Though Stone Sour is currently in the midst of an indefinite hiatus, guitarist Josh Rand is anything but inactive. In fact, he's teamed up with Springfield-based vocalist Casandra Carson for a brand-new creative outlet, The L.I.F.E. Project.
While we'll have to wait until later in the year to hear the duo's debut EP, their first single The Nothingness – which arrived in April – offers a taste of what's to come.
The idiosyncrasies of Rand's songwriting are familiar; the track's riff-centric, overdriven arrangement is not far removed from his work in Stone Sour, though it sees him let loose with slightly heavier rhythm guitar lines and a killer solo to boot.
Naturally, we're sure you're dying to watch the track's six-string lines in action. Luckily for you, Rand joins us today for a full playthrough.
Gear-wise, he plays two Ibanez electric guitars – an RGD61ALET for rhythm and an RG60ALS for lead – through a Hughes & Kettner TriAmp MKIII amp head and a Diezel VH2, respectively.
“For The L.I.F.E. Project I knew that I wanted a more aggressive sound than what I had with Stone Sour,” Rand says.
“The gear itself really didn’t change – we just added more gain – but the real secret to the sound is the amps being turned up to eight and nine to make them scream. It was so loud when we were tracking guitars that it kept setting off the glass break alarm in my house.”
