Rory's latest instrumental track "Burning" channels raw energy and personal growth, blending heavy influences with technical mastery. He shares insights on inspiration, emotions, and musical evolution.
1. Rory,
can you tell us about the inspiration behind your latest instrumental track,
"Burning"? What emotions and experiences did you want to convey
through this song?
The whole
idea of „Burning“ started when I’ve bought this beautiful Jackson 7 string
multiscale. Eight strings where too much for my taste so once I’ve asked myself
how I would construct the perfect dent 7 string. And one day I saw this Jackson
appeared on the market and it had the exact specs that I had desired. Neck
through design, 648mm - 686mm scale length, maple neck with ash wings, ebony
fretboard, locking tuners…everything except for the pickups, cause I prefer
passive pickups with not that much output. But the Fishmans are quite good! So
when I got this guitar, I put thicker strings on it (a custom set of Elixir
strings) and tuned it down to C Standard with a low G. I immediately started to
„djent“ on this low G and this was quite an overwhelming feeling. I never tuned
down so low. I just had to laugh how brutal but defined the sound was and how
„mighty“ it sounded. So my brain made the connection to this „positive
aggressiveness“, when you are doing really exhausting sport stuff and you are
feeling how your muscles are burning but (with your right mindset, which is not
given everyday) your mind is pushing you over your normal limits. Just like
when you are riding a really hard downhill track, your forearms are burning but
you’re just in the flow and everything is right and you’re not just believing
that you you can do it, you KNOW that this is going to work. This is a feeling
that I don’t have very often, but when it’s there I really enjoy it and keep
going. When you’re just burning and go for it.
2. You've
mentioned that "Burning" is heavily influenced by bands like
Periphery, Meshuggah, and Dream Theater. How did these influences shape the
composition of the track, especially in balancing the heavy and melodic
sections?
The idea of
the song just started with that rhythm on the low G string, which I wanted to
syncopate to make it more interesting. Periphery and Meshuggah are doing this
kind of stuff very often. But I really wanted to add more tension tonally wise
and I instantly remembered the song „The Dark Eternal Night“ by Dream Theater
which is building such a special tension in the main riff. The reason for this
is the use of the „Half Tone Whole Tone“ scale, which is symmetric and is often
used in jazz improvisations over the dominant chords, cause it builds that
special tension and has an unique flavour. So that’s my attempt for a „Dark
Djenternal Night“ I guess. For the chorus I used another special scale called
„Double Harmonic Major!“ Which is quite similar to „Phrygian Dominant“ except
for the major 7th. You can build cool chord structures with this one, so I
wanted to try this one. The structure of the song is quite simple. It’s quite
classic, with a verse, a bridge, a chorus, some kind of Dream Theater Style break
with Periphery influences for the first theme. The second theme has a strong
dream theater vibe because of all that time signature changes.
3. Your
new track features the use of a multiscale seven-string guitar with heavy gauge
strings. How did this instrument and setup contribute to the vibe and energy of
the song?
With such
long scales (the Ibanez bass has a 37 inch scale on the lowest string!) you can
tune down really low and with really heavy strings without losing the clarity
and aggressiveness. Such thick strings and low tunings become quite muddy
sounding and have a „flubby“ feeling on regular scale length guitars. The sound
is really clear and you can really dig into that string without intonation
problems. This really helped to achieve the sound which I’ve desired. And a
good sound always inspires you to write good stuff and channel the right
feeling for a song.
As I
mentioned, I really don’t have this feeling quite often and to be honest, I
don’t know how to channel this state of mind on purpose. It just happens.
Please don’t get me wrong, that I am running around and that I am always
feeling like „I am the best!…Thor? Never heard of her!…This is spaartaaaa!“
This is not the case. Most of the time it takes discipline to practice guitar,
go to the gym and to sit down and write new stuff. But on some days, you get
this „almighty“ feeling, the discipline you showed pays out and you are doing
stuff so flawless and easy that you never did before. And this is giving you
the power to endure that discipline till you get the next push. Cause you know
that t will come, even on the days where just nothing is working and you want
to quit. This is the reality of success in my opinion. Success comes in stages
and not as a straight line.
5. "Burning"
channels a sense of achievement and positive aggression, similar to reaching a
personal goal or milestone. What is the most recent goal you've achieved,
musically or personally, that gave you that same "flow state"
feeling?
There are
already some things that I am really happy about, but the most recent goal that
I have achieved was to gain control over my life and build it up the way I
wanted. Don’t get me wrong, I am not finished yet and I did not achieved that
alone. It took three years of therapy to fight my inner demons that slowed me
down all the years. And I have great friends which are like family to me and
also a great girlfriend since two years, which are like an anchor to me when
things don’t go the way I have planned them. They are all by my side, are great
companions on my way and I am very thankful for every single one. Without them,
things wouldn’t be quite good for me to be honest.
