I suck, I know. How dare I lure you to my blog then no posts for weeks. “Bad blogger! ” I say as I slap my own hands. Actually, I do have a VERY good excuse (as I flash a huge grin) : )
In the last week alone, I flew to Romania, back to NYC, then to New Zealand, then back to NYC for a day. Then I flew out to Seattle to start a tour that goes until September. Before that I was coming off a month long trek through Europe and recording sessions in Florida. And I have been writing. A lot. More stuff than I know what to do with. I just need to edit it, but there’s a lot of cool stuff there. And it’s coming. Here. Soon. Well, eventually. BTW, I’ve got photo and video to add to this, but my connection is bad at the moment, so expect that soon.
So, let me tell you about New Zealand. Basically we arrived to thick fog, mist and rain. The hotel rooms were like condominiums, with the bedrooms up a flight of stairs, and two bathrooms. I had about four hours until I had to be on a panel with three other guitarists, answering questions from a host and from the audience, and fell into a deep nap. I was afraid to sleep, but too tired to walk around, so I turned on the TV. It was no use. I fell hard as the voice of CNNs Anderson Cooper permeated my dreams.
I woke up to a the peircing telephone ring and it was Daniel, the assistant hired to look after us,. letting me know that we had about ten minutes before we had to leave. Dizzy, I took a really fast shower and put on a new set of clothes, which felt incredibly fresh. We went to the conference hall, which was located in a museum/eaducational center. A giant stuffed great white shark hung from the ceiling, true to life. There was a gift store, selling memorabilia of the region, Taranaki. And everywhere there where posters for the guitar festival, with the names of the performers, including my group, Alex Skolnick Trio along with Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Gilby Clarke or Guns’N’Roses/Rockstar Supernova, Uli John Roth of the Scorpions, Glen Hughs and Joe Satriani.
The others on my panel included someone who has been a serious guitar hero of mine for years, Uli John Roth. Now, even in the mist and fog of my brain at that moment, this was really exciting for me. Uli, the former Scorpions guitarist is one of the best hard rock guitarists out there and sounds as good as he ever has. He also turns out to be a very talkative, keen witted , observant individual. We hit it off and I was pleasantly taken aback when, after the panel, he invited me to come up and share the stage with him during his set the next day.
After the panel, I went to a bar/restaurant right on the premises with Daniel and and a great crowd of folks. Many of whom are related. For example, Sonia, who was our excellent travel coordinator (and really nice, fun girl it turns out) had four sisters, all at the festival. Daniel had a sister and several brothers. Everyone was so laid back, relaxed, intelligent and fun loving. But two beers was all it took to send me back to the hotel ready for bed.
The next day we played at the ‘Stadium’ which was more like a gymnasium but a great place to play, nonetheless. Our set went great and the crowd reaction was incredible. There were over a thousand people there, which for our little trio, is a big crowd. Afterwards, we hung out with our local friends and listened to Gilby Clarke’s set of raw, good time guitar rock. Then it was time for Uli’s set, which brought back a lot of memories for me as I listened to him doing old Scorpions songs, many of which had solos I remember learning in my bedroom as a teen. Then he invited me out and we played the Jimi Hendrix version of the Bob Dylan song ‘All Along Watchtower.’ It seemed to go great, so much so, that he kept me up for the next song announcing “Since we’re getting along so well, why don’t you stay!”
Still high from playing with Uli, we went to go check out Vernon Reid who was doing a special ‘midnight session’ down the road on the small stage where we’d done the panel the night before. I’d met Vernon before but it had been years and it was great to reconnect, especially since we both now live in New York and know some of the same people there. Soon, Uli and his band showed up, followed by Gilby and his guys. There was lot’s of food and wine backstage and we hung out like old friends, agreeing to all jam together during Vernon’s set. Although things can get out easily of hand with four guitar players, the four of us all listened carefully to each other and there was a cool sense of camaraderie. Continuing the theme of great Jimi Hendrix covers, we played his arrangement of ‘Hey Joe.’ I looked back and was pleasantly surprised to see that my guys, Matt and Nate, taken over on drums and bass! It was a very special moment.
I wasn’t sure how many more special moments I could handle. It was the thrill of a lifetime, but I was tired! Having traveled more than twenty hours the day before and feeling a sixteen hour time difference, plus the energy sucked up by our show, the jam in Uli’s set, and the jam with Vernon, Uli and Gilby, I was feeling delirious. But when Sonja, Daniel and others said there was a post show party going on at a house, well, my guys were brimming with energy and, high on adrenaline from the jam, wanted to go hang out. “C’mon Skol!” they said. This party, which lasted until 5am, consisted mostly of a giant jam session in which everyone, musician and non, banged out a sound on the myriad of instruments littered throughout the grimy, student occupied crash pad, which could be a nice house, were it not for the grime, mold, dirty dishes, empty pizza boxes and beer bottles. This house could be in a college town in any US city, and it was hilarious to see that all the way across the world, guys who live together are pigs! Having lived with girlfriends , I’m thoroughly domesticated and so thankful I don’t live like that anymore. But it was a perfect, surreal end to a day that will never be forgotten.
The next day, we had to make the long journey back. I didn’t get to see my former guitar teacher Joe Satriani or his bassist, Stu Hamm, whom I played guitar for on tour in 1991. They’d arrived the night before and were staying at a different hotel. Sonja said goodbye to us and left to pick them up, so I told her to tell Joe hi from me and give Stu a big shove and tell him ‘That’s from Shmendrick!’ (Shmendrick is Stu’s nickname for me. It’s a Yiddish word, similar to Schlemeil.) Although disappointed about missing Joe and Stu, it was some consolation that Uli, Gilby and their bands were on the first leg of our flight back. The layover was much better having extra guys to hang out with and it felt we’d been on tour for a long time.
I got back with barely a day in New York, before flying out to Seattle to start the first show of the Judas Priest/Testament tour. Tomorrow, both of our groups join up with Ozzy Osbourne and ten other bands in Calgary for the Ozzy Osbourne Monsters Of Rock show. Soon we will meet up with Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath w/Dio on vocals) and Motorhead. Lot’s of adventures to follow, and no flying, so keep an eye out for more blogs. Thanks for your reading!