Debuting in 2005, Periphery took the metal world by storm. Since that time, they have blasted out five albums, earned a Grammy nomination, and established themselves as pioneers of the progressive metal movement. They are also Sweetwater customers. We caught up with Periphery’s Matt Halpern, Misha Mansoor, Mark Holcomb, and Jake Bowen. The guys shared their thoughts about inspiration, making music, and of course — gear. What did they have to say? Read on.
Has there ever been a point in your life where you lost your interest in playing? If so, what did you do to rekindle your passion for it?
Matt: Absolutely. As creatives and artists, we all run into roadblocks at some point. The key for me is to be okay with those moments in time. Rather than stress myself out by trying to force creativity or inspiration, I take a step back and focus my attention on something else completely. The time away with a redirected focus is exactly what helps me to rekindle my passion. Listen to your gut. If it’s telling you to take a break, go with it. Don’t try to force it. Take a step back, do something else you enjoy, and you’ll find heaps of inspiration from that experience.
Mark: Definitely. The most vital thing for me has been to pinpoint ways to break out of these ruts, whether it be going for a hike, throwing my guitar in a different tuning, putting down my instrument for a week, listening to a type of music I normally don’t listen to, playing video games, and so on. I regularly fall into creative ruts, so identifying things that help reverse that momentum are essential.
Jake: Never, there have been periods of time where I definitely need a break to gain some perspective. Sometimes it only takes spending time doing other hobbies or work to help me get excited about picking up my instrument again. Playing is one of the only things that has always given me a sense of certainty in life where I know if I put in enough work I will get better at it. I’d also like to mention all the opportunities and friends I’ve made through music, so I never take it for granted.
Other than your main rig, what’s a must-have piece of gear to keep on the road?
Matt: My signature Mapex Wraith snare drum, hands down. The snare is the most present piece of the drum kit, and its sound can sometimes make or break the sonic enjoyment of a show. It’s the centerpiece of my drum set and it helps the audience stay connected with the show. It’s definitely a must-have.
Mark: Clean clothes! I can’t stress this enough. I see so many guys under-packing, re-wearing socks for five days on end, and so on. Nothing can drag your mood down unexpectedly more than being dirty, or almost as bad, smelling five other dudes in your band who haven’t changed clothes in a couple days. Bring enough clothes so you don’t have to slum it!
Jake: Batteries and various tool kits, I tend to be the guy who fixes a lot of the gear on the road and thanks to our amazing crew there’s always a workbox filled with great tools and supplies.
What are each of your pre-show warm-ups/rituals?
Matt: I love to get my heart rate up and get my blood flowing. I do jumping jacks, push ups — sometimes even a full-body workout before I hit the stage. It warms me up and gets my mind in the right place for the show. As a band, we also have a chant we say every night before we walk on stage. Come see us live and maybe you’ll hear it one night!
Mark: I go over hand-stretches for big chords, really simple picking exercises, and mainly practicing trouble spots in the Periphery set. I’ll pick challenging sections in our set and simply practice those over and over again. As far as rituals, we have a certain chant we like to do before each show begins. Just to sort of get the camaraderie going.
Jake: I usually start about 45–30 minutes before the change-over, I plug into a small practice amp and I go over the mental notes I made of my performance from the previous night — spot-checking riffs, tightening up rhythm parts, figuring more efficient fingerings, etc. I also play the absolutely shreddiest song in the set a few times, on this last tour it was “Prayer Position” off of Periphery III. I’m sure everyone was stoked to hear me play that song over and over and over again backstage every day.
What defines a “successful” Periphery performance?
Matt: A successful Periphery performance is one where everyone had a great time. We don’t worry about the technicalities of the show — we’re all human and none of us ever have a PERFECT show. Instead of getting caught up in those small intricacies, we just try to have fun. The more interaction we have with each other, and the more interaction we have with the fans, usually helps to make a show unforgettable and “successful” for everyone.
