By Jonah Bayer: A lot of things from the eighties look really stupid now: Zubaz pants, Miami Vice, and The Noid to name a few. However, regardless of how ridiculous a lot of the metal acts of that era looked, there's no denying that those teased-hair enthusiasts could play their instruments. While about a million musical trends have occurred between then and now, there are still a fair number of players keeping that shred ethic alive well into 2014. Just remember, practice makes perfect so if you want to do some freeboard flying, you're going to have to put in a lot of hours. Hey, look on the bright side, these days you don't need to invest in any spandex. Unless, you know, you want to.
DragonForce's Herman Li and Sam Totman
The eighties may have been the pinnacle of shred guitar glory, but don't tell that to Herman Li and Sam Totman from DragonForce. The band's only remaining founding members have some of the fastest fingers around right now and have found a way to incorporate arpeggios, tapping, and dive-bombs into a unique style of playing that sounds as much like the soundtrack to a video game as it does a metal anthem. Hopefully their music inspires you to put down the Guitar Hero and pick up an actual axe. Just be prepared to bleed.
Avenged Sevenfold's Synyster Gates
There are plenty of things you can say about Avenged Sevenfold's music, but one thing that's hard to protest is the fact that Synyster Gates knows his way around the fretboard. This self-taught guitarist got his start playing jazz and classical, however these' days he's known for carrying on the shred torch with Avenged Sevenfold. (Seriously, what's the last concert you saw that featured an interlude where the rest of the band left the stage for an extended guitar solo?) We could do without the eyeliner but, hey, maybe that's part of where Syn gets his powers. We'll never know.
Buckethead
Like Synyster Gates, Buckethead's eccentric persona sometimes overshadows his playing (as do his Knunchuck solos) but the reality is that he's one of the most talented guitarists around today. Despite keeping his identity secret, Buckethead has mastered a wide variety of genres. However, the key to his playing is the speed that he's capable of when he gets warmed up. He's also unbelievably prolific, having released 75 studio albums to date full of shred-worthy rockers. Oh and he also played in Guns N' Roses for a little while which we're sure made for some pretty incredible stories.
Alexi Laiho
If you're not familiar with Children Of Bodom, boy, are you in for a treat. While the band are incredibly tight in their own right, the songs revolve around frontman Alexi Laiho's ability to fly around the fretboard, throwing in the occasional pinch harmonic or finger-tapped arpeggio for extra melodic measure. Thankfully Laiho is also tuneful enough to create solos that have distinct arcs instead of just cramming in as many notes as possible. Whatever you do, don't be discouraged, if you practice every day for the next 15 years maybe you'll be able to play on a level similar to Laiho. Hopefully, you're independently wealthy enough to afford that luxury.
Zakk Wylde
Despite spelling both of his names wrong, Zakk Wylde is a powerhouse when it comes to the guitar. Known for his bullseye Les Pauls, Wylde has played extensively with Ozzy Osbourne and his own project Black Label Society, both of which showcase his Southern-style of shred. We're not sure where Wylde gets his secret powers from but his beard is physical evidence that he may be part viking, which would explain his dexterity as well as his love of metal. Plus, he's played with everyone from Black Veil Brides to Ludacris in order to spread his shred to as many genres as humanly possible.
Source
Rock n’ roll photographer Gene Kirkland photographed the biggest names in rock and metal throughout the 80s and 90s (and still shoots to this day). Twelve months ago he unearthed a stash of shots that had been unseen since those glory days; images that hadn’t been seen in 20 years - even ones that he hadn’t seen himself!
Kirkland, in association with Los Angeles’ Black Lightning Gallery, has just unveiled selected shots from the collection, including Randy Rhoads, Ozzy Osbourne backstage with a white dove (used on the cover of an issue of Guitar School magazine), Guns N’ Roses at the “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” video shoot; Motley Crue at the “Girls, Girls, Girls” video shoot; Steve Vai with David Lee Roth; Iron Maiden at Long Beach Arena in 1985; Metallica with Cliff Burton; Black Sabbath; Judas Priest; Van Halen and plenty more.
