{"id":12849,"date":"2014-04-25T01:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-25T05:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12849"},"modified":"2014-04-25T11:01:32","modified_gmt":"2014-04-25T15:01:32","slug":"blowin-wind-with-ex-holy-grailvindicator-guitarist-james-j-larue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/?p=12849","title":{"rendered":"Blowin\u2019 Wind with former Holy Grail\/Vindicator guitarist and current Shred Starz guitarist James J. LaRue: \u201cI tolerate things for just too long until I can\u2019t take it anymore and them I\u2019m just like, \u201cOk, I\u2019m out of here.\u201d  I was over it by the time I quit Holy Grail.\u201c"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/403921_10150950280613392_1080794278_n.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-12910\" src=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/403921_10150950280613392_1080794278_n-300x287.jpg\" alt=\"403921_10150950280613392_1080794278_n\" width=\"300\" height=\"287\" \/><\/a>Former Holy Grail guitarist James J. LaRue is one of the most talented, unsung guitar heroes out there.\u00a0 From his early work as a member of the first White Wizzard line up to shredding his way into our hearts on Holy Grail\u2019s Crisis in Utopia, LaRue has done more in a short period of time than most could even imagine.\u00a0 Not only is he an amazingly, talented performer, guitarist, and composer but he\u2019s also a great friend.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>I figured that more than enough time had passed and that it was finally time to ask James J. to do an interview for the Brainfart.\u00a0 He gladly accepted my invitation and what followed was a great phone conversation which covered so much ground.\u00a0 We talked about his departure from Holy Grail, his disheartening experience with the music business, and how being a member of Vindicator rekindled the fire for him showing him that he could still do music and love it.\u00a0 We also talked about his current project with Shred Sean called Shred Starz and all else in between.\u00a0 Sit back and get to know the man, the myth, the beauty that is James J. LaRue.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>James J, thanks so much for doing this interview.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Thank you.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to these questions being asked.<\/p>\n<p>========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>You parted ways with Holy Grail in 2010.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Being in Holy Grail was like being on duty at a firehouse.\u00a0 At any moment you had to be ready to respond to something and do something.\u00a0 I just wasn\u2019t happy in that situation at all.\u00a0 It was like a lobster in the pot with the heat being turned up slowly.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t happy with the direction of the band or the way business was going.\u00a0 I just wasn\u2019t happy with where it was all going.\u00a0 I\u2019m the kind of person that will get involved with things, lose interest in them for whatever reason, and because I was raised that if you made a promise, you needed to follow through with it I just keep going.\u00a0 I kind of almost quit but it was before we recorded the Crisis in Utopia so I just decided to keep going.\u00a0 In retrospect I should have just left it at that and said, \u201cYou know, this isn\u2019t for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was the proverbial nail in the coffin so to speak that made you leave the band?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It actually was a series of events that happened.\u00a0 We played the Wacken Festival and I didn\u2019t like it.\u00a0 It was a glimpse into a world that I didn\u2019t want to be involved in.\u00a0 After our set at Wacken, they played us the live recording of our set and wanted us to sign off on it to be released as part of a live compilation.\u00a0 Speaking for myself, I was so displeased with our performance that I didn\u2019t want that recording released.\u00a0 When we returned home someone had asked me on Facebook on my personal page how it went.\u00a0 I was feeling shitty about the whole thing and I had just gotten back into the states and I said, \u201cIt didn\u2019t go well.\u00a0 Let me tell you why\u201d and I went into everything from how bad the sound was, and having no rehearsal to the fact that this huge festival was way over capacity and they made all this money and we got paid like 200 euros or something.\u00a0 The next day we played this small mom &amp; pop festival in Austria and we got like 2000 euros.<\/p>\n<p>========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s a big difference in pay right there.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah, but it wasn\u2019t so much about me making money.\u00a0 I just looked at the Wacken Festival and knew that someone was getting rich off of that festival and it wasn\u2019t us.\u00a0 Anyways, so I said all this on my Facebook page and the assistant to the management team saw it and got all pissed.\u00a0 The owner of Prosthetic Records sent me an email and was all mad at me saying, \u201cYou just ruined your career\u201d so I said back to him, \u201cHow I about I just quit.\u00a0 How\u2019s that for ruining my career.\u201d\u00a0 I just quit right then and there.<\/p>\n<p>========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>It\u2019s really interesting to hear this side of the story.\u00a0 So often we see the \u201call for metal, metal for all, pirates of the road\u201d kind of story but at the end of the day, it\u2019s still a business.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh absolutely.\u00a0 The thing you see is totally an act.\u00a0 The image of a band that\u2019s portrayed in interviews and in the media is also fabricated.\u00a0 I\u2019m actually ok with that.