General Interest

While the death of legendary Rush drummer Neil Peart was felt by the entire rock community, Geddy Lee has recently revealed that certain musicians were very quick to wrap up their mourning in the search of a potential job opportunity.

• READ MORE: “One of the most difficult things I’ve ever done in my life”: Alex Lifeson on auctioning off his prized guitars, the end of Rush, and his new band

Indeed, in a period where you might be expecting compassionate well-wishes for the loss of a dear friend, Lee has reflected on the insensitive drummers who wasted no time offering up their services to replace Peart in the band back in 2020.

While promoting his new memoir, My Effin’ Life, on Apple Music’s Strombo’s Lit, the Rush frontman opened up about the experience: “Oh, yeah, I heard from all kinds [of people]… That was a very weird moment. My little black book got filled up really quickly.”

“I was, like, ‘Whoa, that’s just so inappropriate right now,'” Lee continued. “Dude, wait two months. At least two months, if ever.’ It still happens, now that the clickbait freaks are out there talking about Alex [Lifeson] and I getting a new drummer and starting Rush again.”

Speaking to The Washington Post last year, Lee explained that, following the Taylor Hawkins’ tribute shows in September 2022, he’d consider working with Lifeson again under the Rush name – a decision spurred on by Sir Paul McCartney, who praised Lee and Lifeson’s performance and said they should head back out on the road.

“It had been a taboo subject, and playing those songs again with a third person was the elephant in the room, and that kind of disappeared,” Lee explained. “It was nice to know that if we decide to go out, Alex and I, whether we went out as part of a new thing, or whether we just wanted to go out and play Rush as Rush, we could do that now.”

Whether Lee and Lifeson decide to revive Rush, or to head out on the road as a new project, one thing is for sure – those drummers that tried to presumptuously offered to sit on Peart’s drumstool back in 2020 are probably not at the top of the list.

The post Geddy Lee was inundated with messages from drummers offering to join Rush in the wake of Neil Peart’s death, “just so inappropriate” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

British folk legend Martin Carthy has opened up about his infamous feud with Paul Simon over the latter’s adaptation of his arrangement of the traditional ballad Scarborough Fair.

• READ MORE: Bruce Kulick: Kiss “didn’t even mention any of the important people in their career” at final show

Recalling his grudge with one half of the Simon and Garfunkel duo in a recent chat with Uncut, Carthy admits that the charge of plagiarism decades ago was a mistake on his part, saying “First of all I told myself jokingly, ‘Cheeky sod, who’s he think he is, singing a traditional song…’ But I allowed myself to be sucked into that piece of nonsense [about him having stolen the arrangement].”

“I was really taken in [by people in the industry],” says the musician. “What a fool I was, eventually allowing the music industry to get control of Scarborough Fair, and me signing the ownership of it over to them.”

“It’s a fucking folk song, everybody owns it, and that includes Paul Simon. It’s mine, but it’s also yours.”

With the hatchet now buried, Carthy also shares that he’s been in touch with Simon of late, adding, “He was very helpful to us during the pandemic.”

“He contacted me. He’s a good man. He was on a tour in the late ‘90s where he was trying to repair some of the damage he felt he’d caused internationally — he said, ‘Were you mad at me?’ I said, ‘Yes, I was, once, but I got fed up with being mad at you.’”

“Because it wasn’t true, he didn’t rip me off, the arrangement he had was a tribute, it wasn’t the same as what I played, and what a lovely compliment to pay. In those three years in the early ‘60s I don’t think I spoke more than a dozen words to him — he was full of companionable silences, he’d just sit down and enjoy the company, then, ‘Gotta go now, bye, nice to see you.’ It was nothing awkward, he was just a nice bloke.”

Carthy continues: “I sang Scarborough Fair with him at the Hammersmith Apollo and it was bloomin’ lovely. I’d been unable to sing the song properly because there was too much baggage, but I sang it with Paul and it was truly great. I laid the ghost to rest with the help of Paul. But I was never able to sing it again after that.”

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Following the release of the first single from their much-hyped collaborative project, Liam Gallagher has shared details of the forthcoming album he’s been working on with The Stone Roses guitarist John Squire.

• READ MORE: Bonehead says Liam Gallagher’s upcoming album with John Squire is “very good”

The former Oasis frontman has revealed that the Mancunian icons have come together to work on a 10-track album, the first single from which, Just Another Rainbow, was launched on Friday. The new song is a treat for Britpop aficionados, bringing together two of the genre’s most recognisable sounds – Gallagher’s voice and Squire’s guitar – in suitably psychedelic style.

