Saturday, October 15, 2016

A Conversation with Bill Hudson

Hailing from Brazil, guitarist Bill Hudson has been a steady fixture on the metal scene for the last decade. Since 2006, Hudson has been recording and touring with numerous bands in the Melodic and Power Metal genres and has appeared on some of the biggest concert stages, including Wacken Open Air and ProgPower USA. I recently caught up with Bill to discuss his musical journey: from taking lessons from Angra/Megadeth guitarist Kiko Loureiro to becoming an in-demand musician-for-hire to his recent involvement with Circle II Circle, Jon Oliva and Trans-Siberian Orchestra to his forthcoming solo album. We also discuss his "Rock Star"-like story that culminated with Hudson playing guitar for his boyhood musical heroes, Savatage.



Dan Roth:  Where did your inspiration come from to play guitar in the first place?

Bill Hudson:  When I was about eight or nine years old, I saw the music video for "November Rain" by Guns 'N Roses. Watching Slash soloing outside of that church was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. And it still is the coolest thing.   I didn't come from a family of musicians.  It all really started from seeing that video. Up to that point, I don't know that I cared that much about music really. That is really my "Point Zero" in my involvement with music.

DR:   I had read in an interview with Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro (of Angra/Megadeth) that he started with an acoustic with nylon string classical, that's more like the Brazilian tradition. Did you start with one of those as well?

BH:  I did. In Brazil, it's kind of a tradition that everyone has a nylon sting acoustic in their homes. I did start out with one, trying to learn and play on my own. Once I got to taking lessons though, those were on an electric guitar.  I even wound up taking lessons from Kiko back when I was starting!

DR:  With Brazil being so well known for classical and bossa nova guitarists, did you always know that you wanted to go in a metal direction?

BH:  No, at first I just wanted to be Slash. My relationship with music back then was very egotistical. It was more of "I want to be a guitar player" than "I want to play music".  Now, over time, I started falling in love with music itself.  I recently read that whatever kind of music that you were listening to at 13-14 years old is what stays with you forever.  Between the ages of ten and 13 or so, I really got into heavy metal. I discovered Iron Maiden - that was a game changer. That is the music that moves me and really enjoy listening to.


In Brazil, we had the band that you just mentioned - Angra.  They really opened up the market in my country for Power Metal in the early to mid-90s. That’s how I got into bands like Helloween, Stratovarius, Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Savatage - that is how I got into Savatage, really! It was all somehow lumped into a style we called “melodic metal” back then. I know now Savatage doesn’t fit that genre, but back then I kinda of got into all this bands at the same time. Because of that, the mid-90s were ridiculously good for any band in that genre in Brazil. Savatage came there TWICE in 1998, the second time to play Monsters of Rock in 1998. I was in the audience, at age 15!

Up until that point, Sepultura had broken big out of Brazil.  They are great and they are national heroes and celebrities.  But when Angra came along, it was like "here's the other side of metal - the kind that your mom can listen to".  [Laughs]


I was getting into all of these bands at the same time that I was learning guitar.  This is how I really got into Savatage. There is a video of them performing "GutterBallet" from the Sao Paulo Monsters of Rock concert and you can actually see me in the crowd!

I also saw Gamma Ray when I was 14, Stratovarius and Halloween too. It's funny, because in America those bands are still not popular. That whole genre never caught on big over here, but in the '90s in Brazil?  Those bands were living off of playing there for us.  This time is when I really got into metal. I was always having these game-changing moments around that time.  I saw Yngwie Malmsteen, when he came to Brazil in 1996 - I was like "Holy Shit!  That is what I want to be now! That guy is fucking wild!”. I also saw Satriani and Steve Vai and started getting into the whole instrumental thing then. Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert, Greg Howe, Vinnie Moore…Cacophony…I really got into that for a while! I still play some of those songs sometimes just to keep the chops up! I recently had to learn a bunch of Greg Howe’s parts for Vitalij Kuprij’s show! 

DR:  With Angra becoming so huge in this power metal scene there, how did you wind up taking lessons from Kiko Loureiro?

BH:  Before Angra got big, Kiko was already a well known guitar teacher in my home town. He was actually my second guitar teacher.  When I first started taking lessons - my first lesson - was October 17, 1993, which of course is the day that Criss Oliva died. At that point, I had no idea who Savatage and Criss Oliva were - I didn't find out about them until 1997 or so, when Wake of Magellan came out.

Anyway, my first teacher had been a student of Kiko’s. He was an acoustic player and was trying to teach me music properly.  All I wanted to do at that point was shred, so in my mind, I felt that getting taught by Kiko directly would be different - which it really wasn’t, I had to learn the basics. So since I wasn't connecting with my first teacher, I went right to Kiko.  Angra had just released their first album, Angels Cry (STILL my favorite album by them) and they weren't real huge yet.

