The Great Kat interview - 01 Dec 09

The Great Kat must be worshipped. Media outlets who proclaim The Great Kat to be in the top 50, top 10, top whatever, are wrong. The Great Kat is the best, the fastest, the greatest. She is Beethoven reincarnated. This is not open for debate. You either 'get' what this means, or you do not. "Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason, mastery demands all of a person." -Albert Einstein Read the follow-up email interview below, after listening to the phone interview (the yellow/green play button is at the bottom). Fellow WSCA DJ Kim joined me in the studio for the interview. Email/Requests: [email protected] Playlists: http://wsca.radioactivity.fm/show.html?showoid=1242 BLACK NIGHT MEDITATIONS - A heathenish foray along the shining path. Aural ruminations of Black, Death, Speed, Thrash, Doom, Folk, Shred, Power, Prog & Traditional Metal. Tuesday Nights 10pm-2am e.s.t. - WSCA 106.1 FM - Portsmouth, NH USA - Listen online live @ www.wscafm.org ***The Great Kat email interview - 17 Dec 09*** BNM - There were a few things we did not get to discuss during our phone interview. I'd like you to expand on the evolution of your music. Your first 2 albums, Worship Me Or Die & Beethoven On Speed, featured more of a Thrash influence, notably in the riffs. Since your brand of Shred/Classical hadn't fully developed to what it has been over the last decade, can you explain the influence that Thrash Metal had on your early songwriting? Your Metal influences were more traditional, so how much of an influence on your song-writing did Thrash have? Was it a product of the times? Were you at all involved in the New York Thrash scene of the '80s? TGK - The Great Kat High Priestess Of Guitar Shred (http://www.greatkat.com ) got into SPEED METAL after graduating from Juilliard. I liked the power and speed of that music. I decided to mix vicious, speed metal guitar riffs with my Classical Motives. The result was the first Great Kat CD “WORSHIP ME OR DIE!” with it’s RAW, VICIOUS SPEED METAL RIFFS AND CLASSICAL GUITAR SOLOS. The Great Kat’s NEXT CD “BEETHOVEN ON SPEED” was a pure mixture of SHREDDING GUITAR VIRTUOSITY with AUTHENTIC Classical Music from Beethoven, Rimsky-Korsakov, Chopin, Paganini ALL MIXED with POWERFUL METAL SONGS, like “ULTRA-DEAD” and “KAT ABUSE”! BNM - Much is said about your guitar playing, your violin playing, your image and so on, but I feel your vocals have always been vital to who The Great Kat is. Without those patented Kat shrieks, growls and unique delivery, your music would feel like a symphony without a conductor. My favorite Kat songs tend to be the ones that have the most memorable vocal delivery, especially when you mix the singing and shouting. Would you consider trying new vocal approaches that you have not used in the past? It would be tough to sing over the insanity, but you can easily do it and I want more of those catchy choruses! TGK - The Great Kat’s BRILLIANT music is a TOTAL MULTIMEDIA COMBINATION of CLASSICAL and METAL Virtuosity with SCREAMS, YELLS, BRUTAL SHOUTING and WILD and OUTRAGEOUS IMAGERY—this is the NEW OPERA of the 21st CENTURY!!! NOW CHECK OUT THE NEW “BEETHOVEN’S GUITAR SHRED” DVD: This DVD stars The Great Kat’s Guitar/Violin Virtuosity and finger-blistering guitar shredding of Classical masterpieces and original outrageously theatrical SPEED METAL Wagnerian Mini-Operas. “Beethoven’s Guitar Shred” DVD Features: 7 Outrageous Shred/Classical Guitar Music Videos, including: • “The Flight Of The Bumble-Bee” - At the finger-blistering speed of 300 BPM! • Beethoven’s “5th Symphony” - Metal version of the world’s most famous symphony! • Paganini’s “Caprice #24” – Kat dazzles on this technical virtuoso showpiece on guitar and violin! • Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto #3”- The Great Kat shreds on 6 guitars & 3 violins! • “Torture Techniques” – Watch Kat’s arsenal of To(continued)