The prints will be released as numbered, signed limited edition prints exclusively via Black Lightning Gallery.
It's the first installment in what the band describes as an "extensive reissue program" of its nine studio albums that have been remastered by guitarist and producer Jimmy Page. Moreover, each record will come out as a single-disc remastered album or as a "Deluxe Edition" with a bonus disc of previously unreleased studio and live tracks that the group recorded around the time of the album. The new versions of Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II and Led Zeppelin III will all hit stores on June 3rd.
The 40 Greatest Led Zeppelin Songs of All Time
The albums will each be available in a variety of formats, including single CD, two-disc deluxe edition, single LP on 180-gram vinyl (with a sleeve that replicates the original Led Zeppelin III moving wheel), deluxe-edition vinyl and digital download. The group is also putting out a limited-edition "Super Deluxe Boxed Set" of each album that includes all of the audio on CD and vinyl, as well as a high-definition audio download card, a hard-bound book containing rare and previously unseen photos and memorabilia and a high-quality print of the album cover, the first 30,000 of which will be numbered. The Super Deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin will also contain a replica of the band's original Atlantic press kit.
"The material on the companion discs presents a portal to the time of the recording of Led Zeppelin," Page said in a statement. "It is a selection of work in progress with rough mixes, backing tracks, alternate versions and new material recorded at the time."
Led Zeppelin: Rarely Seen Photos
The deluxe edition of the group's 1969 debut, Led Zeppelin, will feature a concert recording of the group's October 10th, 1969, gig at the Olympia in Paris. The nine-song set list included seven cuts from the album, along with two songs the band would put out on Led Zeppelin II later that month, "Heartbreaker" and "Moby Dick." The group performed a 15-minute version of "Dazed and Confused" at that concert.
 |
| Courtesy of Swan Song/Atlantic |
Led Zeppelin wrote much of their second record while on the road, and they put it out nine months after the release of their debut. The bonus disc for the deluxe edition of Led Zeppelin II includes alternate mixes of five songs that made it onto the album, one that didn't (the previously unreleased "La La") and the backing tracks for "Thank You" and "Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman)".
Video Gallery: Led Zeppelin After The Break-Up
Almost exactly one year after the release of their second album, the band released Led Zeppelin III, with the record's deluxe edition featuring seven studio outtakes of album tracks alongside three never-before-released tracks: an instrumental precursor to "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" called "Jennings Farm Blues," an instrumental version of "Out on the Tiles" dubbed "Bathroom Sound" and the blues medley "Keys to the Highway/Trouble in Mind."
Page first announced that he had been working on the reissues in November 2012. He told Rolling Stone at the time that, in addition to treating his fans to new "sonic and visual thrills," his goal with the reissues was to make them sound better. "The catalog was last remastered 20 years ago," he said. "That's a long time. Everything is being transferred from analog to a higher-resolution digital format. That's one of the problems with the Zeppelin stuff. It sounds ridiculous on MP3. You can't hear what's there properly."
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Austin, Texas, a reinvigorated Coldplay invaded an already crowded South by Southwest calendar with new music as headliners of the city's inaugural iTunes Festival. The quick 11-song set unfolded at the 2,750-capacity ACL Live at Moody Theatre, small and intimate by Coldplay standards, but was also streamed live to fans around the world.
It was the first of a week of shows during SXSW hosted by iTunes, and the genre-neutral programming looked like a chart of popular download stars, with nights also headlined by Pitbull, Keith Urban, Kendrick Lamar and Soundgarden. Most intriguing to hardcore Coldplay fans had to be the debut of four new songs from the band's upcoming Ghost Stories album.
Coldplay eased into their first U.S. Show in 14 months with an atmospheric "Always in My Head," the new album's opening song. With "Paradise," it was back to the London quartet's soaring anthemic sing-alongs, as the crowd joined in without any prompting at all from the band. "Charlie Brown" was soon followed by "Clocks," as singer Chris Martin left the piano bench with outstretched hands, knees buckling dramatically as fans shouted along once more.
