Today we’d like to introduce you to Drew Creal.
Hi Drew, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I’m originally from St. Charles Illinois and attended a rural high school near a town called Burlington. I started taking lessons when I was 11 with a local guitar teacher named Mr. G in Sycamore, IL. Throughout middle school and high school I played in jazz band so I got familiar with playing lots of chord changes and taking solos. I also started my own progressive metal band with some friends from church and the greater Fox River Valley area called Present Darkness. We played at youth group barn nights, local record stores, a bar in Mokena and a pretty huge show at the Clearwater Theater. Present Darkness was a crazy learning experience for me in terms of being in a band, making recordings, booking shows, printing t-shirts, making physical CDs, it was crazy trying to figure all of that stuff out in the early 2000s when I was in high school. I got into heavy music at an early age from bands like P.O.D., Extol, Living Sacrifice, Korn and eventually the more progressive metal stuff like Dream Theater and Planet X. I always loved and appreciated challenging and complex music that really showcased what the musicians could do at a high level.
I went on to study journalism at Northern Illinois University after failing to get into the guitar program. I auditioned for the jazz program with close to 40 guitarists in one room, the professor Fareed Haque took 2 students that year. I spent months preparing from the list of repertoire, only for the professor to call a song that wasn’t on the list. It seemed unfair at the time, but honestly, I wasn’t prepared and there were some other players that deserved to get in. I ended up taking private lessons with Fareed at his house instead and also jammed with several of his students throughout my time at Northern. Everything happens for a reason.
I feel like my journey in music professionally really began in 2010 when I attended Cornerstone Christian Music festival in Bushnell, IL. I had just graduated college and felt like I needed to pursue music seriously. I went with my friend Morgan who was attending the Salvation Army in DeKalb with me. At the fest, we camped out and saw so many awesome metal bands from all over the world. I made so many friends in bands while at the fest, one of which was a guy named Knik Woods who was playing in a band called Copernicus. Knik introduced me to the members of Skies and I really enjoyed watching this group of guys play. Playing guitar was already my life at this point and I knew I couldn’t return to the festival in 2011 unless I was playing in a band.
So, later that year, I got my order to join a touring band. One of the guitar players in Skies decided to leave the band and Knik dropped my name and vouched for my guitar skills so I ended up joining Skies and moved to the Hutchinson area of Central Kansas. We played several shows in and around Kansas and North Texas and even opened for an unknown band at the time called Kublai Khan. During that year in 2011 Skies played a handful of tours that unfortunately did not go well. We had shows fall through, our vocalist left and we had another guy jump in; basically morale was low and some of the other members wanted to quit the band.
I looked for opportunities elsewhere and eventually heard about an opening in a Nashville based metalcore band called As Hell Retreats. Their music was more along the lines of what I was into at the time and I was already a fan of the band. While I was living in Kansas, I learned 3 As Hell Retreats songs by ear and sent them to their guitar player Tyler Riley (who now plays in a band called Gideon). Tyler was impressed, and told me I had the job for an upcoming tour. I packed up everything into my 1997 Toyota 4Runner and moved back home for about a month. I practiced guitar every day in my old bedroom and got my guitar rig ready for tour. At the start of the year in 2012, I packed up all my stuff again, crammed it into the 4Runner and drove down to Hendersonville to prepare for the tour with Bermuda, King Conquer and Gideon.
I jammed with Tyler for hours and hours every day getting the As Hell Retreats set down. The riffs were really difficult on me at the time, but Tyler was patient and helped me learn everything. We worked on the set for about 10 days, practiced full band twice and then got ready to leave for a 32 day full US tour. Unfortunately it was discovered that As Hell Retreat’s van was essentially broke down the night before tour. So we crammed into the Gideon tour van and proceeded to tour for 32 days, 1 off day, 10 guys, one van. I continued to play guitar with As Hell Retreats throughout that year until we played our final show at Rocketown in September of that year.