\u00a0 That\u2019s show business. Holy Grail is much more of a fabricated thing and that\u2019s cool.\u00a0 The thing that I didn\u2019t like was that it wasn\u2019t the band doing the fabricating and creating a persona.\u00a0 It was all the label and management saying what could and couldn\u2019t be said or could and couldn\u2019t be done.\u00a0 There was no humor or light heartedness allowed in any of it which is hard for me because all I do is make jokes about poop and I couldn\u2019t even do that.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cee0h527ciE\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>When you left the band, it was actually a pretty low key exit until they found a full time replacement for you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah.\u00a0 See, Iron Maiden is brilliant at that.\u00a0 You never hear much about their inside business.\u00a0 They\u2019re just good at that.\u00a0 Holy Grail was like Maiden in that they were so much better at doing that than White Wizzard was.\u00a0 Every time someone quits White Wizzard or if the whole band quits or there\u2019s a new line up there\u2019s a press release about it: \u201cNEW LINE UP!\u00a0 BEST ONE EVER!\u201d In Holy Grail, there were all kinds of lineup changes.\u00a0 Different bass players, different guitar players yet you never hear about it.<\/p>\n<p>========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So was it hard for you to leave behind a band that you were such a big part of and vice versa?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It wasn\u2019t hard at all to leave to be honest.\u00a0 I tolerate things for just too long until I can\u2019t take it anymore and them I\u2019m just like, \u201cOk, I\u2019m out of here.\u201d\u00a0 I was over it by the time I quit Holy Grail.\u00a0 Adjusting to not living like that was hard.\u00a0 I had put all my eggs into that basket at that point in my life.\u00a0 My living situation and my whole life was structured around rehearsing four times a week, getting the songs down, hell, my whole wardrobe was stage clothes and clothes for sleeping in the van.\u00a0 Even my toiletries were all travel size.\u00a0 It was a life that I had lived fully and all I did was that.\u00a0 After I quit the band, I still did one more tour because they didn\u2019t have a replacement for me yet.\u00a0 After the last day of the tour, I got dropped off along with Jessie Sanchez at his house and that was the last time I saw most of those guys.\u00a0\u00a0 The quitting part was great and I loved doing it.\u00a0 Nothing against the band personally but after getting that scathing email from the president of Prosthetic Records I was like you know what?\u00a0 Fuck you man.\u00a0 After that, Clay, who\u2019s my favorite guy at Prosthetic, knew Sean Sean Maier (Shred Sean) to fill in for me but he couldn\u2019t do it.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I first got to meet Sean but Sean introduced them to Ian Scott which is how they got hooked up with him.<\/p>\n<p>========================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So after leaving Holy Grail and taking some time off, you teamed up with Ohio thrashers Vindicator.\u00a0 How did that come about and what was that experience like?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After the Holy Grail thing was over with, I ended up sitting in as the guitarist on a tour with a band called Aggressor.\u00a0 I started playing with them in Chicago and on the bill that night was Vindicator.\u00a0 At that time they were just a trio and it had a really tight sound.\u00a0 Vic and Jessie are brothers who grew up playing together so their timing is locked in together.\u00a0 I thought they sounded so much better than their recording.\u00a0 The singer had left and the guitarist had left but they sounded so good and I really liked it so much more.\u00a0 I thought they really needed to be captured and recorded that way.\u00a0 That tour was the most fun tour I ever did and everyone one of us just loved it.\u00a0 Everyone was nice to each other and it wasn\u2019t an industry tour at all.\u00a0 It was totally DIY.\u00a0 Sarah, Vic\u2019s wife, was pretty much the mastermind behind all of it as she always is with the booking the dates and whatnot.\u00a0 It was a totally different experience and it took the bitter taste out of my mouth.\u00a0 When I got back home, in my post tour depression, I contacted them and asked them if they were interested in a lead guitar player.\u00a0 I also told them that I wanted to get into producing and recording and get into that.\u00a0 We exchanged riffs online for a while but it became clear to me that it wasn\u2019t going to really cut it.\u00a0 Eventually, I just told them that I\u2019d move out there so that we could get things done.\u00a0 That\u2019s how I ended up out there involved with Vindicator.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>When going into the Vindicator thing did you know that your involvement with them would have an expiration date so to speak?\u00a0 If so, was there every any pressure from them for you to try to stay or did they understand as well?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, it wasn\u2019t really pressure to stay because I had told them that I would do a record or be out there for a year, whichever came first.\u00a0 I was thinking that it wouldn\u2019t be a whole year to make a record even and even if I did spend a whole year out there the album would be done in that time.\u00a0 Things ended up getting delayed, there were some health things going on, not on my part, but things would just come up.\u00a0 Priorities got shifted a lot about the recording as to whether we\u2019d do an album or an EP or what.\u00a0 It just went back and forth and I had to say, \u201cLook, in two months it\u2019ll be a year that I\u2019ve been here.\u201d\u00a0 My agreement was for a year and then all of the sudden everyone was like, \u201cOh crap.\u201d\u00a0 When that happened, in the period of like six weeks it just all came together.