With a nickname like “The Shreddly”, you have to figure Dakota Amacker must be a pretty excellent guitarist. And you would not be wrong. This man is incredible. Not only is he a tremendous musician, but he is also a very kind human who genuinely cares for other people and loves sharing his talent with everyone while also supporting others in the music industry. I’d like to share the story of Dakota Amacker. Hopefully his passion and energy will light a spark in anyone who has a talent that they can use to bless the world with.
Dakota is a solo artist and a guitarist for two bands — Awoken Infinium, and a project he started with his friend Andrew Ruiz, Nerdroll & Shreddly. He was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana and raised in Poplarville, Mississippi. Dakota shared with me that life since 2016 has been a roller coaster. He lost his mother to cancer. One month later he met his future wife, Virginia, who was a cancer survivor. Virginia relapsed in 2020, but fortunately, after a bone marrow transplant, she has been doing incredibly well. Dakota says his mother and Virginia have been his biggest inspirations. He does what he can, when he can with his music in the middle of everyday life responsibilities. He does hope that one day he can “go for it” in the music industry and make it a fulltime career. That’s a nice dream to keep alive.
How did Dakota get into music in the first place? He was brought up around blues and southern rock, and eventually he got into metal and all the big “shredders”. Dakota made it his goal to combine both emotion and speed into his guitar-playing, and he worked hard to show that “shred” and “feel” can go together hand-in-hand. He has met many great guitarists through his journey thus far, and he is honored to be surrounded by such great company and pioneers in the world of guitar-playing.
Dakota started taking his guitar-playing seriously around 2010. His mom had played here and there growing up, and he started playing on her old acoustic. One of his uncles let him play his guitar until Dakota got his first one, a 90s Peavey Predator, which he had to fix up with his dad’s help. He wired it together using old CB radio and box fan wiring! Very heavily inspired by legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen, Dakota named his guitar “Franky”. He would always bring his guitar with him to school when he was in high school – amp, axe, and all. He still does that now when he’s at work so he can play during his breaks!
When asked about his biggest musical influences, Dakota says his idol is Gus G, the guitarist for Greek-German power metal band Firewind. He has played for many other bands, and even played on Ozzy Osborne’s Scream album. Dakota says Gus is the reason he plays the star-bodied guitar shape. “I love my pointy axes!”, Dakota says. Eddie Van Halen was also a tremendous influence not only because of his guitar skills, but also his mindset of “make it work for you” when it came to hotrodding and fixing your instruments. Zakk Wylde, Oli Herbert of All That Remains, Jason Becker, Andy James, and Yngwie Malmsteen are other big inspirations for Dakota. He also fell in love with southern rock and blues when he first started out. His roots include lots of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
Dakota says he is a person who loves the instrument past the confines of any one style or genre. “I am a ‘shred guy’ and a metalhead,” he says. “But I always love collaborating with new artists in any genre.” He has done guest solos for friends in different genres. Dakota says he’s always open to different experiences. He has even played metal at rap shows! He has made friends and new contacts due to his open mind when it comes to music, and he says it’s a lot of fun for him.
Dakota has four solo albums, multiple standalone singles, and quite a few guest solos and collaborations that he has been a part of. His fifth solo record will feature two guest singers on two different tracks. This will be a first for Dakota, as his releases to date have all been instrumental. He is excited to be able to feature a couple of his friends.
Most of the music Dakota writes comes from experiences, personal situations, and hardships he’s been through. Sometimes he’ll write around an idea or a specific word. His 2021 album Invictus was written during 2020, when his wife was battling cancer. “It was a Hellacious year,” Dakota says. So he wrote about coming out of a “dark place”, standing firm, and finding that inner strength. He actually recorded the whole album while he was confined to one room sick with COVID, right before his wife went upstate to get her bone marrow transplant. To this day he still doesn’t know how he found the strength physically to do it. He’d hobble two feet from his bed to his desk and hit record.
For his solo artist music, Dakota records, mixes and masters everything himself. When he started his music career, he learned a lot early on by trial and error, as well as from people in the business who unknowingly taught him what to watch out for. He writes and records all of his own parts. He tracks the guitar and bass, and all the harmonies. For the drums, he creates those parts through his recording software, Reaper. He makes all of the drum parts and beats using a MT Power drumkit and his laptop keyboard. The same goes for all the string accompaniments, the orchestral bits, and what he calls the “crazy effects”.
Currently, Dakota is wrapping up his fifth studio album, Travesties Of Time. It will be his first solo album to feature not only guest musicians, but two guest singers also. He is excited to finally have vocals on some of his music! He’s already released a single, “Astrum Parabellum”, and a video to accompany it. He’s basically waiting now on finishing up the two songs with the vocals. Dakota is already stockpiling songs for an album that will follow this one, and also brainstorming for another future album! To me, that’s the definition of an overachiever. He eventually would like to have an album that is entirely made up of songs with guest features. Dakota says, “I’ve met many amazing people in my career through the years, and this would be a way to showcase their incredible talents.” The upcoming Travesties Of Time album will pave the way to have more of his friends appear as guests on future releases.
Dakota says he has been fortunate to be an endorsed artist with some of his favorite brands and companies. He is currently an artist with Blackstar Amplification, EMG Pickups, Elixir Strings, Rafive Guitar Picks, Lizard Spit Products, and Spectraflex Cables.
In addition to his solo work, Dakota is also part of the band Awoken Infinium. He and his friend Tony Allen, who is more like a brother to him, started the band around 2012, with the original name The Ascension. They eventually rebranded as Awoken Infinium, and have had multiple band members come and go over the years, but the band is still going. Dakota feels that Awoken Infinium recently solidified its ultimate lineup. They’re shelving songs from the past 10 years, and are now focusing on writing new material, with a goal of creating 10 heavy songs that will become a full-length album.
I wanted to get some thoughts on Dakota from some people who are part of the Gulf Coast music scene.
Anthony Green, THEM GUYS guitarist, says, “I actually got my first impression of Dakota when I discovered him on YouTube before even meeting him. I’ve been a fan and supporter ever since. After meeting him in person, I found that we are very much alike. Besides being a great human being who is very family-oriented and humble, he is a phenomenal musician and composer. We need more people like Dakota in this world!”
Fate Effect guitarist and vocalist Derek Smith says, “All I can say about Dakota Amacker is WOW! He is an amazingly talented individual with his equipment and guitar knowledge. He’s also just a very down-to-earth and humble dude! I’m honored and privileged to have talked to him a few times and to call him a friend.”
Samantha Overby of Samantha Overby Photography says, “Dakota is just insanely talented at what he does. As a person, he is very kind and giving. He supports other artists, and that’s rare to find.”
Dakota’s goal is to reach as many people as possible with his guitar-playing, and inspire and motivate people across the globe through music, our universal language we can all relate to. He says, “No matter who you are or where you come from, you CAN become something!”
You can find Dakota “The Shreddly” Amacker on Linktree, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
PHOTO CREDITS:
Samantha Overby of Samantha Overby Photography
Gene Broome of Spade Image
Andrew Ruiz
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