Borislav Mitic: Master of Strings
Interviewed by "EvilG"
In my opinion, Borislav Mitic is one of, if not the,
best up and coming guitar instrumentalists out there today! This is not
blowing smoke, this is how I felt when I heard his debut CD on
Shrapnel Records and now with his re-released Fantasy album. I
consider this to be one of the better interviews I've done so far
thanks to the great amount of detail that Borislav took the time to go
into with me - especially on the topic of his classical influences and
background. So read on, and learn more about this great
guitarist.
I'd just like to point out that Borislav will be
writing a column in Metal-Rules.com entitled Beyond
The Music. It's part album diary and part guitar lesson so
it will appeal to both musicians and to fans curious about the
behind the scenes of the recording of an album. Anyway, enough of my
inane ranting, on to the interview.
Obviously
you have recently re-released your CD Fantasy so I'd like to talk a
little bit about that first. Starting out I'd like to know why you
decided to re-release this album and why now?
The main reason why I re-released 'Fantasy' right
now is that after releasing the Shrapnel album, I have been receiving a
lot of mail from people who actually like that album, like from fans who
are also very interested in what I did before and especially that
'Fantasy' album which I only did for the Serbian market in '96. So,
right now because I'm in between two albums for Shrapnel I figured it
would be a very good idea to maybe make ”Fantasy” available for
those people interested to actually hear it. To give people a little
more insight what I was doing before because it was musically a little
bit different than what I'm doing right now for the new album and what I
did for Shrapnel already. So that's the main reason why I did it.
Is there any reason why you decided to
re-release it yourself rather than try to get Shrapnel records to
release it or did you even bother to see if they would release it
themselves first?
There is a possibility that Shrapnel will maybe be
taking that album later on. But I'm more interested to publish new
material for Shrapnel - my latest compositions and present where I am
with the guitar and the music right now. This 'Fantasy' was more like a
special project that I wanted to do on my own as I said before- just to
make it available for people who are interested in what I was doing
before. I didn't really want to make it look like it’s my new album so
that's why I even gave it a little bit...of a lower profile than I would
normally- just to enough to keep some “continuity” for the new album
for Shrapnel. But there is a possibility that Shrapnel maybe taking
“Fantasy” later on.
When you decided to release it, did you have
to re-visit the original recording to do any touch-ups or remixing, or
was 'Fantasy' basically a straight transfer from what was originally
recorded? Or did you have to mess with anything at all?
The mix is completely the same as the original I
didn't do any remixes or anything like that. It's completely the same
the way the songs were and the length of the album was. So everything is
completely the same apart from the fact that I re-mastered this version
of the album. In fact it does sound different in the way that some EQ
frequencies were changed... during the re-mastering we're adding some
frequencies, pushing some up or down and in a very slight way it does
change the balance between instruments or maybe the color of the sound
but it’s just nuances though. I think that the quality of it is better
right now than the original was... it's more like what I would have
wanted it to be the first time that I did it for the Yugoslavian
album... That's the only difference- that it's re-mastered. The artwork
for the cover is also new. People can see the old one at my web
page: www.geocities.com/borislav_mitic
I know that in places 'Fantasy' features
your arrangements or variations of different classical pieces. However,
I am not familiar enough with the composers to name exactly what songs
on 'Fantasy' were inspired by what particular composer so perhaps you
can give me a rundown on a couple of the songs and tell me what composer
influences a certain piece maybe?
The
album altogether was mainly influenced by the violin work of Nicolo
Paganini because in my days of apprenticeship with the guitar (when I
was practicing, cutting my teeth and chops), I got very interested in
classical music after hearing guys like Yngwie Malmsteen. I was
intrigued by it. I decided to investigate all the classical catalogue I
could which included Nicolo Paganini, Bach, Handel... or it's better to
say the baroque period, the romantic period with people like Chopin,
Listz, Shuman, Shubert, and the post romantic period like Debussy… and
a whole lot of other composers. I just named a few. I really, really
gathered a big collection of almost 500 different classical albums with
compositions of various composers and I was analyzing “in detail”
all that!
