Crossroads Guitar Festival, June 4-6, 2004: Eric Clapton has announced a three-day Crossroads Guitar Festival to take place Friday, June 4 through Sunday, June 6 at Fair Park in Dallas.
Radiohead's gig in the mud voted best ever: What a load of arse! (Radioarse?). In order to be voted the best gig, it has to receive the most votes (Duh!) so that means only the really BIG gigs stand a chance in this poll. Absolutely pointless.
Wednesday 28 April 2004
Tuesday 27 April 2004
Hughes & Kettner Introduces Warp X Head: Representing the flagship model in the company's Warp lineup, the new Warp-X is a two channel, all-tube guitar head designed for dropped-D tuning and other heavy playing styles.
Drive up to 4 Amps with Voodoo's Amp Selector: just make sure you're on a big enough stage for them all.
Living Loud live at last: Living Loud have played their first gig ever, in Melbourne at the Metro. The supergroup featuring members of Cold Chisel, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Ozzy Osbourne and Rainbow, is Jimmy Barnes, Bob Daisley, Lee Kerslake, Steve Morse and Don Airey.
Official: the Fender Strat is the world's greatest guitar say The Independent. Sorry, but I still think it's the world's most boring guitar.
Win an Autographed Fender Guitar from Eight Days Gone and Titan Feature Story. Never heard of them. Also it's a bit worrying that they lst Radiohead amongst their influences. Zzzzzzzzzzzz... Sleeprock!
Monday 26 April 2004
Here's a couple of photos I took this weekend:
It was a fantastic couple of gigs from The Damned at Knaresborough in Yorkshire this weekend. On Sunday, the group, obviously in high spirits, strayed from their set list and played a few super cool cover versions such as The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg pop" and a blistering version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".
Definitely one of the best live bands on the circuit in the UK at the moment. Catch them if you get the chance.
It was a fantastic couple of gigs from The Damned at Knaresborough in Yorkshire this weekend. On Sunday, the group, obviously in high spirits, strayed from their set list and played a few super cool cover versions such as The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg pop" and a blistering version of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid".
Definitely one of the best live bands on the circuit in the UK at the moment. Catch them if you get the chance.
Saturday 24 April 2004
Happy Birthday to Captain Sensible of The Damned who is celebrating his 50th today. The Captain, who is a very much under-rated guitarist and musician, will be celebrating all weekend with The Damned and their fans in Knaresborough in North Yorkshire. Which is where I'm just off to now; I have a five hour train journey to get there! Looking forward to the celebrations, and much drunkeness and chaos no doubt!
Friday 23 April 2004
BSM FuzzBender puts two classic fuzz circuits in one pedal: With the flick of a sliding switch, the guitarist can toggle from a vintage FuzzFace tone to a SolaSound/Vox ToneBender MKI tone.
Justin Hawkins of The Darkness to undergo op: to correct a recurring heartburn problem, apparently. I wonder if they can do something about that funny voice of his whilst they are at it?
Wednesday 21 April 2004
Happy Birthday to Tuesday 20 April 2004
Metasonix Unleashes the TX-1 Agonizer: The latest design from Metasonix defies categorization, but its goal is simple - to destroy your sound. The all-analog TX-1 Agonizer features a vacuum tube that originally found its place in 1960s televisions, and has no real place in the audio world. (Check out the dodgy graphics on the casing).
EVH the Subject of Riff Interactive's Latest CD-ROM: Eddie Van Halen is the subject of Riff Interactive's latest instructional CD-ROM, covering rhythm playing, leads, and two handed tapping.
ZZ Top celebrating 35th anniversary on the road: it's hard to tell just quite how old they really are beneath those beards.
Guitar nipple blues for musicians: Making music can be bad for the skin, causing "guitar nipple", "fiddler's neck" and other disorders, said a study. Some guitarists suffer guitar nipple, otherwise known as irritant mastitis.
Well, if do insist on wearing your guitar or bass high up on your chest like Mark King from Level 42, then what do you expect? Sling 'em low, like the Ramones, is what I say.
Well, if do insist on wearing your guitar or bass high up on your chest like Mark King from Level 42, then what do you expect? Sling 'em low, like the Ramones, is what I say.
Langcaster guitars & bass guitars: Handcrafted guitar bodies made from stunning 35,000 year old swamp Kauri roots are fitted with innovated technology pickups.
Check out the ex-Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman's music site - there's a nice section on his guitars and amps.
