Matthew: I guess the best place to start is when you were still in your 20s and you left Megadeth to create your own side project instrumental album Return To Metalopolis. Did you understand that 20 years later people were going to be touched by it?

Chris: No not at all. There were only two of us in the band — me and my brother on drums. I played bass which was weird, ’cause normally there is a real bass player there beside you. But no I had no idea that it would last.

Matthew: When I bought this album it was the first thing I bought when studying virtuosos for the writing of my top 25 guitarists article. And I could not take it out of the CD player. Actually, my wife and I were going to get frisky one night and I had it playing really loud down the hall in my office. And she asked me “What the hell is that?” and I said just some background music baby, no worries. But she said she couldn’t concentrate and made me march down the hall and turn it off.

Chris: (Dying laughing)

Matthew: (Laughing) Seriously though, I took some notes here about the specific tracks; hopefully I could get some feedback from you about these songs.
The first track I wrote about was “Club Ded.” To me it sounds like some Roman gladiator or Egyptian-Mediterranean type groove. Like a bunch of Roman motherfuckers drinking some kind of ambrosia mixed with a choo choo train type rhythm. Where did you get that kind of shit?

Chris: I don’t know. I don’t sit down and say I am going to write something in this vein or that vein. I just always record it though when I feel like a creative thought is coming to me, and then the melody came right after that. And of course I was thinking I had just gotten out of Megadeth so I still had a lot of that type of thing in me.

Matthew: As far as the jam, “Return to Metalopolis” it is an amazing speed tapping shredfest without forgetting the killer ultra-heavy steam engine riffs in the background.
You see, there are so many of these guitar hero albums that are one solo after another and single notes at the speed of light, but I think it’s all hollow, unless you give the listener a hard strong metal riff then write lead parts and solos over top of that. Does that make any sense?

Chris: Yes, that’s why we always write the rhythms first. The solos are the last things on the plate. We are always thinking about what is the listener is thinking right now. You see, when I listen to the song I want to hear it all the way through to the end.

Matthew: Yeah I love all the tapping and whammy bar nonsense, but two minutes into the song I am going to the next song.

Chris: Exactly.

Matthew: I love the way you changed pace so many times on this album but you return to the original rhythm half of the way though then three-quarters of the way through. Boom, then you hit it again, then you go back then you hit it again, not just an exhibition of how great Chris Poland is. Just simply always concerned with the complete song as a whole. Great example is “Fall of Babylon.”

Chris: On that song, the intro, the little solo was in the same vein so that when we went to the outro I wanted it to be like a little coda, and have it fade out the way it did. The songs are all like Led Zeppelin, as far as the arrangement ideas are concerned. And I know you have to really think about it, but I grew up listening to him, the way that Jimmy Page laid out a song; you have to listen to the whole song. Even though it is a different style of music, we are always thinking about the beginning, the middle and the end.

Matthew: That’s brilliant! I wondered how you knew just how to lay them out. You keep introducing the rhythms in such a way that you eventually need the rhythms!

Chris A lot of the stuff on that album was what I took from my experiences with Megadeth. There was a lot of riffing in that band. Hell, every song had twenty ideas. You could write four songs in any Megadeth song in one song.

Matthew: What’s the story with the bass playing on the Heavy guitar jam?

Chris: That’s the re-mastered version of it, with the OHM original drummer Dave Eagle on drums and Rob Pagliari on bass.

Matthew: That bass on those cuts was no fucking joke, Chris. And in this day and age where many guitarists are trying to get deeper and deeper tones through 7 string guitars, it’s nice to hear such a talented bassist! I’m not sure if he knows how much he is touching motherfuckers.

Chris: You have got to get Chasing The Sun. It’s a 4 track recording from 6 different demos that I was trying to get a record deal from, and everybody ignored me. Then some guy from New York named Joe Romagnola from Grooveyard Records called and said he wanted to release it as a record.

