Despite his superlative musical output with Opeth and beyond, Mikael Åkerfeldt doesn’t like receiving praise. But he’s happy to dish it out – and there’s one player that he believes doesn’t get their flowers.
When ‘prog guitar greats’ becomes a topic of conversation, there are obvious contenders. There's David Gilmour and his slow, thoughtful guitar solos for one, Robert Fripp for his angular ingenuity, another. Honorable mentions, meanwhile, go to Messrs Martin Barre, Adrian Belew, and, in modern realms, Plini and Tosin Abasi, too. So, who does he feel doesn’t get the praise they deserve?
“Jan Akkerman is very underrated,” he tells Guitar World. “If you asked David Gilmour if he knew who Jan was, he’d probably say, ‘Yeah, he’s my idol!’”
Known for his time on Dutch group Focus, and in particular for Hocus Pocus, which he co-wrote with keyboardist, flutist and vocalist Thijs van Leer, Akkerman has more than left his mark on the prog scene.
Hocus Pocus, recorded with a late ’60s Les Paul Custom plugged into a Fender SS1000/XFL1000 Super Showman, is one of the genre’s most successful and endearing tracks – especially away from the big-name artists. In fact, he inspired many of them.
“A lot of these well-known players were glancing at what Jan was doing back in the ’70s,” Åkerfeldt attests. “I know for a fact that [Camel guitarist] Andy Latimer looked up to him, not only as a guitarist but also as a member of Focus.
“Jan is quite widdly on his Black Beauty Les Paul. But he’s also a great acoustic player with this right-hand technique that resembles a flamenco player,” he continues. “He also knows when to sit back and play melodic lines nice and slow.
“He didn’t fight the other players in the band and shared the spotlight with Thijs Van Leer, who is another genius. Focus deserves more credit in general, I would say.”
Akkerman also has a fan in Vernon Reid, though he names a Strat wielder as guitar’s great unsung hero.
Åkerfeldt launched a signature acoustic guitar with Martin last year, having described the Martin museum as the “Holy Land,” but says one supposedly special guitar on display there left him cold.
Guitar World’s new chat with the Opeth riffsmith will be published in full later this month.
