WSMN: First off, I would like to ask you who are your influences as a guitarist?
SF: I would have to say Stevie ray vaughn, mark knopfler, james taylor, zakk wylde, randy rhodes
WSMN: Who writes most of the music for Shadows Fall... Jonathan Donais or yourself? Or is the writing a 50/50 split?
SF: yeah its pretty much a split. Its always a collaborative effort.
WSMN: You guys have toured with Fear Factory, 6 Feet Under, Cannible Corpse, Shai Hulud, Hatebreed and many others. Who was the coolest to you guys and was anyone ever a dick?
SF: Pretty much everyone we have been on the road with has been quite cool. I have no complaints on anyone.
WSMN: Are there any other bands you all would like to tour with?
SF: down, slipknot, pantera, slayer, lots of bands really.. We just look forward to getting out on the road reguardless.
WSMN: Do you think there will ever be a possibility of Shadows Fall ending up on a tour like Extreme Steel or Ozzfest someday?
SF: I hope so, We would love to do it.. I guess time will tell!
WSMN: Not counting your own band, who do you feel are some of the leading metal bands today?
SF: In flames has been a very big part of getting people involved in metal but so have bands like slipknot. There is quite a variety of metal out there now and its great that people are starting to take notice.
WSMN: Another leading band in the European meets Death metal genre like Shadows Fall is In Flames. This summer, they tour the US to a much broader audience due to the fact that they tour alongside Soulfly and Slayer. Do you see your style of metal getting popular in the US?
SF: I think it has already started to pick up. Lets just hope it keeps getting bigger!
WSMN: How does it make you feel when bands like Slipknot or System of a Down use death metal style guitar riffs in their songs? Do you like the publicity that it is getting or do you think that those bands need to stay away from that style of music?
SF: Slipknot I know is a band that is very influenced by death metal, in fact some of them came from death metal bands… So I don’t really see anything wrong with that at all… In fact, if you listened to slipknot’s latest record its pretty damn brutal. And its bands like them that are going to help the smaller bands… Slipknot bringing in flames on tour with them for example.. Or all the Ozzfest off dates that meshuggah is doing with system of a down and POD. Extreme metal will gain a lot from this and i think its great.
WSMN: Of One Blood was hailed by me and many others as a long over due, metal masterpeice. How is your upcoming The Art of Balance going to compare with such an awesome CD as Of One Blood?
SF: It will have the same elements yet we tried to focus a lot on the songwriting itself a little more. I think “the art of balance” will be a much more complete album as we have written it with a full band lineup this time around.
WSMN: You guys have added Jason Bittner to the mix on drums. What does he add to Shadows Fall that you guys were missing before?
SF: precise metal drumming… Dave is a great drummer but he was never a metal drummer, Jason fits in great and has the same ideas that we all have as a collective.
WSMN: If you had to compare The Art of Balance to any other metal album as being similar to it, what album would that be and why?
SF: That is really hard to say, hopefully it will find its own place in the metal world. I guess we will have to let the fans judge for themselves.
WSMN: On a scale of 1 to 10, rate the following guitarist (1=awful, 10=great)
SF: this is nearly impossible to do as they all have great and very different qualities about them… so ill try to describe what I mean for each….
Dino Cazares : Very tight and precise. Not so technical yet very much in the pocket if you know what I mean.
Zakk Wylde: GOD DAMN BRILLIANT those are the only words
Kirk Hammett : Lots of great blues elements to his style.
Dimebag Darrell : Aggressive as hell and always on the money!
Dave Mustaine: the master of shred. Lightning speed makes him stand out.
James Murphy : very smooth and fluid playing. Like the neck of his guitar is a stick of butter.
Kerry King : original as hell… when you hear him you ALWAYS know who it is.
KK Downing : One of the original rock masterminds! Never disappointing, From classic priest to painkiller!
