Andy Sneap

You can't fail with the studio guru at the helm.

Producers are the music world's unsung heroes, but metal likes to salute those who bring something special to the steel table, and renowned desk-monkey Andy Sneap has done more than most to refine the sound of the music we love. He came to our attention as guitarist with thrash legends Sabbat, who were the UK's single greatest contribution to the original thrash wave, thanks in part toAndy's way with a skull-rattling riff.

"When Sabbat disbanded in 1990 I was fed up with dealing with musicians," he states. "I tried a few other band scenarios but my heart wasn't in it. It seemed the logical step to go it alone in production. I'd always been fascinated with recording and enjoyed the studio more than playing live. I'd bought an eight-track reel-to -reel set-up which I put in the old rehearsal studio and this became the first incarnation of Backstage Studio as I demoed a lot of friends and local bands. I started doing live sound and this ended up with me on a couple of pretty sizable tours and working in bigger and bigger studios."

Andy's big break came when he worked alongside veteran producer Colin Richarson on Machine Head's classic second album The more Things Change in LA in 1996. Andy has since produced early 100 albums, working with everyone from Megadeth, Testament and Exodus through to Arch Enemy, Killswitch Engage and Devildriver. With such an impressive resume(acenttque), it'sno wonder that he has trouble picking his favorites.
"Opeth's Deliverance was one because of the Swedish Grammy we got," he says. "My father takes my career seriously because of that! KSE's The End Of Heartache went (US) gold which is nice."

Currently in San Diego working with Megadeth on their new album, Andy has numerous projects on the go, including forthcoming releases from Arch Enemy, Onslaught and Exodus, the ongoing Sabbat reunion and an album of songs by a band called Hell, whose chief song writer Dave Halliday taught a teenaged Andy to play guitar in the 80s before tragically taking his own life in 1987.

"It's been a dream of mine to get Dave's songs heard since he died and hopefully I can get the album in the can by the beginning of July,"he says, before summing up his flourishing reputation as metal's number one knob-twiddler.

 "I don't try and put a stamp on anything I do, I just do what I'd like to hear. More and more I hear people talk about a Sneap sound. Hopefully that's a compliment!"