Former EXCITER Guitarist JOHN RICCI: 'I Don't Think A.I. Should Play A Part In Songwriting'

In a new interview with Robert Edwards of Talkin' Bout Rock, former EXCITER and current POWERRAGE guitarist John Ricci weighed in on a debate about people using an A.I. (artificial intelligence) music generator as a tool to create melodies, harmonies and rhymes based on artificial intelligence (A.I.) algorithms and machine learning (M.L.) models. John said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, I think A.I. has a purpose. I don't agree [with] using A.I. to write music, 'cause music is like a human factor, and you have to keep that, you have to keep the music honest. Now, if you wanna use A.I. for other things, like artwork or graphics of some sort, even though you have the idea but you wanna A.I. it, that part of it I don't have a problem with. But I don't think A.I. should play a part in songwriting. That should come within. So I'm not against it, but I'm not for it either. I'm kind of like neutral, in the middle."

He added: "When you hear a wicked heavy metal song, and it's precise and every note's perfect and the speed of the song is perfect, it does sound fabricated. So, I think they should keep A.I. out of songwriting."

In addition to Ricci, POWERRAGE includes bassist Todd Pilon (formerly of WITCHKILLER),vocalist Jacques Bélanger (who previously sang on three EXCITER albums: "The Dark Command" [1997], "Blood Of Tyrants" [2000] and "New Testament" [2004]) and drummer Lucas Dery.

POWERRAGE's debut album, "Beast", will arrive on April 24 via High Roller Records. The LP was mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound and it features artwork by Mario Lopez.

The second single from "Beast", a song called "Dragon Man", is tentatively due to be released on March 23.

While Ricci and Bélanger were both members of EXCITER, John wanted to make one thing perfectly clear. "Well, with this band I didn't want to be another EXCITER," he said in a press release. "It was time to move on. Even though EXCITER was based around my guitar style, and it was a successful formula, I wanted to start from scratch and start all over again.

"Starting over and not depending on your past accomplishments is definitely a very difficult task but I feel confident enough I can make it happen," he continued.

Ricci left EXCITER in September 2018. The guitarist has since been replaced by Daniel Dekay, who had previously played with DIEMONDS.

Ricci previously exited EXCITER in 1985 following the release of the band's first three classic albums — "Heavy Metal Maniac" (1983),"Violence & Force" (1984) and "Long Live The Loud" (1985).

EXCITER's latest album, "Death Machine", which featured Ricci as the sole remaining original member, was released in October 2010 via Massacre Records.

Ricci, drummer/vocalist Dan Beehler and bassist Allan Johnson reunited as EXCITER in 2014 and had been playing sporadic shows until John's latest departure.