Nick Lee of Moon Tooth
Investigate further @nickleesees
Interview by Joey Diabolic
Photography // Justin Cooler
Moon Tooth just dropped the ‘Bastard EP’ in early March 2026. There’s some seriously heavy and intense riffage throughout. Is the e.p. a waterfall release for a future full-length album? Thanks! The Bastard EP lives on its own and we will follow it with an LP once we're finished writing it... at least that's the plan as of now!
“I’s” is such a powerful track, which also features you belting out some blood-curdling screams. How did this composition come to fruition? Thank you! The "I's" riffs at least started from our drummer Ray's riffage. The end of the song and my screaming just grew out of a section I felt it could use it! Our previous album 'Phototroph' I was only focusing on guitar so it felt like a good moment to bring back some of those blood-curdling screams. It's not something we ever purposely withdrew from the band so it felt good to bring them back into the mix!
Nick and Ray @ Westfall Recording Studios
Since the ‘Freaks’ e.p., all of the main releases have been recorded, engineered, mixed and mastered by Ray Marte (Moon Tooth drummer) at Westfall Recording Studios in Farmingdale, NY. How different (or similar) were the production and writing processes between ‘Bastard EP’ and the’ Phototroph’ album? How does Ray generally navigate those sessions from pre-production into the full-on album production? What's the secret sauce? Since the band started, we always relied on Ray to record the band so it's just a matter of how we're going to go about it but Ray has always been a huge part of translating the songs into a recording... If there is a secret sauce I'd have to say it's some matter of just how the four of us translate our parts onto the recording. Ray has always been the secret sauce of making it sound killer! He has always had that secret sauce in his brain somewhere... and Westfall Recording Company is just where he makes that happen.
Photography // Liz Sadkowski
There are some really incredible songs throughout the Moon Tooth history… a few that come to mind are “Queen Wolf”, “Igneous”, “Trust”, “Through Ash”, “The I That Never Dies”, with my all-time favorite being “Back Burner” from 2022’s ‘Phototroph’. What has noticeably changed for you with the process of composing music and dialing in melodic structure throughout Moon Tooth’s catalog? We never have one way of making it happen. Usually one riff Ray or I come to the table with and whichever John writes to first that continues the inspiration is how we continue to work. Following the inspiration that we love together is a simple way of putting it. We love almost every time of music so it could be more stoner rock inspired or completely prog metal inspired. There are no limits when it comes to that.
Your rendition of Jimi Hendrix’s ’Manic Depression’ is fucking badass. Will it ever see a release on Spotify (and other streaming platforms)? What’s an underrated aspect of Jimi’s technique that you discovered while learning/recording the song and have added to your current skill set? No plans to release it that way, but we do have another cover from that era that I"m very excited to release. That song in addition to "Manic Depression" or our cover of Zappa's "Magic Fingers" have been out for a long time... Maybe we could do like a Metallica's 'Garage INC' that would be really fun but no plans yet... As far as what I've learned from Hendrix, there's no short list there... but 'Manic Depression' just had some of the heaviest riffs of that whole era in my opinion and I feel like Hendrix is still underrated there, as far as pure heavy riffage!
As a fan of your guitar work for over a decade, I gotta say I’m always blown away by your ability to shred up-and-down the neck while still retaining restraint, nuance and balance. As a guitar instructor working with players at different levels of performance, what is generally the biggest hurdle for students to overcome and how do you help them navigate to the next level? That's a great question, I feel like it's different for every student but I will see the hardest thing for a lot of students is finding other humans to work with on their own music. That could be another guitar player or a drummer or anything so they can build their own musical pieces. Find those you really want to build music with and climb that mountain together. I was lucky I was able to do that with Ray of Moon Tooth at a very young age. Most of us have a real problem finding those others.
Photography // Liz Sadkowski
Photography // Joey Diabolic
When did you first pick up the axe? What was your first guitar? My parents gave me my first axe when I was around 6 or 7 years old. It was a 3/4 scale called a 'Gremlin' with a single humbucker in it... I still have it today!
Photography // Reilly Bowes
What’s your current rig look like? Oh boy... well I've been endorsed by Vigier guitars for years now and I have 2 of those GV Rocks and 1 Excalibur (think of two les pauls and a strat all with NO TRUSS ROD) all with Dimarzio pickups, I run those threw a '76 Hiwatt DR103 with a Fryette Attenuator and a Bad Cat Hot Cat through 2 4x12s on stage through about a million pedals haha, main gain coming through a Friedman BE-OD, with help from an Archer, fun stuff coming from EHX Pitchfork, MXR Phase 90, Empress Echo-90, and if you really want all the deets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LW3HEam4ZN4
Who were your initial guitar heroes? Which guitarists have you been following in more recent years? My first hero was probably James Hetfield and then for leads I'd say Dimebag Darrell, SRV, and in-between is Brent Hinds, and in recent years it would have to be Billy Strings... for song writing I'll throw out Tom Waits... I can never choose much more but those are certainly the big ones.
Back in 2015, we shared the stage together at the Tuscan Cafe (Warwick, NY). Moon Tooth’s live energy was explosive! You were jumping off guitar cabinets and thrashing all about. What’s the band’s caffeine regiment for live performances? I live off of caffeine from wherever I can get caffeine, lol. Up until recent years I’ve worked as a barista which I joked about in the “Awe At all angles” music video but I’ve always just put as much decent coffee in my body all day, nothing too fancy but lived off it all day. Recently I’ve been trying to cut it to two cups/day instead of two pots/day back, lol.
Bonus Question: What’s your (3) all-time favorite horror films? Favorite horror movies. Damn that’s hard but recently: 1. The Shining 2. Hellraiser 3. Martyrs