Mark: Just putting on the best show we possibly can, from a performance, stage-presence, sound and production aspect. Performing well trumps everything else — you certainly don’t want to walk offstage knowing you made a handful of mistakes — and that you played the most focused and inspired show you could have played. Everything else mostly falls into the hands of our crew, the team we’ve entrusted to build our stage production and mix our sound.
What defines a “successful” Periphery record?
Mark: That it accurately portrays the band that we are. That sounds like a cop out, but judging a record’s success is so subjective, unless you want to look at sales. But even that is so murky these days because of how far record sales have fallen for everyone. I think a successful Periphery record has to fully represent who everyone is in the band, and express what we all have to say as artists. If the album comes out and we realize we’ve suppressed some side of ourselves for whatever reason, then I believe the album is a failure. Luckily, we haven’t done that yet and I hope to never have to.
Jake: From my perspective they all have their successes, all have provided unique challenges that we had to figure out as a band. They also serve as a snapshot of where the band was at that time and where our heads were at the time. I’m happy to say that I’m proud of every album for different reasons because we all have grown so much together, and on this last one it was such a joy to work with everyone because we’ve spent so much time on the previous records figuring out the best ways to work together as a band.
What piece of music advice forever changed your way of thinking?
Matt: The best piece of musical advice I ever received was something along the lines of “less is more” or “keep it simple.” I try to apply that sentiment to the songs I play with Periphery, as well as on other gigs and sessions. Whether that means only using the appropriate pieces of the kit, or laying back in the group to let the song shine, I try to keep it simple!
Jake: It wasn’t necessarily advice but I’ve been fortunate enough to be surrounded by a family of serious musicians. To a lot of families, being a professional musician is a wasted pursuit or a pipe dream but thanks to my incredibly supportive family they showed me that making music a career was in reach.
I got the advice pretty early on to “write the music you want to write, but play the music people want to hear.” I have always interpreted that to mean that you should create exactly the music you want to create, but for your live show, pick the songs from your catalog that people tend to resonate with. We have done our best to follow that, and I think it has worked out pretty well for us so far. – Misha Mansoor
What did you want to do when you were 10?
Matt: I wanted to be a professional drummer touring in a band and playing shows all over the world. Pretty bad ass.
Jake: I broke my foot when I was 10, after I left the orthopedist office for the first time I asked my mom how much an orthopedic surgeon makes — for a while I wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon.
How much writing happens on the road?
Mark: We used to bring a recording rig on our bus and sometimes, when we got lucky, we’d write something. That’s actually how we wrote the songs “Flatline” and “Graveless,” on our old tour bus. But it became such a struggle compared to how much actual work went into bringing the rig and assembling it each time we felt inspired, that we decided to stop trying altogether. Being on tour requires enough of its own specific type of focus and care that you can’t really expect to be in an optimal headspace to be creative; or rather, creative enough to write something of worth.
Jake: It depends on the tour, free time to write is such a rare commodity, so a lot of times we’ll just be noodling new ideas or riffs out on stage right before soundcheck. It drives our crew nuts because I know they’re just trying to get everything set up and we’re up their making all kinds of noise — sorry guys! Haha!
Gear that got away: What’s one piece of gear you lost or sold that you’d do anything to get back?
Jake: There’s two guitars I sold to keep the lights on quite a few years back and I’m still bummed about it, I’m not gonna say which ones they were but they both meant something to me. I hope wherever they are they’re bringing someone the happiness they brought me.
Misha: I sold this old Ibanez RG550 to my good buddy Elliot Coleman a while back as I was getting money together to buy some gear. I really regret selling that guitar because it was pretty one of a kind. Elliot used to live a mile away from me and when I asked him to sell it back to me, he would taunt me saying “you can come over and play it anytime.” I know he’s never gonna sell me that guitar back, and that makes me want it even more haha.
What’s on the top of your musical bucket list?
Jake: I wanna break guitars on stage with Dave Grohl.
What are the biggest trends in gear that excite you right now?
