Kiko Loureiro has announced he has been forced to step down from the forthcoming fall leg of Megadeth’s Crush The World tour due to family reasons.
Never one to do things by halves, though, Loureiro has already sourced his own replacement, in the form of Finnish metal guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari. The band made the announcement with a post on social media yesterday (September 5).
“I have something that is difficult to share,” writes Loureiro in the update. “But we always like to keep you informed with the truth. I have to leave the tour for now, to be home with my children, and to help them face the difficult challenges that arise from us being Dads that work away from home.
“I found a guitarist, Teemu Mäntysaari, to fill in for me during the fall, and I think you'll be very happy. He's an amazing, incredible player. I have shared this with my partner in shred, Dave Mustaine, and to no surprise, he said, 'Go! Go be there for your family and keep us posted!'
“To my band mates and all of our fans around the world, see you all very soon, back out on the Killing Road!”
The post also states that the band have no intention of canceling tour dates and that Mäntysaari is set to make his debut tonight (September 6) at the band’s show at the Revel Arena in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
So who is Mäntysaari? The 36 year-old guitarist is a star on the Nordic metal scene. He hails from Tampere in Finland, and is best known for his role in respected power metallers Wintersun, who he joined in 2005.
That gig has given him plenty of experience in front of big crowds. Mäntysaari also teaches guitar, taking on students from around the world for online lessons and posts YouTube clips and playthroughs.
In 2015, he also teamed-up with Finnish actress and singer Netta Laurenne to form the poppier hard-rock band Smackbound, which shows he’s comfortable switching styles.
Loureiro (who is married to Finnish pianist Maria Ilmoniemi, and lives in Finland with their three daughters) was no doubt already familiar with Mäntysaari’s formidable chops.
Like Loureiro, Mäntysaari’s background in the pace-y, hyper-technicality of neo-classical power metal should leave him in good stead for the demands of the Megadeth gig.
In particular, Mäntysaari’s renowned for his jaw-dropping speed and precision, and his clips are full of insanely clean sweep picking and deadeye rhythm chops. However, pace alone won’t be enough to win his new boss over, as Dave Mustaine revealed in his Guitar World interview earlier this year.
“It's not about how fast you can shred, you know?” said Mustaine. “For me, a guitar player is evaluated the most on what type of player they really are. What kind of songwriter are they? What kind of rhythm player are they? How do they execute solos? How do they do with layering?
“That last one is big – you need to be able to layer guitar tones properly. If you can't, you're missing a massive piece of the puzzle.”
We suspect Mäntysaari has it covered. In the meantime, if you want to get a sense of the standards demanded, check out this clip of Mustaine, Marty Friedman and Kiko Loureiro rehearsing together.
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