Jeff Loomis – The Guitar Wizard of Nevermore! (2011)

Arhiv Arhiv Last updated 4 October 2026

Author: Rok Klemše

Venue: Cvetličarna, Ljubljana
Interview date: 10.03.2011

Jeff Loomis is without a doubt one of the best guitarists of the younger generation right now. Jeff proves his mastery in his home band, the Seattle super-group Nevermore, and last year he also put out his first studio album, Zero Order Phase, which could easily be counted among the classic guitar albums that the legendary Shrapnel label was releasing in the eighties. Loomis showed huge promise already at twelve, when he first picked up a guitar (he played drums before that), and at the tender age of sixteen he almost got an audition for the Megadeth guitar spot. Mustaine didn’t take him purely because he was so young, but he told him to keep playing and said he’d grow into a great guitarist. How prophetic Mustaine was! I talked to Loomis before the Nevermore show at Cvetličarna in Ljubljana, where they played as part of the Power of Metal tour. Sadly, the fifteen minutes the tour manager gave us, with so many interviews lined up, flew by far too fast. Jeff is a great conversationalist, and we could easily have stretched the lines below to at least double the length.

Jeff, welcome back to Slovenia! This is the first time since 2005, when you first played here on the This Godless Endeavor tour, that you’re playing an “indoor” show again. A lot has happened in those six years, and the latest thing is obviously the new record The Obsidian Conspiracy. For Nevermore this record is a bit different, more accessible and not as complex, but it still has all the hallmarks of Nevermore. How did the recording go?
Jeff: Thanks! It was actually a band decision to write some simpler songs rather than such complex material. It would have been easy for us to write This Godless Endeavor 2, and I think a lot of people expected that from us. But in the end we wanted to strip the songs down and write them so they’d be easier to listen to and easier to get into. Peter Wichers had a lot to do with that. I brought a 7-, 8-minute song into the studio, and Peter said it was all too much and trimmed the songs down. He really helped a lot with the arrangements and stuff like that. The Obsidian Conspiracy is a simpler record, and we wanted to try something new with it, which is what we’re always trying to do anyway.

Every new Nevermore album really does differ from the last one, each has its own identity.
Jeff: Exactly.

Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like The Obsidian Conspiracy is a kind of mix of your solo record and Warrel’s. The guitar parts are incredible again, and Warrel’s vocals are a bit more upfront this time, with more room for them. The cover art is interesting too, since it’s put together from the covers of Zero Order Phase and Praises to the War Machine.
Jeff: Hehehe, yeah, interesting. I actually don’t know how that came about, it was Travis Smith’s idea and I think it works great. As for the music itself, at least as far as my part goes, that’s probably because I wrote the material for both records at the same time. And in the end I’m the guitarist of Nevermore, and when it comes to guitar tone, the band’s style will always sound like that. Usually I write by taking the riffs I have, turning them into musical structures, and building the music from there. That’s probably the real reason.

For the new album you again picked some interesting covers – Temptation by The Tea Party, and Crystal Ship by The Doors is on the record in an acoustic version. If I’m not mistaken, you originally planned to record an electric version?
Jeff: That’s right, but it didn’t work the way we wanted (laughs). We wanted it stripped down and organic, and we wanted it to sound similar to the original, which is really hard, because The Doors are just so cool. In the past we were known for playing around with covers quite a bit and turning them into our own style. The reason we chose these covers is simply that Warrel and I are big fans of both bands, and we thought it would be completely different to record covers of both. Both bands are extremely atmospheric, and I think that fits the style of our music.

How is Jim doing (bassist Jim Sheppard isn’t playing on the current tour because of health problems, ed.)?
Jeff: Yeah, he has tons of health problems. He has Crohn’s disease, which he still struggles with since it can’t be cured. And recently they found a tumor in his brain. Luckily it’s benign, but he had to have surgery. He’s already recovering, though, and I hope he’ll be back with us soon.

In the past you also had a lot of trouble with guitarists, the second guitarist has always been a big problem for Nevermore.
Jeff: That’s true, yeah. We’ve had five, six different guitarists, but that’s just how it is. A few of them wanted to become permanent members, but since we only worked with them on a time basis, they may have been offended by that. Other guitarists simply left for other projects, Steve Smyth to Forbidden, Pat to Cannibal Corpse and Chris to Megadeth. That’s just how it goes. But I think we’ve found the right guitarist in Attila. We found him through YouTube, he sent some videos to Chris Broderick’s girlfriend, who passed them on to us, we watched them and I couldn’t believe the quality of his playing, he knew every nuance.

He even manages to keep up with your playing.
Jeff: He does! He played and practiced our material for so long that playing it became completely natural to him. He’s really cool and we’re glad we found him.

So he’ll join Nevermore as a permanent member?
Jeff: Yeah. He’s been with us for quite a while now, after all.

