Archive for February, 2011

PRESS RELEASE

Award-winning blues rock star, guitar hero and singer-songwriter Joe Bonamassa and his ace touring band will undertake a UK tour in October 2011 to promote his 9th studio album Dust Bowl.  The album will be released in the UK by Provogue Records on Monday 21st March 2011.

Tickets for Bonamassa’s “Dust Bowl” UK tour will go on sale to the general public at 9am on Wednesday March 2nd from 0871 230 1101, www.seetickets.com and www.thegigcartel.com.  Fans who can’t wait for the general on-sale date, can take advantage of Planet Rock radio’s 48-hour pre-sale, which starts at 9am on Monday February 28th on www.planetrock.com.

UK tour dates include – Blackpool Opera House (Saturday 15th October), Capital FM Arena, Nottingham (Sunday 16th October), Cardiff International Arena (Tuesday 18th October), Plymouth Pavilions (Wednesday 19th October), HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London (Friday 21st October) and HMV Hammersmith Apollo, London (Saturday 22nd October).

LINK: RollingStone.com

This is The Last Salmon Man from the Brisbane stop of the Soundwave festival. If you’re going to the Melbourne Soundwave, I’ll see ya there!

Read my interview with Primus’s Les Claypool here.

Here’s the first in an occasional series that both celebrates and ridicules my love of metal. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy… Erasing The Goblin.

Why is the goblin in a rocking chair? What kind of dick impales a goblin while they’re sitting down? Who’s going to dust the Wall of Misery behind old greenyskin there now? And what’s Chris Jericho doing wearing a corset?

The Maton JB-4 (or Jumbuck) was perhaps one of the coolest Australian musical instruments ever created – and we’re talking about the country that also gave the world the Cole Clark Mistress and the Belman Albatross. This four-string beast originated in the mid 70s found its genesis in the earlier Wildcat Bass. It offered a unique-to-Maton body outline, a cool headstock shape, great upper fret access, and the option of fretted or fretless fingerboards. Early models had a huge humbucker mounted in the middle along with a bridge-butting single coil. (The Jumbuck was also available in a guitar version which for a while found its way into the hands of one Carlos Santana) The Jumbuck bass was a big hit, remaining highly sought after. It’s no surprise that Maton have now decided to bring the venerable old bass back.

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The Ibanez Darkstone is a slightly unusual foray for Ibanez. The company has never been afraid to take chances, of course – after all, they did build the first production 7-string guitar – but the new Darkstone line takes a lot more of these chances than even the legendary Universe. The line is pitched at the metal market, a notoriously difficult egg to crack if you want to try something different. Does the gamble pay off? Let’s see.

The first interesting quirk of the Darkstone is that it’s built from Sapele, a wood which is tonally reminiscent of mahogany but is more commonly found in acoustic guitars. Both the body and the set-in neck are built from Sapele. The scale length is 24.75″ (ie: Les Paul-ish rather than the Strat-like 25.5″ of an RG), and the neck feels surprisingly beefy for a D-shaped profile. The frets are medium, but the slightly curvy 305mm (12″) radius and the pearloid binding (just like the binding on my beloved Ibanez UV777BK) makes the frets feel a little bigger. By the way, I reviewed the black model, but it’s also available in white. Get both and alternate them each night the way Jimmy Page alternated his black and white stage suits.

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This from Blabbermouth.net:

Ronnie James Dio’s widow and manager Wendy has revealed to AOL’s Noisecreep that Rob Halford (JUDAS PRIEST), Glenn Hughes (DEEP PURPLE, BLACK SABBATH, BLACK COUNTRY COMMUNION), Dave Grohl (FOO FIGHTERS, NIRVANA), Lemmy Kimister (MOTÖRHEAD), Alice Cooper, Sebastian Bach (SKID ROW) and Chris Jericho (FOZZY) are among the artists who will appear on a forthcoming tribute album to Ronnie. Grohl will do the BLACK SABBATH hit “Mob Rules” and Halford will take on “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll”. Cooper already has a song in mind, going back to the ELF days, according to Wendy.

Cool. They should bring Jorn Lande in to do something too. He kicked ass when he played with Heaven & Hell last year.

And of course he has an entire Dio tribute album already.

The Sanyo Pedal Juice is one of the coolest little gadgets to come out in the last few years. It’s a rechargeable battery designed to power from one to a whole bunch of pedals (if you use a daisy chain), saving you from having to buy a whole bunch of batteries and lessening the number of batteries being chucked out and turfed into landfill. A single charge lasts for a very, very long time – I have one that I use every few weeks and I literally haven’t had to charge it since September.

Well now thanks to Sanyo you can win a Pedal Juice of your very own. All you have to do is ‘Like’ the I Heart Guitar Facebook page and reply to the post you’ll find right here about the contest. You’ll have to answer a question, but you’ll see what it is when you get there.

The winner will be picked at random via random.org on March 1, 2011. You won’t have to provide your address until you win.

For more information on SANYO, visit http://us.SANYO.com.

 

Hurtsmile, the new band featuring Extreme’s Gary Cherone, has just released the first video from their self-titled debut album. The song is called Just War Theory. The whole album’s pretty cool, and Extreme fans will dig the III Sides To Every Story-style vocal production.

Check out Mitch Lafon’s interview with Gary about Hurtsmile here.

PRESS RELEASE

HURTSMILE is the new band featuring singer Gary Cherone (Extreme, Van Halen) who has teamed up with his brother Mark to write his most succinct record to date. The self-titled,HURTSMILE is a raw sonic sucker punch in the face! From the opening buzz saw riff of “Just War Theory” to the epic finale of ”Slave” and “Beyond The Garden/Kicking Against the Goads”, Gary continues to push and poke you in the ear with his lyrically provocative themes.

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Does the name Fujigen ring a bell? They’re the company who have made many incredible instruments for Ibanez and Fender. They’re now releasing guitars under their own name too and they look amazing. They’ve just updated the site where you can see these sweet axes.

LINK: FGNGuitars.com