Hello Rafael, Firstly I'd like to congratulate you on an absolutely entertaining performance I witnessed on the Paul Stanley Tour. You seemed to be really enjoying yourself and adding in the extra lick everywhere even surprising/impressing Paul at times with your outstanding monstrous playing.

 Q: Can you tell me during this tour did Paul comment about your performance after the show?

Rafael: Hey Michael first of all thank you for your words! Paul seemed to be very pleased with our
performances, we were having a lot of fun and he was very complementative of my playing!  

PS thanks for passing out your guitar pics... they made some young fans very happy indeed.

Rafael: My pleasure.

Enjoy
Michael
STARMAN

 Hi Rafael

 Firstly I wanted to congratulate you on an amazing tour, & thank you for letting us experience what has to be one of the most amazing guitarists we have ever seen!

 Q: I was just wondering what was next on your agenda, & if there are any future plans on touring Australia?

Rafael: Thank you Lina! At the moment Im working on my band's record , please check it out
www.myspace.com/MAGNETICO and Australia is deafenetly on the top list of places where I wanna tour with Magnetico!

 Thanks,

Lina.

 Rafael,

 Firstly I must say that you are a kick ass guitarist!!! I have enjoyed watching you on Rockstar and it was awesome to see you on tour with Paul. You get some amazing sound out of your guitar and amp.

Q1: What kind of guitar and pickups do you prefer?

Rafael: Thank you Michael! I usually like Les Pauls and a variety of Gibson guitars and Im endorsed by them as well, but I also love strats and tele's! It all depends on what you're playing and as far as the
pickups goes they're just the ones that came with the guitars!

Q2: Also, what kind of amp and effects do you use?

 Rock on dude!!!

 Cheers,

Michael (Starscream)

 Q1. What was the best gig you found when you played in Australia

Rafael: They were all really good, of course the first Sydney and Melbourne shows were crazy packed so that was extra fun!

Q2. How did you find the fans in Australia to other countries?

Rafael: You guys have your thing and I definitely felt very welcomed there!

Q3. How much rehearsal did you and the band play before you went out and played your first show in the America.

Rafael: For about two weeks, since we had three guitar players and lot of singing parts to figure out!

 Cheers   Graeme

 Hi Raf

 Q1 :What songs were rehearsed but never made the tour?

Rafael: None

Q2: If you had the chance to create the greatest band in the world with all musicians from all eras who would you put in your band?

Rafael: John Bonham on Drums, Jaco Pastorious on Bass, Steve Wonder on Keys and vocals and myself on guitar and vocals!!!!!!!

 Cheers

 John S

Hi Rafael,

 Q: What was your favourite song that you played in the Live To Win tour?

Rafael: There were too many fun songs to choose from!

 Thanks for touring Australia ! You rock man

Hey man,

 Q: What was your favourite song when you played with Pink?

Rafael: Don't remember.

 Later man

 SamT

 How are you Raf?

 Q1: What was your job before you became a musician?

Rafael: I'm well thanks. I started playing guitar when I was 6 years old, so I've been gigging as a musician
for a long time, but when I finished music school in LA I got a job driving models for castings and auditions
which wasn't a bad gig at all, the girls were hot!!

Q2 :Which artist would you like to write a song with?

Rafael: Stevie Wonder

 Regards

Frank

Dear Rafael,

 Firstly Rafael you were awesome on all the dates I had the honour to attend  and my question would be :

 Q: When rehearsing the songs with Paul the original solos from those songs were layed down by many different guitarists all with their own styles eg Ace, Vinnie, Bob Kulick. What approach did you take cause to my ears you really added something new and exciting to all of them and it seemed you didn't just blue print them, rather you added to them?

Rafael: Thank you Kevin! I tried to be closer to the classic solos, but even on those solos I wanted to play
with my vibe and personality! Thats always how I approach music, you have to be yourself!

 Hope to see you again in Oz?

Rafael: for sure.

 Cheers

 Kevin

Hey Rafa,

 Andrew from Wollongong here. Enjoyed taking my shots in the pit, and thanks for the pic and for saying hi on Myspace when you have the chance.

2 part question...

 Q1 :Were there any songs rehearsed that didnt make the set?

Rafael: Thank you! I don't remember rehearsing any songs that didn't make the set.

Q2: Were there any classic kiss songs you hoped paul may have added

Rafael: There are a lot of Ace and Gene songs that I really like that I knew we wouldn't play, but it's all
good, because Paul is the real deal!

 Thanks

Andrew – Wollongong

Hi Rafael, hopefully you remember us from Coolangatta, we were the three guys with PAUL IS GOD t-shirts.  Our question to you:

 Q1: when will you be touring Australia again soon, either solo or with your band Magnetico? 

