Norse Guitar Feeds

By Carlos Martin Schwab

If we divide a semitone into 100 cents, the average human ear can hardly perceive variations of less than 5 cents in a musical context. A standard pedal tuner (such as the BOSS TU-3) has an accuracy of ±1 cent. A strobe tuner has an accuracy of 0.1 cents. Let’s take a closer look at this.

The fundamental difference between a strobe tuner and a conventional tuner lies in the nature of their measurements. While a standard tuner (needle or LED) averages the note’s frequency and displays a visual approximation with an accuracy of 1 or 2 cents, the strobe tuner operates in real time without processing latency.

Instead of interpreting the signal, a strobe model allows the input signal to interact directly with a light or wheel pattern, revealing minute harmonic discrepancies with an accuracy of up to 0.1 cents.

For a musician, this means that the conventional tuner is useful for quick adjustments during live performances, but it may overlook slight detunings that affect intonation. In contrast, the strobe tuner is indispensable for octaving instruments and professional recordings, as its display only stops when the frequency is mathematically exact, offering a level of sound fidelity that a standard digital sensor simply cannot achieve.

These tuners are extremely precise—so much so that they are used more for adjusting the technical intonation of the guitar than for a quick tune-up between songs.

Peterson StroboStomp HD

This strobe tuner is widely regarded as the gold standard in the world of tuning, offering unmatched accuracy of 0.1 cents. This pedal is not just an accessory, but a professional-grade tool that ensures every note is mathematically perfect, thanks to its true strobe technology in a compact and extremely durable pedal format.

Key Features

Configurable High-Definition Color LCD Screen: Features a large screen with customizable LED backlighting, making it easy to view in any lighting environment. The user-selectable colors can be used to personalize the tuner or to improve display visibility in varying ambient lighting conditions, depending on the usage environment. The vibrant screen colors can also be assigned to stock or user presets to significantly reduce menu navigation time and increase on-stage tuning confidence during a gig.

“Sweetened” Tunings: Includes 135 exclusive presets that optimize tuning intervals for specific instruments (guitars, basses, banjos, and even wind instruments). Its low-frequency note detection algorithm (such as for 5-string basses) is the most stable in the industry.

Signal Management: The integrity of your signal is vital, especially if you have many pedals. This tuner offers 3 pop-free operating modes: True Bypass, Buffered output (to maintain tone integrity over long cables), and a Monitor mode (tuning always visible) by setting the mode switch located in the battery compartment.

Power: 9V battery or DC jack. It can power other 9V pedals on your board via the power-through jack.

Professional users unanimously praise its ease of use, noting that the stroboscopic wheel is much more intuitive for fine-tuning than traditional needle meters. They also highlight its versatility, as it allows for firmware updates and the loading of sweetened tunings via USB. Although it requires a brief learning curve, it is the ultimate pedal for those seeking maximum harmonic fidelity both in the studio and on international tours.

Fender Strobo Sonic Pro

This is a high-end strobe tuner that redefines precision on stage. Sharing many features with its predecessor, this device stands out for its impressive accuracy of 0.1 cents, positioning itself as one of the most reliable tools on the market for ensuring perfect intonation, even in demanding studio setups.

Key Features

Its rugged aluminum design houses a 2.3-inch LED display with automatic brightness adjustment, ensuring full visibility in both dark stages and broad daylight. It offers two display modes: strobe (for maximum precision) and needle (for quick visual reference). A significant technical advantage is its bypass versatility, allowing you to choose between True Bypass, Buffered Bypass, or an always-on monitoring mode. Additionally, it features space-saving top-mounted connectors and power via 9V or USB-C.

Professional users praise its response speed, which eliminates the annoying lag found in other digital tuners. It does not have sweetened tunings, but it does allow you to calibrate the reference pitch between 430 Hz and 450 Hz. Reviewers agree that it is a direct competitor to the industry standard (Peterson), surpassing it for many in terms of ergonomics and ease of use. Its high-definition color LCD screen, which is its most useful feature, is extremely smooth and offers different display modes (including one that mimics an oscilloscope). It is, arguably, the most beautiful tuner display on the market.

More info: www.petersontuners.com and www.fender.com

Carlos Martin Schwab would like to thank Bob Potsic (Peterson) and Gabriel Madera (Fender) for their help in writing this article.

Adrian Belew has looked back on the leadership of Robert Fripp after King Crimson was reignited in 1981 with new members, after seven years of lying dormant.

The original Crimson lineup disbanded after the release of 1974’s misunderstood record, Red. The new iteration consisted of Fripp, Belew, Bill Bruford, and Tony Levin, and was originally going to be called Discipline. It was Belew who suggested they go out under the Crimson name, and Discipline ultimately became the name of their comeback LP.

• READ MORE: “They’re booby-trapped!” Steve Vai recalls the difficulty he faced learning Robert Fripp’s guitar parts for BEAT

Speaking to MOJO, Belew explains, “I think I just wanted to tell people I was in King Crimson! Robert had already said our music had the spirit of Crimson, different as it was. So he went for it and that upped the stakes immensely – especially for him.

“Every decision went through Robert,” he adds. “If something wasn’t up to snuff he’d tell you. But he also gave me great latitude as a songwriter. Some of my own stuff had been a bit whimsical or personal, but I knew Crimson had to be less specific, more abstract.”

He goes on to explain: “I didn’t want to embarrass myself with these three highly intelligent guys. The only fairly straight-ahead love song was Matte Kudasai, which evolved out of this beautiful guitar instrumental Robert presented to me. That was when I thought, OK, I can write to this crazy music.”

Fripp has since reflected on the rocky release of Red. In a Guitar World interview released earlier this year, he said, “I would’ve stayed as an estate agent in Wimborne, Dorset, if I had known the grief that was coming my way. I would have stayed in real estate!

“My approach has been, if you read your press, you read all of it. And if you read all my press, there have been – by and large – as many people who hated it as who enjoyed it.”

Adrian Belew is now touring with the BEAT band, which plays ’80s King Crimson music and is composed of Steve Vai, Tony Levin, and Danny Carey. View their upcoming tour dates via the BEAT website.

The post “Every decision went through Robert. If something wasn’t up to snuff he’d tell you”: Adrian Belew on Robert Fripp’s leadership of King Crimson appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Wintergrass is one of the greatest bluegrass festivals on Earth. It also happens to be in our PNW backyard.

In what has become an annual Wintergrass tradition, the Fretboard Journal hosts a workshop where we gather as many rare and vintage instruments as we can, put them onstage, and have a few great players showcase their magic. No two workshops have ever been the same, and without fail, we always learn something and hear some great music.

This year’s session featured John Reischman and Caleb Klauder on mandolins and Patrick Sauber and Nina Gerber on guitars.

Huge thanks to Mark Demaray for emceeing and the Fretboard Journal readers and the Wintergrass community who let us borrow their instruments. Special thanks to Ear Trumpet for the microphones and D’Addario for all the strings.

Learn more about Wintergrass: https://wintergrass.com

We’ll be diving deeper into vintage acoustics at our 2026 Fretboard Summit in Chicago, taking place August 20-22, 2026. Register here: https://fretboardsummit.org

The post Watch: The Fretboard Journal’s Wintergrass 2026 Vintage Instrument Workshop first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

Steve Vai has revealed that Eddie Van Halen once played him a number of tapes containing unheard material at his own home, and that what he heard was “such great stuff”.

The news arrives amid reports that Eddie’s brother Alex Van Halen is compiling an album of unheard Van Halen material with the help of friend Steve Lukather. It’s not yet clear what Lukather’s involvement consists of though, as he has already said he would never play guitar on the record.

• READ MORE: “He doesn’t want to be Ed Jr”: Why Alex Van Halen is “proud” that Wolfgang Van Halen doesn’t play his father’s music
  

In a new interview with Guitar Player, Vai recalls: “I was up at Edward’s house once, in his studio. He had a room filled with tapes, and he was pulling them out, and we were listening. He would just sit, record, and play.

“I’ll tell you, nobody plays like they do when they’re sitting in their room alone,” he adds. “It was a whole library of tapes, and it was such great stuff.”

Vai also says that he asked Eddie if he’d consider turning these ideas into a solo album, but that his response was “he always felt that Van Halen was his solo records”. On the topic of the new record, Vai also said that Lukather is “the best guy to help” as he was so close with Eddie.

Alex has confirmed in an interview that the record will feature reworked versions of songs that he and Eddie never finished, rather than material in its “embryonic form”. Following reports that Alex was on the look out for a singer, former VH bassist Michael Anthony said they should go forwards without one and keep it purely instrumental.

In an interview with Matt Spatz of WNCX, he said, “The way I personally feel about it is, if they wanted to do it justice, [the best idea would be] to just finish it up as a great instrumental nod to Eddie.

“You know, because getting a new singer in there, we’re not forming a new band, and then you’ve got to work on lyrics and all that stuff. And who knows when anything would be put out at that point.”

The post Steve Vai recalls hearing unreleased material at Eddie Van Halen’s house: “Nobody plays like they do when they’re in their room alone… It was such great stuff” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Marshall is marking 60 years since Jimi Hendrix first played through one of its amplifiers by launching a unique gear drop featuring three cosmic-inspired items.

The drop includes a reskinned Acton III Bluetooth speaker, a 1959 JMH Half Stack, and a limited-edition Fuzz Face pedal, with each inspired by Hendrix’s sound, style and love of science fiction. The brand also hints that more Marshall x Hendrix surprises could be launching later this year.

