JIM PAPADATOS interview

Hi Jim! Your EPK describes Judgement Day as a “focused solo-guitar statement”. That phrase immediately makes me wonder where you draw the line between composing music and demonstrating what you can do on guitar. Was there ever a riff or solo on the album that sounded great under your fingers but simply didn't deserve to be in the song?

        - Hello Daniel, and thank you for having me. Being completely honest, I just went with the flow. I would jam, come up with a riff or a melody and build the song around that idea. I tried to keep it as true to myself as I could, without that meaning I wasn’t trying to challenge myself to play better and better. I do not remember discarding riffs or solos that were too technical or sounded good, but I can tell you with certainty that there were songs that were left out because they didn’t fit the atmosphere and the direction that the rest had set for the whole album. Even if an idea or a song is good on its own, that doesn’t necessarily mean it belongs with the rest of the album.

A lot of modern progressive metal guitarists talk about technique serving the composition. It's a good sentence, but it's also become almost mandatory in guitar-player interviews. What does it actually mean in your case? Can you give me an example of something technically impressive that you deliberately removed because it made the song worse?

        - Technique is something every musician should develop, but technique is not limited to playing fast arpeggios. If you can play extremely fast, but cannot bend a note in tune, you are not necessarily a complete technical player, you are simply very good at arpeggios. Sometimes the best decision is to take a step back and let the emotion guide you. There is a very simple melody in “Safe Haven” that could have been much more technically demanding, but doing so would have taken away from the feeling of that moment. Knowing when to go crazy and when to hold back is part of being a musician. Not every song needs to be a speed fest, just as not every song needs to be restrained.

Your sound sits somewhere between progressive metal, metalcore and djent. Those genres have become extremely polished and recognizable, to the point where production, tuning and guitar tone can sometimes make two completely different bands sound strangely related. What do you think is still genuinely personal about your sound?

        - I think the contrast between the darker more aggressive side of my playing and the melodic side is what’s personal about me. I enjoy heavy riffs, but I also want the guitar to have room to breathe and tell its own story. I wasn’t trying to fit in a box or write intentionally in exactly that bpm or time signature. I went where my ideas would naturally lead me and that’s how this whole journey started.

You have eight tracks here, and the whole record is built around your guitar playing. Did you approach the album as eight individual compositions, or did you have a larger musical idea in your head before writing the first song?

          - To be completely honest, it began with individual compositions but it was only after the first three songs that I realised what I wanted to do with this album.

“Omnipotent”, “The Time Is Nigh”, “Judgement Day”, “Shadow of a World” - there is obviously an apocalyptic vocabulary running through the record. Is this actually a concept that connects the songs, or did the titles simply evolve around the atmosphere of the music?

        - The title of each song emerged naturally after each song was completed. For example, “The Time is Nigh” is the penultimate song of the album and it signifies that it is coming to an end. The album title fits well with the rest of the songs, but it also has a special meaning to me as it was the first time I was presenting my work and it felt like my personal “Judgement Day”.

-The word “cinematic” appears quite a lot in modern instrumental-metal descriptions. Personally, I always get suspicious when a guitar record starts sounding like a movie soundtrack without a movie. What does “cinematic” mean to you musically, rather than as a mood-board description?

       - The word “cinematic” can have a lot of different meanings, but for me personally it’s about painting a picture with each song. Each one brings a different vibe and leads the listener on a different journey. I want whoever listens to my songs to be able to feel something different, without the need for lyrics or images. Everyone may imagine something different from what I had in mind the moment I was composing the song, and that’s something very rewarding to me. It truly brings me indescribable joy when someone connects with my music for his own personal reasons.

Gus Drax appears on “Priest & Poltergeist”. That's an interesting choice because bringing another highly technical guitarist into a guitar-centric solo album could easily turn into a “who can play the most ridiculous thing?” situation. What did you actually want Gus to contribute that you couldn't get from yourself?

Gus is my guitar teacher and most importantly a very good friend. So, it was never about competition.  Not having him on the album is something that never crossed my mind. Musically, I wanted him to be able to do whatever he wanted and that’s why he had complete freedom over the track. I didn’t want to restrict him with something that’s in my comfort zone. I wanted everyone who heard that solo to be able to recognise him immediately and that’s something that comes without a doubt. His solo elevated the song and I will always cherish his contribution.

