Music is the universal language
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” - Luke 2:14
Guitar.com
Mark Knopfler admits he “probably wouldn’t be able to play” parts of this classic Dire Straits album now
Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler says he probably wouldn’t be able to play some parts of their 1985 Brothers In Arms album today, noting that the COVID-19 pandemic slowed him down.
The classic album, which marked their fifth studio release, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. It featured hits like Money For Nothing and became the first album to sell one million copies on CD. Knopfler isn’t too stressed about the pandemic’s impact on his playing though, as he’s actually looking forward to improving again.
In a Guitar World interview, Knopfler says, “It’s tempting just to say, ‘Oh, it’s nothing’ and downplay it, but thinking about Brothers in Arms now, it seems like that record meant so much to so many people”
He adds, “The CD had just been invented and they decided it would be a super idea to push Brothers In Arms in hi-fi shops. That’s where a lot of people first heard it. Then the singles made it in different countries and it became a worldwide thing. Next thing you know, you’re in the eye of the storm.”
Asked if he would play the guitar parts on the record differently today, he replies, “I probably wouldn’t be able to play them so well now. But I’m hoping to put my head down and really get back into some proper playing in the near future. Covid slowed me down a lot. I’ve had it three times.
He continues, “If you’re away from the guitar for a while, your pads get softer and you lose your facility a little bit. So I’m really looking forward to improving. I think what happens is, you develop lazy techniques. I’m forever doing that. You know, half-chords, these little semi-shapes. It wouldn’t make a teacher very happy.”
A deluxe 40th anniversary edition of Brothers In Arms is out now – find out more or order it now via Mark Knopfler’s official website.
The post Mark Knopfler admits he “probably wouldn’t be able to play” parts of this classic Dire Straits album now appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Why do I have to impress 10 people when a thousand people are saying, ‘Hey, man – I dig this’?”: Joe Bonamassa is done with criticism from blues purists
Joe Bonamassa is embracing his difference as a modern blues player, and says he’d much rather put his own spin on the genre than appease the purists.
The blues is drenched in history, with so many greats having paved the way for artists like Bonamassa to come along, from B.B. King to Buddy Guy. With so many inspiring players having shaped its early beginnings, there are many out there who believe it’s a genre that should be honoured and left unchanged.
In JoBo’s case, he’s done with trying to please this community of blues lovers, and feels his superpower as a player is in his personal touch on a genre that so many of us respect.
He tells Guitar World, “What I interpret the blues as is different from what other people interpret the blues as. I’m long past the point of caring. There’s nothing I can do to change people’s opinions about me, nor do I wish to.”
He adds, “It doesn’t matter, because when I look at our last set of gigs and I see full arenas, I think, ‘We did something right, and the music struck a chord with a large number of people.’
“So do I placate the minority of folks, or do I play an arena gig with blues songs that nobody else is doing? I’d rather do the latter. Why do I have to impress 10 people when a thousand people are saying, ‘Hey, man – I dig this’?”
Even while doing things his own way, there’s no doubt that Bonamassa pays his respects to the guitar greats. Back in early July, he wrapped a trio of shows in Cork, Ireland paying tribute to the legendary Rory Gallagher.
After the shows, he reflected on what he called “the biggest honour and greatest challenge” in a post on Instagram. He wrote, “I am so grateful to have had this opportunity and to have conquered my own self-doubt in accepting this incredible honour and responsibility.
“I hope we all did Rory right and played these shows in his spirit. I hope he would have been proud to see the love from his hometown carrying his legacy on. An honour of a lifetime for that I will never forget. Thank you Donal, Daniel, Eoghan and the entire Gallagher family for your trust.”
Joe Bonamassa’s new album Breakthrough is available to buy or stream now. He is also currently on tour in the US.
The post “Why do I have to impress 10 people when a thousand people are saying, ‘Hey, man – I dig this’?”: Joe Bonamassa is done with criticism from blues purists appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Blackstar launches Polar Go – a “pocket-sized” audio interface with built-in stereo mics
Blackstar has unveiled Polar Go, a “pocket-sized” two-in-one audio interface and stereo recorder.
Designed to “meet the needs of modern creators”, Polar Go has all the features you’d expect in a streamlined portable audio interface, including a combo XLR/ ¼” mic, line and instrument input – with +48V phantom power for condenser mics – a 3.5mm headphone output and dual USB-C ports for power and data.
Where Blackstar looks to set the Polar Go apart from its competitors, though, is in the addition of built-in ProCapture stereo mics.
The company claims these built-in mics are fit to capture both vocals and instruments with “stunning depth and clarity”.
Additionally, the Polar Go has a companion app – available on both iOS and Android – which ties in to Blackstar’s content creator target audience.
Features of the app include built-in video recording – so you can sync video captured using your smartphone with audio captured through the Polar Go’s stereo mics – as well as a “simple, intuitive UI made for creators”.
There’s also a Magic Wand tool for auto-enhancing audio with a single tap, and presets for vocals, guitar, podcasts and more.
The Polar Go also has a rechargeable battery with up to six hours of battery life, and is compatible with GarageBand, BandLab, and all major recording apps.
Credit: Blackstar
“Polar Go is more than a mobile interface; it’s a complete, pocket-sized studio designed for the modern creator,” says Blackstar.
“With a built-in stereo mic system powered by Blackstar’s exclusive ProCapture technology, Polar Go delivers crystal-clear, professional-grade sound straight from your phone, tablet, or laptop, no studio or experience required.
“Whether you’re a singer-songwriter, podcaster, livestreamer or filmmaker, Polar Go transforms your audio from phone-quality to studio-ready instantly. Just plug in and create, anywhere, anytime.”
The Polar Go is priced at £79. Learn more at Blackstar.
The post Blackstar launches Polar Go – a “pocket-sized” audio interface with built-in stereo mics appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“If you want to trace the origins of heavy metal back to anything, that’s where I would go”: Music journalist says this Jimi Hendrix song gave birth to metal music
Is it possible to pinpoint the birth of heavy metal? Obviously, many generally agree that the genre is the handiwork of Black Sabbath, but according to author and music journalist Jason Schneider, it was actually Jimi Hendrix who got the wheels in motion.
In a new interview with Booked on Rock, Schneider – who just released his new book That Gun in Your Hand: The Strange Saga of ‘Hey Joe’ and Popular Music’s History of Violence – contests that The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s 1966 version of Hey Joe could be where metal first found its footing.
“People have debates all the time about the origins of hard rock or heavy metal,” he says [via Ultimate Guitar]. “But I think going back to that time, 1966, when Jimi and bands like The Who were just first starting to make records, they wanted volume. And of course Cream, Eric Clapton: the birth of the Marshall amplifier.
“I think all of that just, if you want to trace the origins of heavy metal back to anything, I think that’s where I would go.”
As Schneider points out, the recording sessions for Hey Joe saw Hendrix fighting against the engineer to reach the loud, high-gain sound he was used to.
“Jimi approached it as if you were on stage, so he instinctively just cranked his amp up to maximum,” Schneider explains. “And that’s something that the studio engineer had never experienced before.
“So, all of a sudden, here’s Jimi playing at top volume, and all kinds of things are rattling around the studio. But Jimi refused to turn down. And that was the sound, so they had to kind of eventually work out a compromise.”
Of course, it was Black Sabbath’s arrival in 1968 and their massively distorted riffs which truly set the foundations for what would become the heavy metal genre we know today.
