NEVERMORE Guitarist JEFF LOOMIS To Release Solo Album

Brian Rademacher of Rock Eyez recently conducted an interview with NEVERMORE guitarist Jeff Loomis. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Rock Eyez: How was it working with Andy Sneap producing?

Jeff Loomis: "Unbelievable. A lot of the fans know that we worked with him in 2000 with the release of 'Dead Heart in a Dead World' and it was such an honor to work with him again. We went to a studio in England to record the record. He is one of these guys who is a perfectionist. He won't take anything unless it's your best performance. It's just incredible and he is a guy who pushes you very hard in the studio. He is able to get the best performance out of every person in the band. I hope we can work with him again. He really understands what we want to hear as far as musicians. The guitars, the drums and the separation he was able to get — I was very, very happy to work with him again."

Rock Eyez: What was your feeling when Steve Smyth (TESTAMENT) was recruited into NEVERMORE?

Jeff Loomis: "It was my idea to have him as a permanent member in the band. Many people know that in the past we had many guitar players (laugh). It's not because of any negative reasons that we could not have a permanent member. It is basically because we could not find the right person. Steve really adds to the whole thing. He wrote three songs on the new album. We inspire each other with our guitar playing. We are happy to announce him as the fifth and final member of NEVERMORE. So NEVERMORE is back as a whole awesome team again."

Rock Eyez: What was the first album you ever bought?

Jeff Loomis: "Oh my God, it was 'Piece of Mind' by IRON MAIDEN. My father had a huge record collection and I wasn't really introduced to metal first. I was introduced to more Seventies music. I would be spinning [laughs] FLEETWOOD MAC or the DOOBIE BROTHERS, or something like that. I actually started playing drums; playing guitar didn’t even come into play until around 1985. It was then I got the first YNGWIE MALMSTEEN 'Rising Force' record and that’s when I started spending my personal time in my bedroom working on my technique. I don't think I came out of my bedroom until 1989 or '90 when I graduated from high school. I said, 'Man, I'm getting pretty good at this, so I have to do something about it.' I heard by word of mouth that SANCTUARY [pre-NEVEMORE] was looking for another guitar player so I sent out a tape to Lenny Rutledge. He flew me out to Seattle and I got the gig."

Rock Eyez: Are you working on a solo album?

Jeff Loomis: "Yeah, I have a lot of the music written for it already. I am going to try and focus on that and having some time off. I'll get in the studio and get that recorded. A lot of people have been talking about it and I always wanted to do something like that my whole life, I'm going to do that. It's going to be kind of like a Jason Becker / Marty Friedman kind of thing."

Read the entire interview at RockEyez.com.

Brand-new photos of NEVERMORE performing at the Fresno and Irivine stops on the current Gigantour North American trek can be found at Yahoo! Music.