The ovation that followed prompted Martin to thank fans for reminding the band of the experience of having their songs sung loudly back at them, particularly since they've "been in the studio a long time" working on Ghost Stories. More from that album came in the form of "Another's Arms," and a brief instrumental section accented with wild sparks of guitar from Jonny Buckland.
"Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall" peaked with an explosion of confetti streams, burying the musicians under layers of paper strands. Martin still managed a mood-changing "Fix You," which he dedicated to passengers on the still-missing Malaysian airliner, opening to a solemn organ melody and teary vocal, before an emotional guitar climax and Will Champion's driving beat.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/coldplay-debut-atmospheric-new-tracks-as-itunes-fest-arrives-at-sxsw-20140312#ixzz43sMHoxQv
Follow : @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
Steve Vai to release new solo album "The Story of Light: Real Illusions: ...of a.." August 14 on Favored Nations Records, with guest vocalists including Aimee Mann and Beverly McClellan. 12 Original recordings continue a conceptual narrative arc started on Vai's acclaimed "Real Illusions: Reflections" album.
Virtuoso guitarist and visionary composer Steve Vai will release "The Story of Light: Real Illusions: ...of a...", a new solo album of original arrangements, on August 14. The title comes out on Favored Nations Entertainment, the label Vai founded in 1999. Its sprawling and expressive 12-song set continues a conceptual and cosmic narrative arc begun on the artist's acclaimed 2005 album Real Illusions: Reflections (also Vai's most recent solo studio release).
Although The Story of Light is largely instrumental, the album does feature guest vocalists including singer-songwriter Aimee Mann—dueting with Vai on "No More Amsterdam," which she also cowrote—and Beverly McClellan, a season one finalist on The Voice. McClellan appears on "John the Revelator," a track inspired by a vintage recording of blues singer Blind Willie Johnson, whose acidsoaked vocals are in the mix as well. Other highlights include the title track (which opens the album), "Gravity Storm," "The Moon and I," and "Velorum." Throughout, three-time GRAMMY-winner Vai's lead guitar is as lyrically resonant as it is technically masterful, his licks and solos bending sounds and in listeners' minds in equal measure. The Story of Light follows the journey of a man driven mad by grief, intertwining tragedy, revelation, enlightenment, and redemption.
The Story of Light is available as of today for online pre-sale orders. This special pre-sale selection of bundled packages is offered exclusively through Vai's website, www.Vai.com, where complete details on the products and ordering information are available. Each package includes an instant download of a track from the new album personally selected by Vai, "Gravity Storm." Following up the 2009 live album Where The Wild Things Are, The Story of Light, is Vai's 16th solo effort. In support of its release, Vai will begin a tour of North America on August 15th in Fort Lauderdale Florida, accompanied by his band—who are also featured on the new album: Dave Weiner (guitar), Jeremy Colson (drums), Philip Bynoe (bass), and Deborah Hensen (harp, vocals, keyboards). For more information: www.vai.com
Visit www.vai.com/tourdates for ticketing information and a complete list of dates.
Virtuoso guitarist and visionary composer Steve Vai will release "The Story of Light: Real Illusions: ...of a...", a new solo album of original arrangements, on August 14. The title comes out on Favored Nations Entertainment, the label Vai founded in 1999. Its sprawling and expressive 12-song set continues a conceptual and cosmic narrative arc begun on the artist's acclaimed 2005 album Real Illusions: Reflections (also Vai's most recent solo studio release).
Although The Story of Light is largely instrumental, the album does feature guest vocalists including singer-songwriter Aimee Mann—dueting with Vai on "No More Amsterdam," which she also cowrote—and Beverly McClellan, a season one finalist on The Voice. McClellan appears on "John the Revelator," a track inspired by a vintage recording of blues singer Blind Willie Johnson, whose acidsoaked vocals are in the mix as well. Other highlights include the title track (which opens the album), "Gravity Storm," "The Moon and I," and "Velorum." Throughout, three-time GRAMMY-winner Vai's lead guitar is as lyrically resonant as it is technically masterful, his licks and solos bending sounds and in listeners' minds in equal measure. The Story of Light follows the journey of a man driven mad by grief, intertwining tragedy, revelation, enlightenment, and redemption.