This 'Fantasy' album is in fact, presenting my
impressions from that period (and different aspects of playing
techniques I was interested in at the time) focusing strongly on pieces
written by Nicolo Paganini - analyzing his caprices and concertos. So,
what I was doing was taking out certain phrases which I found very
interesting to be played on the electric guitar and made transcriptions
- in fact what I did on the 'Fantasy' album was not really just
transcribing or just arranging, more precisely- I made variations around
some of ideas I took from Paganini and added my own parts around it,…
but in any case I did give him the full credit on the album. (laughs)
So here we go song by song. On the song 'Master Of
Strings' I have like excerpts from two Nicolo Paganini’s caprices. I
took some excerpts from 17th and 24th. Then in my song 'La Campanella' I
covered Paganini's probably most famous Concerto Number 2. I took the
theme from it and then added some of my own things like arpeggios and my
own harmony parts. In the track called 'Virtuosa' I also included some
parts of Paganini's Caprices too. Actually the title 'Virtuosa” has a
story to it. At that time, at the beginning of the 90's I was into the
violin music ”big time” all together I was doing some research on
the history of violin and different things related to it and I ran into
a photograph of some kind of ‘machine violin’ and it was called 'Virtuosa'.
It seemed as an interesting idea and that's why I titled the track like
that. I also included a cover of Bach's composition. It's his prelude
and I believe that the melody on top of his arpeggios was later added by
Charles Gounod. It ‘s titled 'Ave Maria'. I just liked how that
sounded so I did it in the version “electric guitar and bass”
instead of “violin and keyboard. “ There is one other composer who
is included in my album and that is Handel. The title track of the
album- 'Fantasy’ includes a part of his’ Passacaglia’. Actually I
came to that idea by seeing the violinist Itzhak Perlman
on TV once (back in Belgrade) playing that composition. I liked a
lot how it sounded. I don't even know the complete name of it till this
day. I just remembered that it was Passacaglia. So I just took that
phrase (that I remembered) and made my own arrangements and additions to
it- and (almost) came up
with my own song in the end.
What about the last song? The 'Moto Perpetuo'?
(Oh yeah) Is that original or based on something?
Yes, in fact that is a complete original. That is
an etude for Violin by Nicolo Paganini. It's a very, very difficult
piece to play. I think one of the most difficult! I'm not bragging here
or anything, but it's just like one of the biggest challenges for almost
any guitar player to master technically. (Yeah, it was pretty
impressive) It's very long. So it took a lot of practice and I would say
that that song is really for people who are interested in technical
aspect of guitar playing. It's really special. I placed it on the end of
the album. So if you want to hear something very extreme on the guitar
take a look at this one because that composition is full of almost all
possible sequences, arpeggios, scales.
One other reason that makes it appropriate to do
Paganini’s pieces on electric guitar is that he did play the guitar
himself. Considering that he was one of the greatest violin players of
all time it’s less known that he was actually very much in awe of the
guitar. I also stated that on the inner sleeve of my ‘Fantasy’
album. He actually did say that - he is the master of the violin,
but that his mater is the guitar! If he knew how much us rock guitar
players today would be impressed by his violin work maybe he'd be glad!
Do you think he would be playing neo
classical music on guitar if he was still alive?
Well, he is alive today (His music) (laughing)!
Like with many other musical giants… Later on we had people like
Charley Parker on Saxophone for example who influenced many guitarists
or jazz piano players. So it’s not only reserved for people who are
playing some particular instrument like violin to look up to violinists
and it has never been. Paganini influenced a whole generation of
classical composers who didn’t necessarily play violin or write for
it. Today we see people like Yngwie or maybe myself too (laughs). Not
only us neo classical or rock guitar players are in awe of Paganini.
It's also people like Franz Listz who was floored when he saw Paganini.
He made a lot of variations of Paganini's compositions. He got the idea
to develop his piano technique from being inspired by Paganini (which I
discovered by reading his biography). I think that the same thing was
with Chopin. He was also a Paganini’s devotee. So it’s just a matter
of keeping “passing the
flame on” and if you get anybody else inspired by it means that you
are doing something good. So that's what I am trying to do, what I think
that it's important today also.
I have one more question on the classical
side of things and that is something I've noticed that there seems to be
a common thread amongst many metal and hard rock musicians who have
claimed to have been classically influenced. It seems to be a thread.
And that is for example, heavy metal seems to use classical music that
are very specific and consistent: For example it seems Bach is more
mentioned than Mozart; Paganini rather than Listz; Vivaldi and Albinoni
(ah.. forgive my pronunciation if I'm wrong here.. (laughing)) instead
of Telemann or Monteverdi. But anyway, it seems there's some
amount of selectivity in what a metal musician will pick from
classical music. It seems to be a common thread. Have you noticed this?
Do you have any opinion why in general this type of thread exists?
Well, it is true what you’re saying but it would
be hard to give a precise and detailed answer which would explain that.
