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“It was hell”: Steve Lillywhite on producing The Rolling Stones at their most divided
Grammy-winning producer Steve Lillywhite has opened up about one of the toughest studio experiences of his career, describing his time working with The Rolling Stones as “hell”.
Speaking on the Word in Your Ear podcast, Lillywhite reflects on producing the band’s 1986 album Dirty Work – a record made during one of the most tumultuous periods in the Stones’ history.
According to the producer, tensions between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at the time were running so high that the two barely interacted in the studio.
“I worked with Keith and Mick when they were not talking to each other at all,” Lilywhite recalls [via UCR], noting that the pair spoke to one another for “maybe one hour out of the whole time that we were making the record.”
“It was hell,” he adds. “They literally weren’t [in the same room].”
With the band’s two creative figureheads keeping their distance, Lilywhite found himself stuck in the middle, relaying messages back and forth between them: “I would have one come up to me go ‘blah blah blah blah. And I would go and say [the message] to the other one. And he would go, ‘You tell him, blah blah blah blah.’”
“I say I was [American diplomat] Henry Kissinger.”
Despite the challenges, the producer says the experience left a lasting mark on how he approaches recording sessions. One key lesson? Keep the studio doors open.
“I learned this from The Rolling Stones: Never stop people coming into the studio. Always have an open-door policy,” he says.
“When people come in, and they listen to something, I sort of hear it through their ears. So there might be something that I’m, subconsciously, I’m thinking it’s not quite right, but it hasn’t come to the conscious yet. Whereas when someone’s in there listening, and I’m playing them a rough mix, I go, ‘Got it. Now I know what we have to change.’”
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Sharon Osbourne in talks with Live Nation to revive Ozzfest: “It was something Ozzy was very passionate about”
Sharon Osbourne has revealed she’s in early discussions about resurrecting Ozzfest, the iconic metal festival she co-founded three decades ago alongside her late husband, Black Sabbath legend Ozzy Osbourne.
Speaking in a new interview with Billboard, the longtime manager – who guided Ozzy’s solo career for decades – confirms she is “talking to [concert promoters] Live Nation” about bringing the event back, with a tentative return pencilled in for 2027. While Ozzfest built its reputation on heavy music, Sharon explains that the revived edition could incorporate artists outside the traditional rock and metal sphere. “I’d like to mix up the genres,” she says.
“It was something Ozzy was very passionate about: giving young talent a stage in front of a lot of people,” she adds. “We really started metal festivals in this country. It was [replicated but] never done with the spirit of what ours was, because ours was a place for new talent. It was like summer camp for kids.”
Launched in 1996 after Lollapalooza declined to book Ozzy, Ozzfest began as a short run of dates in Phoenix, Arizona and San Bernardino, California. Ozzy headlined the inaugural shows, backed by a bill stacked with heavy hitters including Slayer, Danzig, Biohazard and Sepultura.
From there, the festival quickly evolved into a proving ground for the next generation of heavy acts. Slipknot, Limp Bizkit and System Of A Down were among the now-household names that appeared on the tour around the time of their debut releases.
Ozzfest eventually expanded beyond the US, spawning international editions in the UK, Germany, Belgium and Japan. Its last outing was a one-off event in Inglewood, California in 2018.
Sharon previously spoke about the festival’s disappearance in 2023, attributing its cancellation after over two decades to “greedy” management.
“We made a profit. But it was not like – we couldn’t retire on it,” she said on The Osbournes Podcast. “And managers and agents wanted more and more and more, and it just wasn’t cost-effective anymore. We stopped because it just wasn’t cost-effective.
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In pictures: the stunning, cool and downright weird guitars of the Grammy Awards 2026
While most people are tuning into the Grammy awards for the fashion, the celebrities or the chaotic potential for someone to go off-script in an acceptance speech, here at Guitar.com we’ve got our eyes peeled for one thing, and one thing only – guitars.
Despite the ever-present grumbling about the lack of overt guitar-centric artists in the big hitter categories, the ceremony itself is always a reminder that regardless of how prominent it ends up being in the studio recording, the guitar remains a uniquely potent weapon in the live arena – and there were plenty of eye-catching guitars on stage throughout the many superstar performances.
What was particularly interesting about this year’s crop was how many weird and leftfield instruments we noticed on the Crypto.com Arena stage across the evening – so often the ceremony is wall-to-wall Fender, Gibson and occasional Martin, but 2026 was certainly a little more diverse in that regard.
