For those of you who don't know, Dominic Cifarelli is one hell of a guitarist. Some of you may remember him from the amazing progressive hard rock band Pulse Ultra and others of you may recognize his name from the Rush tribute album "Subdivisions: A Tribute to Rush" where he plays rhythm and some amazing lead work on the songs Subdivisions and Tom Sawyer. In the event that you don't know who he is, I encourage you to read the following to learn a little bit about this madman. Be SURE to check out his MySpace - located at the end of the article - and listen to his tracks he has up. If you're a fan of Nuno, Paul Gilbert, Dream Theater, Meshuggah, etc., you need to check this guy out. His solo album drops THIS MONTH, so WATCH FOR IT! And now for our interview.
1 – Let's test your knowledge of current slang: What it do, Dom?
D: It do what da do wanna do. Wittout doin da obvious.
2 – Its no secret that your main influence was/is Nuno Bettencourt. I can most certainly hear the Nuno influence in your playing but what do you personally feel you've taken away the most from his one-of-a-kind technique?
D: I pretty much stole everything from that guy up until I was 18. Then I kinda had to force myself to stop listening to him cause it was getting scary! I love his note choice and tone the most. Plus he was a mad clean player.
3 – Your right-handed command on the guitfiddle is definitely of a distinguishable breed. Do you adhere to any specific type of picking method, i.e. alternative, economy, etc.?
D: Alternate like Nuno and Van Halen and Downpicking like Dimebag and Hetfield!
4 – Eddie's "Eruption," Nuno's "Flight of the Wounded Bumblebee," and Bumblefoot's "Guitars SUCK…" Without thinking about this too hard, what are your absolute favorite tapping passages/songs amongst the realm of guitarists?
D: Pretty much everything on the following records sums up my passion for guitar :
Dream Theater - Awake and Change of Seasons
Extreme – Pornograffitti
Van Halen – F.U.C.K and Balance
Queensyche - Empire
5 – Since you're a pretty snag-dab good tapper yourself, give us some insight into your technique. Do you use multiple fingers on the right hand, put a hair band around the strings, or use your nut-sack to perform some kind of acrobatic muting feats? Tell all, sir Dom…
D: I was trying to learn 4 finger tapping at one point, then I said "What the hell is the point?" Now I can handle 2 fingers on the right hand. Gonna work on the 4 finger tapping for the next record though…
6 – Not to turn this interview into a bit of a downer but I'd like to hear your core thoughts on the following:
-Shawn Lane: I heard nothing but great things about him so I checked him out a while back and was stunned by his playing.
-Dimebag Darrell: I can't say enough about Dimebag. It's gonna be hard to not get mad right now.
-Jason Becker: Petrified the shit outta me when I heard what happened to him.
-Britney Spears shaving her head: Man, who the hell cares! She should shave her pountang!
7 – Do you play in various tunings or do you adhere to just one? Depending on your answer, what do you typically tune to?
D: I was tuned a whole step down all the way across by accident for such a long time. I could never afford a tuner, then one day brought one over to rehearsal and realized we were between half step and whole step down so we said "ah screw it drop er down!" I love alternate tunings but I totally screwed myself cause I had to relearn how to solo on that shit! Such an idiot. Never again.
8 – Which brand(s) of guitar do you play?
D: Ibanez custom shop S and SZ series. I am developing a custom guitar that I designed with my friends at Zoo Customs right now. Hopefully it'll be sick.
9 – I don't think I've ever heard you play acoustic. You owe us an explanation, Mr.!
D: There is a whole bunch of acoustic on this album. I love playing acoustic guitar, and now, because I'm the boss I can do whatever the hell I want!
10 – What brand of strings do you use and which gauge?
D: Random, anything that's around. I usually get single strings to make up a custom gauge I invented. 11-15-20w-34-44-56. This shit got too heavy so I'm gonna go way lighter. I've been making it hard on myself for far too long.
11 – What is your amplification of choice?
D: My favorite thing right now is a Marshall JMP-1 preamp that my engineer Paul has. It totally freaked me out. Sounded so damned tight but not harsh. I'm sure I annoyed him cause I wanted to just play but I was supposed to record! I'm gonna go out and buy one as soon as I can. Plus I got some Zoo Customs amps to try out recently. I switched over to their cabs which I also designed and their Armadillo head which they are making right now for me. These amps have the absolute best clean and dirty-clean sounds I have ever heard. No joke.
12 – If someone were to rip the shirt off of your gear, thus exposing your "rack," if you will, would we be presented with voluptuous tidings of the Steve Vai kind or would your rack reveal that of a Satch-esque myriad of pedal teats?
D: A little bit of column A and a little bit of column B. I am gonna try to keep it simple this time around. I got rid of a lot of stuff. I held onto my TC-Electronic D-Two delay, the rest of my rack gear is just switching, preamps, power amps and rack mixers. Pedals will be minimized as well, sticking with a couple Zoo Customs compressors, clean boost overdrives and analog delays.