The Story of Light is available as of today for online pre-sale orders. This special pre-sale selection of bundled packages is offered exclusively through Vai's website, www.Vai.com, where complete details on the products and ordering information are available. Each package includes an instant download of a track from the new album personally selected by Vai, "Gravity Storm." Following up the 2009 live album Where The Wild Things Are, The Story of Light, is Vai's 16th solo effort. In support of its release, Vai will begin a tour of North America on August 15th in Fort Lauderdale Florida, accompanied by his band—who are also featured on the new album: Dave Weiner (guitar), Jeremy Colson (drums), Philip Bynoe (bass), and Deborah Hensen (harp, vocals, keyboards). For more information: www.vai.com
Steve's 2012 North America Fall Tour
Visit www.vai.com/tourdates for ticketing information and a complete list of dates.
Joe, Steve Vai & Steve Morse will be taking G3 to Europe in July and they have a special VIP Package that includes a meeting & greet with all three guitarists (including a photo), autograph, tour merch, exclusive laminate, early entry to the venue, and a random selection of 2 people two watch the G3 jam from the side of the stage! Note: This package does not include tickets. You must already have purchased tickets to use this package.For more info and to pick up a package, visit http://vip.g3tour.com/
G3 2012 EUROPE TOUR DATES w/ Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Steve Morse
Jul 20 Heineken Music Hall (Amsterdam, NL)
Jul 21 Stadthalle Offenbach (Frankfurt, DE)
Jul 22 10 Giorni Suonati Festival (Vigevano, IT)
Jul 23 Tonhalle (Munchen, DE)
Jul 24 Stadthalle Freilichtbuhne (Hamburg, DE)
Jul 28 Guitare en Scene (Genevois, FR)
Jul 31 Tesla Arena (Prague, CZ)
Aug 01 Papp Laszlo Budapest Sportarena (Budapest, HU)
Aug 03 Ukraine Hall (Kiev, UA)
Aug 05 Crocus City Hall (Moscow, RU)
G3 will also visit South America w/ Joe Satriani, John Petrucci, Steve Morse.
It's hard to believe Chickenfoot has only two shows left to play on the Different Devil Tour. Joe said "Before you know it I will be home practicing for the up-coming G3 Tour in Europe. Nothing is better than playing live with great players for audiences you really want to play for. Thanks to all my fans for coming out to see us all over the world this year."
There's only a couple more shows before the Chickenfoot DIFFERENT DEVIL 2012 tour wraps up, and in case you missed it earlier, here's a few videos to take a look at the rehearsal and opening night of the tour.
Opening night 10-minute mini-doc feature:
Rehearsal Google+ Hangout at the Foot Locker:
Different Devil Tour Announcement Video:
When Axl Rose bailed on Guns N’ Roses’ Hall of Fame induction, Slash knew the group would never reunite. But with a brand-new group and a killer new album Apocalyptic Love rock’s hardest-working guitarist has no reason to ever look back again.
Apocalyptic Love. Recorded with backing group Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators, the album is filled with head bangers and plenty of fancy fretwork, most notably on standout tracks like "Hard and Fast" and "Standing in the Sun."
Slash is back with a second solo disc. "A lot of this record was written on the road – musicians that say they can't write on the road are usually busy doing something else," Slash has said of this album. "I think it's been my way of keeping myself out of trouble, to take all the energy I used to put into partying and spend it on the guitar. But it's very inspired. It's not like I make myself do it. I get to my room and I've got ideas so I'll work on them, rather than waiting until later."
Guitar designer Dean Zelinsky -- the founder of Dean Guitars, who has designed models for Billy Gibbons, Dimebag Darrell and Leslie West -- has started a new company, Dean Zelinsky Private Label Guitars.
So far, the brand offers three of Zelinsky’s latest creations -- the Tagliare, the Zenyatta and the StrettaVita, a reincarnation of a Zelinsky classic, which soon will be offered for the first time as a hollow-body guitar.