\u00a0 It was super stressful but that\u2019s how it always is.\u00a0 When I got back to California, I still worked with them and still do.\u00a0 As far as I know, I\u2019m doing some guitar solos and mixing the next album for 2015.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So it sounds like everyone was really understanding and that all is good between you guys.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Very much so.\u00a0 That is a band right there that I am friends with.\u00a0 Every one of them, all their families, and their cats.\u00a0 Actually, my beloved cat Moseby is one of the Vindicator family barn cats.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pV5HrOAUbcM\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>So after Vindicator, you started doing this thing with Shred Sean called Shred Starz.\u00a0 I\u2019ve watched the videos and it kind of reminds of what the old Shrapnel guys would\u2019ve done had YouTube been around in the 80\u2019s.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s exactly it.\u00a0 You have hit it exactly on the head.\u00a0 Kids now, they learn how to shred but they don\u2019t have the style.\u00a0 To me, it\u2019s not just like shred is just about the playing.\u00a0 It\u2019s this whole aesthetic of yellow and pink guitars, a certain kind of attitude and look.\u00a0 There are all these young kids who play really well and all those bands like Scale the Summit and Animals as Leaders are talented players but it\u2019s just not shredding to me.\u00a0 To me it\u2019s just chops.\u00a0 They don\u2019t have that feel of shredding.\u00a0 There\u2019s not that Malmsteen feel or like a Ritchie Kotzen feel.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have that mojo that the old Shrapnel players had.\u00a0 What Shred Starz is becoming is almost like a Shrapnel Records\/Mike Varney thing where it\u2019s not going to be about just Sean and myself.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to open it up to other players and find the best ones filming himself in his basement with a webcam.\u00a0 We\u2019ll get him out here to California and put him in front of a good camera.\u00a0 Putting a visual to it is exactly what we want to do.\u00a0 Like the Cacophony \u201cGo Off\u201d album cover.\u00a0 I want to make videos that look like that.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s funny because that\u2019s exactly what I was thinking.\u00a0 I was thinking that Shred Starz looks like what Blues Saraceno would\u2019ve done if he had YouTube back in the day.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Exactly.\u00a0 Like the Paul Gilbert instructional tape when he used a green screen.\u00a0 We just want to make it visually fun.\u00a0 All the guitar players that I\u2019m a fan of, all the great guitar players that are out there on YouTube like Guthrie Govan and all these other young players, they\u2019re crazy talented but in all cases they\u2019re just sitting in a chair playing these solos.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s in a nice studio or in their bedroom they\u2019re just sitting down and playing.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to do that.\u00a0 Everything is going to be an ultra fun video.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So the first Shred Starz video was for Midnight Ladies Sonata which was epic.\u00a0 What\u2019s next for you guys?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The next project is going to be like a retro style video game for iOS and Android and that\u2019s going to take things to another level.\u00a0 Next we\u2019ll probably do one more video of a tune that we\u2019ve done.\u00a0 After that, I\u2019m probably going to exit that as a player.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>So how do you see your role with Shred Stars?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I see myself being more like Arlen Roth who was famous for putting out those Hot Licks instructional tapes.\u00a0 He did some himself but then later got more into producing the tapes.\u00a0 I see my role in Shred Starz being more in the video graphics and production.\u00a0 This kind of playing is really not a style I\u2019m fond of.\u00a0 It\u2019s a style that I cut my teeth on but it\u2019s really not how I play anymore.\u00a0 There\u2019s all kinds of crazy kids out there with passion that are playing really fast and they\u2019re far better suited for it but they just don\u2019t know how to do all the after effects stuff and what not.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>James, let\u2019s get to know more about you.\u00a0 At what point did you know that you wanted to be a musician?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When I was a kid, I was always using a tape recorder.\u00a0 I loved recording things.\u00a0 I was always going around recording everything.\u00a0 I had a guitar, it was my mom\u2019s old guitar, and it was missing strings.\u00a0 I was like 3 or 4 and I didn\u2019t even know how to play it and it wasn\u2019t even in tune.\u00a0 I took that guitar, I went out and sat on the sandbox in the backyard.\u00a0 My whole family, my parents and grandparents were all sitting around just having an afternoon summer time outside.\u00a0 I would just make up songs and strum and they would all clap at the end.\u00a0 One time I played a song and at the end they didn\u2019t clap.\u00a0 I asked why they weren\u2019t clapping.\u00a0 So really, I just wanted to be clapped for and I wanted to record things [laughs].\u00a0 Then in the 80\u2019s I was really into rap music so I would make up and record rap songs.\u00a0 When I was 12, I saw Metallica\u2019s video for \u201cOne\u201d on TV.\u00a0 I saw them playing and that thrashy palm muted part, for the record was James Hetfield, it was never Kirk Hammett.\u00a0 Anyways, he\u2019s wearing a wife beater and playing a point looking guitar which was an Explorer and he looks all tough and it sounds all aggressive.