General Interest

John Mayer has spoken out about the speculation surrounding his friendship with the TV host Andy Cohen, arguing that the logic behind any rumours of them being romantically involved are “selectively flimsy”.

The pair have been friends for years but have constantly had to deny being more than that, even as far back as 2018. Nonetheless, Cohen said he was “not surprised” such rumours surfaced when “we also have a great love for each other… so, it just seems like the obvious assumption”.

• READ MORE: “It will cool off, and people won’t act like you’re Bigfoot when they see you”: The advice John Mayer gave to Billie Eilish to cope with sudden fame

The rumours were fuelled again when Cohen was asked about them in a cover interview for The Hollywood Reporter.

“Your friendship with Mayer has been the subject of intense speculation,” the interviewer remarked. “People seem dubious that a straight rock star can have a close, platonic relationship with a gay TV personality.”

Cohen’s response ended up going viral. “Let them speculate,” he said. “I honestly love John Mayer, and he loves me. But because we are so affectionate to each other, people don’t know what box to put that in. They assume we are sleeping with each other, which we are most definitely not.”

Mayer ended up writing a letter responding to the outlet, which it printed in full. He describes the basis for the question as a “somewhat of a specious premise”, writing: “First, there is a long and storied history of ‘rock stars’ (not mocking, just won’t refer to myself as one) befriending gay icons and artists.

“Second, I think that to suggest that people are dubious of a friendship like mine and Andy’s is to undermine the public’s ability to accept and understand diversity in all facets of culture, be it in art or in real life,” he writes. “I’d like to think they’re sophisticated enough to see a relationship like ours without assuming it must include a sexual component. That turns the concept of being gay into an ignorantly two-dimensional one, which I know you know it’s not. I don’t question that at all.”

He continues: “I love intelligent discourse – as I hope you’ll find this email to be – but I bristle at your selectively flimsy logic meant to coax an answer, when the premise itself is so deeply flawed, and quite possibly not even quantitatively true.

“Quite simply, if someone is dubious of a platonic relationship between a straight man and a gay man, I don’t think that shallow a view deserves clarification by anyone with self respect, be it Andy or your publication. Reinforcing the idea that any gay/straight relationship needs qualification that it’s not sexual devoids everyone involved of their dignity.”

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It’s a confusing time to be a Slayer fan. The band had us all convinced they were stepping away from the stage for good in 2019, but this year everything changed.

They originally announced they were calling it quits and carried out a farewell tour, but in early 2024 they announced they’d be appearing at three festivals in the US this summer – Louder Than Life, Riot Fest and Aftershock.

• READ MORE: Kerry King was “a little bit surprised” he didn’t get asked to join another band after Slayer broke up: “I don’t suck!”

And it turns out it’s not just the fans who’ve been surprised by these three random shows as even Anthrax’s Scott Ian, who joined the crew on their supposed final tour, feels just as perplexed.

Speaking to Classic Rock, Ian reveals, “I wrote to Kerry [King] and said, ‘Thanks for making me look like a liar.’ We were on Slayer’s goodbye tour for over a hundred shows. During that year and a half together I got the sense that if they said [they] were ending, then that’s what was happening.”

He adds, “Personally I felt it was too soon – the world needs Slayer – but I took them at their word on that. I really felt that they would be the one band that when they said they were retiring, they’d be done for good.”

King apparently wrote back to Ian stating that their reunion is temporary, for these three shows only. Ian, however, not so sure: “I replied: ‘Yeah, we’ll see,’” he says.

King, it seemed, thought things were truly over too, given that after the band decided to step away he began work on a solo project – an album titled From Hell I Rise, due for release this month.

Created with Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda, former Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph, former Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel, and former Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders, the record has been described as an “extension of Slayer” by King.

With that said, he also tried to avoid recruiting to many former Slayer members of concerns his new work would just be branded as “Slayer Lite”. Originally, King did consider bringing Gary Holt along, but decided not to for this very reason.

You can check out his latest solo single below:

Head to the Slayer website to find out more about their live dates.

The post “I wrote to Kerry and said, ‘Thanks for making me look like a liar’”: Anthrax’s Scott Ian shares his surprise at Slayer coming out of retirement appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

It’s hard to get into Wilco partly because they’ve made it hard – beyond the size and scope of their catalogue, they’re the sort of band who’d make a whole record to prove you wrong if you said they sounded a certain way. It’s maddening but also consistently surprising, grumpy, scruffy fun.

