Jeff Loomis

Jeff Loomis
Jeff Loomis playing with Nevermore in Dinkelsbühl, August 16, 2007
Background information
Born	September 14, 1971 (1971-09-14) (age 38)
Origin	Appleton, Wisconsin, U.S.
Genres	Progressive metal, thrash metal, power metal , neo-classical metal , death metal, heavy metal, instrumental rock
Occupations	Musician
Instruments	Guitar, bass, keyboard
Years active	1991 - present[1]
Associated acts	Sanctuary Nevermore
Website	www.jeffloomis.com [1]
Notable instruments
Schecter Jeff Loomis 7-String Signature Models

Jeff Loomis (born September 14, 1971) is the lead guitarist for the Seattle progressive metal band, Nevermore. He has listed guitarists such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, Jason Becker and Marty Friedman as his influences.^[2][3]

Biography

Early days

Loomis started making music with a drumkit, but soon he was bored and he started playing guitar.^[2] He got his first instrument at nine or ten years old, but didn't start practicing seriously until around the age of 15.^[2] As a teenager in Wisconsin he played in a handful of cover bands and three death metal bands before joining more established bands.^[3][4] At the age of 16, Loomis won Wisconsin's Guitar Wars contest.^{[citation needed]}

He was auditioned for Megadeth (during the So Far, So Good...So What! era) at the age of 16, when their lead guitarist Jeff Young left the band. After they played a few songs together, Dave Mustaine, the band's frontman and other lead guitarist, thanked Loomis and told him that one day he would become a great guitar player, but because of his age he was not right for the position.^[2] Jeff Loomis saw Cacophony on tour, and told Marty Friedman, who became very interested, about the audition. Marty tried out for the position and joined the band in 1989. In 2005, Loomis would then share the stage with Megadeth, as the lead guitarist for Nevermore as part of Mustaine's Gigantour festival. Coincidentally, Loomis' co-guitarist in Nevermore, Chris Broderick, later auditioned for, and became a member of Megadeth.

Sanctuary

Not too long after being auditioned for the lead part in Megadeth (which was also auditioned for by Steve Smyth and Chris Broderick, both playing for his later band Nevermore at different points), Loomis was able to join the band Sanctuary after guitarist Sean Blosl had left. He was able to take his place at this time; however, because of a dispute caused by guitarist Lenny Rutledge wanting to make grunge oriented music, Sanctuary broke up 4 months afterwards.^[2]

Nevermore

After the break-up, Loomis and former Sanctuary members Warrel Dane (vocalist) and Jim Sheppard (bassist) made plans to form Nevermore, and in late 1994, Loomis became the lead guitarist of Nevermore after the brief period being in Sanctuary. Now, he is the main songwriter of Nevermore, adding to the unique sound that fans are familiar with. His contributions can be found in albums such as The Politics of Ecstasy, Dreaming Neon Black and their latest album This Godless Endeavor (including Steve Smyth, who previously featured in the band Testament). Currently, Loomis plays an important role in portraying the sound that Nevermore has today, using 7 string guitars and techniques such as sweep-picking. One of his more important musical showcases is in the critically acclaimed album Dead Heart in a Dead World, in which he wrote most of the songs before Nevermore.

Solo

In 2005, Jeff reported that he would take some time as a break and then begin recording a solo album. He said, "It's something I've been wanting to do for sometime... It will be like a Jason Becker/Marty Friedman kind of thing." On April 1, 2008, Jeff said that all 10 songs which have been written have had the drumming recorded (which was done by Mark Arrington pretty much overnight) and they will soon begin tracking the rhythm guitar. On 3 July 2008, it was announced that the album will be called Zero Order Phase[2]. It was released 30 September via Century Media Records. During this time Dave Mustaine of Megadeth invited Jeff to join Megadeth as the lead guitarist, but declined the offer to work on his solo record. However, he recommended former Nevermore guitarist Chris Broderick for the position, and because of Loomis' reccomendation Broderick got the job.

Other

Loomis had a monthly column^{[citation needed]} in Guitar World magazine entitled "Merchant of Menace" where he explained how to play the riffs and solos of Nevermore. In more recent columns, His former co-guitarist in Nevermore, Steve Smyth has co-written the column, which is dubbed "The Merchants of Menace." He has also been featured in Young Guitar magazine, showing guitarists how to play, and explain his style and signature guitar in Nevermore.

In 2009 Guitar World released his first instructional video.

Equipment

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Loomis plays various Schecter seven string guitars, including the Jeff Loomis C7 FR Signature Model with EMG 707 pickups and a Floyd Rose tremolo.^[3] He also plays a Schecter C-7 Hellraiser with EMG 707 active humbucker pickups, and the C-7 Blackjack with the Seymour Duncan Blackout pickups. Prior to Schecter he played a wide variety of guitars including Ibanez, Gibson, Jackson, ESP, and Warmoth.In the video for 'Believe In Nothing' he can be seen using an LTD M series (Either M400 or M100fm) He also owns a custom ESP Horizon 7. He endorsed Peavey amplifiers and after that he endorsed Krank amplifiers. Early in 2007, Schecter guitars brought out the Jeff Loomis Signature Schecter 7 string, based on the C-7 Hellraiser model. It features the EMG 707 active pickups, ash body in 'Vampire red satin' and three piece maple neck with maple fretboard and Sperzel locking tuners. At NAMM 08 a new signature model was released. It is the same as his other one but it has a fixed bridge instead of a Floyd Rose.^[5] He uses Ernie ball strings, gauge 10-52+70 (10,13,17,30,42,52,70) In Eb tuning for the majority of Nevermore's tracks. As of 2008 Jeff is now endorsing ENGL Amplification and using their Engl Special Edition 670 heads. The switch from Krank was influenced by Chris Broderick, former 2nd guitarist of Nevermore who used ENGl amps on stage with Jeff.

Effects Pedals

• Digitech X-Series Delay, Reverb, Chorus, Whammy
• Brian May pedals,
• Krank Distortus Maximus Distortion pedal
• Ibanez TS-9 Tubescreamer & TS-808 Tubescreamer

Recording Gear

• Digidesign 002 Rack Protools unit
• Drums From Hell Superior
• Korg Padkontrol
• Apple Macbook Pro
• M Audio speakers for monitors (BX8's?)
• Line 6 Pod Pro XT
• Roland Fantom X-6 keyboard

Discography

Nevermore

• Nevermore (1995)
• In Memory (EP, 1996)
• The Politics of Ecstasy (1996)
• Dreaming Neon Black (1999)
• Dead Heart in a Dead World (2000)
• Enemies of Reality (2003, remixed in 2004)
• This Godless Endeavor (2005)
• The Year of the Voyager (2008)
• The Obsidian Conspiracy (2010)

Solo

• Zero Order Phase (2008)

Guest appearances

• God Forbid - Gone Forever (2004)

• Pamela Moore - Stories from a Blue Room (2006)

• Annihilator - Metal (2007)
• Warrel Dane - Praises to the War Machine (2008)
• Marty Friedman - Future Addict (2008)
• Switchblade - Invictus Infinitum (2009)
• Tim "Ripper" Owens - Play My Game (2009)

Instructional DVD

• SUPER SHRED - Guitar World

References

External links

• Jeff Loomis's website
• Official Nevermore website