General Interest

“We used to call it riff soup,” Malevolence guitarist Josh Baines says as he’s explaining how they wrote songs back in the day. They’d throw a riff out into the ether, then another, then another. They moved from A to B without giving anyone listening something to grab onto. Nowadays, wisened by countless live shows and their 10,000 hours of songwriting, their ideas boomerang back to them more. As they sat down to work on their new album, Where Only The Truth Is Spoken, they knew from the outset they wanted to develop a more chiseled, refined sound. “We focus a lot more on the structured elements, playing around with harmonies and layers and things like that, so when we play them live, it comes across well for the crowd,” he adds, dialing in from his bed near the end of a long, hot day.

• READ MORE: Mclusky’s Andrew Falkous picks the best sub-45-minute punk albums of all time

“It’s definitely more refined this time,” adds fellow guitarist Konan Hall, sitting in his car at the end of his drive. “We put a lot more emphasis on thinking about what parts go where and what benefits each other. Josh has had this huge bank of riffs forever and I’m going through these old songs, picking out bits and saying, ‘Can we combine these ideas?’ We wanted the riffs and vocal parts to complement each other, rather than on previous records where Josh brought this riff soup to the table and then me and Alex [Taylor, vocalist] would fill in the gaps. You end up covering a sick riff with vocals because otherwise it leaves an empty space in the song. This time, we really allowed them to shine. It allows you to have those huge riff moments which aren’t overpowered by vocals layered on top. You just got a lot of breathing space.”

They’re not just sharpening their blades on Where Only The Truth Is Spoken – they’re bolstering their own sense of ambition. It’s no wonder they sound in such confident spirits when they’ve edged to the front of the pack within British heavy music. Two years ago, they were opening for Trivium in the country’s biggest academy venues. Later this year, they’ll headline them. They sub-headlined Bloodstock last year, just beneath Architects. They played a rammed secret set on the Sunday afternoon at Download. They feel both like heroes and men of the people, their fearsome metal opening mosh pits but also minds, often touching upon subjects relating to toxic masculinity and mental health.

Few things say ‘we’re a big band now’ than getting to record in Dave Grohl’s famed Studio 606 in Los Angeles. “There’s a creative energy in that space,” adds Baines. “They have loads of the Foo Fighters’ gear, there’s amps in the back, the desk they’ve got is the one that Nevermind was recorded on. Josh Wilbery produced it and it was his idea to go there, because we needed a drum room, and he liked the sound of that one. Honestly, it was a good price! It’s in the middle of LA so it worked in our favour.”

“It was an absolutely legendary experience,” says Hall. “To go to such a legendary studio where they’ve got all the tapes of all the albums that you listened to as kids on the racks in the back room, like, it just makes you think, ‘Oh shit. We’re actually doing it.’”

Reaching the big leagues means moments like that have come thick and fast. “It just feels pretty normal to be fair now,” acknowledges Hall. “Every milestone in our career has been bucket list. My end goal is to headline Download. My dream once upon a time was to play Download. I could never afford it [as a punter] and the first time I ever went, we played it. We never thought we’d play a gig outside of [our hometown of] Sheffield.” That wide-eyed, down-to-earth amazement has never gone away, as Baines adds: “When we headlined Kentish Town Forum, I was looking around after we’ve played, thinking ‘Changeover’s now,’ because the band that everyone’s come to see are about to set up and play!”

Unquestionably, people gravitate to Malevolence because they’re real. The five-lads-from-Yorkshire mentality has never changed, no matter how many people have eyes on them. That applies just as much to their demeanours as it does their approach to music, especially when they’re playing live. “We always just talk about those legendary days of bands like Pantera and Lamb Of God, where they just have an amp and a guitar and what you hear is what you get,” remarks Hall.

“Everyone expects things to sound like it’s the CD, whereas, like, the beauty of it being live is that there’s different things going on, and it’s like slightly different and anything could go wrong, but it doesn’t matter in the moment,” adds Baines. “I think that’s lost in a lot of metal these days, because it’s so bang on time and uses loads of tracks, which is fine – we use a couple of little things just to back up the ballads and stuff. But I like to mess about with tempos and things like that and just make sure that all the guitar that’s coming out is us playing it.”

It comes as no surprise that Malevolence like their metalcore raw and rugged. Here are their top 5 metalcore riffs:

Dying Wish – Path To Your Grave

Hall: “They have my favourite metalcore riffs at the moment. I’ve got it on repeat on my phone, because it’s right hard. Their vocalist Em [Boster] has these sick melodies, but then it breaks into this really hard metal chorus. I’m really into that record [2023 album Symptoms Of Survival].”

Misery Signals – The Failsafe

Baines: “They were definitely one of my favourite metalcore bands back in the day. Hearing melodic chords being used in a heavy setting with odd time signatures was the thing that drew me into it when I was trying to learn more about how to develop my guitar playing in a metal style. It really stood out to me in a way that I just found interesting. I’ve not heard anything like it before.”

