Joshua: I am originally from Brockton Massachusetts (about 20 minutes outside Boston). It's a real rough town which is not a very Caucasian area. Actually, it's so tough that it has produced two World Champion Boxers (Marvin Hagler and Rocky Marciano)! My parents are responsible for getting me into and staying with music in my life. They supported me from day 1 and never stopped. My first gear was a Cream Hondo Strat with a DOD FX-56 American Metal pedal along with a small amp, two chords and that red strap with the white lightning bolt that we have all had at one point or another! I got it all from my friend Ralph for $90.00.

When did you first start playing the guitar? Was that the original instrument you had in mind to take on?

I first started playing at 14 years old. The original instrument I started on was the drums. I was able to get out of my regularly scheduled class that I had (in 4th grade) and was able to walk around the elementary school and hang out with this chik I was into because she was always sitting " outside" the classroom because she was always in trouble! -Not so unlike the girls I go with nowadays!

You're originally from Massachusetts, but moved to Los Angeles in 1998. What was the cause for moving and do you still reside there today?

Actually, I moved out west soon after I got a call from the Machine Head camp to audition with them. I was working as a Jr. High School teacher and was doing really well with getting my name out there. Just after Logan Mader was no longer with them, I got a call from Rob Flynn in Oakland when they were looking. I had talked to him a few times and was going to fly there to audition. I got a guitar from my sponsor tuned the way that they tuned theirs and learned about 20 songs in three days. After talking a bit over those few days, Rob said that the optimal person would be a guy who was living in that particular area and could commit to rehearsals as soon as possible. I could not commit to the band until about a month later as I had a previous obligation to finish teaching at the school where I was working. I had to grade the kids and when I taught, I really got to feel a sense of commitment to all of these kids and their parents. I was Mr. Podolsky from 7 am to 2 pm and then I taught private lessons from 2 pm to about 8 pm every day. I beleive that when you commit to something and give your word, you should do your best to honor the obligation. So, the Machine Head thing wasn't a go and I really wanted to play with a band so I moved out west the day after my job ended at the Jr. High school. Right now I split my time between Phoenix and Los Angeles these days. I have a place in both states.

There was a time where you were in the bands Black Art and FiNGeR and released three albums with each group. Are these releases available today?

Yes, the releases are available through www.THEALIENBLAKK.com . FiNGeR and Black Art were both my creative outlets for years. I really enjoyed those recording session and the writing process for them as well. I really dig singing and playing guitar on those songs. -There will be a few of those songs thrown into every set that THE ALIEN BLAKK does. I would do a new recording at least once a year for FiNGeR and Black Art. I always believe it best to enter the studio with new music at least that much. The music is available through my web site directly and I am looking for a label to release a 22 song cd as well if there is anyone out there interested in this music. Some of it is very experimental and atonal and some of it is very straight ahead and Sabbathy in parts. It features a lot of cool guest appearances from guys from Testament, Sacred Reich, Fight, Stuck Mojo, Wargasm and a few others as well.

My first encounter with your music was on Dwell Record's neo classical metal compilation album entitled Chamber Music. Honestly, it's some of the best classical metal guitar I've heard right next to some of Jeff Waters' stuff. How big of a classical guitar fan are you?

Thanx bro, I really appreciate you saying that. That's a real heavy compliment. I am a fan of all guitar. The classical stuff was half from two deceased classical master composers and half from my own self. I intertwine some of it and that's why the title of those has a slash with dots after the words on the album jacket because half the track was mine and the other half was pre existing written material on that particular release. The Sarabande was also done by Al DiMeola years ago in the seventies. -Funny, because now Al and I have the same agent and guitar sponsor.

You've recently started up a new band which features you with Dave Ellefson formerly of Megadeth and Craig Neilson of Flotsam and Jetsam. That's a pretty impressive line up. How'd you manage to join up with those guys?

It is a cool line up for this particular material. I am happy to have those guys on the record with me. Actually, Dave will always have an open door with THE ALIEN BLAKK but we've talked and he is probably gonna be better suited for festivals and one-offs for right now. I have a few offers in but the bass position will be revolving until I decide permanence will be necessary. Craig on the other hand will be here in some form or the other depending on scheduling. I actually jammed with Flotsam & Jetsam before Craig got in the band. They needed a guitar player back in 1997 so I jammed with them as a band a few times and individual as well, but the timing wasn't right for me. I have already approached Paul Bostaph about the possibility of doing the next release from THE ALIEN BLAKK. I really like his personality on the drum set and even more we really get along about the concept of how to work on music and the creative process. I think David and Paul could be real cool on the next release from THE ALIEN BLAKK, but time will tell what the future holds. I joined up with all of these guys because we all run in the same circle and are all friends with each other. It is not quite so easy to communicate musically with people you just meet sometimes and all of these guys I have known for a long time and really respect where they are coming from musically and personally.

