Noisecreep recently caught up with Periphery guitarist Misha Mansoor to get his take on modern progressive metal and to talk about the band’s upcoming tour of Australia as part of the Soundwave Festival. A couple of excerpts from the chat can be found below.
Mansoor , who discovered modern music through bands like Nirvana, The Offspring and Green Day before moving on to more progressive bands , such as Tool, explained that he considered the term ‘prog’ to represent musical freedom: “The way we define it, is it is just a credo for us to do whatever we want to do. We could do a song as long as we want, however we want to do it and as melodic or atonal as we want. So prog for us really just means the ability to create whatever we feel like creating in that moment.”
The Periphery guitarist also spoke about the band’s forthcoming Australian tour: “The sort of music we do can sometimes require a little more patience and that’s something the folks down there really seem to understand. I’m not sure why, but there is one theory we have.”
He continued: “We tend to do well in cities and Australia is so big but the people are concentrated in the thin strips of coastal towns where you’ve got all these small to midsize cities – not so much small towns. Maybe that has something to do with it, but regardless, we just love playing down there.”
Mansoor finished the interview by considering the influence Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci has had on his guitar playing: “John has always impressed me. I was never into shredders, you know, turning music into a sport. But John does things in just such a tasteful way. He plays the right notes at the right time and that’s the most important lesson I’ve ever learned from him. There’s always a right note at the right time. He said he likes my playing and I have a hard time processing that because I think what I do is so boring compared to him. I’d watch him on tour, how he would practice at least two hours every single day in his room, just so dedicated. And he’s also such a good person, that he inspires me to want to be a better person myself. So it goes beyond just guitar playing. He is a very important person in my life.”
Periphery’s Misha Mansoor On Progressive Music
