In our latest in the Gear Nerd series, we thought we would chat to one of our newer musicians about their instrument and playing career and so we sat down and had a chat with Konstantine, keyboard player with newcomers DOMMIN.

RR UK: How old were you when you started to play keyboards?
Konstantine: Originally I started on trumpet when I was in the fifth grade, a girl told me she thought trumpet players were cute and I liked this girl, so that’s originally where the inspiration for me being a musician came from. Two years later I started teaching myself the piano and a music teacher came across me playing the Moonlight Sonata, and she asked me who my teacher was. I told her I was just teaching myself based on what I knew from playing trumpet. So she offered to teach me and took me on for four years, for free. I’d say I was about ten or eleven when I started.

RR UK: Who inspired you to play the keyboards in the first place?
K: The song Moonlight Sonata actually. It wasn’t necessarily any person. As soon as I heard Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata I knew I had to learn the piano to play that.

RR UK: What styles have inspired you the most over the years?
K: Classical, the romantic era. All classical music’s great, but specifically that era.

RR UK: Who do you aspire to be like now?
K: I don’t really [aspire to be like anyone]. It’s not necessarily that I don’t hold anyone in that regard, but I don’t want to limit myself!

RR UK: What’s your practice and warm-up regime?
I do a lot of scales, a lot of finger movement to get my fingers warmed up – cold fingers move slow. Mainly I just move up and down the scales a lot.

RR UK: How important are scales to writing your music?
Oh, really important. Knowing what keys to play, what notes to hit, the sounds they’ll bring out. You can start in a major scale and it sounds happy, go down to a minor scale and it’s a little bit darker, then darken it up even more by diminishing it… Knowing all that really helps bring out the right mood.

RR UK: Can you give us a quick run through your playing career?
K: Fifth grade, started on the trumpet. About seventh grade, started on the piano, did a lot of classical music shows through that. Then, in twelfth grade I joined a band and we were on the Zippo Hot Tour in California. It was short-lived, we weren’t exactly great, but it was fun while it lasted! I composed stuff myself until 2006 when I joined Dommin.

RR UK: Can you run us through your set-up?
K: I have a single Roland Fantom X8, it’s a 88-key weighted keyboard, it weighs about 64 pounds, it has 16 sample patches where I can access samples at any time. If I have too many layers going on that I can’t perform live, I’ll put some of the layers on a sample. I do that on Dark Holiday, for example. Halfway through the song I can bring out the rest of the music while I’m doing the piano part. For our cover of (Cutting Crew’s) ‘Died In Your Arms’ Tomo from 30 Seconds to Mars did a solo, and obviously he’s not able to come to every one of our shows, so we’ll push that patch and pretend he’s on-stage. Every once in a while he’ll come to one of our shows and perform it live for us. I have pedals too, just for sustain, but nothing else.

RR UK: What’s your dream set-up?
K: Well, I love my X8, but actually, Roland just released a new model – the Fantom G8 – that would be ideal for me to use but they’re so expensive. I would love an endorsement from Roland!

RR UK: What top tips would you give to budding keyboardists?
K: Just a lot of practise. Figure out exactly what you want first, then practise day in-day out. I learnt to play scales pretty fast up and down just by sitting down for one night, repetitively practising. Your fingers and your muscles become used to that movement. Listen to a broad range of music too. I started with classical, but I listened to a wide range of music. I didn’t preclude myself from other music out there, I listened to Metallica, Depeche Mode, all these other bands that my brothers and sisters were listening to, I kept my music library open to everything.

RR UK: Finally, could you give us some tips on looking after your equipment?
K: It’s tough with a 64-pound keyboard! But keep it clean of the dirt that gets in between the buttons, use rubbing alcohol on electronics – while it’s off, obviously! – that’ll remove a lot of the dirt. Wrap your cords accordingly, don’t just throw them in a box cos you’ll pinch cables. If you really care about your equipment, take good care of it.

Check out the FEATURES PAGE for our other Gear Nerds in the series, which include Daniel Adiar (Nickelback) and Willie Adler (Lamb Of God).

Dommin are currently on tour with H.I.M in mainland Europe and will enter the UK with them March 13th. They play a headline show at London’s Borderline on March 21st. Tickets available from HERE.

Their debut album Love is Gone is in stores now. You can pick it up online HERE

Over the previous 4 weeks we have been treated to a series of video introductions to the members of one of the newest bands to sign to Roadrunner Records– heavy metal titans MUNITY WITHIN.

In last weeks snippet we met keyboardist Drew and in a continuation of that snippet, this week we get to meet DewL- his alcohol fuelled alter-ego who seemingly has a wider vocabulary (albeit misused), a hatred for non-meat eaters [we’ll see about that- Ed.] and a fondness for the ole shinfo…

You can check out his antics now in the player below. To see the previous snippets and hear some of the bands tunes, check out the player at the bands Artist Page here on the website.

Debut album Mutiny Within is available digitally NOW. It will be released in CD on April 26th. You can pre-order the CD online HERE.

US staion MOJO RADIO have reviewed the new offering from RATT over on their site and seemingly INFESTATION is pushing all the right buttons!

