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| "DEAD BANG" Fanzine Nº 14, August 2002 |
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One of the most talented guitarrists from Argentina is back with
a new band, and the eternal fire of his passion for heavy metal. Martin Knye was
in the middle eighties a pioneer of the instrumental genere with his band LZ2,
and later he became part of one of the most important bands of the
scene: Kamikaze... His new project is called Magiar, with wich he has released a
new CD... The details, in this tasty interview.
First and foremost, we're glad you're back in the rock scene. Martin, tell us what
you've been doing after Kamikaze's separation.
Kamikaze stoped playing in 1992, and my project with Magiar
started in late 1998. During that time I've been involved in different musical
adventures, but not all necesary within heavy metal.
I will try to resume it,
but if you want more info, you can check my website at www.martinknye-magiar.com.ar.
In 1994 I begun studying flamenco guitar with a spanish player named Manolo
Yglesias, who resides in Argentina, and I got really involved with that style
of music, wich has haunted me since a long time ago. Anyway at the same time
I managed to start new band called Kristine, with wich I played several times
between 1994, and early 1997. The group had lots of different lineups, and we
recorded a basement demo tape in 1996, that one, along with some others I recorded
on my own earlier, and another one I did in 1997, became very sought after and
bootleged tapes. The music recorded in those tapes, is very varied and ranges
from blues, to heavy, to classical, to flamenco, and even some tango.
During
1997 I travelled overseas, and when I came back I went through some personal
stuff, so I didn't play live at all. In the first half of 1998 I played live with
a former pupil (Federico Pereyra) as an acoustic flamenco oriented guitar duet.
By august I was working in what was going to become Magiar.
To refresh people's memories, remind us your discography.
With L Z 2: "El Fuego Sagrado" (The Sacred Fire) (1989)
With Kamikaze: "Victima Del Rock" (Victim Of The Rock) (1989), "Kamikaze III" (1991).
With Martin Knye´s Magiar: "Twister" (2000).
Tell us about Magiar, and who is in the band.
Magiar is esencially a solo project, wich can be taken as a
continuation of L Z 2, but more than 10 years had gone by, and I'm a more mature
musician and guitarrist. The music I write today is a lot more varied and has
more shades and dynamics, even though I try to stay within the hard rock,
heavy metal stylings, (to tell you the truth, I never liked too much labelling my
music, I feel it limits me, and I'm very open musically speaking,
I think this is
reflected in the record). I like using the term hard rock because I kind of feel
it sounds more open, and leaves me more creative space within a heavy context.
Anyway the band sounds pretty heavy and intense, but there's room for subtelty.
The band went through different line-ups, the actual one is: Alejandro Fernandez:
vocals, Germain Leth: bass, Jorge Maiale: Drums.
In your new album "Twister", you decided to focus on songs with
vocals, was this a natural thing or you rejected completelly the idea of making an
instrumental album?
The record contains 13 tracks and 5 of them are instrumental
pieces, I think is a good balance, and it's all about what I told you before, the
need to have different shades. The record I did more than 12 years ago with
L Z 2 was almost completelly instrumental (with the exception of one song),
very much in Malmsteen's "Rising Force" style, and I didn't wanted to make the same
type of record again, I feel songs with vocals are also a good expressive vehicle
for the guitar, and the solos are still there, without the need to make every
song instrumental.
I know that most of the people that buys my records or come to
the shows, wants to see and listen to a lot of guitar stuff, so in every concert
I play instrumental pieces, but even in the vocal songs there's a lot of guitar
playing going on, so that hopefully nobody will be disapointed, once again
I think is a good balance. Anyway I don't reject the possibility of making an
instrumental album in the future, if I feel like doing it.
Now that you're fully back to the heavy rock Argentinian scene,
how do you see things in relation to the eighties, other than the obvious economical
breakdown?
Is really dificult talking about that, without taking in acount
the situation Argentina is going through today, in some aspects is like going
back 10 or 12 years, but worse, in 1986 (when I started playing professionally)
there was a lot of difficulties to get gigs and to find some decent equipment, but
there was a scene going on, and there was lots of people informed and interested in
watching and hearing heavy rock, so, slowly the bands, the places and the media
started appearing, so that things could happen.
Today not only we have the
worst economical crisis of our history, but also the worst cultural crisis as
well, wich make things even more difficult, and because of all this bullshit music
being so popular in the country this days, the space given to rock or any type of
music that is worthwhile, is minimum. Anyway heavy metal music allways survive.
