MADONNA's Guitarist MONTE PITTMAN Says Working With Former METALLICA Producer Was 'Great'

Jason Saulnier of the MusicLegends.ca web site recently conducted an interview with Monte Pittman — who has recorded and toured with PRONG in addition to playing guitar for Madonna and "American Idol" finalist Adam Lambert. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

MusicLegends.ca: How was it recording your latest EP, "M.P.3: The Power Of Three, Pt. 1"?

Monte: It was great working with Flemming Rasmussen [METALLICA, MORBID ANGEL, EVILE]! We had one day in the studio and all four songs were recorded then.

MusicLegends.ca: Where did the ideas and concepts for the different parts on the EP come from?

Monte: I have a bunch of songs written and I thought they were a little too extreme from each other to go together at first. Since I had a day to record with Flemming, we were able to knock out the acoustic tracks. Since I had that ready to go, I decided to release it as an EP.

MusicLegends.ca: How was it recording with Flemming Rasmussen?

Monte: It was great working with someone and you can reference something he has done before on one of your favorite albums. I could say, "You know the effect you used on this song," and he knows exactly what to do. It sounded incredible from the very beginning. He has a certain signature that you hear in his recordings. Even though METALLICA didn't make acoustic/singer-and-songwriter types of recordings, they still had those elements as intros. You hear that same texture on "M.P.3: The Power Of Three, Pt. 1".

MusicLegends.ca: What were your earliest influences?

Monte: When I was a kid, my sister turned me on to KISS. That's where it all started. I was born at one of the most opportune times in history. I got to be at the right age when a lot of new types of music were born. From MICHAEL JACKSON "Thriller" to MÖTLEY CRÜE "Shout At The Devil" as a kid all the way to PANTERA "Vulgar Display Of Power" or the first time my friend came over with a VHS tape of this new band called NIRVANA saying, "You have to see this video!" (which was "Smells Like Teen Spirit"). I haven't seen that kind of excitement in a long, long time.

MusicLegends.ca: Without social media, could bands today manage to survive?

Monte: It's created opportunities that have made people's careers. I think the groups that survive would survive even if it weren't around. It's great that you can spread the word all over the world. The downside is that anyone can create a Twitter account and write you whatever they want and there's no point in responding because you don't even know this person's name or what they look like. People can get really brave when they can hide behind an avatar.

Read the entire interview at MusicLegends.ca.