Black Tide Interview

Gabriel Garcia- vocals, lead guitar
Zachary Sandler - bass, backing vocals
Steven Spence - drums, percussion
Austin Diaz - guitar
 

We park next to Nottingham’s legendary East Midlands venue, Rock City, and the huge queue outside gives us an insight into the talent that’s lined up to play for us tonight on the latest Kerrang tour, especially one new talent, Black Tide. We’ve arrived early and are taken in to meet Gabriel Garcia (lead vocals, guitar) and Austin Diaz (guitar). Their very own website boasts:

“Black Tide come out of the gate with all guns blazing. Their Interscope Records debut, Light from Above, is a loaded salvo of fret-burning, hyper-charged riffs.”

The first song I heard was “Shout”, and what a swift kick in the rear! Bands always enter the musical arena with the best intentions, with the marketing machine in “hypeoverdrive”, and few deserve the accolades. Black Tide however really do deserve the glowing press reviews that have graced the music press, and I’m genuinely looking forward to meeting the newcomers from Florida.

So we’re sitting in the rig, and the first thing you notice is just how down to earth they are, not taking themselves to seriously, but confident enough in their talents and themselves.

James: You’ve been voted the best new talent by Guitar World, congratulations, how was that for you?

Gabriel: Thanks, that was awesome!

Austin: Yeah it’s pretty cool, with your peers, other guitar players voting, yeah, that’s cool.

Gabriel: It meant a lot to us.

James: When I first heard of you, and when you cited your influences, it was like a who’s who of 80’s rock, why did you look to them, get inspiration from them, and not some of the newer bands like Bullet For My Valentine?

Austin: When I first started learning guitar, there were so many bands around, like Korn, but my guitar teacher was saying “hey, try listening to this stuff”, and I really liked the riffs that were being played, so I started with Metallica’s Black album, and the first solo I ever learnt was “Enter Sandman”, didn’t really jump forwards in terms of albums, I actually went backwards, “Master of Puppets”, “Ride the Lightning” and eventually got into the really much faster stuff, bands like Testament, things like that.

I have to admit, as the name check rolls buy, it’s obvious that both Gabriel and Austin, with the looks on their faces are passionately into this music, that for a second words almost fail them. It’s a genuine moment of in awe as they utter the names of the Metallica tracks.

James: You’ve also mentioned in the past, Guns ‘n’ Roses amongst your influences, and ironically I’ve been listening to Chinese Democracy on the way up here (long time coming! And it didn't take me 14 years to get from Leicester to Nottingham), have you heard it?

Austin: I haven’t really heard it, apart from one song that Zakk our Bass player has played to me, he really likes it, but I talk it down (laughs), and he says (mimics Zakk) “Well you see, the thing is, it’s not really going to be “Appetite for Destruction”….(everybody laughs), but I wasn’t a fan of that particular song he played me.

James: So, possibly discounting Chinese Democracy, if you were to list some albums or songs that you just have to have in your CD collection, what would they be?

Austin: Whoa, that’s a weird one.

Gabriel: That’s hard! Well, Tornado of Souls.

Austin: Yeah, Megadeth.

James: Ah, Marty Freidman.

Austin: Ah yeah, Marty Freidman, awesome.

Gabriel: Led Zeppelin IV, especially Stairway to Heaven.

Austin: Yeah, Stairway to Heaven is definitely a song that every guitar player should know, psh that’s such a hard question!!

James: Well I can’t ask the same boring questions that you might have had before in other interviews!!

Austin: (laughs) Well it depends, you get classic rock, like Led Zeppelin, that are just awesome, but then you get a load of Megadeth riffs that are just badass, I like them a lot.

Gabriel: Megadeth, pretty much every riff is the jet set guitar players song.

Austin: Yeah I agree with that. Oh man, what's that song? ... Oh yeah “99 Ways to Die”, yeah that’s bad ass, and of course there’s “A Tout La Monde” (To Everyone), Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”, any of those songs.

James: You didn’t list the usual suspects, Vai and Satriani.

Austin: Ah, now you see, I thought you meant just bands, but guitar players….that something very different! That’s just another level! Joe Satriani, Paul Gilbert, Marty Freidman, yeah but there are other guys too *looks at Gabriel*, what’s that guy’s name, on youtube, great player who does the tapping on the guitar body and stuff?

Gabriel: Andy McKee?

