Welcome again to Extremeguitars.com's "Ax Facts & Stats". HAPPY NEW YEAR!! It's hard to believe that we are upon another, what will be a hard rockin year, with plenty of great guitarists joining the ranks of extremeguitars Ax Facts & Stats. We are going to start 2003 off with Firehouse's own Bill Leverty. Bill is currently mixing his new solo album and I highly recommend you all check it out when it is released, and extremeguitars.com will most definitely feature it at that tme! Read on and thanks again Bill for your joining us.

-Dave Roberts
Copyright 2002 Dave Roberts/Extremeguitars.com, All Rights Reserved.

My name is: Bill Leverty

Myself described in 5 words: Music lovin', hockey playin' guitarist!

My current job is: Firehouse and solo album work.

My hometown is: Richmond, VA.

My current album or project is: My first solo album due out Jan '03.

Former band(s): White Heat, Continental Drift, Allen Coleman and the White Boys.

My guitar influences growing up were: Stevie Wonder, Simon & Garfunkel, Led Zep, Carlos Montoya, Rare Earth, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, Kiss, Michael Schenker, UFO, Doobie Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Outlaws, Allman Brothers, Steve Morse and the Dixie Dregs, Pat Travers, Eddie Van Halen, Al Dimeola, Allan Holdsworth, Scorpions, Randy Rhodes, Warren DeMartini and Ratt, George Lynch, Joe Satriani, Steve Lukather, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Carlos Santana, Neal Schon, and my favorite guitarist of all time: Jeff Beck.

The guitars I use are: exclusively Yamaha.

The strings and tunings I use are: GHS Boomers standard, drop D, and E,A, D, G#, B, Eb.

My current rig setup consists of: Framus Cobra heads and cabs and a TC G-Force.

The greatest invention for guitars is: electricity.

My normal songwriting process: 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.

My Favorite Firehouse solo is: "Hold The Dream" off of FireHouse - Hold Your Fire.

My Favorite Firehouse song is: "Reach For The Sky" off of FireHouse - Hold Your Fire.

My Career highlight is: Winning the American Music Award for best new hard rock/heavy metal band in 1991..

My most embarrassing moment on stage: Starting the set with my guitar 1/2 step out of tune with the rest of the band..

The one piece of my gear that I cannot live without is: My hockey stick... but the Framus Amps are AWESOME..

The first song I mastered on guitar was: Highway Star by Deep Purple.

My first guitar was: Framus classical.

If I am only sure of one thing in life, it's... Tubes are better than transistors.

My Greatest fear is: Getting off the bus at a gas station to use the bathroom and having the bus driver leave me there with no money, cell phone, etc. It happened to our sound engineer once.

The one ritual I always perform prior to going onstage is: Warming up by singing and playing.

Favorite quote: "Life is too short for bad tone."

The exact moment I knew I would pursue a career in music was: When I played guitar in front of an audience for the first time.

The best advice I could give beginning guitarists is: practice.

The CD(s) I'm listening to right now is: Steve Morse - Split Decision.

My 3 all-time favorite albums are:
1. Dixie Dregs - Bring 'em Back Live
2. Eric Johnson - Ah Via Musicom
3. Scorpions - Blackout

I'm a sucker for: red wine.

If I could meet any ONE person living or dead, he/she would be: John Lennon.

My favorite junk food is: Hershey bar with almonds.

My biggest pet peeve is: loud and obnoxious people.

The word or catch phrase I say way too much is: ”great googlimoogli!!”.

The hardest part of my job is: waiting.

The first thing I do when I come home from touring is: kiss my daughter.

The one thing most fans don't know about me is: I play ice hockey 2-3 nights/week.

I knew I hit the "big time" when: Still waiting to hit it!!.

My Favorite Website is: www.ebay.com

The worst job I ever had was: cleaning garbage dumpsters behind grocery stores.

Right after this interview I'm going to: work on mixing my solo album.

I couldn't imagine being on the road without: a shower.

If I wasn't doing the musician thing, I could really see myself working as: producer .

My favorite movie ever: Spinal Tap.

My mission in life: Be a good father and husband.

My greatest obsession: my wife.

My first band was: Continental Drift.

My next major step is: solo album.

The greatest contribution guitars have brought into my life is the chance to play music for a living.

The coolest toy I had growing up was: my bike.

Check out my Website at: www.leverty.com and www.firehousemusic.com

The one musician I would love to work with that I have not yet had the chance would be: Elvis Presley.

If I could have three wishes, they would be:

A Grammy, Another multi platinum album & three more wishes.

When it's all said and done, I want the world to remember me for: emotional guitar playing and positive songwriting.

***Points of Interest:

** Bill got his 1st guitar at the age of 4.

** Firehouse won the American Music Award for best new hard rock/heavy metal band of 1991, Metal Edge Magazine's best new band of 1991, Young Guitar Magazine's best newcomer of 1991, and Music Life Magazine's reader's pop poll best newcomer of the year 1992.

** FIREHOUSE's first album sold over 2 million, and our song, "Love of a Lifetime" sold over 500,000 singles reaching #5. "Don't Treat Me Bad" went to #14. Our Second album sold almost 1 million copies to date with "Reach for the Sky" getting into the top 20, and "When I Look Into Your Eyes" reaching #7.

** Firehouse has done shows with Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bon Jovi, Tesla, Ratt, Status Quo, Cher, Damn Yankees, Night Ranger, Quiet Riot, 38 Special, Eddie Money, Blackfoot, The Outlaws, Derek St. Holmes, Badlands, Lynch Mob, The Rembrants, Blessed Union of Souls, Poison, Black Oak Arkansas, Nelson, The Romantics, Enuff Znuff, Slaughter, Warrant, Trixter, L.A. Gunns, Jackyl, The Tubes, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Pat Travers, Steppenwolf, Blue Oyster Cult, Sebastian Bach, Badfinger, Paul Rogers of Bad Company, Rick Derringer, John Entwistle of The Who, Faster Pussycat, David Lee Roth, Great White, Jefferson Starship featuring Mickey Thomas, and many more.

** They also jammed with Brian Johnson of AC/DC on the fourth of July in 1995.

There are many more interesting facts in Leverty's Bio located on his website... Go check it out!.

EG.com: Thank you so much Bill for Joining us and we are all looking forward to the release of your solo album! I'm always thrilled to have great guitarists join us as we compare notes with other guitarists and fans alike in "Ax Facts & Stats". I want to invite our visitors to check out Mr. Leverty's Website at www.leverty.com. Also be sure to check back for the next installment of ExtremeGuitars.com's "AX Facts & Stats" coming soon!

-Dave Roberts

www.extremeguitars.com is the web home of articles and interviews written by Dave Roberts. All Dave Roberts interviews & articles are available for use or reprint ONLY by Permission. Permission can be obtained by contacting dave@extremeguitars.com. All materials are Copyright Dave Roberts and Oceanbreeze Ent., All Rights Reserved.