BARRY SPARKS
Full Name: Barry Sparks
Birthday: June 20'th, 1968
Birthplace: Lucasville,
Ohio
Hobbies: Staring at womens
breasts, riding his bicycle
in the desert naked, and playing
hop-scotch with six year old girls.
Favorite movie: Anything starring Catherine Zeta Jones.
Favorite band: Dokken!!!
Additional Info: www.BarrySparks.com
Recent Interviews:
By Ed Friedland
When you think of heavy metal bass players, you probably
envision shirtless guys with low-slung axes, fur 20420d316u iously pounding our roots while
thrashing their hair, then there's Barry Sparks. With a command of technique
usually reserved for fusioneers, Sparks keeps pace with metals most blazing
shredders, including his two most famous employers: guitarists Yngwie Malmsteen and Michael Schenker.
While most of his metal peers play the venerable 4-string or
occasionally a 5, Barry's weapon has long been the mighty 6-string. "I
started playing the 6-string with Yngwie, because
there was a lot of fast, unison riffing going on, and it let me do some of the
crazier stuff in one position. With Schenker I would
add more chordal things." The 2 CD "Michael
Schenker Story Live" includes a solo that
showcases Barry's 6-string mastery with blistering two octave runs, inspired by
syncopations, and shimmering chordal passages, all
underscored by his sympathetic connection with drummer Shane Gaalaas.
Barry grew up in Tucson,
Arizona. Started
playing guitar at the age of 10. Inspired by groups
like "Kiss", "Rush" "Aerosmith"
and "Yes". When his brother Kevin was starting a band, Barry
decided he did not want to be left out and quickly started playing bass.
"I didn't want my brother to be a rock star without me!" says Barry.
"My favorite players were Geddy Lee, Steve
Harris, Chris Squire, Stanley Clarke, and I was also a huge Michael Schenker fan as well."
Barry knew he had to move somewhere else other than Tuscon to really do something serious, so he moved to Los Angeles in 1989.
"Los Angeles
was a real shock at first, I thought o my God, this is so stupid, what am I doing here! There were so many bands there at that time
it just seemed impossible to get anywhere, but I stuck it out till I started
making a little name for myself, then I started getting calls from bands that
were actually making records! Including MCA Records guitarist
"Guy Mann Dude". Which he toured Czechoslovakia
with. He also recorded Guys heavy thrash CD "Mannic
Distortion." He then met Yngwie drummer Mike Terrana; Sparks ended up on tour supporting Yngwies "Seventh Sign", since then he's appeared
on two of the guitarists CD's "I Can't Wait", "Magnum Opus"
and the live video "Yngwie, Live at Budokan." Shortly after, Barry hooked up with
Scorpions and UFO guitarist Michael Schenker- and
recorded the album "Written in the Sand" and "The Michael Schenker Group, Live in Japan."
In 1998 Barry switched gears drastically when he joined
female Pop artists Billie Myers' band to support her top ten album
"Growing Pains." The song "Kiss the Rain" became a huge hit
and the band toured USA, Canada, Brazil,
Europe, Japan and Australia.
Television show appearances included, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Rosie
O'Donnell, Good Morning America, Sinbad and Top of the Pops, to name a few.
In 1999 Barry once again hooked up with Michael Schenker and ended up touring the United States with M.S.G and
Guitarist Vinnie Moore, playing bass for both bands!
"That tour was one of the most fun but most challenging tours I have ever
done To play for 3 plus hours a night of real
energetic stuff was a real workout." In between tours Barry was able to
play with another one of his heroes, Uli Jon Roth of
the Scorpions. "Playing with Uli was a real dream come true, he was always one of my favorite
guitarists, what a blast!" They recorded Uli's
CD "Transcendental Sky Guitar."
Barry's first solo album "Glimmer of Hope", an all acoustic instrumental album which oddly contained no bass
playing at all. "I just wanted to do something completely different
and just see how much music acoustic guitars can make, and I was very much
influenced by Michael Schenkers "Thank You"
album, I thought it was the best thing he had done in years."
"Glimmer of Hope" was released in Japan
in July of 2000 and is available from various distributors in the USA and Canada and of course from his website.
