by Matt Baamonde. During the past few years, Fall Out Boy has literally exploded over the pop music landscape. They've earned their keep by spending hard time on the road, building their music, giving it muscle and gathering a global network of fans. They hit pay dirt in 2005 with their breakout CD, From Under The Cork Tree. That early Fall Out Boy album ramped up to #1 on the Billboard Charts, gained momentum and went triple platinum, earning the group a 2006 Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. Next up for the goup was, Infinity on High, released in 2007. Infinity debuted at #1, before going platinum a month later. Beyond their music, Fall Out Boy is recognized as a brilliant marketing team. Their strategy included rolling out a plan to show up in Antarctica for a show, but was stalled due to stormy weather...
by Steven Rosen. The year is 1983. Six albums ago (including the one yet to be released), Van Halen, the group, released its first record - Van Halen. It was dramatic, intense and bold. Within the 11 tracks was a feeling of "This is an important statement." It was. The energy, passion and technique of guitarist Edward Van Halen set the band apart from hordes of others, and now with the Pasadena-raised quartet about to release its sixth record, it is obvious that Edward stands as the main catalyst of the electric guitar's ascendancy in the '80s. Still staggering from the effects of the US Festival (1983), Van Halen sits in his home nestled in the Hollywood Hills feeling bitter about the performance. Ultimately, the show will be viewed as one of the grandest rock 'n' roll fests in history, but in the following conversation guitarist Van Halen clears the cobwebs, sheds real light on the concert, and describes the work thus far on the bands upcoming album. This one will be called 1984...
by Matt Baamonde. Nearly all of todays blues-rock guitarists are Hendrix influenced to some degree. Few, however, are capable of developing a destinctive, ethereal, almost 'otherworldly' tone combined with the tasteful phrasing that characterizes Robin Trower's body of work. Once considered the heir apparent to Jimi, the ex-Procol Harum, Strat-wielding, English rocker blazed his own path over a long career. Trower has pulled his weight as a band member and on many occasions served as a band leader to plow new territory in the blues-rock fusion genre. Trower's sweeping and lush riffs on such masterful albums as Bridge of Sighs, Twice Removed from Tomorrow, Passion and other world-wide attention-getting albums have offered him a place alongside such luminary guitarists as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and others who have inspired guitar wannabes to pick up their guitars and play. Robin's signature sound is identifiable and unmistakably his own...
by Brian D. Holland. Arlen Roth, known to many as The Master of the Telecaster, recently released an album of classic rock songs and a couple of originals, entitled Toolin Around Woodstock. Along for the ride were friends Levon Helm, Bill Kirchen, Sonny Landreth, daughters Lexie Roth and Amy Helm, and more. The special edition release includes a bonus DVD of studio views, conversations, and performances, filmed at Levon Helms studio in Woodstock, New York. Over the past thirty years, the name Arlen Roth has been associated with global guitar instruction, to the point of overshadowing his status as a prominent touring musician and recording artist. In addition to a long running, prominent column in Guitar Player magazine (known as Hot Guitar) and numerous authoritative instructional books, in the late '70s he started one of the most successful guitar instruction enterprises of all time...
by Brian D. Holland. Performing alongside the likes of Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Dawkins and Willie Smith certainly assisted Chicagos Nick Moss in becoming a genuine Chicago bluesman. However, genuine is genuine, and that level of adeptness doesnt come easy. Having been fermented and embedded into his soul, the music eventually solidified into an adoring passion that he doesnt take lightly. Originally a bass player, Nick switched to guitar at the request of Willie Big Eyes Smith. The Muddy Waters drummer realized, when their touring guitarist suddenly departed, that it would be much easier to educate a new bass player than a new guitarist, as Nick was quite adept at both anyway. Hes never looked back since, because in due course the six-string instrument grew to be his natural comfort zone for performing...
by Lynne Margolis. In the heyday of 60s and 70s pop and rock, L.A.s so-called Wrecking Crew dominated the airwaves, creating some of the most indelible sounds of the 20th century on some of the most beloved songs in the rock n roll canon. Yet most people have no clue they even existed, these unsung session musicians who backed up everyone from Elvis, the Beach Boys and the Byrds to the Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel and Frank and Nancy Sinatra. Its a list so extensive, you have to see it to believe it. Drummer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Hal Blaine (one of the first sidemen inducted when the category was created) singlehandedly beat the skins on 40 No. 1 hits, plus seven Record of the Year Grammy winners in a row; he played on eight altogether. Pianist Don Randis tally of artists hes recorded with numbers 142; hes been Nancy Sinatras keyboardist for 45 years. Phil Spectors famed Wall of Sound? Created by the Wrecking Crew...
by Geoff Byrd. I met Jed Leiber in Aspen when I was asked to write some songs with John Oates. I didnt even know there was going to be a third person there. Soon after the session, I understood why John likes to include Jed in the songwriting process. Leiber's an amazing piano player, Julliard trained, with a gift for melody and lyric. When he plays he's in control. Today, after he's finished up a staff meeting at his newly renovated recording studio, NightBird, he sits down at a seven-foot-long Yamaha grand piano and melts into it. He looks like a mad scientist in the throes of a work out. His arms are muscled and his hair wild. I find Jed is self-deprecating and affable. It doesn't take long for me to figure out that...
by Michael Shea. Lets get it over with right at the start. Master slide guitarist, Roy Rogers, was named after the King of the Cowboys film star. Roy will be the first to admit that he's had fun with his moniker. He named his record label Chops Not Chaps and he's recorded his namesake's theme song, "Happy Trails." Although Roy started playing slide after hearing blues pioneer Robert Johnson and toured with John Lee Hooker, it would be incorrect to pigeonhole him as a blues artist. True, he can play some great blues, but his music goes well beyond the blues taking his slide guitar into new musical soundscapes...
