"Music is a language that stands on its own, and needs no explanation or addendum in any language other than itself. It forms phrases, sentences, subjects and countersubjects, arguments; it expresses entire ideas, all by itself. When combined with another language, whether a spoken one or in another form, the language attains qualities of beauty from it, as versative as the musical language itself."

Name: Ilia Asafiev
Contact information:

AOL Instant Messenger: SmarterIliace
E-mail: First name at domain name dot net.

Guitars by Jackson/Charvel, Ibanez, MusicMan, and Steinberger. Top three strings: 10, 13, 17; Bottom three strings 24, 32, 42. Dunlop Jazz III picks, Digitech GNX-series amp modelers/effects processors. I advocate tuning all instruments to C=256 (A=432) in accord with natural properties of human singing voice.

Ilia uses Digitech amp modelers and effects processors, and JBL amplification, exclusively.

"If I can kill off some of those Blink-182 and Third-Eye-Suck-Hack mofos, then I'm doing the right thing. That ain't real music. You might as well have the Teletubbies and Barney down there playin' with them!"
- Zakk Wylde (Guitar One, October 2000)

Philosophy on Music:

Music has to express an idea. If it doesn't, or if the idea is vague; or if the author didn't have a solid enough understanding of the idea before putting it to music; then art is wasted. And while ideas can be judged on their content, that's for the passive audience to idly ponder. A musician should understand how an idea is formed and passed along, or else he's not a good musician.