In the years after As Hell Retreats broke up, I spent time building my life, working at Target and Starbucks, driving Lyft, delivering food, teaching guitar at a private school, basically doing everything I could to keep a guitar in my hands and not have a real corporate job. Musically I tried a lot of different things and played in about a dozen different bands in the Nashville punk, hardcore and metal scene including Muir, Pocket Science, Kinhin, Deaf Kid, Threnodian and my current band Xaphon. With these bands, we’ve released full length records, EPs and have played mostly local shows with a few regional shows sprinkled in. I’ve always maintained my YouTube channel, which is a guitar focused channel where I post gear reviews, lessons, covers and share my playing with the world.
A major turning point in my life occurred when I started studying guitar with Shane Roberts in 2015. I remember being so lost at the time and didn’t really know what my next move should be. I knew it needed to involve the guitar, so with the encouragement of my dad, I sought out a mentor. I talked to a few other guitar players that I respected and they said they studied with Shane, so I reached out via email and eventually after about a month, Shane got back to me. I had to answer some very simple questions very thoroughly to become one of his students. Things worked out and I started studying with Shane. I learned so much from Shane and the lessons that I took with him helped shape me into the guitar player that I am today. Shane helped me crack my ego and allow me to get to a much higher playing level on the instrument.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Haha, no, it has definitely not been a smooth road. One question that Shane asked me at a lesson was “do you want the guitar to revolve around your life, or do you want your life to revolve around the guitar?” It was at this point that I realized I needed to live a more humble life, stop craving all the things that other people have and put my head down and focus on the craft. In rearranging my life to accommodate long hours of practice and discipline, a lot of cool opportunities have come my way.
As far as other struggles go, being in a band is a difficult thing. It involves sharing your life and time with 3 or 4 other people. Sometimes those visions don’t always line up. I’ve always been an all or nothing guy; you sacrifice everything for the art and music, and sometimes that doesn’t always vibe with people, especially the: “let’s see what happens to our music career if we put in some effort” types. Forget that, there are ways to strategize, and there are some timeless proven methods to write, record, release and perform music.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m primarily known as a metal and jazz fusion guitarist. I run a YouTube Channel called “Drew Creal” where I post videos weekly and shortform content daily. I am the guitarist and vocalist of a Christian death metal band called Xaphon, we have a new single called “Secrets” coming out on January 9th. In 2024, our full length was released called “Heights of the Far North.”
I also run a heavy music and guitar focused podcast called the “Shred Sessions Podcast.” My co-host is another guitarist named Christian Colabelli. We interview entire bands and members of bands at the podcast studio, which is at my house in Clarksville. We also travel to shows and festivals and interview bands and artists on site. I started the show at the beginning of 2024 and we have been steadily growing ever since then.
I’m currently working on a progressive metal/jazz-fusion EP with Christian Colabelli that will feature some amazing drummers, including Nathan Sletner and Zack Dean from Humanity’s Last Breath. The goal of this EP is to blend our favorite guitar styles together, write listenable melodic guitar music, shred our asses off and let you hear some incredible guitar solos. If you want a sneak preview of the music, you can hear some of the songs on my YouTube Channel.
I will also be releasing a yet to be named slam metal EP with vocalist Nick Cross from the band Divisive. That will be out this spring. I also have plans of releasing a full length heavy post-rock record called Muir “Memories of Shelby Park,” which will also be out later this year.
In addition to all of the music going on, I run my own guitar lessons business called Lessons with Drew. Each week I teach about 10 different students of all skill levels how to play guitar. I love working with beginners and with students of various ages. I teach mostly online, but I also teach in person if you’re in the Clarksville area. I have a few open spots available in 2026 if anyone is interested in getting started with guitar playing or getting their chops to the next level. I’d love to help!
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m an avid reader, some of my favorite authors are Annie Jacobsen, Shoshana Zuboff, Michael Heiser and Whitney Webb if that gives you an idea of the stuff I read. I love learning about the world and who runs it and who the power players are. I also love reading books that strengthen my faith in Christ.
I also love cooking meals with my wife, grilling meats on the Blackstone, and playing with our 3 dogs, Carl, Blanche and Pearl.
Pricing:
- 30 Minute Lesson: $25
- 1 Hour Lesson: $50
Contact Info:
- Website: https://lessonswithdrew.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shred_riffs/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drew.creal
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChvojOehKTXSVJj6g9NyI_A
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/drew-creal
