DVD
 
 
 
 
RADIO
 
GUESTBOOK
 
KAT BIO
 
CLASSICAL COMPOSERS
 
 
 
 
AOL'S DIGITAL CITY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT KAT "THE GREAT KAT WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO SHRED"
 
By Carly Milne, AOL's Digital CityAOL'S DIGITAL CITY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT KAT "THE GREAT KAT WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO SHRED"! "Blending the showmanship of metal with the intensive musical construction of classical, Kat has carved out a name for herself in musical history by shredding some of the greatest musical works of our time." - By Carly Milne, AOL's Digital City AOL'S DIGITAL CITY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT KAT "THE GREAT KAT WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO SHRED"! "Blending the showmanship of metal with the intensive musical construction of classical, Kat has carved out a name for herself in musical history by shredding some of the greatest musical works of our time." - By Carly Milne, AOL's Digital City
 
The Great Kat Will Teach You How To Shred
AOL'S DIGITAL CITY'S INTERVIEW WITH THE GREAT KAT "THE GREAT KAT WILL TEACH YOU HOW TO SHRED"! "Blending the showmanship of metal with the intensive musical construction of classical, Kat has carved out a name for herself in musical history by shredding some of the greatest musical works of our time." - By Carly Milne, AOL's Digital City
Oct 19th 2009 9:30AM
By Carly Milne
The Arts - Interviews
 
Being a writer means many things. Often times, it means doing a great lot of interviews, and while each one is unique and awesome in their own way, there are those that stand out from the crowd. The Great Kat would be one of those.

Upon first glance, you wouldn't think The Great Kat was a classically-trained musician, but she is - and one with killer accolades to boot. She is a graduate of Juilliard (a violin virtuoso), concertmaster of the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra, winner of the Artists International Competition on violin and made her Carnegie Recital Hall debut on solo violin.

And then she picked up the electric guitar.

Blending the showmanship of metal with the intensive musical construction of classical, Kat has carved out a name for herself in musical history by shredding some of the greatest musical works of our time. And now she has a DVD out that can show you how to do the same.

We e-mailed The Great Kat some questions, and boy, did we get answers! The sheer awesomeness and passion of her responses need to be fully experienced. And so, here in its entirety, is our interview with The Great Kat.

You've had a ton of amazing accolades – one of the 50 fastest guitarists, one of the top 10 fastest shredders, one of the 12 best female guitarists... which one means the most to you and why?
ALL OF THEM!!! THE GREAT KAT EARNED THEM AND DESERVES MORE!!!!!!

THE GREAT KAT, "Top 10 Fastest Shredders Of All Time" (Guitar One Magazine)/"50 Fastest Guitarists Of All Time" (Guitar World Magazine)/"12 Greatest Female Electric Guitarists" (Elle Magazine)/ "The 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes" (Classic Rock Magazine)/Juilliard Graduate Violin Virtuoso-turned Guitar Shred Virtuoso is GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How do you go from being a Juilliard graduate to becoming an electric guitar goddess?
After graduating from Juilliard as a Violin Virtuoso, I realized that Classical Music needed to be UPDATED for the MASSES. After searching popular music, I found the CLOSEST form of popular music to Classical was METAL! I picked up the electric guitar and simply took my "PAGANINI" violin technique (a special left-hand technique I learned at Juilliard) and transposed it on the guitar. I then added VICIOUS STRONG accenting and attacks which is used in BOTH METAL and BEETHOVEN'S MUSIC!! THAT'S HOW THE GREAT KAT GUITAR GODDESS WAS BORN!!!

SEE The Great Kat's amazing GUITAR and VIOLIN technique on "THE FLIGHT OF THE BUMBLE-BEE" from "Beethoven's Guitar Shred" DVD here.

So was it that background that inspired you to do an electric guitar take on classical masterpieces?
The Great Kat's SOLO and ORCHESTRAL training from Juilliard allows me to technically be able to take ACTUAL ENTIRE MUSIC SCORES of Beethoven, Wagner, Vivaldi, Bach, Paganini, etc., and TRANSCRIBE, ARRANGE, REORCHESTRATE and RECOMPOSE these masterpieces for ORCHESTRA, BAND, SHRED GUITAR AND VIOLIN!!!!!

Tell me about the DVD. For people who want to buy it, what can they expect?
"Beethoven's Guitar Shred" DVD is a total showcase of GUITAR PYROTECHNICS, INSANE IMAGERY, OUTRAGEOUS SCENES, AND MIND-BLOWING GUITAR SHREDDING!!

