GuitarMessenger.com correspondent Ivan Chopik recently caught up with guitarist Marco Sfogli (JAMES LaBRIE) to discuss his new solo album, There's Hope. The following is an excerpt from the interview:

IC: You’re playing on various sessions, you have just released your first solo record – are you doing any additional work or do you find that these projects are enough to sustain a career?

MS: "Well, I teach extensively, actually, and that’s my main source of income right now. Teaching has been always part of my daily routine since maybe 2000 or 2001. So I didn’t stop teaching ‘cause that’s part of daily practice – exchanges of thoughts with students. I’m doing less stuff, but maybe more important than it was before. But I try to keep it busy, and that’s very, very cool for a musician. It’s good to never stop."

IC: How has the response been to the release of your first solo record?

MS: "Well, I’ve seen a couple of reviews so far, and every one is good – a couple of thumbs up. It sounds like they enjoyed the record, and I don’t know yet about how many copies are sold, but maybe in a couple of… three months maybe, I’ll have the list of the copies sold and I’ll know more about it. But I’ve definitely seen some good reactions on the web, and even people asking at shops for my record - that’s very, very good and it’s widely distributed. I’m definitely happy about the way it’s being promoted and you can find it almost everywhere, even on demand on some guitar net stores. So it’s definitely going very well for being a solo record."

IC: This is definitely one of the strongest instrumental guitar records I’ve heard in a while. I find that in your writing there is a great amount of strong melodies and that’s something that oftentimes gets lost on instrumental guitar records. What’s the writing process like for you?

MS: "Well, it’s more of an inspiration thing. I’m not one of those guys who can sit down, and tell himself: ‘I’m going to write a song.’ It doesn’t happen, it doesn’t work for me. It never works for me and it probably never will, so all I do is search for inspiration – maybe just driving and doing some stuff or chilling out, and I’ll have this melody stick in my mind and as soon as I get home I try to put it down. That’s the main writing approach for me – it’s just about inspiration. Then all the rest comes up at the right moment."

Go to this location for the complete interview.