Andy Sneap Biography
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- Born July 18, 1969
Andy Sneap (born 18 July 1969) is an English guitarist, record producer and composer with over 100 albums to his name, most of which have been produced at his Backstage Recording studios in rural Derbyshire. Some of the most critically acclaimed production work on albums include Deliverance by Opeth and Disarm the Descent by Killswitch Engage; for which he earned a Swedish Grammis and a US Grammy nomination, respectively. As a performer, he first built his reputation as one of the guitarists in the British thrash metal band Sabbat, and played with them up until their disbanding. He is currently one of the co-guitarists of the British heavy metal band Hell. In 2018 he joined Judas Priest as a touring guitarist, following long-time lead guitarist Glenn Tipton's diagnosis of Parkinson's disease which conflicts with his touring abilities.
He is one of the most active music producers in the heavy metal music genre and has worked with bands such as Judas Priest, Accept, Blaze Bayley, Dream Theater, Saxon, Opeth, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy, Exodus, Megadeth, Kataklysm, Kreator, Nevermore, Testament, Carcass, Fear Factory, Overkill and DevilDriver. Of his production career, Sneap holds the distinction of having been credited as a producer, mixer or engineer on all six of Testament's albums since The Gathering (1999) – including the collection of re-recorded material First Strike Still Deadly (2001) – as well as all nine of Exodus' releases since the live album Another Lesson in Violence (1997). He also mixed Megadeth's show from the DVD The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria, also featuring Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax.
Andy Sneap was born on 18 July 1969 in Belper, Derbyshire. He got his first guitar and amplifier from his parents at age 12 as a Christmas present. He started learning guitar with founding Hell member Dave Halliday, who had a huge effect on Andy and left him all the rights to all his songs and equipment in his will following his death. Sneap joined a British heavy metal band called Hydra as the second guitarist when he was 15 years old. But two weeks later, the original guitarist and drummer quit, Simon Negus joined them, and the band's name changed to Sabbat.
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