• READ MORE: Ronnie Wood remembers living with “sweet man” Jimi Hendrix: “He’d just sit back and play right-handed or left-handed – that blew my mind”

The limited-edition Acton III’s design is influenced by Hendrix’s love of velvet, silver jewellery and his fascination with space. It’s coated in crushed velvet and has a silver control panel featuring purple knobs and purple LED lights. The all-seeing eye is stamped in silver onto the side of Acton III, “symbolising both clarity and vision”.

Taken from a selection of Hendrix recordings, including a rare instrumental version of Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) from The Jimi Hendrix Experience deluxe box set, a new on-off sound also pays homage to the guitar legend.

As for the 1959 JMH Half Stack, these are made by hand in the Bletchley Marshall factory in the UK. A 1960 AJMH 4×12 Handwired Angled Cabinet combines with a 1959 Handwired Head to form Hendrix’s signature set-up.

It hosts a black and purple cosmic swirl across the fret and control panel and a purple LED indicator. Silver detailing inspired by Hendrix’s jewellery also features throughout, including on the knobs, handle, logo, grill and back panel. The all-seeing eye badge sits on the top and bottom of the stack.

Dunlop’s limited-edition Fuzz Face Distortion pedal features the same unique oil-on-water design, and is available exclusively with the stack.

“Jimi was a formidable musician, a real force of nature. He took everything to a new level and carried everybody with him. When he played, it was an emotional time for everybody because everyone was thinking, if he can do it, I could maybe do it. And he’s using Marshall, therefore we want Marshall. It was a really special time for us all and there’s no doubt that we grew with him and his fame, it was a natural tie-up. The rest is history as they say,” states Terry Marshall, co-founder of Marshall Amplification.

“From his fashion to his lyrics and of course, his music, there are so many different stories we could tell when it comes to Hendrix,” adds Emma Rydahl, Senior Industrial Designer at Marshall Group. “We started with materials and pattern exploration, looking at different fabrics and running test prints with a psychedelic track in mind. We spent a lot of time adjusting the final design to get it just right across the whole collection.”

Find out more or buy now via Marshall. The collection will also be available from select retailers from 14 May. 

The post It’s been 60 years since Jimi Hendrix first used a Marshall – now the company is celebrating with an array of cosmic-inspired guitar gear appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

In 1976, Miami’s Criteria Studios became a hotbed for massive rock albums, when both Black Sabbath and the Eagles converged on the facility to record their respective albums, Technical Ecstasy and Hotel California.

As the story goes, Black Sabbath caused considerable issues for the Eagles, mostly due to excessive noise, which would bleed through the walls and force the band to halt recording and wait for windows of quiet.

• READ MORE: “I like him, but he’s a bit pushy”: What Paul McCartney really thought of Andrew Watt during their early sessions together

But the Eagles themselves weren’t exactly squeaky-clean in terms of their professionalism, as hard drugs formed a large part of the day to day while recording Hotel California, an album now cemented as one of the greatest of all time.

Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler even once claimed [via MOJO in a new feature] that they once entered the control room the Eagles had vacated to find one of the faders “so clogged with cocaine it wouldn’t move”.

Indeed, one of the biggest songs on Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane, was heavily inspired by the band’s drug use, with one lyric reading: “There were lines on the mirror, lines on her face.”

“Life in the Fast Lane turned into a celebration of what we were trying to warn people about,” says Eagles founding member Don Henley.

“I could hardly listen to that song when we were recording it, because I was getting high a lot of the time, and the song made me ill.”

Excess was a common thread for the Eagles in the ‘70s, and Don Henley recalled in a recent interview with Guitar World their habit of getting banned from their favourite hotels.

“Keith Moon [The Who drummer] and Joe [Walsh] were good buddies, and that, of course, led to some mischief,” he said.

“It was amusing for a little while, but it eventually became a very expensive hobby, and we were beginning to get barred from some of the hotels we liked to stay in. So after a while, the chainsaws got locked away in storage and other kinds of dramas replaced the ‘remodelling’ of rooms and hallways… But, at least Joe got a hit song out of it! [1978’s Life’s Been Good].”

The post The time Black Sabbath recorded in the same room as the Eagles and found one of the consoles faders “so clogged with cocaine it wouldn’t move” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The first-ever official Beatles fan experience is due to open in 2027 at 3 Savile Row in Mayfair, London, where the Fab Four played their final gig.

3 Savile Row is a Grade II listed mansion, and was one of the original headquarters for Apple Corps Ltd, the band’s multimedia company. They recorded their final album, Let It Be, in its basement, and played their last gig on its rooftop in 1969.

• READ MORE: “It’s alright, I’ve got another one”: Wings engineer remembers Paul McCartney’s relaxed reaction when he told him his Höfner Violin Bass had been stolen

The fan experience will mark the first time that 3 Savile Row will open its doors to the public. Though information at this early stage is limited, fans can sign up for email alerts on more updates as they become available through The Beatles website.

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Its launch next year will allow fans access to seven floors of never-before-seen material from Apple Corps’ archives, rotating exhibitions, a fan store, as well as a recreation of the original studio where Let it Be was recorded, as per NME.

Ringo Starr says “It’s like coming home”, while Paul McCartney adds: “It was such a trip to get back to 3 Savile Row recently and have a look around. There are so many special memories within the walls, not to mention the rooftop. The team have put together some really impressive plans and I’m excited for people to see it when it’s ready.”

Apple Corps’ CEO Tom Greene says, “Every single day fans are taking pictures of the outside of 3 Savile Row – but next year they can go in and explore all seven floors of the iconic building, including the rooftop where even the railings remain the same from that famous day in 1969.”

To sign up for alerts on the 3 Savile Row fan experience, head over to The Beatles website.

The post The Beatles played their last-ever gig on the rooftop of Apple Corps in 1969 – now it’s set to open to the public as a new fan experience appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

At just 35 years old, Andrew Watt has become the go-to producer to the stars, with a stacked portfolio that includes work with Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John and The Rolling Stones, as well as contemporary artists like Post Malone, Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber.

And now, that resume is furnished with Paul McCartney’s name, as the Beatles legend gears up to release his first solo album in five years, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.

The album came together over a period of five years, as the pair scattered in sessions among their mountain of other professional comments, which for Watt, included the Stones’ 2023 album Hackney Diamonds, and Ozzy’s final album, 2022’s Patient Number 9, to name just a couple.

• READ MORE: “It’s alright, I’ve got another one”: Wings engineer remembers Paul McCartney’s relaxed reaction when he told him his Höfner Violin Bass had been stolen
  

And in a new interview with MOJO, Paul McCartney recalls his first impressions of Watt as a producer following their first songwriting session together.

“I came away from the first session thinking, ‘Well, I like him, but he’s a bit pushy,” McCartney says. “But pushy’s not a bad thing in a producer. It’s just enthusiasm from someone who wants to keep making this record. It’s infectious.”

Watt recalls the wisdom he gained from the 83-year-old Beatles icon during their early sessions. “We were just talking, and he says, ‘You can write a song from anything. Sometimes I just pick a random chord I’ve never played before and go from there,” he remembers.

“So he played this weird chord and smiled with this boyish charm. He had to resolve it, because it was hanging out there so fucking weird. I grabbed a guitar, and we were off.” That moment led to the creation of the album’s opening track, As You Lie There.

Elsewhere in the interview, Andrew Watt recalls being captivated by the idea of using retro Beatles gear, including the Studer four-track tape machines the band used on tracks like A Day in the Life, on Macca’s new album.

“I had never gotten to make music like that before,” he says. “I fiddle around with mixes until I am fucking blue in the face, and then I want to change them again. The idea of committing to a sound and playing the part perfectly was so exciting to me.

“I wanted to hear Paul McCartney make a song on that machine with that sound.“

The Boys of Dungeon Lane is set to arrive 29 May via MPL/Capitol Records, and will bring “Wings-style rock, Beatles-style harmonies, McCartney-style grooves, understated intimacy and melody-driven storytelling”.

The album’s tracklist can be seen below: 

1. As You Lie There
2. Lost Horizon
3. Days We Left Behind
4. Ripples in a Pond
5. Mountain Top
6. Down South
7. We Two
8. Come Inside
9. Never Know
10. Home to Us 
11. Life Can Be Hard
12. First Star of the Night
13. Salesman Saint
14. Momma Gets By

The Boys of Dungeon Lane is available now for preorder. Listen to its lead single, Days We Left Behind, below:

The post “I like him, but he’s a bit pushy”: What Paul McCartney really thought of Andrew Watt during their early sessions together appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

€169/£179, atticaudio.mt/northernstomps.com

The Edge, when you think about it, is a profoundly silly name for a musician. But there’s nothing silly about the hugely respected U2 guitarist’s approach to gear – so, given that he’s a big fan of the Boss FA-1 preamp, the only mystery is why this oddball unit from the early 80s hasn’t been copied more often.

• READ MORE: Milkman/Benson The Amp review: “a compelling solution for players looking to replace a traditional tube amp”

Attic Audio is an indie pedal maker based in Malta, the little Mediterranean island famous for… Maltese stuff. This is its take on the FA-1, copying the original in spirit but turning it from a simple tone-improving preamp into something of a sonic multi-tool. And it’s just arrived in the UK courtesy of Northern Stompboxes.

Attic Audio Putty – what is it?

The first thing you notice is the word ‘Putty’ being squished into oblivion by a picture of itself in the middle; that aside, this pedal has been laid out for simplicity and clarity. The four main controls are gain, volume, bass and treble – basically the original Paul Cochrane Timmy template, about as standard as it gets.

But there’s also a three-way toggle switch for high, low or no clipping, and a push-button on the side to make that clipping symmetrical or asymmetrical. Add another switch to put the tonestack before or after the gain, and you begin to see the potential for this to be more than a straightforward dirt provider.

