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Mike Hickey has provided guitar abuse for such bands as Venom, Carcass and Cronos. He also played bass for Cathedral. He recently got together with guitarist/writer Joe Matera for an interview. |
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Tell us about your background such as who inspired you to pick up the guitar, education, influences etc...?
My first inspiration to get a guitar was seeing KISS on t.v. So I ended up taking lessons from a bluegrass singer .I took lessons from as many teachers as possible;took all the school music classes like theory and jazz band;and started jamming and gigging with older better players and started digging into learning stuff off of records. After high school I went to Berklee for awhile and was fortunate to be playing with people like Derek Sherinian,Al Pitrelli,and Mike Shapiro.My influences are vast...Beck,Holdsworth,Mahavishnu,VH,Hendrix,Ace,DiMeola,Jean-Luc Ponty,Bloomfield,Leslie West,John Sykes, Pantera,i could go on & on. I listen to all kinds of music all the time.
You have played guitar for various metal bands such as Venom, Carcass and Cronos. Tell us about that part of your career?
I was living in L.A. in 86 trying to get a gig and got offered the Venom job,so I went to England to play with them. We did one album-Calm Before The Storm; and toured Brazil and Japan. A lack of activity and some drummer problems led us into forming Cronos with a drummer in America. We recorded two albums- Dancing In The Fire and Rock and Roll Disease with that incarnation. In 92 I was teching for Carcass ,Cathedral,and Brutal Truth. That led to both the gigs with Carcass and Cathedral. With Carcass I played on the Heartwork tour and got to shred every night with one of my favorite guitarists Bill Steer.
Are you involved with the Venom reunion in any way?
Not as far as playing or writing,but i am involved with Venom for the rest of my life. Cronos is one of my best friends and we are always in touch. I may be getting involved with the upcoming U.S. tour. The new album Resurrection is fantastic.
You also played bass for Cathedral?
Yes that was just to fill in at a couple of shows at first but it worked out great and I did the full tour for the Ethereal Mirror lp. I really love to play bass,and those guys were loads of fun.So much fun that I stole the drummer to play with Cronos in the last line up. Which gave us the Cronos:Venom album.
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