Now, in a new interview in the February 2024 edition of Uncut, Gallagher reveals that the idea of a collaborative album was posed to him by Squire when the guitarist guested on Champagne Supernova at Gallagher’s June 2022 blowout Knebworth shows.

“John was like, ‘I’ve been writing some tunes… you up for singing em?’” Gallagher recalls. “Yeah, fuckin’ too right. John sent us three songs and they were mega. Then there’s another three, and another three…”

“Everyone always bangs on about [Squire] as a guitarist, but he’s a top songwriter too, man, no two ways about it. As far as I’m concerned, there’s not enough of his music out there,” Gallagher adds.

Squire has a slightly different take on how the partnership came about, telling Uncut, “My manager called me in for a catch-up and I mentioned I was playing again. He said, ‘Fancy working with a female vocalist this time?’ So he went away and came back with Liam! I had a hunch that we’d sound good together but I wasn’t prepared for it to be such a good fit, sonically.”

The tracks for the album were eventually recorded at Squire’s studio in Macclesfield, before working with Los Angeles producer Greg Kurstin. Kurstin also features as the bassist on the album, alongside Beck’s Joey Waronker making an appearance on drums.

As the single suggests, the duo’s release is set to be killer in the guitar department. “There is loads of guitars in it, and it’s fucking perfect,” Gallagher enthused to Uncut. “But I think even when you take all the fucking guitars off, you can play the songs all acoustic and they’ll all still blow your mind. Which is important, innit?”

If the record goes down well, it’s set to be Gallagher’s sixth number one in his career since Oasis – his latest being the Knebworth 22 last year. And we’re sure the UK will be enamoured with the formidable Mancunian’s indie powerforce. But for now – as you were.

The post “There’s loads of fucking guitars in it and it’s fucking perfect” Liam Gallagher on his new album with John Squire appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s never too late to dip your toes into new guitar territory, as 78-year-old Pete Townshend could probably attest to with his recent Jackson purchase.

• READ MORE: Pete Townshend says “all guitarists of today are intimidated” by Instagram shredders

Speaking in a new interview with Guitarist, the guitar-smashing showman of The Who says that he’s still very much ‘learning and having fun with guitars’ despite being in the game for more than five decades.

Of his latest six-string discovery, Townshend admits: “The other day, I thought, ‘It’s time for me to try a Charvel, or one of these sort of heavy metal guitars.”

“I’ve stuck with Eric Clapton-style Strats for such a long time now, though I do pick up Les Pauls and SGs and I love them, but they don’t allow me enough scope and change on stage. So I’ve always thought, ‘If I buy a Charvel or a PRS or any of those super-fast new jazz guitars, I’m going to have one sound and it’s going to be finger memory.’”

“But the other day, I thought, ‘Fuck it. I’ll try one out,” says the rocker, who eventually decided on a brand-new Jackson.

“I didn’t know that they were owned by Charvel and that Charvel are now owned by Fender, but I bought a Jackson. I got it out of the box and it’s got very light strings on and a notch where the strings are locked down, and it’s got the strings locked at the other end, too, and you tune them with little buttons. And so, the whammy bar is extraordinary!”

“I was playing faster. No question,” Townshend adds. “I was playing at three times the speed that I normally play at. And when I did fingering, drumming, it didn’t stop. It didn’t go thunk; it went ding. Because these guitars are built for a particular kind of thing.”

“So I’m still learning and I’m still having fun with guitars.”

The post “I was playing at three times the speed that I normally play at” Pete Townshend says he bought his first Jackson at the age of 78 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Are you a guitar player? Can you jam to Bullet With Butterfly Wings perfectly in your sleep? Does performing on stage alongside Billy Corgan, James Iha, and Jimmy Chamberlin sound exactly like the kind of thing you’ve been waiting for your whole life? For those who’ve answered yes, the chance has come for you to join and tour with one of the biggest rock bands in the world.

• READ MORE: Chibson celebrates Mickey Mouse’s expired copyright with this ‘Cease And Desist’ Mouse Pedal

Yes, you read that right. The Smashing Pumpkins have officially put out a call for a new guitarist. Sharing the message on their social media accounts, the band says that the application process for an “additional guitarist” is “open to anyone who might be interested.”

