Joshua Carter

Name: Joshua Carter

Age: Old enough to know that I should give a f**k, but still too young to actually give a f**k.

Instrument: I have spent most of my life playing guitar, and since 2005 I have also taken on the role of lead vocalist. Recently, I have decided to focus solely on singing for my current band Signal the Revolution.

Band/Former Bands: Signal the Revolution is all that I do these days. The first real band called Somberland with Stephen Floyd Jones. I returned to that band later as it was changing from Contortion to Tornacade. After Tornacade, Stephen and I formed Portrait of a Suicide. I spent a little time playing for Chris Leffler in his band Assisting Sorrow.

How long on instrument: I've been playing guitar for 20 years now. I have really only been singing about 7 years.

Equipment: My guitar rig consist of a Marshall JVM 410h head racked up with a Hush Super C, a BBE sonic maximizer, an old school Midiverb, and a Sennhieser ew172 G3 wireless. On the ground I have a Steve Vai Bad Horsie wah with a MXR smart gate, and a Morley tuner. My guitar cab is a Marshall Mode Four with cross-mounted Celestion Vintage 30s and GK-100s. My main guitar is an ESP Eclipse. I have a boatload of Schecter and Ibanez guitars, one, an RG550, the prize from Guitar Wars at the old Toy Tiger. I inherited that guitar when my friend Kevin Maurice Brown passed away in 1997. I also have his old Kramer guitar that has been hot rodded to the max, but played to death. I like using TonePros graphite bridges with hand-made bone nuts. All of my stage guitars have an EMG 85 in the bridge and an EMG 60 in the neck. Most of my vintage guitars are stocked with DiMarzio pickups. Other than that, I always use a Sure Beta 58A wireless mic.

Influences: I grew up in the grunge era, so Alice in Chains is probably my favorite band, but I was really into Nirvana. I listened to a lot of Death and Cannibal Corpse in the 90s. Strapping Young Lad is another favorite. Pantera is without a doubt my all time favorite metal band. R.I.P. Dimebag.

My first gig: My first actual "gig" was playing at a field party in 1994. My friend Steve Jones had a band called Gravestaw and they let me play some Nirvana song with them. I also fell asleep in a giant cardboard box and woke up buried in hay bales.

Hobbies: I own and shoot a lot of guns. I used to sculpt and paint, but now I just like to blow chit up. My current favorite is my Ruger 44 magnum.

Favorite movies: The Godfather trilogy; Full Metal Jacket and Clockwork Orange. For some reason I have always liked Dead Man Walking. Pet Cemetery, IT, and Christine.

Favorite food: Meat. We eat all kinds of animals.

Favorite place: Any ocean.

Bad habits: I speak my mind, even when it's not appropriate. I also have terrible road rage.

What I'm listening to nowadays: I listen to a lot of Rise Against, Breaking Benjamin, Five Finger Death Punch, Chevelle, Deftones, old school Korn, A Perfect Circle and Tool.

Coolest thing I've done: Bummed cigarettes off Gene Hoglan one night at a show. I didn't even smoke, but I grew up listening to that guy own the drums. I just kept smoking these cigarettes one right after another just to keep talking to him.

Most embarrassing moment: One Fourth of July I decided it would be a good idea to go outside and fire a bunch of guns off into the air to show some good old-fashioned patriotism. One of my guns malfunctioned and while trying to fix it, I shot my self in my fretting hand. It was a through-and-through with a 9mm. Tornacade had a show the next day at Headliners, opening for a national band called Third Strike. After spending all night in the hospital, I doped up on some of the strongest painkillers they will let you take home from the hospital and played the show anyway. I couldn't even feel all of my fingers anymore, my pinky and ring finger were completely numb. Luckily, after many months, the feeling came back.

Who do you love: James B. Beam. A lot. And my wife.

When/where did you first get some: In the back of a trailer in1994.