Pat O’Brien

O'Brien was born in Northern Kentucky. He graduated from Conner High School in Hebron, Kentucky, in 1983 and currently resides in Tampa, Florida. His hobbies involve music and hunting. O'Brien got his first guitar when he was 11. His mother bought him an acoustic guitar for Christmas. Later, when he started to practice more he received his first electric guitar, a Gibson SG copy (due to his adoration of AC/DC guitarist Angus Young). His father also bought him a 1974 Gibson Flying V. His influences include AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Mercyful Fate and Metallica. As a guitarist, O'Brien is formally trained, having studied classical guitar. He gave lessons at Buddy Rogers Music, a music store in Florence, Kentucky, and Maschinots Music in Southgate, KY, where he encouraged his students to listen to jazz, classical, fusion, country and blues and not focus solely on metal. He recalls that his interest in classical guitar probably came from a concert of Andrés Segovia he attended with his father. Segovia remains O'Brien's favourite guitarist and his main inspiration.