Jeff Waters

Jeff Waters
Background information
Born	February 13, 1966 (1966-02-13) (age 43), Canada
Genres	Thrash Metal, Speed Metal, Heavy metal, Groove Metal
Occupations	Musician, Songwriter, Record producer
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Years active	1984 - present
Associated acts	Annihilator
Website	www.annihilatormetal.com

Jeff Waters (born February 13, 1966), is the guitarist and mastermind of the thrash metal band Annihilator and remains as the only original member in the band. He was born in and resides in Ottawa, Canada. As the main songwriter for Annihilator, Jeff is considered among the most influential guitarists to up and coming modern metal guitar players. The list of players influenced by him includes Alexi Laiho (Children Of Bodom), Willie Adler (Lamb Of God), Matt Heafy/Corey Beaulieu (Trivium) and Ol Drake (Evile). He he was ranked at number 3 in Joel McIver's 2009 book The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.

He performs most of Annihilator's guitar and bass parts himself in his home studio and hires various rotating members to cover tours. He is the main producer of all of Annihilator's albums from King of the Kill up until now, and also performed lead vocals for the band between 1994 and 1997. Jeff played on Roadrunner Records' Roadrunner United CD playing the solos in the songs "The Dagger" and "Independent (Voice of the Voiceless)". He was the producer of Defiance's debut album entitled "Product of Society", and made a guest appearance on After Forever's self-titled album.

In the early stages of his career Jeff Waters used a Hamer Flying V. Around 1994, he began to experiment with other guitars and over the next few years used classic models such as a Gibson SG and Gibson Les Paul to achieve the diversity of sounds in Annihilator's music during this time period. He would also use a Fender Stratocaster from time to time in the studio. Jeff has been known to use an ESP Dave Mustaine signature Flying V that he owns and it was this guitar that he used to record Schizo Deluxe as mentioned in the video section of annihilatormetal.com. Jeff currently plays Ran Guitars. On a promotion-tour in Europe in November 2009 Jeff uses the prototype of an Epiphone Annihilator-Signature guitar, which is going to be sold in 2010.

Jeff's father was in the military and he lived in various parts of Canada before settling in Ottawa at the age of nine. He studied classical guitar as a youth.

He was twice asked by Dave Mustaine to join Megadeth in 1989, and again in 2004, but declined due to his commitments to Annihilator.

Guest appearances

It seems Jeff Waters will guest in the third cd of Firewind's keyboardist Bob Katsionis. Jeff also revealed to French fans after a show that Alexi Laiho asked him to play a guitar solo on Children of Bodom's next album.

External links

• Annihilator Official Website
• My Space