To start off, let’s rewind to the very beginning and talk about how you first discovered your interest in music.
I was lucky enough to be surrounded by music my entire life. Both my parents are creative people (my mom is a dancer and my dad plays guitar) and there was always music in the house. I was out at smoky bars watching him perform with his blues trio by the age of nine, right around the time I got my first Squier Strat and started playing. He eventually taught me a few things we could play together on stage and would call me up from time to time to join the band. After that, I was pretty much hooked.

Was guitar always your one and only option? What got you hooked on the instrument and which are some of the players that you think helped shape your sound?
When I was in eighth grade it was 1999 and we were at the peak of nu metal. I was really into Korn, Limp Bizkit, Deftones and Fear Factory and was lucky enough to get my hands on an Ibanez 7-string RG for Christmas that year. It was also the peak of file sharing, so I was discovering tons of new music every day and pretty quickly stumbled upon Meshuggah and learned just how far one can push a 7-string RG. I was also a huge Pantera fan, which introduced me to the world of whammy pedals and pinch harmonics. Those bands still carry some influence with me, though later as I got into high school I got much more into hardcore, grind and death metal (bands like Hatebreed, No Warning, Nasum, Skinless, Dying Fetus and Cannibal Corpse), so I guess it makes sense that I wound up playing for The Acacia Strain, haha!

Today, which guitarists do you think stand out (in any genre)?
I could name quite a few, but I think in metal – aside from the guys I just mentioned – I’m into guys like John Gallagher and Wes Hauch. Wes because he’s got this clinically tight thing going on, but it’s all rooted in this very palatable groove. Alluvial is awesome. Big fan of Wes’ Jupiter pickup from Seymour Duncan as well. I like John Gallagher because he’s able to play these crazy punishingly tough riffs and slams, all while holding down some super complex lead vocal patterns.

Do you still practice your instrument regularly? If so, what does your routine look like?
I try to play guitar every day. It doesn’t always happen, but most of the time I’m pretty good about it. Like right now we’ve got a full US tour coming down the pipe in two weeks, so I’m usually running the set once a day, then spending some extra time to focus on whatever needs to be focused on – typically songs that are new additions to the set and not fully committed to muscle memory yet. Typically takes me an hour to an hour and a half. If ever I get tired of playing heavy stuff through high gain amps and plugins, I’ll pick up one of my acoustics, which is a whole different set of chops and muscles. Keeps it interesting!

Before joining The Acacia Strain in 2022 you’d been in Emmure and several other bands. Looking back on your musical journey so far, what stands out to you on a personal and/or professional level?
I’ve been fortunate to work with some amazing bands and crews over the years – and it makes a huge difference when everyone is working in sync. We spend so much time out on the road that what usually stands out to me is when a band runs a tight ship on stage before, during and after the set. To me this means loading in/out and sound checking on time, sticking to the schedule on the day sheet, getting the stage setup cleanly with consideration for other bands who share it – and solid communication between the band and crew. The nature of the beast is that things will happen, stuff will go wrong during the set, stuff will break at the worst times, but if you remove as much slack as you can from your system it makes it so much easier to deal with those issues when they arise.

What is your creative process like? How do ideas come to you? Do you sit down and actively write or does it happen organically when inspiration strikes?
I think it’s a little bit of all of the above. I am of the mindset that if you show up, most of the time the riffs show up as well. Every time I pick up my guitar at home, I’m running through plugins into logic and capturing pretty much everything that happens in real time. I’ll pick through whatever I’ve tracked and then hone in and flesh out whatever seems like might have some potential. The Acacia Strain is an extremely collaborative band that has the luxury of ample studio time when we do our records, so we’ve been writing as a unit since I joined up with them. Lately, instead of composing an entire song, when we’re at home demoing we’ve been focusing on writing cohesive chunks of songs and throwing them into a shared dropbox. For example, I might put together an intro/verse/chorus or chorus/bridge/outro, then bring it over to the band and our producer (Randy LaBeouf) to let it blossom into whatever we turn it into together. I like writing this way because it’s much harder to fall into the same tropes and traps when you’ve got five other guys helping light the way. Keeps the ideas fresh.

In this process, which Toontrack products do you use and how do they help?
I am a big fan of Superior Drummer. I love that I’m able to a bunch of processing within the plugin so that things are more or less mix-ready without having to bog down my system with 50 additional plugins to get the drums slamming properly. I have templates in Logic set up for writing, and I love that I can just fire it up and everything is routed in a way that I don’t have to think about the technical side of things and can stick to what really matters – being creative.

Out of everything that comes with being a musician and in a band – writing, recording, jamming, touring, traveling (the list goes on)… what is your favorite part and why?
I love the creative side of writing and capturing something that moves you and is meant to be experienced. So, when I’m writing, I’m closing my eyes and imaging the energy of that song or riff in a packed venue. Is it going to make people jump up and down? Fast head bang? Slow head bang? Circle pit? Stage dive? Cry? Throw up? In my opinion, live music is one of the pinnacles of the human experience and when it comes to the brand of heavy music that we play, it’s all about how it plays out in the real world. Writing and recording are awesome and are crucial parts of the process, but ultimately to me are a means to an end – the live show.

What’s next on your agenda?
We’ve had an insanely hectic year promoting our two new records – “Step Into the Light” and “Failure Will Follow” – and we just finished up our 100th show since January at the end of our last tour… We’ve been all over the world this year, but we’re finishing things off with a full U.S. tour with Dying Fetus that starts now and, after that, we’ve got Australia in January with our friends in Dying Wish… Busy, busy!