User:NiklawskiMSTM/Biography

I'm a musician and an IT nerd.

= Music =

I've always been very musically inclined.

Instruments
As a member of a band, I am the lead vocalist and lead/rhythm guitarist. On the side (meaning not for the purpose of playing these instruments in a band), I'm a bassist and a drummer. I like a wide variety of music. I freaking love guitars and basses. You have no idea. My dream is to first become a luthier at a local guitar shop and then eventually open up my own handmade guitar company. However there is no guarantee that the shop I want to start at will hire me (especially since I haven't even put in my application). Regardless, I'm going to end up building my own guitars.

Musical tastes
I like '70s and '80s heavy metal (i.e. Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Motörhead, Diamond Head, and Deep Purple), '70s prog rock (mainly, however not limited to just, Pink Floyd), '80s thrash metal (i.e. Slayer, Metallica, and Testament), some '80s and '90s death metal (almost exclusively Death and Control Denied), '90s grunge (i.e. Pearl Jam and Alice in Chains), '90s heavy metal, and even some '00s rap metal (almost exclusively Rage Against the Machine). Other albums and artists that I like and/or love that don't fit the genres listed above are the bands Havok, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, Bob Marley & The Wailers, Minor Threat, The Clash, The Ramones, the albums Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence by Dream Theater, Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty, Shout at the Devil by Mötley Crüe, and Metal Health by Quiet Riot.

Guitars
Niklawski has been known for using a wide variety of different guitars.

Some of Niklawski's current guitars are:
 * Jackson Jackson Rhoads – Double-locking licensed Floyd Rose low-profile bridge; primary guitar for E standard tuning
 * B.C. Rich Warbeast "Alice" – Originally equipped with a double-locking licensed Floyd Rose but replaced with a licensed Floyd Rose fastloader; primary guitar for Eb standard tuning
 * ESP F-50 "Rhonda" – Primary guitar for tunings other than E standard and Eb standard, most commonly D standard, C# standard, and drop D

Bass guitars

 * Gibson Victory Bass "Rihannon" – built in 1982; primary bass guitar
 * Ibanez Destroyer bass – built in 1984

Bass

 * Peavey Basic 112 – Used for both bass and guitar

Guitar

 * Fender Frontman 15G (retired)

Effects
Niklawski's rig in 2008 included:


 * Behringer TU300 tuner
 * Boss DS-1


 * Dunlop Cry Baby GCB-95
 * Behringer UC200 chorus

Accessories

 * Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings (.11–.48)
 * Dunlop Stubby 2.0mm picks
 * Dunlop Big Stubby 2.0mm picks
 * Seymour Duncan Blackouts

= Tech =

I'm huge into Linux, mainly Ubuntu and other Debian-based Linux releases.

= Notes =