But did Hendrix, Clapton and other guitarists who loved cranking the gain on their amps pave the way for them? Jason Schneider certainly thinks so, and we can totally buy it.
Watch the full interview below:
The post “If you want to trace the origins of heavy metal back to anything, that’s where I would go”: Music journalist says this Jimi Hendrix song gave birth to metal music appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“He said, ‘Carlos, where I am, I don’t have any fingers’”: Carlos Santana says Stevie Ray Vaughan came to him in a dream and told him to borrow his brother Jimmie’s Dumble amp
Carlos Santana certainly has a spiritual side, and says he often gets “visitations” from other musicians both dead and alive.
One particular visit came from legendary guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, who asked Santana to borrow his treasured Dumble Steel String Singer amplifier from his brother Jimmie, so he could play guitar through it once again through Santana’s physical body.
In an interview for Guitar World’s latest print issue, he explains, “I call them visitations. I get visitations from Miles Davis sometimes, as well as B.B. King. You don’t have to be dead to visit me. Sometimes a dream is not a dream; someone has come back to communicate with you.”
He adds, “I feel very honoured that these people come to me. Sometimes I feel like I’m like [John F. Kennedy International Airport] and all these musicians are landing on me and sharing things. I have to figure out what it all means.”
This may all sound a little crazy to those who aren’t so spiritual, but according to Santana, he’s not the only one who has these dreams. Apparently, SRV’s guitar tech had the exact same dream Santana did regarding the revered boutique Dumble amp.
“With Stevie, he was saying, ‘Carlos, where I am, I don’t have any fingers; I am only spirit.’ He missed putting his fingers on a guitar and making the speakers push air. He told me to call his brother Jimmie [Vaughan] and ask him to lend me his amp, the #007 Dumble, and then play it with a Strat so he could feel it through me.
“You know that Ghost movie with Whoopi Goldberg? There’s a part where a ghost comes into her body so he can feel. That’s what Stevie was doing. He wanted to utilise my body and hands because he missed playing guitar.”
He continues, “Jimmie wasn’t sure at first. Fortunately, Stevie’s tech, René Martinez, had the same dream and called Jimmie, which is how we convinced him to lend me the amplifier. The last person to borrow it was John Mayer. Let’s just say Jimmie doesn’t loan that thing out very easily.”
After cancelling some shows earlier this year after contracting Covid, Carlos Santana is back healthy, and is touring across Europe this month. He then kicks off his House of Blues residency in Las Vegas in September.
View a full list of his upcoming dates via his official website.
The post “He said, ‘Carlos, where I am, I don’t have any fingers’”: Carlos Santana says Stevie Ray Vaughan came to him in a dream and told him to borrow his brother Jimmie’s Dumble amp appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
The PRS SE Silver Sky is now available in four new finishes – inspired, according to John Mayer, by “traditional American fashion”
PRS has refreshed its SE Silver Sky guitar by introducing four new colours, created in collaboration with its signature artist John Mayer.
The finishes, which are available for the first time on any PRS model, are almost crayon-like and nostalgic, with three primary colours and an added dark green hue. They are: Derby Red, Trad Blue, Laurel Green, and Dandy Lion (yellow). Each is available in a left-handed format too.
The models have all the typical features of the SE Silver Sky, which launched in 2022 as a slightly more affordable alternative to the original John Mayer signature released in 2018. The SE has a poplar body, bolt-on maple neck, and rosewood fretboard with PRS’ trademark, instantly recognisable bird inlays.
It offers a 22-fret, 25.5” scale length featuring the original 635JM carve and an 8.5” fretboard radius. It’s anchored by three single-coil 635JM “S” pickups, a two-point steel tremolo, synthetic bone nut, and vintage-style tuners.
“The new Silver Sky SE lineup features four new colours inspired by traditional American fashion. These are time-tested hues that have been popular through decades, and I’m excited to share them with the world as the latest SE colourways,” comments Mayer.
Take a look at the new finishes below:
The Maple version of the SE Silver Sky is also being updated alongside this new launch, with two new finishes previously offered on the rosewood-equipped model. The SE Silver Sky Maple now introduces Moon White, Stone Blue, Summit Purple, and Nylon Blue. The Maple model landed in 2023 following the first SE launch, and both models earned a 9/10 in our respective reviews.
PRS Guitars is continuing its schedule of launching new products each month in 2025, with more new gear and limited-edition guitars coming throughout the year in honour of its 40th Anniversary.
To find out more or locate a dealer for the new SE Silver Sky Rosewood colours, head to the PRS Guitars website.
The post The PRS SE Silver Sky is now available in four new finishes – inspired, according to John Mayer, by “traditional American fashion” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker review: “You don’t need to be an AC/DC geek to be thunderstruck by the range of hard-rocking tones on offer here”
£235/€279/$295, crazytubecircuits.com
If you’ve ever watched old footage of Angus Young bouncing across the stage with his SG, you might have noticed that he never trips up his bandmates with a gigantic snaking cable. That’s because, as far back as the late 70s, he was using the wireless Schaffer-Vega Diversity System. While modern wireless units are prized for their transparent nature, the Diversity certainly added its own tonal colour to proceedings – but to Angus’ mind this was no bad thing. In fact, he liked what the wireless unit did to his signal so much, he started using it in the studio as well.
So you can see what Crazy Tube Circuits’ designers were thinking when they set out to create the ultimate drive pedal for AC/DC fans: fiery Marshall amp tones are one thing, but why not include the Schaffer-Vega bit as well? Thus, the Heatseeker overdrive and preamp/enhancer.
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker – what is it?
CTC has been going big on dual gain pedals of late, and this one follows the usual template, with drive on the left footswitch and the boosty business on the right; you can run the latter into the former, or use each on its own, and there’s an effects loop for any other pedals you might want to put between the two.
Key to the overdrive part of the deal is a three-way toggle switch for choosing between Marshall JTM45, Super Lead and Master Volume sounds. You also get a three-way tonestack along with presence, preamp volume (gain) and output level, plus a ‘wall of sound’ switch that can be engaged to “increase the soundstage” – whatever that might mean.
All these tonal toys mean the left side of the pedal is more than slightly crowded – manipulating those little toggles is like performing keyhole surgery on a squirrel – but over on the right we find just two controls: boost level (up to 15dB) and a larger second knob to “enhance dynamic response and harmonics”. Hmm, intriguing.
It’s all JFET-based, and the circuit is boosted internally to 27v for a more amp-like feel. So I guess this is literally high-voltage rock’n’roll?
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker – what does it sound like?
Every time you add something to this pedal it sounds bigger, brighter and better – but it would be a mistake to overlook the simple charms of the mid-gain JTM45 tone with all the knobs at halfway. It’s rich, smooth and tight, and a strong starting point for any journey into Plexi-land.
The tone controls are solid, and the presence knob works at least as well as it does on the average Marshall amp, but it’s the two toggles that really bring this unit to life. The three amp types sound markedly different in terms of top-end friskiness and saturation, but are all equally good – and a flick of the switch to engage the wall of sound adds depth and ‘bigness’ in a way that makes it hard to turn off again.
Hit the other footswitch and you soon know you’re not dealing with a standard boost circuit. It’s bright and peppy, but somehow more integrated into the tone than an all-out treble booster. There’s also some extra compression in there, which just adds to the sense of excitement.