Attic Audio Putty – what does it sound like?

A dull, unimaginative person would start with all the controls at halfway and the clipping switch in the off position… so it’s lucky I’m a dull, unimaginative person because that’s what I did and it sounded great. This starting point is a subtle clean boost that adds some sparkly bite to the top end; in some setups it could easily serve as an always-on tone enhancer.

If you need more than enhancement, the tone controls can help: there are usable sounds on offer all the way around both of them, from a zingy treble boost to a gently thickening, spike-suppressing jazzy tone that I found uncannily addictive – especially with a spoonful of drive added.

The only question there is, how big is your spoon? Again, the Putty lives up to its promise of shaping itself to whatever you want from it. It can do a lovely low-gain thing that sounds a lot like a Klon but without the midrange push, it can work equally well as a medium-gain ODR-1 or EarthQuaker Devices Plumes type, and it can even dip a toe into the shallow end of fuzz. In general we’re talking fluffy distortion rather than anything too raspy, but the carefully tuned power of those tone knobs means you shouldn’t have any issues with balance or control.

Attic Audio Putty – should I buy it?

This is a stompbox of many sounds, but they’re all variants on a theme that’s best described as… niceness. You only have hands-free access to one of those sounds at a time, of course – some players might wish it had a second footswitch for clipping mode instead of that little toggle – but the Putty is not here to displace your favourite dual drive. It’s a sweet-toned all-rounder that’s on hand to fill a gap of virtually any shape or size.

Attic Audio Putty alternatives

The JHS Pedals Clover ($199/£199) is based on the Boss FA-1, as is/was the discontinued Drunk Beaver FET OverBooster. Other high-quality drive pedals with similar shapeshifting powers include the Silktone Expander ($269/£279) and Coggins Audio Dinosaural Hypoid Drive (£219).

The post Attic Audio Putty review – will this ultra-mouldable preamp give you The Edge? appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

[Editor’s note: This Tucker Zimmerman interview conducted by Jamie Etherington was slated for the Fretboard Journal’s print edition. With the artist’s passing on January 17, 2026, we’ve decided to share it in its entirety online. It is probably one of the last interviews the self-proclaimed “song poet” did, and we hope it sheds light on his profound music and influence.]

Photographs by Dirk Leunis

If Tucker Zimmerman is an unfamiliar name to many readers, that should come as no surprise. As West Coast musician Zach Burba tells me, Tucker’s music has until recently gone largely unnoticed. “People may be inclined to call this a crime, ‘how could we miss out on such vital music!’ but I know that this was by design,” he says. “Tucker had many chances to grab a career in the spotlight and he just listened to something in his gut that said, ‘maybe not this time.’”

Over seven decades, Zimmerman has released a dozen albums–a sonic memoir incorporating folk, 12-bar blues, full-band rock concertos, and classical piano compositions. Born in California in 1941, he graduated with an MA from San Francisco State College at the height of the Beat era. In the summer of 1966, he had just received his draft papers when he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study musical composition in Italy. During his two years in Rome, Tucker emerged as a fixture on the Roman folk scene, playing the clubs in Trastevere. It was in the Eternal City that he also met his future wife, Marie Claire.

In 1968, the couple moved to London where Tucker befriended a young Tony Visconti, at the time an apprentice producer learning his trade at the Regal Zonophone studios. This friendship lead to Visconti producing Zimmerman’s debut album, “Ten Songs.” In the early ‘70s, Tucker and Marie Claire crossed back over the Channel, setting up home in her home country of Belgium. Thereafter, Tucker spent the following decades quietly working the European festival circuit, biking around the Belgian countryside, raising their son, Quanah, and all the while writing and recording.

His most recent record, Dance of Love, on which he collaborated with Big Thief, has finally garnered the 84-year-old Zimmerman some wider later-life attention. Zach Burba, who also played on the album, recalls the first time he heard Tucker’s music.

Zach Burba: Adrianne [Lenker] played me “Foot Tap” one evening when we were hanging and sharing songs in James Krivchenia’s old downstairs garden apartment, in a now burnt-down Altadena home. I was taken by Tucker’s liberal use of phaser pedal on his lo-fi country songs. After a few songs I readjusted my focus to the lyrics and was smitten with the playful surrealism and humble gentleness of the poetry.

Earlier this year, I caught up with Tucker via Zoom from his home deep in the Belgian countryside to chat about his journey from San Francisco to Belgium, explore his creative process, talk about guitars, and the making of Dance of Love. My first question, however–reflecting the geographer in me, was wanting to know where in Belgium Tucker and Marie Claire call home.

Tucker Zimmerman: We’re in Stockay Saint-Georges, which is on the plateau above the Meuse river. We came here in 1978. It’s a farming community: Potatoes, beetroots and corn. We’re 20 kilometres from Liège, in a small valley that leads down to the Meuse. My studio is just down the hill from the house.

I mention to Tucker Zach’s observation that his relative obscurity is by design and that it reminds me of something Michael Hurley said about his own low profile, “Calling me an outsider artist? Yes, I think that’s apt. It’s taken me a long time to join the gang.” I wondered to what degree that sentiment resonates with him?

TZ: Well, I only had one brush with this–going one way or the other. It was in England in the late ‘60s and I was surrounded by the pop music world at that time. I made my first record and there were gigs, but things weren’t happening. The government wouldn’t give me a work permit, so I couldn’t do gigs legally. I did them, but under fake names. There was no way of getting to where I wanted to go. But, at the same time, I saw around me what happens to people who desire fame and fortune. And I said, I don’t want to do that. The British government kicked me out of England as I wasn’t making any money. In a way, it was fortuitous. They kicked us out and that put me into the world I wanted to be in. I started doing gigs in Belgium and Northern Europe and decided I’m going to stay here and keep going, because it was too good!

Belgium has been very receptive to me. I came at a good time because this was the late ‘60s, Woodstock had happened and they were looking for some sort of Woodstock scene! My first gig after being in the country for only a couple weeks was at a big event in Brussels. I entered a room that held about 700 people, it was packed. There were so many people on the stage, I had to wade through bodies to get to the microphone. That began something positive for me. I started to become known. It all stemmed from the movement created by Woodstock and this desire to join in internationally with the spirit that was happening in America. So, they chose their American! At the same time, I started touring West Germany and I took in every corner of that country too.

I remark that his early career appears to have been a perfect trifecta of timing, location and talent.

TZ: It always is, isn’t it? You run into things and you just happen to be there. My life has been like that all along. These coincidences which have been beneficial for me. I arrive in a place and it works out, you know. In Germany, the mood was a little bit different than Belgium. The students were still reeling from World War II and what had happened politically in Germany. They were saying we’re going to make sure this doesn’t happen again and, in the early ‘70s, they were supporting anything positive that came along. I was a cultural outlaw for them and they supported that very strongly. I had that good run of 15 years with Germany as well. It was great and I was working all the time. I remember one year in the mid-‘70s, I did over 250 gigs!

I had great audiences all through the ‘70s, until the students got older, started having families and children and then I lost my audience. This happened at the same time as MTV came along in 1984. That ruined everything! However, it was a fortuitous moment too as it brought me into other things and took me into another world.

The Dead, Miles, and Moondog

I wanted to hear about Tucker’s student days in San Francisco. His song “Old Hippies Lament,” namechecks Wavy Gravy and Ken Kesey. I wondered if his immersion in the late ‘50s counterculture had influenced him creatively.

TZ: The thing is, I was part of that movement. I grew up in my teen years, 10 years up through high school, in the country on a ranch. But I came back in 1958 to go to college in San Francisco, and I plunged immediately into the Beat era. That movement influenced me the most. The writing of Kerouac, Ferlinghetti, and Ginsberg got me going.

Tucker says that in ’64–’65 he lived on Downey Street in Haight-Ashbury.

TZ: [It] was the cheapest rent in the city! You could get a flat or apartment for $60 a month. That’s why I went there, because it was cheap! Garcia and the Grateful Dead were living one block over. The Dead were playing almost every weekend at the Avalon. I didn’t miss a set.

Within the Dead camp, Tucker found common ground with Phil Lesh.

TZ: I was studying musical theory and composition in San Francisco and he was across the bay at Mills College. He was also a student composer and we met at concerts of our music. That’s how I got to know him. We shared this idea of being student composers. I knew him as a trumpet player and he was pretty good. I heard his compositions, he heard mine and we exchanged ideas. We never became close friends but I knew him.

In late ’65, however, he says the demographic of Haight-Ashbury changed.

TZ: We had a nice community up until the invasion started happening. People, kids…started moving in. They heard the news, you know, and paradise was gone.

This period was also the golden era of West Coast jazz. The San Francisco scene in particular was a vibrant one, cantered around venues such as the Blackhawk and Bop City. Tucker recounts one of those “I was there” moments, disclosing that he was at the Blackhawk in 1958 when Miles Davis and John Coltrane were rehearsing the running order for Kind of Blue.

TZ: It was an incredible moment in my life. I’ll never forget it. It was a small club with little round tables where you’re supposed to hold your drinks, and I was right in front of Miles Davis. He was looking right at me when he was playing, Coltrane was off to my left, and Adderley was off to my right. That was pretty much the unit. It was overpowering in a way, because these guys played, I mean, really played. I attended all three performances. I think Miles got tired of looking at me one point. He turned his back on me and played in the other direction. He was a funny guy, in a way, because I think maybe he didn’t like white people. With good reason. I understood it.

Tucker also sought out John Lewis, who led the Modern Jazz Quartet.

