Lyden Moon
An Interview with Instrumental Rock Guitarist, Lyden Moon
by Mike Huberty
January 2011
Lyden Moon
When it comes to his new CD, “It’s What’s Inside That Rocks”, guitarist LYDEN MOON, explains his process when it comes to creating music. “I’m always trying to write a better song,” he says, “a lot of instrumental guitar players go strictly for the technical showcase kind of record. And that’s not what I want to do.” The Wisconsin-based guitarist is letting me know that he doesn’t want to be perceived as what other musicians often unaffectionately call guitar soloists, a “wanker”. You don’t have to use much of an imagination to realize what that term refers to, or to imagine the big-haired guitar slingers with the magic fingers that it describes. “ I think it’s harder to play a slow meaningful passage,” he continues, “to milk a note correctly, as opposed to just tearing it up. Once you develop the speed, you’ve got it, but in terms of delivering the song, it’s a never-ending accomplishment because I always feel that I can play it better and express myself better. And technique is not just speed, it’s how to play the note correctly, it’s how to attack the note correctly. When I go into the studio I try to play as clean I can and just really make sure that the point is coming across.”
And this dedication to melody is coming from a man who has shred more than Ollie North and Fawn Hall. He’s already released four records, jammed onstage with guitar monsters like Steve Vai, Gary Hoey, and Pat Travers. His albums have been produced by none other than guitar badass, Michael Angelo Batio, a dude that’s best known for playing a guitar with four necks(!) Lyden Moon has the cred and the chops to lift his axe high with the top guys in guitar, so when he says that he’s trying something with “a little more variation”, you’re wondering exactly what he means. “There’s a lot more dynamics to the songs“, Moon says, “There’s slow parts, fast parts, more aggressive, and in-the-pocket kind of parts. There’s tempo changes throughout most of the songs, because you want to keep the songs interesting for a person who isn’t either into instrumental guitar music or it’s not really their bag. They can actually enjoy this music because you can actually still follow it. It’s not just full-on, which gets kind of boring. If you have three songs of just burning, it gets old.”
Moon is backed up by new drummer, Dan Jung, and trusty bassist, Joel Thierfelder, and when he writes songs, he writes them in what he calls the “long way”. “I don’t write the melody first”, he says. “A lot of instrumental guys write the melody first, and I don’t think of melodies until the rhythms are already done. We jam out to songs and I record that and take it home and then sing to it or hum to myself the melodies I would play over those rhythms. I almost write it as if I would a lyrical song. Certain rhythms are a little more aggressive so I think of aggressive melody lines as opposed to a ballad or an in-the-pocket type of song that would have a flowing melody.”
Moon recommends the tracks, “Speak the Squeak” or “Inquisitive Creatures” for people who want to get a taste of what his music is all about. “It’s What’s Inside That Rocks” was recorded by metal ace, Chris Djuricic and is available for purchase on Guitar9.com. Moon is proud of the different sound. “These songs just breathe a little better than my previous records, “ he says, “not that I’m not proud of them, but there’s a lot of guitar going on in those records. On this one, there’s still a lot of guitar but it’s not in your face like the previous one.”
LYDEN MOON is opening the show at the Back Bar in Janesville on January 29th. “If you’re sick of the same old same old,” he says, “Well, come out and see me because I’m not the same old same old. Are you tired of seeing a band slaughter fucking Van Halen? Are you tired of seeing a band slaughter The Ramones? Are you tired of seeing a band slaughter every act that you like? Come out and see me. I’m doing my own thing… If you’re looking for something different, like, let’s say you had hamburger four nights of the week, I’m the one who’s going to offer you chicken on Friday night.”
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