The Aristocrats' Bryan Beller On Adopting Cliff Burton's Flicking Technique

An instrumental prog-rock/fusion act comprised of true virtuosos, multi-national outfit The Aristocrats - whose line-up consists of bassist Bryan Beller, guitarist Guthrie Govan and drummer Marco Minnemann - perhaps redefine the term "power trio".

"The songs are the songs, but once we honour the framework of the song, anything can happen at any time," Beller explains of their live performances. "We're constantly trying to throw little things in there, communicate amongst each other, allow room for spontaneity... At the end of the day we're all fans of Frank Zappa. We're not trying to be like Frank Zappa, but we want to honour the ethos."

Beller's extensive CV includes playing alongside Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Dweezil Zappa. There's also his participation in Dethklok, the metal band spawned from animated phenomenon Metalocalypse. The series was cancelled last year, resulting in creator Brendon Small continuing musically under the Galaktikon II moniker.

"We're not trying to be like Frank Zappa, but we want to honour the ethos."

"I can just tell you what Brendon has already said publicly, which is he is working on a new album, and it's not a Dethklok album, but it is a Dethklok album, kind of. It's under the Galaktikon name, but its purpose is partially to complete the Dethklok story. The whole Dethklok thing and whether or not there was ever going to be another season of the television show or another official Dethklok record — that stuff's all above my pay grade. I'm just the bass player in the band," he laughs. "But I do know Brendon's working on something, I can tell you that Gene Hoglan [drums] and I recorded it, and I think the music is badass."

On the heavy metal front, The Music converses with Beller the day prior to the 30th anniversary of perpetually influential Metallica bassist Cliff Burton's death. Beller saw Metallica on the Master Of Puppets tour, aged 15, mere months after the tragedy. "I do very few special technique things. I'm not an extended technique bassist at all, even though I'm playing with a couple of extended technique monsters. But one of the few things that I did — I picked up from Cliff… is that flicking technique so you can go really fast. He didn't play with a pick, he played with his fingers and so if I want to go," he says, humming to illustrate the point, "I just flick my fingers back and forth across the string, which is something he did.

"And I use a distorted wah [pedal]... Other people have done it, but I think in the modern age he was like the guy who just brought it into the mainstream. That solo he did on Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) — that was huge. I knew that whole thing when I was a kid. So now, when I solo, that's part of my soloing voice. I don't necessarily use it like Cliff did in a pure metal sense. I kind of use it more in a 'bass being a guitar' kind of sense, but it's a big part of my solo voice and I owe that really directly to Cliff."