Sonic Perspectives cover art

Sonic Perspectives

Sonic Perspectives

Written by: Sonic Perspectives
Listen for free

About this listen

 Where music does the talking Music
Episodes
  • ALEX SKOLNICK Reflects On New ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO Album: “Everything Is Becoming So Dependent On Technology, But Our Music Is An Expression Of Being Human”

    ALEX SKOLNICK Reflects On New ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO Album: “Everything Is Becoming So Dependent On Technology, But Our Music Is An Expression Of Being Human”
    Nov 10 2025
    After weeks in Europe unleashing one of Testament’s heaviest tour runs, Alex Skolnick is back home, almost over the jet lag and coming down from nights of high-volume catharsis. The decompression is real. “I was there for a few weeks performing almost every night, and it takes a lot of energy,” he tells Rodrigo Altaf during their conversation. “You get used to it, and then you forget how much energy you’ve put out. And you get home, and you’re just exhausted for a few days.” That contrast between exhaustion and renewal sits at the heart of Prove You’re Not a Robot, the new album by the Alex Skolnick Trio. It’s a record that insists on human interaction in an era obsessed with automation: musical, cultural, and otherwise. The title is more than a clever nod to login screens. “Part of the inspiration for the title was the fact that everything is becoming so dependent on technology,” Skolnick explains. “I think there are just a lot of people that are not thinking for themselves and just sort of following podcasters or YouTube channels that are telling them how to think. And by not thinking, you’re behaving more like a robot.” We’re constantly asked to prove we’re not machines online, but he’s more concerned with how we behave offline. He points to a growing culture of conformity: in politics, in entertainment, in the way audiences let algorithms, pundits, and influencers decide what to think. For Skolnick, the trio’s music is the opposite of that: improvised, interactive, and unmistakably human: “It is music that does require interaction and being in the same room at the same time,” he says. “We are making this music together, and it’s an expression of being human.” Artificial intelligence hovers around his world from multiple angles. On Testament’s latest album, Parabellum, the band dives into dystopian tech on the track “Infanticide AI,” born from ideas by Chuck Billy and lyricist Del James. Skolnick notes how naturally that theme echoes the trio’s more understated concerns. “It’s interesting because even though my trio album doesn’t have AI in the title, you can certainly relate it to that as well,” he says. But where Parabellum channels futuristic dread through blast beats and razor-edged riffing, Prove You’re Not a Robot answers with nuance, swing, and space. It’s a reminder that resisting the machine doesn’t have to mean shouting over it; it can mean listening more carefully. The album’s visual world is as intentional as the music. The cover photo is Skolnick’s own black-and-white shot, born from a quiet moment with a “real camera,” not a phone. “This was an accidental image,” he recalls. “I was just going around taking photos, not thinking about what I was taking. And this really felt like it could be an image. And then once I had the title, it seemed to really fit.” Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God sits at the intersection of these elements: he’s the one who pushed Skolnick into serious photography, then stepped behind the lens for the band portraits. “Randy got me into taking photographs on a real camera,” Skolnick says. All the band photos on the album, “the photos I’m in”, are Blythe’s work, woven together by designer Maddie SJ with Skolnick’s own images. The result feels tactile and human, the opposite of AI-generated gloss. Photo by D. Randall Blythe One of the standout tracks, “Armando’s Mood,” nods directly to two unlikely but foundational voices for Skolnick: Chick Corea and Steve Howe. “Chick Corea is a massive influence,” he says, singling out pieces like “Armando’s Rumba” as essential, if daunting, study material. At the same time, he was revisiting “Mood for a Day” by Yes, rediscovering Howe’s hybrid picking approach. “I realized a lot of his acoustic parts are done with pick and fingers. And I’ve been doing more of that lately.” Somewhere in that overlap, a strange idea clicked. “Something about the melodies, I thought, oh, this is interesting. It’s almost like you could play ‘Armando’s rumba’ slow at this tempo. And it fits.” So he fused them, then twisted the meter into 11/8, more John McLaughlin than straight tribute. “It was really like a challenge, an exercise for fun. I wasn’t sure it was something worth putting on the record. But as I worked on it with the guys, it just really started feeling musical and challenging, but also fun. And now it’s this piece that’s very fun to play.” Their version of Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” began as an emotional reflex. “That one came about on the day we found out he passed away,” Skolnick says. The trio was about to play The Iridium in New York, so they slipped in a partial, faithful version on the spot. For the new album, he finally gave it the full treatment by breaking it apart. “Of course, I want to make it different from the original,” he explains. The trio leans into 5/4, tipping its ...
    Show More Show Less
    35 mins
  • CHRIS CAFFERY Reflects On 20 Years Of Solo Career, SAVATAGE’s Return, And The Balance Between Legacy & Future