It’s ironic, though, that the biggest knob on the pedal is the one that has the least effect. I had some real “Is this thing working?” moments with the enhance dial, which is so subtle that you might well wonder why they bothered. And of course, if they hadn’t bothered, that would have opened up some much-needed room for the overdrive controls…
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker – should I buy it?
I’m wary of enhancers in principle. If your tone is so flat and lifeless without one, doesn’t that mean you have a more fundamental problem to fix? So let’s focus on the left side of the pedal – this is a fine Marshall-voiced overdrive with a lot of really useful tone-adjusting features, and the enhancer is just one of them: a powerfully biting boost that’s best reserved for solos. Think of it that way around and the Heatseeker looks like an excellent option for those about to rock.
Image: Adam Gasson
Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker alternatives
Our galaxy is home to billions and billions of Marshall-emulating overdrive pedals, many of them with a built-in boost. Another Greek-made option is the Tsakalis AudioWorks Room #40 (€240), and I’m a big fan of the DryBell Engine (€340). But if it’s just the sound of that old wireless system you’re after, try the SoloDallas Schaffer Replica Classic (€269).
The post Crazy Tube Circuits Heatseeker review: “You don’t need to be an AC/DC geek to be thunderstruck by the range of hard-rocking tones on offer here” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Here’s how to build your own version of Noel Gallagher’s touring pedalboard – without rock star money
Earlier this July, Noel Gallagher presented possibly the greatest gift to any Oasis gear-obsessive: a complete photograph of his entire pedalboard for the band’s Live ‘25 reunion shows, and even a shot of his amp set up too.
The band are currently amid the first leg of the global tour, which kicked off in Cardiff on 4 July and marked their first live performance together since their infamous split in 2009. With both Gallagher brothers in good spirits and bucket hats back in fashion, now is the perfect time to brush up on your britpop guitar work.
The good news? Most of Gallagher’s pedals are actually pretty cheap and cheerful, and you could easily grab one from a guitar store or online retailer. The bad news? His more boutique selections are pretty much impossible to track down, and would cost you an arm and a leg if you did manage to stumble upon one. One of his pedals is even on ‘borrow’ from Paul Stacey, and when we say borrow, we mean he’s never getting it back.
So with that in mind, we’ve tracked down some of the best low-cost alternatives for the most rare and expensive pedals in his collection, and we’ve also found a few handy swaps for some of the more accessible items too, just in case they’re not of interest to you, or you just want an excuse to buy more pedals.
Rarity: SIB! Echodrive
We’re starting with the toughest out of them all – the coveted blue SIB! Echodrive. This pedal has been a mainstay on Gallagher’s board for years now, and has been used across his gigs with both Oasis and his High Flying Birds band. It’s a 12AX7 tube-driven overdrive and delay pedal all in one. Gallagher never really uses it for the latter function, but is a huge fan of its drive.
We say this pedal is the toughest one to duplicate out of all of Gallagher’s units because it’s notoriously known that there is no faithful emulation of it on the market right now, and other drive pedals are often said not to come close to its revered tone. Just to give you an idea on how much this one might cost you, its similarly rare Fatdrive sibling retails for over £1,000 second-hand. However, we have found one cheaper option you could certainly give a go:
Alternative: Keeley Electronics DDR
The Keeley Electronics Drive Delay Reverb features, as you’d maybe expect, drive, delay and reverb. Both the time-based and overdrive sides of the pedal are completely independent, so you can choose to purely crank up its drive capabilities similarly to Gallagher’s approach. And for an extra bit of reassurance, we rated it a glowing 9/10 in our 2019 review, and you can hear it in action in our very own demo. You can get this one for £198 via Thomann.
Rarity: Pete Cornish SS-2
Moving on to the next rare gem, we’ve got the Pete Cornish Soft Sustain 2. This handwired overdrive is the pedal that’s on loan from Paul Stacey, but back in a 2023 episode of That Pedal Show, Gallagher essentially said that he is never getting it back – and just like Stacey, we’re also going to have a hard time getting our hands on this one.
The legendary Pete Cornish has worked with a plethora of high-profile guitarists including Paul McCartney, Pete Townshend, and David Gilmour. There are some great budget-friendly replacements for this one, and we’re starting with our top, most-suited pick first:
Affordable alternative: MXR Distortion+
[products ids=”5bnHjinuYTQbVWMRxPw6rl”]
Despite its name, this pedal’s circuitry is essentially the same as many other overdrives. Originally designed back in the 1970s, it’s been used by guitarists like Randy Rhoads and Jerry Garcia. The modern M104 is still on the market, and its germanium diode clipping emulates tube-driven warmth. .
Affordable alternative: Boss OD-3
[products ids=”3OmHuYVuZFXZx3UVoPvVQV”]
It’s simple, it does the trick, and it’s £98. This one is possibly the most versatile overdrive out of our choices, so if you want a pedal that you can get plenty of use out of outside the Oasis rig, this one is not a bad option. Boss says that its “dual-stage overdrive circuit offers a level of sustain and compression unmatched by any overdrive pedal”. It’s great for lead sounds, so crank this one up for your solos..
Affordable alternative: Tube Screamer Mini
[products ids=”2ZzCGus4YSopCsCz8AauI4″]
Tube Screamers are loved by many, and this mini version is only £64. It has just three simple controls for tone, level, and drive. It might not be the closest replication of SS-2 tone, but it’s still a solid option for a tight budget, or those with a small pedalboard due to its nano chassis.
Rarity: Finest Treble Booster Model OR
This pedal is sadly no longer being produced, and it was based on an orange-coloured (not Orange branded) treble and bass booster used by David Gilmour in Pink Floyd: the Colorsound Power Boost.
Bernd C. Meiser, the owner of BSM, sadly passed away in 2024, and the company has since closed down. Your next best bet to get a pedal like this would be to look for an emulation of the original Colorsound pedal that inspired its creation. We’ve found some that match up fairly well:
Affordable Alternative: Crazy Tube Circuits HI-Power
A match made in heaven, the HI-Power is quite literally branded as a “homage to David Gilmour’s guitar sound from the Wish You Were Here album”, and its right side offers a “faithful reproduction of a Coloursound boost and overdrive” – great news! However, reaching just over £200, it might still be a little out of budget for some. If you’re looking for the closest pedal you can buy, this is it, so saving your pennies for this one might be worthwhile, and you can get it right now from Thomann.
Affordable alternative: Boss BD-2 Blues Driver
[products ids=”4kdi2z7SUs3pE6f3xvVFcf”]
Gallagher isn’t opposed to a nifty Boss gem, and at £92 you can’t really go wrong. The BD-2 is a well-loved overdrive ideal for bluesy and vintage tube amp sounds that’s reactive to nuance in-play. In fact, we rate it a flawless 10/10.
Affordable alternative: Electro-Harmonix LPB-3 Nano Linear Power Booster
A neat and tiny unit, this Electro-Harmonix boost pedal is also a sturdy option – it hosts an active three-band EQ with treble and bass knobs to control highs and lows. Its boost dial sets the overall output of the pedal, and there’s a ‘max’ switch to toggle between 20dB and 33dB of maximum boost. It retails for $129 at Sweetwater.
