The first question is one that I must do ...can we expect a new Liege
Lord studio CD considering last year´s reunion or maybe a live CD with the
show in the Wacken Open Air Festival?
We are working on it. As you know Joe is the new singer for Annihilator but he
is very interested in recording new material as am I. We did video tape and
record the Wacken show and are still negotiating releasing the stuff.

 

What can you tell me about "Look," your solo CD?

I know that it has received good reviews on several magazines.
It's now available in all stores as well as at www.paulnelsonguitar.com I'm very happy with the response it has been receiving.

How were the songs in "Look" composed? Are they all new songs or do you had some of them for a long time?
Since it is an instrumental type CD the ideas are based on melodic lines
interconnected. It's very tricky because you have to make the guitar
essentially sing the verses in a way, then separate it from itself to create a different feel or tone for other sections.

Can we say that in "Look" you have mixed your rock background with your
love for fusion and jazz to create your own style?
Yes, I guess you´re right. It's not an intentional thing but after one studies
all the necessary fundamentals of music and variety of styles it's something
that begins to appear. I would say that the listener recognizes a players
style more so than the player himself.

How was your work with Fernando Pereira?
It was actually great I was hired as his guitarist when he did some televised
shows here in the states and in Canada in 94 and 95. Somewhere there is
footage of me dueling it out on stage with a Portuguese blues artist Rui
Veloso as well. Anyway one of the performances was recorded and turned into
an album called "Live from NewYork", apparently went gold in his country
unfortunatly I was neve sent the plaque. He followed it up with a tour where
I ended up in Portugal and then flown by private jet to Madera Island it was
a real fun time.

How was the experience of writing music for the soap opera "Scruff Boys"?
Very cool, I just love writing for TV, Movies and commercials I recently
recorded all the guitar for the WWF's extreme football league call the XFL
which aired in the US on NBC all season. There is also a European Commercial
running now that I play on for a product called Naturelli.

I know that you are participating in two tribute albums...why did you choose to participate in them?
First of all because I liked both bands growing up (Uriah Heep and Savatage on Century Media records 05/01 and 08/01) and it was a great opportunity for Joe Comeau and I to record together again after getting together of Wacken 2001 where the whole deal transpired. I also just finished recording the song "Blue" for the Jason Becker Tribute "Warmth in the Wilderness" due out July
22 on Lion Records with a bunch of guitar maniacs like Vinnie Moore, Paul
Gilbert, Marty Friedman,Steve Morse and many more. You can get more info at
www.lionmusic.com/jasonbecker/jasonbecker.htm

How important was the Berklee College of Music in developing yourself as
a player and composer?
You know it's the kind of place that when your there you can wait to get out
and stretch but always think about going back to. It's a great learning
experience. You learn the most once your out in the real world.

How was it to be one of Steve Vai´s students in Berklee?
Steve at the time when we went to Berkley, was amazing! But not to good a sight reader... We used to get together to read from saxophone books. He was very level headed and knew pretty much all there was to know by the time he got to Berkley. He was blowing away the teachers. We hit it off pretty well when we met so I asked him if he would show me some of his stuff, so we arranged a payment system; I would get him one carton of cigarettes and he would give me an hour lesson not to bad a deal. He was very into Hendrix, Allan Holdsworth, Santana and especially Frank Zappa.My last teacher was Mike Stern and my current teacher is Steve Khan (ex Steely Dan, Billy Joe, etc.). Any chance I get I practice. I do quite a lot of playing and traveling but I
always find some time to practice and also teach myself.

What's your opinion of the first Liege Lord CD "Freedom´s Rise"( the
one in which you did not participate) ? How would you compare it to "Master
Control" and "Burn To My Touch"?
Freedoms Rise was a big release for Liege Lord. It's reviews were astonishing.
I remember reading a quote in the top UK mag Metal Forces stating "Liege Lord
is what Queesryche would hope to be". Not bad. Turns out that that album has
been mentioned in interviews as having influenced a lot of bands especially
internationally. "Master Control" has just been dubbed in a readers poll as one
of the top 100 albums of the 80's so I guess that just about covers it, "Burn…"
was more of a transition album between singers but did very well for us on
radio. www.liegelord.com

How was working with Terry Date in the production of "Master Control"
when he was not as famous as he is now (after Pantera, Soundgarden, etc.)?
It was great. We flew HIM over from Seattle just before he started working for
Concrete Management. He and I sat side by side for hours on that record. He's
just great especially when it comes to getting killer drum sounds.

How has been your work as a composer for television commercials and
broadcasting? Can some of this material be released on CD someday?
Like I said before it's my second favorite type of recording situation. As far
as material being released who knows maybe the WWF will release some of those
loops from the XFL someday.

Any final message for the readers?
Man that was great very cool thought out question. Thanks to you and all the
fans of Liege Lord and new found fans of my material as well all the best!!!!!

Tribute to Uriah Heep, Paul collaborates with "Too Scared to Run"-Century Media (2001)