We expected this second part of ‘War Of The Worlds’ a bit earlier, since the first part was released in 2018. How come that there is so much time between those records?
With this solo record, I started to write in 2017. I think it was around that time. Once I started writing, I just kept writing and writing. There wasn’t even going to be a part 1 and part 2, just a solo record. But when I looked back, I had so much material and I decided: ‘I take care of the songs now and finish them and put the other half aside’. At some point I would come back to those. That was in 2018. In 2019 Symphony X was touring again and we had more tours coming up in 2020, right in the Spring we had our first shows in the US. So right in the beginning of 2020, I said okay, I have a couple of months here, let me pull those songs out and finish them up and get part II finished. That was all good until about March or so and then covid-19 came. The tour was cancelled. The record was delayed. The studio was locked down. All that happened. Now the record has been done for about a year. Then they considered: what’s a good time for a release? And what’s going on with that? It is difficult to make a plan and stick to it, because you never know what’s happening from day to day. And now we are going from one crazy thing to another one.

Why do you feel the need to make solo albums, because you are the main composer of Symphony X? Of course I know about Russell’s accident and hope he is better now…
There was that whole period when Russ had an accident and we weren’t sure what was going to happen. I remember talking to him right after the thing and he had a hard time. It is putting your whole life in perspective and your family. He did not know he could do this again. So there was some uncertainty. We didn’t know. He decided that he just needed time to sort it out. I completely understood that. Well, the band was taking a break and I just kept myself busy and kept doing things. That is how it started.

You instantly recognize your style of playing guitar, but there is so much more. You are responsible for the symphonic arrangements, but one thing is sure: you are fascinated by science-fiction. Was it already in your youth?
Yes, science-fiction or mythology, everything with a cool story. When I was a kid and growing up, there were so many cool movies. We had Star Wars and Indiana Jones and all these blockbusters and they all had great music. And even though I was so young, there was something about that music that connected with me. As I got older and playing guitar, listening to Priest and Sabbath and Maiden and Rush and all that stuff that I grew up with, I also listened a lot to classical music and film music. I like that big cinematic kind of thing. It just evolved, the stuff that I really like. Even with the band (Symphony X), like ‘The Odyssey’ where you have this big and epic thing. Musically, this ‘War Of The Worlds’ is a classic thing, or it can be horror or it can be mythology. For me, from writing I like the picture thing, you know. Again, going back to when I was a kid, it was all about monster movies and that stuff I liked. I definitely saw the original ‘War Of The Worlds’ movie when I was a kid. It is cheesy, but at that time it was cool. But that one was not my inspiration, I was just looking through books, trying to find something. I wanted it to be epic, sci-fi, space… When I stumbled upon ‘War Of The Worlds’, the book from H.G. Wells, I thought it would be perfect and lyrically too, because I did not want to tell the story like: ‘here come the aliens and they have flying saucers’, but I did not want to do it like that. There is a little bit of that in there, but I liked the idea of ‘them versus us’. I could play with the lyrics here and there, there is always a kind of conflict. Not that I am political or anything, but these are stories with a sci-fi backdrop. It was more the music of ‘War Of The Worlds’ that inspired me, rather than the story. I knew how I wanted the music to sound like by that. I just needed to find a concrete idea.

You have worked with a different singer than on the first album. How come and how did Dino Jelusick get involved?
On the first record it was Rick Castellano, a friend of mine. I like all the guys. That is kind of cool about a solo record: let’s call guys I know. John Macaluso, a friend for years and JD (bass – Vera), we went to high school together, right down the street. On the first one, Rick was the vocalist and I was thinking about the second record: maybe I do something different and bring in a new guy. Who else can I bring in? I was thinking about other guys and I thought maybe I could take a different singer on every song. Yet I preferred the continuity of one singer. I was on the phone with Simone Mularoni, my mixing mate who helps me tremendously. We are super close friends now. He said: ‘I can suggest you my buddy Dino’. I was familiar with Dino a little bit, so Simone put us in touch. We started sending files and it was perfect. It worked out great, I think he did an amazing job.

You are a genius on guitars and keyboards, but you played different instruments on this record as well, like cello and the eastern flavoured oud and saz. How come?
I play piano a little bit indeed. When I hear something I like, I want to do that. When I was a kid and listening to Kiss records, I saw and heard Ace playing and said to myself: I got to learn to do that myself. What is that? Next thing was buying a guitar and play. When I fast forward to now, doing a solo record, I wanted to do as much as possible myself. We have the song ‘Destroyer’ with that Middle Eastern thing and at that time things started to lock down and I thought: fine, I have some extra time in the studio. It would be cool to add a Middle Eastern instrument. Normally I just take some computer thing or sampled sound, but now when I had time, I just bought the instrument and tried to figure it out. I hear something and I try to get the real thing, I try to do it. I am not a maestro on these things, but when I play the part good enough, I think we have that extra human being kind of playing which makes a difference. That is cool. That’s how I play a bit cello. It is rudimentary how I play, but when you put that in the background with the sampled orchestra, it adds a human, organic zest to it. It is sloppy and not perfect, but cool. I love the sound of the cello. My wife always asks me: ‘what do you want for Christmas?’ Ah, a cello! Then I get it and I am plucking and think: goddamn I am pretty good. But when I hear it, I come to my senses and think: wow, I get to figure out how this whole thing works. I love all kinds of music and having a new instrument is amazing to play and experiment.

The 7-string guitar, was that also a Christmas present?
(laughs) Oh no. The 7-string is used in that same song, in ‘Destroyer’ and I had a little more time. What could I do? Actually that was one of the songs which wasn’t totally finished when I went back to the project and looked at it. It was almost done, but it was regular guitar, 6-string. And I was thinking: oh man, this riff has to be darker and obviously a bit heavier. Or I tuned it more or I just get a 7-string, which I did. This song is definitely a little darker and heavier. The 7-string and the saz and the oud, some of these Middle Easter things, they kind of make it a little bit different, a bit cooler. Different texture you know.