The normies
The cheapest pedals on Gallagher’s board are the TC Electronic Polytune 3, Keeley Compressor Plus, and the Dunlop Cry Baby Mini. We recommend sticking with these if you want to closely re-create his board, all while keeping costs to a minimum. Gallagher also uses two Boss pedals – a Boss RV-3 Digital Reverb/Delay and a Digital Delay DD-3 – both of which are accessible and not too costly.
[products ids=”23ov97IkyQp5hv59bks7U,6Ex5Cea5qoved0rrQevXJH”]
[products ids=”6Ex5Cea5qoved0rrQevXJH,3peuRbQPk7sVQDxwoF3YLA”]
However, the ZVEX Lo-Fi Looper, Empress Effects Echo System, Kingsley Page Tube Boost, plus the Strymon Timeline and El Capistan all sit at more of a mid-range price point. While they’re readily available, these may also be unaffordable to a vast number of players. The best alternatives we have found for Gallagher’s mid-range priced pedals are as follows:
ZVEX Lo-Fi Loop Junky: Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy (this pedal can recreate its warbling tones, and you could chuck a cheap looper into your signal chain like the TC Electronic Ditto for the full effect)
Empress Effects Echosystem and Strymon Timeline: Line 6 DL4 Delay
Strymon El Capistan: Catalinbread Belle Epoch BOS (or an even cheaper option, the JHS 3 Series Tape Delay)
Kingsley Page Tube Boost: Keeley Katana Clean Boost
[products ids=”2bgNm8sm5jYPrkmNREcz4F”]
And there you have it – a complete overview of all the pedals you’ll need to sound biblical. As a band with proud working class roots like Oasis would probably agree, cost shouldn’t be a barrier to having brilliant fun with your set up and experimenting with tone. While all the ingredients might be there, it’s ultimately up to you on how closely you’d like to emulate the rig, and at what pace you’d like to bring it all together. Afterall, the most important thing to remember is that this is Oasis: the attitude in your hands will prevail over all.
If you’re looking for more savings, check out the Guitar.com Deals page.
The post Here’s how to build your own version of Noel Gallagher’s touring pedalboard – without rock star money appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“She’s got that Hetfield downstroke thing that I could never do. That Master of Puppets thing – I have to cheat that s**t”: Billy Corgan on what Kiki Wong brings to the Smashing Pumpkins
![[L-R] Kiki Wong and Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Billy-Corgan-Kiki-Wong@2000x1500.jpg)
Last year, Kiki Wong beat out 9,999 other applicants to the vacant position of Smashing Pumpkins guitarist left by Jeff Schroeder in 2023.
As for what made her stand out among the hordes of other guitarists going for the spot, frontman Billy Corgan reveals all in a new interview with Guitar World.
Recalling the audition process, Corgan says: “I had to give some sort of filter to it because the response was so overwhelming, and that filter was, ‘Send me anybody with a professional resume.’ If they’ve done anything – play a casino in Vegas, tour with any band that’s got a recording history, anybody who would remotely qualify – send them to me.
“I would say there were easily, gosh, 500 or 600 of those, I had to go through all of those responses and whittle them down.”
“The thing I remember very distinctly, obviously given the result, was when I saw Kiki’s name, I kind of stopped and thought, ‘Wait, I think I follow her on Instagram.’ Then I went to Instagram to confirm this, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s that person I really like.’”
Corgan says the fact he knew of Wong already meant he already had a “positive impression” of her, which remained in his head as he mulled over other candidates.
“There were a lot of other people who had very impressive resumes,” he says. “I would go to their Instagrams and look at the way they stood or the way they played or the way they talked about music – even just the pictures they posted. But I kept thinking, ‘This person has no idea what kind of band I’m in.’”
He later adds: “A lot of people played well, but once we talked to them I thought, ‘They’re not really going to fit into our world,’ We’re a bit of a weird lot. [laughs] We’re kind of picky in our own way. Maybe every band is, but I know the way we’re picky.
“Kiki was just who she was. She wasn’t trying to be someone else. She wasn’t trying to be a flatterer. She was just herself. And it was like, ‘OK, this person can hang in our world.’ After that, for the next three hours, nobody who followed Kiki could beat her.”
On the other side of the story, despite making a lasting impression on the Pumpkins for simply being herself, Kiki Wong wasn’t hugely optimistic about her chances when she submitted her application.
“My brain is wired in a way that makes me on the verge of being a pessimist – slightly pessimistic but closer to a realist,” she says.
The opportunity also came just a few months after she had given birth to her baby.
“There’s always this voice in my head, like, ‘When am I going to quit the dream and be just a person? How long can I keep hammering at this thing and constantly being let down?’ Now I had an actual reason to think that way, which was to take care of my kid.
Wong says she had “just thrown the resume in there”, adding: “I was like, ‘There’s no way. There’s probably 4,000 people already.’
As for what Kiki Wong brings to the band, Billy Corgan says it’s her penchant for all things heavy.
“She’s got that [James] Hetfield/Kerry King downstroke thing that I could never do, whatever the fuck that is. That Master of Puppets thing – I have to cheat that shit… Hetfield and Kerry King would tell you the same. So would [Dave] Mustaine. The only way to play that way is you gotta do all downstrokes.
“There’s a belief that the attack of the downstroke is better than if you pick up-down, up-down. To me, when I see somebody who can do that with the downstrokes, I’m like, ‘Fuck, I can’t do that!’”
The post “She’s got that Hetfield downstroke thing that I could never do. That Master of Puppets thing – I have to cheat that s**t”: Billy Corgan on what Kiki Wong brings to the Smashing Pumpkins appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I’ll never shut the door, but I don’t think John would have the energy like Frank does”: Steve Jones says he’s got “nothing but love” for former Sex Pistols bandmate John Lydon
Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones might be having a blast with the band’s new frontman Frank Carter, but the guitarist assures he’s got “nothing but love” for their former vocalist Johnny Rotten.
Though John Lydon has certainly dished out a fair bit of criticism regarding the band’s decision to reunite with Carter in tow, it seems Jones isn’t holding it against him. Carter, of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, joined the reunited band in 2024, and has been performing with them ever since.
In an interview for the print edition of Guitar World, Jones explains the differences between the vocalists, noting a difference in energy between the two: “Frank’s a lot younger, so he’s got a lot more energy. He’s literally the best; I call him the ringmaster. He loves getting the crowd going; he goes crowd surfing and just takes the heat off of me, [Paul Cook] Cookie and Glen [Matlock].
“I’m 70, so I’m definitely not jumping into the crowd. [Laughs] He’s great – and he’s definitely not trying to be Johnny Rotten. He’s really something else, and he’s made it a lot of fun,” he states.
Asked if he ever feels sad that Lydon is missing out on their fun, he replies, “I’ve got nothing but love for John. He was brilliant back in the day, and I never would take that away from him. I would never deny it; he was fantastic. But I think we’ve just grown apart.
He adds, “He’s going somewhere else, and we’re going somewhere else. It’s just the way it is. But you never know. l’ll never shut the door, but I don’t think he’d have the energy like Frank does, to be honest with you.”
Sex Pistols and Frank Carter are touring across the US and Canada in September and October – you can grab tickets to see them live now.
The post “I’ll never shut the door, but I don’t think John would have the energy like Frank does”: Steve Jones says he’s got “nothing but love” for former Sex Pistols bandmate John Lydon appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Paul Reed Smith says there’s “nothing more important” to guitar making than this
Paul Reed Smith, PRS founder and tonewood connoisseur, thinks there’s nothing more important when it comes to making guitars than the neck.