The new designs, along with Zelinsky’s Z-Glide Reduced Friction Neck, are the bedrock of the new company. The entire line will be available in the fall.
The Z-Glide neck will be an option on the Tagliare models. The Tagliare -- a three-single-coil, bolt-neck guitar -- is a departure for Zelinsky, but, as he states, it was “a natural progression once I designed the Z-Glide.” The Z-Glide uses a laser-textured surface designed to let hands glide up and down the neck.
“Design Your Own” -- a feature of the Tagliare line -- will be offered in addition to the stock models. Visitors to the company's website will be able to customize guitars online and see their creations instantly. They can then buy the guitars at the site too.
The Z-Glide also will be available on select StrettaVita models, which feature bolt-neck construction on a single-cutaway, dual-humbucker guitar.
The Zenyatta features an oversized, ultra-thin body design. The single-cutaway Zenyatta features deep carving and highly sculpted aesthetics that adds a full “bull nose” edge - something not yet seen on production guitars.
Dean Zelinsky Private Label Guitars will range from $299 to $1,299. Select U.S.-made custom models are $3,599 and up. For more about the models, check out deanzelinsky.com.
To commemorate their April 14 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Red Hot Chili Peppers will release a digital-only EP, We Salute You, May 1 via Warner Bros.
The EP features covers of six songs by previous Hall of Fame inductees, including The Ramones, Iggy & The Stooges, Neil Young, David Bowie, The Beach Boys and Dion and the Belmonts. The track listing is as follows:
01. A Teenager in Love (Dion and the Belmonts)
02. Havana Affair (Ramones)
03. Search & Destroy (Iggy and the Stooges)
04. Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (Neil Young)
05. I Get Around (The Beach Boys)
06. Suffragette City (David Bowie)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKMWBxKCSP0?feature=player_embedded]
Prog rock legends Rush debuted the lead single for their new album, Clockwork Angels, yesterday, the nearly seven-and-a-half-minute "Headlong Flight."
This morning, they released an official lyric video for the track, which you can watch below.
"'Headlong Flight' was one of those songs that was a joy to write and record from beginning to end," frontman Geddy Lee told Rolling Stone. "Alex [Lifeson] and I had blast jamming in my home studio one day before the second leg of the Time Machine tour, and I did not revisit that jam until a year later.
"Alex and I assembled the song to be an instrumental and its original title was 'Take That Lampshade Off Yo Head!," but once we saw the lyrics Neil [Peart] had written, I knew that the spirit of the lyrics matched the instrumental perfectly and it was just a matter of making them fit and writing the melodies."
Clockwork Angels will be released June 12.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcFGrWjOX0E?feature=player_embedded]
In a new interview with Esquire, Eddie Van Halen opens up about the band's new album, A Different Kind of Truth, and reminisces about his long and storied career.
One of the cooler stories from the piece features Ed remembering his first encounter with Ted Nugent back in 1978.
"Ted was cool enough to give the band a sound check," he said. "He's standing off to the side and he's listening to me, and he comes up and says, 'Hey, you little shit! Where's your little magic black box?' I'm going, Who the fuck is that? And it was Ted. Hey Ted, it's nice to meet you, thanks for the sound check. And he's going, 'Let me play your guitar!' I go, 'Okay, here you go.' He starts playing my guitar and it sounds like Ted.
He started playing, and millions of teenage boys started banging their heads against the wall. Thirty-five hard years later, he's got a new album, a new tour, and his kid Wolfgang is in the band. What would you give to play Eddie's guitar backstage at the Garden?
It's all in the fingers, man. He tells a story about when the band first hit. Van Halen was opening for Ted Nugent back in 1978 at the Capital Centre. Ted was cool enough to give the band a sound check. He's standing off to the side and he's listening to me, and he comes up and says,"Hey, you little shit! Where's your little magic black box?" I'm going, Who the fuck is that? And it was Ted. Hey Ted, it's nice to meet you, thanks for the sound check. And he's going, "Let me play your guitar!" I go, "Okay, here you go." He starts playing my guitar and it sounds like Ted. He yells,"You just removed your little black box, didn't you? Where is it? What did you do?" I go, "I didn't do anything!" So I play, and it sounds like me. He says, "Here, play my guitar!" I play his big old guitar and it sounds just like me. He's going, "You little shit!" What I'm trying to say is I am the best at doing me. Nobody else can do me better than me.
