| Tony MacAlpine | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 29, 1960 Springfield, Massachusetts, United States |
| Genres | Instrumental rock, neo-classical metal, progressive metal, heavy metal, hard rock, jazz fusion |
| Occupations | Musician, composer, producer |
| Instruments | Guitar, keyboard, piano |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Labels | Shrapnel, Favored Nations |
| Associated acts | Planet X, CAB, Steve Vai, Seven the Hardway |
| Website | tonymacalpine.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Carvin T-Mac, DC series Ibanez RG Prestige |
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Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American guitarist and keyboardist. In a career spanning more than two decades and with eleven studio albums to his name, he is best known as an instrumental solo guitarist, although he has worked with many different bands and musicians in the form of guest appearances and collaborations.
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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.[1][2] One of his principal musical influences is Chopin, to whom he pays homage in his interpretations of the latter's études, which are featured on the majority of his studio albums.
MacAlpine influenced and contributed much to the neo-classical metal genre of the late 1980s, becoming known for his instrumental rock style of playing that displayed highly advanced shred techniques and, in later years with the band CAB, elements of jazz fusion. Together with his first studio releases, Edge of Insanity (1985) and Maximum Security (1987), he had a prominent role on other works during the popular shred era, including keyboard duties on the debut albums of fellow guitarists Vinnie Moore and Joey Tafolla, on Mind's Eye (1986) and Out of the Sun (1987) respectively. Soon after his own debut, he played guitar in a heavy metal supergroup named M.A.R.S. (an acronym for MacAlpine/Aldridge/Rock/Sarzo), which resulted in a lone album, Project: Driver, in 1986.
As part of a band effort simply 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. This venture was short-lived, and his subsequent album, Freedom to Fly (1992), was a return to his prior instrumental-based work. A further consecutive string of instrumental albums followed throughout the 1990s, most of them through the renowned Shrapnel Records label: Madness (1993), Premonition (1994), Evolution (1995) and Violent Machine (1996). For his last album of the decade, Master of Paradise (1999), MacAlpine himself briefly assumed singing duties in an effort to experiment with different styles.[2] After the release of Chromaticity in 2001, he took an extended hiatus from recording solo albums and instead worked with a variety of other musicians and bands. A decade later, he released his self-titled eleventh studio album through guitarist Steve Vai's Favored Nations label in 2011.
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 (2003), along with two DVDs of the G3 tour: G3: Live in Denver (2004) and G3: Live in Tokyo (2005). During that time, he was also 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 (2000), Live from Oz (2002) and MoonBabies (2002)—and rejoined them in 2009 for a string of live performances, and a possible new album (according to a 2011 interview).[3] His most recent collaborations have included Seven the Hardway, a progressive rock group with whom he released their self-titled album in 2010,[4] and a guest appearance on Sherinian's seventh studio album, Oceana (2011).
MacAlpine became a prominent user of the seven string guitar after joining Planet X[5] and still plays them regularly, along with a newly acquired eight-string guitar. A long-time endorsee of Carvin guitars (notably the T-Mac and DC series), he switched to Ibanez in 2010. Currently (as of 2011) he plays a customized RG Prestige eight-string model with EMG pickups, whilst his seven-string and normal six-string models use DiMarzios. For amplification, he favors 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.[2][3][4]
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