TZ: I met him several times on purpose as an invitation to sit and talk about music. And he was interested that I was composing. I knew when the MJQ was coming to the Blackhawk and we’d set up a meeting at his hotel, which was right next door. We’d spend an hour in the afternoon, before the gig, talking about composition. He would analyze what he thought about Bartok, for instance. He had great musical knowledge, which went way beyond jazz. I considered them lessons. He talked, I listened and I absorbed. I wasn’t going to butt in because it was too interesting.

As for Tucker’s other musical influences, I had heard that Moondog and Leadbelly were important figures for him.

TZ: Well, those recordings, of course. I actually met Moondog later on in Germany in the ‘80s but that’s another story. I ran into some recordings of their music. Leadbelly and Moondog are quite different, but both touched me deeply.

Tucker says that listening to “On the Streets of New York” and “Snaketime Rhythms” as a 10-year-old gave him his first idea of someone being a composer.

TZ: Oh, people can do that? They can construct things and play them, make them perform them. That was cool. With Leadbelly, it was more abstract in the sense that I loved his voice and the sound of the 12-string guitar. I said to myself, someday, maybe I’ll play music like this and if I do, I’ll have to have a 12-string. And that’s exactly what happened. I still only play the 12-string.

Ten Songs

We then talk about Tucker’s time in England. I was intrigued how he met and befriended the legendary producer, Tony Visconti.

TZ: I didn’t have a work permit, only a three-month visa. I said, well, I’m going to try to find gigs anyway. I went around to several clubs, including Les Cousins in Soho. The guy heard me play and said, ‘I’d love to take you on, but do you have a work permit?’ In the same room was this young guy, Nick Jones, who was a sort of hanger-on but in a nice way. He was the son of Max Jones, the jazz editor of Melody Maker. Nick came up to me and said, “I like what you’re doing. It’s a shame you can’t get anything going.” Nick knew everyone on the scene at the time, partly through his father and the magazine. One of them was Tony Visconti. He said, “I want you to meet this guy, you might get along” and he took me over to the demo studios at Regal Zonophone.

Tony had only been in England a few weeks. He’d been brought over by Denny Cordell. Tony was getting started. He’d done some arranging and a little bit of production. We clicked personally and immediately became friends. Over the next couple weeks, he heard more of my music and wanted to record it. Denny had gone to America and left Tony in charge of the place. Tony said, “Listen, I’m not going to talk to Denny; we’re going to go in the studio and record.” Of course, when Denny came back, he was pissed off, “You shouldn’t have done that. I don’t want this artist.” Tony says, “Well, I do” and that began a more solid foundation between Tony and me. He stood up for me and found gigs for me under a fake name. We were actually talking about doing a duet together at one point and played a couple gigs as Tony & Tucker. We’ve remained friends ever since.

The Song-Poet

Tucker vehemently resists the label “singer-songwriter,” preferring the epithet “song poet.”

TZ: Somebody gave me that tag way back before I was touring Germany in the early ‘70s. I accepted it. It sounded right, and I never paid much attention to it. I’m glad it happened because these days it seems everybody is a singer-songwriter. I know they haven’t put in 50 years of work to be where they are, and I don’t know how much more they would do. They’re so young, some of them, and I know most of them will drop out. I don’t have any respect for that tag “singer-songwriter.” I’m glad I have this “song poet” thing to fall back on.

We then exchanged thoughts about the modern curse of pigeonholing musicians by label or genre, which prompted an impassioned response from Tucker.

TZ: Well, that’s good as I don’t want to be a pigeon! I don’t like to be pigeon-holed and I’ll resist it. When people say, “Oh, well, you know, that sounds a lot like Townes van Zandt,” I’ll say I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to know because you’re already letting the pigeons crap on you!

I ask Tucker about the intense periods of writing he refers to as “river runs”–what prompts them and how he engages with them on the creative plane.

TZ: I had a big run on poetry in the first 10 years of this century, and there’s been moments when I’ve had periods of intense writing, but they come unexpectedly. I’ve no control over that. It’s sudden, I have to do it, and if I didn’t, I’d get in trouble with myself. If you don’t follow these things, it’ll block up and cause all kinds of problems. But that’s not actually the reason. The reason is that it feels so good to do it. There was one period in the ‘90s somewhere, I wrote 80 songs in a week. That seldom happens. I was running between my writing desk and my Pro Tools, and I’d write the lyrics, run over and make up the song.

Tucker volunteers that the day before, he had been looking over the lyrics for his new record.

TZ: Nick Holton at Big Potato proposed another album and we’re finishing that one right now. It’s called “Dream Me a Dream.” We recorded it here in my studio. Nick came with his recording material, even though I have Pro Tools. He said, ‘Let’s leave that aside. You don’t have to worry about doing that. You just concentrate.’ We sat on the other side of the studio at my writing desk, I had the guitar and let the songs come out. 11 or 12 of them, most new and a couple of old ones.

“I Consider Myself a Drummer More Than a Guitarist”

This being a FJ interview, I naturally wanted to ask Tucker about the 12-strings he has owned, in particular the ones made by Tony Zematis and Božo Podunavac. I had been forewarned, however, that Tucker is somewhat reluctant to indulge the nitty-gritty of guitar nerdom.

TZ: I’ve been surrounded by people in the ‘70s and, even still today, who want to talk about guitars and strings! I’m not interested. I’m not a guitar player. I use the guitar. I consider myself a drummer more than a guitarist, because I play a drum that has nice sounds…chords. That’s how I treat it. I don’t change the strings on my guitar for two, three or four years. I think the strings have been on there for five years right now! I don’t change them, it’s too much trouble. I know a little bit about guitars, of course, because I’ve looked around for good 12-strings. I’m always open for a new 12-string!

I played the Zematis for a few months, then found too many faults in it. It was not a good guitar. Then, a friend in Holland found a Božo for me, and all I knew was that Leo Kottke played one. I love the sound of it on his recordings. My friend called up and said there’s a Božo in Utrecht, you’d better come up and look. And it was cheap, 1600 guilders. It was a good guitar, so I got it and used that for a long time.

Music by River, Words by Ear

Before wrapping up, I wanted to ask Tucker about the origins of “River Barge,” a melancholic, haunting track that conjures images of fog-bound marshlands and a sullen northern European river.

TZ: Well, I wrote it in Maastricht, which is on the Meuse. I’d been bicycling with an American friend, a sculptor who I’ve known for over 50 years. Another artist in my life! He was setting up an outdoor exhibit sculpture. I had been working on this poem all day long, looking at the river and thinking about the barges going by. I thought, would I like to live on one for a while to see what it was like? In my head, I was composing all these verses about the river barge. We finished the exhibit, went bicycling and ended up at a cafe above Maastricht eating potato soup. I had written about 16 verses, which I read to John. He listened and said “there’s too much river barge.” That night I got home, picked up my guitar, and reduced the 16 verses down to three. John pushed me into reforming the poem and I made it into a song. I still play it with my trio.”

I mention that it’s a personal favorite, lyrically and musically, and his response is entirely in keeping with what Zach had told me about Tucker’s ability to speak directly to the best and most engaged version of whoever he is talking to.

TZ: Thank you for the compliment. I’m glad because it reaches out and touches you. That’s why I write. It’s important we keep in contact with everybody. When I sing for people, that’s the initial point. If we lose that, we’re gone. The person sitting next to you is a friend that you don’t know yet. I cannot be with a person and ignore them. Even waiting at a stoplight, across the street there’s somebody next to me. I say, how you doing, in French or whatever. Maybe not much comes of it in terms of words, but they know that I know them. I recognize them as another human being. An example is you asking for an interview. Of course, I will. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to sit and talk.This was good. I appreciate you being there. I have to find Marie Claire with the oatmeal!

The post Tribute: Tucker Zimmerman first appeared on Fretboard Journal.

Since Eddie Van Halen’s death in 2020, his son Wolfgang Van Halen has remained adamant that he wants to carve out his own musical identity, and not lean on the enormous legacy left behind by his father.

So far, Wolfgang has released three studio albums with his band Mammoth: Mammoth (2021), Mammoth II (2023), and The End (2025). And while there’s numerous nods to Eddie throughout the catalogue – like Distance, the emotionally moving tribute on the first album, and Selfish, from the latest album, which Wolfgang jammed with Eddie before he died – Wolfgang has developed a sound very different from his father’s.

• READ MORE: “Makes me feel closer to Pop”: Watch Wolfgang Van Halen use Eddie’s Frankenstein guitar to record his new single

And he’s explained how it’s been a conscious decision to walk his own musical path on multiple occasions. “I’d rather fail at my own thing than succeed on my dad’s legacy,” he said last year.

Now, Wolfgang’s uncle and Eddie’s brother and former Van Halen bandmate Alex Van Halen has expressed his “pride” in his nephew at being so determined to do his own thing.

“He’s very careful that he doesn’t want to be Ed Jr,” Alex says in a new interview with KazaGastão. “He was in a very tough spot, meaning he could have just continued with the Van Halen stuff, but he decided he was his own man.

“Everything that he’s done – I’m very proud of him, by the way. That’s probably not the right thing to say about an adult, he’s [35] years old! You shouldn’t be proud of an adult, right… That’s what you do to your children!

“He’s followed his own path,” Alex says. 

He goes on to explain how Wolfgang got the gig in Van Halen, and how it had nothing to do with “family influences”.

“Ed and I, as usual, were in the studio alone, because nobody else tolerated it, they’d rather be at the beach!” he says. “I’ve got news for you, you’ve gotta work for this shit.