DR:  I have read that you attended a music college in Brazil, in pursuit of a classical composition degree.

BH:  Yes, I did. I was right out of high school and at that time I was interested in becoming a conductor. I was two years into this six-year program and realized that I did not like it at all, so I dropped out.  From there I moved to the States and attended the Musicians Institute.

DR:  That was in Hollywood?

BH:
 Yeah, Their approach was the complete opposite from what I had just come from in Brazil. For example, in Brazil, you take piano lessons and you lose points if you don't sit the right way. With M.I., they had classes like "Led Zeppelin Bass Lines" or “Let’s write a song in the style of No Doubt".  At the time, this approach also didn't work very well for me. I had a weird mentality at the time, and I didn't think I was into the courses they were offering.  Alas, it was a good time!

DR:  I'd like to skip ahead a little bit and talk about the band that got you into the United States - the power metal band out of Omaha, Nebraska - Cellador.  How did an aspiring guitar player from Brazil wind up in a band based in Omaha?

BH:  As we talked about earlier, Brazil was this huge market for power metal.  I wanted to be a guitarist in one of these bands that I was listening to: Helloween, Gamma Ray, Savatage. But my country doesn’t really nurture its own talent, so to speak. You can be Sepultura and Angra and receive respect, but any other Brazilian band does not get any credit. Even Krisiun, as huge as they are worlding, I feel that they don’t get as much credit in Brazil.  So, I knew in my head that I wanted to get out of Brazil and be in an American or European band.

I had just come back from studying at M.I. and I was browsing through MySpace and found this band Cellador from America. They were the exact kind of Power Metal I was looking to play, and they were looking for a guitarist!  I started reading about them and found out that they had just signed to Metal Blade Records! I sent them an email and told them that I would like to try out for their band - at this point, I didn't mention that I am sitting at home in Brazil [Laughs]. They wrote back that they had found someone.  I wrote back to them and told them that unless they had Steve Vai in their band, I was a better choice. [Laughs] Chris Petersen, the leader of the band, sent me some songs with drum tracks and asked me to send it back with my playing on them.  I spent the next ten hours learning those songs.  

Once they heard me play, they wrote back and asked me to come for an audition.  At this point now I explained to them that I didn't live in Nebraska [Laughs].  I wound up selling all of my stuff and booked a flight to Nebraska, booked a rental car and a hotel room.  Never told them I flew from Brazil. I showed up at the audition and got the gig. When they offered me the job, I finally explained that I live in Brazil and will move to Nebraska for this but would need their help. The band freaked out for a minute, but after a week or so, I had the job.  I wanted to live in America really bad, and that was the perfect opportunity.

The band got a lot of push from the label. We toured with Trivium, Bullet for My Valentine, and All That Remains.  We went to Japan and played with Heaven & Hell, Blind Guardian, Marilyn Manson and a bunch of other bands at the LoudPark Festival in 2007. We did a lot of big time things, but ultimately the band just wasn't ready. Everyone in the band, including me, were all alcoholics.  We spent all of the tour support money on booze. We were just a bunch of stupid kids at the time. But we had so many opportunities - being signed to Metal Blade, touring with big time bands, played the ProgPower Festival, we even had a music video that was featured on Headbanger's Ball, etc.


DR:  Looking back, that is a pretty nice introduction for your first band - eleven weeks on MTV, touring with these musical heavyweights, signed to a major metal label.

BH:  You have to understand, that people in Brazil do not believe that what I am doing is possible.  Kiko, being now in Megadeth, is the only other Brazilian musician making a name for himself in the U.S. and he already had a name in Brazil. When I would tell others about my hopes to make it, they would tell me things like "Are you going to be delivering pizza in America?" because no one thinks that we can make it.

What you just said is what I would tell people: I am touring the world with a band signed to Metal Blade, I was in rotation on MTV, I was - at that time - endorsed by Ibanez Guitars.  I used to buy Ibanez Guitars and now I was doing a signing session for them in Japan, all within one year of being in America!

DR:  Let's talk about your name for a moment.  You have been pretty open about "Bill Hudson" not being your given name.

BH:  Well, first off, I don't like the sound of my real name, so I never use it. Secondly, no one ever calls me by my real name.  Not my parents, not my siblings, not my friends - nobody. I've always been "Bill". Even when I was little and learning to speak, I used to say "bill" all the time, but in Brazil it would be spelled "Biu".  I think the first time I saw it spelled "Bill" was from a note that my Dad had left me, telling me where he was and he wrote it that way.  So I have been "Bill" since I was a little kid.

My last name is very much a stereotypical, common Latin name which I have no problem with, but I used to hear from so many in Brazil that it will be tough to make it once people hear my real name.  After hearing that so much, I decided to come up with a new last name. For that, I looked at my original guitar hero, the one who inspired me to do this to begin with, Slash.  Slash's real name is Saul Hudson, so I just started using his last name. [Laughs]

DR:  Did you actually move to and settle in Omaha once you got the gig with Cellador?