Maybe it's the fact that some works by Bach are more... not easier to
copy, but more approachable to the style of the guitar players... It's
very hard to answer that really... (laughing) I guess one can see a
common thread when reading interviews by some guitar players who seem to
mention a lot of common influences. But I think that there are also some
guitar players who are influenced by some different classical composers
too. I'm not naming anyone especially but maybe some guys who are just
naming composers like by Bach or Paganini heard “some” guitar player
they liked and they maybe read somewhere that he was influenced by those
composers. They would actually listen to Bach or Paganini in order to
get closer to the guitar player that they like so that they will find
the “secret” of his playing. They hope to be more like him or reach
his level if they listen to what he was listening to and they are maybe
not very interested to analyze some of the music of other composers. But
I've also heard a lot of rock- fusion- metal players who were influenced
by different composers. We even had a guitar player like Tony Macalpine
who was playing piano pieces of Chopin. It wasn't always the case that
it was Paganini and Bach! Actually, I never really heard anybody taking
Paganini as an influence “all the way”. But I can speak with
certainty only of myself. I was influenced by a lot of other different
composers too which I haven't really presented as well as all the sides
of the influences I had from classical music. Maybe I should mention
more people like Mendelson, or Bruch who are (their violin works) more
obvious influences on my previous Shrapnel release. Mozart is my big
influence too which is I hope noticeable in a few compositions on that
album also. But that's just my taste. As for other people well, maybe
they are not curious enough or something, so I hope they will become.
Maybe they will rediscover some old music, get new inspiration and bring
some different music. And it's not only about classically influenced
musicians I think that same kind of rule applies for any style, whether
it is a certain line of blues players or a line of rock players, when
there seems to be a ”usual catalogue” which musicians are stating as
their influences and they go “I like that one, this one….”-and
it’s the same people for everybody. They usually have two or three
names going around all the time. But as I said in the beginning, it's a
subject that we could go very far in discussing. We could almost
dedicate few hours just to that topic. So, what I've said is basically
giving my view on that.
OK, onto your new album that you've been
working on. It's coming out in 2001 on Shrapnel records. Do you have a
release date or month in mind yet or is it still open ended as in when
it will come out?
I don't have a release date or anything very
precise for that one because it’s still in the preparation phase. It
will most probably be somewhere for 2001, hopefully for the first half
of 2001. But as I said, you know, I'm still in the working phase of it.
The compositions are still being brewed, made, crafted and so on
and so forth...
About how much do you have written so far?
Well, the thing is I work in a way that I make a
lot of different compositions and I “explore” a lot of different
styles and then I just pick out what seems to fit that certain album (at
that certain time) the best…. That's why it's taking a little longer
and I always try to go for something different every time.... People can
hear a big difference between 'Fantasy' and my Shrapnel album for sure.
I am trying to make the same kind of difference again right now for the
new one. So I'm working on it... Well, it's just that I'm very
persistent on making a noticeable progression musically, technically
from album to album. I always enjoy to give something completely fresh
for the new albums compared to what I did previously so that's why maybe
it takes a little longer for me to get through that” waiting period”
between the albums but I hope that the results will be worth the
waiting.
So do you have any idea what direction the
new album will take? Will it be some vocal songs maybe or will it be
more shredding, more blues? Do you have any idea of like a certain
direction or will every song kind of be a little bit different?
First of all I think stylistically it's going to
cover even more, much more ground than the previous one did. That is
kind of putting a big pressure on me because I have a lot of different
influences that I have to now blend into one whole piece of music. I
mean, just balancing the whole of the album because I tend to
incorporate a lot of different influences from blues jazz,... The album
will have a lot of variety to it...of course the strongest part of it
will be the metal and the neoclassical part but it will not be only
that. It'll be a lot of other things like” threading in” with the
different influences. As I said I will keep the classical, the different
ethnic music influences, and I'll also include maybe a bit more of a
bluesy, jazzy type of thing and even go places like ambient music and
traces of techno music direction but sometimes it's hard ... hard for
people to... I'm better in expressing myself with the music than in
words because I can say some things and some people could maybe (which
are not big fans of certain types of music) have their” hair up”...
(laughing). "Oh no, he's going to do an album like this or like
that!" which is not really the case. What is sometimes one thing
for me it's different for others. When I say fusion, I don't mean fusion
like it's a stereotypically understood. To me it can be something new or
a little different than what people consider that style to be. But I
think the best thing would be to wait and have a little more patience
and hear the music when the album will be out. For the vocal part of it
I have a set of vocal songs from a while back that I'm still
re-arranging and polishing. It will not be like primarily vocal album
but it will include a few vocal tracks. Especially these days it’s
necessary to have at least some vocal songs included on the album. And
it's something I'd like to do in any case.