“Nobody showed up, and one day Ed and I were playing and this bass comes in, and it had a nice feel to it. And behind the curtain it was Wolf… For the record we did call Mike [Michael Anthony, longtime Van Halen bassist], because we owed him that. We did call him, and he just didn’t answer.”

Meanwhile, Wolfgang isn’t blind to the massive legacy he carries with his name. In May last year, he said bearing the Van Halen name is a “fucking tightrope to walk, with the shadow I’m under and the expectations”.

Mammoth are on tour in 2026. For a full list of dates, head to their official website.

The post “He doesn’t want to be Ed Jr”: Why Alex Van Halen is “proud” that Wolfgang Van Halen doesn’t play his father’s music appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The 1970s were a time when the great guitar heroes ruled the earth. Legendary 6-string warriors like Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, and Ritchie Blackmore regularly held tens of thousands of fans spellbound in arenas and stadiums across the United States and beyond.

Among those titans stood Robin Trower. His breakthrough album, 1974’s Bridge of Sighs, featuring the FM radio staple “Day of the Eagle,” transformed his power trio into one of the hottest live acts in rock. But it wasn’t just the virtuosity or the riffs that captivated listeners—it was his sound. Vast, emotional and velvety, it moved and churned like a rising tide enveloping the listener.

“We recorded Bridge of Sighs quick—in just a little over two weeks,” Trower recalls to Premier Guitar. “The guitar sound was my invention, but we were very lucky to get Geoff Emerick to engineer it. The studio was quite big, and Geoff just listened while he walked around the room and placed the mics where he thought things sounded best. There was no science—it was just him and his magic set of ears.”

At the time, Emerick was one of the most respected engineers in the world, having worked extensively with the Beatles, and his instinctive approach helped shape the immense, swirling guitar tone that became a defining element of Trower’s music.

The following year, that humungous sound arrived onstage in Stockholm.

On February 3, 1975, Trower, bassist-vocalist James Dewar, and drummer Bill Lordan stepped onto the stage of Stockholm Concert Hall to begin a European tour. The stately 1,770-seat venue—home of the Swedish Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Nobel Prize ceremonies—was designed for classical music, but its wood-paneled interior gave the trio’s sound an unusual warmth and clarity. What the band didn’t realize was that Swedish Radio was recording the entire performance on a state-of-the-art RKB-branded Nagra eight-track mobile recorder, capturing what would eventually become one of the most celebrated live guitar albums of the decade.

“We were very lucky that tape was rolling that night,” Trower says. “We were performing in a proper concert hall and it sounded fantastic, which inspired us to play in top form. It was very refreshing, because most of the time we were playing in these hockey arenas that sounded awful. We weren’t even aware that they were recording it.”

To Trower’s surprise, a few months later Swedish Radio sent the band a cassette of the broadcast. Like many European broadcasters at the time, the network routinely recorded touring rock acts for its archives. Hearing the power of the performance—and the unusually high quality of the recording—the decision was made to remix the tapes and release them as a live album.

The result surfaced a year later, in March 1976, as Robin Trower Live!, a record that arrived just as the guitarist’s career was reaching its commercial peak. Mixed by Trower and Emerick, the album cracked the Top 10 in the United States and became Trower’s biggest chart success in the U.K., confirming what concert audiences already knew: that the soft-spoken guitarist from Southend had quietly become one of the defining players of the decade.

But despite its reputation among fans, the original Live! album only told part of the story.

The Stockholm concert itself had been considerably reshaped to fit the limitations of a single LP. Of the twelve songs performed that night, only seven were selected for release. Even those tracks were re-sequenced, abandoning the original running order in favor of a set designed to deliver maximum impact across two vinyl sides. The result captured the spirit of the show—but not the full arc of the performance.

“We were very lucky that tape was rolling that night.”

Even the album’s artwork introduced a bit of theatrical sleight of hand. The cover image suggested Trower performing before a vast outdoor stadium crowd—a sea of heads stretching into the distance. In reality, the recording came from a comparatively intimate Scandinavian concert hall.

“It didn’t occur to me at the time,” Trower says when asked about the discrepancy. “There were no photos taken at the gig. The one they used was from a baseball stadium in San Francisco, I believe.”

If the cover leaned toward rock ’n’ roll illusion, the audio carried its own behind-the-scenes adjustments. During the mixing sessions at London’s AIR Studios, Emerick and Trower discovered that Dewar’s vocal microphone had captured substantial spill from the drums and amplifiers onstage, making it unusable. The solution was simple: Dewar re-recorded his vocal tracks in the studio.

“Jimmy sang it all again,” Trower explains matter-of-factly. “He polished it off in about an hour—just ran through it in real time.”

Nearly 50 years later, the new anniversary edition of Live! reveals the full picture for the first time. Remixed by Richard Whittaker from the original tapes, the restored edition presents the entire Stockholm performance exactly as it unfolded that evening—12 songs rather than seven, sequenced in their original order, with Trower’s onstage introductions and the audience’s reactions intact. What once felt like a highlight reel now plays like a complete musical journey.

The difference is striking. The pacing of the show suddenly makes sense. The opening salvo—“Day of the Eagle” followed by “Bridge of Sighs”—builds the atmosphere naturally before the trio moves into material from For Earth Below, which had not yet been released at the time of the concert. Later in the set, the delicate meditation of “Daydream” gives way to the explosive momentum of “Too Rolling Stoned,” a moment when the band shifts into near-punk velocity.

Listening now, what stands out most is the chemistry between the three musicians. Dewar’s bass lines provide both muscle and melody beneath his soulful vocals. Lordan’s drumming drives the music forward with power. And at the center stands Trower himself, shaping vast arcs of spacey atmosphere and psychedelic blues from his Stratocaster. Together, they created a sound that felt far larger than the trio format should allow. And on that winter night in Stockholm, the band was flying.

“If there’s any secret to my tone, it’s that all my guitars have relatively high action and heavier strings.”

So how exactly did Trower achieve that otherworldly sound?

“There was no magic amp or special guitar,” he says. “Almost everything I owned was pretty new. I just went to Manny’s, the legendary guitar shop in New York City, bought a 100-watt Super Lead Marshall, and listened to about six or eight Strats acoustically before settling on a black-and-white one with a maple neck.

“If there’s any secret to my tone, it’s that all my guitars have relatively high action and heavier strings. Back then I played in standard tuning and used .010-gauge strings. It’s all about getting the strings to ring acoustically, and that’s what translates into a great electric sound.”

Effects also played an important role in shaping Trower’s liquid tone. His signal chain typically included a Vox V846 wah, a Shin-ei Uni-Vibe, and a custom-made boost pedal that pushed the signal level before hitting his Marshall. The simple “clean boost” provided a lift for solos without drastically altering the guitar’s character, adding sustain, thickening the Strat’s midrange, and making the Uni-Vibe’s swirling modulation sound even more liquid.

Trower also kept his overall gain surprisingly restrained.

“I usually kept the volume around seven or eight,” he says. “You need to have a little head room. I’m not interested in having too much distortion. My goal is to keep the clarity of the notes and chords and maintain a clear midrange, which is very important to my sound. I tried to avoid creating any mush.”

While Trower is proud of the 50th anniversary edition of Live!, he’s not particularly nostalgic or inclined to dwell on the past. What’s remarkable is that he has continued releasing albums well into his late seventies and early eighties—something very few guitarists from the classic-rock era have managed. In the last decade alone, he has recorded eight albums, including Come and Find Me (2025) and the blistering concert set, One Moment in Time – Live in the USA (2026).

Still, if Trower tends to look forward rather than back, he has no hesitation when it comes to praising the musicians who helped shape his most celebrated work—especially bassist and singer Dewar, who died in 2002 at the age of 59. Dewar was far more than a supporting player in the trio. With his rich, soulful tenor and muscular bass lines, he provided the emotional center of the band’s sound, grounding Trower’s expansive guitar work with a voice that was equal parts blues grit and melodic warmth. Across seven studio albums—from Twice Removed from Yesterday through Victims of the Fury—Dewar emerged as one of the defining vocalists of the 1970s guitar era.

“I’ve always enjoyed the trio format. It forces me to cover a little more ground instrumentally, but in a way, the economy was our secret weapon.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better collaborator than Jimmy,” Trower says. “He was warm, funny, and never sang a bad note. People always say he’s underrated, and I totally agree. But that probably wouldn’t have been the case if we’d been called the Jimmy Dewar Band,” he adds, with a wry shrug.

Alongside them was drummer Bill Lordan, whose disciplined yet powerful playing completed the chemistry of the group. Lordan, who had previously worked with Sly Stone, brought a precise sense of groove that allowed Trower’s expansive guitar phrasing to breathe, while still driving the music forward with authority. Together, the three musicians created a sound that felt far larger than the trio format might suggest.

For Trower, the stripped-down lineup was never a limitation—it was the very thing that made the band’s sound so powerful. “I’ve always enjoyed the trio format,” he says. “It forces me to cover a little more ground instrumentally, but in a way, the economy was our secret weapon. It was much easier to achieve definition and clarity with just three instruments and a vocal when you played in those big, boomy halls. It would be less of an issue today—the PA systems and monitors are so much better.”

That sense of space and definition is part of what gives Robin Trower Live! its enduring power. Unlike many live albums of the era, which relied on layers of overdubs or heavy post-production polish, the Stockholm recording captures a band operating with remarkable precision and restraint. The trio moves with the ease of musicians who had spent hundreds of nights refining the material onstage, allowing the songs to stretch and breathe without losing their focus.

Years later, Robert Fripp, the famously exacting guitarist of prog-rock pioneers King Crimson, offered a vivid assessment of Trower’s playing during that era. Fripp first encountered Trower while touring the United States in the early 1970s.

