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Milan Polak interviewed by Simon Badham September
2004
Milan: Thanks for your interest and taking the time
to do this interview!
EG: You’ve been a well-known name on the shred
circuit for years (Guitar 2001, Guitar On the Edge, and working with
with Todd Duanne at AIM in Vienna etc…); most recently you’ve
expanded your musical ambitions into the commercial scene, writing
scores and jingles. How easy did you find that move?
To be honest, I have been writing scores and jingles
for quite some time. I have only recently started to put up a
section featuring them on my site. Writing these came surprisingly
easy actually. I see the pictures, listen to what the client has to
say and my mind starts to work immediately. Sometimes it is as if I
was just a tool of someone else using me to create these. I wish
everything would come that easy...! :-)
Is writing for the commercial market something you
find challenging and have fun doing, or is it simply a means to
financially support your other musical projects?
Both. In the best case it can be fun and, of course,
it pays the rent... Most of it is not that challenging to me in
musical terms, the biggest challenge is usually finishing it in
almost NO time since the commercial market is a "we need it by
tomorrow morning"-kind of business.
I loved hearing the various jingles you have on your
website…not what I expected and a real eye opener to your
versatility. (Your kittie kat jingle would breeze the Eurovision
song contest!). What kind of reaction do you get from your hardened
guitar fans when they hear these clips?
Surprisingly, no bad comments whatsoever so far. I
guess, the die-hard shred fans don't really bother listening to
those...! :-) Some think it's funny, some are impressed because of
the versatility but nobody has ever said something negative.
Do you use a formulaic approach to writing jingles or
treat each brief individually? (I’ll lighten up in a minute haha).
:-) No, you really have to treat each one differently
and separately depending on what the client wants. Rarely ever do
you have total freedom to do whatever you want to. Sometimes it's
the competition kind of thing where they tell you, "washing powder,
target group 20 - 30 year old housewife's" and then 5 different
studios come up with something and the "best" wins.
On other occasions the client (who usually doesn't understand
anything about music at all) wishes a composition that is in the
vein of whatever he/she has heard on the radio and likes. So you
basically have to adapt to a new situation overtime. But let's stop
talking about business...! :-)))
A quick glance over your discography reveals you to
be every inch the flexible musician. Does having a mastery of so
many styles make you a bit musically schizophrenic?
The thing is, I LOVE music! It's like with women -
you can find beauty in almost everyone...! :-)) So, I have dealt
with a lot of different styles and gone through some phases. Some of
them you can find in my playing, others seem to be reluctant to
blend into it. And then I might surprise people with pulling off
that style or sound they haven't heard me doing before.
Of course, someone who has been playing that same old D-minor blues
pentatonic up and down for over 30 years can be more recognizable
sometimes (similarities with living people are purely
coincidental)...! :-)))
But I just couldn't picture myself doing the same thing over and
over again for the rest of my life. I need to entertain myself, so I
can entertain the listener.
I have always respected guitarists like Steve Lukather, who are not
only great guitarists but also great musicians and versatile in
different styles of music.
Would you say the session scene is still a good gig
for the professional player?
Only if you have the real good jobs. If you can
manage to break into the scene of those playing the huge acts then
yes, definitely. But I haven't found out how to get there, yet. All
I know is, it hasn't got much to do with how well you play your
instrument. I guess, it's more a question of having the right
connections AND good luck. So, for the rest of us it has become
really tough these days I'd say...
I know you posses a great singing voice, is this a
part of your musical personality we’ll be hearing more of?
Well, I don't know about great but thanx, man! To
tell you the truth, I believe that there is a singer (or at least a
wannabe singer) in EVERY guitarist. I have been singing for a long
time doing backing vocals. And so many times people would approach
me after the concerts telling me that I sounded so much better than
the lead singer and asking me why I did not sing the lead vocals. I
would always have the same answer, "I am a guitarist, not a singer."
But that attitude has changed in the last couple of years. I started
to become acquainted with the thought of being the front man.
I think playing guitar AND singing is the ultimate tool to express
yourself, plus singing also has an impact on the way you play your
guitar. I have written a bunch of vocal tunes in the guitar oriented
pop/rock vein that I have already performed live on various
occasions with good response to my voice.
In March this year I bought myself a new studio with a soundproof
room-in-room cabin that was built for me and at the moment I am
working on those vocal tunes but I am taking my time, so I really
cannot tell when these songs can be heard.
Did working with the likes of Falco and Haddaway
inspire you to develop your vocal abilities?
No, not really. Falco's approach to singing was quite
different to what I am doing. His style revolutionized a whole new
way of vocal performance. To me he was the godfather of white rap.