Architects – Follow The Water

Baines: “I remember playing that in music tech once for Charlie’s [Thorpe, drummer] music tech piece so I learned the whole song, and I was like, ‘There’s some mad stuff going on in this!’ because it was all dissonant and used not very standard scales. It’s really hard to play. It definitely expanded my knowledge of the guitar.”

Throwdown – Black Vatican

Hall: “The Throwdown album Deathless is unlike any of their other records, but that’s one of my favorite records of all time and my favourite track is Black Vatican. That record gave me a lot of inspiration on the new record, especially songs like Imperfect Picture, where you’ve got quite a simple chuggy riff, where one guitar cuts in and out, and there’s mad singing and clean, growly Southern vocals over it, and then it comes into, like, big screams and hard riffs and then other technical bits as well.”

Unearth – Sanctity Of Brothers

Baines: “It’s got some sick riffs. I remember trying to learn it and I was like, ‘How does he play this?’ There’s breakdowns in it as well and it’s got four big arpeggios at the end of it. I just thought, when I first heard it, ‘That is so sick.’ I’d never heard anything like it at the time. When I first listened to Unearth, I just thought it was really cool because they had the hardcore elements, which I like about metalcore, whereas these days, metalcore is not very hardcore, it doesn’t have much. It’s just more like pop metal. Metalcore to me is metal and hardcore. I really liked the technical side of Unearth, but they also had breakdowns and two steps, which were good for a live situation. It wasn’t just noodling all the way through. You could mosh to it as well and sing along and get involved with the crowd. But you could also stand and watch the guitarists and be like, ‘Yo, this is sick.’ That was kind of a big influence on the way that I try and write music as well, even today.”

The post Malevolence pick their top five metalcore riffs of all time appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.



For episode 103 of the podcast, we speak with legendary guitar maker Andy Manson.

Andy shares stories from his early days of building and tells us about his commitment to traditional construction techniques and how his craft has evolved over the years.

Andy also discusses some of his most iconic instruments, how his approach has shifted with age, and the benefits of Thai massage.

Link: https://www.andymanson.com

The post Luthier on Luthier: Andy Manson first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

Fresh off a substantial break and a live acoustic recording from Paris’ infamous catacombs, hard-rock titans Queens of the Stone Age stormed back to life this spring with an American tour, including back-to-back nights in Boston at Fenway’s MGM Music Hall.

PG’s Chris Kies snuck onstage before soundcheck to meet with guitarist Troy Van Leeuwen and get an in-depth look at the guitars, amps, and effects he’s using this summer.

Brought to you by D’Addario.

Echopark Shark

Van Leeuwen started working with Echopark Guitars luthier Gabriel Currie around 12 years ago, and this custom De Leon model is the product. It’s nothing fancy, says Van Leeuwen, with a walnut bolt-on neck and single-coil bridge/humbucker neck configuration, but it’s just made well. This one is tuned to C standard and strung with a custom set of Dunlop strings (.012–.058).

TVL’s RIY (Relic It Yourself)

This is the first-ever prototype of the signature oxblood Jazzmaster that Van Leeuwen received from Fender’s Custom Shop, and it also carries his first attempt at writing out his own signature. (It got better.) Van Leeuwen relic’d it himself with hard playing and natural wear and tear. It’s got a Mastery bridge.

Double the Jazz

This is number two of two double-neck Jazzmasters produced by Paul Waller at Fender’s Custom Shop. The bottom 6-string neck is essentially the Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster, while the top splits the difference between an Electric 12 and a Telecaster, with a single-coil Tele pickup in the bridge and an offset pickup in the neck. A selector at the top toggles between top, bottom, or both signals, and basic controls for tone, volume, and pickup selection stay at the bottom.

Exploiter

This Echopark Explorer-style, nicknamed the “Exploiter,” came from a love of ’80s Ibanez and Hamer guitars. On its way back on a boat from Europe, it got exposed to seawater, which helped Van Leeuwen out with the relic’ing.

Van Leeuwen also packs a custom Echopark modeled after an old Teisco electric and a custom Fender 12-string Telecaster. Van Leeuwen hints that he’s been working with Squier to make an affordable version of the 12-string Tele.

A GMI PSA

Along with Currie and GMI’s Sean Romin, Van Leeuwen helped develop the GMI Public Address Systems 33F6. He describes it as having the power section of a Fender and the preamp section of a Marshall Jubilee. It’s a great pedal platform.

Van Leeuwen runs two 33F6s plus a Vox AC30. One 33F6 has his dry signal, and the AC30 carries the wet, while the second 33F6 carries wet lead signals. One cabinet is dedicated to the dry signal, while the other cab has one 12" speaker for the AC30 and two 12" speakers for the lead 33F6 signal. Three Austrian Audio condenser mics capture the signals.

Troy Van Leeuwen’s Board

All of Van Leeuwen’s pedals go through loops, with a RJM Mastermind PBC/6X and Mastermind GT/16 handling the switching, and most processing done through a Fractal FM3 and a pair of Eventide H9s. Van Leeuwen designed the boards, and his tech Cody helped build and program it.