Mark: I like the fact that because of the abundance of products and gear out there, companies now have to be ultra-strategic in determining what exactly they’re going to develop, how to differentiate it from the sea of gear out there, and to whom they’re going to market it. That kind of direction and exactness just leads to better, more specialized gear, in my opinion.
Jake: For me it would be the fact that it’s becoming more popular to be a gear nerd thanks to social media — all you have to do these days is log into YouTube/Facebook/Instagram and you’ll find people uploading comprehensive HD demos of their new gear. It makes it much easier to research the tools of the trade before making a purchase.
What do you look for in a producer/studio when choosing where to record?
Mark: We have always self-produced and self-recorded because of how attached we are personally to our music. But it all goes back to trust. Ultimately we haven’t found any one producer, aside from ourselves, who we 100% trust to mold and direct our music. Over the years we’ve been active, we have always found it easier to handle that burden ourselves rather than have that conversation.
Misha: We have done the last couple of records ourselves, so we self produced, but that’s only because we have a good system that works for us. I think with a Producer, it’s all about finding someone who really understands the band’s vision and can genuinely enhance the album and the process for the band. If the band and Producer can fully trust each other, good music will come easily. As far as the studio itself, we have found that being comfortable goes a long way. Keeping the stress levels down, whether it’s by keeping video games and ways to unwind close by, or by limiting our working hours so we don’t overwork ourselves on the front-end of a studio session, is absolutely paramount to a good studio experience.
What piece of gear has had the biggest impact on your life?
Misha: I’d say in a lot of ways, my Jackson Juggernaut Signature model. Getting a signature guitar was a bucket list item for me, and something I never really thought I would get the opportunity to design or put out. Somehow I managed to partner up with Jackson to make that happen, and the line of guitars has done well enough to warrant further models and builds, so that has been pretty life changing for me!
What piece of gear isn’t out there that needs to be?
Jake: Those replicators from Star Trek: The Next Generation!
What was the first concert you went to? How old were you?
Matt: Rush was the first BIG concert I ever attended. I can’t recall my age but I was young. Candlebox opened the show and I’m pretty sure it was on the Roll the Bones tour. Epic experience.
Jake: Thanks to my uncle being in Dream Theater it was most certainly a Dream Theater concert. It was in 1997 during the Falling into Infinity tour and it was at Irving Plaza in NYC, it was also the first time I ever experienced “that weird concert smell.”
Jake, we asked your uncle (John Petrucci) whose beard would win in a fight — yours or his. We’ll omit his answer, but we’re curious on your take.
Jake: His beard for sure, have you seen that thing? It probably tunes motorcycles and shoots pool when he’s not looking.
SW: What’s the first thought that comes to mind when we show you this picture?
Misha: Obviously the person who owns that pedalboard needs to save up a bit more money so they can afford a couple more Metal Zones because they are blowing it hard right now…
Jake: Oh cool, Dark Throne must be going on soon.
What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this?
Jake: Oh god, I hate to think about that question, being in Periphery is my dream — I’d hate to be stuck doing something that isn’t my dream! I do love dogs, maybe I’d be a dog trainer?
Misha: Probably working really hard trying to do this haha.
What’s your favorite online music gear retailer and why is it Sweetwater?
Jake: I know this question is worded to be funny but it really is my favorite place to buy gear online, seriously, the customer service is top notch. The last time I bought an audio interface from you guys, after I received it, one of your sales guys called me up just to make sure I was happy with it — like, what other company does that? The best!
Misha: You guys know you have the best customer service, and I love that. It’s a thing, everyone kinda knows that’s what you get at Sweetwater, and I think with the nature of online sales, the safety net of knowing you will be taken care of goes a long way. I know this is a tongue in cheek question, but I think you guys are doing a fantastic job.
Bonus!
Periphery treated 2016 GearFest attendees (and our Facebook Fans) to a special live-streamed performance and clinic here at Sweetwater!
https://www.facebook.com/sweetwater/videos/10154339869148746/