Have you met Enrique Gomez Yafal (Kamikaze's singer), now that
you're both back in action?
As a matter of fact yes, we did our first concert together,
Magiar and Cuero (Yafal's new band) in November 1999. At the end of my set with
Magiar, he joined us onstage, and we played "Pajaros De Acero" from "Kamikaze III".
You're hailed as one of Argentina's best guitarrists, and on top
of that you're a pioneer of the instrumental neo-classical style...
When did this instrumental guitar oriented music started to grab your attention?
I was the first Argentine guitarrist to develop and play that
style in the country. I started playing that stuff with L Z 2 in 1986, and at
that time there wasn't nobody doing it, and it passed some years 'til other bands
appeared playing similar things.
I remember that when these groups started
showing up, L Z 2 was allready dismembered and I was playing with Kamikaze,
and some of the guitarrists playing in those bands had been former pupils of mine,
wich of course was very nice to me.
When I started playing guitar (at age 14),
I discovered that I had great facility to do it, what took my friends weeks to
learn, I could do it right away, what took them months, it took me days, and
so on. At that time I liked (and still do) Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Kiss,
Van Halen etc. but hen at 17, I listened for the first time to Yngwie Malmsteen's
"Rising Force" first solo album, wich was just released (1984), and it totally
blew my mind, practically it changed my life. So I locked myself up in a room
with my guitar, the record and a turntable, and started to uncover it's secrets,
learning almost every note. I just played guitar all day long, 8,10,12, even 14 hours
a day, wich coupled with my facility made me advance very fast.
I am not saying this is necesarilly a good thing to do, is just the way it was.
Anyway, by the time I was 20 years old, I was turned into a young and kind of
precocious little "guitar monster", and without even noticing, in
a professional musician too.
I never got a regular 9 to 5 job or anything external
to music, by the time I was 21 I had allready played the local circuit in and
out with L Z 2, had recorded "El Fuego Sagrado" (The Sacred Fire)
(LZ2's instrumental album), and was recording Kamikaze's "Victima Del Rock"
(Victim Of The Rock) album, and I was allready a well known guitarrist in
Argentina...Everything happened very fast and naturally.
Everyone, without
exception has some sort of "musical father", some musician that shows us the way,
in my case, fortunatelly was a musician of the height of Yngwie Malmsteen,
logically with the years one searches it's own style, and I believe that today I
have mine.
There are lots of musicians and musical styles that had influenced me,
and I think this is reflected on the Magiar record.
Have you listened to the albums of other Argentine soloist guitar
players like your ex bandmate Daniel Telis, Chugo or Carina Alfie... if so, what
you think about them?
No, I haven´t heard anything from them, even though I saw Daniel
last year when we played together for the first time since Kamikaze, in a
wonderfull Whitesnake tribute concert, and he keeps playing so good as he
always did.
Tell us what you're working at right now.
I'm working at new material for Magiar's next album, wich we will
probably get to record next year, and I'm preparing an Yngwie Malmsteen tribute
concert that is going to take place maybe on november, with different guest
musicians.
Are you touring the country?
We haven't had the chance to do it yet, but I can't wait to do it.
I toured several times with L Z 2 and Kamikaze before, and the people receive you
in an incredibily warm way. Sadly, puting together a tour in Argentina is pretty
difficult because of the long distances between the mayor cities, and the expences
of travelling, but one way or another we'll get to do it.
How do you see yourself compared to new heavy metal?, Do you consider your musical style to be a classic?
I feel I am a consolidated musician, and a greatly respected
and some times idolazed guitarrist, and of course I'm very grateful to all that
people, but I know I have a lot more to offer, my best years are still ahead
of me. I'm like one of those musicians that are going to play 'till the last day
of their lives, I admire people like B.B.King, Yehudi Menujin, E.Clapton, Andres
Segovia and others that had played so many years.
In respect of 90's and 2000's metal, I don't even consider it to be heavy metal
or hard rock or anything like that, to me is like a completelly different thing.
In my opinion it lacks musicality, the musicianship is awful, and is overproduced
sound-wise, I mean, nowadays every thing sounds so huge, so polished, because
of the great recording technology and all that sort of stuff, that a lot
of people gets so involved within that aspect, that the art of playing well and
actually being a musician and saying something is getting lost in the way,
everything is so "effectist".
I think heavy metal is so much more than "guts" and
distortion. The only record I heard that has been released lately and I actually
liked a lot, is Halford's "Resurrection", and I think it shows that the great
bands or musicians, are still the same ones, and that they always be great.