Across the two boards, there’s a pair of both Electro-Harmonix Superegos and Way Huge Saffron Squeezes, plus Dunlop expression and volume pedals; EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle, Rainbow Machine, and Fuzz Master General; Way Huge Effect Pedal, Green Rhino, and Atreides; Echopark Echodriver; Ten Years Is A Decade; modified EHX Holiest Grail; and Dr. No Effects TVL Raven.

Fender Troy Van Leeuwen Jazzmaster

Vox AC30

Eventide H9

Electro-Harmonix Superego

EarthQuaker Devices Tentacle

EarthQuaker Devices Rainbow Machine

Hot news from Snark! Taking the company’s ultra-popular product line to a whole new level, Snark has introduced a trio of high-precision clip-on tuners: the Snark ST-1X HPT, ST-2 HPT and ST-8 HPT. These models feature all-new software with ultra-tight “in tune” windows for pinpoint accuracy with a broad range of instruments.

Adding to the best-in-class performance: a patented anechoic sound shield on the back of each tuner helps block room noise. This unique shielding allows each of the new high-precision Snarks to deliver faster and more precise tuning in any environment. The Snark ST-1X HPT, ST-2 HPT and ST-8 HPT all feature super bright LCD screens for easy viewing in the brightest sunlight or on low light stages.

All three models are rechargeable (no batteries needed!) and come with a USB cable/adapter for quick, easy charging. Each tuner’s screen includes a prominent battery gauge, so you can feel confident that your tuner has plenty of battery power available. No matter what you play – stringed instruments such as guitar, bass, and ukulele, or brass and woodwind instruments – you’ll find one of the new Snarks that’s perfect for you. All three tuners offer adjustable pitch calibration. Also, the ST-2 HTP provides a switchable option for selecting Mic mode or Vibration mode. Choose Vibration mode for regular clip-on use; switch to Mic mode and clip the ST-2 HTP to your music stand. Snark’s new high-precision ST-1X HPT, ST-2 HPT and ST-8 HPT rechargeable tuners have MRSPs of $24.99, $26.99 and $26.99 respectively.

Lollar Pickups has announced the release of a new line of single-coil pickups called the sB (single blade), based on the design of their popular dB (dual blade) humbucker. The first two offerings in the lineup are intended as drop-in replacements for Jaguar and Bass VI style instruments.

Featuring a large blade-style pole piece and modified coil design, the sB single-coils offer hotter, fuller, and fatter output as compared with the original standard Jaguar type of pickups often used in these instruments. The blade also provides improved overall consistency – in terms of both frequency response and string-to-string balance – thanks to its added inductance and unique physical properties. This is benefit particularly useful for the Bass VI, since some players feel that the conventional Jaguar pickup design can lack the fullness in low-end frequencies needed for more modern playing styles. This makes the sB a great choice for players seeking a more versatile pickup option for their instruments and those looking to play heavier styles of music.

The sB pickups for Jaguar and Bass VI are available for order now at www.LollarGuitars.com/sB-pickups and Lollar Pickups authorized dealers. They are offered in two-piece sets for Jaguar and three-piece sets for Bass VI, in parchment, white, black, and cream.

Foo Fighters mark the 30th anniversary of the band’s classic 1995 debut with the opening salvo of its next chapter: “Today’s Song,” the first taste of new Foo Fighters music since 2023’s universally acclaimed But Here We Are, is now available across digital platforms.

An indelible anthem in the time-honored Foo Fighters tradition, “Today’s Song” bristles with unbridled optimism from its subtle melodic intro through the peaks of its soaring crescendos. With lyrical themes of personal evolution and perseverance in the face of life’s uncertainty and the passage of time, “Today’s Song” is nothing short of a three-minute-fifteen-second epic.

In a note to fans that posted today, Dave Grohl wrote, "Over the years, we’ve had moments of unbridled joy, and moments of devastating heartbreak. Moments of beautiful victory, and moments of painful defeat. We have mended broken bones and broken hearts. But we have followed this road together, with each other, for each other, no matter what. Because in life, you just can’t go it alone.

It should go without saying that without the boundless energy of William Goldsmith, the seasoned wisdom of Franz Stahl, and the thunderous wizardry of Josh Freese, this story would be incomplete, so we extend our heartfelt gratitude for the time, music, and memories that we shared with each of them over the years. Thank you, gentlemen.

And... Taylor. Your name is spoken every day, sometimes with tears, sometimes with a smile, but you are still in everything we do, everywhere we go, forever. The enormity of your beautiful soul is only rivaled by the infinite longing we feel in your absence. We all miss you beyond words. Foo Fighters will forever include Taylor Hawkins in every note that we play, until we do finally reach our destination.”To read or listen to Dave’s full message, go to foofighters.com.

Foo Fighters are Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee.

“Today’s Song” artwork by Harper Grohl.

FOO FIGHTERS
Live 2025

Oct 2 - Jakarta, ID - Carnaval Ancol
Oct 4 - Singapore, SG - F1
Oct 7 - Tokyo, JP - Saitama Super Arena
Oct 10 - Osaka, JP - Glion Arena Kobe
Nov 14 - Mexico City, MX - Corona Capital

Tickets at foofighters.com