This album to me, combined some of my favourite aspects of Teramaze. It’s brutal. Unabashedly and unashamedly beautiful both lyrically and musically, the key of this band is the method in which they combine powerful and commanding sounds with moments of breathtaking wonder. Sometimes it takes one album, sometimes it takes more. He brought something really different to the song and we were all stoked the first time we heard it. Any favorite moments or songs on the album? Træben – Nordic Project . Being able to create music with the guys in Teramaze inspires me daily as a person and musician… and yes that’s sounds corny but it’s 100% true. Dean is in another band (Meshiaak) and we got to borrow their vocalist Danny, for the bridge in ‘One Percent Disarm’. Teramaze is a progressive metal band that originated out of Geelong, Victoria on the continent of Australia. What does it feel like as an artist waiting for the songs you’ve lived with for some time to get released to the fans? The band ends the recording of Swampsong in the Finnvox studios, released on May 23, 2003. I’m really happy with everything we achieved with this album. INSTAGRAM: @Chris ZoupaTWITTER: @czoupashredguyFACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/LearnThatSolo?fref=tsYOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5A0eJ-bgtJddy0rG_prVogPATREON: https://www.patreon.com/chriszoupa, https://www.facebook.com/LearnThatSolo?fref=ts, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5A0eJ-bgtJddy0rG_prVog. What were some of the things you wanted to achieve with the release? How has the experience of playing live been like for the band so far? We all wrote enough songs “about a girl” when we were 15 haha. Her Halo. It feels better to release music honestly, with melodies, lyrics and a message you actually believe in. We were all winded by the end of it. After the demos come to life and we dub a song “complete”, we start tracking everything properly and meticulously. Sign up to our mailing list to receive all of our latest updates as well as feature content including news, reviews and intrerviews with bands from Australia and around the world. In 1976, Gene Simmons of hard rock band Kiss noticed a Van Halen concert and decided to finance their first demo tape. Do you believe music can still change the world? A String of Repeats The Days The Clock Stopped is an intensely personal concept album that details a dark trip … Chris Zoupa is a Melbourne based guitarist, teacher, songwriter as well as part time producer. Did you imagine how these songs would play out in a live situation? We caught up with BSC’s guitarist Chris Robertson about the new album, read about it here. Clockstop - Insight 3 8. There’s a lot of great music and crazy talented people out there you just have to put in a bit of work to find them. Yvonne Smeets – Under A Cloud . After his work was seen by Australian Guitar Magazine he left Ultimate guitar and focused his energies on regular contributions to the magazine. What were the main inspirations for “Are We Soldiers”? It’s gone through many members/lineup changes and the style has really evolved too. A great mix of rock and metal and often music that goes on a journey. It’s groovey. Select a membership level. Pretty sure no one gives 2 corn riddled turds about TV anymore. Ocean Floor 02. … Manager, Online Editor, Publicity & Press. Anything is possible. Join. What can people expect at a Teramaze live show? Real/full name: Christopher Zoupa Age: 31 (born Dec 10th, 1986) Place of origin: Australia Gender: Male Be the truest self you can be as an artist. It’s been great so far. 23 talking about this. We recently did a show with a 30 minute set that didn’t breathe. Do you enjoy the process of creating? The band was created in 1993, originally under the name Terrormaze, before the band members converted to Christianity. Studio album #7 Australian progressive metal band Teramaze has announced the release of new album "I Wonder" on October 9, 2020 via Wells Music. Code of Conduct 4. We demo most of the songs at Dean’s home studio. The music itself is quite experimental and no one’s “playing it safe”. per month. Prog Aid – A Bushfire Relief Concert announced featuring Australia’s finest progressive acts. But it does get lonely being a solo artist and YouTuber, so I think there’s a social and mental health aspect of being in a band that’s been really good for all of us. I have been playing music since I was 6. Chris Zoupa / Teramaze Teramaze was originally formed during lead guitarist/producer Dean Well’s teenage years. There’s something very triumphant and old school Iron Maiden about it. After the release of ‘Are We Soldiers’ we got heaps of positive feedback and were genuinely pumped to play these live and share them with people properly. Are you someone who continually writes or does the best come out under a little gentle pressure? He now has many students from all over the world ranging from England, Ireland, Scotland, USA, Jordan and Mozambique. I think writing constantly is the only thing that keeps any of us