    CHRIS CAFFERY Reflects On 20 Years Of Solo Career, SAVATAGE’s Return, And The Balance Between Legacy & Future
    Oct 1 2025
    For guitarist Chris Caffery, best known for his work with Savatage and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the release of 20 Years of the Music Man means much more than a career milestone. It’s a reflection of perseverance, humor, and the need to keep moving forward despite shifting musical landscapes. “Well, basically what had happened was I had been releasing a couple of singles, and for me that kind of became sort of easy to do, because I didn’t have to get a whole record done… I recorded a song last year that was called “Do You See What I See Now”, and I decided to contact Mr. Jeff Scott Soto to see if he would share the lead vocals with me, and he did, and I really liked the way this song came out,” he explained. What began as scattered singles evolved into a full compilation. Caffery admitted that the idea of a retrospective took on momentum of its own: “It started to feel like to me that it was going to have to be a record that was going to need to be done… I just kind of pieced together what I thought was a really neat timeline of the 20 years from when I first really started recording those songs… between 2004 and 2024, that’s where this music was recorded.” The result is not just a “best-of,” but a sprawling map of his solo journey, including previously unreleased songs, vinyl exclusives, and tracks that slipped through the cracks the first time around. It’s a statement of continuity, that his solo career is not an afterthought to Savatage or Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but a parallel voice he continues to develop. Among the compilation’s most talked-about songs are the ones that wear frustration on their sleeves. Titles like “Pisses Me Off”, “Sick of This Sh*t”, and “You’ve Gotta Be F*cking Kidding Me” might suggest pure rage, but Caffery explained that his intent was closer to comedy than fury. “Here’s the thing, I did ‘You’ve Gotta Be F*cking Kidding Me’ because I had ‘Pisses Me Off’, so I thought it was kind of funny… when Holger said to me, well, you had ‘Sick of This Sh*t’… I thought the trifecta of those three songs would be pretty fun to have on one CD,” Caffery explained. He added that the humor was deliberate: “I like to make people laugh, you know, and it’s like if I’m saying that stuff, it’s a way for me to use my sense of humor to control anger, not bring the anger out.” For Caffery, these songs are snapshots of a time, as relevant for their energy as their satire. This balance between metal intensity and self-deprecating humor reflects his personality onstage with TSO, where he often uses jokes to disarm audiences. Still, he recognizes the risk of updating the formula for today’s climate: “I considered doing a ‘Pisses Me Off’ 2025 version, or something like that, but people are so sensitive now that if I were to write what pissed me off… instead of making people laugh… they would hear what I say now, and they get mad.” However, not all of Caffery’s music stems from humor or catharsis. “Then She’s Gone”, one of the compilation’s most poignant tracks, was written in a moment of late-night reflection after personal heartbreak: “I was home one night in the band house… and I just kind of threw it all together really fast… I just thought it would be something that would be a really cool stamp to the end of this.” Even when the vast majority of his fans have followed Caffery primarily for riffs and power, he can channel vulnerability with as much authenticity as ferocity. Although he initially saw the track as a quiet closer, the label insisted it should be released as a single — a choice Caffery initially doubted: “After the video came out and people started hearing the song, I was really blown away with how universal the reaction was. I don’t think I’ve released a song that had as consistent a response from everybody… Everybody seems to associate with that song.” Of course, no conversation with Chris Caffery would be complete without addressing Savatage‘s return. The band’s performance in Brazil after more than two decades was deeply emotional for him: “You know, it just felt like it was a year ago that we stopped. It was so weird. You know, it was over 20 years since we were in Brazil, but it just felt like it was the day before. I mean, Savatage never broke up. We just had a really long pause.” For Caffery, the reunion is not revolving around nostalgia, but about the band that shaped him reclaiming their rightful spot in the musical landscape: “Once I left my band with my brother, Savatage was my band with my other brothers. You know, it was like, I mean, it’s my band.” Fans have long awaited the rumored Savatage upcoming album Curtain Call, but Caffery suggested it might symbolize renewal rather than farewell: “Jon wants to call it Curtain Call, but… I don’t think it’s a final curtain. Right. I think it might be rising again… maybe, fingers ...
    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
  • JOE DENINZON & JASON GIANNI On STRATOSPHEERIUS Recent Album “Impostor!”: “We Are Lucky To Be In A Band Where Everyone Goes Above And Beyond”

    JOE DENINZON & JASON GIANNI On STRATOSPHEERIUS Recent Album “Impostor!”: “We Are Lucky To Be In A Band Where Everyone Goes Above And Beyond”
    Oct 18 2024

    Joe Deninzon has got to be one of the busiest guys in rock music. For over a year, he’s been the violinist for the legendary band Kansas — which is in the midst of an extensive 50th-anniversary tour.

    But Joe’s other focus is his group Stratospheerius… which melds rock, jazz, classical, and a bit of anything else. Stratospheerius has a new album which came out on October 11 (check out our review HERE).

    Their new album is called “Impostor!” — with an exclamation mark. And it’s the culmination of six years of work. The pandemic threw a block in the timing. Then Deninzon produced the live Stratospheerius album, “Behind the Curtain (Live at Progstock)”. He and drummer Jason Gianni had to learn the ins and outs of video production for the DVD of that one. But the main thing that held up the release: the group wanted it done the right way.

    Recently, Deninzon and Gianni talked with Mark Boardman about the new album, what it’s like to experience newfound success in middle age, impostor syndrome, and the challenges of scheduling live gigs amid all their other commitments. Watch or listen to their conversation below, and remember that for more interviews and other daily content, follow us on Facebook, Flipboard, and Twitter, or subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new content we publish on a daily basis.

    The post JOE DENINZON & JASON GIANNI On STRATOSPHEERIUS Recent Album “Impostor!”: “We Are Lucky To Be In A Band Where Everyone Goes Above And Beyond” appeared first on Sonic Perspectives.
    Show More Show Less
    Less than 1 minute
No reviews yet