Austin: Yeah Andy McKee.

James: You’ve toured with a long distinguished list of bands, what for you have been the highlights?

Austin: Hanging out with Machinehead, Lacuna Coil were pretty cool, they kept themselves to themselves mostly, but if you’re around they would definitely come and talk to you, so they weren’t being off or anything.

James: So given the somewhat Hollywood story of Black Tide so far, what for you have been the bigger elements in your success so far?

Gabriel: The support from our label and management has been great, you couldn’t ask for more, and the fans have just been incredible.

Austin: Definitely the fans!

James: For bands that want to follow in your footsteps, what advice would you give them?

Garbiel: Play every day!

Austin: Yeah everyday, for hours and hours! And exposure. Get lots of exposure. There are so many bands, guitarists out there, and they can be awesome players, but with no coverage, they don’t make it. Make it your art, make it you.

James: Who’s been your main inspiration, or who have you possibly tried to emulate?

Austin: I don’t really base myself on anyone, there are lots of great guitarists that I’ll listen to, but I’ll pick out selective pieces, I’ll like this riff, or this sound, and I can pick that up from anywhere. So it’s pretty much just guitar playing in general I guess. Music, life!

Gabriel: For me Dave Mustaine.

James: You play the Jackson lines…

Gabriel: Yeah.

James: And Austin, is it Dean you play?

Austin: Ah no, I’m with ESP.

James: You know, I was saying in the office the other day how ESP don’t seem to have a lot of representation with new guitarists and bands, although I’ve not looked at their range for a while. So why did you choose ESP?

Austin: Well, my second guitar was an LTD, and all the players I liked Hammett, Mustaine, they all played ESP’s, they just sounded awesome. Anyway, I was playing in Japan, and this ESP dude came up to me, we talked some, and well that day he sent me home with one of their guitars.

James: And the Jackson?

Gabriel: Yeah, I’m playing the Kelly Jackson tonight, I just love the action on it, Floyd Rose trems and I've got some decent gauged strings on it.

James: So did you have a formal guitar teacher?

Gabriel: No, my cousin taught me, and from there I picked up tabs.

Austin: Well, for my very first year, I had lessons, and he taught me how to make, play a scale, so well in fact, that after that I could make it on my own. And, well, I couldn’t really afford lessons anymore anyway! After, the internet, so long as you have an understanding of how things work, it’s all there for you.

James: What was (if there was one!), the moment where you felt, “yes, I’ve cracked it, not everything sounds like a blues pentatonic”.

Austin: I don’t know, I mean there was always things I was working on. I don’t know. Of course the first time I tried soloing, it just sucked so bad (laughs), but my guitar teacher said “here, you know how to do the scales, you can do this, try”. So I messed around, and eventually got the hang of it. I’d recognise what key we were in pretty quickly, and would think, “oh, this is how that works”. And then I think, writing your own songs gives you great insight too.

James: So staying on the theme of guitar playing, Shockwave, was on Rock Band, do you find that sort of thing brings Black Tide to a potentially wider audience?

Gabriel: Some people will just play the game, and not look anymore into it, some might have a look for our music. I don’t think you can count on that, it’s just cool to be in the game!

James: Can you play it on expert?

Gabriel and Austin: *laughing* NO!! It’s really hard!!

Austin: I can’t play Rock Band or Guitar Hero for anything any way! I was trying to play Eric Johnson’s, “Cliff’s of Dover”, and I know how to play the song for real, and it just didn’t happen, it was like mainly rhythm, so if you’re a drummer you’d probably do better at it then most guitar players! You’re hitting the rhythm, you’re not really hitting the notes.

I'm aware that both of them have a job to do, and have to close the interview. I've actually enjoyed talking to Austin and Gabriel, and I've noticed Gabriel was relatively quiet. He's come in for flak from some music journalists and I'm not convinced that they're justified. He's amiable enough, he's got a job to do on stage, and that's where he does his talking, and I really can't fault the guy. Austin is a tremendous foil for him, very chatty, smiling all of the time, and the band, well it just works and it's easy to see that when you see them on stage.

As they leave, the tour manager hands us a pick each. It's a Dunlop U.S.A .73mm, which ironically, is exactly the sort I use. I was going to put it with Sambora's plectrum, but nah, I'm using it instead, sounds nothing like them playing though, maybe I should go get a Jackson or ESP.....