Intervals [Interview]

Welcome to 2016! With a new year stretching off into the distance, I talked to Intervals mastermind Aaron Marshall about the story behind The Shape Of Colour – a release crammed with instrumental guitar-driven excellence that ranks as one of my favourite albums of 2015…

You’ve really had to fight to make The Shape Of Colour a reality. Could you please explain the story behind Intervals’ latest evolutionary shift?

I’m not sure I would say it was a fight as much as it was a test of my will.

Essentially, Intervals began as sort of an accident. I had one song for whatever my next project would be (at the time) and a good friend of mine insisted to shoot a “play through” video of the tune. I had no real intention of releasing it, but he convinced me that I needed to put it on the Internet.

Without being too long-winded, everything sort of snowballed Read more…

Posted on 02 January 2016

Yossi Sassi [Interview]

If rock-oriented instrumental guitar is your thing, Yossi Sassi is a name you need to know. In this interview, TMMP talks with the man himself about his upcoming EU tour, the bouzoukitara (Sassi’s unique signature instrument), creativity, spirituality, and more…

You’re set to tour Europe this December. How’re you feeling about it?

We can’t wait to share the Desert Butterflies show with our European followers! The set list is promised to be diverse and rich, spanning both solo albums, as well as some past materials and surprise songs, past and future.

What’s your earliest musical memory?

Age 1.5 or so. I recall my father singing in his underwear in the living room!

Seriously, I was surrounded by music all my life. My grandfather was born in Thessaloniki, Greece, and played the oud, and was teaching music to his 10 children. I absorbed it from childhood.

I first played the flute around age seven, then sang in school choir. Then came the guitar, and it was right on the spot. The right instrument. It changed my life ever since.

You have a signature instrument – the bouzoukitara. How did that instrument come to be?

For years I’ve been playing over 17 different instruments, yet composing mainly on bouzouki, acoustic guitar, and electric guitar.

In 2011 I composed a couple of songs for ‘Melting Clocks’ that demanded me to move between those instruments when playing live. I decided to plan an instrument, seeking an efficient way to switch between the acoustic Greek bouzouki to the electric guitar.

The “bouzoukitara” is a unique instrument that combines a traditional acoustic bouzouki with an electric solid-body guitar, and acoustic guitar. Together with luthier Benjamin Millar, I was able to Read more…

Posted on 12 October 2015

Black Peaks [Interview]

UPDATE: TMMP has been reborn! This video has the full story:

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As one of the UK rock scene’s most hotly-hyped bands of right now, Black Peaks are a band you’ve probably at least heard of, and definitely need to hear. Talked up with huge enthusiasm by Jamie Lenman during a recent TMMP interview, behind the praise and acclaim Black Peaks are more than a mere “hype band”. On record and onstage, Black Peaks have Read more…

Posted on 05 March 2015