by Geoff Byrd. I first met John Oates in 2005, backstage after my first show with Hall and Oates at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. I was the opening act and relatively unknown, under the radar, which I didn't mind at all for a couple of reasons. In fact, I kind of like it that way. But, I was more nervous than I had been in years. I was alone with my acoustic guitar facing a sea of Hall and Oates fans who couldn't wait to hear Maneater and had to win over a crowd who didnt even know there was an opening act. Hall and Oates were always one of my favorite artists, adding even more pressure...
by Brian D. Holland. Anyone familiar with guitarist Laurie Morvan knows shes a complete performer who takes her music seriously. Following the release of her third CD, Cures What Ails Ya, the stunning California axe slinger has seen the doors of recognition open up to her exhilarating electric blues guitar style. However, this occurrence was far from effortless. Laurie found out the hard way that it often takes time for a female blues guitarist to be taken seriously. Some nightclub doors werent open to the idea at first, be it a good idea or not. "I dont want a girl guitarist. We had one last year," shed often hear, like she was a mere novelty item. But ultimately, unbiased listeners have come to recognize the true authenticity and devotion in her music and in her guitar playing. Lauries fluid licks, incredible tone, and the emotion she exerts in her songs, of which are mostly original, are evidence enough of just how serious she is...
by Skip Daly. Daniel Johns, lead vocalist and guitarist for Australia's most popular rock-grunge group, Silverchair, met Ben Gillies (drums) and Chris Joannou (bass) before they were in their teens. By the time they reached 15, the trio made its mark "Down Under" as a major rock group. Today, Silverchair's reputation is global. Silverchairs entry to rock stardom came early when they were 14 years old and headlined as the Innocent Criminals at local shows. Johns, Gillies and Joannou proved worthy when they won an Australian record demo competition with Tomorrow that helped land them a three-album record deal with Sony Music. The song sat at the top of the Australian singles charts for six weeks. The group re-recorded the track for U.S. consumption and it became one of the most played songs on U.S. rock stations during the '90s...
by Steven Rosen. The weekend had all the earmarks of a lost one. Sleepless nights spent wondering if the next day would produce the promised sitting with guitarist and composer Jimmy Page. There were words of illusory wisdom containing hope but having little to do with reality: It looks like its going to happen tomorrow, as espoused by Firm manager Phil Carson. But after a delay of two days (a mere trifle really when one considers I waited five days to see him when I interviewed Page in 1977), the meeting took place. Jimmy looked tired but spry. He smiled, exchanged greetings and looked at a photo he and I had taken during our first encounter nearly ten years ago. Remembering that tête-à-tête, his body seemed to relax. Phil Carson had explained Pages usual aversion to interviews as a reaction to past hatchet jobs. As I sat down to talk with Jimmy, I realized that I must have passed some kind of security check. Jimmys personal guitar technician, Tim Marten, was always close by. His presence was welcome and a stabilizing influence...
by Rick Landers. The bands name was bold. It was massive. Mountain. Some claim it reflected the man standing his ground and hammering chords and a tight riff to the groups hit Mississippi Queen. The name could have as readily been based on the towering stacks of Sunn amps that drove the group in its early days. Whatever the reality, Leslie West, lead guitarist for Mountain, gave the group's sound its high peaks and deep roots. West is a big man. Hes shed his massive girth from the early days, but he's tall and built solid. He has a presence that immediately informs that hes an individual of consequence, someone to be taken seriously. While other groups were moving in more experimental directions, West planted his guitar riffs deep into the bedrock of rock n roll. Listen to the now classic "Mississippi Queen" with its simple I, IV, V chord structure coupled with Leslies beast vocal. The song is pure power with the formidable Leslie West dead center...
by Rick Landers. Louisiana-born Kenny Wayne Shepherd grew up on the blues. From the age of seven he had a guitar in his hands and kept at it until five years later he was on stage with Jump Street Five blues group guitarist Bryan Lee. At 17, Kenny produced his first album, Ledbetter Heights, that sat at the Number 1 spot on Billboards chart for five months earning a Gold Certification. The album tracks were both hot and soulful, reflecting a love of rock n roll and his deep appreciation for Chicago,Texas and Delta blues. Blazing onto the charts during the 1990s, Kenny was considered a young prodigy with some talk of his filling the boots of the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan. Shepherd would soon enough earn four No. 1 blues album spots and a series of blues-rock hit singles. He gathered up a couple of Billboard Music Awards and later was recognized for his contributions to music in 1998 and 2001 by the Gibson Guitar Corporation when he was presented the prestigious Orville H. Gibson Guitar Award for Best Blues Guitarist...
by Mark J. Rabuffo. While over the almost 20 years since his stint as Frank Zappa's last so-called "stunt guitarist," Mike Keneally may not have become a stadium headliner, he's carved out a strong niche of Keneally-music fanatics who believe the important arena lies between the ears. "You are as useful as a urinal in a convent," Keneally sings on the track "Ugly Town" from his 1992 debut solo album, hat. Welcome to the musically mercurial world of guitarist-composer-singer-songwriter-keyboardist-producer Mike Keneally. "...Mike Keneally is one of the most creative and gifted musicians God has graced us with. I have witnessed him do things on various instruments (at the same time occasionally) that defy reality, and though his technical command of his instruments is extraordinary, its the profound voice of his inner ear that is truly the trump card of his brilliance." Impressive words; made even more so by the fact that they were written by fellow Frank Zappa alumnus Steve Vai on the inside jacket of the solo piano album Vai Piano Reductions Vol.1 Performed by Mike Keneally (2004, Light Without Heat)...