I thank you for the interview and I invite you to leave a message
to the readers.
I haven't had the chance to play in Uruguay, and I would love to
do it, I hope we will be playing there very soon and also release the record there
too. If anybody wants to get in touch with the band you can e-mails us to:
martinknye_magiar@hotmail.com
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| "EPOPEYA" Magazine Nº 43, October 2001 (Full Version) |
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Tell me about your new project.
Magiar was conceived as a solo project wich started on late 1998,
and was consolidated on 1999. The actual lineup is: Alejandro Fernandez (vocals),
Germain Leth (bass) and Jorge Maiale (drums). We made our debut concert on
November 1999, and recorded our first album on August 2000.
The first copies of the CD have been sold out, and we even sold some units in Mexico.
How would you define your style?
I really don´t like beeing labeled that much. For example if
you´re beeing labeled as heavy metal or blues etc. then people will expect ONLY
that from you, and if you want to play something slightly, or not so slightly
different from that, then you´re in trouble. And even though I keep my music
within the hard rock boundaries generally speaking, the record has a lot of different
shades and influences. You can find some neo-classical songs along with more
straight hard rock, there´s also an instrumental blues in the Hendrix-Vaughan
style, a little flamenco piece etc.
Anyway the band sounds pretty heavy, specially
live. The sum of my influences make my own style. I understand the need of
labelling or calling music a certain way, to put it under certain parameters,
and knowing what a band or a player is all about, but at the same time I don´t want
to be limited or restricted to a single thing. I feel capable of playing in
more than one style, and I get bored really fast if I have to play allways the
same stuff.
Of course not every one understands this, and I know is a double
edged knife, specially on a comercial level. It´s a lot easier playing, and
selling the same song or scale over and over, than trying to offer variety, so
some times I kind of try to auto limit myself. Anyway the word "style" is a tricky
one to define.
Some people understand by "own style" the act of playing anything
weird enough so that it has never been done before, just for the sake of it. Most
of the times the result of this approach is really awfull. On the other hand we
have the approach of coping constantly the same thing to the slightest detail,
well that´s a rip off. I think that the best way is in the middle, everybody has
influences and the key is to let them flow in a natural and honest way.
Having said that, I think that style is more like HOW you do something, than WHAT
you actually do.
Why did you decided to do a solo proyect, instead of a band
project?
I thought it was the right time for me to go solo, even though
I did it before with other bands I had, this was the moment to really call the
project after my name, and take full responsability over it. At the time I had a
lot of music finished and a very clear idea of how I wanted it to sound, and
because of a matter of experience I decided to do it that way.
I don´t neglect some
input from the band in the future, but I still would keep the last saying.
Don´t you think this augment the arguments to say that you suffer
from "the guitarrist big ego"?
I think is a mistake comparing the internal working sistem of a
musical group, with a goverment sistem, like when they go "yeah this guy is a
tyrant, he dictates what the band plays" and so on. You know, I find that pretty
silly, nobody here is forced to stay in, is just a matter of knowing exactly what
you want, and go for it, and I made it very clear to the guys in the band from day
one.
So is not a matter of ego, is a working sistem a lot of musicians use,
guitarrists and non guitarrists, it´s that simple. What happens is that players
like Blackmore or Malmsteen, create some kind of a character around this kind of
attitude, and some times the press blows it out of proportion, even if some of it
is for real. I´ve never done that, I know what I want to do, and I just do it,
there´s no "ego trip", even though I have my ego as EVERYBODY else has, musicians
or not.
I don´t deny my music is based on the guitar, in fact, is really done
on purpouse, but if you think about that, heavy metal music, and rock´n roll in
general is defined by electric guitar sound, more than any other style, and
if you remove it or restrict its space, it starts loosing its identity.
On top
of that, is what I´m known for, and most important, it´s what I like playing.
Anyway I don´t thing my parts are too long or too excesive, if I would wanted it
that way, I would have done a purelly instrumental record, with REALLY over
the top guitar playing. Instead, there are a lot of songs.
¿How much is the degree of participation of the band members?
I get up onstage with other three people, and without them the
music wouldn´t sound the same. Every one of them plays their rol with the
instrument they choosed to play. In a certain way the instrument defines the rol,
for example, in heavy metal music guitarrists and singers are soloists by nature,
as well as in classical music are violinists and pianists. Think about this, there
must be like, just to speak perhaps 50 concerts written for piano or violin,
for each one that is written for say, fagot or double bass. Now, this is true and is
not to marginate anyone, it´s just the way it is. If you want to be a soloist and you
choose the tuba, then you´ve picked up the wrong instrument.