While some may argue that pickups, body shape, or weight matter more, Reed Smith thinks that how the neck feels and how its wood resonates is far more key: after all, that’s where most of the action happens in-play.
In a new video on the PRS Guitars YouTube channel for the brand’s Rules Of Tone series, Reed Smith explains, “Neck making in my mind is fundamental to guitar making. You’re a guitar maker, you’re a neck maker – there’s nothing more important on the guitar.
“You could argue that the pickups are the most important thing or the weight of it, but in the end, how it feels, how you change the length of the strings, how it resonates [prevails]. There’s this sound that the neck makes as a raw blank that makes a big difference,” he adds.
“You have the body of the guitar and then you have this [part] sticking out and it’s a-weighted. It has tuning pegs at one end, there’s more frets at one end than the other; it’s not evenly weighted like a tuning fork is. So, the strength of the neck has a huge impact on how it rings. One of the things that is important from the rules of tone is not putting the neck under a huge amount of tension, unless it’s from the strings.”
Reed Smith goes on to give an analogy of a bell to better explain his argument, stating that if you were to drill a hole in a bell, put a piece of thread through it and start to tighten down the nuts on each side, the sound of it would be far more flat and dull, and it would lose its crystal clear ring.
“When you have to tighten the truss rod too much, it adds that kind of lack of sustain load mid-range to the instrument. The truss rod’s there as a safety. If you’re going to put really heavy gauge strings on it and tune it up, you’re going to need a truss rod. That’s just the way it is. But the more guitars we make for artists, the more we learn that the stronger the neck is, the better the guitar sounds,” he states.
You can watch the full episode below:
PRS, famous for its bird-decorated fretboards, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Reed Smith often shares his passionate views on guitar craft, with his opinions on topics like tonewood and his unique business practices often garnering a lot of attention.
In a column shared last year, he expressed why wood is another key part to building a great-sounding axe: “A magic guitar can be made of many different types of wood, but those woods need to have certain qualities and need to be handled correctly throughout the manufacturing process. So to me, woods matter.”
He added, “To me, if wood doesn’t matter, then logically it follows that the material the bridge is made of doesn’t matter and the material the nut is made of doesn’t matter. What I believe, because of scores of experiences, is that if we make two identical guitars out of different woods, the guitars will sound different from each other.”
Find out more about the brand or shop its full product range at PRS Guitars.
The post Paul Reed Smith says there’s “nothing more important” to guitar making than this appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Pete and I retain the right to be The Who. Everyone else is a session player”: Roger Daltrey comments on firing of drummer Zak Starkey
![[L-R] Roger Daltrey, Zak Starkey and Pete Townshend of The Who](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/The-Who-w-Zak-Starkey@2000x1500.jpg)
If you’ve lost track of the current status of The Who’s lineup, you’re not alone. But let us try and catch you up.
Back in April, following a choppy performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend fired Zak Starkey, who was the then-touring drummer of the band. Starkey quickly put out a statement in response, saying: “I’m surprised anyone would have an issue with my performance that night, but what can you do?”
Just days after, Townshend and Daltrey announced that Starkey was back in the band, on the condition that he would “tighten up”. However, it was not to last, as a month later, it was announced that Starkey had been fired again.
Starkey later suggested that his firing was primarily the work of Roger Daltrey, saying “Pete had to go along with it because he’s had 60 years of arguing with Roger”.
Now, in a new interview with The Times, Daltrey has had his say, going as far as to accuse Starkey of “character assassination”.
Starkey told Rolling Stone in June that he was not to blame for the Royal Albert Hall slip up, and instead accused Daltrey of “getting lost”. “He blamed it on the drums being too loud, and then it got made into this huge social media thing,” he said.
Now, Daltrey describes the whole situation and fallout with Zak Starkey as “incredibly upsetting”.
He explains of the incident at the Royal Albert Hall: “It is controlled by a guy on the side, and we had so much sub-bass on the sound of the drums that I couldn’t pitch.
“I was pointing to the bass drum and screaming at [Starkey] because it was like flying a plane without seeing the horizon. So when Zak thought I was having a go at him, I wasn’t. That’s all that happened. Pete and I retain the right to be The Who. Everyone else is a session player.”
You can see the Royal Albert Hall incident in the video below:
As it currently stands, Zak Starkey is out of The Who, and drummer Scott Devours is handling drums for the band’s upcoming farewell tour.
You can view a full list of dates via the band’s official website.
The post “Pete and I retain the right to be The Who. Everyone else is a session player”: Roger Daltrey comments on firing of drummer Zak Starkey appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“We used to spend hours doing this!” The pastime Robert Fripp and Peter Giles enjoyed pre-King Crimson
If one thing’s for sure, it’s that anyone who passes through King Crimson’s ranks is as technically proficient as they come.
In a new interview with Prog, bass player Peter Giles recalls his first impression of guitarist Robert Fripp, and how practicing reading music together nurtured their budding friendship in the late ‘60s.
“He had a nice, droll sense of humour, and his chops were really good, his chords and stuff. He was hot,” Giles recalls when asked about his first impression of Fripp.
“He’d been playing with some older musicians at the Majestic Hotel in Bournemouth, and you learn a lot from those people. We thought London was the place to be. It’s a lot easier to do it from London than bloody Bournemouth.”
Giles goes on to recall Giles, Giles and Fripp, the short-lived rock group consisting of himself, his brother Michael on drums, and Robert Fripp on guitar between 1967 and 1968.
“My brother was working in the evenings in dinner dance stuff, covering the Top 40,” Peter remembers.
“I used to work in Frith Street in the heart of the West End in a restaurant with an Argentinian guitarist and blind organist who used to play everything in F sharp. Fripp was teaching. But Gile, Giles and Fripp never did any gigs together.”
Giles also remembers making a habit of sourcing old pieces of sheet music with Fripp, with the pair going over them together to hone their musical skills.
“We used to go to the La Gioconda Café in Denmark Street where all the music publishers were. We’d go into some of them and ask if they’d any old sheet music. We used to get handfuls of this bloody stuff and then go back home and stick it up with Fripp reading the top line and the chords, and I used to read the bass parts. We’d have a go at it.
“We used to spend hours doing this! [laughs]. That’s what we did all day apart from writing and recording. Whenever one of us had a song or an idea, the three of us would chip in. My brother is a very good ideas man, not just a drummer. I mean, he has a lot of brilliant ideas, melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic.”
King Crimson fans got excited recently when guitarist Jakko Jakszyk revealed they were recording their first new album in 20 years. But Crimson manager David Singleton was quick to dispel the rumours – at least partially – when he said “getting excited is somewhat premature”.
The post “We used to spend hours doing this!” The pastime Robert Fripp and Peter Giles enjoyed pre-King Crimson appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
The real story of The Final Countdown: John Norum explains why Europe’s biggest hit made him quit the band in disgust
Europe’s The Final Countdown is one of the most iconic and beloved anthems of the 1980s. Its synth- laden riff, underscored by hard driving guitars, bass and drums features a melodic guitar solo that shreds like no other courtesy of Norwegian born guitarist John Norum, who laid the solo down in 15 minutes. The song went on to become the Swedish group’s calling card, while the album of the same name, has remained the group’s most enduring and most commercially successful to date. Not bad for a song that Norum initially at first hated, but later came to embrace it.