When working with someone like Haddayway, they ask you if you can
sing backing vocals. If yes, then that's definitely a plus but they
would never take the time to work with you on something. In this
kind of situation you are hired to perform your part flawlessly and
if that includes singing, well then that's what they expect from
you.
You produced Haddaway’s ‘My Face’ album. How do you
find the role of producer?
Actually I "only" produced one song. His management
hired me as the band leader to put a band together for the
CD-release concert in "Stars & Bars" in Monaco. During the
rehearsals I came up with a wah wah riff on the song "Deep" that was
supposed to be the first radio release and Haddaway liked it so much
that he insisted we should put it on the record. That's why the song
is called "Deep - Live Version".
The whole thing got out of hand since the manager and Haddaway had
this big ego-fight and I was stuck in between. Haddaway said he
wanted the song to sound this way and the manager said he wanted the
song to sound that way since he was paying for the production. In
the end Haddaway was pissed off and the manager blamed it on me but
they broke up anyway and the record flopped. Asides from that
experience I love producing...! :-)))
Did you find it as fulfilling as writing and
performing?
It's different. When I produce someone else's song, I
hear or sense things that the composer might have not. My approach
is completely different from doing my own stuff. That's why I
dislike producing my own songs. I wish I had a decent producer for
my vocal tunes! It's always a new input. Sometimes when you are
involved in something you tend to oversee certain things and you
might take a wrong direction.
What moments stand out from working with those guys?
Well, Monaco was definitely a nice experience and I
was impressed by Haddaway's voice. It was definitely better than I
expected it to be from what I had known before. And sometimes by
watching someone treat other people a certain way and seeing their
reactions, you learn what NOT to do. Falco was an outstanding person
- I mean, books have been written about this guy. He managed to be
No.1 in the U.S. billboard charts for 5 weeks. That's something. He
had an impressive personality and standing on stage with him was
truly amazing.
Lets get into some guitar. You taught at AIM in
Vienna for four years with Todd Duanne and Rich Kern. Now, from a
guitarist point of view, we’re talking ‘kid in a candy store’ aren’t
we haha?
Yeah, definitely. Especially Rich is a very
underrated player. And he's such a cool guy, too. Todd is a very
technical guy with monster chops. Then there was also Joey Tafolla
and the awesome Shawn Lane. So the students got to see a lot of
great guitarists and study with them one on one. But usually only a
few realize what they have and so most students never take advantage
of the range offered.
Did teaching at AIM have much impact on your playing?
Yes, definitely. You learn so much by teaching.
Students ask you distinctive questions, you have to analyze exactly
what you're doing, you always have to be on the ball, there are so
many talented players around you, you hear sweeps, picking, tapping,
etc. all day long and - maybe, even if it sounds corny, the most
important thing of all: again, you learn also what not to do
sometimes...!
Do you keep in contact with the guys you met there?
Only with keyboard wizard Lale Larson (who has also
played on the J.A.M.-CD). And once in a while an ex-student contacts
me via e-mail.
Have you taught music professionally since the days
at AIM?
Yeah, I teach masterclasses at the University of
Music & Art in Vienna once a year and I am teaching at the Hamburg
School of Music in Germany at the moment. I like teaching and it
pays the bills. It's better than working 9 - 5 in an office and you
get to play your guitar (most of the time...)! :-)
You released an instructional book “Guitar Heroes –
Real Technique” back in 98’, I notice you have another book still
unreleased “Guitar Heroes – Real Fretboard Harmony”…any plans to get
a deal for that?
I have actually been negotiating with Germany's
biggest publishing company but they turned it down without giving me
a reason. I think they didn't even look at it properly. There is so
much shit and bad material being released that the market is really
flooded and people do not differentiate anymore. The book is
actually finished and I get so many inquiries but I still do not
want to work with my old publishing company anymore. They did not do
the best marketing job and that's crucial.
What about selling it from direct from your website?
I believe that having a professional company always
looks better and is more professional. To provide a book in the same
quality as a publishing company would cost a fortune.
Have you ever considered putting out an instructional
DVD?
I would not turn down the offer if I got one...! :-)
Recently you’ve been getting back into your guitar
shred mode (JAM\Becker Tribute\The Alchemists). Was it easy
switching back into ‘Milan Polak the Guitar Hero’?
Well, it was Matt Williams (head of LNR) who got me
back into that guitar-hero-thang. It took some practice to get my
chops back but more than that it took some time switching my mind
back into it. Being a "guitar hero" (if you want to call me like
that) had left me misunderstood a lot of times in the past. People
are jealous of your abilities, say you don't have "feeling", believe
that you can only play fast and that you don't want to play anything
else than super ultra complicated odd meter impossible-to-solo-over
changes at 240 bpm.