\u00a0 I just remember saying to myself, \u201cThat\u2019s what I want to do.\u00a0 I want to do that.\u201d\u00a0 I just decided it at that moment and then I got my guitar that following birthday.<\/p>\n<p><center><iframe src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/RpEvqaAr9EM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><strong>If you could have a guitar lesson with any guitar player alive or dead, who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Alex Hutchings.\u00a0 Easy answer.\u00a0 I asked him if he does Skype lessons and he doesn\u2019t [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you could have dinner with any person alive or dead who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>That would be Bill Murray.\u00a0 We would have Chipotle.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If you could play guitar for any band of any era who would it be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Judas Priest.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What era?<a href=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/403561_10150922090073392_1728040961_n.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-12911\" src=\"https:\/\/southeastofheaven.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/403561_10150922090073392_1728040961_n-300x187.jpg\" alt=\"403561_10150922090073392_1728040961_n\" width=\"300\" height=\"187\" \/><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Oh man.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to play on the 1986 tour.\u00a0 That Priest Live era.\u00a0 It\u2019s tricky because I want to be in that band with Glen Tipton but I don\u2019t really want to play KK Downing\u2019s stuff [laughs].\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to replace Glen because I want him to be in the band with man.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>What guitar solo do you say, \u201cI wish I wrote that\u201d every time you hear it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cTornado of Souls\u201d by Megadeth. \u00a0I think that is maybe my favorite.\u00a0 Not that Marty Friedman is my all-time favorite guitar player.\u00a0 There\u2019s actually a Vindicator track, I forget which one it is, where I listened to it and said, \u201cThat is the biggest rip off of that song.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t sound like it exactly but it\u2019s me thinking of it.\u00a0 That solo is just awesome.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Looking back, is there anything you wish you would\u2019ve done differently?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah.\u00a0 There\u2019s very little I would have done differently because if I hadn\u2019t done it I would be doing it now because I wouldn\u2019t have learned from it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t say that because it sounds like the right thing to say but it\u2019s the truth.\u00a0 There\u2019s plenty of stuff I\u2019ll never do again.\u00a0 If I had a time machine and knowing everything I know, maybe there are things I would go back and handle differently but I would have had to have gone through them to know that.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>If Hollywood made a movie about your life who would play you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Well, I would assume they\u2019d make it in the future when I\u2019ve done more interesting things.\u00a0 By then, the actors will all be virtual and it\u2019ll just be my face mapped to a computer model so I guess a computer would play me.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Finish this sentence: If I wasn\u2019t a musician I would be__________________.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I would be\u2026 oh man, that\u2019s a great one.\u00a0 I would probably be a graphic artist or designer.\u00a0 Something like that.\u00a0 If I was ambitious I would be a very eccentric architect but I don\u2019t think I have that much academic interest.<\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is there anything else you\u2019d like to let the folks know that are out there reading this?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Yeah.\u00a0 I\u2019m available as a session player or guitar solo guy.\u00a0 I play in cover bands and if like Katy Perry or someone needs a touring guitar player I\u2019m available.\u00a0 I\u2019m not trying to do start up bands.\u00a0 You can see more about me and my past projects and what I\u2019m doing now at <a href=\"www.jamesjlarue.com\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>www.jamesjlarue.com<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>============================================================<\/p>\n<p><strong>James, you made through this interview brother.\u00a0 It\u2019s the end of the road!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Cool.\u00a0 This was fun man.\u00a0 Anytime I can talk about myself I just love it [laughs].<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Holy Grail guitarist James J. LaRue is one of the most talented, unsung guitar heroes out there.\u00a0 From his early work as a member of the first White Wizzard line up to shredding his way into our hearts on Holy Grail\u2019s Crisis in Utopia, LaRue has done more in a short period of time than most could even imagine.\u00a0 Not only is he an amazingly, talented performer, guitarist, and composer but he\u2019s also a great friend. I figured that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[194],"tags":[518,1091,1153,803],"class_list":["post-12849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews","tag-holy-grail","tag-james-j-larue","tag-shred-starz","tag-vindicator"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12849\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.southeastofheaven.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}