Both the song and album’s birth went back a number of years prior to the group entering the studio. The group’s vocalist Joey Tempest had earlier recorded a bare bones demo of the track on a cassette tape with plans to use it as an opening piece of music to open the group’s concerts. Having filed it away in the cupboard, it was only when the group were undertaking writing sessions for the album, that Tempest revisited his old demo and brought it to the band.
The group also shared an admiration for the arena rock of Journey, which came to play a major role in the musical direction of the album. “We’d been listening to Journey a lot, and we loved the sound of their albums,” recalls John Norum today. “And Neal Schon is one of my favourite guitar players too. And because of that, we wanted to work with producer Kevin Elson who produced those Journey albums in the late Seventies and early Eighties. We thought Kevin Elson would be perfect for us because we wanted to get that kind of Journey sound.
“At the time Joey and I were doing demos of the songs at his house. We had maybe four or five songs, and I was putting down some guitar solos and stuff like that with one of those little Rockmans. After that, we got Kevin to come out to Sweden and we did pre-production for the album for about two weeks, and then we moved to Zurich, Switzerland to begin recording at Powerplay Studios.”
Swiss Precision
The Swiss picturesque environs provided the perfect setting for the group to focus on the music and for Norum, capturing his guitar sound at its best. “We were there for about five weeks, and it was great,” he says. “It was out in the countryside, and we were living there too as they had bedrooms and stuff so we were working constantly just focusing on the music with no outside distractions. I remember pretty much just playing guitar all the time and Kevin got me a great guitar sound too.
“Because I didn’t really have that much knowledge about how to dial in a good guitar sound, he kind of dialed it in for me. For the album, I used my 1965 Fender Stratocaster and plugged it into a rental amp, a Marshall JCM800, 100-watt. I used a Boss Super Overdrive and a Boss DS-1 Distortion together. Though we mixed them together, most of the gain came from the amp. And using those two Boss pedals together proved to be a good combination. We did try using each pedal separately, but it just didn’t seem to work in giving me the sound we wanted to achieve.”
Journey On
Once Norum’s guitar sound was put to tape, and recording sessions ended, the band along with producer made their way over to the west coast of America to begin mixing, which again, had ties to Journey. “We went to San Francisco and mixed it at the same place where Kevin had mixed the Journey stuff, at Fantasy Studios in San Francisco,” says Norum. “And because that was the first time we, as a band, had been in the States – it was very exciting. After the album got released, it just exploded. It became number one in 25 countries, and we quickly started touring.”
But success became a double-edged sword for Norum. While the commercial success gave the band the world at its feet, for Norum though everything had become less about the guitar, and more about fame and its excesses. Instead of solidifying its standing as a hard rock group, with the guitar as its primary driving force, Europe had now morphed into purveyors of synth-pop rock. This led to Norum facing a career crossroads.
“When you get success that quick, it goes so fast, and you don’t really know how it works, how the business works and everything,” he explains. “Suddenly it’s like you have to get up and do the interviews every day from morning till night, and TV shows and get on early flights and all that stuff. And the fact that the keyboards were taking over a lot more, we had become more like a pop band.
“I hated that whole bubblegum image with the big hair and the spandex pants and that whole eighties image. Then some guys in the band got really big headed, and just doing the sex and drugs and rock and roll thing way too much and drinking every day, all the time. I was constantly waking up with a hangover, and finally came to the realization that this life was not for me. It’s not what I wanted to do and it wasn’t me and I didn’t want any part of it. So, I quit.”
Norum went on to enjoy a prolific solo career though, while Europe would soldier on until 1992. A decade later in 2003 the band reunited with Norum back in its ranks, and far-removed from the excess of their 80s pomp, the band remains active today on the touring circuit with plans for a new album, and a reputed return to their classic sound, currently in the works for a late 2025 release.
The post The real story of The Final Countdown: John Norum explains why Europe’s biggest hit made him quit the band in disgust appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“They all started having kids and getting married, and nothing was getting done”: Why Metallica’s Load and Reload were split into two albums
While St. Anger often takes the crown as Metallica’s most controversial record, 1996’s Load and the following year’s Reload have certainly caused a stir over the years. Not only did both records shift away from Metallica’s signature thrash in favour of hard rock and bluesy influences, but some fans have considered them to be ‘loaded’ with filler. However, the pair of records could have been even longer.
Speaking on episode 105 of The Metallica Report, producer Bob Rock explains that Metallica were utterly inspired while writing Load and Reload, overflowing with new ideas. “I think we cut 26 tracks,” he recalls. “I think we were a year into it and James Hetfield had, like, three vocals. And I’m going, ‘This is gonna take fucking five years!’ So we made the decision to split the album.”
While the record marked a shift in tone, the pair of albums would also soundtracks huge change in the band’s personal lives. “We had to get out of town because they all just started having kids!” Rock adds. “They married and stuff, and nothing was getting done. So I said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here [to refocus]’.”
The environmental shift would only amp up the inspiration. “We picked New York, and, in New York, it kind of changed,” he explains. “They started experimenting, like Hetfield’s [version of] Lynyrd Skynyrd.”
Because of this shift in location, there’s also “quite a difference” between how Load and Reload were produced; the split also captures a change in production. “They didn’t have the consoles that we used before, the [Solid State Logic, SSL] 6,000,” he says. “All the studios that were available, they had an SSL 9,000… [Recording engineer] Randy Staub and I fucking hated it. It’s an acquired taste – but that’s what we had to finish it.”
“When I listen to Load and when I was asked to write about [the reissue of] both records, and I talked to Lars [Ulrich] about this, I said, ‘They’re completely sonically different,’” he continues. “Reload is aggressive. But some people love Load! They don’t know what I know.”
Despite the controversy around the records, the experimental records were Metallica’s way of reinventing and evolving with the times. According to Rock, drummer Ulrich played a big part in defining Load and Reload’s sound, eager to capture the feeling of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Particularly inspired by dual guitarist rock bands like Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, and Guns N’ Roses, Metallica would see frontman Hetfield and guitarist Kirk Hammett taking on dual rhythm roles. “Before Load, James did all the rhythms,” Rock says. “So the idea was, Kirk was gonna play rhythms along with James. That changed everything – and some people don’t like it!”
The record also saw former bassist Jason Newsted changing his approach to playing, something he had began to do during the recording of 1991’s The Black Album. “Jason wasn’t playing bass like a bass player,” Rock notes. “He was just doubling the guitar. So I taught him: ‘Dude, be a bass player!’ So there’s points where he’s not playing the guitar riff – he’s playing with the drums… So that opened the door, and it’s my fault that I opened that door to them [during The Black Album]. On Load, they embraced it.”
Despite the controversy, Rock was fully supportive of the shift in tone. “I was glad we weren’t copying The Black Album, ‘cause you can’t make The Black Album again,” he explains. “When you make albums like that, it’s everything coming together – where I was, where they were, where culture was, where music was. And so I embraced the fact that they wanted to be a little freer.”
“Load is a great record,” Rock insists. “Actually, my kids like Load better than Reload… But when you put Fuel on off of Reload, they go, ‘Oh!!’ Sonically, it’s more aggressive. It’s more like [Metallica], so to speak.”
While fans continue to debate whether Load and Reload are quality Metallica records or not, Ulrich is in the same camp as Rock. “I think Load and Reload are great records,” he told Revolver Magazine in 2013 [via Ultimate Guitar]. “They are creatively on par with every other record we’ve made.”
