IOANNIS ANASTASSAKIS – An extraordinary interview

IOANNIS ANASTASSAKIS is one of best shredders from Greece, I will say most known of which I know. His latest album – “Orbital Attempt” gave me opportunity to take a little chat with him. If you are guitar work fan, please proceed…

Let's start with that – What made You to grab the guitar? We can read on Your website that You were born, and next step is… GIT. Was there any particular inspiriation that made You say “Yes I will be guitar hero”?

– Ha ha ha! Seriously, Hubert, I do not see myself as a guitar hero! I love music and love playing guitar and mostly I love helping young people reach their potential on the instrument as fast as possible. But…guitar hero definitely not!

– To answer your actual question, I was 12 when I saw a couple of friends that were strumming a few chords and it seemed like fun! So I started goofing around with it and before long I could play better than they did not because I was more talented in any way, but I was definitely more dedicated! Around 14 years old, I discovered the Flamenco guitar and then, by a great twist of fate, I started performing in that style by the time I turned 15. Around the same time, a very cute girl asked me for guitar lessons, so how could I say no? J So, I also, started teaching guitar at a very young age

You seem (I suppose that from number of instructional publications, clinics, teaching schedules etc.) to spend more time as a teacher than a performing musician. Is there in Greece large demand for your skills? We both know, that virtuosic music is not famous, mainly because of high skills required to play it.

– I totally agree with what you say about virtuosic music. However, my decision to focus on teaching has really nothing to do with that

– When I was really young, in my mid-teens, I did not have a competent guitar teacher that would help me reach my potential in an efficient and effective manner. So, I made it my goal to BECOME this person for all the young kids growing up that wanted to learn to play guitar. I always wanted to be able to teach guitar and help young kids reach their potential as fast as possible, so that they actually do have a shot at becoming rock performers and even rock stars! So, especially in Electric guitar I do spend most of my time in teaching-related activities.

– Since I started teaching at 15, by now I have almost 20 years of continuous teaching experience and I have refined my teaching method to a very high degree I really think I have cracked the code. And, trust me, its really GREAT to see your students go out there on stage after just a couple of years of lessons and kick ass! J

– However, keep in mind that I spend 4 years in the US performing live professionally especially the last 2 if them I would have more than 10 solo performances per month. So, I definitely got that out of my system. But, in all sincerity, no matter how much I love performing live, the lifestyle of the traveling musician was never really for me I loved interacting with the audience, I loved seeing new places and meeting new people, but the constant touring grew tiring very quickly

– I still perform live – I have just gotten quite picky about the gigs I choose! I usually fly around the world a few times within the course of a year, mostly performing in private events since these pay many times more than guitar-centered events! J

– Apart from teaching though, I love recording! I am very open to collaborations, especially guest solos! I enjoy recording all different kinds of styles and the solos I record for other people are often better than the ones in my own albums!

You mention wide plenty of well known guitar players as teachers, I would say top of the world. Did Your attitude towards them changed now? You were student, now – teacher, well recognized guitarist.

– Not really! I used to have crazy respect for them, then I still have crazy respect for them now! Probably, even more, since Ive seen how difficult it is to make a dent in this crazy field of music

Do You feel lessons with them had impact on Your present style?

– Of course they did big time, but probably not in the way most people would suppose. I really had put in a lot of quality guitar study time before moving to the US, especially during the last year. I would practice up to 10-12 hours a day – so, with the exception of Hybrid Picking, my technique was pretty much in order by the time I got to GIT.

– The most important things I learned from them were how important it is to have your own sound and a lot of things about improvisational freedom and fretboard awareness.

– Besides, lets not forget, some of those guys were REALLY good teachers, so that definitely helped me in my teaching techniques.

I asked that question because fans, who are deep in shred music style can hear many inspirations in Your latest album, for example Joey Tafolla in Progressive Minds or german power metal in Abort Horizon. Are You afraid of being compared to other guitarists? It is unfair, but I think – inevitable in today world.

– Nope, not really actually there are maybe 4-5 players I can do a pretty good imitation of, when I feel like goofing around; Yngwie Malmsteen, Carlos Santana, Vinnie Moore, early George Lynch and Gary Moore come to mind. But, I really do not worry about that. We all have our musical influences and, personally, I am quite proud of them! J

– Having said that, it is always nice to hear someone say that they heard a solo and they just knew it was me is has happened a few times lately – I guess Ill try to not lose that!

– There are a few things that I do consistently that seem to identify my guitar style, if you wanna call it that the little harmonies in thirds, the microbends, the wide vibrato, some characteristic string skipsI never really noticed them myself as something that would stand out when recorded, until Bob Katsionis, producer of my Suspension of Disbelief CD, started mentioning these characteristics when we were recording. The really funny thing is that if you listen to my VERY first demos, almost 16 years ago, you can hear quite a few of these characteristic elements.