• READ MORE: Five Essential St. Vincent Songs That Guitarists Need to Hear

Formed in Chicago 30 years ago following the dissolution of the rollicking alt-country band Uncle Tupelo, Wilco have been led down any number of rabbit holes by guitarist-vocalist Jeff Tweedy and bassist John Stirratt, the only surviving members from a first decade that had a revolving door vibe to it. In 2004, with the arrival of guitarist Nels Cline and keyboard player Pat Sansone, though, they settled into a line up that has remained reliable even while continuing to chase down different sounds album to album.

Across 13 LPs Wilco have written wistful pop songs, mean-spirited jams, trad country weepies and open-ended rock epics that have been adored, derided and debated with equal fervour by cooler-than-thou critics and people who have a favourite model of New Balance shoes. In that spirit, here are five songs to get you started that you will almost certainly disagree with once you’ve picked the top layer of varnish off the band’s discography.

Start Here: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2001)

An obvious pick for the heads, but maybe a necessary one for what it says about Wilco’s approach to pop music, which seems to come from a place of reverence one minute and disgust the next. Yankee Hotel Foxtrot is their most famous record – you know the album sleeve, perhaps something about its groundbreaking digital release after their label Reprise got cold feet – and also their masterpiece.

It’s nebulous, confrontational, experimental, but also firmly grounded in the mechanics of lean, melody-forward writing. Propelled by new drummer Glenn Kotche’s freeform approach this is a loping, strange song that’s also the catchiest thing you’ve heard today. Its guitars are like macaroni pieces stuck to a sheet of paper – they stick out as textures, from acoustic strumming to feedback and washes of static that act as auxiliary percussion.

Then Go Here: Can’t Stand It (Summerteeth, 1999)

Before they took a hammer to it with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Summerteeth’s gleaming pop-rock style felt like Wilco finding their feet and, potentially, somewhere to put down roots. It excised them from the alt-country scene that they’d existed amid since the Uncle Tupelo days, with its sleek staging at odds with their formative rough and tumble. Here they delved into the mini pop symphonies of the 1960s, serving up songs where the bells and whistles weren’t beside the point, they kind of were the point.

But, true to that mode, they were miserable while doing it, assuming that everything was just going to collapse. On the opener Can’t Stand It this sense of doomed grandiosity is beautifully illustrated by the chorus drop’s literal bells, which are followed by the timeless simplicity of its guitar and vocal melodies. They cut through the wall of sound, suddenly out there alone. “You know it’s all beginning to feel like it’s ending,” Tweedy sings. “No love’s as random as God’s love. I can’t stand it.”

Stop Off Here: Impossible Germany (Sky Blue Sky, 2007)

If you were writing a movie script, Cline’s first record with Wilco would have been Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. From a vibe perspective it makes perfect sense. A jazz-reared Thurston Moore collaborator would have been at home there, more so than on the woolly Sky Blue Sky, a record Pitchfork’s Rob Mitchum believed “nakedly exposes the dad-rock gene Wilco has always carried but courageously attempted to disguise.” Now, that’s essentially true. It’s just that it’s not necessarily that deep of a burn.

Amid these sedate, considered songs, Cline gets way out there on Side With the Seeds, blowing a proggy hole through its crushed velvet chest, and loses himself in Impossible Germany, spinning off into something that has often been observed to resemble Television’s twin-guitar voyages. Given the fact that Moore bought his first Jazzmaster because Tom Verlaine played one, maybe this leap isn’t as big as it initially appeared.

Almost Home: At Least That’s What You Said (A Ghost is Born, 2004)

Please welcome a different guitar weirdo into the equation: Jim O’Rourke. Having mixed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, he stepped up to produce its follow up. A Ghost is Born found Tweedy pushing further into the outer reaches of Wilco’s sound, with songs that sprawled to marathon lengths and bled over genre borders. It would be easy to pick Spiders (Kidsmoke), where O’Rourke decorates its motorik pulse with a barely legible scrawl of notes, here but instead it’s interesting to note the lengths to which Tweedy himself goes on At Least That’s What You Said, thrashing and wailing through solos that put roiling water between its closing sections and its measured opening. There is something decidedly War on Drugsy about its denouement, bringing dad-rock back into the chat and posing an interesting question about what’s cool and when.