“Obviously, they’re bluesier records, and at that time, we were listening to a lot of Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, and AC/DC, and we had a different kind of foundation than records before or after,” he continued. “I also understand that there are people who couldn’t quite figure out what was going on with the haircuts and the rest of it, and that’s fine. But, musically, if you strip all that other stuff away, if you just listen to the 27 songs, it’s a great collection. Those records are on par with everything else that we’ve done creatively… I’m very proud of those records.”
The post “They all started having kids and getting married, and nothing was getting done”: Why Metallica’s Load and Reload were split into two albums appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
The Met challenges Mick Taylor’s claim that he once owned the 1959 “Keithburst” Les Paul which appears in new exhibit
Last month, after it was revealed that 500 of the “finest guitars from the golden age of American guitar making” had been donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor claimed the collection included a 1959 sunburst Gibson Les Paul stolen from him in the early ‘70s.
In a well-documented story, the “Keithburst” Les Paul – which was played by Keith Richards during the band’s 1964 Ed Sullivan Show appearance, as well as by Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page – was taken along with eight other guitars from Villa Nellcôte, the mansion on the French Riviera where the Stones recorded their 1972 album, Exile on Main St.
A source last month said Mick Taylor was “mystified as to how his property found its way into the Met’s collection”.
Now, while it agrees Taylor played the instrument in the past, the Met now contests that he never actually owned it, along with certain elements of his version of events.
We do know some of the guitar’s history. It went up for auction via Christie’s – but failed to sell – and appeared on the cover of its catalogue in 2004, and featured in a Met exhibition in 2019. The rest, however, remains hazy. As Guitar World notes, there were no claims during either of these events from Mick Taylor or his team.
According to the Met’s version of events, the “Keithburst” Les Paul was actually the property of Keith Richards until 1971, and wasn’t one of the nine guitars stolen from Villa Nellcôte.
The Met lists Adrian Miller as the guitar’s owner in 1971, but stops short of mentioning how he acquired the guitar. Miller later sold it to Heavy Metal Kids’ Cosmo Verrico in 1971, who tells the New York Times he “can’t recall how Miller acquired the guitar”.
Also per the Met’s claim, after the Keithburst Les Paul failed to sell at the 2004 Christie’s auction, it was bought in 2006 by Peter Svensson, a music producer from Sweden. It was later bought by billionaire businessman Dirk Ziff, who lent it to the Met in 2019 for its Play it Loud exhibition.
Now, the New York Times says it has received a message from Mick Taylor’s business manager Marlies Damming, which reads: “We would like the Metropolitan Museum to make the guitar available so that we can inspect it, and confirm its provenance one way or the other.”
Guitar.com has reached out to Mick Taylor’s team and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for comment.
The post The Met challenges Mick Taylor’s claim that he once owned the 1959 “Keithburst” Les Paul which appears in new exhibit appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Every single riff in every connotation has already been done”: Why this “guitar band” is turning its attention to electronics
Skunk Anansie didn’t wait nearly a decade between albums just to rehash the same rock clichés. On The Painful Truth – their first record in nine years – the genre-defying UK quartet returns with a renewed approach to writing and sound design, and a rethinking of what a “guitar band” can be in 2024.
Speaking in a new interview with Blabbermouth, frontwoman Skin says that while the guitar is still “really important”, these days, the band is more interested in telling stories without drowning their songs in recycled riffs.
“The way we used guitars, we started as a rock band. We’ve developed from there,” she explains. “I think electronics is the most exciting thing on the planet right now, the things that they can do. That’s really exciting.”
“That’s where the creativity is on the planet. It’s not in rock guitar. It’s about, ‘Where do you place the guitars?’ We are essentially a guitar band. It’s really important, but you don’t have to do all the big old fucking riffs.”
In fact, Skin argues that the genre’s biggest sacred cow – the riff – is creatively spent.
“They’ve been done. Really, every single riff in every connotation has already been done. It’s that people like those. It’s things that people like, so that you can offer different flavours, and people will like them. It’s that Led Zeppelin and AC/DC did them, and you can change them a bit, and people still like them because they like that sound. It’s all been fucking done.”
For now, what makes the guitar “exciting”, says Skin, “is that you can place and texture them and juxtapose them with electronic songs. That’s where the excitement lies with me: how can you do what we do, but do it in a different way?”
That said, tearing up the playbook comes with its own set of risks.
“That involves a lot of experimentation,” she admits. “To be honest, you go down a path and at the end, it can be a dead end, and you have to stop and go down a different path. There’s a lot of experimentation in that. [Laughs] It’s not like playing a kick drum to find the right sound for two days. We don’t do that because we have a drummer. It’s about finding ways to tell the story that doesn’t clog it up with riffs.”
The post “Every single riff in every connotation has already been done”: Why this “guitar band” is turning its attention to electronics appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“I think he and his band are gonna save rock ‘n’ roll”: Lzzy Hale on why “humble kid” Wolfgang Van Halen is the future of guitar
Wolfgang Van Halen might be the son of a rock god, but Lzzy Hale believes that’s far from the only thing that makes him special. In fact, the Halestorm frontwoman says the Mammoth leader is one of the rare few carrying the future of rock on his shoulders – and doing it without ego.
Speaking in the new issue of Classic Rock Magazine, Hale reflects on an early encounter with Wolfgang, and how quickly he stood out from other second-generation rockstars.
“He’s a humble kid, there’s none of that ‘I’m a rock star’s kid’ stuff,” she says. “I’ve met quite a few of those guys that think that they’re better than everybody else because their dad was famous. That’s never been Wolfie.”
One moment that stuck with Hale was a visit to 5150 Studios – the legendary space built by the late Eddie Van Halen, where many of the band’s seminal albums were recorded.
“He took us to 5150 [Studios] and it still had all the tapes up there. There was Jump, the old analogue tapes, everything marked, everything organised to a T,” she recalls. “And we’re like: ‘Are we supposed to be in here?’ He’s like: ‘Oh yeah, dad won’t mind’ I’m like, this isn’t just anybody’s dad’s garage!”
“I think he and his band are gonna save rock ‘n’ roll,” Hale adds. “He’s a part of that small club of rock stars that are like: ‘Hey, you are more than welcome to be a part of this cool thing that we’re doing, but we don’t need you, we’re gonna do it anyway.”
Meanwhile, Wolfgang himself has opened up about the weight of carrying the Van Halen name – and the balancing act of honouring that legacy while forging his own path:
“Man, is it a fucking tight rope to walk, with the shadow I’m under and the expectations,” says the guitarist. “And it’s, like, I wanna be able to have the opportunity to reference my lineage, but not copy it and just put a flag in it and sit there and play Panama for everybody every night. I wanna be able to be my own person.”
The post “I think he and his band are gonna save rock ‘n’ roll”: Lzzy Hale on why “humble kid” Wolfgang Van Halen is the future of guitar appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Why the Black Keys ignored “the single worst piece of advice we ever got as a band” and made their careers
The Black Keys have opened up about the advice that nearly derailed their career before it even took off.
More than 20 years on from their humble beginnings in Akron, Ohio, guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney are reflecting on the so-called music industry wisdom they were urged to follow – and how ignoring it might’ve been the best decision they ever made as a band.