MUSIC VIDEO CLIPS from "BEETHOVEN'S GUITAR SHRED" DVD:
BEETHOVEN'S "5th SYMPHONY"
Paganini's "Caprice #24"
Bach's "Brandenburg Concerto #3
"Torture Techniques"
DVD trailer
More DVD Video Clips
Kat Store

REVIEWS OF THE GREAT KAT'S GENIUS:
-"Beethoven's music performed by The Great Kat, a Juilliard-trained musician and one of the fastest 'shredders' of all time. Beethoven's Fifth that is played with absurd velocity on an electric guitar. Beethoven can never have found himself in odder company than that of The Great Kat, and I amused myself thinking what he would have made of it all. I like to imagine one of his furious temper tantrums. But Mozart, a more ribald soul, would surely have found it hilarious." - Financial Times

-"She possesses a prodigious talent, a virtuosic precision that allows her to play classical transcriptions on her guitar at upwards of 300 beats per minute. The Great Kat is one of those outsize performing personas as well as a masterful musician." - Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

"Wow! Very rarely does a DVD come along that inspires the old 'You'll have to see it to believe it!' But such is the case with The Great Kat's Beethoven's Guitar Shred, an amazing display of speedy guitar wizardry. Kat slices and dices the Paganini composition with precision on guitar but she also plays a violin part that makes Charlie Daniels' fiddle-off with the devil on 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' look like a molasses-dripping contest." - ANTIMUSIC.COM

-"Move over, Jamie Foxx. The Soloist's insanely genius Juilliard apprentice is up against some formidable competition, and she's female. The Great Kat is basically showing the male competition how it's done, better and faster. Her raging, fast forward in real time Beethoven's Guitar Shred is like nothing that has come before. A mix 'n match medley of Beethoven, Bach, Abu Ghraib and Islamic insurgency. A classical/metal lovers everywhere wakeup call, these mini-musicals for guitar, violin and machete could very well blow your mind." - NewsBlaze

Any fun behind-the-scenes stories on the making of the DVD?
One of the most fun music video shoots from "Beethoven's Guitar Shred" DVD is filming the "TORTURE TECHNIQUES" Music Video, where The Great Kat spent an ENJOYABLE day TORTURING, ABUSING, WHIPPING, CHAINING, DOMINATING, KICKING and INFLICITING MASSIVE PAIN TO MY WILLING MALE SUBMISSIVES!!!! AND THEY LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!!

Check out a clip of "TORTURE TECHNIQUES" MUSIC VIDEO CLIP.

Although the playing field has been leveled in a lot of ways when it comes to metal music, do you ever find yourself still having to deal with sexism and "good for a girl" kind of commentary?
THE GREAT KAT IS A GUITAR AND VIOLIN VIRTUOSO SHREDDING EXACT NOTE-FOR-NOTE CLASSICAL MUSIC SCORES ON THE GUITAR and NO INFERIOR MALE CAN COMPETE WITH THE TECHNICAL TRAINING and UNSTOPPABLE FORCE THAT IS THE GREAT KAT!!!!!!!!!!!

For someone who's looking to get into guitar playing, be they male or female, what are some of the most important things they need to know?
PRACTICE!
IF POSSIBLE, LEARN TO READ MUSIC!
BE PERSISTENT!

If you could remake any song into an electrically-shredded opus, what song would it be and why?
The Great Kat ONLY SHREDS Classical Masterpieces from the Masters and my own original Opuses.

On the NEXT Shred/Classical DVD, The Great Kat will be SHREDDING one of THE MOST TECHNICALLY DIFFICULT AND DEMANDING VIOLIN VIRTUOSO PIECES ever written: NICCOLO PAGANINI'S "MOTO PERPETUO" on the GUITAR and VIOLIN, along with works of BACH, MOZART and MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What's the best part of doing what you do?
SINGLE-HANDEDLY CHANGING THE FACE OF HISTORY by BRINGING GENIUS CLASSICAL MUSIC to THE MORON MASSES THROUGH SHRED GUITAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAKE UP!!!!!

What's the best advice you've been given?
PRACTICE YOUR BUTT OFF AND BE A VIRTUOSO!!!!!!!!!

THE GREAT KAT IS GOD AND THE REINCARNATION OF BEETHOVEN!!!!!! BOW, PEONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SHRED ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

 

The contents of all music, photos, graphics, text, audio and videos are protected by copyright
and may not be used or reproduced without prior express written authorization from the publisher.