Alex Skolnick//Testament

“Not having to travel has opened me up to different ways to be creative that I didn’t have before.”

For Alex Skolnick of Testament, isolation has proven to be a boon to his creative process.

Skolnick is the legendary guitarist for Testament and jazz guitarist extraordinaire. Although you may know Skolnick for his work in the metal band, in the late 90s he turned his attention to jazz and has also toured and recorded with the Alex Skolnick trio. He’s also active in the world music space and received praise there too. So Skolnick does not lack for creative outlets, and he’s highly regarded in all of them.

But since Skolnick has mostly been holed up in Brooklyn and unable to tour since March, he’s discovered something about himself: “I’m a creature of incentive,” he told me. Deadlines, he says, have been a great way to stay productive. His various music-related duties have given him many ideas for music, and even those ideas he hasn’t used he’s stored away for later. So if it weren’t for these deadlines and their attendant urgency, he may not have come up with all those ideas in the first place.

Unsurprisingly, Skolnick rarely gets in a rut creatively. But when he does, he often turns to other art forms for ideas. “If I’m stuck, I know what to do to get inspired. I know which films to watch, which books to read, which tv shows to watch.” And as you’ll see, that includes The Queen’s Gambit. Watch our interview below!