BUSH was playing the same venue. I remember we got in one or two nights earlier and our road manager was the road manager for DEF LEPPARD who said, 'Let's go see BUSH.' He calls me before the show, 'It's not on. They canceled because they couldn't sell tickets.' I'm not saying that to be arrogant, but BUSH was massive in Europe and America. We're playing at the same venue, and we sell out three nights in a row, and they can't sell enough tickets to do the venue. We were like, 'Wow.' From there, Japan gave us a lifeline. They paid us really well. For me, I'm eternally grateful to the Japanese. Otherwise, you and I aren't talking."

Blabbermouth: That just goes to show how different the music scene is in Japan compared to over here.

Chris: "There are so many people in the heavy metal community, especially the media, who want nothing to do with us. I always wondered. You know how it is when you're in the Good Ole Boys Club and you're hanging out with your friends, but you talk about things you like and don't like. It disseminates influence. In Japan, I'm not going to say the name. There's a guy who runs a label that had many guitar players that hated me. I remember my label, JVC Victor. They had us and bands like HELLOWEEN. There was a guy who ran a label that had all the big guitar players at the time. This guy was being such a jerk. It's just ripping me apart. There was a time when I deserved to be ripped apart. Every artist has their highs and lows, but they focus on the lows to rip you apart. It fell on deaf ears because a lot of those people didn't speak English. What's the AEROSMITH song? 'Let the Music Do The Talking'?"

Blabbermouth: It was a Joe Perry song first, but yes.

Chris: "Yes! If you think about it, we had to earn respect in Japan from that point on with the music. When metal died out in the late '80s or early '90s for most of those bands, guess where they all tried to go? I remember it was a guitar magazine in Japan called Young Guitar. They put me on the cover. They told me I was up against Dimebag [Darrell, PANTERA]. I was like, 'You're putting me over him?' He's way bigger than me.' But we were competing with the METALLICAs of the world. It was really eye-opening. I realized, 'I get it. People can try to influence our music, but if they're not speaking the language, it's not going to help.' Here we are. We are still somewhat relevant in Japan. I think the language barrier protected us."

Photo credit: Alex Solca