For metal heads of a certain vintage, the roaring success of American metal band Stryper in the late eighties polarised audiences. Undaunted by detractors, their superb musicianship, determination and steadfast dedication to their Christian beliefs has seen them endure setbacks over the years including a substantial period of dormancy. Reinvigorated from the positive momentum of reunions, Stryper have been consistently active again since around 2005 with front man, guitarist and chief songwriter Michael Sweet offering up some of the band’s heavier material on subsequent albums. That trend continues with their latest 10th studio album God Damn Evil so Paul Southwell of Australian Guitar caught up with the talented mastermind of the yellow and black attack.
The latest album is impressive and a natural progression from Fallen, which was quite heavy.
I’m very happy with it and it has shaken the cages. We enjoyed stretching out on this album. We’re still doing what is to be expected but we’re getting a little heavier as we get older which is interesting because usually when you get older, you get lighter. We’re keeping it real, man.
The riff for the title track has an AC/DC feel to it. Is there an AC/DC influence going on there?
Yeah, that is the classic eighties anthem kind of riff like ‘To Hell with the Devil’ with a mid tempo pace and gang chorus. My brother [Robert Sweet – drummer] came up with the title and it was important for me to write an anthem to take you back to 1986 and feel like we’re rocking old school.
Are you largely using your Theta Pro [ISP MS signature model pre-amplifier and multi-effects unit] for rhythm guitars?
I did use my Theta on the album. I also used Mesa Boogies and a Soldano. So it is the same kind of tone, theory and style with pre EQ before the front end of the [pre-amp] distortion to get that half-cocked, Michael Schenker on steroids sound. There are also EQs for the stage-outs and for the DIs. My extra EQ band allows me to dial in a bit more mid-range. In the old days we would do four and six tracks of one rhythm guitar. Nowadays, I do a track and Oz [Fox – guitar] does a track; that’s it. So, the guitars are not as produced but they are still big. Oz is using Line 6 gear. My Tech 21 [Sans Amp Para Driver] gear was great but everything is built into my warm sounding Theta. I feed an amplifier for monitoring on stage but all the sound out of front of house [PA] of my guitar is direct only. It is such a fat, huge, monstrous sound.
Using open chords and letting strings ring out has a massive impact on the power of your sound.
Absolutely, going from a muted fifth chord to a big open chord sounds like doubling the guitars and it becomes this huge wall of sound for the choruses like in ‘God Damn Evil’. Most people play a fifth A chord whilst I add my little finger across the high strings for a jangly open A with all the strings. I’ve never taken lessons. I’m an ear player, always trying different chords to make it sound better.
The song ‘Beautiful’ has a great guitar solo which is reminiscent of George Lynch’s style. In fact, the Sweet & Lynch song ‘Bridge of Broken Lies’ has a great Jimi Hendrix vibe to it.
On ‘Beautiful’, Oz does the first half and I do the second half. We do a lot of that. For the song ‘Sorry’, I start that solo and he finishes it. For the sporadic harmony parts, we are harmonising with ourselves. I just did two albums with George Lynch and he has a heavy blues influence you might not have heard in the Dokken days but he is into lots of different styles of music. He is a soulful player.
How much work went into your signature Washburn guitars [Parallaxe PXZ-MS2FR & PX-SolarV6-MS]?
Oh man, they knocked it out of the park. My U.S. custom shop models have identical specifications to what I use; pick-ups, fret size, woods, neck size, Floyd Rose upgrades, you name it. The import model is coming soon too. I couldn’t be more pleased with Washburn. They are fantastic people and they make killer guitars. Sadly, not as many people know about it as Gibson or Jackson or all of these other companies but I’ll tell you what, you couldn’t pay me enough money in the world to go with Jackson. Washburn just take care of me, they get them right, they go the extra mile to do the job and they just blow my mind.
Any chance you might be touring Australia again?
We’re working on some dates for Japan right now and if we go to Japan we’re going to plan on hitting Australia as well.
Additional Content:
The solos from previous recent albums such as ‘King of Kings’ and ‘Legacy’ are great and no doubt work well live. How do you think the new album solos will go over live?
I think they are going to be great and we’re going to have a blast doing them. There is a certain feel to this album that has a really great groove and especially the backbeat; the bass and the drums and I think that once we get onstage and we start playing these songs, it is just going to feel awesome. With that, when you’re feeling the music, there is a certain level of excitement and energy that kind of escalates, grows and builds. I think we are going to be having a blast onstage playing this music.
You’ve survived an era [80’s metal scene] that was just decadent, essentially. Plus you were copping it from all sides; from the church, from glam metal bands to dark metal bands and so on. Is it kind of a sense of vindication for you to still be here?
It is, it feels good the fact that, you know, we were the band that a lot of people made fun of, or a lot of people didn’t get or a lot of people hated or whatever and we’re still here. A lot of bands aren’t and if they are, they’re not here in their original form or they don’t sound the same or they don’t look the same. You know, we’re still here, we’re alive and healthy and still producing good quality albums that are somewhat relevant in this crazy music world. You know what, we are very thankful for that and grateful. I mean, I’m sure a lot of those people are eating crow right now.
Speaking of your style changing over the years, when you re-recorded highlights from the first three albums [for the Second Coming album], did you have to re-learn any parts since they may have changed so much over the years in live performance?
Oh yeah, that happens a lot. Sometimes I change things on purpose. Sometimes I will change a riff a little bit because I like how it sounds now better than it did then or if it is easier for me to bend down on one knee and play a riff a little simpler. If it is more complicated, I’ll do that. I do stuff like that all the time but I don’t play or practice as much as I should. I don’t take lessons. I wish I did, I’d probably be a lot better guitar player but I love to play, I am very grateful that I can still play and it is certainly a part of who I am. I always feel naked without a guitar, that’s for sure.