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Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney doesn’t “enjoy” today’s wave of shredders
The founder of Shrapnel Records, a label that shaped the shredding guitarists of the 80s, has surprising opinions about technically talented guitarists of today.
Image: Brigitte Engl/Redferns via Getty Images
Founder of Shrapnel Records, Mike Varney, has revealed that he doesn’t “enjoy” listening to “newer technical players”.
Shrapnel Records was a key figure in popularising the shred boom of the 1980s, supporting shred-heavy guitarists such as Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, Vinnie Moore and many more.
Therefore it’s surprising that the founder of this record label doesn’t enjoy this new wave of artists. However, Varney explains in an interview with Guitar World, that new guitarists are too focused on theatrics.
“I still love technical guitar playing, but I listen to many other kinds of music, too,” he notes. “It’s tough for me to listen to many of the newer technical players out there today as either they are just rehashing things Shrapnel artists did 40 years ago, or they’ve gotten faster and are playing seven and eight-string guitars.”
“I can appreciate some of that stuff, but I don’t enjoy it, as a lot of it sounds as if its sole reason for existing is to facilitate crazier guitar playing,” he concludes.
“I’m not looking for anything faster than the fastest things we put out, or that has so many time changes in it that they appear to exist to try to make something sound as complex as possible. I think part of it is my age.”
Marty Friedman, who was supported by Shrapnel Records during this ’80s boom, has recently made very similar comments to Ultimate Guitar about shredding:
“[Shredding] looked amazing. You look at those fingers, and it looks so exciting, like, ‘Wow, this guy’s so good,’ but if you close your eyes and listen, it’s like, ‘What this guy’s playing will never ever be in a song.’ It could never be something that could become popular.”
“It looks cool on the fingers, but it doesn’t sound cool,” he continues. “That’s what shredding is to my image. So when I hear that term, that’s what I think of. And it’s really quite easy to do those things, if you just practice, anything.”