When you ask guitarist Rick Van Zandt about long he’s been playing guitar, you may as well be asking him how old he is. He will likely offer an answer like, all my life…
Rick attended Seattle’s Roosevelt High School, which was only a short walk from his parents house. Every day after school his band would practice so loud, you swear it could be heard from the school… This attracted a following of hard rockers who came over to play or just hang out. This is the Rick Van Zandt that Nikki Sixx speaks of when referring to his life in Seattle before moving to Los Angeles and Motley fame… During this time his band was playing songs by Uriah Heep, Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple, UFO, Rush, as well as original songs.
After high school, Rick studied guitar and music theory at Seattle’s Cornish College of the Arts. It was there that he met jazz and studio great Howard Roberts, who showed him a thing or two, and gave him the inspiration to start playing in a more technical style. Over the next couple of years his band recorded a demo of original tunes, and played some gigs with another band from his high school days - The Mentors... But back then, The Mentors sounded more like The Mahavishnu Orchestra… Believe it or not!
In the 1980’s Rick was in the band Rottweiller, that was featured along with Metal Church on the legendary 1984 Northwest Metalfest album. Rottweiller later recorded their first album, and although not officially released by a label, Screams of the Innocent went on to gain Kult status, and it was published in 2002 by Hellion Records. That same year Rick was introduced to Ronny Munroe, who joined Rottweiller for their tour of Germany where they performed at the Wacken Open Air Festival. Rottweiller's second CD Rage of War, was released in 2005 by Hellion Records, although Ronny was in Metal Church by this time.
In 2006, while writing new material and recording demos for the next album, Ronny enlisted Rick to put together a band for his solo project. With other ex-Rottweiller band mates along with Rick Pierce (TKO/Q5/Nightshade) the band toured the west coast in 2007 and played the Rocklahoma festival in 2008.
Rick was also brought into the METAL CHURCH line up in 2008, with his talents featured on the new album THIS PRESENT WASTELAND. METAL CHURCH played a short tour in 2008, including an opening slot for Queensryche. In 2009 Rick contributed his talents to Ronny Munroe's solo CD - The Fire Within.
2009 also saw the final performance of METAL CHURCH at the Rocklahoma festival, as they announced they were "Calling it quits." The band does have some unfinished business in the studio however, so who knows?
Early influences: Black Sabbath, The Who, Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, Blue Oyster Cult, Mahogany Rush, Hendrix, Holdsworth, Zappa.
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Congratulations Rick! Can't wait to hear what you'll bring to Metal Church. I think you'll be the perfect fit. Get ready for some serious lead guitar people!! This guy can shread!
Hi Rick! Congrats on your new gig! We meet at Ronny's birthday party. We will have to get you in the Metal Church documentary now. I knew there was a reason the film isn't done yet, it's so you can be in it, LOL! The next chapter! I am sure we will talk soon! Kick ass on the new CD!! Take care.
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