Octane – Fear Zero from Ken Mason on Vimeo.

Download the Demo: octane

I wrote this after a request from one of Fear Zero’s managers that I do something to “prove” what I can do on guitar. It was a real pain to record and is probably the most demanding thing I have had to play guitar-wise. The influences are pretty obvious; Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen and a bit of Eric Johnson.

One of my favorite pieces of music to play when I was a kid just starting to play was a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen called “Eruption.” I remember hearing this kid from my school play the end tapping part and I said to myself, “I have to learn that!” I spent the whole summer practicing that solo and by fall when my little band played our school dance, I performed it in front of the whole school to chants of “Eddie, Eddie, Eddie.” It was pretty cool and must have been kinda like what EVH had heard on stage for years.