Ultimate-Guitar.com recently caught up with FORBIDDEN guitarists Craig Locicero and Steve Smyth. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

UG: Let’s start at the beginning. Who were your first guitar heroes?

Craig Locicero: "I grew up in the late ‘70s and my parents had pretty standard musical tastes, so that’s what I was first exposed to. I became the black sheep in my family when I started getting into heavy metal. But they liked the stuff of that period. I’m talking artists like THE BEATLES and SIMON & GARFUNKEL. So the first guitarists that I got into were George Harrison, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. I say all three of them since you didn’t always know who was playing on what. From there I got into KISS and BLACK SABBATH. JUDAS PRIEST was also huge for me. I was really into Glenn Tipton’s playing style. He had a huge impact on me when I was a kid. It wasn’t till more recently that I started really appreciating K.K. Downing. If you see them these days, K.K.’s on fire!"

Steve Smyth: "My very first guitar heroes were Angus Young and Joe Perry. I heard ‘Back In Black’ one day at a friend’s house; he was learning guitar, and trying to learn the song by ear. He was getting frustrated, so he passed the guitar on to me and said 'You figure it out!' So I gave it my best shot, and started finding each one of the root notes of the chords, and eventually figured out the 5ths in each chord after that. I was hooked! My friend was pretty impressed, and threw on 'Dream On' by AEROSMITH; I tried to figure that out, and could only get a few notes, but the song hooked me, and I eventually got lessons and learned more and more, till I learned every AC/DC song and Aerosmith song I could.

From there, I heard Sabbath with Ozzy, then with Dio, Ozzy solo, Dio solo, Priest, MAIDEN, VAN HALEN, and more, and just kept learning and growing. My heroes list grew to include Randy Rhoads, Akira Takasaki, Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert, Marty Friedman, Jason Becker, and the rest of the Shrapnel Records scene. I got into jazz, blues, classical guitar and other styles, went through music and theory classes in high school and then put 2 year of college behind me. Throughout this time, my interests and inspirations grew. BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Michael Hedges, Paco De Lucia, the list goes on, and the bar is always set high!

UG: How about the almighty riff?

Craig Locicero: "Hank Shermann from MERCYFUL FATE was one of my main inspirations when it came to riffing. He had such an original style and he doesn’t get the credit he deserves."

Go to this location for the complete interview.