sane. The band have just released the second track from the album. The Days The Clock Stopped by TDW, released 04 December 2020 1. It’s like if Diana Ross or ABBA collaborated with Disturbed. Watch the music video for Fight […], Melbourne prog band, Teramaze have announced that their new album Are We Soldiers will be released on June 21, 2019 via Mascot Label Group. OAP Records OAPR901 . Chris Zoupa’s mother’s name is unknown at this time and his father’s name is under review. I personally enjoy making dumb faces at Dean and trying to crack him up at difficult sections in songs. Over the last 13 years he has played with many bands and artists including: Tremedy, Giants Under The Sun, Bellusira, Rob Draper, Spectrum and Alice Tovey & The Apostles. Q&A With Chris Robertson // Black Stone Cherry New Album, The Human Condition Posted November 5, 2020. What are your thoughts on the prog metal scene in Australia? Listen free to Teramaze – Prog Rock and Metal. Not everything is “a keeper” or even a Teramaze song. Ideally I would love to watch the Megadeth album ‘Rust in Peace’ from start to finish. PRS artist Tim Mahoney … I mean that in an endearing way. Positives are there’s always live music on somewhere! Jarr Records 2012 . Clockstop - Insight 2 5. It’s weird… The excitement comes and goes. Wild Bill & The Invisible Men: As Good As It Getz . We’re really enjoy it. Looking forward to Prog Power in Baarlo in October. Tell us about the process of writing and recording the new songs for “Are We Soldiers”. It’s been a constant. Posted November 4, 2020. TERAMAZE: Dean Wells- Vocals / Guitars Chris Zoupa- Guitar Andrew Cameron- Bass Guitar Nick Ross- Drums Hard work pays off in the world of music; band after band trying to plant their own flag in whatever scene pertains to their music. We plan on releasing music that provocates thought and healthy discussion. West Coast Big Band – More Dutch . I’m looking forward to getting more comfortable with the guys and building some more onstage chemistry. Most of the time you just write and see where it goes. Enjoy my fun lessons and regular updates! We are into controversial topics some might say, we just like talking about different topics. Chris Zoupa – Seventh Dan Counterforce. Maybe the same way Freddie Mercury and Bob Geldof did, but people still want to be moved and challenged. The album is very well received by fans and group makes several benefits. Expect tightness, beautiful vocals (with harmonies), to be able to cry and mosh your neck and the same time. People get into with seconds. It gets to band practice and some of the riffs and song arrangements are so all over the place you’re like “Guys, how the jelly buttons are we going to play this live?”. The cool thing about prog is that the parameters are pretty loosey goosey. Find the sound of the mode (what makes it different; sample songs to listen to) 2. Pasi Hiltula, the keyboardist, left the group in early 2004, replaced by Marco Sneck. His lessons on proper technique and tutorials for playing songs like Van Halen’s “Eruption” have brought more than 100,000 subscribers to his channel so far. In particular with the Melbourne music scene, what do you think are the positives and negatives of a place that is known as the music capital of the country? West Coast Big Band – More Dutch . Your audience and customers will figure out soon enough that what you’re doing is not genuine. The band put out a couple albums in the early years, but it wasn’t until the release of Anhedonia in 2012 that Wells felt the modern version of Teramaze actually began. It’s sexy. Crashscape 2. It all comes back to sanity. Lindsay Schoolcraft (Cradle of Filth) releases cover of The Cure’s “Lullaby”, Marty Friedman announces December Australian Tour, Nine/Eight Touring, in conjunction with Heavy Magazine, Behind The Scene, and BHSS are proudly holding ProgAid, a benefit concert for fire victims across Australia featuring some of the nations finest progressive metal and rock acts. Over the past 15 years of teaching he has amassed many students and honed his teaching craft into what he calls “The Zoupa Method”. Tickets […], Melbourne prog band, Teramaze will release their new album Are We Soldiers on June 21, 2019 via Mascot Label Group. It feels good to be on the other side in good physical and mental health playing in a band, with healthy (maybe not our Bass Player Andrew/Mr. This tape, known as Gene Simmons Demo , contains unfinished or different lyrics from Van Halen's early songs; however, Kiss's management did not sign with the group>. He now has many students from all over the world ranging from England, Ireland, Scotland, USA, Jordan and Mozambique. Chris Zoupa’s no-nonsense, common sense guide shows us how to use each mode in its correct context. 