RUSTY COOLEY - Guitarist Rusty
Cooley received his first guitar on his 15th birthday and never looked back.
Unsatisfied with local Instructors, Rusty began teaching himself through Doug
Mark’s Metal Method and various other instructional books and video’s. During
High School, Rusty took music theory classes and also attended the National
Guitar Workshop. He performed solo guitar in high school talent shows and
performed such pieces as Van Halen’s “Eruption” and Randy Rhoads “Revelation
Mother Earth” solos. During his senior year, Rusty was offered his first
teaching job at the same store, that just three years earlier, he had bought his
first guitar. Some of Rusty’s early influences included: Rhoads, Malmsteen,
Becker, Gilbert, Holdsworth, Paganini, Bach, Vai, Gambale, Moore, MacAlpine,
Taffolla, Friedman, Howe, Kotzen, Firkins, and Housholder. He was also
influenced by many styles including: Jazz, Classical, Funk, Blues and even
Country, if you can believe that. There where times when Rusty was pulled in so
many different directions by music, he didn’t know if he wanted to be a
Classical Conductor or a Jazz guitarist.
After graduating High School, Rusty continued studying Music Theory at the local
college, as well as Music History and Class Piano. In 1989, Rusty joined the
local rock band Revolution. Revolution wrote, performed and recorded all
original music. They became one of Houston’s top drawing bands. Revolution
opened for national acts like Badlands, Nitro, Every Mothers Nightmare, and
South Gang. In 1992, Revolution released a four-song EP. Revolution’s music was
once described as Skid Row meets Yngwie Malmsteen. Revolution made two
appearances on a local TV show called “Metallurgy” and “Metallurgy Unplugged”.
Rusty also taught guitar on a college TV show called “Stay Tuned”. In 1993,
Rusty quit the band due to musical differences and started a new band Dominion.
Dominion wrote and performed locally as well but was short lived and broke up in
1995. Also, during 1995 Rusty entered and won the “Guitar Master Series” winning
the title of “Best Guitarist” in Houston.
1996 marked the beginning of a new direction. Rusty bought his first 7-string
guitar and decided it was time to go for it on his own. Rusty went back to the
woodshed and started working on his guitar playing intensely pushing himself to
new levels. Along with this came a whole new list of influences that fueled the
fire….Shawn Lane, Derek Taylor, Buckethead, Todd Duane, Scott Stine and Haji’s
Kitchen. It was during this period that Rusty began to work on instrumental
guitar compositions. These songs represented his desire to record an
over-the-top guitar instrumental release featuring state of the art chops and
strong melodic content. Rusty was also selected as a runner up in the AIM "Jason
Becker Scholarship Search." Rusty hosted three episodes of a local cable show
called "World Class Guitar Techniques," which aired in the Houston area. Rusty
taught for the National Guitar Summer Workshop in 96, 97, 98 at the Austin and
Connecticut Campuses.
In October 1997, the band Outworld was formed to record and perform instrumental
music. In March 1998, Rusty was invited to join Shrapnel recording artists
Haji's Kitchen, but had to decline due to relocation problems.
In 2000, Rusty released an instructional cd rom “Shred Guitar Manifesto” and
gained endorsements with Jackson Guitars and Seymour Duncan pickups. Rusty also
started doing guitar clinics as well. Rusty’s presence on the Internet was
growing and his music started getting great reviews, which followed with
interviews and instructional columns. His music was featured on several
compellation cd’s as well. Outworld performed at the internationally acclaimed
“Bang Your Head Festival” in Houston, and was featured on Robb’s Metal works a
San Antonio, Texas Heavy Metal TV show. In August 2001, Rusty left Outworld and
Houston to move to Alpharetta Georgia. After a short time in Georgia, two more
instructional cd roms “Extreme Pentatonics” and “The Art of Picking” where
released. Soon after, Rusty was asked to headline Jemfest in Orlando, Florida in
2002. Additional endorsements followed: EMG pickups, VHT Amps and Digital Music
Co. In late 2002 the instrumental CD was finished and Rusty began looking for a
record label. He also had a custom 8 string guitar hand made by Bill Conklin of
Conklin guitars.
In 2003 some exciting events occurred and soon Rusty signed with Lion Music and
the debut CD was released in January. In April, Rusty was given the honor of the
“7th Fastest Shredder of all Time” in Guitar One Magazine. In May, Rusty moved
back to Texas. Not wanting to be known for shred skills alone, he and Bobby
Williamson reformed Outworld as a vocal band. While undergoing a number of
personnel changes, Outworld recorded its self-titled debut CD which was released
in late 2006 to both critical and artist acclaim. With the success of Outworld’s
debut CD, and increasing notoriety in guitar circles, Rusty garnered a
significant number of endorsements with Dean Guitars, EMG pickups, Diamond
Amplification, Morley, Intellitouch, Rocktron, Maxon, GHS strings, VHT, Conklin,
and Eventide. And 2007 saw the development and release of his Dean Signature
Guitar, the RC7 Xenocide. Rusty has also been featured in Guitar Player, Guitar
One, Guitar World, Guitar Techniques magazines, Axe and written his own column
for Guitar Player magazine titled “Metal Guru”. With a stable and impressive
band lineup, Rusty is currently writing and recording Outworld’s second CD which
promises to capitalize on the strengths of the debut CD and demolish all
expectations. In August 2007 Outworld won 10,000 in a Famecast contest similar
to American Idol where viewers watched and voted for the favorite artist.
“Remember to live, eat, sleep and breathe music for the mind, play from your
heart and never be swayed by the current trends.” -Rusty Cooley-
Muriel Anderson's All Star Guitar Night benefits the
Music For Life Alliance
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