Matthew: Yeah I ordered it yesterday actually to study and speak on when we did our interview, I didn’t anticipate interviewing you so damn soon. I thought I’d get it and listen to it 26 times then hear from your manager who would get me with your tour manager, usually there is so many damn layers. Your PR guy was great to set it up so soon and I really appreciate it.

Matthew: “Khazad Dud” was the last song on Metalopolis I wanted to ask about. I grabbed four beers from the fridge and put in the CD tonight to take few notes for the interview and when that track played I was a little “happy” so I wrote “get serious, what soulful playing! Damn fuck, damn!”

Chris: (Dying Laughing) I don’t know man, it’s just the way I don’t want to hear it, it’s the way I play it. But I was a Santana fan and a lot of people don’t realize I was a big fan there was just a certain way he played that was very vocal and it was so heartfelt, he had his own voice and I always wanted to have that. And even though Page and Beck and Hendrix and Clapton and Robin Trower, I tried to learn their stuff verbatim but now I only go their the way that I interpret things thinking “what would they do in this situation.” If I feel a certain way …

Matthew: Yeah well I understand nowadays you are a major player yourself and so you are probably just interpreting more than playing it exactly how they played it.

Chris: Exactly. It’s more of a how would it feel I am rippin’ the feel, the vibe, not the licks.

Matthew: Did you get a chance to read the paragraph I wrote about you in the top 25 guitarist article yet?

Chris: Yes I did and thank you very much it was all right on.

Matthew: And I apologize about bringing up bad memories but Chris get fucking serious.

Chris No man, I could see the bone in my finger, and the doctor said you probably won’t be able to play guitar anymore, but you won’t be deformed. And I had just bought a bunch of great guitar albums like Blue Oyster Cult and I was totally living guitar when I cut my hand and my whole world just fucking caved in.

Matthew: I got some kind of story about you being thrown through a plate glass window. Is that fabricated?

Chris: What it was was a door at a private school with frosted pane glass with like 9 pane glass and it was really old. A kid knocked me down and I feel and dropped all my books and shit, then got up and ran after him to fight him. So he goes into this room and slams this door on me to escape, so my right hand hit the wood and my left hand hits this pane of glass and then he opened the door up, thinking the glass broke, what’s wrong? That’s where my hand got torn to shreds. It’s fucked up’ it’s my pointer finger, my middle finger and then my little finger all got hit. I can still bend those two, I just can’t bend my pinky.

Matthew: Man do I appreciate you opening up and being so candid about such a tragic accident. It’s not even believable; it’s some bullshit out of some ABC after school special …

Chris: (Laughing)

Matthew: Hey back to Megadeth. I heard you replaced Kerry King of Slayer fame as their guitarist.

Chris: Yeah, Kerry King had sat in for some shows. Gar Samuelson played me a video of them playing at the Waters Club here in L.A, and it was three piece and I said this band needs another guitar player. So he said yeah, they are thinking about getting one. They were auditioning guitarists at the Mars Club. So I said “I’ll go down rent a room turn my guitar up to 10 and start playing.” So that’s what I did and it worked.

Matthew: What’s this substance abuse shit? Is that true or just some industry bullshit?

Chris: Oh no, we were all strung out on heroin.

Matthew: Heroin. Holy Fuck in the ’80s,

Chris: Yeah, it’s a strange drug. Do you smoke cigarettes?

Matthew: I used to.

Chris: The only way to describe it is smoking cigarettes times a billion every minute is an hour and every hour is a day, and every moment lingers for what seems like a thousand years. And you are just in agony.

Matthew: You mean when you don’t have it?

Chris: Yeah, ’cause if you have it, you’re on, and that’s the problem, because unless you’re Keith Richards, you are not always going to have it. And I’m not saying that’s what made that band happen, because I made all the other albums without heroin. It’s not heroin that made “Peace Sells” And “Killing is My Business” but what can you say that was what was happening with us at the time and without it we were worthless we couldn’t do anything.

Matthew: How did you kick that shit?