BH:  Yes!  I even married a woman from Omaha who is still my wife! I lived there for three years.


DR:  It had to be somewhat full circle in 2015 when you were hired by Trans-Siberian Orchestra and returned to the Omaha area for their rehearsals.

BH:  It was crazy!  I got to spend time with my wife's family and got to see so many of my friends while I was out there again. I got to hang with my father in law and eat my wife’s grandma’s food! I totally plan on doing it again this upcoming rehearsal season.

DR:  I had read that, besides guitar, you also contributed vocal harmonies to the Cellador record?

BH:  I did.  I don't remember if I sang them on the record, but I did write them. Some keyboard parts too, but they got erased. I probably did not sing the vocal harmonies, though. They knew I had the experience from the college in Brazil with choirs and multiple vocal harmonies.  I definitely did provide the arrangements and conducted the singer when doing the demos.

DR:  We do see occasional credits that list you contributing "Backing Vocals".  Are you an accomplished singer at all?

BH:  No, and that is the problem of my life. [Laughs]  I always say that if I could sing, my career would be much further along.  Starting with Cellador, every time things didn't work out with a band it was because of a problem I had with the singer. Except for Zak Stevens and Jon Oliva, I have had nothing but problems with singers in my career. Good thing it works with those guys! [Laughs]

DR:  In 2008, the stories came out that you had left Cellador.

BH:  Well, I just told you about the problems that I have with singers.  We had so much going for us, but we took it all for granted.  The label wanted demos for the next album, so I had written twelve songs and sent them in without vocals because I couldn't get the singer to sing on them. The guy just wouldn’t show up to record!  The label had paid for studio time for us to complete the demos and the singer didn't show up. It was about then that I just left the band.

DR:  Did you have anything else lined up at that point?

BH:  No, but I started talking to people and making myself available. That's really where I have started my current career as a "hired gun" of sorts.

DR: I also wanted to ask about your contribution to the Stevie Wonder tribute album – "Superstition". How did this come about?

BH:  That was right after I quit Cellador and I was trying to work with that singer, Carlos Zema. We did that track online - we each recorded our parts at our homes and sent them in and it turned out cool. My friend Vernon Neilly was putting together this tribute to Stevie Wonder, and I really had no experience playing that kind of music. When he told me who all was going to be on it, I knew I couldn't compete with any of them doing something funky or fusion. Greg Howe, Kiko Loureiro…are you kidding me?! I knew that if I did a really heavy version of the song, at least I would stand out. That's really how it came about. Vernon gave me a few choices of songs to pick and "Superstition" was the one I knew the best.

DR:  In this new career as "guitarist for hire", you have played with a score of bands, more than we could chat about here. Power Quest, Vital Remains, Nightrage, Emphatic. Do you enjoy this role of playing guitar for a group but it's not really your band?

BH:  I don't know if I enjoy it as much as I think this is what works for me. I've never been able to take a band of my own from the ground up because I have always had problems with the singer. I see myself putting in all of this work and then watching it crumble.  As a hired gun, I know that I will be able to do what I do best - play guitar.

Another very big part of it is the part that musicians don't like to talk about - the money thing. Once you are in a band, that is an investment. I would like to start my own band again someday, once I find the right singer. I haven't met that star singer of the future yet. I know many singers that are amazing - Zak Stevens, Russell Allen, Jeff Scott Soto.  But those guys are established and are freaking legend!!. I have not yet gotten to that status, or found that singer that I can invest in and make a totally new thing, someone that no one’s heard of it. But as a hired gun,  I just try to provide the best service possible for the people that hire me.

Quite honestly, it can be hard. I worked for a band last year for several months that toured a lot, didn't pay a lot, but they did pay enough to keep me working. And this was a band that I really, really didn't like to play with [Laughs]. I had to be thinking, "I could be sitting at home right now and not have this money coming in" while I was playing to get me through the concerts. But you also wind up in situations where you are headlining Wacken Open Air Festival as part of your favorite band, as I did with Savatage and TSO!  It's a way to stay grounded, because at the end of the day, it is a job.

DR:  Almost all of the bands you have played in have more than one guitar player. Do you enjoy that sort of lineup, playing with another guitarist?

BH:  Honestly, I don't get to choose. I am hired to fill a role and if there is another guitarist in the band, so be it.  There are actually very few guitar players that I have clicked with while playing.  I am not competitive at all and it makes no difference to me. You may remember that gig that I did with Vitalij Kuprij this past Spring. I was the only guitar player in his band and that was a really, really hard gig. That may have been the hardest gig I have ever played; I wish there was another guitarist at that one! [Laughs]  But then again, if there was another guitarist and he sucked, he would have made us both look like shit, which often happens too [Laughs]

DR:  Let's talk about the first time you played with Zak Stevens and Circle II Circle. The Fall of 2008 and they had just lost guitarist Evan Christopher and had a tour coming up with Jon Oliva's Pain.