“There are a lot of false prophets in this business,” says Auerbach in the August issue of Classic Rock. “People who want to give you advice, and really they have no experience or any fucking idea what they’re talking about. There was this whole indie-rock credibility thing that was rampant in the music industry at the time.”
That scene came with all kinds of unwritten rules – and one in particular stuck with the duo for all the wrong reasons.
“The single worst piece of advice we ever got as a band was basically: don’t allow a song into a commercial,” says Carney.
“It put this whole thing in our heads of worrying about what other people were going to say, rather than paying attention to the fact our music isn’t on the radio, and this was a way for people to hear our shit. And we could also maybe pay some fucking bills.”
The band didn’t wait long to break that so-called rule. After initially refusing to license their music to commercials for fear of being branded ‘sell-outs’, Auerback and Carney soon relented. One of their first major breakthroughs came when their song Set You Free was licensed for a Nissan ad – a move Auerbach later admitted ‘helped immensely’ by putting the Black Keys on the radar of a wider audience.
What followed was a run of high-profile syncs, from Sony Ericsson and Victoria’s Secret to American Express and Zales, that introduced their music to millions around the world.
Looking back on their journey, Carney doesn’t mince words: “There’s a reason the music business is considered a slimy hellhole,” says the drummer, who earlier this year spoke out about the band’s ill-fated North American tour and the fallout that led them to fire their management.
“Be careful who you trust. I wish the work was just making the songs and playing the shows, but it’s also worrying about who you’re working with, and every venue you’re playing, and ticket prices…”
“It all comes down to the band,” he adds. “No one is going to be as passionate about it as the two guys in the band, but you have to maintain a level of hyper-vigilance, or else it’s gonna get fucked up.”
The post Why the Black Keys ignored “the single worst piece of advice we ever got as a band” and made their careers appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Gretsch G29202 Honey Dipper Special Resonator review: “it comes closer to the sound of a vintage original than anyone might have the right to expect”
$789/£799, gretschguitars.com
The Gretsch Roots Collection has been around for several years now, offering a variety of affordable rootsy resonator guitars and ukuleles crafted in China. The latest shiny addition to the line is a small batch “Bell Brass” release of their metal body resonator – The Honey Dipper. Tasty.
The Honey Dipper takes key design points from the legendary National Triolian design of the late 1920s – there’s a single aluminium cone, a 12 fret neck join, a pair of F-holes in the shoulders and a coverplate with cut-out ornamentation. Where the Gretsch instrument differs at first glance is in the use of Padauk for the bound fingerboard and the solid “paddle” headstock rather than the slot head that we might expect to find on a 12-fret guitar.
Frankly I’m all for this – not only does the risk of bleeding out from a viciously sharp string end lessen, but you also get a genuinely attractive (if undeniably kitsch) headstock covered in pearloid plastic with a great big vertical Gretsch logo to let everyone know that you are a free-thinking acoustic balladeer who won’t conform to labels.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch G29202 Honey Dipper – what is it?
Gretsch describes the Honey Dipper as a round-neck guitar – which is technically correct in that it is not a square-neck instrument designed for lap position playing. With me so far? What may cause some confusion, however, is the pronounced V-shape to that same neck. It’s reasonably comfortable if you’re used to a V profile, but may come as a bit of a shock if you’re not. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a rounded C or D shape.
Another thing that may surprise players new to the resonator is the relatively high default action. This is not the slinky string height of a modern acoustic guitar and there are several good reasons at play. First of all, the resonator guitar was originally designed for volume and that often means a heavy hand from the player – with or without finger picks.
There is also the fact that the biscuit bridge of a resonator guitar sits in the centre of the cone and the more downward pressure it gets, the better the guitar sounds. Finally, the joy of a resonator guitar is as a slide instrument and, as anyone who has shifted a brass bottleneck across the strings will know, a higher action will allow for a much clearer sound and help avoid rattling the slide against the frets.
Aside from these notes, the usual resonator health and safety guidelines apply. This is a metal-bodied instrument and is considerably heavier than an acoustic guitar of the same size. Also, for the love of Robert Johnson, do not play this naked on a cold day. With those caveats out of the way let’s head down to the crossroads and see if there’s a deal to be made.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch G29202 Honey Dipper – feel and sounds
Kicking off with some exploratory blues in standard tuning, I am greeted with a chunky sound and a particularly pleasing honk on the 3rd and 4th strings. Don’t be fooled into thinking that a metal-bodied guitar has to sound cold and impersonal. It’s brash but in a good way, and comes closer to the sound of a vintage original than anyone might have the right to expect at this price point.
Entry-level resonator guitars can sound a bit watery, especially in the top end, but the Honey Dipper offers a throaty bark and solid trebles. Very nice. Despite the higher action you can still execute some top string bends too if you’re feeling ambitious.
One important feature here is the 12-fret neck. This, coupled with the 25” scale length, makes for a warmer sound than usually encountered on a 14-fret instrument. It also means a more compact guitar that feels very comfortable against the body here. The real test will be dropping the beast into an open tuning – DADF#AD here we go!
Image: Adam Gasson
A quick point but it’s one worth making: A reso guitar can expect to spend time in several different tunings over the course of its lifetime and Gretsch scores points here for the well-cut nut and smooth Grover Sta-Tite tuners.
There is a deep joy to be found in an open-tuned resonator guitar due to the, well, the resonance. In particular, the sympathetic resonance of open strings vibrating together as you play. It’s like the guitar takes off with a delicious internal reverb. And this does happen with the Honey Dipper to some degree as we dig in – it’s not the choir-like response of a Fine Resophonic guitar by Mike Lewis but it is pleasing nonetheless.
With a heavy brass slide we get a touch of the volume that defines a resonator. These instruments were created in the era before amplification and the ability to fill a room with the voice of your instrument was top of the list of requirements for a musician of the time. The guitar sounds full across the fretboard and there is a satisfyingly grunty bass response here.
The only challenge is hitting the octave notes cleanly on the 12 fret neck, especially if you wear your slide on the 3rd finger – but that’s the nature of the beast and takes only minor adjustment. The V-neck is actually a lot more comfortable with a slide and the whole instrument just works at its best in this context.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch G29202 Honey Dipper – should I buy one?
Now, there is an argument to suggest that the horrific living conditions caused by The Great Depression of the 1920s have been romanticised to the point where the pared-back aesthetic of small brown guitars, ukuleles and resonators has become a design language of its own. As such the looks of an instrument carry as much semantic weight as the sound. This certainly looks and sounds the part.
Given that at the time of writing the Gretsch Roots Collection boasts eight different resonator guitar models, there is every chance that if this guitar doesn’t do it for you then Gretsch will be able to provide you with something that will. That said, the Honey Dipper is an impressive, relatively affordable resonator guitar – if you’re new to the blues or looking for some new textures in the studio then have at it!
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch G29202 Honey Dipper – alternatives
If you really want to get authentic with your Depression-era resonators, then you can always try and pick up an original 1930s National Triolian – though you’ll be paying the thick end of five grand for the privilege. If you want an even more affordable resonator option, UK brand Gear4Music’s in-house Hartwood Electro Resonator is a snip at $570/£449.99, while a Johnson 995 Biscuit Electro Resonator ($1,223/£999) is another solid mid-priced option.
The post Gretsch G29202 Honey Dipper Special Resonator review: “it comes closer to the sound of a vintage original than anyone might have the right to expect” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.