Nightcap: Ten Dead (Cousin, 2023)

At a time when Wilco might have fully surrendered to age and complacency, their most recent record found them calling on outside help to break apart their methods all over again. This time around it was Cate Le Bon in the role of disruptor-in-chief, with the Welsh psych-pop great intent on foregrounding the sense of restlessness that underpinned the band’s best work. Halfway through Ten Dead it’s tempting to vacate the planet in the company of Cline, who finds a pocket of spaced-out bliss for a solo that is brilliantly punctured by Tweedy’s sad-sack delivery of lyrics that recount dead-eyed American indifference to mass shootings. “I woke up this morning and I went back to bed,” he sings. “Ten dead, ten dead.”

Where next?

Uncle Tupelo makes sense as a starting point, particularly given the hangover from those days that Wilco carried around in their earliest work. There is a tendency to want to focus on their curveballs – see also collaborative records with Billy Bragg or The Minus 5 – but even in their more prosaic pop-rock output Wilco are a serious band, with gravitas and wit to match gilt-edged melody. Why not chase a Schmilco cut with something wild from Cline’s backstory while reading Tweedy’s excellent autobiography? Cover every base.

The post Five essential Wilco songs that guitar players need to hear appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

AC/DC are due to kick off their highly anticipated Power Up Europe tour later this week, and have shared a snap on social media of themselves rehearsing for trek to pump up the excitement.

The photo shows the new lineup – core members Brian Johnson, Angus Young and Stevie Young – alongside bassist Christ Chaney and drummer Matt Laug, who replace Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd, respectively.

• READ MORE: “Angus put me through my paces. Everything was a test to see how I’d handle it”: Jet singer recalls “intense” AC/DC audition

“In the studio, gearing up for the Power Up tour, kicking off in Gelsenkirchen, Germany in just one week!” the post’s accompanying captions reads.

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A post shared by AC/DC (@acdc)

Stevie Young – nephew of both Angus and Malcolm – began filling in for rhythm guitarist Malcolm when he was diagnosed with dementia in 2014. Upon Malcolm Young’s death in 2017, Stevie became a permanent member of the Aussie rock titans.

Meanwhile, Chris Chaney – former bassist of Jane’s Addiction – fills in for Cliff Williams, who played with the band during their Power Trip festival performance last year, but opted not to join the full Power Up tour. Matt Laug made his debut with the band at Power Trip, which took place in October last year.

Power Trip was also the first time singer Brian Johnson performed with the band since 2016 after taking a hiatus due to hearing issues. Johnson is now fully back, though, and will perform throughout the Power Up tour.

The Power Up tour will see the five-piece play 21 dates from 17 May to 17 August, in Germany, Spain, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, the UK, Slovakia, Belgium, France and Ireland. It follows AC/DC’s 17th studio album of the same name, which arrived in 2020.

For tickets, head to AC/DC’s official website.

The post See AC/DC’s new lineup in action in pre-Power Up tour rehearsal photo appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Dave Grohl pranked fans watching Foo Fighters headline at Welcome To Rockville festival last weekend by tearing through Van Halen’s Eruption guitar solo, for cameras to reveal the playing was actually coming from Wolfgang Van Halen hidden away behind the stage.

Wolf had previously said he doesn’t plan on playing songs from his father’s catalogue anymore, having played them at the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts back in 2022 as a way of saying goodbye, but those who know Wolfie will know he has a soft spot for Grohl, and seemingly made an exception for the fun prank.

• READ MORE: What guitars does Dave Grohl use? These are the instruments that power the Foo Fighters

At the festival last Saturday, the Foos covered some short bursts of tracks from the Beastie Boys, Ramones, and Nine Inch Nails midway through their set, before Grohl joked, “You know who never gets a fuckin’ solo? Me, god damn it, I never get a fucking solo!”

He added, “So, since this is the last night of the trip, I’m gonna do a fucking solo. How about that? You may think, ‘That guy can’t play a fucking solo.’ You wanna see me do a guitar solo right now?” He asked the crowd.

Grohl then turned his back slightly to the crowd to begin tapping away at Eruption, before eventually lifting both his hands in the air to show he wasn’t really playing. Cameras displayed on big screens then flipped to Wolfgang, who jokingly tries to play it cool.