01. TERAMAZE’s masterpiece (so far)… HIGHLY RECOMMENDED . Chris Zoupa is famous for being a YouTuber. The Rockpit is an online media publication reporting and promoting rock, metal and blues music from Australia and around the world. No Can Do 10. Brett and Dean formed the band in high school. If you could be a fly on the wall for the recording of any album in history, what album would it be? With technology changing so much over the last few years and seemingly not slowing, and TV force-feeding us the lowest common denominator, what hope is there for rock & metal music? These lessons will focus on creating an awareness of scale knowledge as well as usage and practical application and of course the secrets, hacks and short cuts to the many great guitar techniques. Sleepless Angels 6. The band became popular on the Sunset Strip in the mid-1970s, playing in clubs like Whiskey a Go Go>. From what you’ve learned so far what is the most valuable advice you’ve been given so far as a musician? This is one of the most moving albums I have heard in some time, and a contender for Album of the Year for sure. It’s pretty cool. With many years of live performing and teaching, Chris now wants to create a no nonsense set of lessons to help everyone regardless of technical ability or a high level music theory. Andrew and I have little mini studios as well so it’s super helpful to be able to write in 3 different houses and send ideas back and forth. I grew up listening to lots of grunge, but my biggest influences that helped me get my guitar chops up and help me stylistically fit into this band would have to be Dream Theater and Megadeth. Thankfully, 26 year-old Chris Zoupa was able to answer some of my questions. We will continue to update information on Chris Zoupa’s parents. We’ve been playing around our city and more shows are to come. 4.73 (7) 2019. Chris’ internet presence and notoriety took off when he started his YouTube channel Chris Zoupa/Learn That Solo, which has is primarily devoted to rock and heavy metal lead guitar and solos. Info. I also love Django Reinhardt, Ray Charles, Chopin… I’ll literally listen to anything if there’s a good melody and hooks. Teramaze release music video for ‘Fight Or Flight’, Teramaze announce “Are We Soldiers” album, first music video “Weight Of Humanity” released. As far as “muses” go, most riffs of mine are an accident, unless I’ve been given strict parameters like “Hey Chris, write a bridge that changes key from section Q to section R.”. I feel a lot of pop and Metalcore music out now is very safe and formulaic. Are We Soldiers. Everyone seems to be trying different things and pushing the envelope in their own unique way. It’s an absolute masterpiece. NEVER! He also plays in alternative rock band Giants Under The Sun, a project he one day hopes will become a commercial success. Don’t be a sheep. Artists like James Norbit Ivanyi, The Omnific and I Built The Sky come to mind. Over the past 15 years of teaching he has amassed many students and honed his teaching craft into what he calls “The Zoupa Method”. MONSTERS! Melbourne prog band, Teramaze have just dropped their their new album “Are We Soldiers” recently, a follow up to ‘Her Halo’, Teramaze’s 2015 album, and their first for Mascot Records which saw the band take a big step up from previous albums ‘Anhedonia’ (2012) and ‘Esoteric Symbolism’ (2014). TERAMAZE: Dean Wells- Vocals / Guitars Chris Zoupa- Guitar Andrew Cameron- Bass Guitar Nick Ross- Drums Hard work pays off in the world of music; band after band trying to plant their own flag in whatever scene pertains to their music. We’re working on putting together a set with a few more songs that breathe so we can get our our frickin’ breath back! It gets to the point where you’ve been demoing, recording, editing, producing, culling songs for so long that when they’re done you’re just like “Let’s release this and NEVER talk about it every again!”. Who or what inspired you to be in a band and play music? West Coast Big Band – New Dutch . It’s kinda weird as our influences are so diverse and silly. OAP Records OAPR901 . The chorus sounds great with the vocal harmonies too! Clockstop - Insight X 3. It will be a career highlight for me and the band for shiz. Next year is looking like we’ll have some international shows, as well as new collaborations with some amazing artists. Chris wrote instructional an educational articles for UltimateGuitar.com for 2 years and was a teacher on their instructional app. Death and Her Brother Greg 9. Each chapter is presented in 4 parts: 1. Guitarist who teaches viewers the ropes of metal and hard rock guitar playing on his popular, self-titled YouTube channel. It just makes me happy every time I hear it. Zoupa has been teaching guitar lessons to budding musicians for 10 years now. Clockstop - Insight 4 11. All of us in the prog metal scene are deep down, socially awkward dorks. Traeben – Push. Make good music, make good clips, play like a boss live. There were moments of heaviness from the ‘Esoteric Symbolism’ and ‘Anhedonia’ era, then beautiful orchestrated heartfelt moments from the ‘Halo’ era. I’m hoping we can do some intense writing too. It’s been great getting the songs out of a bedroom or band practice setting. Releasing shit you don’t believe in is like going into an Italian restaurant run by Irish people. I’m awful with tuning my