You also bring in Papachrist for “Digital Collapse”. Did adding vocals change the way you thought about the album, or was that song always designed to break the instrumental format?

Having a song with vocals was always on my mind when I started recording the album and when the first riff of Digital Collapse came to life I knew this was it.I listen to a lot of metalcore and deathcore stuff and those two styles are deeply rooted in my soul.  So, I wanted to pay my respects to this style of music and Papachrist delivered a lot more than I expected. Papachrist also knows me and my instruments extremely well, as he handles everything from basic guitar maintenance to major customizations. That existing relationship made him a natural choice for the song.

There is a strange freedom in making a solo album: nobody can tell you that a riff is too complicated, a song is too long or a guitar tone is completely insane. Did working alone make you more experimental, or did you actually become more disciplined because every decision ultimately came back to you?

Working alone gives you freedom, but it surely makes you a lot more disciplined, since the guitar is always at the forefront. So you can imagine I had to bring my A game for every song and that pressure is what made me a better musician.

You've worked with Bob Katsionis on the production side. When someone else starts shaping the sound of music that was written around your own guitar playing, how protective are you of the original recordings? Are you the kind of musician who wants the producer to challenge you, or the kind who already knows exactly how the record should sound?

You definitely don’t go to a producer like Bob if you are overprotective of your ideas. Bob will challenge you and he will be able to tell you if something should make the record or not, without pressuring you to go his way, because at the end of the day it’s ultimately your decision.I knew what I wanted each song to sound like but I was open to both his criticism and his ideas.

Your guitar rig is almost a small museum of modern Ibanez instruments and Bare Knuckle pickups. How much of the final sound is really in the gear, and how much of this endless guitar-equipment obsession is simply something guitarists like telling themselves?

Gear definitely matters, but it can only help you express what you already have in your mind. Different guitars and pickups can change the clarity and the response of your sound but they can’t replace your phrasing or your personal touch. While recording the album, I experimented with different pickup brands on the same guitar and I found that Bareknuckles gave me the response and the character I needed. That’s what led me to “re-record” several songs. So, yes, many musicians tend to obsess over having everything, but finding what suits you best is the point of having so many options.

Do you think modern metal guitar playing has actually become too technically advanced? There are players today who can execute things that would have been considered completely absurd twenty or thirty years ago, but does that necessarily mean the music itself has become more interesting?

I do not think that metal has become too technically advanced. It’s in our nature to evolve and take things to the next level. I believe that the problem occurs when technicality takes over the whole song and doesn’t allow the musician to breathe and express their feelings. Many musicians nowadays play things that seemed impossible decades ago but greater difficulty doesn’t necessarily mean more memorable music. For me, a great song has something that stays with you whether that’s a riff, a melody or a whole solo. Passion and Warfare was released in 1990 yet guitarists still hail it as one of the best instrumental records of all time. Music that stays with people is more important to me than how many notes you can play.

What do you listen to when you're not listening to progressive metal or practicing guitar? I'm asking because sometimes the easiest way to escape the vocabulary of your own genre is to steal something completely unrelated to it.

Lately I find myself listening to a lot of hip-hop or some low-fi beats if I want to relax. Being open to other music genres is really important for a musician as you never know when inspiration might strike. I find confining yourself to only one music genre as one of the worst things you can do as far as writing music goes.

Was there a particular moment during the making of Judgement Day when you realized, “Okay, this finally sounds like me”? Or are you still at the stage where you're figuring out what “Jim Papadatos” actually sounds like?

The record definitely has a vibe to it and there are some things that I can’t escape (in a good way). I wouldn’t say that I’ve found what “Jim Papadatos” sounds like, because you never know what kind of musician you will be in the future. Writing music is a journey that can take you in many directions and sometimes the more dangerous the roads the greater the rewards.

And now that the debut is finished: if you had to make the next album without using one of the three words “progressive”, “technical” or “cinematic”, how would you describe what you want to do next?

That’s a good question. I will definitely try my best to bring something fresh, without that meaning I will forget my roots. I don’t want to write Judgement Day n.2 but with different riffs. I want to explore more contrasts between my more aggressive and emotional playing and why not add a few different elements. I don’t know where this journey may take me, but uncertainty is what makes it interesting.

https://jimpapadatos.bandcamp.com/album/judgement-day