Since you brought up Pat and Tim – I always felt those two left the biggest mark on the albums they played on (Pat O’Brien on Politics of Ecstacy and Tim Calvert on Dreaming Neon Black, ed.).
Jeff: I agree, though I’d say that applies mostly to Tim, since he wrote a huge amount of the material on Dreaming Neon Black that I normally write. We worked really well together, we played together every day, sometimes he even wrote the riffs while I clicked in the drums. That was real musical camaraderie, and I really enjoyed working together. On Politics of Ecstasy Pat did write some stuff – the main riff of Seven Tongues of God and a few leads – but nowhere near as much as Tim. Still, it was a pleasure working with both of them, since they’re both great guitarists.

Pat also guested on your solo record.
Jeff: Yeah, we’re still friends. Believe it or not, I’m still in touch with all the other former band members on a friendly basis too.

You and Warrel are the band’s main writers, Warrel on the lyrics side and you on the music side. It always struck me as crazy how brilliantly the two of you nail the point of the lyrics with the music too. How do you pull that off? Was it maybe harder on Dreaming Neon Black, since it’s personal, given Warrel’s own experience?
Jeff: I don’t know, it’s probably just the chemistry between us. I always write riffs and record demos, then I send them to him and he writes the lyrics. It’s that simple, we don’t complicate things. Maybe it has to do with my way of writing, since I usually write in darker keys. I think we do pretty well with this way of working. Nevermore are ultimately a kind of continuation of Sanctuary, so I try to keep that typical darkness too.

We’ve already touched on your solo record Zero Order Phase. How did you know it was the right time to put it out, and what influenced that decision and the music on it?
Jeff: Good question! I’ve always been a big fan of the eighties shred style of guitar playing…

In the style of Shrapnel Records, Jason Becker…
Jeff: Exactly, those are big influences on my playing. Especially Jason Becker, Marty Friedman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine. I wanted to record something along those lines, and I had the chance, since Nevermore weren’t playing at the time and we were on a short break. I talked to my good friend Neil Kernon, who produced a few Nevermore records, he came over to my place and we recorded the whole thing in my basement. It was all done really cheap, but it sounds pretty solid.

It sounds way more than solid (laughs)! Kernon is a great producer too.
Jeff: Yeah, he’s a really good friend and a great producer. The solo record has opened a lot of new doors for me, just by letting me do guitar clinics. That’s brought me closer to guitar fans, since I can’t talk to them at a Nevermore show, but at a guitar clinic I can answer questions face to face, which is much more personal.

When I wrote the review of your album, I said you brought the integrity back to sweeping and shredding, which Shrapnel and its roster managed to do in the eighties. How would you comment on that?
Jeff: Wow… it’s really lovely that someone thinks that, I’m honored. I know that for quite a while, five, six, maybe ten years, nobody was recording solos that way and the whole thing ran out of steam. What always mattered to me was the double dynamic of harmonies and the like, which really enriches a song. I think there were tons of guitarists who simply weren’t capable of that. I missed that, and I tried my best to record something like it.

You’re strong as a writer too, because your record isn’t just about soloing, the album is strong on leads as well, and in some tracks you can even hear a bit of fusion.
Jeff: Thanks. I think the trick is that tons of guitarists listen to only one style of music. I don’t know, kids today listen only to death metal or something like that. In the musical world there’s theoretically a huge amount of quality stuff you can listen to, from jazz to classical and rock. I’m a big fan of seventies music, which I listened to a ton on my dad’s records – ELO, Fleetwood Mac, the Doobie Brothers. I believe the real recipe is that you have to listen to varied music.

If we can touch a bit on Sanctuary too, with whom you recently played your first show since the comeback at 70.000 Tons of Metal…
Jeff: Actually, we played the first show in Seattle, and then we played two shows at 70.000 Tons of Metal.

Warrel has mentioned recording a new album several times. Will you be part of it?
Jeff: I don’t know, in Sanctuary I see myself more as a side guitarist. That band is Lenny Rutledge’s baby. It’s his way of writing, I’m more of a side player in it and I don’t think I’ll be involved in writing the album.

Is there maybe anything more known about shows in Europe, where we’re already eagerly waiting for you?
Jeff: I don’t know, they’ll record an album eventually, labels are already showing interest too, so we’ll definitely play in Europe. I really can’t tell you when, though. Probably not before the record is done, so within a year.

Sadly time is pressing us, so two last questions. What do you have in your player right now?
Jeff: Uh, wait, let me remember. Actually my own solo record, to relearn the material for the guitar clinics (laughs).

Jeff, thanks a lot for the interview, and my last question won’t be a cliché one. Jim and Warrel are professional chefs, and you’ve worked as a cook too. What recipe would you recommend to our readers?
Jeff: My god (laughs). My recipe is simplicity. I’d say pasta with pesto, and always use fresh ingredients. Thanks to you too.

photos: Nina Grad

The interview was made in collaboration between RockLine and Rock Hard Slovenija.