Derek's comments on the following guitarists are highlighted in LIGHT YELLOW.

Reb Beach
Alice Cooper New Years Eve shows 1996, 1997;
Alice Cooper's Rock n Roll Carnival 1998 tour.

I first played with Reb in 1996 or 97, when I was playing with Alice Cooper for New Year's Eve gig. Reb has a very cool legato style, it reminds me of a diatonic Holdsworth when he is soloing.
He also told a story about how he had sex with a blow up love doll that was a present for a father's friend...I think that it was one of the funniest stories I have ever heard.

* Reb is now touring with Whitesnake.

Al DiMeola
Derek Sherinian "Black Utopia" (InsideOut Records 2003)

When I was 16, I was a HUGE DiMeola fan.

I haven't followed his career in the last 20 years, but his solo albums in the 70's and the early
80's were a major influence on my musicianship.

When I was in Florida recording with Yngwie, I knew DiMeola lived in Miami. I got his phone number from Simon Phillips and called him out of the blue and asked him if he would play on my solo CD. Considering that he had no clue who I was, the fact that he accepted was a thrill for me.

I told him that I would need a nylon string, and electric track out of him. He said that he would have to find his Les Paul, because he hadn't played it in 10 years. It was very surreal for me to be in the control room looking at Al DiMeola and asking him to do "one more take." Al was a super
humble guy, and brought tremendous flavor on "Black Utopia." I am proud to be on this disc with a legend of DiMeola's status.

Brad Gillis
Mega Mega 1989
Recordings: Brad Gillis - Gilrock Ranch (Guitar Recordings 1993)

In 1982-83, Night Ranger was all over MTV, and was a very big band. Brad was famous before Night Ranger from replacing the late Randy Rhoads in Ozzy Osbourne's touring band.

I was visiting my parents in Santa Cruz (I was living in LA trying to make it, ran out of money) so went out to the local bar that night. Brad Gillis walks in to this bar in my little hometown on the esplanade in Capitola Village, California. I recognize him immediately and introduced myself. He was very friendly, and invited me to have a drink with he and his friends. We started talking about music, and at the end of the conversation, he invited me to come up to his studio to lay keyboard tracks. I was ecstatic!

It was ironic that all my life I heard people say, "You have to move to LA if you are going to make the right contacts" and here I made a contact in my little hometown on the coast!!

After Night Ranger broke up in 1989, Brad started a band called Mega Mega in which he invited me to join. It was during that period that I got a call from Al Pitrelli to come audition for Alice Cooper to support his platinum album "Trash." Brad was a little bummed out at first that I was leaving his band to go to play with Alice, but I reminded him that he left Night Ranger at one point to join Ozzy because it was the best move for his career. In the end, Brad was very happy for me and asked me to play, and Co-write on his debut solo CD "Gilrock Ranch," in 1992. I also CO-wrote and played on one song on his 2nd CD "Alligator."

* Brad still performs with Night Ranger and places a lot of musical cues on major action sports shows like ESPN and Fox Sports
 
* Brad's first solo CD, "Gilrock Ranch" was the first CD that I ever played on in 1993

Bruce Kulick
KISS Revenge US tour 1992-93
Recordings:
KISS Alive 3 (Mercury 1994)
Ozzy Tribute Bat's Head Soup (Triage Records 2000)

Bruce is a solid guitar player who has been in the music business for a long time. I know that he is a big Jeff Beck fan.

* Bruce now plays with Grand Funk Railroad.

Steve Lukather
Derek Sherinian "Inertia" (InsideOut Records 2001)
Derek Sherinian "Black Utopia" (InsideOut Records 2003)

Simon Phillips got Luke involved with my solo CD. He came in to do his overdubs with his Music Man "Luke" model, and plugged into Simon's Marshall combo amp. His tone, and articulation is incredible. He makes the guitar sing like in the same lyrical way that Jeff Beck can.

One of the things that makes Luke so great, is that he can take someone else's piece of music, and make it sound like he has lived it a million times, and plays a perfect track for you instantly. Steve was very cool to put in the hours that he did on my CD.

When I play people "Inertia," they immediately know it is Luke from note one.

Luke once told me that "Inertia" that it was the best solo CD he had never made! That is a big-time compliment from one of the most recorded guitarists of our time.

Luke also played on three songs on my 3rd solo CD, "Black Utopia." Again, the sessions were recorded at Simon Phillips' home studio Coy Sound. His solo on "Sweet Lament" was a one pass solo.

* Steve's son Trevor is an up-and-coming guitarist.

Tony MacAlpine
Planet X - Universe 2000 (InsideOut Records)
Planet X - Live From Oz 2002 (InsideOut Records)
Planet X - MoonBabies 2002 (InsideOut Records)

When Virgil and I were assembling Planet X, we knew that we need a name guitarist, but also someone with heavyweight chops. I was having a phone conversation with Mike Varney, and he suggested that we play with Tony MacAlpine.

I have always been aware of Tony,, but I always associated him with the neoclassical movement. When he came down to play with me and Virgil, we played "In the Dead of Night" by UK. He NAILED the Holdsworth solo note for note. I turned to Virgil and said, "He's in!"

It is common to see a musician who can play guitar and piano. But very uncommon to be a virtuoso on both instruments.

Tony and I were flying home from our European Tour, we arrived at London Heathrow airport 4 hr. before our flight was to depart. We sat in the pub drinking pints, and actually missed our plane!

My favorite Tony story is during the "Universe" recording sessions at the Leopard Room, Tony was playing my piano. Virgil asked him if he knew any of the Chopin Etudes. Tony casually replied, "Yes, all of them, which ones do you prefer?"

* Tony is a mind blowing concert pianist- seriously amazing.

