INDIE ARTIST OF THE WEEK: ANDY BEECH – LUTHIER FOR PRINCE AND BELTFED WEAPON

 

Andy Beech, owner of D’Haitre’ Guitars. is a native Washingtonian has created and designed numerous guitars, for hundreds of famous artists and guitarists.  Andy Beech made 31 guitars for Prince over the years, including the now iconic Cloud and Symbol guitars His creations have been seen all over the world, being featured in movies, the 2007 Super bowl halftime show (featuring Prince), and on display at the Hard Rock Cafe and The Smithsonian. Andy just this year designed a guitar with Richie Faulkner of Judas Priest. Together they are developing Janus Guitars. Andy is a musician in his own right and currently plays with the Seattle-based metal band Beltfed Weapon who have just returned with a new EP, Raining Plague. Beltfed consists of founding member and guitarist Frank Hetzel, singer Dean Sternberg, the album’s stellar lineup is rounded out by bassist Steve DiGiorgio (Testament, Death, Sadus), drummer Fredrik Widigs (Marduk) and lead guitarist Andy Beech. Produced by Frank Hetzel and Aaron Smith (Jeff Loomis, Seven Horn Seven Eyes), Raining Plague expands Beltfed Weapon’s core sound with increased speed, precision and additional melody while retaining and accentuating the aggression fans have come to expect. Jeff Loomis (Arch Enemy, Nevermore) once again makes a guest appearance on the record, along with Matt Wicklund (Ghost Ship Octavius, God Forbid, Warrel Dane, Himsa). The EP was engineered, mixed and mastered by Aaron Smith at Envisage Audio with artwork by Van Williams (Ghost Ship Octavius, Ashes Of Ares, Nevermore). Raining Plague was entirely self-financed and distributed. Digital downloads are available through iTunes, Amazon and CD Baby. Physical CDs may be purchased at www.beltfedweapon.us.

Andy, it is a great pleasure to get to talk to you.  What began you building a guitar and the inspiration behind it?

I grew up in a very small town. The closest place to go buy a guitar or even a guitar string was 40 minutes away.  We did not have many resources and were pretty self-sufficient. My dad was very creative and competent and to him it was a piece of wood. He said basically “you can do this”, and  so there I was at 13 years old and trying to figure out how to do it. I decided I could do this and started gluing things together and making mistakes until I got it right.

Did you take a guitar that was already built and see how it was built?

Yes.

So what was the first wood you built one with?

Well, it was probably some old lumber lying around like old fir wood. We pretty much did not have a lot of resources. You did what you had to work with. The first couple ended up like crap and then I got into high school and the teacher of woodworking let me stay after school and take extra classes and let me get into mahogany and other woods.

I find it interesting that woodwork at school would result in a life- long career. So jumping on a little, I saw that you had made a guitar with Zakk Wylde and were his guitar tech in support when he was touring with Ozzy Osbourne (1987). What does a guitar tech do and how did you get on that tour?

Well, I moved down to LA in 1985 or 6 and got a job straight away with a little guitar repair shop and ended up bumping into Zakk – it as a long time ago so we just ended up crossing paths and becoming drinking buddies.

What is the worst part of being a guitar tech? What did you have to do for him?

The worst part about being a guitar tech is just being gone. The job is not that hard.  You tour years round and you pack up the guitar and set them up for the show. 90 per cent of guitar techs call someone else to fix the guitars but I would do it myself on site.

What is the worst thing that can happen?

The worst thing is an electronic failure. I remember we were actually in Texas and we were doing a show in a pretty small venue and Robert Trujillo was in Infectious Grooves  at that time in support of Ozzy and he accidentally tripped over a cable that unplugged the entire back line. And he did not know he had even done it – somehow we got it all turned back right on    but -that was a little bit hair raising.

How do you go from that to a conversation into for example designing the Glory for Zakk?

That guitar came out of a bunch of conversations we had had. It was supposed to be over the top bigger better louder and better built – and it worked – but unfortunately Gibson came in and took over.

You were with D’Haitre guitars at that point?

Oh yes it has always been D’Haitre since day one

So you were a smaller company coming up at that time against larger companies? Does Zakk Wylde still use that guitar today

No, because of Gibson he was not able to use that guitar any more. We auctioned it off for a children’s’ charity in Florida.

You went from that relationship with Zakk Wylde and I know that you built 31 guitars for Prince. It was so sad he passed away.  Do you know where some of those Prince guitars are today? I know that you had the honor of seeing play one of your guitars at the Super Bowl.