BH:  This point in my life is where I feel like my life started being like the Rock Star movie. I had played the Prog Power Festival in Atalanta with Cellador in 2007 and I met Zak Stevens at that festival. Zak was backstage for an All-Star jam and I went up to him like a fan and introduced myself. It was great meeting one of my heroes! I asked him for a photo as a fan. I still have that photo [Laughs] And then we hung out a few times that weekend and really bonded. I gave him my phone number and told him to call me if he ever needed a guitarist. He eventually called me and told me that they had a tour booked with Jon Oliva and asked me to tour. I was psyched - this was the first time that Zak and Jon had shared the stage together in a really long time.
Bill Hudson and Zak Stevens meeting for the first time
October 2007
Photo courtesy Kristy Katz



I was still pretty inexperienced and young and had a serious drinking problem.  It was on that tour that I first met Jon.  That was such a cool tour. Now, today, this is my reality.  But at that time, as a huge Savatage fan, to be playing on stage while Jon and Zak sang "Chance" every night?  That was pretty mind blowing. Like I mentioned before, I saw Savatage in 1998 and I also saw them in 2002 with Damond Jiniya singing, so this was a dream come true to be touring with these guys.


You know, when I was in high school and Al Pitrelli quit Savatage, I had my girlfriend who kind of played my “PR person”  [Laughs] - write a letter to the Savatage fan club and tell them that I was interested in playing guitar for them.  A lady even wrote back and told me to send in some material.  The problem was that I was only 16 or 17 at the time and had no material. I was lucky they didn’t call me for an audition, or I would’ve blown it [Laughs]!

DR:  This was your first stint with the band.  Did you leave for other opportunities?

BH:  Both the drummer (Tom Drennan) and I were let go from the band at the end of the 2009 tour.  Considering the drinking problems I had at that time, it's not hard to figure out why.  Zak re-hired me in 2012 after I got sober, and the funny thing is that between 2008 and 2011, my drinking had gotten progressively worse and I really did not have a career. I stopped drinking in January 2012 after a disastrous tour I did with Firewind and Nightrage where I went through a full week drinking binge after, just sitting at home.  Then six months later, Zak called me again for another shot with Circle II Circle.

DR:  You play on Circle II Circle's Seasons Will Fall album.  Tell me about that experience.

BH:  When Zak called me again to play with Circle II Circle, it was initially just talk of playing live at Wacken, which was another dream of mine. The band were doing an all-Savatage set of Wake of Magellan at Wacken! But after some discussion, Zak invited me to be part of the band once again.  The Seasons Will Fall album was basically done at this point, but they sent me some of the songs without vocals and without titles even and told me to play lead guitar on them.  My favorite solo - which also wound up being the favorite solo of Zak's mom! - is from "Epiphany".  I play the second solo on that song. the slower one. I usually am very meticulous in the studio - I do several takes in the studio and take the best parts. This one was recorded all in one take. Funny how those things happen, but I just played and this is what came out.


DR:  After the Seasons Will Fall, the band released the Live at Wacken 2012 album, which you of course are on. With the 2015 release of their latest studio album Reign of Darkness, you are listed as playing guitar on the album. Do you have a favorite solo from this album?

BH:  I am glad you asked, because I always wanted to put this on record.  I did not record anything on that album. My picture and name are in the credits and I did the tour but I have nothing to do with the Reign of Darkness album.  In 2014, I had another falling out with the guys and I was out of the band for a year.  That also happened to be the year that I was working with Jon Oliva's Pain. So, in that year that I was out of the band, they recorded Reign of Darkness with Christian Wentz and Marc Pattison working together on guitars.

As for the Live at Wacken 2012 album, I have never heard it. [Laughs]  I have signed countless copies of it while on tour in Europe and have seen the video on YouTube, but I have never listened to the album.

DR:  When Circle II Circle plays live, most of their setlist is made up of Savatage material.  I totally understand why - there is still such a demand for their music and Zak was their vocalist.  But, do you ever feel compromised as an artist that you don't get to present and play as much original Circle II Circle music in the live shows?

BH:  I don't, and I will tell you why.  First, I don't ever write any of the Circle II Circle music so it doesn't bother me. Secondly, as you pointed out, most of the fans who come to see Circle II Circle are Savatage fans. On this last tour, we made a point of playing a full Circle II Circle set and played Savatage only in the encores. That was the biggest mistake.  The way we got into the Savatage set was as I was ending my guitar solo, we would go into the riff for "Jesus Saves".  That opening riff got a better crowd reaction than anything we played for the entire hour leading up to that.

