Steve aiming to be the guitar king

Apr 28 2009 by Andrew Welsh, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

A GUITARIST from Perth has advanced to the latter stages of this year’s Guitar Idol competition.

Steve Murphy, who fronts up instrumental metal outfit Meltdown, has battled through heats to become one of 120 six-stringers playing off for just 12 places at the event’s live final at the International Guitar Festival in London.

Judges will pick eight performers to go through to the closing round, with online public voting picking the other four guitarists who will qualify.

The 26-year-old Craigie axeman, who is the only Scottish entrant to reach the final, can be seen and heard performing Meltdown’s impressive track Displaced at the competition’s official website.

He described the instrumental effort as a homage to his heroes, UFO guitarist Vinnie Moore and jazz fusion maestro Greg Howe.

“The track is a tune I wrote a few months ago heavily inspired by the great Vinnie Moore and a touch of Greg Howe, only not as good,” said modest Steve, who also performs with his Thin Lizzy tribute band The Lizzys.

“I’ve been improvising over the funky chord sequence for some time and thought it would be good to try and turn it in to a song.

“There are some additional keyboard parts harmonising with some of the guitar lines, as adding extra guitar parts would’ve made it more difficult to play live. I feel out of all the tracks I’ve recorded with my band so far, this is the one that best demonstrates my playing.”

Steve has played guitar since he was eight and gigged for over 11 years.

He won the Guitar Hero competition in 2005 - finishing at the head of a field of 3,000 entries.

To vote in the online music competition, go to www.guitaridol.tv, and to check out Steve’s performance visit www.guitaridol.tv/heat_3/entry/displaced