Alex Skolnick's biography
- Thread starter Traxan
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redfly
Ruled By The Riff
- Mar 10, 2012
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Oh he trashes them bad. Calls his father a cerebral narcissist who used his intellect to belittle everyone, especially Alex, even though the man was effectively clueless outside of academia, and his mother as a would-be musician who gave up because she didn't have the courage to pursue it and became a sociologist instead, and didn't have a clue how to raise her kids. His brother was an abusive, taunting prick who utterly failed to play the big brother role and watch out for his weaker little brother.
What I don't like is that he really skipped the last 15 years, which to me is the most interesting part. It's a 360 page book and on 330 he talks about leaving Testament in 1992. Um, ok, what about Savatage, the one gig with Ozzy, TSO, relocating to Brooklyn, going to school for a BFa, rejoining Testament (which is briefly touched on)... I'm really amazed at how front-loaded it is. All I can say is his childhood really, really sucked and I'm amazed he didn't turn out angrier than he did.
What I don't like is that he really skipped the last 15 years, which to me is the most interesting part. It's a 360 page book and on 330 he talks about leaving Testament in 1992. Um, ok, what about Savatage, the one gig with Ozzy, TSO, relocating to Brooklyn, going to school for a BFa, rejoining Testament (which is briefly touched on)... I'm really amazed at how front-loaded it is. All I can say is his childhood really, really sucked and I'm amazed he didn't turn out angrier than he did.
redfly
Ruled By The Riff
Well I guess I'm gonna have to get it lol His publicist probably told him to save that other stuff for the next book!
one man
Active Member
I think Alex said he plans to write about the later periods of his life in the future, after other non-biographical books he may write now.
- Mar 10, 2012
- 1,047
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Well I finally finished. Here's a few bits that should get your interest:
* He discovered jazz as far back as The New Order and began looking outside of metal well before Practice...
* He met Jason Newstead at the Metallica auditions, and said Newstead was cool before, but got a real fat head after getting the gig, and Metallica's constant hazing was to bring him down to earth and make him lose the attitude.
* Eric would get increasingly jealous of all of Al's acclaim, but he never did much to close the gap. Since Al left, Eric knuckled down and improved a lot as a guitarist but back then all he wanted to do was 300mph songs on open E, which bored Al.
* The band never had a leader or a smart business guy. Metallica has James and Lars, they run the show. And Lars is their biz guy. Slayer has Kerry keeping it together, like him or not over what happened with Lombardo, and Megadeth has Dave. But Testament had no person in charge. Even Chuck, who could probably take out all four other members and not break a sweat, didn't assert himself, and they had no one to mind their business dealings.
* The label fucked them on tour support for Practice and they couldn't get an opening slot with Priest that year. So the band cut another record early in the hopes to get some money to tour. Al said when you are an opening act, you don't get paid, you basically pay to be on the tour and hope it breaks you big as a band. That's why Souls of Black came out less than a year after Practice, and because it was rushed, it was a poor follow-up to their best album (before "The Gathering", IMO) and permanently stopped the band's ascent.
* He hates whammy bars. The solo in PWYP is the only time he ever used it.
* His 1991 tour with Stu Hamm was the beginning of the end. He saw professionalism and respect, not juvenile behavior and constantly getting high or drunk.
* He's got jungle fever, it seems. He's had one black girlfriend and talked about other black girls who caught his eye. His GF was an excellent dancer and was featured in MC Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" video. All I know is she was one of the four who danced behind Hammer in the scenes. Remember, Hammer is from Oakland like Testament is. One day the two were out and were stopped so someone could ask her for her autograph.
* People have blamed him for "The Ritual" being so bad, and he really resents it. The band was coming apart and drowning in financial debt, so blame was going all around. They went under the misguided notion that to regain the momentum from PWYP they had to be even more commercial. That's why there are no thrashy songs on The Ritual at all. He felt if the album had a few thrashy songs, it would have done better, but don't you blame him for that. That was actually the most defensive he got in the whole book.
* He's patched things up nicely with his folks. His brother travels to far parts of the world teaching English and practicing yoga. At least he got his shit together.
I'm not crazy how he sped through the last 20 years but that was his choice. He mentioned his one-time gig with Ozzy but never said why it was only one gig.
* He discovered jazz as far back as The New Order and began looking outside of metal well before Practice...
* He met Jason Newstead at the Metallica auditions, and said Newstead was cool before, but got a real fat head after getting the gig, and Metallica's constant hazing was to bring him down to earth and make him lose the attitude.
* Eric would get increasingly jealous of all of Al's acclaim, but he never did much to close the gap. Since Al left, Eric knuckled down and improved a lot as a guitarist but back then all he wanted to do was 300mph songs on open E, which bored Al.
* The band never had a leader or a smart business guy. Metallica has James and Lars, they run the show. And Lars is their biz guy. Slayer has Kerry keeping it together, like him or not over what happened with Lombardo, and Megadeth has Dave. But Testament had no person in charge. Even Chuck, who could probably take out all four other members and not break a sweat, didn't assert himself, and they had no one to mind their business dealings.
* The label fucked them on tour support for Practice and they couldn't get an opening slot with Priest that year. So the band cut another record early in the hopes to get some money to tour. Al said when you are an opening act, you don't get paid, you basically pay to be on the tour and hope it breaks you big as a band. That's why Souls of Black came out less than a year after Practice, and because it was rushed, it was a poor follow-up to their best album (before "The Gathering", IMO) and permanently stopped the band's ascent.
* He hates whammy bars. The solo in PWYP is the only time he ever used it.
* His 1991 tour with Stu Hamm was the beginning of the end. He saw professionalism and respect, not juvenile behavior and constantly getting high or drunk.
* He's got jungle fever, it seems. He's had one black girlfriend and talked about other black girls who caught his eye. His GF was an excellent dancer and was featured in MC Hammer's "You Can't Touch This" video. All I know is she was one of the four who danced behind Hammer in the scenes. Remember, Hammer is from Oakland like Testament is. One day the two were out and were stopped so someone could ask her for her autograph.
* People have blamed him for "The Ritual" being so bad, and he really resents it. The band was coming apart and drowning in financial debt, so blame was going all around. They went under the misguided notion that to regain the momentum from PWYP they had to be even more commercial. That's why there are no thrashy songs on The Ritual at all. He felt if the album had a few thrashy songs, it would have done better, but don't you blame him for that. That was actually the most defensive he got in the whole book.
* He's patched things up nicely with his folks. His brother travels to far parts of the world teaching English and practicing yoga. At least he got his shit together.
I'm not crazy how he sped through the last 20 years but that was his choice. He mentioned his one-time gig with Ozzy but never said why it was only one gig.
one man
Active Member
Thanks a lot for the summary!
Don't quote me on that but I remember people saying Ozzy was all "you got the job" after that gig, but ultimately he didn't get it (some suggested Sharon might have not liked Alex). I'm sure Alex has shed some light on this issue on his website or twitter a year or two ago.
Don't quote me on that but I remember people saying Ozzy was all "you got the job" after that gig, but ultimately he didn't get it (some suggested Sharon might have not liked Alex). I'm sure Alex has shed some light on this issue on his website or twitter a year or two ago.
redfly
Ruled By The Riff
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