Those songs are classics. I don’t mind playing Savatage - ever. I love that music and have an incredibly deep connection with it.


DR:  Have you gone back to Brazil on tour as a member of Circle II Circle?

BH:  Yes sir!

DR:  Do you feel like a conquering hero returning to Brazil with this band and not delivering pizza?  [Laughs] 

BH:  [Laughs] No. It's a funny thing.  For example, we played two sold out shows in Sao Paulo. We had just completed that tour in Europe, playing to small to medium crowds. When we come to South America, every show was huge! The really odd experience was fans coming up to me and speaking English and I would respond in Portuguese. At every show, I would speak to the audience for a bit and I would speak in Portuguese, and then play the Brazilian National Anthem during my guitar solo. It was a lot of fan!

The Sao Paulo venue, Manifesto, I used to go there as a kid to see bands play. I still hang out there when I go back home, I know the owner, Silvano and all of the people that work there.  The security guy who once kicked me out because of being drunk was now my security guy!  [Laughs] It was pretty surreal. My family was in the VIP section and I needed his help to get to them and this guy who used to throw me out was now helping me.  Another thing that makes me feel accomplished is that I would see guys in the audience that used to go to Savatage concerts with me. If I wasn't on stage playing, I would probably be with them in the audience to see Zak.

So to answer your question, yes! It was very fulfilling to me!

DR:  You alluded to this a bit earlier - In 2014, you were announced as the new guitarist for Jon Oliva's Pain for their performance at the ProgPower festival. Did you get that gig through knowing Zak?  Or did Jon remember you from that 2008 tour?

BH:  I saw that Jerry Outlaw had left Jon's band and I sent his drummer, Chris Kinder, a message letting him know that I was interested in playing if Jon was going to tour at all. Chris asked me to send in videos of me playing a couple of the songs from Streets.  I decided to record videos of me playing all of the songs from that album.

DR:  Being such a Savatage fan, were you already familiar with that album?

BH:  I already knew most of the songs, yes. But, there were a few that I had never played, although I had listened to them obsessively as a kid. So I learned the whole album and sent in videos. Eventually it got to the point where Jon was happy with what he heard and we had to get ready for the ProgPower Festival. I flew in and stayed at Dr. Dan Fasciano’s - the keyboardist for this show. We rehearsed at Doc's place for six weeks to nail that Streets performance. And that was really the beginning of me working with Jon.



DR:  So about a year after that Jon Oliva performance, you are on the Wacken stage once again, this time with Savatage.  You mentioned how surreal it was to be playing with Circle II Circle in Brazil. This had to be a bit mind blowing.

BH:  Man, I don't even remember most of it. I remember everything around it - the flying, the hotel, the rehearsals, even the soundcheck. I spent a lot of time with Kyle Sabel during that time, he is one of my best friends and a huge part of the TSO family who recently passed away. He was Chris Caffery’s tech for 17 years and we had become really good friends years before I ever got involved in TSO. The Wacken rehearsals in Tampa really was the first time I did any “work” with Kyle, even if he was working the other side of the stage. 
Kyle Sabel and Bill Hudson
Wacken Open Air  - August 2015



I really don't remember playing the show, though! That was just ridiculous and surreal.  Here I am playing "Hall of the Mountain King" as a part of Savatage?! Hang on… how did that happen!?! So many incredibly talented guitarists have played Savatage music, but I was ON STAGE with them. I still sometimes watch the YouTube videos and try to fathom what happen. And I know most of the people on those stages feel the exact same way.


DR:  You certainly have had a long history with the band both as a fan and now as musician.  Was it sort of a natural progression that you wound up touring with TSO in 2015?



BH:  You know, TSO is actually the second concert that I ever saw in the U.S.  I saw them back in 2005 and remember thinking even back then how cool of a gig that would be to get.  I remember even when I worked with Zak for the first time back in 2008, asking him for help to get me into TSO.  With Jon, I didn't really have to ask. The entire time I am working with Jon and rehearsing for ProgPower, this is when Joel Hoekstra got into Whitesnake.  I was working with Oliva as it happened.  He started bring it up casually, telling me that there might be some opportunities for me. When they realized that Joel couldn't do the Wacken show, they invited me to do it!

DR:  Did that directly lead to the TSO Winter Tour gig?  Did you still have to go through the TSO audition process with Paul O'Neil?

BH:  I played for Paul before Wacken, actually. I think that landed me the Wacken gig, but the way I see it, Wacken was my real audition for TSO.

DR:  Do you recall what you played for Paul?

