Tony MacAlpine is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning three
decades and twelve studio albums, he is best known as an instrumental rock solo
guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in
guest appearances and collaborations. Biography
Having started playing piano at the age of five and guitar at twelve, MacAlpine
studied classical music for a number of years at the Springfield Conservatory of
Music in Massachusetts, as well as various music programs at the University
of Hartford in Connecticut. One of his musical influences is Frédéric Chopin,
to whom he pays homage in his interpretations of the latter's études,
which are featured on the majority of his studio albums.
Together with his first studio releases, Edge of Insanity and Maximum Security,
he had a prominent role on other works during the popular shred era, including
keyboard performances on the debut albums of fellow guitarists Vinnie Moore
and Joey Tafolla. Soon after his own debut, he played guitar in a heavy metal
supergroup named M.A.R.S., which resulted in the 1986 album Project:
Driver. As part of a band effort named
'MacAlpine', Eyes of the World was released in 1990 as a more
commercially-oriented attempt to emulate other hard rock acts at the time. The
venture was short-lived, and his subsequent album Freedom to Fly was a
return to his instrumental-based work. A further consecutive string of
instrumental albums followed throughout the 1990s, most of them through the
renowned Shrapnel Records label: Madness, Premonition, Evolution and
Violent Machine. For his last album of the decade, Master of Paradise,
MacAlpine briefly assumed singing duties in an effort to experiment with
different styles. After the release of Chromaticity in August 2001, he took an
extended hiatus from recording solo albums and worked with a variety of
other musicians and bands, most notably with supergroups CAB and Ring of Fire.
Nearly a decade later, in June 2011, he released his self-titled eleventh studio
album through guitarist Steve Vai's Favored Nations label.
In the early to mid-2000s, MacAlpine took on a dual role playing both guitar
and keyboards in Vai's touring band The Breed. He is featured on the band's DVD
release Live at the Astoria London, along with two DVDs of the G3 tour: G3:
Live in Denver and G3: Live in Tokyo. During that time, he was the guitarist
for progressive metal supergroup Planet X, alongside keyboardist Derek Sherinian
and drummer Virgil Donati. He played with them for three albums in the first
part of the decade—Universe, Live from Oz and MoonBabies—and rejoined them in
2009 for a string of live performances, and at that time a possible new album.
His most recent collaborations have included Seven the Hardway, a
progressive metal group with whom he released their self-titled album in
2010, and a guest appearance on Sherinian's seventh studio album Oceana.
In the second half of 2012, MacAlpine toured Europe and Asia as part of PSMS,
an instrumental supergroup. Instrumental Inspirations, a DVD of their live
material, was released October 21, 2012. Additionally, in an October 2012
interview, he stated that he was working on new studio material, as well as a new
album with Ring of Fire. Battle of Leningrad, Ring of Fire's fourth studio
album, was released on January 28, 2014. MacAlpine's twelfth studio album,
Concrete Gardens, was released on April 21, 2015.
Style and influence MacAlpine was highly influential in the
neoclassical metal genre, becoming known for his instrumental rock style of
playing that displays highly advanced shred techniques; one of his most
oft-used techniques being 'sweep tapping', a variation of sweep picking.
He has incorporated elements of classical, jazz, fusion, hard rock and
heavy metal on both guitar and keyboard, and has been described as a virtuoso by
Jason Ankeny at AllMusic. Equipment
Edge of Insanity: Kramer guitars, DiMarzio pickups, Peavey amplification
Project: Driver: B.C. Rich guitars, DiMarzio pickups, GHS strings, Peavey
and Rockman amplification Maximum Security: B.C. Rich guitars,
DiMarzio pickups, Peavey amplification, Ibanez effects
Eyes of the World: Mason Bernard guitars, DiMarzio pickups, Dean Markley
strings, Peavey amplification, Baldwin keyboards
Freedom to Fly: Peavey guitars, Seymour Duncan pickups, GHS strings, Peavey
amplification, Baldwin pianos Madness: Washburn Mercury series
guitars, Seymour Duncan pickups, Dean Markley strings, Hughes & Kettner
amplification Premonition: Washburn guitars, Seymour
Duncan pickups, Dean Markley strings, Hughes & Kettner amplification
Evolution: B.C. Rich guitars, Seymour Duncan pickups, Hughes & Kettner
amplification Chromaticity: Carvin guitars and
amplification Tony MacAlpine: Ibanez guitars, DiMarzio
pickups, Ernie Ball strings, Hughes & Kettner amplification, Source Audio
effects, Toontrack software MacAlpine became a prominent user of
seven string guitars after joining Planet X and still plays them regularly,
along with eight-string guitars. A long-time endorsee of Carvin guitars, he
switched to Ibanez in 2010. Since 2011 he has played a customized RG Prestige
eight-string model with EMG pickups, whilst his seven- and six-string models
use DiMarzios. For amplification, he uses the Hughes & Kettner TriAmp for
studio recording and the Coreblade model for live touring. An Ernie Ball wah and
volume pedal completes his live setup. A detailed diagram of his 2011 gear can be
found at Guitar Geek. Personal life
MacAlpine currently resides in Pasadena, California. On August 25, 2015, he
posted on his Facebook profile that he may have developed colon cancer, which
has forced cancellation of some dates on his tour to promote Concrete Gardens.
Discography = Solo albums=
1986: Edge of Insanity 1987: Maximum Security
1990: Eyes of the World 1992: Freedom to Fly
1993: Madness 1994: Premonition
1995: Evolution 1996: Violent Machine
1997: Live Insanity 1999: Master of Paradise
2001: Chromaticity 2006: Collection: The Shrapnel Years
2011: Tony MacAlpine 2015: Concrete Gardens
= Vinnie Moore= 1986: Mind's Eye
1999: The Maze 2006: Collection: The Shrapnel Years
= Planet X= 2000: Universe
2002: Live from Oz 2002: MoonBabies
= CAB= 2000: CAB
2001: CAB 2 2002: CAB Live at The Baked Potato
2003: CAB 4 2008: Theatre de Marionnettes
2010: Live on Sunset 2001: CAB Live at the Baked Potato:
First and Second Set 2002: CAB Live at The Musician Institute
= Mark Boals= 2000: Ring of Fire
2002: Edge of the World = Steve Vai=
2003: Live at the Astoria London 2004: G3: Live in Denver
2005: G3: Live in Tokyo = Ring of Fire=
2003: Dreamtower 2004: Burning Live in Tokyo
2004: Lapse of Reality 2014: Battle of Leningrad
= Other appearances= 1986: Project: Driver – M.A.R.S.
1987: Out of the Sun – Joey Tafolla 1999: VK3 – Vitalij Kuprij
2004: Eric Claptons Guitar Festival - I'm the Hell Out of Here
2007: Clinophobia – Devil's Slingshot 2007: Ze re Tour 2007 – Michel Polnareff
2010: On Revolute – Dave Weiner 2010: Seven the Hardway – Seven the
Hardway 2011: Oceana – Derek Sherinian
2012: Plains of Oblivion – Jeff Loomis 2012: Instrumental Inspirations – PSMS
2013: Live in Tokyo – PSMS References
External links Official website