Chris: Well I was talking to my brother about a conversation that I had with my sister Cindy (when I bummed more money off her to get high) and he actually thought that she had told me that my parents knew about my addiction to heroin. The second I heard that my parents knew, I would be sober. That’s all it took. I remember getting down on my hands and knees and I could see myself praying outside of myself that’s when I knew there was a higher power. The hand of God touched me. I remember a friend of mine taking me to a cemetery, a prison and a guys house that had been sober for 20 years, and I realized that my friend had started me on the 12 step program.

Matthew: About your Megadeth creations … I was looking through the album credits today and I didn’t see your name anywhere. What’s up with that?

Chris: Well here’s what the deal was when we joined the band. Dave said he was going to split everything down the middle and we were like whatever, and of course that never happened. But as far as writing, Dave wouldn’t let anyone do anything, maybe 5-second parts here and there. But one thing I remember was Gar being able to make a few arrangement ideas to Dave ’cause at the time “Peace Sells” was seven minutes long. And it went on and on, and Dave listened to him and that’s the reason the band took off.

Matthew: I guess if he stifled creativity and was that hard headed and the music is still that damn good, that’s got to say a lot about Mustaine right?

Chris: Oh nobody’s’ taking anything away from Dave man, but basically the reason you liked about “Return To Metalopolis” is exactly what I would have done if Dave would have let me, when I was in Megadeth. I mean occasionally I got a tiny bone here and there but at the end of the day it was what it was.

Matthew: This is so interesting and I look at bands like there has to be somebody to drive that band, a type A personality. I feel that nowadays he is the last Rock Star in metal. As stupid as that sounds. He is the last of a dying breed. In 2005 with Metallica playing radio shit, Megadeth still brought the goods on the last album (The System Has Failed).

Chris: There are a lot of parts on that album that I really liked. Some of my favorite guitar playing is on track 12.

Matthew: When I heard he brought you back I thought you know he may be this cocky dominating type A, but he constantly brought some of the best guitarists in the world to play with him. You got to be pretty humble to do that.

Chris: He is very smart man. And I am not blowing my horn here but when me and Gar joined the band, a certain amount of fusion feel surrounded the band that probably never would have gotten there and once we joined Dave’s writing …

Matthew: Well we would not have been able to write that way unless he had the talented players to play it.

Chris: Exactly. Not only that, but it was the way that Gar played (Lenny White influenced) and I actually came from that place of fusion style we did not look at it like speed metal when we met Dave we realized it would be just challenging playing, it was kind of like Led Zeppelin Fusion. If you listen to the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds Of Fire, it’s a track called “One Word” and say to yourself I’m going to pretend that Mustaine wrote this song there are double Marshall guitars left and right on it. And that’s why we joined the band.

Matthew: Wow pretty amazing stuff Chris. Well, your boy Alex Skolnick said some pretty good things about you and he didn’t say a lot of nice things concerning anyone except Van Halen. And his teacher was Satriani for Gods sake.

Chris: (Laughing)

Matthew: Yeah, what he’s doing is the playing rock/metal songs in a jazz groove. I listened to the song “Money” tonight and wow.

Chris: Oh I know. It is amazing. It’s genius what he’s doing.

Matthew: Now on to OHM, Where’s My Hat? What do these people do when they hear this stuff.

Chris: We are actually a lot better band now than when we wrote these songs and we play them towards the end of the set cause they are everyone’s favorite songs. We actually are trying to make a DVD coming up when we do I’ll send you one, but it’s way over the top now, not so safe, the only way to describe the band now is a corvette that’s about ready to get into a wreck but it never does. We are edge of the seat white knuckles style aggression now.

Matthew: Damn dude, that’s no joke. And once again the bass player is insanely good. What kind of bass is it?

Chris: It’s a 6 string fretless bass.

Matthew: Can you explain that to me?

Chris: It’s like a giant violin and it’s like an upright bass, except you hold it in your hands.

Matthew: And the drummer on “Peanut Buddha” was tearing that shit up.

Chris: That’s David Eagle our first drummer. He is really talented.