Some people say that music has ended. Everything has already been composed, invented and now we can only re-arrange existing patterns. I dont agree with that, even more disagreed when I had listened to Your last album. You included plenty of ideas inside. Can You tell me something about “Orbital Attempt? Why is it so… fresh?

– Thank you for the really nice compliment!! I dont know if Orbital Attempt sounds fresh, but I do know that this was certainly a labor of love from my part I wanted to make an instrumental rock/metal/fusion CD I would be proud of, and, in my own little way, also pay homage to some of the guitar heroes that influenced me when I was growing up & learning how to play guitar. So, to answer your question, maybe you can just hear how much I enjoyed writing and recording this CD!!! J

– never think of commercial viability, projected sales etc. This style of music Instrumental Rock/Fusion is a fairly small niche (unless you are Joe Satriani or Steve Vai J), so I always thought I might as well just enjoy myself, express myself and not worry about sales etc.

– Thankfully, so far the sales seem to almost take care of themselves! I constantly have to keep sending CDs to the US and even Japan, since they keep running out of them. Even though I have a lot of faith in this recording, it never ceases ti amaze me that so many other people enjoy it as well!

You blend very nicely the two sides of Your musical nature – Rock and Spanish music. At first glance these styles are like heaven and hell, but actually works with each other very well. But is still hardly seen, I can mention except You only early Al di Meola, Steve Stevens and now Marc Rizzo, but he is more in metal. How do You think, why is that? Is Spanish music, let's say – unpopular, even in guitar players background?

– Man, I wish there was some kind of interesting & exciting/exotic story I could tell about that when giving an interviewbut, in reality, I just really ENJOYED listening to both styles. Which, invariably, led to me wanting to learn to play both styles, since I was never the kind of person that just watches I wanna get up there and DO it! This applies to verything, not just music it was the same thing with Salsa dancing, with Aikido, pretty much anything I witnessed and liked, I wanted to try to learn it!

– So, when I moved in the US for my music studies, I divided my time between both. Flamenco was always more of my vehicle for live performances (no doubt, all the beautiful female dancers had something to do with that J) while I enjoyed recording and teaching Electric guitar even more!

– Al di Meola, was a very big influence when I started playing guitar I absolutely adored both his fusion work and his acoustic trio with Paco de Lucia and John Mc Laughlin. So, maybe some of that rubbed of on me, I dont know…

Although I am a shred fan, personaly I play bass, and because of that I pay a lot of attention to bass lines. To be honest, most of shred recordings, especially these, where guitarist records bass too – sounds like crap. But not Yours, Orbital Attempt basslines are simple, yet intresting and they fit whole concept. Do You like playing bass, or simply You had to play it?

– Well, to be frank, probably half the bass in my latest CD was played by Bob Katsionis I am pretty sure he is the one that played all the interesting stuff! I really like playing Bass, but I tend to think I kind-of suck at it, even though I have the finger technique due to flamenco guitar. It is definitely on top of my to-do list musically, though! I really want to get better!

– If you ever witness my writing/recording/producing procedure when in the studioman, this is really NOT regimented! Ill just play whatever guitar is in tune, Bob will grab the bass, then Ill get the bass and hell be riffing (hes a great guitarist, apart from a killer keyboard player) Honestly, theres absolutely no way to know who played either the rhythm guitar or the bass on each track! We are just having fun like two teenagers recording their first demo!

There is a bonus track with Your various guest solos, where are these pieces come from?

– Well, each one of them has a different story at least half of them have not been released, so I felt it was a pity to just let them go to waste!

– The 1st solo is from Alex Flouros upcoming instrumental recording not really sure of the name of the track. The 2nd solo is from George Emmanuels track L.O.S.T Reloaded from his still unreleased CD Karma. The 3rd solo is my guest solo from Marianna Jeckovas track My Enemy.

The 4th solo was to be included in DESCENDINGs debut CD, but for obscure publishing reasons, the version did not make it to the final CD. The 5th solo is from the Greek Guitar Power Jam, which is included in the upcoming Greek Guitar Power compilation. And the 6th final solo is from Kosta Vretos Skin on Strings CD. Even though I played on a few more recordings last year, I believe these solos were more representative of my style thats why I decided to include them as a Bonus track.

– I always try to use the maximum amount of time available on the CD format when releasing a new recording both Orbital Attempt and my previous Cd Suspension of Disbelief have a duration of almost 74 minutes. I like giving the listener , and the consumer that just bought my CD as much value for money as possible! Thats why I go fot the glossy covers, the 8-page full color booklets, the full duration and many included bonus tracks.