At the end of the eighties/beginning of the nineties the scene was
flooded with a lot of players like that and being referred to as a
guitar hero was not a positive thing - it started to become a four
letter word, so I tried to get away from that. When Matt approached
me with the idea of J.A.M. the first song I wrote was "Back On the
Track" and that's also where the title came from. At that time a big
producer in the U.S.A. wanted to hear some of my playing and I
decided to use this song. That's why there is a lot of
groove-oriented stuff going on in that tune.
You’ve always used some pretty mind boggling tapping
licks. What advice would you give to someone hoping to achieve your
fluid sound?
Have I...?!? :-) I actually do not consider myself a
big tapper. But I do use some tapping stuff that I try to approach
differently from your average tapping licks. Sometimes I play 3 or
even 4 notes/string legato lines with a bigger stretch that some
people think are tapping runs - but, in fact they aren't.
My advice: Practice slowly and try to be as clean as possible.
Believe it or not, two things I have never done in my life: Practice
at fast tempo and practice with a heavily distorted sound with loads
of reverb and delay. I tend to use a cleaner sound (less
distortion), no effects whatsoever (if you hear them on the CD, they
have been added by the engineer) and a pretty neutral EQ.
Are their any interesting technical
concepts\techniques you’re working on at the moment?
I have some 4 note/string string skipping pentatonic
stuff that I haven't really seen anyone doing and, yes sometimes I
even add a tap or two...! :-)
You’ve released some great solo material over the
years; do you feel an extra sense of freedom when writing your solo
stuff?
Thank you, Simon! Basically, I consider it freedom to
write any stuff at all. I mean, having the ability to express your
feelings in words or music on an instrument is truly something
special and that alone is already freedom to me! If I couldn't be
creative I'd probably go nuts or become seriously ill. When I write
I do not give a damn about whether it will make me some money or if
it is what someone else calls "in". I just write whatever moves me,
comes out of me - it's some kind of digestion. To be independent
like that I think is true freedom.
Your career to date shows you like to explore a
diverse mix of musical styles (rock\pop\commercial\Fusion\Jazz). You
don’t avoid a challenge do you?
No, not really...! :-) Like I said before, I like so
many different musical styles. It may also have something to do with
the way I grew up - I lived in different places such as Korea,
Saudi-Arabia, Kenya, USA a.m.o. I grew up with a lot of classical
music, Jazz music, stuff like Paco de Lucia. I guess, it all has
left traces...
Do you believe you've recorded an album that reveals
the true Milan Polak?
Definitely no! But I am not sure if I ever will. I
think the true Milan Polak has too many different sides and people
usually do not like that. They always want to label you and if they
can't, they ignore you or put your music down. That happened to me
when releasing "Guitar 2001". A lot of people actually complained
that my style was too versatile...!! Now almost a decade later I get
a lot of fan mail with people saying that exactly this aspect is
very impressive.
You mentioned in the JAM interview that you’re about
to re release Guitar 2001 (renamed Guitar Odyssey). Why have you
chosen to re-release this album?
Because I have a ton of fan mail asking for the album
saying that they couldn't find it anywhere. The record company that
had released it fucked up big time and I don't even know how many
copies were printed or sold. I have also never seen a paycheck till
this very day. The studio where I have mixed and mastered all my
CD's (www.area65a.at) has re-mastered the CD including a
bonus-track.
How do you reflect on this album nearly a decade on?
Well, my song writing has changed a bit but you can
still hear stuff that I would say is typical Milan Polak. I think at
that time I recorded more guitars than I would today but underneath
them one can find songs...! :-)
You always seem to get a great rock tone, what gear
are you currently using?
Thank you! First of all, let me say that my approach
is this: Tone comes from your fingers, sound from your equipment. I
think that tone is the more important aspect. It's your unique
voice, your style so I focus a lot on phrasing, bends, vibrato, etc.
My sound comes from my Peavey gear. I have been endorsing their
stuff for a couple of years and they have always been very
supportive throughout my career. And they build some of the finest
gear today! I play the EVH "Wolfgang", the Limited-series and V-type
"limited edition" guitars through 5150 II, TripleX, and Classic 50
amps and cabinets. I also have a Classic 30 combo that I love. For
strings I use Thomastik-Infeld 10's and 11's depending on if the
guitar has a fixed bridge or a tremolo system. For miking I use AKG
exclusively.
EG: Do you have any new endorsements in the pipeline?
Milan: Indeed yes. I recently teamed up with Kevan J.
