MI: Hi Joshua.First of all what is your real name Craig or Podolsky? Or did you have to change your surname for promotional reasons, to sound more "rock"? J.C: My full real name is Joshua Craig Podolsky. I use Joshua Craig because it is easier and people don't spell Podolsky correctly that much. Besides, my friends call me Joshua Craig most of the time anyhow. It is just easier I beleive. MI: Since we are talking about names, where did ALIEN BLAKK came from? J.C: Here is the story on the origin of the name The ALIEN BLAKK. Bsaically, when I was finishing college, I was living in Cape Cod and was staying with my father on and off. I was ( as still am ) a bit transient with where I call home. I was thinking of moving to California. My father mentioned how a lot of people out there have stage names. So, I thought if I was to have a stage name, what would it be? ALIEN BLAKK was the idea. Alien would be the first name and Blakk would be the last name. I spelled Blakk with two "k's" because if you Google the word black with two "k's", a lot less results come up than if you spell it how it's supposed to be. It was kind of a funny joke, but I was actually thinking about changing my name! My dad thought I was out of my mind, so he kinda checked me and I put it on hold. Soon after I had moved to California, my Dad passed away and I was really looking for something that would pay homage in a permanent way directly related to my music. I remembered the name, and put it together. The word Alien means anything foreign or strange and unique and the word Blakk is just an enigmatic expressive term that I am familiar with in art, so.it could mean anything. I felt that the material that was written and recorded basically captured a broad scope of a lot of expressive emotions and esoteric things that I had come to create. So, I felt that The ALIEN BLAKK was an aptly named title for that. MI: Why did you choose to have an all instrumental album? J.C: I did not choose an all instrumental album. -It chose me. I had never done instrumental music before. I had always played guitar and sung on every song I had ever written. Something overcame me and this was what exited when I was writing for some reason. -I believe that when something feels right, you need to go with your gut on it. -This just felt right. MI: How did you got Elefson on bass and Nelson on drums? Weren't you afraid their metal past would be restricting your musical explorations? J.C: I got Dave because he was familiar with a lot of the work I had done in many idioms of music and we got along. -Actually, the first time I met him was when I was playing a show with Coolio! Craig on the other hand is one of my best friends and was someone I had worked with on many occasions previously. I was not afraid of their metal pasts at all. I know that Dave actually went to a music school and was well versed in being able to communicate musically and verbally with what I was going for on this release. -Craig started out as a funk drummers and has also done a lot of work with cover bands in the pop style over the years. As far as musical exploration, the way I approach rehearsing and recording all of my productions are in such a way that creativity flows in all ways. Unfiltered expression is asked by all who walk in the room to work on music with me and these guys gave it. MI: You have worked with a variety of artists. These outside metal, how did they discover you and asked you to work with them? J.C: Here is the story on how I began as a session musician in Los Angeles. I was giving music lessons at a store in California next to a speaker store that installed kicker boxes in the back of your car. I saw Coolio standing outside alone. I walked up to him and told him I dug some of his tunes and asked him if he needed a guitar player for anything. He asked me "do you play rock?" I said "dude, look at me!". He had a song that he wanted a dark rock guitar player on, so he gave me his phone number and told me to call him the next day. -Keep in mind, he never heard me play and we only spoke for a few minutes. I called him the next day ( thinking it was the wrong phone number ), and he told me what studio to go to. I drove to the studio, plugged in where the engineer told me to and heard 10 seconds of the song and just started playing! It was a keeper! It is exactly what was kept on the final release! The mix engineer and his assistant never heard someone just go and rip and cut like that they said. -So, they passed my phone number around, and before I knew it, I was playing on everyone's album! I have probably cut over 60 pop / r & b records, 15 tribute records, and many guitar compilations to date. -Millions of albums sold that I exist on. -The guitar player that you hear, but probably didn't know it was me. MI: Don't you afraid to characterized another guitar hero/wizard? J.C: I am not afraid, but it has happened. I know that what I do by nature is not "normal" guitar playing. I play a lot of things that are "outside" and the production on The ALIEN BLAKK is that of the things I have learned from a lot of the higher end records I have worked on. -So I am proud of all the work that I do. MI: How did you arrange to work with Black Lotus, a Greek company? Are you satisfied with he work they have done with you till now /Wouldn't be better a label like the one Mike Varney is running? J.C: I was referred to Black lotus by an A&R person at The End records who had worked with some of The Black lotus staff originally. -I was referred to The End by a guy in Texas who does distribution and thought that they would be a good fit. I am very satisfied with the staff at Black lotus. -Everyone there has been supportive and very kind to me. I am looking forward to future works with them. I have talked to Mike. I know he wanted the cd in his catalogue. -I did not want to be bought out as a catalogue piece and knew that I was not best suited in a shredder kind of setting. What I offer in The ALIEN BLAKK is more than that. -I was looking for a harder working label who was willing to take a chance and work with a motivated staff. Music is an evolutionary process, and I do not want to make the same record again and again. MI: Why did you check all these musical style s in your album? Wouldn't be better to stay on a straight metal album ?