Guitarist Nili Brosh on earning a signature Ibanez and how to survive Dethklok
Nili Brosh. // photo credit Christina Russo
Nili Brosh’s Eventide is out now, and she appears as part of Dethklok when they play the Midland with Amon Amarth on Tuesday, April 21. Details on that show here.
Guitarist Nili Brosh is nothing if not versatile. In addition to her own solo work, which includes the recently released Eventide, she’s played with Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil, as part of the band for composer Danny Elfman’s live shows, and is on the road with animated death metal act Dethklok, who come to the Midland with Amon Amarth on Tuesday, April 21.
It’s such an impressive body of work that Brosh has her own signature Ibanez guitar, “The Answer,” announced this past January. Given the guitarist’s career, it makes sense that this would be another collaborative effort, as she explains when we hopped on Zoom with her ahead of the Dethklok/Amon Amarth tour.
The Pitch: How does one get a signature guitar from Ibanez?
Nili Brosh: I don’t know. It’s a long career process, based on what you do in your career.
What is the work you did with the company to develop this, and what were the particulars that you really wanted to see?
For me, I really wanted it to be an RG model, first of all. That’s something that we don’t see that much of in the signature models, which to me was always a little bit odd especially considering that’s kind of Ibanez’s tried and true line that a lot of people find synonymous with Ibanez, so I definitely wanted to give that some love. Even more specifically to that, we don’t see too many RG models that are what’s called a Fat Strat, which is the Humbucker single pickup configuration.
I wanted to make sure that it’s a versatile guitar and those two things are the starting point to that for me. After that, I had some variables that I really thought were important to have to round out the guitar–like, the type of neck that it is, which is a Super Wizard neck. I like maple necks–the original Edge bridge–and then just the rest of the specs aesthetically, and the colors and everything like that was my concept, and we worked on getting all the variables in there with the best compromise that we can with everything.
I think versatility is essential, especially given the nature of your career at any given time. We’ve got your solo album that just came out, and you play with all of these other different groups. How do you swing from playing with the Newton Brothers to doing X-Men ’97 to playing with Dethklok, to playing with Cirque, to doing your own stuff? How like. How do you balance all of these very different things?
Your guess is as good as mine. I ask myself that question quite a bit. But to me, I think I tend to overthink stuff when I only have one point of focus, so it’s actually been better for me to have something else going on to shift gears to so as not to totally overthink any one thing that I’m doing.
It’s a lot of stuff, but no matter how different the genres and everything, I think there’s always some sort of running theme in music that kind of ties it all together, even if it’s just, as a bottom line, it’s all music. Those guitars have helped me with that. I’ve seen how they translate from one thing to another really well. So I wanted to think about those specs and put that into my signature: what it is about those guitars that have helped me do all these different things and be able to house them on one instrument. That was the thought behind it.
You have your own original music that you’ve been making for over 15 years now, putting out solo albums and playing in your own band, but you’re also well noted for playing with Dethklok and playing with Cirque. What does getting to put your own spin on other people’s stuff, whether it’s X-Men or Michael Jackson songs or animated cartoon metal bands–these are some iconic riffs. Is it nerve-wracking? Is it an honor? Is it both?
Yeah, I think it’s all of the above. I’ve felt that it’s really important to honor the iconic stuff as close to possible. I don’t know if I make everything an absolute soundalike project, but I try to get pretty close. Even if that means that it’s got my touch and my vibrato on it or whatever, I try to find a happy medium where it’s still my voice, but I’m not really changing anything–unless it makes sense to.
But as far as the iconic rifts and the iconic licks–like for example, in the “Beat It” solo or something like that–I definitely try to stay very true to the real thing, ’cause I do feel like it’s paying an homage and it’s an important point of respect to me.
How does playing other people’s music free you to be able to make your own?
For me, it was always my dream career, based on some of my heroes, to balance being a side woman with my own stuff. I never felt fully fulfilled if I’m just doing one. If I’m just doing my stuff, then I feel like I am the boss and it’s my responsibility the whole time. I’ve always wanted to balance that with, when you play somebody else’s music, you’re part of a team, and it’s a different role, and at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter to me who wrote the music. It’s all music, and it all has a sense of responsibility to me, but it’s a nice balance, because doing just one or just the other, I feel like, is a little too extreme for me, and having both has been the thing that’s always rewarded me the most.
When you’re playing with Dethklok, or you’re playing with Cirque, there are a lot of visual elements. In the case of Cirque, you’re even wearing costumes. How does having a visual element differ from just going out there and playing a show, when you have to sync up to these visuals that are being projected or these performers that are behind you?
Honestly, that stuff doesn’t really change that much for me, if anything. It’s a good structure to have in place, where at least I know what to expect and when something’s coming, and it just puts it all into place and makes it feel organized. But in general, depending on what it is–like with Dethklok, for example, we can’t really look at the visuals. It would be a distraction.
We have to look in front of us and not behind us, but the clicks are the same clicks. The count-ins are the same count-ins. I guess they’re there because of the visuals, maybe, but at the same time, it doesn’t really matter to me. I just take that part. Because it’s queuing a certain frame or something that? That, to me is like someone else’s problem.
It’s the same with Danny Elman’s band, too. Lots of visuals and stuff like that. Film footage and all those things. But unless we’re not playing and our job is to just watch the orchestra and watch the footage. It’s, “Oh yeah, that’s there. I forgot that that’s there. Cool.”
Eventide is your first album in six years, and given that you’ve played with so many musicians over the course of your career, what was it like for you assembling the group that would support you in making this record?
It always feels like a new journey with each album, at least for me. I’ve gone in a little bit of a different direction every time, so I try to let the music guide me as to what would be the best personnel for each album. I try to ask myself what the song is asking me to do, and who I know might provide the most authentic performance or ideas for that type of tune that I’m looking at.
As you said, I’m fortunate to have worked with a lot of people and have a lot of great friends who were interested in doing this with me, so with this one, it was a natural progression with a lot of the people that I play with currently. It was smooth to put together, and I don’t wanna say easy, but it was a smooth process.
The final track on the album, “Song for Hope,” is very different from what comes before it. What made you want to end the album with that, and what was the journey in composing it?
Composing it, I don’t really remember. It’s a little bit of an older tune. It was first released as a single in 2020. I always knew that it was going to be part of a larger record, and I, for just the lack of a better explanation, the sequencing of everything, when it came time to it, I knew that it’s different, but it still matches the record, and I just thought of what would be the most appropriate place for it. I have ended a solo record with a clean solo guitar piece in the past, and that’s worked out, so I tried it again, and I think it’s the best place for it within this album.
You’re releasing this album, but you’re getting ready to go out on tour with Dethklok, plus there’s Cirque. How do you keep burnout at bay?
That’s a good question. I feel like you can’t always control how many dates on the calendar, when you’re in a few projects and every year’s a little bit different and they’re just telling you like, “There’s gonna be a tour there, there’s gonna be a tour here,” so I think it’s just looking at what pockets are left in the calendar.
I have a better idea now of what my annual road-time limit is to avoid driving myself crazy. I’m trying just really hard to look at that objectively. And while I have a hard time saying no, I’m trying to realistically look at the pockets that I have and be like, “Okay, you know what? It would not be wise if we put some more dates here just because there’s a break.” I try to be mindful of that.
And, like I said, it’s not always within your control and every year is different, but, but yeah, I just try to balance it as much as I can. The alternative can’t be just burning yourself out so bad that you don’t wanna do it again.
Nili Brosh’s Eventide is out now, and she appears as part of Dethklok when they play the Midland with Amon Amarth on Tuesday, April 21. Details on that show here.
