How did you go about getting in touch with the guitarists in the book?
By any means necessary. Since I was just a glorified fan, without the backing of a major magazine or network, it was difficult getting musicians to talk to me. They -- understandably -- had other things to do than talk to someone who was (as a friend described it) basically a groupie without boobs. It got a bit stalkerish, the efforts I was going to in order to locate the guitar heroes. An overworked clerk in the Rutherford County, Tenn. police department was pretty frustrated by my frequent inquiries about the 2011 arrest of Vinnie Vincent as I tried to reach him. That's just one example.
Did you have anyone on your list that you just couldn't land in time for the book?
I used a pretty expansive definition of the guitar hero label when writing Power Chord. If -- at any point in my childhood -- I had imagined that I was the guitar player rocking the leads and riffs blasting out of my stereo, then that qualified as a guitar hero in my book. So there are tons of people I still need to reach. I met Mick Mars of Motley Crue briefly, but didn't get to interview him. That's someone I would love to chat with. Michael Schenker and Yngwie Malmsteen are two others. And Vinnie Vincent, as controversial as he is in the KISS story, is still a great story that I'd love to hear.
