FEATURES Songwriting Chops DIAMOND ROWE EXPLORES MELODIC SHRED BY MICHAEL MOLENDA THE MEMBERS OF TETRARCH ARE OBVIOUSLY too young to have starred in some golden-era-of- Hollywood film celebrating the American Dream, but their story would have made an excellent script for a ’30s feel-good flick, nonetheless. The timeless plot revolves around hard work and a maverick spirit, but, today, when so many bands struggle to find an audience and a viable way to support their art, the Tetrarch narrative also becomes a kind of beacon of hope. The band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 2007, and while it has released a bevy of albums and singles— and gained tour-support spots for major acts such as Avenged Sevenfold, DevilDriver, and Seether—it has never had the commercial and promotional benefit of a major record label. Even more intriguing, Tetrarch’s latest album, Freaks, cracked the top 20 of several iTunes charts on its release. That’s a pretty stellar accomplishment for a band that is entirely independent. Go team! Diamond Rowe shares the guitar duties in Tetrarch with guitarist/vocalist Josh Fore, and here she provides some insights about the current metal scene and how she forged her own unique style of shred. What started you on your guitar journey? Did a particular guitarist blow your mind and inspire you to start playing yourself? No—that’s really not what happened. It’s an interesting story, actually. I was 12 years old, and I was riding in the car with my mom, and this thought just popped into my head: “You know, it would be kind of cool to play an instrument. I think I’ll play guitar.” I don’t know where it came from, but when I get into something, I’m all in, and nothing else matters. I bought every tab book you could imagine, and I had my parents pick up gear for me at <strong>Guitar</strong> Center. I’d sit in my room for eight hours a day, and just figure it out. I’d pour over the tab books, watch video lessons, and practice like mad. As I hadn’t really listened to music seriously until then, I also had to formulate who were my favorite bands and guitar players. That’s when I discovered Metallica. They were my alltime favorite band, and I loved Kirk Hammett’s playing. I’d watch their live DVDs over and over and over again. Then, I found Kiss, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, and Dimebag Darrell, and I realized I was becoming influenced by guitarists who were really good at serving the song—even if they were shredders. You can obviously shred yourself, so how did you determine when fast playing serves the song, and when it doesn’t? It’s hard for me to define precisely, but when I hear someone sweep picking all over the place, I’ll usually say, “That’s really cool. I can’t do that as well as they can.” But that’s not what made me love guitar. My favorite bands were always mainstream metal bands that knew how to write good songs. The solos the guitar players in those bands played is the kind of playing that made me want to play guitar myself. I saw those solos as tasteful and exuding some kind of emotion, so I guess that’s still what I want to hear today. I mean, I love fast shredding, so if I can figure out a way to do that and still the serve the song, then I’m happy. I want non-musicians to feel something when they hear me play. I don’t really concern myself with other musicians. That’s an interesting comment. Could you elaborate on that thought? Well, a musician might listen to a solo, and immediately start saying, “Oh, she should have put a fast lick there,” or, “She should have done this or that.” But not everybody who listens to Metallica or Disturbed really care about that thing. They’re going to say, “Whoa, that was really a cool solo,” or, “Wow, I really felt something when those notes hit me.” So I’m more interested in serving those people, rather than other musicians who might say, “Oh, she’s not as good as Tosin Abasi.” I mean, what’s that mean, anyway? Of course, I’d like to impress people with my playing, but I’m not trying to compete with anyone. I’m trying to play music. That said, how did you go about working up your speed? For me it was persistence. I know that a lot of people say to hook up a metronome, start slow, and speed up. I tried that, but it made guitar playing a little too much like studying for me. I mean, it worked, but I didn’t want to do it very much. For me, it was more productive to listen to records, 42 GUITARPLAYER.COM/JANUARY<strong>2018</strong>
STEVE ZIEGELMEYER JANUARY<strong>2018</strong>/ GUITARPLAYER.COM 43