Andrew McKaysmith is a Bond University-trained journalist with a life long interest in music. Since 2017, he has been the host of the musician themed Scars and Guitars podcast. He has amassed well over 600 interviews that have achieved a worldwide audience, and it is from these interviews, he has compiled this book series.
Contained within the pages of Scars and Guitars, Volume 1, you'll discover thoughts and recollections from conversations with over 90 podcast guests. You'll read excerpts from conversations with the members of bands plying their trade under the broader banners of rock, classic rock, heavy metal, industrial, death metal, black metal, deathcore, thrash metal, punk, and reggae, featuring musicians as diverse as Michael Schenker (MSG/ Scorpions), Don Felder (Eagles), Erik Danielsson (Watain) Phil Campbell (Motörhead), Al Di Meola, Adam Darski AKA Nergal (Behemoth/ Me and That Man), George Lynch (Dokken) as well as bumper entries featuring conversations with the members of Morbid Angel, Anthrax, Megadeth, Napalm Death, Testament, Corrosion of Conformity, and Cradle of Filth, to name just a few.
The value in Scars and Guitars, Volume 1, is the sense that, as a reader, you are now a part of the conversation. Andrew has a knack for allowing the person he is talking to feel at ease, which is how he obtains deep insight into their thoughts and feelings. As you read through the book's many entries, you'll feel as though you were there, an observer at the time of the conversation. Andrew invites you into this world; he wants you to feel the nervous tension he experiences approaching an interview, the special moments when a breakthrough occurs during a chat and the personal moments when he recognises that a subject is sharing something meaningful and personal.
The secret to Andrew's technique is that he is an expert at helping an interview subject feel like they are no longer in an interview. His goal is to quickly move from an interview into a conversation, a so-called 'safe space' where no topic is off-limits. Scars and Guitars, Volume 1, is the type of book you'll pick up and find hard to put down. If you love rock and heavy metal, this book is undoubtedly for you, and Andrew personally invites you to share in the experience.