Wolfie also plays a short snippet of another Van Halen classic, Hot For Teacher, before the Foos eventually go on to play My Hero and dedicate the song to both Wolf and his father Eddie.

Watch below:

Wolfgang’s band Mammoth WVH will be joining the Foo Fighters on tour this summer across a few dates throughout the US. The tour will also see support from The Hives, Pretenders and more along the way.

View all upcoming tour dates for the Foo Fighters.

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While Jason Momoa is mostly known for his hugely successful acting career – which has seen him play the likes of Aquaman and Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones – he’s also heavily entrenched in the music world.

When he’s not spotted moshing in the pit during Metallica and Pantera shows, Momoa finds himself quite the instrument collector; last year, he purchased the first Martin D-28 ever made, and in 2022 he bought the last available Gibson “Greeny” Les Paul replica.

• READ MORE: Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready falls off stage mid-solo – and keeps playing anyway

And his instrument collection has expanded a little more while making his show On The Roam, which sees him travel across the US to meet “extraordinary individuals blazing their own path”, including craftsmen, motorcycle enthusiasts, musicians and athletes.

Now, a selection of instruments collected on his travels are going up for auction at Julien’s Auctions in its upcoming Music Icons sale.

There are nine instruments up for grabs: three Gibson Custom Les Pauls, including Slash’s Jessica and Billy Gibbons’ Pearly Gates signature models that are hand-signed by each guitarist, respectively; three Fender Custom Shop models, a ‘51 Esquire, ‘54 Strat Relic and Nocaster Relic; and then two bass guitars and a ukulele.

The basses include a Les Claypool-stage-played Pachyderm model – which has an estimated sell price of $20,000-$40,000 – and a Carl Thompson bass which is expected to sell for between $4,000 and $6,000.

As for the Pachyderm model, it’s been given the nickname “Momoa’s Koa” by luthiers for its “exceptionally figured top made of wood found only in Hawaii”.

The Music Icons sale is due to take place 29-30 May, with proceeds going to charities including MusiCares, the Fender Play Foundation, Make A Wish and St. Judes Children’s Research Hospital.

For more information, head to Julien’s Auctions.

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Kerry King’s solo album From Hell I Rise lands this week, and he nearly asked fellow Slayer guitarist Gary Holt to join his band to record it.

Things became a little confusing at the Slayer camp earlier this year after the thrash metal outfit, who had formerly said they were calling it quits in 2019, announced their return at three US festivals later this year – Louder Than Life, Riot Fest and Aftershock.

• READ MORE: Kerry King on putting aside his differences with Tom Araya for Slayer reunion, “We’re professionals”

It’s still unclear whether these will be the only reunion dates or if the band will be making a full comeback later down the line, but King made it clear at the time of their split that he wasn’t ready to retire yet, and took to making an album of his own.

Eventually, King recruited Death Angel vocalist Mark Osegueda, former Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph, former Vio-Lence and Machine Head guitarist Phil Demmel, and former Hellyeah bassist Kyle Sanders for the album. So, why did Holt not make the line up?

In an interview for the Spring 2024 print edition of Revolver, King explains, “I started to realise that the more pieces I take from Slayer, the more it’s gonna be called ‘Slayer Lite.’ I mean, of course it’s gonna sound like Slayer; I wrote 90 percent of the last record. But if I take less with me from Slayer, there’ll be less for people to stand on, as far as making lazy comparisons.

“If I had to do Slayer over again after [Jeff] Hanneman [who died in 2013], 110 times out of a 100, I would pick Gary Holt. He was the right guy. But the perception of people, it weighs on me, and I don’t want to deal with that,” he says.

“I love Gary. He’s a great player. But I already had my one dude from Slayer I was definitely keeping. And Phil had only played four gigs with Slayer, so that comparison wasn’t going to be there; also, he impressed the fuck out of me when he came out to do those Europe gigs. It was just a couple of days after his Machine Head tour had ended, and he learned 18 or 20 of our songs on short notice.

He goes on to add, “He also had to learn our stage tempos, and where the pyro was. If Judas Priest had asked me to come out in four days and figure all that out, I couldn’t have done it. But Phil did it for us.”

Find out more about King’s solo project and view his upcoming live dates.

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