“I toured America in 1974 with Ten Years After top of the bill, King Crimson second, and Robin Trower bottom,” Fripp recalled in a 1996 essay penned for the liner notes to a Trower reissue. “The chart positions were the opposite: Ten Years After in the Billboard 160s, Crimson in the 60s, and Trower climbing remorselessly through the Top 20. Nearly every night I went out to listen to him. This was a man who hung himself on the details—the quality of sound, the nuances of each inflection and tearing bend, and the abandonment to the feel of the moment. He saved my life … and later, in England, he even gave me guitar lessons.

“He is one of the very few English guitarists that have mastered bends and wobbles,” Fripp continued. “Not only has he got inside them, with an instinctive knowing of their affective power, but they went to live inside his hands.”

Fripp’s admiration speaks to something many guitarists recognized at the time but rarely articulated so clearly. Trower’s playing was never about speed or flash. Instead, he built his style around touch—wide bends, patient vibrato, and an almost orchestral sense of space that allowed every note to bloom and hang in the air.

That sensibility is all over Robin Trower Live! Nearly half a century on, the sound Trower summoned from a Strat and a Marshall still feels otherworldly. It’s no wonder even Robert Fripp went looking for lessons.

For popstar Taylor Swift, buying back her master recordings was a top priority for six arduous years. However, other artists can’t wait to hand over the rights to their music – and the Red Hot Chili Peppers are the latest band to sign on the dotted line, selling their entire catalogue for over $300 million.

Rumours of the Chilis selling their catalogue first arose last year, with sources telling Billboard that the rockers were allegedly seeking around $350 million. Now, The Hollywood Reporter reports that the band has finally made a deal with Warner Music Group, with the label paying over $300 million for all of the band’s master recordings.

• READ MORE: “I wake up every morning thinking about what’s on my pedalboard” Adam Granduciel on his love of effects and the next The War On Drugs album

The deal comes in the wake of Warner Music Group’s $1.2 billion joint venture with Bain Capital. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the label’s May revenue report revealed that $650 million had been spent on acquiring catalogues since setting up the joint venture – with around half seemingly being spent on the Red Hot Chili Peppers catalogue.

This isn’t the first time that the Red Hot Chili Peppers have cashed in on their back catalogue. In 2021, the band previously sold off their publishing rights to music investment firm, Recognition (previously called Hipgnosis) to the tune of $140 million.

For those confused as to how an artist can seemingly sell a song twice, think of a song in two parts: a recorded performance, and the ‘blueprint’ of the song itself (the melody, lyrics, chord structure etc). The new deal with Warner Music Group hands over the rights to the official recordings, meaning the label will profit from any further streaming, radio play or album sales.

On the other hand, the Recognition deal handed over the ‘blueprint’ of the song itself, meaning the company would profit through any new remixes, covers or samples taken from a Chilis track.

However, the publishing rights could potentially be acquired by Sony Music Group very soon. According to Bloomberg, Sony Music Group plans to acquire Recognition in a nearly $4 billion deal. The pricy deal would see the label earning the publishing rights to the catalogues of many high ticket artists, like Justin Bieber, Neil Young, and, of course, the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In recent years, it’s becoming more familiar to see artists selling off their back catalogues and publishing rights. Most recently, David Lee Roth claimed he felt “rich” after selling his back catalogue in 2025. Elsewhere, Bruce Springsteen sold his masters and publishing rights to Sony Music for $500 million in 2021, while Genesis sold their publishing rights and master recordings to Concord Music for $300 million.

Others who have handed over their rights include Bob Dylan, who sold his entire catalogue to Universal Music Group in 2020 for $300 million, as well as Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham has even cashed in, selling the publishing rights to his catalogue to Recognition in 2021, just as the Red Hot Chili Peppers did.

The post Red Hot Chili Peppers sell music catalogue for $300m appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

From flowers to bottles, music punters have been lobbing things onstage at artists for years. However, nowadays even approving fans have started throwing potentially dangerous things at the stars they adore; Eric Clapton recently stormed offstage at a gig after being struck with a flying object mid show.

Last Thursday (7 May), Clapton was struck by a flying vinyl record during a gig in Madrid’s Movistar Arena. A video of the incident shows Clapton smiling to himself as he walks offstage, before a vinyl whacks him in the chest. Despite the setlist showing that the rocker was set to return for a further encore, he opted to cut the show short, ending on pre-encore track Cocaine.

• READ MORE: “I wake up every morning thinking about what’s on my pedalboard” Adam Granduciel on his love of effects and the next The War On Drugs album

While the projectile wasn’t necessarily harmful, there’s been an alarming increase in fans throwing objects at musicians as of late. It’s no longer a case of giggling about sweaty boxers landing onstage beside you – now, performing onstage has become a game of dodging flying phones, vapes, and disposable cameras.

Very sad indeed. What kind of idiot does that? pic.twitter.com/0bNZ3wYFU7

— Pablo Rodríguez (@Paulhewsonrm) May 7, 2026

Previously, throwing things at artists has been associated with putting on a bad performance; Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine has gone on record in the past saying that, if you’re putting on a good show, you should be in the clear. However, that’s not the case any more.

It’s gotten to a point where some artists have started ejecting fans for throwing things at them onstage. Country singer Riley Green asked security to throw out a fan after he took his phone’s ‘airplane mode’ setting a little too literally, hitting Green in the face mid-performance.

@rabbitcar07

Riley Green hit with a phone in Melbourne! @Riley Green #rileygreen #melbourne #tough

♬ Gemini – So Lis

Despite Clapton deciding not to return for his encore in Madrid, it’s not put him off performing. The rocker is still in the swing of his European tour, before a grand Sandringham Estate gig is set to take place later this summer on 23 August. The gig will see him joined by the likes of Ronnie Wood and Andy Fairweather Low.

For more information on Clapton’s upcoming tour dates, check out his website.

The post Eric Clapton scraps encore in Madrid after being struck by a flying vinyl record appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

We’re always keeping an eye out for the best bargains on guitars, pedals, amps and more, and we’ve found some huge savings this week across retailers like Sweetwater and Guitar Center.

Kicking things off this May, we bring you huge savings on a PRS ($250 off, to be exact), a sweet deal on IK Multimedia’s popular AmpliTube software, as well as other guitars and gear with generous discounts. You can also check out our Deals page for more bargains.

• READ MORE: Marshall has unveiled its new mascot – and we’re a little scared

Let’s round up the highlights below…

PRS SE Custom 24 ($599)

Right now at Sweetwater, you can save $250 on a PRS SE Custom 24 model in Turquoise, with a striking flame maple top. This solidbody electric guitar puts all the character of the PRS Custom line into a more affordable instrument, and features a mahogany body and maple top with a more traditional “violin” body carve. It’s fitted with a pair of 85/15 S pickups, has a maple neck with a Wide Thin shape, and a rosewood fretboard with its famous bird inlays, of course.

Fender 70th Anniversary Vintera II Antigua Stratocaster ($909.99)

Guitar Center is saving you $350 on this unique Fender Vintera II Strat. This model is “loaded with classic Fender features from the golden age of the electric guitar”, as per the brand itself, including an alder body, U-shape maple neck, vintage-tall frets and a trio of 70th Anniversary Vintage-Style ’70s single-coil Strat pickups. Its Antigua finish gives it a truly special look.

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 5 MAX v2 software ($99.99)

For just under $100, you can get your hands on IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube software at Sweetwater, and this MAX version comes packed with over 430 gear models for you to experiment with. You can use it with your DAW or in standalone mode, and its library includes collections from Fender, Orange, Fulltone, Leslie, and Mesa/Boogie, as well as artist collections from Slash, Jimi Hendrix, Dimebag Darrell, Brian May, and Joe Satriani. Save $200 overall.

Line 6 POD Go Guitar Multi-Effects Processor ($509.99)

Line 6 may be stepping things up with its Helix Stadium range, but if you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, you might want to check out its POD Go. This multi-effects processor offers a newly updated firmware with additional amps, cabs, effects and features, and has a large LCD screen, encoders and footswitches. You can save $90 on it via Sweetwater.

Fender Acoustic 100 Acoustic Guitar Combo Amplifier ($409.99)

Now reduced at Guitar Center, the Fender Acoustic 100 amplifier delivers “full, natural tone” for acoustic-electric guitars and vocals. It offers a unique plywood shell to complement the acoustic guitar’s form and voice, and features two channels designed for instrument or microphone use, each with effects like reverb, delay, and chorus. It offers handy Bluetooth connectivity for streaming audio.

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Kashus Culpepper had only stopped in for a beer and something to eat. But, like a lot of people before him, he left the Blue Front Café knowing a little more about the blues. Still in his duck hunting gear, he pulled up a seat at the venerable Bentonia, Mississippi juke joint and scarfed down a fried bologna sandwich while the music took hold. Soon, the old dude pulling licks from a guitar was asking him if he played. “I was like, ‘Yeah, a little bit,’” he says during a Zoom call, fresh from dialling up the 70s cool of Guitar.com’s cover shoot. “He’s like, ‘Let me show you something.’ He ended up doing this weird tuning and playing Amazing Grace in this crazy way.”

Culpepper took that tuning home with him and started writing In Her Eyes, a winding, enticing highlight from his debut album Act I. Its coiled riff wrapped around hot-blooded, conflicted lyrics tapping into classic blues staples: temptation, righteousness, all that good stuff. The song is emblematic of the way the Alabama native is able to turn a fresh kernel of wisdom into something that reflects deep-seated truths about who he is and where he comes from. “I have those experiences every day,” he says. “I’m learning so much about myself, and why I love music the way I do.”

