Job For A Cowboy’s new album Ruination is out now and apart from being filled with crushingly intense metal power, it’s also got one of the coolest, most evil album covers ever. JFAC first came to wider attention with a stint on Dave Mustaine’s Gigantour extravaganza, and after a few line-up changes – only singer Jonny Davy remains from the band’s original 2003 incarnation, they headed into the studio to bludgeon Ruination into shape. The album features the recorded debut of the current line-up of Davy, guitarists Bobby Thompson (who joined in 2006) and Al Glassman (a newer recruit enlisted in 2008), bassist Brent Riggs (second longest-serving member starting in 2004), and drummer Jon Rice, who became a Cowboy in 2007. I called Thompson on the eve of Ruination’s release to discuss recording, riffing and guitardom.

“The concept lyrically kinda branches off from the concept of our last record, Genesis, it just goes down more of a political route,” Thompson said. “It talks about a lot more modern day issues and problems with the world kind of brushing over world governments, police states, just a lot of things that are happening right now in the world. Jonny our singer has been reading a lot, researching different things that are going on to sing about, write about. This album definitely went down the political route. Musically there wasn’t really an overall concept. Our goal was to write the music we wanted to write and maybe not be too concerned with what people expected of us, or trying to fit in with a certain thing. We just wanted to write the music we were into, and if we liked it we kept it. If we didn’t we scrapped it. The interaction between the music and lyrics is: the music is very dark and the lyrics are very dark, but as far as that goes Jonny does all the lyric writing, all the vocal content. That’s his domain and we let him do his thing. I think he just writes and puts it to the songs whenever we get done.”

The album was recorded with producer Jason Suecof at AudioHammer in Orlando, Florida. “He’s an extremely creative producer and he helped us a lot with developing some different ideas we had that were underdeveloped when we went into the studio,” Thompson said. “And he’s an incredible guitar player. It’s always cool to have a producer who’s an incredible musician who’s going to say, ‘Hey, try this harmony, try picking it like this instead.’ So it was definitely really helpful and a cool experience. He’s a really fun dude to play with, a great guitar player with a lot of great ideas. He can play pretty much any style, so that’s really cool.”

With two technically proficient and stylistically established guitarists in the band, the question of who did what in the studio was answered quite practically. “Whoever could play whatever riff better would record it. If I was better at one rhythm I would do it, and if Al was better he’d do it. We pretty much went riff by riff. The main difference between our styles is I was raised playing a more legato style. A lot of stuff I write is more left-hand oriented while a lot of stuff Al writes is more right hand oriented. We kinda had an interesting period of trying to get used to each other’s style. We also pick things very differently too, which in the beginning was kind of a challenge, but now we’re starting to fit into the groove. He has more of a grindy, faster background than I do, so it’s an interesting combination: A fast, in your face background and a more melodic but really heavy, sludgy background.

“My favourite track is track 4, Regurgitated Disinformation,” Thompson said. “It’s a little more mid-paced. I really like it. It’s a lot different from anything we’ve done before. There aren’t really any fast parts, but it’s really heavy. To me it’s really interesting and it flows really well. It’s a long song but the way it’s written it doesn’t really get boring to me.”

Another standout moment is the album-closing title track, which features complex and heavily distorted yet clear-sounding chords and arpeggios. “Jonny and I wrote that song. He wrote a bunch of those guitar riffs – actually most of them. His style adds a different element to them,” Thompson said. A particular favourite part of that song for me is the bass tone, which is upfront and very audible, in contrast to a lot of metal where the bass is felt rather than heard. “I just think it makes the record sound better,” Thompson said. “It definitely brings the recording together, adds a lot to it. Once we got it, it sounded so awesome in the mix with everything. It was cool. Jason has a really good ear for things.”

That seemed like as good a cue as any to shift the conversation to gear geekdom. “I’m definitely into the gear. As far as the technical aspect of it goes I can’t take apart an amplifier and put it back together. I can change the tubes and stuff like that but I wouldn’t be able to rewire an amp or anything like that. Guitar-wise, for all but two of the tracks I used my Ibanez RGT320 Prestige. It’s a pretty awesome guitar. It’s a mahogany body with a flame maple cap and a five-piece maple/walnut neck. We’re running the EMG Zakk Wylde set but we use two batteries instead of one. For amps, we used the block-letter Peavey 5150 – I can’t remember if it was a 5150 or a 5150II – with a Maxon overdrive pedal in front, and a Mesa cab.”

Now, being an Ibanez geek I couldn’t let a chat with an Ibanez endorser go by without a mention of any LA Custom Shop axes they might have. “I have one custom,” Thompson said. “It’s an Iceman. It’s pretty rad. It’s a neck-thru, mahogany body. The finish is a lot like Paul Stanley’s old one, the natural wood finish, but it has a reverse RG headstock, not the weird Iceman headstock. I have … 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… I have… 6 Ibanezes. So not tonnes, but a fair amount. I started out as a Gibson Les Paul dude. That’s what I learned to play on. I didn’t actually get an Ibanez until just before I joined Job For A Cowboy. That was an RG20061 [pictured, left]. I still have it. It was a NAMM show special edition model, a burned oak finish. It’s pretty cool!”

Thompson’s effects use is pretty minimal – in fact most of the units on his pedalboard couldn’t even be described as effects at all. “I use a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor and a Boss Tuner, and I think it’s a DD-5 or DD-6 delay pedal. I just bought on eBay, I don’t know if you remember the Boss digital delay/reverb combination pedal, the RV-3. They stopped making them but I found one on eBay because Eric Ruttan from Hate Eternal has one and it sounds awesome. So I’ve been looking for one for a long time and I bought it and… I didn’t like it. So I went through the pain of doing the eBay thing, which I do very rarely, and I kinda hate it. I’m down a hundred and fifty bucks and now I’ve gotta figure out what to do with it.” So Thompson’s not a rack dude? “Those multi-effects things… well the TC Electronic one is pretty cool, the G-System, and to get all those effects individually would be a nightmare, so that one’s pretty cool. But you can’t beat the individual pedal tone.”

Ruination is out now on Metal Blade. CLICK HERE to buy it from Riot Act.

CLICK HERE to buy the RGT320Z from Musician’s Friend

CLICK HERE to buy the EMG Zakk Wylde pickup set from Musician’s Friend.