Al Joseph interview (excerpt)

Oscar Jordan: What was your introduction to metal?

Al Joseph: I was five years old, watching Black Entertainment Television with my parents and Living Colour was playing. I was like, “Man, that’s cool!” I was young as hell but recognized there was something different about these guys. My dad isn’t a musician, but he knows so much good music. He already had their album. So I’ve always gravitated to metal. It affected me when I was really young and never went away.

When I started playing guitar, I’d always put on metal. I played in church and learned chords and basic stuff, but I liked metal. On the way to church, I’d listen to Korn and all these crazy bands. There were no teachers in town, but I had DVDs, a couple of books, and I taught myself a bunch of songs. I learned Creed’s whole catalog. They’re still one of the heaviest bands I know.

Then I started getting bored... until my dad popped in Surfing With The Alien. He already had five Satriani albums and never told me about it. That’s when I lost it. From then on, I couldn’t study. I couldn’t eat.

Joe Satriani and Steve Vai made me want to learn how to be a lead singer on guitar. Dream Theater got me into the instrumental stuff. I got into Dream Theater by watching John Petrucci on G3 Live In Tokyo. I didn’t know who Dream Theater was; I knew who Petrucci was because he played two songs at the beginning of that DVD. I was trying to watch Satriani and I was like, “Who is this other guy?” [laughs] I’d already learned a few Satriani songs, but it was the way Petrucci zeroed in on ideas. Satriani was more open. Petrucci was more like, “I’m gonna kick your ass on this section!’’ It was also the way he was able to fuse technique with Satriani’s power and melodic nature. That sealed the deal. I bought Dream Theater’s Live At Budokan DVD and I literally fell off the couch. I couldn’t believe people were playing music like this.