Matthew: I respect the fact that you brought such talented people around you. That’s really smart business.

Chris: A lot of guys that do instrumental guitar stuff are interchangeable; in this band the drums are a third of the sound of the band as well as the bass is one third. Without any of these pieces, there is no band.

Matthew: I felt that shit tonight dude. Especially “Sister Cheryl.”

Chris: That’s about my sister man … it’s a dark tale. In 1993, I got a call from my Mom because I hadn’t heard from my sister, because they didn’t want to bother me about my sister going insane, I felt so bad that I was wrapped up in my stupid “making it in the music bullshit,” and it’s not really an apology, just how I felt.

Matthew: Here’s what I wrote down two hours ago: “20 seconds into the track ‘Sister Cheryl.’ I had a damn tear run down my face; what are you trying to do to me?”

Chris: Ha ha (Laughing) Oh man …

Matthew: I had a pretty weird feeling that this was going to be a wild ride tonight. But when I put in these OHM tracks, they kicked me in the ass. And I actually typed, “What the hell are you doing to me?” Yeah dude, but I was listening to metal all night and then clicked on that and it wasn’t like I was snuggling my wife, and I didn’t know what it was about it but a part of me knew that that had to be some close ass shit.

Chris: I am glad that you got it even if no one else ever gets it. I can tell my sister that you got it and she will be so blown away. And if that touched you would have to hear “Bastille Day” about Gar Samuelson passing away. I’m in L.A and the sun is out and Gar’s girlfriend calls me up and tells me that he passed away. I had just been there are few days earlier I had spent a week with him, but that’s all it is, that what songs are about. Think about the song that Dave wrote about his friend from Metallica that died in the bus accident (Cliff Burton). “In My Darkest Hour” that was written within two weeks of that accident.

Matthew: On the guitar list article that I wrote you are between the classic rock riff-writing monster Ted Nugent and Blues Rock legend Stevie Ray Vaughn. You are almost in a mystical place there.

Chris: You know what, I got to tell you, I was really humbled by the list. ’Cause I don’t know but a lot of the time most guys that can play are not going to tell you how good they are, ’cause they are always beating themselves up, thinking of how they can get better. The perfect example is Alex Skolnick. Here is a guy that quits a heavy metal band and decides to go to one of the toughest music schools in the country, Berklee, (next to Juliard), to study jazz.

Matthew: Skolnick hated the list ’cause Van Halen was #13. And he felt that the list should have been Van Halen #1 period. But to me, he lost points because he had great years from about 1977-84, but I needed consistency for most of the 25-year period and he faded out after the ’80s. I stuck you in ’cause you played very difficult material with Megadeth and then went into a solo career and then diversified into the fusion stuff. Chris Broderick, for example, of Jag Panzer, plays brilliant leads and solos in metal but also plays amazing flamenco as well. So I needed diversity.

Matthew: As far as metal dude, do you realize that every single day in America there are at least hundreds if not thousands of people listening to Megadeth and Exodus and Slayer albums from the early ‘80s? Did you have any idea it would last this long?

Chris: When we made Peace Sells, I had no idea ’till five years later how great an album it was. And you are right; they have written a lot of great songs with and without me.
Even the album with Chuck Behler on drums, “Hook In Mouth,” what a great song.
When we got together last year it was like I never left. It wasn’t like a fucking day had passed it was just like we were making Peace Sells again.

Matthew: All through all the crazy stories and the control freak Mustaine BS, all I know is that he cares about me (enough to never sell out). They never sold out though man.

Chris: I know that dude.

Matthew: I have a strange question: do you think Clapton wishes it was 1976 in the middle of Cream’s heyday, every night when he goes to bed?

Chris: No, he loves the blues so much that he probably wishes he were black!

Matthew: Now that’s perfect, that’s classic. (Laughing) Hey Chris, thanks so very much for being so generous with your time. We covered a lot more ground than I ever thought possible. Take care and good luck with your new OHM album.

Chris: No, thank you Matthew. Goodbye.