One of the cooler stories from the piece features Ed remembering his first encounter with Ted Nugent back in 1978.
"Ted was cool enough to give the band a sound check," he said. "He's standing off to the side and he's listening to me, and he comes up and says, 'Hey, you little shit! Where's your little magic black box?' I'm going, Who the fuck is that? And it was Ted. Hey Ted, it's nice to meet you, thanks for the sound check. And he's going, 'Let me play your guitar!' I go, 'Okay, here you go.' He starts playing my guitar and it sounds like Ted.
He started playing, and millions of teenage boys started banging their heads against the wall. Thirty-five hard years later, he's got a new album, a new tour, and his kid Wolfgang is in the band. What would you give to play Eddie's guitar backstage at the Garden?
It's all in the fingers, man. He tells a story about when the band first hit. Van Halen was opening for Ted Nugent back in 1978 at the Capital Centre. Ted was cool enough to give the band a sound check. He's standing off to the side and he's listening to me, and he comes up and says,"Hey, you little shit! Where's your little magic black box?" I'm going, Who the fuck is that? And it was Ted. Hey Ted, it's nice to meet you, thanks for the sound check. And he's going, "Let me play your guitar!" I go, "Okay, here you go." He starts playing my guitar and it sounds like Ted. He yells,"You just removed your little black box, didn't you? Where is it? What did you do?" I go, "I didn't do anything!" So I play, and it sounds like me. He says, "Here, play my guitar!" I play his big old guitar and it sounds just like me. He's going, "You little shit!" What I'm trying to say is I am the best at doing me. Nobody else can do me better than me.
When Bobby "Blitz" Ellsworth showed up at Guitar World HQ for interview, it was already past 5 p.m. on a press-packed day.
In spite of that, he showed up good spirits, and with the same youthful energy that has made him one of the most electric performers in thrash metal for over three decades now.
The occasion for Bobby's visit is, of course, the release of Overkill's sixteenth studio album, The Electric Age, which hit stores earlier this week on eOne.
The new record is everything you've come to expect from the boys in Overkill over the years: ten tracks of upbeat thrash, of a slightly punkier variety that that of their Bay-area counterparts.
Tracks like "Electric Rattlesnake" and "Wish You Were Dead" fit comfortably alongside anything from Under the Influence, and over 30 years into their career, Overkill are showing no sign of slowing down.
This is your third straight Overkill record with the same lineup... http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-overkills-bobby-blitz-ellsworth-talks-electric-age
As his band finishes work on its first album in eight years, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry tells Rolling Stone he has considered quitting many times over the years. His decision has always been the same: "Nothing excites me as much as getting to do this," he says.Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry says he's frequently thought about leaving the band. "I've thought very often about throwing it over for just writing and doing my own thing, but nothing excites me as much as getting to do this. It's about being in the studio and working and taking it day by day, and suddenly you find yourself (here) 40 years later."
Rolling Stone spoke one-on-one with the 61-year-old Toxic Twin about the band's first album in eight years, which is almost complete and scheduled for release this summer.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/q-a-joe-perry-on-aerosmiths-new-album-20120330#ixzz1qdsmJ2Ai
iClips is very excited to announce the LIVE broadcast with legendary Rock n Roll Hall of Famers Guns N' Roses from The Forum in Los Angeles, CA on December 21, 2011.
Guns N' Roses went 15 years between albums before releasing the long-awaited Chinese Democracy in 2008. Along with frontman Axl Rose, Guns N' Roses current lineup features Axl Rose on Vocals, DJ Ashba, Ron Thal AKA Bumblefoot and Richard Fortus on guitar, Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman on keyboards, Frank Ferrer on drums and Tommy Stinson on bass.
