BY GREGG KIRK
Big Shout Magazine

It was around 1985 that Newark native Vinnie Moore captured the imagination of just about every bedroom-guitar-playing kid cutting his teeth on his first Van Halen record. This was the year that Moore sent a cassette tape and a picture of himself to Guitar Player Magazine columnist Mike Varney, who writes a monthly feature called “Spotlight.” Varney’s profile on Moore catapulted him the Delawarean to Rock Guitar God status overnight. Within a year, Varney signed Moore to his own Shrapnel Records, and offers began piling up for Moore to do guitar clinics, product endorsements, and even a television commercial.

Ten years later, and a little more wizened after battling with a handful of record labels (“I’m going for the record for most labels in a five-year period,” he laughs), Moore is back with a new album, a new label (Futurist), and possibly a new tour. We talked with him just as his new CD, Out of Nowhere, hit the record stores.

Big Shout: Weren’t you on a Pepsi commercial or something? Wasn’t that the first big thing to happen to you?

Vinnie Moore: I was in the “Spotlight” column, and they saw my picture in the magazine. They gave me a call because they were casting for the commercial, and they got a hold of Varney, actually first, and he gave me a good recommendation. So they called me up, and I was on a plane the next day to Los Angeles. I almost go the acting part, but I ended up only getting the music.

BS: So basically you just played in the studio whatever music was in the commercial?

VM: They basically just gave me a clock with the seconds marked out, and I kind of watched the second hand and there’d be like a shaded space of about six seconds where I knew I needed to play. When that shaded space ended, I needed to stop. It was really a watching-the-clock type of thing.

BS: Because of the commercial, did Varney become more interested in signing you to his label?

VM: No, from the very first time I talked to him he definitely had interest in doing a record, and from that point it was just a matter of — is it going to be a solo record? Is it going to be with someone else’s group? It turned out to be the Vicious Rumors record — a metal band that was already on his label, and they needed a guitar player. It was a quick way to get a record out there and kind of create a buzz.

BS: When did that get released, and what happened when you played with those guys?

VM: I think that came out in ’86. I played on the record and I let them know that I really wasn’t interested in their direction. They were doing real heavy stuff — not that I’m not into heavy stuff because I am — but it was more of a screamer vocal type of thing. It became more and more apparent that I wanted to go in a particular direction and they were interested in going in a diametrically-opposed direction. But the record came out, got some press, and kind of created a buzz for me, and then I began writing songs for my solo record, which was Mind’s Eye. That came out in ’87 on Shrapnel Records.

BS: What happened after that?

VM: I started doing a bunch of clinics… I don’t think I really toured when that record was out. And then I basically went back in the studio and did record number two, which was Time Odyssey, which was on Polygram. I kind of got off the Varney label and got a major deal.

After that I did some touring after the Time Odyssey record, and also I did a lot of clinics again, and started working with a singer actually, to kind of put a vocal band together. Basically, that didn’t work out and ended up being a time killer. Then I just wrote a bunch of songs for the Meltdown record, and that came out in ’91.

BS: We interviewd you about that time and you were opening for Rush at the Spectrum. Now, didn’t you play with Alice Cooper before that?

VM: Yea, I did two songs on his record, and then I went out and did the “Tour of America” with Alice.

How did you get mixed up with him?

VM: It was because an A&R guy at Epic named Bob Pfeiffer, who was Alice’s A&R guy who knew that I was in the studio doing Meltdown. He heard some of the material, and it was basically his recommendation to Alice. He recommended me and my bass player at the same time, Greg Smith, and we both ended up getting the gig. It was fun to do, but it wasn’t something that I would’ve wanted to do long term.

BS: How did you get on the Rush tour?

VM: I don’t remember exactly how it happened but I think their booking agent knew my manager and requested a Meltdown CD. He heard it and liked it and got it to the band, and I managed to get the northeast leg of the tour. It was kind of nerve wracking because the tour started in Philadelphia at the Spectrum, so I just drove from my house to the Spectrum, never having met Rush or playing on that stage. There were no rehearsals. It was nerve wracking, but it was really cool, too. It was like a dream come true.

BS: Well, what was it like from a personal standpoint? What were some of the behind-the-scenes things that surprised you about playing there?

VM: Well, I drove from my house right to the backstage area, which is that little ramp in the back. I remember for soundcheck I was surprised at how cold it was because of the hockey rink. The ice is basically under the floor, so in the daytime before all the people get there it’s pretty cold. I was surprised that equipment-wise you really didn’t need anything bigger than what you would use in a club. They have a big P.A. and they mic everything, so if your equipment is loud enough to hear yourself onstage, with a big P.A. you’re fine. There’s like a detached thing when you play at a big arena like that, as opposed to a small club. The audience is a little further away, and because it’s so big there’s a certain detached feeling that I can’t explain. At a club, people are right up on you and you just feel more a part of the crowd.

BS: How long did that tour last?

VM: The Meltdown tour continued all the way through the summer of ’92. After the Rush thing was over, we did clubs all over the country and then I immediately started writing songs for this record and ran into some problems with a record company that kind of held me up for a couple years. It was a big legal hangup for like two years, but I have a deal with a new label, Mayhem/Futurist, and now I’m back on track and ready to get rollin’ again.

BS: Are you going to tour for this CD?

VM: Yeah, we’re gonna go out and do some touring, some clinics, and hopefully get overseas this time to Europe. I would guess the touring will start in the summer. We might possibly do an opening-act type of thing or get together a club tour. We’re just basically kind of investigating things at this point. The record just came out last month so we gotta wait for people to know it’s out and for a little bit of a buzz to be created.