Best known as Zakk Wylde’s right-hand man in Black Label Society, Dario Lorina is an accomplished shredder in his own right, as evidenced by his second solo/instrumental album, Death Grip Tribulation.
Who are some of your influences?
When I was younger, Eddie Van Halen was my number one guy. Riding in the car with my dad, I’d pull the tape out of the glove box. Then it was, “I want to play guitar and I want to sound like that.” Later on, Paul Gilbert and George Lynch became two of my favorites. But I love all kinds of different players – Johnny Winter to John Sykes – and different kinds of music. Right now, I’m hooked on this trip-hop play list. I’ll listen to that and to Motown, Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Tool. I take influence from everywhere.
What are some of your favorite solos on Death Grip Tribulations, and what were some of the most challenging?
“Echoes of A Stone Heart” is up there, which has this modern-but-throwback dance vibe to it, with a Van Halen vibe, too, and strong chorus melody I think worked really well. A lot of the album is challenging; I push myself. The solo section of “Fire Sign” grew on me; it’s really melodic and I dig how the drums and the rhythm really compliments everything. “Waves of Nostalgia” is really cool – off the beaten path for rock/metal instrumental stuff. Jeff Fabb played drums on that, from Black Label. The rest of the album is my good friend, Dan Conway.
You haven’t played on any BLS albums yet, right?
I came in just after the last one, Catacombs of the Black Vatican. But Zakk and I have done a lot of stuff live together – acoustic tours where it’s just him and I. We do a lot of harmonies, shredding back and forth where we’ll switch off solos.
What gear did you use on the album?
I’ve been playing LAG Guitars for years, all with Seymour Duncan pickups. I doubled a lot of the rhythms with my Les Paul, which has been in my family for years. We think it’s from the ’60s. Everything else was done with my LAG signature model, the Arkanator. It combines two of their models, the Imperator and the Arkane, and is kind of like a Strat meets a Les Paul. But for every solo, I used the LAG Arkane with Seymour Duncan TB Custom Custom in the bridge and a ’59 Custom hybrid in the neck.
For leads, the entire album was done with my JCM800 except for “Echoes of A Stone Heart,” which was with a EVH 5150 III for the lead, and then for rhythms a Marshall 800. In front of the 800, I have a Seymour Duncan 805 Overdrive, and that’s also what I have in front of the EVH 5150 III, so that’s a mainstay. I think the engineer mixed-in some other amps – a Bogner on a couple songs.
This article originally appeared in VG January 2018 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