Act I’s simmering melange of soul and rootsy country-rock emerged only five years on from Culpepper picking up a guitar in earnest for the first time, but it feels like the work of someone who’s been living between its notes his whole life. Which, in reality, he has. “I wanted to get the sound of all the artists I love, from the Allman Brothers to Aretha and Wilson Pickett,” he says. “I wanted to stay true to my roots. This is who I am.”

“Growing up, music was everything to me, the only thing that didn’t judge me”

Small Town Hero

Culpepper grew up in Alexander City, a small town close to a big lake in Tallapoosa County. Like so many other kids his age, he played football and wrestled in high school. But music was everywhere – his mother was big into gospel and R&B, while he spent his spare time chasing down the country songs that were ubiquitous in the deli or grocery store.

He sang in church a couple of times a week but, initially, he didn’t seek the spotlight. “We had so many people who had these amazing voices,” he recalls. “I’m doing this because my mom and my grandma want me to. Y’all can perform if y’all want to.”

That feeling would change thanks to an unusual set of circumstances. Culpepper’s road led away from Alex City, his time spent around the ER as a firefighter inspiring him to seek out a nursing qualification. In need of cash to pay for his tuition, he signed up for the US Navy and was posted overseas, winding up in a barracks in Rota, Spain as Covid-19 swept across the world.

“You go over there and you might buy a microwave or toaster – you don’t take it back with you,” he says. “When the next group comes in, there’s usually a room full of stuff. A lot of people try to get there as soon as they can, to get whatever they can.”

Left behind in the free-for-all when Culpepper arrived was a beater guitar. The pandemic was awfully quiet for long stretches, but maybe he could do something about that. With nothing to go on barring a few chords he’d picked up as a teenager, Culpepper opened a YouTube tutorial and set about learning some tunes.

“I realised music is so community-based and what it can do for a person,” he says. “Growing up, music was everything to me, the only thing that didn’t judge me. I didn’t have to be nobody else around it.”

“I wanted to stay true to my roots. This is who I am”

Heart Of The Action

Quickly, he became the rare person you’d be happy to see pull out an acoustic at a bonfire. He started taking requests, from Sturgill Simpson to Taylor Swift, and his weather-beaten voice, halfway between Bill Withers and Ray LaMontagne, began to resonate with people. The youngster who’d shunned attention in the choir was, all of a sudden, right at the heart of things when others needed him to be.

“I had these grown men and women in the service telling me it was dope,” he says. “I was just doing it because it made me feel good to be playing music, and I saw how it made people feel good.”

When he got out of the Navy in 2022, Culpepper found himself at a crossroads. Over time, he had started to doubt whether a career in nursing was a good fit. “I know how much they help people but I saw some bad stuff when I was in the fire department,” he observes. “I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can see that every other night for the rest of my life.’”

For the first time in a long time he didn’t have a plan. But he did have a guitar and access to the bars of the Gulf Coast, where someone with his voice and a handful of well-chosen covers can make bank. “I love people who do the cover band scene – they’re making great money,” he says. “They’re killing it.”

For a while, he had a good time doing it, too. Certainly, he had a better time than the Taylor 110 accompanying him. “I beat that guitar to death,” Culpepper says, on the cusp of laughter as he draws out each word. “The humidity was so bad, I sweat so much, and I play so hard. I was breaking strings every gig. It wasn’t the guitar’s fault. It was my fault. I was like, ‘Maybe I need to change my strings to a higher gauge, maybe I shouldn’t leave my guitar out in the sun while I’m on my break so it’ll rust.’ That was all on me.”

“With a guitar I really feel things. I play a lot harder than most”

Missing Ingredient

Besides the usual grind, Culpepper started earning better money by playing casinos and private events. But between each round of beery applause, it became clear that, in the same way nursing hadn’t been it, the bar scene wasn’t it either. “It wasn’t until I started writing songs in the middle of 2023 that I realised I love the creative side of it,” he says, that spark leading him to embrace both traditional and modern approaches to getting over.

Firstly, he moved to Nashville and started working with a producer, the Lone Bellow’s Brian Elmquist. Secondly, he opened a bunch of social media accounts and started posting covers and snippets of his own work, which bridged the gap between R&B, country and down-home rock with the ease of someone who came up steeped in these sounds.

“Brian told me it was a mix of a lot of things,” Culpepper says. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m not trying [to do that] – these are the melodies in my head.’”

By the end of the year his song After Me? had gone viral, its mix of barrel-chested passion and skipping hooks tapping into a guitar style that Culpepper had developed while crunching through cover sets. Immediately, there was something honest and unvarnished about him that people could grab hold of – here was someone playing songs that he thought might make another person feel better. “I’m a very emotion-driven type of guy, from singing to my personal life,” he says. “Also with a guitar – I really feel things. I play a lot harder than most.”

Culpepper was off and running in Nashville, writing with everyone from Natalie Hemby to Brent Cobb as the songs on Act I began to come together, and making his Grand Ole Opry debut in the winter of 2024. But he also felt the need to close a different loop.

To deliver an opening statement of intent, he needed to head back to Alabama. So, he rolled up with a Martin D-18 at Ivy Manor Studio in Muscle Shoals, where past glories of the Rolling Stones, the Staple Singers and Percy Sledge hung heavy in the air. “I never knew what they went through to make a record,” he admits. “I was learning the whole time.”

Culpepper’s openness in admitting all the things he doesn’t know is disarming – there’s no bluster to him, just a singer and guitarist who means it, whose songs resonate because they feel human, with all the excitement and hurt and mess that entails.

“I get this euphoric feeling when I listen to music at full volume,” he says. “When I started playing guitar, being able to play those songs for myself gave me an even bigger rush.” So, after so many years spent changing lanes, is he on the right track now, steering straight ahead as the speakers rattle? “I think so,” he says. “I’m still evolving – I’m having so much fun.”

Words: Huw Baines
Photography: Alanna Taylor
Styling: Lakelyn Pounders

The post “I play a lot harder than most.” Kashus Culpepper’s guitar is a lightning rod for feeling, community and the sounds of the American South appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

A federal court has ruled in favour of Dean Guitars, after the estate of Pantera’s Dimebag Darrell sued the guitar brand in 2021.

In the lawsuit, Dimebag’s estate cited unlawful use of the Stealth and Razorback guitar body shapes that Dimebag (real name Darrell Abbott) made in collaboration with Dean, and “unauthorised fraudulent trademark registrations” for the two. In Dime We Trust, led by Dime’s longtime girlfriend and estate trustee, Rita Haney, also accused Dean’s parent company, Armadillo Distribution Enterprises, of breaching their terms of contract.

• READ MORE: A brief history of Dean Guitars

At the time, Haney wrote a statement which said: “After much consideration, it is with great sadness that I announce the longstanding relationship between Dimebag and Dean Guitars is over. Unfortunately, we were forced to file a lawsuit against Dean Guitars… It was necessary for us to end Dime’s endorsement of Dean Guitars to continue to honour and celebrate his legacy the way he deserves, and in the way he had laid it out.”

Dean Guitars responded by arguing that it had “always treated Dime and his brother Vinnie with the utmost respect and loyalty”, adding: “We have enjoyed a long-standing, 17-year relationship with Dime and Vinnie, and continue that relationship with Vinnie’s estate on the ddrum [the drum manufacturer also owned by Armadillo Enterprises] side… Dean Guitars is proud to have played a role in ensuring Dime’s legacy not only survived, but thrived over the past 17 years.”

In the new ruling, the court has granted a summary judgement that dismisses “the majority” of the Dimebag estate’s trademark, fraud, and breach of contract claims against Armadillo/Dean, including In Dime We Trust’s claims regarding the ownership of Dean’s guitar models (via Guitar World).

Court documents do, however, also conclude that Armadillo has been denied summary judgement on two counts: the copyright infringement of Darrell’s Dean From Hell artwork, and false endorsement and false association, which is concerned with whether there was “a likelihood of consumer confusion, mistake or deception as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of goods being sold”.

“For almost two decades Armadillo was proud to work directly with the Abbott family under a relationship built upon mutual respect, shared purpose, and a genuine love for Darrell Abbott’s music and his love for Dean Guitars,” states a press release from Armadillo.

“The United States District Court’s order is confirmation of what we have known all along: Armadillo’s ownership of the Stealth and Razorback trademarks, the Razorback guitar design, and related intellectual property was earned through years of prior use and good faith commercial activity.”

The post Court rules in favour of Dean Guitars in trademark dispute with Dimebag Darrell’s estate  appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

$2,699/£2,975, taylorguitars.com

Since its arrival in 1994, the Grand Auditorium body shape quickly became Taylor’s most iconic and best-selling acoustic guitar design, striking the right balance between the larger, boomier dreadnought and the smaller Grand Concert.

• READ MORE: Taylor Gold Label 510e review: “Taylor’s return to the dreadnought is crying out for some big pick energy”

Over the preceding three decades, the design has remained a key pillar of the brand’s offering, and has evolved in myriad ways under the hood as this most innovative guitar company has continued to push things.

For 2026, however, the model has received some of the most significant and meaningful new innovations since the arrival of V-Class bracing back in 2020 – it’s time to explore the Next Generation.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: what is it?

The Next Generation Grand Auditorium is Taylor CEO and master guitar designer Andy Powers’ ground-up re-imagining of the whole concept. The body shape and general look of the guitars might have stayed broadly the same, but under the hood it’s all change.