13 – Did you have to practice at all to get your chops up for the Chronicles album or are you of the breed who needn't so much "practice," per se, as just pick up your guitar and play consistently to keep your chops in shape?
D: I am so irritated by myself! I should've practiced way more. I am just way too much of a stress case. I can't sit in one place for more than 2 minutes anymore. I will, however , be forcing myself to get down to practicing again soon, I miss the feeling of actually being able to control my fingers, HA!!!!
14 –Your opinion of sweeping: Impressive technique, hokey 80's spandex trickery, or common household prerequisite to mopping?
D: Sweeping is cool, never mastered it and everytime I hear someone doing it I giggle. Is that bad???
15 – You've got some extremely unique riffage. I absolutely love your riff wizardry from your Pulse Ultra days. When you write, do you ever sit back and smile and think to yourself "man, that sounds really unique!"
D: My only goal in life is to be totally happy with my own playing and to be completely recognizable to anyone in the guitar playing or music listener's world. Nothing makes me happier than to just be me. On this record, I can honestly say I achieved that in the riffing parts. The solos are quite unique too, but I definitely show my Nuno and Vai influences in a couple spots. My homage to my idols. Don't mention Pulse Ultra. That was a constipated me, held back in many ways. I'm sure people will understand what I mean when they hear this album. It's so obvious.
16 – I know you said not to mention them but circa 2003, Pulse Ultra was writing album numero dos. Was any material ever recorded to potentially see the light of day? Likewise, did you recycle any of the riffs you'd written from that era for Chronicles?
D: Yup, there are 3 riffs that I wrote for Pulse Ultra that were never used. I love them and I didn't let them go to waste. Now, they will shine.
17 – A MONTH AWAY!!! Can you believe the time is FINALLY here for you to release your SOLO album!?
D: I honestly cannot believe it. It's been 2 years in the making, but 13 years on my wish list. I am mixing right now and it sounds scary good. I want people to cry, get scared and wanna bash their faces into the dashboard of their cars when they hear this freaking thing loud!
18 – Any bonus tracks for foreign presses of Chronicles?
D: Whoever pays more money.
19 – What lessons will you take away from the Chronicles phase of writing, recording, and going shit-house in your brain?
D: Ummm…I fucked up in many ways on this record, which have put me in hot water financially and emotionally. The next record will be way better planned, way in advance. The writing will be done way differently and I will be more prepared before hitting the studio. That's pretty much it. I think.
20 – Not to get all "MySpace survey" on you but choose one word (the same word can apply more than once or acronym to answer each of the following:
-Meshuggah: Scary
-Tears for Fears: Beautiful
-Guthrie Govan: HUH?
-Favorite Food: Rice
-Favorite Color: Purple
-Favorite Designer (since you're into fashion): Dolce & Gabanna (glasses)
-Wii or PS3: Boring
-Favorite chord: D Minor
-Hai2u: HUH?
-Steve Vai: Best
21 – How often do people think that you and Lucia Cifarelli are related? At that, have you guys ever met? I would consider it an amazing coincidence that you two are in the same biz with the same unique last name but then there's the non-related acoustic marvels known as Justin King and Kaki King who make use of similar – yet very unique – acoustic tap/slap/flip-flap, knick-knack paddy-whack, give a dog a bone! ... *cough, cough* …sorry…
D: Not related. Never met her, but I would imagine it would be quite odd. I guess I'm not famous enough for people to make the link just yet.
22 – Speaking of coincidence, my girlfriend's name is Jennifer Batten – yes, just like the guitarist – and she is a master of many crafts… just not guitar like the insano tap-master we all know. While MY Jennifer Batten inspires me to do things like bathe and make myself look halfway decent, did the GUITARIST Jennifer Batten ever do much for you where playing is concerned?
D: I think she's great to be honest. Never really got into any of her music cause I started to shy away from guitar virtuosos around the time I found out about her.
23 – Plug the SHIT out of yourself riiiiiiiiiiight…………NOW!
D: Hmmm, buy my album or I'll have to find a day job???
www.myspace.com/thechroniclesofisrafel
And buy my brother's album too, he's already working a day job, help him stop!
www.myspace.com/vincentcifarelli
Steve-O's random question of the interview:
How could 0 + 1 = 2?
D: Trauma-Based Mind Control, that's how. 1 + 1= 7! Say it or you'll eat your own shit!!!! SAY IT!!!! 1 + 1 = 7!! YOU WORTHLESS ANIMAL!!!! SAY IT!!!!!
Wowzers... lol. Well, Dom… this interview has been amazingly amazing! I wish you nothing but the greatest of success with your solo album and I know I'll be looking extremely forward to handing my cashola to you! …well, for a CD that is… a signed one… with bonus tracks… and a guitar pick of yours. Yeah, that's it!
D: Thanks bro, stay in touch!
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