Guitar World Interview with Daron

Why did you start playing guitar?
Because my parents wouldn’t buy me a drum set. There’s no volume knob on drums, and my parents wanted to have a way to turn me down.

What was the first song you mastered?
“Iron Man” by Black Sabbath, but I never learned the solo. When the solo came around, I would do my own thing. I’ve never really sat down and tried to figure out someone else’s solo because I don’t think a guitar solo is the most important part of a song.

What was your first show like?
When I was 16 I was the lead singer in a hard rock band. Our first date was at a little club in Los Angeles called the Night Rock Cafe. I offended a lot of the band members’ parents at the show because I was cursing up a storm onstage.

What was your worst show?
We were playing in Holland not long ago, and one of my guitars stopped working in the middle of a song. Instead of stopping the song, I threw the guitar into the audience and danced for the rest of the song. It could’ve been a bad show, but it turned into one of the more memorable ones.

What is your favorite piece of musical equipment?
An Ibanez Iceman I use onstage, or a double-neck Gibson SG I have at home.

If your house were on fire and you could only save one guitar, which would it be?
That’s cruel. I’d have to say the Ibanez.

What do you take on tour to help you survive?
Pills. And a thousand CDs from my collection.