The next
goals for my career are quite challenging but fun to work on them. I want to
build up my social media accounts and my YouTube Channel, so my second album
will have a bigger impact and reach out to more people. And maybe I am getting
some attention from a record label. I want to play live again but as a solo
artist this is quite hard, cause the people who are playing in your band also
want to be creative and write own stuff, which I totally understand. And most
of the people have regular jobs and other stuff going on, so they only want to
do music as a hobby, which is totally fine but does not quite fit into the way
I want to go. The few concerts where cool and fun but expensive for me. I need
pro musicians who are able to replicate the stuff that I have written out, but
they are expensive to. The goal is, to build up a presence and gain some
attention, so I can get more rentable gigs and work together with some booking
agents. To be honest, nobody is interested YET if I play a concert tomorrow or
not. So I need to build up a fanbase online. Quite challenging to do that but
fun to figure out what is working and what you should not do.
7. Your
previous album, "Welcome to Neverland," was released in 2019. How
have you grown as an artist and a person since then, and how do you think this
growth will be reflected in your upcoming second solo record, "The
Mirror"?
I would say
that the therapy helped me a lot to get a better understanding about myself and
my actions and WHY I reacted that way on some situations. This helped me to
gain control over my emotions and reactions. I am able to take a moment now and
think about how I react on some situations or to reflect about the things I
want to do…and maybe NOT do them because this is not the right time or the
would harm me or other persons. This is the reason why the second solo record
will be called „The Mirror“. Cause I have looked in the mirror without filters,
reflected about my past and change myself to the person I want to be. Don’t get
me wrong, I am not perfect. Nobody is perfect. I just found a way to gain more
control over myself and change to the person I want to be. The best versions of
myself. And I am much happier with myself than in the past.
8. "The
Mirror" will feature vocals again, whereas your recent releases have been
instrumental. What made you decide to return to vocals, and how do you approach
writing vocal parts compared to instrumental sections?
The plan to
do more records with vocals was always there. To be honest I wanted it to be
finished and released already, but something held me back in my actions and my
creativity. And one part of this was the fact that the first record did not had
the impact I wanted. I think this is the reason why the most bands quit and
don’t keep on going and it is quite frustrating. You put all this work and
money in it and get quite nothing from it in short turn. But the first record
was a big learning curve for me when I look back and opened quite a few doors
for contacts and possibilities which payed out for me when I finally had the
energy to write and release „Anxiety“ and „Burning“. These single instrumentals
had a good impact and showed some more results! So I got that drive back to
write a second solo record. I love to write lyrics and of course good vocal
lines. But I am not a good singer and it is quite hard to find someone that is
vibing with my songs AND is able to perform them the way I desire it. But I think
I found someone and I am quite excited to make these songs become reality! The
instrumentals where an idea to produce „quick“ stuff to gain more attention but
it turned out they are challenging in another way too but in a fun way!
9. As a
mix and mastering engineer, you have a deep technical understanding of sound.
How does your experience in this field influence the way you write, record, and
produce your music?
I would
say, it changed the way I am thinking about a good sound of single instruments
and what the purpose of every single instrument is. Is it a track to fill u the
background or is this a main part? Should the bass guitar double the riff or
play an own part to make the sound wider and more open and not that tight? All
these questions and the understanding of frequencies changed the way I write
and produce music a lot! Especially my taste in a good guitar sound. I don’t
like this heavy scooped sound anymore. When you are playing alone, it is quite
fun because it sounds so big ad fat. But in a band context, this kind of sound
disappears in the mix and makes it overall muddy and flabby. The low end starts
to fight with the bass guitar and the kick drum and just makes everything
washy. So I like tight and midrangy sounds a lot more nowadays cause this is
the place where a guitar sits in the mix.
10. Finally,
what can fans expect from the upcoming instrumentals you'll release before
"The Mirror"? Will they follow a similar style to
"Burning," or can we expect some surprises?
I don’t
want to spoiler too much, but you will definitely will get some surprises! It
would be quite boring to do the same thing over and over again. Not just for me
but for you too. So I will have some very cool and talented guests on the next
instrumentals. And the next track will be more in the style of Liquid Tension
Experiment which had also a strong influence to me. (Especially that Live
Record on YouTube from „Acid Rain“! Check that out, this is unbelievable what
these four musicians are doing and it sounds a lot better than the studio
version, which is quite cool but this live version…maaaaan!).
Rory Rhoads – Welcome to Neverland (rory-rhoads.com)
Rory Rhoads (@roryrhoads) • Photos et vidéos Instagram
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