Geier of tremol-no (www.tremol-no.com)
who invented this great little tool for tremolo systems. It enhances
the guitar's sustain, keeps it in tune if you break a string, let's
you do country-style bends (where you bend one string while playing
a second note on another string) without losing the pitch, etc. All
this with no modifications or new screw holes in my beautiful
guitars. Definitely a smart and handy product.
What can you tell me about your latest solo project
‘Dreamscapes’?
I would say that "Dreamscapes" features a more mature
songwriting. I got into some bebop-stuff that I tried to mix into my
playing and it seemed to work. So there is a new additional side to
my playing compared to the performance on "Guitar 2001". The main
focus is definitely on the songs not on the guitar playing. Don't
get me wrong, there is still shred & technically challenging stuff
but not for the sake of impressing or showing off.
The song "Dreamscapes" has a very special meaning to me, it was the
song that got me the gig with Falco (along with another song called
"Spanish Romance"). Apparently Falco had been looking all over
Europe to find a new guitarist for 1 1/2 years and just couldn't
find one. A mutual friend recommended me and so he set up an
appointment. I wanted to bring a demo-CD with me and not being sure
what to exactly put on it, I decided to choose "Dreamscapes" as the
opener. So we met, got along great and he said, "Let's drive to my
place to jam and find out if you're the right one," I handed him my
CD and while driving to his house (in separate cars) he listened to
"Dreamscapes" over and over again. Suddenly he pulled his car to the
side, got out and said, "I love that first song - you are my new
guitarist!". So, without having played a single note for him, I
ended up being Falco's new axe-man just because of the song
"Dreamscapes".
The whole story also has a sad side to it, though: A year later he
died in a car crash. At that time I was in the studio mixing my new
solo album and guess which song I was mixing that day...?!?
"Dreamscapes"
I also did a little tour for Crate amplifiers together with Marty
Friedman (one of the most underrated players, b.t.w. and a great
guy) and he liked the song, too. I remember he wanted to jam over
that song, so we ended up playing "Dreamscapes" together live on
stage. That was a great experience. And one day Kip Winger called me
on the phone and sang the song to me. Apparently a friend of mine
who new him sat in the car with him and played "Dreamscapes" to him.
Kip liked the song so much that he asked the guy for my phone number
and decided to give me a ring and sing the song to me via phone. I
was like, "Hello, who's speaking?" and he was like, "This is Kip
Winger. That's an awesome song, man!" and I was like, "Yeah, sure,
alright, very funny! Now who the heck is speaking...?!?" :-)))
At the moment I am looking for a decent label to sign "Dreamscapes"
but times are tough these days. The music industry doesn't seem to
take any chances anymore...
When you back over your career, is there anything
you've yet to achieve?
Milan: Oh yeah, definitely I've still a long way to
go. I am far away from feeling that I have accomplished everything I
have ever wanted. I'd like to get a good deal for "Dreamscapes",
release my 2nd instructional book, tour with a big act, release my
vocal stuff, reach as many people out there as I possibly can, maybe
do an instructional DVD, produce young musicians & bands. Let me put
it like that: I won't get tired soon - that's for sure.
What's next for Milan Polak?
Well at the moment I am negotiating with a big guitar
label who is interested in releasing both my re-mastered "Guitar
2001" (which will be called "Guitar Odyssey" and will feature a
bonus-track) as well as "Dreamscapes".
My 2nd instructional book is being looked at by
another big German publishing company. I have also been working
together with this great classical violin player Lidia Baich who is
a respected virtuoso in the classical music world.
We have been going through some intense Tchaikovsky scores that
feature some music that is already hard to play on the violin and
truly a challenge for guitar...! I will soon put some outtakes of
our demos to download on my website.
Another project that will be one of my main focuses for 2005 will be
an acoustic album that I will record together with English super
guitarist Mario Parga.
LNR asked me if I was interested in producing his solo album this
winter in my studio and I agreed to do so. Mario and me met to get
to know each other and found out that we are very much alike in a
lot of things, almost like brothers. We both have the same musical
influences on acoustic guitar and were thinking about releasing an
acoustic album after the release of each of our solo CD's so we
decided we might as well do it together. We sat down and played some
stuff and it worked really well - absolutely no competition
whatsoever. And listening to the recordings of us jamming we both
sometimes were not able to tell who was who. Scary! Yeah, so it
looks like 2005 will be a very busy and exciting year for me.
Last but not least, if anyone has questions or
comments feel free to write me. You'll find my e-mail address at
www.milanpolak.com
Have a good one, Milan
www.milanpolak.com
Click here for the Essential Guitarist Milan Polak Feature
All images used with permission of Milan Polak 2004.
Interview provided by essentialguitarist.com |
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