I don’t know where they all are. They ended up using Schecter later on. Several of them are in the Hard Rock Cafes in LA – it is an honor for me – I think it is awesome – that is an iconic place and all these people are seeing things that I made.

With the guitars that you made for Prince, why were the names for example the first ones – “The Cloud” What was it about that guitar that made it what is was?

That was a pretty simple guitar really. The hardest thing about that guitar was the paint job – there was so much material being applied it was hard to keep the frets working properly -it is a really simple guitar – the neck is fairly small and narrow – that’s the only thing – the main thing is it works and plays very well and looks very cool.

Then he had another guitar, called The Symbol – what was that?

I actually really enjoyed making that guitar – it was really fun to make –  Again it was very simple although the shape was really interesting and so was the carving. It worked well.

With your current project with the one for Judas Priest, can you tell me something?

It is basically a neat design based of a V shape  – it is a machine –ready to go  you could throw it into a dryer or take it into an airplane – or do whatever you wanted to do with it!

 Tell me about your current projects since you are a guitarist in your own right.

I play in a local band Alien Probe – it is more melodic than Beltfed – we want to go out and do some shows with Beltfed.  

Tell me about your project with Beltfed Weapon.

Well Frank and I have been good friends for 22 years or so. I was fronting a band and singing then and he approached me about guitar lessons and we hung out and became friends. Over the years he would bug me about playing solos with him and I thought dang that’s stuff is fast that he is to! I am more of a hear rock guy than metal. We did some stuff about 15years ago and I was not really prepared for it – so we joked about it – it turned out okay but this time when he came and asked me to do the new solos – I did and it turned out great. We worked the songs out in my little studio over a period of four or five months.

Tell me a little bit about your band and the history.

I put Beltfed Weapon together in 1999 and we started off as a small project, jamming with a few guys and wrote a few songs and then

had a big drama break up.  But I didn’t give up.  I got some more musicians and recorded again and turned it all into a demo over a period of a few years using different musicians resulting in a demo, Beltfed (self-titled). Then I went through a lot of line- up changes over the years and leading up to Peacekeeper I had a pretty y good line up and came out with Peace Keeper. Then after all that some of the guys were not sure about touring and I thought to myself I got do this differently and I kinda set my guitar down for 2 years. Then I started playing again and demoing out some songs and then decided to go the hired guns route.  I approached Andy Beech and we started working on it, then I approached Steve DiGiorgio (Testament, Death, Sadus) who I had actually booked for a festival as a promoter previously at the Northwest Deathfest – I am a huge fan of his – it was such an honor to have him play on my demo. Then I approached Fredrik Widigs (Marduk)  from Sweden to drum.  Van Williams agreed to master and record it and he flew into Seattle to demo out on my home studio and it sounded killer. And we went from there.

So you have collaborated remotely or in person and got all the music ready – how will it work when you want to go on tour?

Well Frederick and Steve are really busy with their band so I have been talking to some other people so we are setting up to play some songs in 2017 – so how it works is we will all be flying in to play our shows after working out our parts on line beforehand. I try to create the most drama free environment for everyone involved so it is fun. We are gonna start with some Seattle based shows and then looking out elsewhere after that.

Frank, tell me about your music style and background.

Well when I was about ten years old and heard AC DC for the first time.  At 13 I picked up a guitar and started messing with it and I thought it was so hard. At high school, I was into Metal Church and Anthrax, then when I got to Seattle I got turned on to Obituary and bands like Cannibal Corpse. I got with a drummer and we started working out some ideas…I always  focused on my right hand –cos  I wanted to play fast.  I never really got into doing solos or anything. Scales were very difficult for me at that time so I had a very late start on solos but Andy has been a very good help with this as has Jeff Loomis.

So Dean has also come into this interview. Dean can you tell me about your singing career?

I would say I am a progressive metal guitar player and I started singing out of necessity because I could never find a singer for my band!

You have a great metal voice –how long can you sustain that during a show?

I am not sure.  I did death vocals on tour with Into Eternity at first it was tough but after a week or so I got into it and it was easier

What was it like making this EP?

Well, I kind of knew what I was doing – I would rehearse in my head before I went in the studio – basically do to this live it would take a lot of practice for me but I am sure I could do it!

How do you feel about the EP Raining Plague – do you like it?

Yes, it turned out really well and a lot of credit goes to our audio engineer.

It is a collaborative project but who wrote the songs?

The music was all done and Frank wanted to stick with the titles such as “Mind Rape” so I wrote around the titles. I wrote the lyrics to the first three songs.

If someone came to see you sing live what can they expect?

For me as a singer, I am going to practice hard and pull it off! 

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by Carox Rox, RockRevolt PhotoJournalist