Alex Skolnick

" Alex Skolnick "

Alex Skolnick (born September 29, 1968, grew up in Berkeley, California) is an American jazz and rock guitarist. He is a member of the thrash metal band Testament, formed in San

Francisco in 1983. Skolnick left the band in 1992 — returning briefly to re-record some old material for the band's First Strike is Still Deadly release as well as the "Thrash of the Titans" all-star performance in 2001. He joined the band Savatage for the recording of Handful of Rain, as well as its follow-up live album and home video release Japan Live '94. He has also recorded and briefly toured with the Stu Hamm band, and played with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. In 2004, Skolnick made a guest appearance on Lamb of God's Ashes of the Wake album. Alex recorded a solo for the instrumental track bearing the same name as the album.
After leaving Savatage, Skolnick fronted several projects in the Bay Area during the mid to late 1990s, such as Exhibit-A and Skol-Patrol (a funk band exclusively dedicated to cop-show themes, both covered and original, featuring Michael Manring). He also recorded two albums with Attention Deficit, a 3-piece featuring Tim Alexander from Primus as well as Manring. Recently Skolnick relocated to New York City and began devoting all of his energies to jazz, enrolling in the jazz program at The New School. Most recently, he has been touring and recording with the Alex Skolnick Trio, a jazz group known for playing rousing bebop renditions of classic rock and heavy metal tunes.
In the spring of 2005, Skolnick and the rest of the classic Testament lineup reunited for a short European tour (10 Days of May Tour), with some American dates appended on. The tour was successful and a CD/DVD release was put together from the May 08, 2005 London show. The band has continued touring with this lineup and there are plans for a new album.
In October 2007, the Alex Skolnick Trio were support act to Rodrigo y Gabriela on the US East Coast. Alex is currently touring with Trans-Siberian Orchestra on the Winter 2007 Tour.
Alex now usually plays Heritage Guitar electric and hollow-bodied models. In his early years with Testament he endorsed Ibanez guitars and mainly played the 540 PII model. Contrary to popular belief, the 540 PII was not his signature model.
He also briefly played guitar for Ozzy Osbourne's backing band in 1995.

Steve Lukather

" Steve Lukather "

Steve "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American Gramm Award winning guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has also released several solo albums and, as a studio session guitarist, has arranged, composed, and recorded on over 800 number one albums. While his work with Toto is predominantly based on pop rock music, Lukather's solo work spans many genres including rock, prog, jazz and funk.
Notable session keyboardist David Paich and session drummer Jeff Porcaro asked Lukather to join in forming their band, Toto, in 1976 when Lukather was nineteen years old. He has been a member of Toto ever since. Lukather's talent at guitar playing and his association with Paich and Porcaro, already established session musicians, allowed him to obtain a great deal of session work in the 1970s and 1980s. He is a prolific songwriter, writing or co-writing many songs for Toto and other artists. His career to present has seen hundreds of performances and album appearances with Toto and other famous musicians. Lukather suffers from tinnitus, which developed in the early 1980s. "Yes I have tinnitus, what a drag. I wear earplugs now 'cause of it. I found that it was all the years wearing headphones that did me in more than live playing. I used to have the real expensive plugs, but I found some 2 dollar ones that work just as good and you don't feel bad losing them... My hearing is damaged though. I always have to say "WHAT???", hahaha. Be careful guys, this could happen to you!"

Lukather was born Steven Lee Lukather on October 21, 1957 in San Fernando Valley, California. He started out playing keyboards and drums and then taught himself how to play the guitar starting at age seven when his father bought him a Kay acoustic guitar and a copy of TheBeatles album Meet the Beatles. Lukather indicates that the album "changed his life" and that he was greatly influenced by the guitar playing of George Harrison in particular.
In high school, Lukather met David Paich and the Porcaro brothers (Jeff, Steve, and Mike), all of whom would be eventual members of Toto. Lukather, who had been a self-taught musician thus far, began taking guitar lessons from a musician named Jimmy Wyble who expanded Lukather's knowledge of different aspects of music like orchestration. It was during this period that Lukather became interested in the idea of being a session musician with its opportunities to play with a variety of famous musicians.
Jeff Porcaro, who was playing drums with Steely Dan, became a mentor to Lukather and furthered his interest in session work. After Lukather completed some successful album and tour work with Boz Scaggs, Paich and Porcaro asked Lukather to join them in forming Toto in 1976 along with Bobby Kimball, David Hungate, and Steve Porcaro.

Lukather came about after Toto had been recording and playing for eleven years and the band consensus was to take a break. Since Lukather had a number of songs written that did not appear on Toto albums, he decided to pursue a solo album. His intention was to present a dimension of his musical work that fans would not be familiar with, and he collaborated with many notable musicians. Among the people involved in Lukather were Eddie Van Halen, Richard Marx, Jan Hammer, and fellow Toto members Jeff Porcaro and David Paich. Lukather has stated that the album is produced in a very simple manner and that one can hear a lot of ambient studio noise such as counting off on various tracks. He also credits bands Pink Floyd, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and guitarists Jimi Hendrix, David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton as influences on the album. The single "Swear Your Love" came from the album.