“Applicants may submit a resume and related material to SPGuitar@redlightmanagement.com.”

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The call follows the recent departure of former member Jeff Schroeder, who announced his exit last October after 16 years with the alt-rock titans.

“It’s easy to say now that when I joined The Smashing Pumpkins in 2007 I had no idea what I was getting into,” Schroeder told fans in a statement.

“The amount of incredible memories created over the last 16 years with the band are almost too numerous to quantify. Although it was a very difficult decision to make, I’ve decided to leave the band to make some space to explore a slightly different path.”

Of Schroeder’s departure, Billy Corgan, Jimmy Chamberlin, and James Iha wrote in a joint statement: “We thank Jeff for his ceaseless dedication to the band and our great fans. Words can not express our gratitude and appreciation for the friend he is, and being there for SP in the good times and the tough times, too.”

The post Smashing Pumpkins issue open call for new guitarist after Jeff Schroeder exit appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Ex-Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick has spoken about his absence at the band’s final concert, and the members’ lack of tribute to “other important people” in Kiss history during the event.

• READ MORE: Rage Against The Machine “will not be touring or playing live again”, says drummer Brad Wilk

In a recent chat with Ultimate Classic Rock, Kulick confirms that he was neither invited nor asked to be at Kiss’s final-ever show at Madison Square Garden last month.

“For me, the final show, the fans really have spoken. I really think a lot of them were disappointed leaving the show,” says the rocker, who was with the band for 12 years (1984–1996).

“I know that some of them knew that probably Ace [Frehley], Peter [Criss] or maybe even me wouldn’t be there. But they never said anyone’s names,” he adds.

“They didn’t even mention all of the other important people in their career like Bill Aucoin or even Doc McGhee or other important [figures] that are part of Kisstory — the people that helped the band be so successful.”

“I’m not going to crash the party and go when I wasn’t invited. It was certainly their night. I really celebrated their last night with my post on social media, congratulating them on their final show. You know, it’s their night to do what they wanted.”

As for the controversial Kiss avatars — the members announced at MSG their plans to rock on “eternally” as digital versions of themselves — Kulick says that he wasn’t aware of them and “neither were the fans”.

“I really think what the focus turned into for them was the future,” says the musician. “If the future, to them, is that they live on with the avatars, then maybe for them, that night, Kisstory didn’t mean that much. I think it was a big mistake because you can have both.”

“You don’t have to not mention all of the other people. I know I’m in the tour book that they were selling, but it was really, really odd to me — and the fans all expressed it to me — for them not to make a mention of anyone on stage. I love video montages and I’ve seen Paul McCartney enough times and how he celebrates the Beatles and he shows those videos before he starts the show. You know, it just makes everybody feel connected more.”

The post Bruce Kulick: Kiss “didn’t even mention any of the important people in their career” at final show appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s hard to imagine one of Disney’s most iconic characters roaming free in the United States public domain one day, but such is the fate of Mickey Mouse — or at least the version of the character from the 1928 short film Steamboat Willie — as of 1 January 2024.

Like the rest of the world, esteemed maker of all things guitar, Chibson, is celebrating the momentous occasion with the unveiling of a new Rat—sorry, Mouse Pedal featuring the character.

• READ MORE: Greta Van Fleet’s Jake Kiszka says he uses classical music to prevent his playing from becoming derivative

Those aware of Disney’s dedication to safeguarding Intellectual Property laws should note that the Mouse Pedal is, in Chibson’s words, “one hundred percent unlicensed”, featuring three knobs lovingly named Cease, And, Desist.

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Aside from the Mouse Pedal, Chibson has also released a short documentary on their YouTube channel which tells the story of how cartoonist Dan O’Neill and his team of underground artists “The Air Pirates” took on the brass at Disney in a notorious decade-long legal battle over copyright infringement and freedom of speech.

Check out the 18-minute film Dan O’Neill and the Air Pirates below.

The post Chibson celebrates Mickey Mouse’s expired copyright with this ‘Cease And Desist’ Mouse Pedal appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$148/£143, walrusaudio.com

Tuners man, is there anything less sexy than a tuner? A DI box maybe, or an AB-Y switch? Other than that though, man, is it hard to get excited about a friggin’ new tuner. Which makes the hubbub surrounding Walrus Audio’s first ever tuner over the last few months all the more remarkable.

