6qs for Michael Alp of From Great Height
From Great Height is a four-piece band hailing from Enfield, North London. Guitarist Michael Alp answers my 6qs.
Who are your musical influences?
We are all influenced by different bands. We have such varied taste. Me personally have always loved metal and at the moment am listening to a lot of black metal. Bands like darkthrone, wolves in the throne room. Paul is a big fan of the type o negative sound. Adam loves the big singers of the 70′s David Bowie, Peter Gabriel and Tim loves the big sounds of Dream Theatre etc… (He also loves his dubstep) What unites us though is a love of epic music. We all want to create a grand sound that is uplifting and inspiring. Music that creates emotion and contains a story. Well that’s what we try to do.
What has From Great Height been up to lately?
Recently FGH have been writing new material. I wouldn’t say its a big struggle but we certainly take a good while to write new material only because we like to try and make each song different from the last. I feel that keeps it as new and as exciting for us, as it does for the audience. 2011 sees us trying to reach a bigger audience and just generally push forward in trying to make from great height A full time job for all of us.
What’s your favorite song to perform live?
As in favourite songs, we all have different ones. At the moment I am really enjoying new song ‘Mayday’. It was a song that nearly didn’t happen as we was all pulling in different directions creatively and couldn’t agree. But what it is now is a true reflection of collaboration and i just really enjoy hearing it knowing just how much hard work and perseverance went in to creating it.
How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?
As with the last song I think our music has evolved in a way that we all are allowed to put our trademark on a new song. The song may have originated from one person, but once we each put our mark on the track thats when it grows into an FGH song. It’s something thats really fullfilling as an artist. Seeing something (our music) grow and evolve. The day I feel we are becoming stale is the day I will hang up my guitar.
If you could play a concert with a band of your choice, who would it be?
Tough question. I think because of our varied music tastes you would get a different answer from all of us. I think we would all want to play with Black Sabbath though. I mean they are why we are all here right? Although sharing a stage with Pink Floyd would be pretty mind blowing.
What’s your favorite board game?
Um…. Jenga? Or Cluedo. Cluedo is prog right? I mean there’s a character called Colonel Mustard. You telling me he isn’t in a prog band?