On the other hand some people can accuse this album for being incoherent. People have various tastes – how do You take criticism?

– To be frank, I am kind of thick-skinned – I pretty much ignore criticism but, on the other hand, I do not take praise too seriously either I try to be real in what I do and express myself musically then I can only hope some other people are going to enjoy it, too! But, as I said, I rarely take it seriously – I believe there are a multitude of reasons on why someone would either praise you or critique you, and most of them have usually nothing to do with the actual quality of your artistic output!

– Theres a really cool test that I did in collaboration with a guitar student of mine right BEFORE Orbital Attempt was released, he took just the audio tracks it to some professional Greek guitarists that were friends of his to listen to. He told them the artist was a newly-discovered American guitar player that was just signed by a major independent company. And he had them listen to 2-3 tracks I think Progressive Minds and The Promised Land and one more, maybe Weird Thing. The CD got a very enthusiastic reception from them they seemed to like it very much and kept on telling him that this US guitarist is really good, the CD is really well produced etc

– So, fast forward 3 months later – he arranges another meeting again with EXACTLY the SAME people, but now he tells them that his guitar teacher, Ioannis Anastassakis, released a CD, he shows them the complete package. Then he makes them listen to the EXACT SAME tracks obviously they do not remember them, since they only listened to them once the 1st time around, which ws 3 months ago!

– Lets just say the reception was very different, for EXACTLY the same music, the same tracks this time, when they knew it was from someone from their country, nothing seemed to please them the production was very harsh, it was all shredding , no feel, the melodies were bland, the sound of the guitar was fake etc

– Things like that have taught me to almost never take criticism seriously, since it is colored by just about everything you can think of! So unless, it is someone I respect and I know does not have an agenda, I will just smile & ignore it.

Can You tell us something about Greek Guitar Power project?

– Yes! Greek Guitar Power is my absolute favorite project I collaborate with 4 more guitar players, all of them my former or present students and we travel around Greece arranging 2-day Guitar festivals! These festivals are REALLY a guitar extravaganza, with up to 25 different events crammed within one weekend! Events include guitar technique building masterclasses, improvisation classes, music equipment demos, home recording workshops, music business workshops, as well as electric guitar competitions and several live performances! I am telling you, Hubert this is a practicing guitarists dream come true! I WISH there was something like that available when I was learning. Just being in that environment for 2 days sends your motivation to practice through the roof!

– I have tried VERY hard to keep the cost down usually something like that in the US would cost around 300$-500$ – but Ive been able to keep it at around 50 euros for the whole 2-days. So its an amazing value-for money. And everyone that participates takes home a custom folder filled with many guitar related goodies – 50 pages of notes from the seminars , several audio CDs & DVDs with guitar related materials as well as promotional materials from our sponsors!

What about live appearances? I know, that You are seen frequently onstage in Greece, but do You plan any international tour? It would be logical for promoting “Orbital Attempt

– Well, I definitely am doing my share of touring with the Greek Guitar Power project plus the fact that I am just starting out clinics as a Roland endorser! I think between these 2 gigs and my Flamenco performances, my performing plate is as full as I like it to be I do plan to perform some of the tunes of the CD at the upcoming Greek Guitar Power festivals, though!

Only You and Bob Katsionis are credited on “Orbital Attempt”. That means You need some live musicians, would they be from Greek Guitar Power, or maybe You have someone other?

– Actually, probably everyone will be from the Greek Guitar Power band! These are amazing musicians and friends and we have a blast hanging out and doing stuff together, so it would be totally natural to have them on stage with me. And, of course, since we have 4 guitar players, and 3 of them also play bass and 2 of them also play keyboards, we are constantly switching instruments! Only the drummer is safe on stage!

You are endorser of many brands, what is Your favorite guitar?

– I am currently playing with a variety of Ibanez Prestiges these seem to fit me very well Ibanez has been great about providing me with a guitar that fits my needs. You know, they have some really amazing guitars.

– Another favorite guitar of mine is the Steinberger Scepter from the 1980s the one that has both a regular body and a headstock.

– I have been very fortunate to have the support of many amazing companies in the industry I am currently supported and sponsored by Ibanezrs, Roland, EMG, Elixir, T-Rex effects, Hercules, Visual Sound effects, Snapjack, Schecter, Graphtech, LaBella and more!

We are at the end, lucky 13, thank You for Your time! – anything You want to add?

– I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to have this interview and for listening to Orbital Attempt! Oh, yes, and for being patient with the time it took me to complete this interview! J