Stephen Pearcy’s voice sounds as good today as it did when he took us “Round and Round” in 1983. Warren DeMartini is still shredtastic, and new guitarist Carlos Cavazo (Quiet Riot) slips right into the band’s signature bluesy groove. Bobby Blotzer is still a skin pounding madman behind the kit, and bassist Robbie Crane keeps the rhythm lockstep with Blotzer. The two really shine on the grinding, “Take A Big Bite.”…

The album, which was recorded with producer Elvis Baskette (Taking Dawn, Incubus, Chevelle, Alterbridge)…is a full 11 tracks of bluesy, rocking, and feel good 80’s hair metal, with a fuller sound and better production then we’ve ever heard on a Ratt album. Baskette dragged the quintet from the safe haven of its L.A. roots to the shores of Virginia for the recording of Infestation. A first for the band. The experiment paid off. Modern Ratt will drag you right back into the Sunset Strip gutters, with big hair licks, and denim and leather rhythms….

Ratt have rediscovered themselves with Infestation, and their strengths and talents are on clear display for all to hear. Some might say they have reinvented themselves as well, but the truth is, a Ratt never loses it’s way, it simply hides in the dark waiting for the precise moment to re-emerge.

Check out the full review HERE.

You can now pre-order the album on Play.com- simply CLICK HERE! And if you want to get a taster of the track, you can listen to single ‘Best Of Me’ (which hits stores digitally March 14th) in the player below.

The lovely Sophie K took some time to chat with John Campbell from Virginian metallers LAMB OF GOD when they were in London recently and you can check out the interview in the player below.

In the interview, Sophie talks to John about touring with Metallica, the religious connotations people lay on the band, current album WRATH and his becoming a Dad!

Lamb of God will next be in the UK in the summer when they will be playing Download Festival.

Pick up ‘Wrath’ on-line here…

Miss last weeks Rolling Stone exclusive snippet from COHEED AND CAMBRIA in the studio? Fret not- we have it in the player below for you now!

Click on the player below and see Claudio Sanchez and producers Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails, Jane’s Addiction) and Joe Barresi (QOTSA, Clutch) talk about working on forthcoming album YEAR OF THE BLACK RAINBOW which will hit stores on April 12th. First single The Broken will be available digitally on April 4th.

Pre-order the album online HERE.

Check out part 2 of BLEEDING THROUGH’S forthcoming SELF TITLED ALBUM which is due to hit stores on the 12th April.

In this part of the interview, Marta and Brandan talk about where they recorded the album and what fans can expect from it:

“…This record has a lot of darkness to it”, says Brandan, “but also has this raw, like, intensity too and it’s sort of everything we’ve always loved doing into one thing and I think that’s why we…made it self titled…”

See the full video interview in the player below and if you missed part 1 then you can check that out HERE.

Pre-order the album on-line HERE.

Check back the week before release for an EXCLUSIVE track by track run down of the album with the guys!

This past Saturday night saw rock legends LYNYRD SKYNYRD hit Hammersmith Apollo and Altsounds took advantage of them being in the city and sat down for a coffee with guitarist Rickey Medlocke to talk about life with ‘Skynyrd, his musical heritage and their new album God & Guns (which is in stores now)…

“…on this particular record, there’s a little something in it for everybody to get next to it. We started this record with two guys, and all of a sudden we had to finish this record without those two guys we started it with: Billy, who passed away in January, a year ago, and Ian, who passed away right before we came over to Europe in May. So we lost two members. We were doing the record when Billy passed away and we decided we were going to finish it because it was the right thing to do. Here we are in Nashville working on the record, and across town one of our band mates is just slowly withering away from lung cancer. To be honest with you, it was so important for Gary, Johnny and me to finish that record and to put it out, not only for the fans but for those two guys and the guys that have gone before them, to carry on the tradition and carry on the name. Because no one certain name in the band is bigger than Lynyrd Skynyrd. That’s the biggest name. Nobody is ever going be bigger than that name….”

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES will celebrate the release of their new album DIRT with 3 in-store appearances, kicking off with one on release day (March 29th) in their home town of Cardiff.

The appearances, which will all take place in HMV stores, will be admittance by wristband only. Fans can collect a wristband for the in-store from the relevant store from 8.30am on the day. Each store will give away 300 wristbands. Wristband holders should then return to the store at the time detailed below for an acoustic performance followed by a signing session. ALL in-stores will have an acoustic performance.

One wristband per person maximum, in person only, while stocks last, subject to availability, at participating store only!

Dates, times and locations of the appearances are as follows:

29/03 – HMV Cardiff, 5pm
30/03 – HMV Manchester, Arndale Centre, 5pm
31/03 – HMV London, Oxford Circus, 5pm

You can pre-order Dirt and be in with a chance of winning tickets to the intimate full show the guys will play in London on the 31st March HERE.

In other news, this months Rock Sound Magazine has a killer all access look behind the scenes on the road with the guys. Get a taster with some of the pics at the gallery they have loaded on their website HERE. For the full monty, you’ll have to pick up the mag, which is at newsagents now.

It’s time for part 2 of our

Claudio Sanchez- frontman of COHEED AND CAMBRIA– sat down with us recently to have a chat about the forthcoming album Year of The Black Rainbow. In part one of the interview (which you can check out in the player below) you can see Claudio discuss what it feels like to be kicking off the album’s cycle- preparing to release the album and finally getting to talk to people about it, about being on Roadrunner and about the influences on this album and how they differ to previous Coheed releases.

Head back to the site on Monday (15/03) to see part 2 of the interview, where we discuss the shows the band have planned for the UK in June and Claudio’s excitement at playing the new material- watch this space!

Year Of The Black Rainbow will be released in the UK on April 12th. Pre-order the album online now AT THIS LOCATION.