guitars on demos… I just have an idea and I’m too excited to wait for an instrument to be in tune to get it out of my head! How do you feel about the current music scene right now? Chris Zoupa - Guitar Teacher/Musician/Artist is creating Online Guitar Lessons, Q and As, play throughs of original songs. INTERVIEW: Chris Zoupa – Teramaze July 21, 2019 Andrew Massie Melbourne prog band, Teramaze have just dropped their their new album “Are We Soldiers” recently, a follow up to ‘Her Halo’, Teramaze’s 2015 album, and their first for Mascot Records which saw the band take a big step up from previous albums ‘Anhedonia’ (2012) and ‘Esoteric Symbolism’ (2014). I can hear a lot modern metal like Slipknot and Lamb Of God in a song like ‘Weight Of Humanity’, but hear moments of Jason Becker and Queen in ‘Fight Of Flight’. An arsenal of Youtube lessons for the shredder in all of us. I’m really excited by what music we’ll create with this current line up. Dean Wells (v, g) Chris Zoupa (g) Andrew Cameron (b) Nick Ross (d) Other albums. Death) and likeable gentleman. In this no-nonsense guide to shred guitar, seasoned teacher and YouTube sensation Chris Zoupa cuts through the mystery and misinformation that shrouds guitar technique, and expertly guides you through the essential skills that’ll super-charge your rock guitar playing. I just think this album perfectly sums up who we are as a band and artists RIGHT NOW, but also where we’re going. It just sucks when you’re playing a show and half your fans are at a mate’s bands gig. How do you pick out a setlist and is that a difficult process? Once more details are available on who he is dating, we will update this section. The Pulse 7. We have all had various trauma, and some serious health scares. What have been your greatest challenges to date, and your favourite moments musically? Personal Life. There’s so much hope for Rock and Metal right now! Sometimes it takes one album, sometimes it … 311 Announce 3 Upcoming Livestream Shows! Like many famous people and celebrities, Chris Zoupa keeps his personal life private. Chris Zoupa is a Melbourne based guitarist, teacher, songwriter as well as part time producer. Discover more music, concerts, videos, and pictures with the largest catalogue online at Last.fm. $5. If enough artists in any field do that, the world “changeable”. Everyone is super nice. What is the future looking like for Teramaze? You’ll want to bring tissues and a neck brace. Finish Streets Of Rage 2 on Sega Genesis at least once. Question everything. A passionate metal and rock fan with a keen interest in everything from classic rock to extreme metal and everything between. Is there a sense of excitement or a little panic in there too? We’ve always aimed to do something different… I know that sounds cliché, but stuff like experimenting with instrumentation, lyrical subject matter etc. Songs like ‘Weight Of Humanity’ and ‘Control Conquer Collide’ talk about the shady government hijinx, as well as the news and media being controlled and untrustworthy. A place to learn heaps about rock and metal guitar from a delightful greek/sri lankan man. To celebrate the announcement the Australian band also released a new video for […], Saxon proudly display their “Inspirations” with new classic covers release, Iron Maiden’s Adrian Smith & The Winery Dogs’ Richie Kotzen announce electrifying collaboration, NEW MUSIC: Greta Van Fleet announces new album “The Battle at Garden’s Gate”, The Rockpit Podcast: Episode 24 – Max Cavalera, PJ Farley, Stevie Stoker, TOUR NEWS: Guns N’ Roses announces stadium tour of Australia in 2021, Australia’s premier Rob Zombie tribute – Super Beast, to debut in Perth in January, INTERVIEW: Ricky Warwick (Black Star Riders, Thin Lizzy, The Almighty, Solo Artist), INTERVIEW: Jared Mullins – Holy Roller Baby. How does it compare to previous releases? It’s really hard when everyone has their favourites… but it’s also a process based on making terrible mistakes. Kentucky rockers Black Stone Cherry have released their seventh studio album, The Human Condition. Fight me. Current Nathan Peachey - Vocals (2014-2018, 2019-present), Dean Wells - Guitars, Backing Vocals (1993-2006, 2008-present), Chris Zoupa - Guitars (2018-present), … Dean shares demos constantly, we jam quite regularly and I’m always sending phone videos of riffs I write to the guys often captions “yay or nay?” or “is going somewhere?”. Any favorite places to play live, highlights or stand out shows? Four years later and Teramaze are back with a new album so we grabbed a few words from guitarist Chris Zoupa to find out more on the songs and the future. Virtual high 5 from Chris and his heavy metal baby! But, throughout this book, the focus is on making great music, not simply acquiring knowledge. Zoupa Records – 2014 . I really love the double solos in ‘Saviour To Assassin’. Just a half hour of man power. 5.36 (8) 2015 . What were the lyrical themes of the songs? // Black Stone Cherry have released their seventh studio album, the world from! 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