(Although I personally prefer guitar works like yours and detest the old worn straight metal shredding) J.C: As i mentioned before, these styles chose me. I cannot control ( unless I reall have to ) what comes out of me. I have a lot of ideas and playing experience in many forms of music. -What comes out, comes out. I know that the next release will have more metal, but there will be more songs also. So, I will be able to offer more to the metal fans as well as stay on track with the enthusiasts of this release as well. Thanks for the compliment, I really do appreciate it. I agree, there are only so many fast notes you can listen to. MI: From the musical styles you are covering, which one represents you more, or it is more attractive to you and why? J.C: I do not have a musical style that I prefer. -Experessive and emotional playing is the best i can describe what i like best. -From the heart. I do prefer the heavier setting as i know that within that element of my personality, I can shift to and from diffrent expressive passages musically though. MI: What kind of instruments do you use,(guitars ,amplifiers, effects) and are you endorsing someone J.C: I have 53 guitars currently. I am endorsed by so many instrument companys, I would be writing a page if I included all of them. -Only one guitar company though. I used about 11 different guitar heads, 10 amps, 35-40 guitars and countless pedals on the record "Modes Of Alienation" though. MI: For a guitar player today, is it more crucial to invest on the technique, or the feeling in his playing? J.C: Feeling is the most important thing, I believe. A note is just a note. -If you do not put something from yourself into it, why let it sound? Expression is the key to begin having a voice in your own musical identity. MI: Your influences? Your favorite players? J.C: My main influence is what happens to me during the coarse of the day. I am affected by what goes on around me. -My playing is set by the state I am in. If i am feeling moody, the sound will be dictated by that and exist in that vein. If I hear a train, I may be thinking of a fast syncopated rhythmical idea that repeats. If I see a butterfly, I may feel in a more sentimental mood. -It all depends. -What players do I like? -Anyone who conveys personality and makes me feel what they are doing is fine by me. MI: Are you interested in having any specific guests in a future album, that you didn't have the time or the money to invite them to play here? J.C: I am interested in specific guests. -Timing and money will help dictate all of that though. Paul Bostaph was going to work on The ALIEN BLAKK. -We still talk about it and saw each other last month and talked. So, if the timing is good, he will appear on the next release. -If even for some and not all of it. It depends on where I am living, Pre-Production, studio, rehearsal schedule etc. MI: What is better for you, working on instrumental ,albums or been in a proper band J.C: I am happy in any setting where I can be myself. Instrumental or band. -Of coarse, The ALIEN BLAKK has no limitations to where I can go as opposed to working for a greater good of a band. So, both possess a great challenge with a needed result. MI: From your working experience with other artists, of high budgets, could a better production help the album more(that means more money spend on having more facilities).Why did you chose to produce the album yourself? How much time it took to write and record and produce the album? J.C: Yes, more money always helps to open up more possibilities. You need to try to keep it together, but more leeway leeds to more possibilities of creation. I chose to Produce the album myself because I felt that i knew what was best for the music. I took 18 months to write and record the music, so I knew that the process was going to be ongoing from the songwriting process thru the recording techniques to the overdub process straight thru the mixing process etc. MI: Been responsible for writing the whole album and for the arrangements didn't you afraid it could turn a little one dimensional? J.C: I did not feel afraid of any one dimensional piece of sound, no. I knew that the song choice was quite diverse and I went further with each piece as it took form. I mean, how many times have you heard a drill used on a Classical guitar in the middle of a Country song!? MI: What is your strong point as a guitar player, that you think differentiates you from the majority out there? J.C: My strongest point is that I listen. -I pay attention to my surroundings and never over-gratify the guitar on any one passage. I know that everything has it's place, and I feel the need to exist where my place is. On the technique side, my approach to "outside" playing is my own. I do not do the standard "passing tones", "chromaticism" or "half step out", type of sound. I go somewhere else. -I go where I feel I am needed to be. There is an approach and a method to all of what I do, and it is something I have always worked on diligently. MI: From the new young guitar players, is anyone you admire and has stepped out of the lot, in your opinion? J.C: There is nothing that really stands out to me right now, no. MI: Is it in your future plans to work in a band, or with a singer? J.C: Yes, I will work with a band in the future. -It will depend on writing, production and scheduling which i will take on though. I will be singing on some of the next release from The ALIEN BLAKK. MI: Which band you would like to be a part of? J.C: Well, I guess the only answer is whatever band I got along with the best and could be productive in. I do have names in mind, but I would rather keep to myself as not to jinx anything that may be a future possibility. MI: Are there any plans for touring? J.C: Yes, there will be touring. I have recently been approached about doing a couple of weeks in Europe with The ALIEN BLAKK in September, but we will see what comes of that. I also would tour the U S prior to that as well to getting the show and all pieces together. I do have a weeks worth of dates doing music from "Modes Of Alienation" at a festival this summer opening for Rob Zombie, FLOTSAM & JETSAM and GODSMACK right now. -Those dates will be myself and a back-up guitarist in an acoustic setting though. -Kind of a one time thing to work within that setting. -But who knows, maybe that will be something I do more of in the future. MI: A few closing words for the Metal Invader readers? J.C: I would like to thank you for the interview and the readers time. I hope that if you have the chance to hear The ALIEN BLAKK, it is something that will move you and make you feel a sense of interest.

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