Incidentally, I'm trying to find a CD of one of his albums, "Can't Stand Noise". I used to have it on cassette (no idea what became of that) and I'd really like to listen to it again as it was a favourite of mine. Please drop me a line if you can help.
Incidentally, I'm trying to find a CD of one of his albums, "Can't Stand Noise". I used to have it on cassette (no idea what became of that) and I'd really like to listen to it again as it was a favourite of mine. Please drop me a line if you can help.
Kurt Cobain's 1960's Mosrite Gospel: another look at the guitar that recently went for big bucks at auction.
Monday 19 April 2004
RISA Musical Instruments: they've only gone and re-designed the ukulele! Check out their acoustic, solid, and electric instruments - ukuleles, guitars, mandolins and hybrid instruments.
Sunday 18 April 2004
Cobain's guitar fetches $117,500: A Mosrite guitar belonging to the late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain was auctioned for $117,500 (£65,000) on Saturday.
Gipsy Kings hope to reclaim gypsy name: Folk band the Gipsy Kings have said they want to "reclaim" the word gypsy to turn it into something positive, amid negative publicity in the current political climate.
Friday 16 April 2004
Fernandes Guitars have updated and re-designed their website. It's now all Flash driven which is ghastly. Is anyone seriously impressed by Flash websites anymore? They are just so slow. But more to the point, it looks like they have discontinued some of their guitars, such as the Native series. I was seriously considering buying a Native Pro or Elite at one point. I even enquired if they were going to make a production model of the mirror-fronted Native Elite as used by Daniel Ash. (They said "No". Boo! Hiss!)
Thursday 15 April 2004
Happy 60th birthday to Dave Edmunds, one of the rockingest guitarists to have come out of Wales!
I can't find an official website foir him, but here is a fansite:
Dave Edmunds Rockpile Love Sculpture
Manson's First Band Exhumed: Guitarist Scott Putesky (a.k.a. Daisy Berkowitz) has assembled ten Spooky Kids songs for the group's first official release, Lunch Boxes and Choklit Cows, due next week.
Dan Armstrong's Orange Squeezer Updated: Vintage Tone Project is working with Dan Armstrong to produce a new line of pedals, kicking things off with the Orange Crusher, and updated version of the classic Orange Squeezer compressor. See also: Pulp Diction
Wednesday 14 April 2004
London Guitar Show 2004: I don't know if it's going to be safe for me to go this year. I went to last year's and ended up spending far too much money, especially seeing as I only went in order to write a report for this blog.
Tuesday 13 April 2004
Buddy Holly's Guitarist Dies: Guitarist Niki Sullivan, who played rhythm guitar and sang background vocals in Buddy Holly's Crickets, died on April 6th; he was sixty-six.
Tuesday 6 April 2004
Monday 5 April 2004
Ashdown Launch New Bass Amps: New from British manufacturer Ashdown is the AL-ADRP1, a sophisticated bass preamplifier developed for use in professional recording applications, and in conjunction with the AL-1500D DSP power amplifier in a high-power, rack-based backline bass rig.
Zombies guitarist dead at 58: Paul Atkinson, an original guitarist for 60's Brit band The Zombies, has died from cancer.
The King's guitar comes home: The latest attraction in the Rock 'n Soul Museum, Memphis, is the Tsana guitar Elvis played while stationed in Germany.
Build Your Own Guitar in Software: Line 6 release new customising software for their Variax modelling guitar.
Friday 2 April 2004
Ozzy confirms possible Black Sabbath reunion, although he wouldn't confirm or deny the rumour that ex-Sabbath bassplayer Geezer Butler was once again part of his backing band, explaining he didn't want to be shouted at by wife and manager Sharon.
Former Led Zeppelin bassist to receive achievement award: John Paul Jones will be receiving an award for his achievements in music at the Frankfurt Musikmesse.
Avril's guitarist quits her band: another departure! Jesse Colburn, Avril Lavigne's rhythm guitarist and ex-boyfriend, has left her band after two years to pursue other interests. I can't say I blame him; it must be a real drag playing that lifeless dirge.
Marilyn Manson Loses Guitarist: John 5 has taken his Telecasters and gone. I wonder if he'll return to his beloved country music?
Thursday 1 April 2004
Guitar Rig Virtual Guitar Studio: Native Instruments introduces Guitar Rig at Musikmesse. Looks bloody complicated to me.