RANDY RHOADS – Would Have Turned 52 Today

Rocket: What first drew you to playing music?

James: As long as I can remember as a kid I've always liked playing around on keyboards or singing just to see what I could do.

Rocket: When exactly did you first start playing the guitar?

James: Around 13. I always played violin and upright bass for school then was asked to learn to play electric bass for the high school jazz band and the change from upright bass to electric bass seemed to come naturally, then friends asked me to play bass in a punk rock band and I tried the guitar and someone showed me what a power chord was around 14 and that was it, I fell in love.

Rocket: Did you ever take any formal guitar lessons?

James: I've taken music classes with violin and bass and chorus and even music theory classes all to learn music and teaching myself guitar from that knowledge came naturally but no I've had no formal guitar technique training. I did teach myself chords and how to play from the Metallica black album music book as I already knew how to read music.

Rocket: Who are some of your biggest playing influences of past and present?

James: Dave Mustaine is my all time fave. A close second is the forever remembered Darrell "Dimebag" Lance Abbott, third is Kerry King, then there's the classics like Tony Iommi and Eddie Van Halen.

Rocket: What kind of guitars are you playing live and in the studio?

James: I only play BC  Rich, baby. My guitars are too many to name and describe in detail but I have 3 V's, a Beast, a Warlock, and a Dagger, all with high end pickups.

Rocket: What kind of amp rigs?

James: Mesa Boogie rectifier cabs, a triple rectifier head, and a 6505+ head.

Rocket: Briefly, how did you join up with Construkt?

James: Through mutual friends me and Jesse met and talked about music and how we wanted to be in a band but couldn't find people dedicated enough so we shook hands and decided we'd see what we could do together and here we are the 2 founding members still doing it through multiple lineup changes over the years.

Rocket: Can you tell me a bit more about the new studio album your band is working on?

James: It'll be our 1st nationwide released full length. It's pretty straight forward trash metal.

Rocket: Yeah, you guys have a pretty eclectic vibe going on and a mixture of so many different sub-genres in your music.

James: Most of the songs have their own feel to them and are influenced from all genres of metal as you'll hear. There's influences of old school thrash, hardcore, melodic metal, nu-metal, doom metal, and even grunge. We wanted to take our music to the next level but not be categorized too narrowly to the point of obscurity. A lot of bands just try to be heavier or faster or scream louder and that puts them in a hole and can create a narrow fan-base. We try to broaden our music and stay diverse, and also keep a grooviness to our writing that more people can appeal too.

Rocket: I like to have fun with this next one. What's the funniest thing that's happened to you while performing on stage?

James: Watching Jesse think he's grabbing a ceiling truss to swing from when it's actually just a curtain rod and he falls to the ground on his back and knocks the shit out of himself from a 10 foot fall and we keep playing not knowing whether to stop or not. In the end, when we knew he wasn't hurt. It was funny as hell to me.

Rocket: Who are some of the other unsigned bands in your area that you think deserve more attention?

James: In cynthia's Diary, Stuck Backwards, Murder No Motive, Mind Vent, Under 1 Condition.

Rocket: With all the new albums released in 2008, what's been your personal favorite?

James: Antagonist "Exist".

Rocket: What are some of the upcoming shows for Construkt?

James: December 13th in Virginia Beach, Virginia with 180 Out and guests.

Rocket: Thanks for rocking this out with me, brother. Best of luck with it all. Go ahead and give a shout-out to your biggest supporters.

James: Our sponsor C.R.A.K.shot Energy, and everyone who supports local music for what it is.

http://www.myspace.com/construkttheband