Yngwie Malmsteen
South American Tour 2001
Yngwie Malmsteen "Attack" (Spitfire Records 2002)
Derek Sherinian "Black Utopia" (InsideOut Records 2003)

At Berklee College of Music in 1982, anyone that was there that was into rock will tell you that Yngwie Malmsteen was the new king of the hill.

In 1999, I got a call from Yngwie's manager that Yngwie wanted to fly me to his house in Miami to jam with me. Being a huge Yngwie fan I accepted and was on my way to Miami Beach.

As we arrived at his mansion, Yngwie answered the door in full stage clothes, and enough gold around his neck and wrists to jump start a bad economy! We talked for a bit, and went upstairs to his studio. There was over 100 white Fender strats laying around, 50% of them were pre CBS. We started jamming on some of his newest material. I remember looking across at him and I was smiling inside because, I would have never thought as a student at Berklee that I would ever be in a room jamming with Yngwie.

Yngwie was a very funny guy with a great sense of humor. He is one of the greats on electric guitar, period. You know exactly who it is when the solo kicks in, and he just has such strong hands and tone. Besides his baroque chops, Yngwie kicks ass on Jimi Hendrix tunes. His ability to switch from baroque mode to bluesy pentatonic at precisely the right moment on the barline, THIS is one of the great qualities that separates Yngwie from the dozens of YJM imitators that are out there.

In 2002, Yngwie called me up and invited me to tour with him in South America 2001, which resulted to my appearance on his CD "Attack," and his appearance on my third solo CD, "Black Utopia."

Yngwie is a true guitar star in the same way that Eddie Van Halen and Randy Rhoads were. He has influenced thousands of guitarists and has created a genre of music based on his style. When he played on my solo CD, it was mind-blowing to watch this master player to record on my music. He did his solo in one pass...absolutely amazing!

Vinnie Moore
Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid tour 1991 (American Tour)

Vinnie is a great guitar player. He used to practice on the bus all the Alice Cooper tour bus for hours. Eric Singer and I used to drive him crazy..

John Petrucci
Dream Theater Awake World Tour 1994-95, Touring into Infinity 1997-98
Dream Theater- A Change of Seasons (East/West 1995), Dream Theater- Falling into Infinity (East/West 1997), Dream Theater- Once in a LIVEtime (East/West 1998) Explorers Club - Age of Impact (Magna Carta 1998)

John has extraordinary facility on his instrument. Great hands and great ears. I think he has the most chops out of all the guys that I have played with.

Al Pitrelli
Alice Cooper's Trash World Tour 1989, Ethyl Mertz 1996-97
Alice Cooper Classicks (Epic 1996)
Joe Lynn Turner Nothing's Changed (1996)

When I first met Al Pitrelli at Berklee College of Music in 1982, you could just tell that this guy would become a star one day. He had this cocky NY attitude that he could back up with his guitar. We became friends at school, and stayed in touch after we both dropped out in 1984.

Al recommended me for Alice Cooper's touring band in 1989 to support his platinum CD, "Trash." Al also made the call to John Petrucci and said, "Hire Derek." Al gets a lot of credit for helping me get my career up and running- Thank you Al!!!

Al and I CO- wrote the song "What a Shame" on my solo CD "Inertia."

* Al is the musical director for Trans Siberian Orchestra.

Paul Stanley
KISS Revenge US tour 1992-93
Recordings: KISS - Alive 3 (Mercury 1994)

The cracked mirror Iceman is one of the coolest guitars ever! Paul is an average guitar player, but an extrordinary stage performer. I used to watch him night after night on the KISS tour being very impressed with the energy he put out every show. Woah oooooo woah oooooo woah ooooo woah ooooooooo!!!

John Sykes
Blue Murder Japan Tour 2004

John Sykes is a bad motherfucker. He plugs his 1978 Les Paul straight into his Marshall JCM 800 modified by Jose (no pedals or effects) and gets the most awesome tone. His speed is blinding, and when he plays slowly he has a beautiful vibrato.

John also has an amazing voice, and is a great songwriter.

Sykes called me to do a 4 date run in Japan with him in April 2004. I would play with Sykes anytime, and he has agreed to play on my next solo CD

Steve Stevens
Billy Idol "Kiss the Skull" summer tour

I always liked Steve Stevens playing on the Billy Idol hits. He is very clever how he incorporates different styles in a pop context. He has a great range of guitars and guitar tones. Also Steve has great stage presence. After we played Rebel Yell at my audition for Billy Idol, he came up to me, shook my hand.

We had a great time on the "Kiss the Skull" tour in 2002, and I look forward to working with Steve in the future.

Ty Tabor
Platypus - When Pus Comes To Shove (Inside Out 1998)
Platypus - Ice Cycles (Inside Out 2000)
Jughead - Jughead (Inside Out 2002)

I enjoyed making the two Platypus CD's with Ty Tabor. Ty has great tone, intonation, and is always very musical.

*Ty still tours with King's X

 

Zakk Wylde
Derek Sherinian "Inertia" (InsideOut Records 2001)
Derek Sherinian "Black Utopia" (InsideOut Records 2003)

I first met Zakk in 1989 when I just got the Alice Cooper gig, he was in his 2nd year with Ozzy. We have always stayed in touch throughout the years.

In my opinion, there isn't anyone on the planet that plays metal guitar heavier than Zakk. His playing is ferocious, and brings balls, and electricity on everything that he plays on. Zakk has played on three songs on "Inertia" (2001), and three songs on "Black Utopia" (2003).

Zakk calls his 3-day sessions at the Leopard Room his "fusion getaway." Zakk is a very sharp guy, and has a great sense of humor.

 

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