So, in answering your question, the task of the band members is to play what
has allready been composed and arranged, wich is not necesarilly easy to do,
and is the same thing we do, myself included, when we play a cover tune, I mean,
you play the song the way it is, is that simple.
I don´t understand what you mean with this "participation" thing, they are musicians,
and they play their parts.
How would you define yourself as a guitarrist?
People call me a virtuoso, I take that as a flatter and I
appreciate it, but I have my feet on the ground and I know where I´m standing,
and I know there are better guitar players than me. On top of that, over the
last years they´ve been calling a virtuoso, to anybody that was playing a fast
scale, and what is even worse, some times very sloopily or hidden behind a million
rack effects, with a completelly artificial and over compressed sound, with
wich one is very easy to create the "ilusion" of virtuosity, specially if the
listener or spectator doesn´t understand too much.
This very misconception leaves
me with mixed feelings, like a mixture between laughter and cry, because they use
the word virtuoso without knowledge, and sometimes with a complete lack of
responsability, because a real virtuoso has spent thousands of hours, days and years
of his or her life perfecting an incredibily difficult art. I would like to see
what these "virtuosos" can play if they´re given a classical or acoustic guitar,
or all of their effects are removed from their signal path, and are left with a
cranked up overdriven tube amp. There´s no doubt that some players will live up
to their names, take Eddie Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen, Richie Kotzen,
Paco De Lucia, or allmost any classical soloist to just name a few, but
I´m sure, in other cases a lot of "ilusions" would fade away inmediatly.
Anyway virtuosity goes way beyond technicall comand of an instrument, expression,
sound (the one that´s produced by the hands), Phrasing, style etc. are all part
of the game. If I can say something good about myself is that I´m pretty
versatile, and I believe I know how to comunicate what I feel when I´m playing,
the problem is that sometimes I get a little too over the top, the energy
overflows me and I can´t stop.
Over the last years you´ve been adapting classical pieces to the
electric guitar and played them with your bands. What would you consider to be
the most important points to keep in mind to do this?
I try to use pieces that have the violin as the main or solo voice,
because is maybe the classical instrument that has the most similarities with the
electric guitar, more than say, the piano, where you are forced to cut out or
reduce lots of notes, or make an arrangement for more than one instrument.
Anyway there are lots of technicall and musical idiosyncracies of the violin,
that cannot be exactly reproduced on the guitar, so you need to find ways to
adapt it, and this is not so easy, actually most of the times is quite difficult
and some times impossible, specially range-wise.
Obviously, you need to have
the sheet music to play the right notes, and even though you can pick up the
melody by ear and play with it, varying and improvising over it, if you really
want to play it the way it was meant to be, you have to play the notes that
are written down, with the necesary adaptations to your instrument, and near
or exactly at the indicated tempo, any other way it wouldn´t make much
sense. To do this, you need to study for a long time, unless it is an easy piece,
but if you choose and advanced virtuoso-type one, you´re going to have to
practice a lot, given you have the level of skill necesary to play that type
of pieces.
Is good to have more than one recorded version of the same piece as a
reference point, and if avaliable, arrangements for other instruments.
For example, a Paganini caprice is a piece composed originally for solo violin,
but there are arrangements for classical guitar, and for piano, so you can listen
and find out what adaptations or changes have been made to it, and make your
own version for the electric guitar. You´re also going to need to make an
arrangement or reduction of the harmony, unless it´s a solo piece.
Normally in a rock band you´ll have the bass guitar usually taking the root or
the third of the chord, the drums playing a rhytmic pattern, giving it some kind
of a heavy rock groove, and the keyboard wich should take the load of the harmony.
I also think is necesary to know the antecedents of this kind of arrangements
and style within the heavy rock field, so is a good idea to listen to Ritchie
Blackmore, Uli Jon Roth, Randy Rhoades, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jason Becker and Paul
Gilbert to name some of the most important ones.
There´s one last and maybe most important thing, it doesn´t make sense trying to
play, for example "The Flight Of The Bumble Bee" at full speed, if you´re not up
to the necesary level of skill, or your coordination, precision and technique
aren´t properlly developed yet. It´s always better to start with an easier piece
and get it right, than ending up with your fingers caught up in knots or blurring
and missing half the notes.
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