The name of this new project is called The Alien Blakk. What can we expect from your upcoming release Modes of Alienation?

Modes Of Alienation is a 10 song instrumental cd. It has 9 songs with the band and 1 song with just a mono classical guitar and a bit of keys here and there. It is really a release that I began because I had no choice but to make it or drive myself to a point where I didn't know I could get, or want to get in my own head. It had to be made and exist. It was not done being written when it began and was not completed until it was Mastered 14 months later. I believe music to be an evolutionary process where it's not done until it's done. -And even when it is, then the live arrangements go somewhere else as well from the creative stand-point, also. You can expect unfiltered honesty and all that I had to give from myself on this cd. Everything that I know and felt the need to experimet with at the time. It is marked and done and now time for the live versions as well as a new group of songs (which I am working on for a 2007 summer release). Musically it stretches out a bit and really has a lot of "outside" playing. I just hear music this way, so on "Modes Of Alienation" it is part of an ongoing blueprint of the way I hear landscaped tonality as an ongoing existence.

If you could, what other band or group would compare The Alien Blakk to?

I cannot compare it to any other bands because as a "band', who else is an instrumental progressive group with a guy who sings on half of the set as well (Joshua Craig also handles the vocals live with THE ALIEN BLAKK) as shares solos and does improvisation in various stylistic settings?

What kind of tour can we look forward to in the praise of Modes of Alienation?

Touring will be as much as possible as I love playing live. I could easily open for Joe Satriani, Al DiMeola or Slipknot I believe. It just depends on which people/groups are interested in having us out there with them. I am open to everything and as much as possible that may come my way.

Not only do you sing and play guitar but you compose, produce and mix your records (and other artist's album as well). At what point did you decide you were going to compose and produce?

I made the decision to be as pro active as possible with my own music when I was 14. I produced my first original composition then and had my cousin who was producing Marky Mark at the time Engineer the song for me. It was called "Test Killer". It was a cross between Testament and a song from Judas Priest's Painkiller record! -Or "tape" as they were called back in the day!

Aside from this, you've worked with a rather impressive array of artists. You've worked with everyone from Coolio, Xzibit and Christina Aguilera to Rob Halford as well as members of White Zombie and Murderdolls. What have you learned from being around so many musicians, many of which are huge in the music industry?

I have learned different things from each one actually. All of the situations have helped groom me to be where I am right now. I have specific one line things about each situation, but hopefully my personality exposed through THE ALIEN BLAKK will be enough for right now. Just to give you a bit on the previously mentioned artists, I wrote and recorded with Rob Halford, was a Producer and guitarist as well as Music Director for Coolio, session musician for Christina and also was called for the same by Xzibit. Erik from the Murderdolls and I have know each since we were 14 and also went to college together. When I first moved to California, my first roommate was Ivan from White Zombie. We tried to start a band and I did a recording as well as hired him on a Queensryche tribute cd that I was producing to play drums and percussion.

Are there any plans to work with any artists right now or are you solely concentrating on The Alien Blakk?

I have been fortunate to be called on to do work with a few artists as far as production-writing-or session playing lately. I will always consider anything offered to me. I have a passion and true enthusiasm for music and creativity. That's why I have an e mail contact on www.THEALIENBLAKK.com so that I may be approached about anything. I am always writing new music for THE ALIEN BLAKK though. The Alien Blakk is more of an evolutionary process and I write it as I go on. It comes when it comes. The new stuff is kick ass I believe. I am singing on the next one on half of it as well.

Finally, is there anything you'd like to say to those reading this and who have yet to listen to all that you and your music has to offer?

I would like to say thank you to anyone for their interest in THE ALIEN BLAKK and my music. It is a gift and should be enjoyed and loved by all. If you have yet to hear THE ALIEN BLAKK or myself, hopefully you will be exposed to it and really dig it. It is my personal expression (which is odd and experimentally different musically speaking) and belief in sound. I stretch out and really take pride in my work and who I work with also. Hopefully this is part of all who enjoy music.

www.thealienblakk.com