Have you decided on who's going to sing or
is that still top secret kind of stuff? (laughs)
Well I have a few possibilities but I would still
keep that one open. I wouldn't be able to say anything definite on who's
going to be in charge of the vocals.
Are you looking more towards having someone
who people in the hard rock/metal realm will recognize or would you
prefer to have a new person that people probably haven't heard of yet?
The most important thing is that the songs will
fit nicely with the style of the persons singing. Though it’s still
not decided who will actually be in charge of vocals it could happen
that it will be somebody new, or maybe somebody who is known, very good,
but not very much exposed until now. But I really, really couldn't say
anything more about that part of the next album because it's still in
the preparation stage.
Have you decided who's going to be playing
bass and drums on the album and will it be the same guys who played on
your first release for Shrapnel or you haven't decided that yet?
That's another thing that I'm also still thinking
of. If I will be collaborating with the people that I did the previous
album with, or if I will include some other players I’ll yet have to
decide. Maybe it will be a bit of both like having different backing for
different sections of the album or for a few songs at least. I'm still
undecided on that part too. It's usually the thing that gets finalized
almost just before you are enter the studio.
So
do you hope your new CD will open even more doors for you?
Oh yeah, definitely.
Would you say the end goal is that you'd
like to make it, I guess, as an instrumentalist or do you hope this is
kind of like a resume type thing that will eventually lead to you
joining a band or something like that?
Well, I would like to have my own thing and my own
career as a solo artist or gather a band around me. But if I had an
offer from a band whose music I was very interested in... and whose
style and the approach to music is fitting me… Then I would enter in a
collaboration with that band and be an equal part of.
What is your take on the instrumental, metal
rock scene? The reason I ask is because the average listeners out there
usually don't go for or appreciate very much non vocal music so how do
you overcome this factor or is it something you just have to accept?
I think that the vocally oriented music scene has
more, let’s say publicity, than the instrumental one. Which I think is
the thing we can't really deny. But on the other hand I believe that
there is also an audience for the instrumental type of music too. We can
see that there are artists that are very successful with that particular
line of music. I'm not
really speaking only about the electric guitar or metal guitar, it can
be different types of music and artists like Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre
or Mike Oldfield… They're selling a lot of records. I think they have
a lot of fans, their concerts are very visited also. There is an
audience for that type of music! Sure, I agree that for some people who
approach music in a different, simple way and for whom it doesn't have
same place in life like for someone extremely interested in an
instrument and playing ...for them it will be “easier for the ear to
hear” something with lyrics which plays on the radio and goes well
with driving a car or, I don't know, doing laundry with (laughing) and
doesn't require much thinking. But for driving a car- which music would
be better than Joe Satriani anyway? (laughing) It all depends on the
media and which kind of style and which kind of musical direction they
are going to give more attention to and which kind of artist will be
more in the focus of that” eye”. The media I think is also creating
the public view in a sense that it decides” for people” what will be
appreciated or not...like what is in fashion today...what is apparently
in the charts, what is” in” and what is not? But the fact is that a
lot of people are kind of coming back to that “musician approach”.
To real musicians, to the people who actually really love what they do
and who are actually living the thing that they are working- it’s
everything! It’s something that is an essential part of their being.
Not something they do for this, or that reason (which doesn't have much
to do with the music). So I just feel that there is a generation of
people who are becoming I would say tired of superficial things and are
really going back to something that has a real value. In any case I
noted that Carlos Santana is again one of the most sold artists lately
(which is great) and... he's a guitar player too (laughing)! Yeah,
that's true. (laughing)
I'd like your opinion on something that's
related to this and it's something that kind of puzzles me, and offends
me and makes me angry all at the same time and that's when I go into a
store I pick up a Guitar Magazine or Guitar Player or Guitar For The
Practicing Musician - magazines which I used to buy probably ten years
ago, I picked them up now and on the cover I see a band like Limp Bizkit
or Korn and they're mentioned, you know, these are today's top
guitarists on the cover. I think, are these people deaf or something?
Like these guys don't, they wouldn't know a lead solo if it hit them
over the head yet these magazines put them on the cover. And you know,
someone like Yngwie will put out a new album and, he's not on the cover
anymore. Why aren't they featuring, say, your new CD or at least
reviewing it or mentioning it? But it seems completely backwards like
it's not focused on talent, it's focused on flavor of the month. I would
have thought a magazine that's dedicated to guitar and not trend of the
month magazine would have a little bit more integrity and would feature
people that can actually play and are not the flavor of the month type
of artists. What would be your opinion on that?