BH:  I played "Believe", "Sparks", and a bunch of random Savatage and TSO riffs.  I also did "A Last Illusion" with just me on guitar and Al Pitrelli on piano - THAT was fucking awesome. When I went to the studio, I spent more time playing with Al than I did playing for Paul. Al spent time showing me the ins and outs of the songs as well as his style too.  Sometimes I feel that I am really good at emulating other player's styles and I was alot more proficient at emulating Criss Oliva's style than Al’s, and I’ve learned so much just watching the way he plays even ONE note. He’s so ridiculously amazing! I spent a lot of time just jamming with Al and I feel like that the time that I spent with him was better for me than any guitar lesson that I had before.

Al couldn't be more of a different player than I was at that point.  He shared with me a lot of the things that he does that make up his style. He would show me things that would sound incredible when he played them but sounded like shit when I tried!  [Laughs]  I got to spend time with him and ask him what he was doing that made these parts sound different. So many guitarists will ask a mentor, "How do I play more notes?  How do I play this scale? How do I play this lick?"  Al is not about that at all.  Al's playing is about being Al and I got to spend some valuable time playing with and learning from him. I hope I can do this again this year… he should start charging me for guitar lessons [Laughs]!

Cris Lepurage and Bill Hudson, TSO tour 2015
DR:  Touring as part of a Trans-Siberian Orchestra Show is a lot different from gigs that you have had previously.  I don't just mean in terms of power metal vs. the TSO brand of metal but more so the staging and blocking.

BH:  I don't think I "got" the stage thing until about a week or so into the tour. It is second nature to everyone else on stage who has been there for a while.  "Should I stand here?  Should I play here?"  I felt like I was annoying everyone.  You also have to remember that by the time that we got to the point of working out the stage, we have spent weeks getting the music down.  So now, that I can play all of the music, I have to know where I am going to stand and where I will be going on stage.  It is less choreographed than people think. I used to think that the stage direction and moves were very exact.  Then I realized that it is more like this:  They give you an idea and you run with that do what you want.  If they don't like it, they'll let you know.  They will pull you aside and say "Hey that one thing that you did there didn't work, lets try something else."

It's definitely a learning curve to get comfortable. There was one part during "The Mountain" that I was standing in front of a laser and it burned me. It takes a while with so much going on - not just other musicians but the effects too.  At the end of "O Holy Night", that last note is supposed to ring. It is very hard to find the spot on stage where it actually rings.  Every night, I would be out standing by myself in the center of the stage trying to get that note to ring.  It was so nerve wracking because you never know if it's going to work or not.  Finally I got my tech Cris Lepurage (dude, I love you!)
 and we would try it out in soundcheck at each show, find the spot and mark it with an 'x' on the stage.  That didn't happen until one or two weeks into the tour. [Laughs]




At one point during rehearsals, I wasn't used to where the pyro was coming out yet and I was standing right where the fire was going to come out during a song we were doing. Then I hear some yelling "Get the fuck off of there!" [Laughs]  and seconds later pyro came shooting through where I was just standing.  That was close, but I also think they have some safeties built in so it gets killed if someone is standing there.

DR:  Was this the first time that you played to a click track?

BH:  No, I've been doing that for a long time.  With Power Metal bands, their music has to be precise and is normally played to a click so I was used to that. 

DR:  Three guitarists have had that role on TSO East before you: Alex Skolnick, Tristan Avakian, and Joel Hoekstra. Were you given board tapes of any of them to listen to to get an idea of how they wanted things played?

BH:  I did some research on YouTube just on my own and watched a lot of Alex Skolnick. Joel is actually a good friend of mine; we go back a long ways. I probably have known Joel for longer than I’ve known most of the people in TSO. Joel is always someone that I will look up to because I feel like he took similar career path to the one I took. I am big into the two-hand tapping thing and I don't know anyone that does that better than he does. I didn't do much of the tapping with TSO because unless you can do it as equally good or better, there is no point. And I have been a fan of Alex since I was a kid with his work in Testament. I see Skolnick and Pitrelli as separate from us. Those two are just on a different level.

I watched a lot of videos for where they were on stage and also watched recent videos with Joel to see how he played certain parts.


DR:  Were you given some latitude to make some of these songs and solos your own?

BH:  To a point. You have to remember that I am playing these guitar parts that were originally played by Al - a guitar player that I love and I wouldn't want to change alot from what he did with them in the first place. That’s how I like to listen to those songs! A good example is "Christmas Jam". Joel's version is different from Al's version and I wanted it to kind of have my own style. I based mainly on Al’s performance, but tried to make it sound like me. I had all the room to play, until they said they wanted something different.

DR:  Alex Skolnick in particular was known for adding his own special flair on "O Holy Night", where he would jam for a bit on that last note.

BH:  That was something I wanted to do but they had a different vision for the ending.

DR:  Joel of course was known for his finger apping in songs like "Faith Noel" and "Christmas Canon".

BH:  The only tapping that I did in the entire show was on "Christmas Canon" and that was because it was recorded that way.  It's a simple one-finger thing.

DR:  Was there any one song that you were trying to make your own?

