I play live in a few bands; a covers band with some friends, an original band with different friends and in a church youth band.I really enjoy playing live because I love the energy of the crowd. Best moment was seeing everyone in the room moshing when we played Killing in the Name at the Battle of the Bands comp that we won.

Mp3s help promote bands to a degree. Personally, I wouldn't buy a band's CD without hearing them first, which can be a problem for underground or unsigned bands. However, one good mp3 either sent from a friend or downloaded from a site (I don't use P2P software) can be enough to make me buy the band's album. E.G. I'd never heard of Dream Theater, but after a friend sent me The Glass Prison I went out and bought Images and Words (their first album) and I've been a firm fan since, buying all of their CDs.

Of course, the flip side is that some people will just download all music and not buy any, which is sad in my opinion as the artist put a lot of effort into writing/playing/recording that music.

All in all, I think that the internet (or mp3) is good for the music industry because it allows relatively unknown bands to make a name for themselves and larger bands secure a bigger fanbase.

Yes, as long as I was able to keep creative control over my music.

Mark began playing guitar at 12 years old, learning acoustic/classical style with the school guitar teacher. With great enthusiasm for the instrument, he studied hard to try and become good. After a year, he got an electric guitar. First playing punk before moving on to more complicated progressive rock and metal compositions, he has improved a lot in the last few years and continues to do so.

Steve Vai
Joe Satriani
Dream Theater
Metallica
Guns N Roses
CKY
Rage Against The Machine
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rancid

Birmingham

Guitars:
Ibanez RGT3120
Fender Strat

Amp:
Peavey Rage 158

FX/Preamp:
Digitech RP200

Recording:
I run the Digitech pedal into the line in on my Dell Dimension 4800 and record using Cubase SX3.