• READ MORE: UAFX Lion Review: UA’s most raucous amp pedal yet delivers the goods

The Tuner is the latest addition to Walrus’ Canvas range of utility products that are united by two things – a fetching 70s-vibed rainbow-stripe colour scheme and the fact that people seem to get more excited about them than they would about similar units from less overtly ‘cool’ manufacturers.

Is the Walrus Canvas Tuner accurate?

Because ostensibly the core functionality is not a million miles away from what you would expect on any other modern tuner – +/-0.1 cent accuracy, strobe and needle modes, presets for alternate tunings, adjustable brightness, 20Hz to 20KHz frequency range and the option of true or buffered bypass… all for just a little more cash than most of its competitors from TC Electronic, Peterson, Boss and the like.

That might sound like I’m being negative about the Canvas Tuner from the start, dismissing the hype around them as merely the result of good PR and good marketing – but I’m not. The fact that people have got excited about the Canvas Tuner isn’t just good marketing – it’s about giving people the chance to make the thing their own.

What makes the Canvas Tuner unique?

Customisation is at the core of the Canvas Tuner, and if you’ve seen anyone posting about it online yet, you’ll already know about the biggest and most attention-grabbing part of it – the ability to upload an image of your choice to sit in the pedal’s full-colour LCD display in bypass mode.

A quick scroll through Instagram and you’ll see people using it to display pictures of their kids, their pets, their setlists, memes, words of affirmation… the only limit, it seems, is your imagination. It’s also a very simple process — plug your pedal into a laptop, visit the walrusaudio.io site on your web browser and upload your chosen image — et voila.

Is this just a silly gimmick? Of course! But it’s also one that is undeniably charming, and I would certainly find it hard-pressed to go back to not seeing the cat from the Woman Shouting At Cat Meme every time I look down at my board.

And in truth, this is just the most showy (and superfluous) part of the customisation options — the Canvas Tuner also lets you pick from eight colour themes and four different screen orientations, meaning you really can tailor the look and position of this pedal to fit perfectly into your board’s aesthetic and layout.

Walrus Canvas Tuner drawbacks?

There are a couple of flies in this otherwise very appealing package however, not least the price. At just shy of $150 it’s a fair whack more expensive than a PolyTune, TU-2 or PitchBlack, and a dollar less than a StroboStomp HD. That might not bear mentioning if it was everything its rivals were and more, but that’s not the case.

Unlike several of its competitors, there’s no option to use the Canvas Tuner to power any other pedals, as the StroboStomp and venerable TU-2 have done for years – a fact that’s made all the more galling by the fact that the Canvas is thirsty. Walrus’ recommended power requirement is a whopping ​​300mA – that’s the same as a Strymon BigSky! Given that most tuners require less than a third of that – a PolyTune Mini is 100mA, a TU-2 is 55mA and a StroboStomp is around 85mA – this is worth bearing in mind if you’re putting together a board where power is at a premium.

Also, while the top-mounted jacks are useful for saving space around your pedal, the side-mounted power socket and buttons to change any of the parameters negate this somewhat, because they’re placed exactly where the jacks would be on another pedal. It’s a minor issue admittedly, but I instantly discovered that the side-mounted jack of my fuzz pedal meant that i had to lift the Canvas Tuner off my board if I wanted to change any of the tuner’s parameters – in practice I’ve not needed it much, but if you use a load of different tunings this could be a royal pain in the ass.

Is the Canvas Tuner worth it?

Ultimately though, the above drawbacks are sensible concerns for sensible people – and ultimately if you just want to buy a tuner for its sheer utility and usefulness, you probably wouldn’t be buying the Canvas Tuner anyway. There are tuners that will tune more accurately, offer more useful features, take up less space and drink less power out there for significantly less money.

But we’re far past that now, aren’t we? In a world where guitarists genuinely care about the aesthetics of the cable routing underneath their boards, the idea that pedals are simply utilitarian boxes there to fulfil their stated function in the most efficient way possible is laughable.

Pedals are fun – and so is the Canvas Tuner. That’s its USP, and while it might seem frivolous or pointless to some people, to the rest of us that’s the magic of it all. No other tuner can make you smile, and that isn’t nothing.

Walrus Audio Canvas Tuner alternatives

• Ernie Ball VPJR Tuner ($219)
• Boss TU-3W ($169)
• Peterson StroboStomp HD ($149)

The post Walrus Audio Canvas Tuner review: it might not be the tuner you need, but it’s the tuner you want appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.