BH:  Well, with "Christmas Jam", I feel that its a very "Al" song and I was trying it to play it more like Al than how anyone else has played it.  I guess I was trying to play it with Al's notes but in my own way, if that makes any sense.


DR:  How much did you rehearse with Caffery to get comfortable trading parts with him? How was it worked out which songs you would be playing lead on and which Caffery was?

BH:  I just respected what was done before.  I learned most of the songs off of watching YouTube videos and showed up at rehearsals knowing the parts that Alex and Joel were playing. Now, there were a few parts that I ended up taking on lead that I wasn't expecting, like on "Prometheus."

DR:   You are endorsed by ESP Guitars.  Did you play ESP models on the TSO tour?

BH: Oh yeah. I have the best relationship in the world with those guys. The vice president, Jeff Moore is a very close friend of mine and my brother from another mother Chris Cannella is the best Artist Relations in the business today. They get me WHATEVER I NEED WHENEVER I NEED, no questions asked, ever. I LOVE them to death! I’ve been on the cover of the catalog twice and at this past NAMM, there was a huge banner of me as you went into their booth. I love their guitars! I had four ESPs that I used on that tour. I had the white one which is the M-1000. I asked Chris Cannella for a guitar that looked like Criss Oliva’s for the “Streets” show and he picked me that one. It’s amazing! I also had the blue ST-1 model, which is kind of a slicker stratocaster, kind of! And I had two black Eclipses - one that is an LTD Elite with a hipshot (thanks Kyle!) which is probably my favorite and the other is a German ESP with the 4 knobs. 

DR:  How do you decide which one you use on each song?  Are they tuned differently?

BH:  Some songs require a different tuning and I do change guitars for that.  For others, I just like the sound of the guitar better in a particular song.

DR:  You play the first half of that show wearing that tuxedo jacket. As someone who is well known for always going sleeveless or shirtless when playing, was this tough? Happy to shed it in the second half?

BH: [Laughs] Yeah, I guess. At first, I wasn't sure if I was going to take the jacket off because Chris kept his, I didn’t know what to do. But I have lots of tattoos that I love showing them off [Laughs] so I decided to do it. It is more comfortable, that's for sure. But I do love that tuxedo jacket look. In some places like the Air Canada Center in Toronto they’re actually a necessity [Laughs].

DR:  One moment that I thought was very cool in last year's Show - and it is almost a photo-op moment - is during "Christmas Dreams" where Zak poses between you and Chris while you are playing that solo.

BH: Think how I feel at that moment. I grew up watching those two play. I still have a Jackson Randy Rhoads Guitar that my parents bought me when I was 15 because of Criss! That's how big an influence those two people were on me. Then I’m looking at these shots and I go “really?! is that me?

DR:  And then you got to play with Zak in Circle II Circle, Jon in his band, and then finally with Savatage on the Wacken stage.  It's almost like your own Steel Dragon story.

BH:  It really is. I tell everyone now that literally anything is possible. Here I am playing and making music with my idols. There is nothing that I wanted to happen in my life that hasn't happened.

DR:  Were there any songs from that tour that really stood out to you – any one or two that you especially enjoyed playing?


BH:  My favorite song from that tour was "Madness of Men".  I also really loved playing "The Lost Christmas Eve" where I am also playing the 12 string acoustic.  It is a lot harder to do than it looks because you are playing both guitars (electric and acoustic). When you are playing the acoustic, it's just you. You have to be very precise and very exact. To go from that to the energy of the electric and back to the acoustic was very cool.  I would love to play that again.

DR:  We didn't see you go up in the cherry picker lifts.

BH:  David Z actually offered his spot to me in rehearsals.  He told me, "Since it's your first year, if you want to go on the lifts I will give it up.".  I tried it out but it really freaked me out. Roddy took a video of it!  I play the lead part on "12/24" and there was no way that I could be playing that lead while up on those lifts.  [Laughs]
Bill performing with TSO
Fort Wayne, IN  12/3/15
Photo Courtesy of Shane LaRene

DR:  Have you done meet and greets with other bands and their fans before?

BH:  I have done signing lines before, but never anything like the TSO signing line.  My autograph used to be somewhat complex but I had to make it simpler as the shows were going by.  I still try and keep the guitar drawing in there, but sometimes I would hold up the line as I signed my name. [Laughs]

DR:  I wanted to ask about the fan experience with TSO. Probably more so than any of your previous bands, there is a particularly ravenous fan base, with some fans getting very attached to certain performers. There certainly was a vocal contingent of fans that were unhappy that Joel wasn’t there. At the same time, you certainly won over a lot of fans to where there are a very vocal group of Bill supporters. Ever experience something like this? Did you pick up on any of those positive or negative vibes either at the shows or on social media?