Rafael: I definitely remember you guys and that show was so much fun! I don't have any dates as we speak, but I'm working on Magnetico's record and hopefully we'll be able to tour Australia very soon!

 If you come back again, the three of us will be front row with t-shirts saying RAFAEL IS GOD. 

Rafael: Thank you, Im gonna count on it!! You guys are funny!

You earned it man, you are a god on guitar.

 Thanks for the awesome gig. 

 Sam, Byron and Nick

Hi Sexy,

 We were lucky enough to be at 6 of the Paul Stanley shows and you always look like you are having the greatest time. 

 Q:  Is there one show that stands out as one of your favourites?

Rafael: Hey sexy Linda the shows were fantastic, they all had a different vibe and I'm always up for a good
time!

 Linda

 Hey Rafael

 Q1 : If you could make a fantasy band using past/present musicians, who would they be and what would be the name of the band?? And you cant say House band. lol.

Rafael: Hey Jake I love my band Magnetico, I think it rocks so hard that I can't even explain it, but I
think John Bonham on Drums, Jaco Pastorious on Bass, Steve wonder on  Keys and Vocals and myself on Guitar and vocals would be crazy! Thats all.

 Jake Byrne

Hey Rafael,

Thanks for being nice to everyone from the KISS ARMY !! We love you man, your one of the family now man !!!

My questions are,

Q1: Which city did you like the most while you toured Australia ?

Rafael: Are you trying to get me beat up?! I love Australia period.

Q2: I noticed that you used a KISS guitar tech, who supplies your equiptment when you tour with Paul? Do you Paul’s  (KISS) gear , or your own ?

Rafael: I definitely use my own gear and guitars, thats my sound! Mike is a great tech and we got along very well!

Q3: Can you also tell us about your new cd MAGNETICO !  Where can we buy it ???

Rafael: Hey George Im working on the record as we speak, it will be out in no time!

Thanks again and see you next time you are in Australia

 George Xirocostas

Hi Rafael,

Q1:Which bands did you listen to when you were growing up ?

Rafael: Stones , Kiss, Zeppelin, AC/DC, Deep Purple, I'll stop here as it's a huge list!

Q2: When are you coming to Greece ?

Rafael: When you hire my band to play some gigs!! Check it out www.myspace.com/MAGNETICO

 Yiasou  Gerasimos
KISS ARMY GREECE

KAA: Is there a reason you chose to bring only Gibson Guitars on this tour to Australia?

Rafael: I'm endorsed by Gibson Guitars, plus they just sound right for the material we're playing!

KAA: As two of them are Gibson customs, how did you customize them for yourself? How have set up each guitar? Strings, pick-ups etc?

Rafael: They're regular custom shop guitars tuned to Eb, the strings are 10 to 52s and I got stock pick ups in it! 

KAA: What other gear/effects etc are using on this tour? For which song/songs do you use them for? Can you describe the pedals etc you have on your trailer trash pedal board?

Rafael: I didn't really use a lot of effects on the
songs, just some tube screaming in front of the amp's distortion on some of the the solos and some Delay and Chorus! I use a David friedman rack system, Its basically a midi ground control that swicths all my sounds from the drawer in the back, which contains a Boss DD5 Delay w/ tap tempo, an Arion stereo Chorus, a Boss CE2 chorus , a Voodoo Lab proctavia, an Ibanez
tube screamer, and even though I have a TC Electronics Rack I never used it! I also have down on the Trailertrashpedalboard a Real McCoy picture wah,  Boss volume pedal and an electro harmonix Pog!   

Rafael's Trailer Trash pedal board

 
KAA: When playing the solos in the classic KISS songs ofthe set, like Love Gun, did you try to stay faithful to the original versions of the songs or add a bit of Rafa magic to them?

Rafael: I tried to do both!

KAA: Which song do you think has been the most popular amongst the audience on the Australian tour?

Rafael: Its hard to say, even songs like "I was made for loving you" or "Shandi" that we thought would be more popular didn't really stand out more than the other tunes, it seemed that the Australian crowd new all the songs and than some more!


KAA: During the song Do You Love Me, whose idea was it for you and Sasha to lift your guitars when Paul sings "7 inch"?

Rafael: That would be Sasha!

 
Sasha and Rafael in Sydney

KAA: How would you sum up the Australian tour? Is there aparticular highlight?

Rafael: It's was my 5th time in Australia and I had a blast, specially this time around , because I was playing amazing songs that I grew up listening to, with amazing musicians and for an audience that loves guitar playing!

KAA: What advice would you give to those new to playing the guitar?

Rafael: Love what you do!

KAA: What advice would you give to more experienced guitar players trying to get to the next step, like making/performing blistering solos like you do each night with Paul?

Rafael: Follow your heart and enjoy every moment!