For starters, the guitar sports Powers’ latest take on his revolutionary V-Class bracing system. The new scalloped V-Class promises to offer the same impressive intonation and clarity that the bracing has been known for, but with more warmth and richness than the original version.

Another new addition is perhaps the most noticeable visual departure. For well over a decade now, Taylor guitars have sported the three discrete rubber knobs of the ES-2 pickup system on their top shoulder. The brand new Claria system not only does away with that, relocating the controls to the soundhole, but also promises a more straightforward and easily dialled-in, plugged-in sound than its predecessor.

Finally, making a jump from the Gold Label series – and indeed acoustic guitar design in general – is the Action Control Neck. It’s another impressive bit of Powers engineering that truly lives up to the Next Gen name. It delivers the ability to micro-adjust your guitar’s neck angle and action in seconds, without even having to detune the instrument itself. It’s not only super easy and quick, but this is usually a job that would usually need to be left to professional techs only.

The Next Gen moniker has been given to an entire gamut of new US-made GA models, from the premium Builder’s Edition all the way to the standard line, of which this 324ce is the second most affordable on the log. The two in its nomenclature means it has a Neo-tropical mahogany top with sapele back and sides and a mahogany neck. It’s all stained in deep brown, with a subtle edgeburst to the top.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: build quality and playability

Upon removing this 324ce from its supplied hard case, it’s hard not to be impressed with the general build and finish of this instrument. Taylor guitars might not be everyone’s cup of tea visually, but surely any of us can appreciate an instrument where the effort and workmanship that has gone into it is evident in every detail; ensuring it feels pristine, precision-engineered and generally flawless.

Personally, I also think this particular Taylor is especially handsome in the grain – the red tinge to the stain goes extremely well with the firestripe pickguard and the black and white binding, while the ornate but understated weathervane inlays that run up the board and onto the peghead add a lovely visual flourish.

This is a guitar that also wears its gloss finish very well – it looks pretty without feeling so delicate you’re afraid to play it, perhaps because of the darker shade to the whole affair. By most measures, this is not a cheap guitar, but it certainly feels and looks expensive in the best kind of way.

It’s a nice touch that the Standard Carve neck itself has been spared the gloss treatment, however, combined with a familiar 25.5” scale length, it makes for a graceful and comfortable playing experience that, in typical Taylor style, veers towards the slimmer end of the acoustic scale. If you’re used to playing electric guitars, this offers a very comfortable transition.

The West African Crelicam ebony fretboard is smooth and the fretwork is meticulously finished – the frets themselves are bright and smooth and invite you to think beyond cowboy chords, such is the easy fluidity with which you can bend the strings.

As is usually the case with Taylor, the action is low out of the box, though not so low as to elicit any string buzz. If it wasn’t to my taste, however, the new Action Control Neck could have me setting my ideal playing height in seconds. At least… that’s the theory.

It’s a little frustrating that Taylor has trumpeted how easy it is to use the ACN and then failed to supply any tools in the case to try it out. I’ve seen Andy Powers demonstrate the trick using an adjustable screwdriver, so I got one in to try it out… only to discover that metric socket sets and the imperial-sized bolt on the ACN don’t quite match up well enough to replicate Powers’ magic trick.

The guitar’s setup is flawless as is for my tastes – but it’s a little frustrating that Taylor couldn’t include some sort of tool or adapter in the case to let users try it out. It’s a two and a half grand guitar, after all…

The case the guitar came in, however, is another real plus point – yes, you’d expect a quality hard case at this price, but Taylor’s one is a beautiful thing, all brown tolex and pink innards. You’d have a lot of faith that this thing could take a hammering without damaging its precious cargo.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: sounds

Taylor guitars traditionally have a sound that, by its own admission, you either like or you don’t. While the Gold Label series has attempted to expand that tonal palette somewhat, broadly speaking a Taylor guitar in the core line is expected to have a clarity and precision that sets it apart from the likes of Martin and others.

The Next Gen GA however, certainly feels like an evolution of that Taylor sound into something that, while unlikely to win over any old-fashioned dreadnought aficionados, certainly has a much more balanced tonality than other Taylors I’ve played.

Perhaps it’s that new bracing pattern and the mahogany top, but whatever it is, it really seems to shine. The ‘G chord test’ is usually a solid benchmark by which to compare the tonal profiles of different acoustics with one another. The Next Generation 324ce offers a notably powerful projection in the lower registers, but one which doesn’t overpower the midrange or the highs.

The frequency spectrum is balanced, so whether you’re strumming or fingerpicking chords in the lower registers of the fretboard, or playing more intricate leads further up, the Next Generation 324ce never feels out of its depth.

This being a Taylor, of course, special mention must be made about the 324ce’s top-end. A clear, sparkly high-end has a tendency to make an acoustic guitar sound more ‘expensive’, and that’s definitely the case here. It’s a hi-fidelity treat for the ears, and one which has had me lost in playing for sometimes hours at a time.

Taylor’s Expression System was an impressive technical feat that used magnetic in-body pickups to try and replicate the authentic sound of the guitar. It was a powerful system and one that the company refined with the Expression System 2, but one that could be quite tricky to dial in. The new Claria system is an attempt to enhance versatility and user experience.

A more conventional piezo-based system feeding into a proprietary preamp, the Claria ditches the two-band tone-stack for a single tone control and a mid-contour control positioned just inside the soundhole edge. The theory is that with these two controls, you can more effectively and efficiently tweak the frequencies that matter to suit the amp, room or desk you’re plugging into. Visually, it’s a lot more covert too.

We’ve probably all reached the point now where we accept that, most of the time, a pickup isn’t going to have the warmth and timbre of a mic’d up acoustic – but the Claria is still an impressive system.

Whether plugging into a Roland Cube or going direct into my audio interface, I found it very easy to use those two tonal controls to shape your sound and get something that sounds warm, vibrant and pleasing to the ears.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: should I buy one?

There’s no escaping that here in 2026, spending $2,699 on any guitar is no small investment for the vast majority of players. But almost from the first note you play, it’s abundantly clear that this could easily be your forever acoustic. Compared to the US-made competition, it’s pretty decently priced for what it is, too.

The previous GA was a fine guitar, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the refinement that the Next Generation brings will make guitars like this 324ce more compelling for a broader spectrum of players. With a more balanced sound and a pickup system that offers impressive plug-and-play usability, the next generation of Taylor is clearly in good hands.

Taylor Next Generation 324ce: alternatives

If the price of the Next Gen 324ce is a bit on the steep side for you, the US/Mexico hybrid build 314ce Studio ($1,999 / £1,799) that I reviewed last year is a serious guitar for the money, even without the Next Generation upgrades. Larry Breedlove got his start at Taylor, and so there’s some shared DNA in the small-bodied Breedlove Roots Concert E Mahogany ($2,899), while the Larrivée LV-24 ($2,999) is another more modernist take on the acoustic guitar.

The post Taylor Next Generation 324ce review: “this could easily be your forever acoustic” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Angine de Poitrine have spent the last few years building one of the strangest cult followings in experimental guitar music: microtonal riffs, looping chaos, papier-mâché masks and a ridiculous custom double-neck guitar/bass that looks like it escaped from a fever dream.

The instrument has become such a key part of the duo’s identity that they’ve learned to live with one unavoidable problem: nobody actually makes a case for something that bizarrely proportioned.

• READ MORE: Al Di Meola plays Jerry Garcia’s $11.5 million “Tiger” guitar live onstage: “It was emotional in a way I didn’t expect”

Speaking to The Guardian following the release of their second album, Vol II, the duo reveal that they’ve resorted to transporting the instrument inside a sleeping bag while travelling – a decision that apparently raises more than a few eyebrows at airport security.

While their masks usually pass through customs without much issue, Khn says the oversized guitar tends to invite more concern.

“The guitar gets funny questions because I carry it in a sleeping bag and it looks like a dead body,” says the guitarist.

The exaggerated double-neck build has already become central to Angine de Poitrine’s whole aesthetic. Earlier this year, the duo described it as “the perfect choice to make fun of guitar heroes”, a fairly natural extension of a band whose entire idea was to “assume a bit of a satirical approach to rock music in general”.

Klek and Khn continued playing together through their teens before officially forming Angine de Poitrine in their early twenties. “For a while, we didn’t take it seriously,” says drummer Klek. “It was just like playing with Legos.”

“Well, maybe that’s true for you,” Khn replies. “I was 12 when I picked up a guitar and I instantly became very serious about it. I always had the intention to make a band.”

That attachment to the band’s original homemade world still remains intact, even as their audience grows. The pair say they have no plans to replace their battered papier-mâché masks with cleaner or more polished versions.

“People have fallen in love with the band as it’s always been,” says Khn. “So we’re not gonna change everything [because] we have a bigger budget now. We’re emotionally attached to our old beaten-up costumes that have been in car accidents and are full of snot. We think people love the fact that you can feel they have lived.”

As for the music itself, the duo say most songs emerge through long stretches of improvisation and trial-and-error.

“We improvise and make a lot of crap, then you have a little spark,” sasy Khn. “A lot of the songs on the second album, I found one riff that’s got something to it, then you build from that.”
Building loops repeatedly creates “a feeling of anxiousness”, adds Klek. “We’re always playing with that feeling, and tension and release.”

Khn also notes how using a loop pedal live keeps them in line: “If I start from this idea, I have to find a coherent way to move away from it,” he says. “[Otherwise we] have a tendency to make songs that go from A to Z without coming back to A or B.”]

The post “The guitar gets funny questions because it looks like a dead body”: Angine de Poitrine have to transport their double-necked guitar in a sleeping bag – which causes problems at airport security appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.