BH: It is weird in a way.  That is the unsettling thing about TSO, in my opinion.  It is a rock band and it is a multi-million-dollar tour but we're not celebrities. But, to some people we might as well be. It's not like I go out on the street and people stop me because I played in TSO.  It seems like most fans are attached to the TSO name and brand and they know who we are.  It is crazy how certain fans can get attached because it doesn't happen all of the time and I just don't understand.

As for the Joel fans, that whole competition that some fans created online was weird to me. Remember, Joel and I have been friends for many years, but some of the fans really took sides and I didn't get it.  I even got some hate mail at the beginning, from people that I now see on my FanClub page, so I’m glad at least I’ve been able to convert some fans. But there is not competition between Joel and I and the “Bill supporter” and “Joel supporter” thing really doesn’t make a lot of sense… ask Joel and I guarantee you he’ll say the same. 

DR:  Between you and Joel, both of you guys recently announced that Joel is returning to the TSO East Cast for the 2016 tour and that you are still part of the TSO organization but will be working with them at rehearsals and then in the studio for now.  Can you expand on that a bit?  Any idea what your role will be at rehearsals and what you will be doing in the studio?  Are you excited for this new chapter?

BH:  Well I can’t say much about that at the moment, mainly because I don’t know, [Laughs]! I know I will be a sort of back up guitarist, so I have the set list and am already working on the songs, making sure I learn all parts. At the same time, Jon Oliva and myself will be going over stuff for the recording projects I will be doing once the band goes out on tour. Jon and I will be in Florida at the studio during that time.
Bill performing with TSO
Columbus, OH  12/26/15
Photo Courtesy of Gloria Moore Suiter

DR:  You certainly seem to spend an enormous amount of time on the road. Will you miss the road with TSO?

BH:  I’m already having withdraws, seriously! I haven’t done a whole lot of touring this year, except for the May-June thing with Circle II Circle in Europe. But I am doing a lot of writing for different things and I’ve spent also some time with family in Brazil both here and there, so I’ve been trying to occupy my time [Laughs]!

DR:  Can you tell me about the solo album that you have been working on?

BH:  I have been working on it off and on and in different places with various people.  The latest tracks that I have been working on have been in a town in Sweden called Gävle with a producer named Per Nilsson from the band Scar Symmetry.  Per is one of the best modern guitar players in the world.  He and I have written two songs so far. I also have several other songs that are halfway done.

The thing is, I have this idea to release an instrumental solo album.  The more I work on it, I realize that I write better vocal songs. At this point, what I have are a bunch of good vocal songs and I plan to release them as singles. I always thought that it was really hard for guitar players to come out as solo artists, but I see it happening more frequently.

The album will have different guests on it with vocals and is pretty heavy - lots of lower tuning, 7-string guitar stuff. I am finally happy with what I have together so far; I have been working hard and been pretty unhappy with what I was writing. [Laughs]

DR:  You did that one solo track a few years back to demonstrate a guitar for ESP, "E.G.O."

BH:  It's funny because I don't really like that song anymore. I like the idea of what it could be. I don't think it's quite as good as the stuff I am doing now.  Now that you brought it up though, I might go ahead and write a new song based on "E.G.O." - just from what I am saying in this interview.



DR:  I look forward to that!  Any timeline on when the album will be ready?

BH:  Soon, I hope. 

DR:  All of this talk about playing guitar and writing songs, we haven't touched on your acting career. You were recently in an episode of Castle (ABC TV).

BH:  That was funny. I met this actress while I was in L.A. and her agent happened to be looking for someone that spoke Portuguese for another project entirely. I talked with the agent and she told me about the job, which I ultimately did not get. But she also thought I was perfect for this role on Castle. I got hired for that pretty quickly and I had never even heard of Castle. But it was great, they took me out to teach me how to shoot a gun, had my own dressing room. It was very cool.

DR:  Might we be seeing you in anything else?

BH:  The agent who got me the gig still works for me, so you never know.  Not sure how many times a TV show will need someone who plays the guitar.  That was the thing for Castle - they wanted someone who could play this guitar piece,  I learned the part but when you watch the show, it's not like you can see my fingers so in the end, it didn't make a difference that I know how to play guitar.

DR:  If you were not making a living as a musician, what would you be doing?

BH:  I don't know, man.  That's a good question because I never wanted to do anything else.  As I was telling you, I had a few bad years there because of alcohol and I went back to Brazil and tried working with my Dad.  I realized that I just don't know how to have a job. I'm not good enough on focusing on anything other than playing guitar. I took my first lesson when I was ten, so this has been my goal since then.

DR:  So you are really living the dream, not just with Savatage, but in general.

BH:  Yeah.  I also have endless support from my parents. They have always been "Go after what you want and we will support" and that is such a big part of it.

DR:  Thanks for taking the time today, Bill.

BH:  Thank you!  It's been great!




For more information:

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