With a new record en route, we checked in with ERRA‘s Jesse Cash to get a little background on the evolution of his playing for this edition of Gear Factor.
Cash, who formerly played bass with the band and is their clean vocalist, says that like many, he started by learning Deep Purple‘s “Smoke on the Water” before picking up on some heavier rock classics. Blue Oyster Cult‘s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” was actually his first riff learned and from there he gravitated to metal.
“I just seemed to have more fun and wanted to stick with guitar more and my fingers were moving more, so Metallica,” says Cash. “It’s a pretty obvious one and I got the Kill ‘Em All tab book and I was really stoked on this song ‘Seek and Destroy.’”
As his skill level started to increase, he found a fondness for drop tuning and metalcore. “I got into that sweet golden age of metalcore and that completely shaped how I wrote for guitar. That was the most I ever played guitar in my life and the most fun I ever had was during that time where I got into Killswitch and As I Lay Dying specifically.”
Loving the low end, he also cited Deftones as a pretty influential band on his playing. “ERRA plays a lot of low tunings, we play seven string guitars. The first band that really made that click for me and showed me that you could be cool and tasteful and tuned low as shit was Deftones. The Diamond Eyes record in 2010 was huge for me,” he explains, while dropping a bit of “You’ve Seen the Butcher” and the Koi No Yokan track “Poltergeist.”
Digging into his own band’s catalog, Cash showcases “Faith and Design,” a non-album track that became the first riff that was created for ERRA. He also rocks “Expiate” and two new songs from the band’s upcoming self-titled album, due March 19. One is the intro riff to “House of Glass” while the other is Cash’s favorite song on the album, “Vanish Canvas.”
As stated, ERRA’s self-titled album arrives on Friday (March 19). You can pick up the record here (As Amazon affiliates, we earn on qualifying purchases). The band also recently issued a new video for “Shadow Autonomous” that can be viewed here.
Watch Jesse Cash’s full Loudwire Gear Factor episode below.
ERRA’s Jesse Cash Plays His Favorite Guitar Riffs