Well, I guess that's mainly a question of the
editorial politics of the magazine. And the musical direction that the
magazine is going to cover and what they want to write about and I guess
it's their personal view of the scene. For me, honestly it doesn't make
much sense- I mean, I'm not saying that everybody has to like or dislike
certain bands - it's a personal taste. But noticing that when people
like Steve Vai, Joe Satraini or Yngwie and a lot of other guys like Alan
Holdsworth, Eric Johnson or whoever - put out a new album and we do not
see them on the covers of the guitar magazines is a worrying trend for
me. I must say that it does confuse me a bit. I don't know the answer to
the question what is the reason why that is done. As I said it is a
conscious decision of the editorial of a magazine which knows why it's
doing that. I just hope that it will change. I would like an answer to
the question - why for example, my album is not featured in those kind
of magazines which are specialized for guitar- I don't know! I would
just ask anyone who likes my music or my albums to write to those
magazines and to ask them "why is this person doing something and
you are ignoring what he is doing? He does exist you know!
(laughing)". I think it would be very progressive and very valuable
to have some kind of acknowledgement and approach from those magazines.
At least to cover you in a way that they dislike, or they like what you
do. You are doing that (making guitar albums) and you have an audience
and people are interested in you-they should be able to read about you!.
I just have a feeling, it might not be so, but I seem to be one of the
leading new guitar players, especially in that instrumental line, and it
is a little bit of a riddle for me why there is not more interest from
that type of media (guitar magazines). But as I said, I hope that in
time things will change. We all know the styles and the winds of today
are also very changeable. We just have to stick to things we believe in
and what we are about and why we are in it for from the first day.
It’s what I believe in and what I like to do. I hope the rest will
come in time.
On a different note, what is a typical day
like for you? Do you practice and write music all day or do you work
like 9-5 and music is kind of something you do on nights or on weekends
or are you teaching guitar lessons?
It's quite different depending which period of
work I'm in, if I'm preparing an album, or if I'm in a moment when I'm
“after an album” then I'll be concentrating more on promotion parts.
Right now, I'd say I do a lot of practicing during the day and then I
have to invest a lot of time working on compositions, arrangements,
searching for new ideas and it does take usually a working time of the
day but sometimes even more because working music is difficult if you
have a daytime job approach to it. In a way it is even harder because
it's a thing which is taking non-stop devotion. So, you don't work only
from 9 to 5, you know, you work from 9 to 5 then you work from 5 to 8,
then you work from midnight till three (laughing) during one day. It's
just a very demanding thing. I guess that I would usually practice
guitar just to keep up my technique for a few hours then I would
investigate new phrases, new ideas, new concepts I've came up with then
I would like spend a few hours to see how to incorporate that into new
compositions. Then I'd have to work with the compositions
themselves…To see what is done well or is it good enough, melodic
enough? How are the rhythm parts done…etc. That would be a short
description of work required for making an album. Apart from that I
still do other things. I also find time to give guitar lessons.
Cool. Roughly how many students do you have?
Does it take up a lot of your time?
Well, I have to adjust that to my current music
work involvement so when I'm more preoccupied with something else I have
less students and it's the other way around when I have more time- then
number of students increases.
That's all the questions I had. Is there any
other news or news items that you can tell me about that you want to let
people know about?
Well, we actually covered all the things, all the
novelties that I'm preparing for the future concerning the new album for
Shrapnel which I already said is probably going to be for the first half
of 2001. That is what's in preparation. For all the other info and
latest news I invite people to visit my web page where they will have
all the information about my latest works on the music and in general.
They can also have all the details about the 'Fantasy' there and how to
get it. I guess that would be all for now. My best regards to all
the guitar loving audience out there!
Borislav Mitic Links Info
- Borislav
Mitic webpage: THE source of info
- 1999
Interview with Borislav Mitic
- Review of his self-titled
CD on Shrapnel Records
- Review of Fantasy
(newly re-released album)
- Order page
for Fantasy
In Rapture...
Thanks to Borislav for taking the time to answer my questions and for
the extra time to help me with the spelling of the names of some of
these classical musicians haha...you rule brother! Again, I'd like to
thank Skyklad from www.MetalGospel.com
who is now the official "transcriptionator" for
Metal-Rules.com. YOU STILL RULE!
©2000 Metal Rules!!