Let’s dive in to some of our most notable highlights from the show.
Justin Bieber’s Yamaha RGX
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Where else can you start really than with the most eye-catching performance of the night, where Biebs himself decided to pair some blue silk boxer shorts with an… 1980s Yamaha RGX?!
Yep, it’s weird man. We certainly didn’t have Bieber becoming the world’s most notable standard-bearer for obscure Asian-made SuperStrats of the late shred era, but here we are. Nice colour too!
María Zardoya’s Fender Mustang
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
The frontwoman of bilingual indie-pop The Marías is usually seen wielding a Fender Duo-Sonic, but for the band’s performance – a celebration of their nomination in the Best New Artist category – she traded up for a seriously cool black Mustang.
Interestingly, the headstock looks like the ‘Mustang’ part of the decal has been worn or sanded off, implying that this might be a vintage or at the very least well-loved guitar.
Bruno Mars’ Gibson Les Paul Custom
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Mars had the distinction of performing twice during the Grammy ceremony, including opening the festivities with the performance of his Record Of The Year-nominated duet with former Blackpink member Rosé, APT.
Despite being a honoured as a Fender signature artist just over a year ago, Mars opted to perform on the evening using a classic ‘Tuxedo’ Gibson Les Paul Custom – it certainly fit the vibe of the black tie performance nicely.
Leon Thomas’ custom mirror Strat
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Fender has some form for producing custom guitars for artists to use for the Grammys – remember H.E.R.’s transparent Strat for the 2019 ceremony? – and rising R&B phenom Leon Thomas clearly noticed as he traded in his usual sunburst Strats for something altogether more unique to celebrate his six nominations (and two wins).
While the lighting of the performance probably didn’t show it off to its full magnificence, Thomas rocked a custom mirror-finished HSS Strat, with matching headstock and pickguard. Good luck keeping the fingerprints off that one.
Slash’s flamey black Les Paul
Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Gibson’s most loyal and long-term endorsee playing one of the innumerable Les Pauls Gibson have probably sent to him over the years isn’t exactly headline news, but most of the Cat In The Hat’s current signature line-up sit squarely in the ‘autumnal’ colour palette.
The guitar he used to perform in the Grammys tribute to the late great Ozzy Osbourne was certainly not that – instead it was a dark, almost black, burst with a lovely flamed maple top underneath. A fitting guitar to pay tribute to the Prince Of Darkness, but might we see this being added to the Slash Les Paul line-up soon too? Don’t bet against it.
Andrew Watt’s Jaydee Custom
Photo by John Shearer/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Over on the other side of the stage to Slash for the Ozzy tribute was Grammy-winning producer, guitar nut and veteran rock star whisperer extraordinaire Andrew Watt. But rather than go down the obvious path and pick up a Gibson SG for the performance, Watt came out using something that only true guitar nerds and Sabbath aficionados would recognise.
Back in the late 70s, a Birmingham-based guitar tech and luthier called John Diggins built Tony Iommi a guitar. That SG-shaped guitar – ‘Old Boy’ – would become one of Iommi’s most famous and beloved instruments, while Diggins would continue building guitars and basses under the Jaydee Custom Guitars brand for the next 40 years.
Diggins died suddenly in 2024, prompting Iommi to pay tribute to his skill, and call him “a very dear friend”. For the Grammy performance, Watt walked out with a white, relic’d Jaydee SG – paying guitar nerd tribute both to Iommi himself, but also the luthier whose work he relied on for so many years.
Lukas Nelson’s Gibson Byrdland
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Performing at the In Memorium segment alongside fellow country stars Reba McEntire and Brandy Clark (who was herself sporting a lovely battered old Martin 000), Nelson stole the guitar show somewhat with a suitably classy big Gibson.
The Byrdland is something of a rare duck in the Golden Era Gibson stakes. Introduced in 1955 as a thinner-bodied version of the L-5, it was the basis for the more stripped down ES-350T that Chuck Berry made his own, and then later got a Florentine cutaway and became Ted Nugent’s guitar of choice. Nelson’s black version has the original cutaway, and might be a 1970s version.
Wyclef Jean’s Taylor T5
Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
One of the highlights of the ceremony saw Fugees legends Lauryn Hill and Wyclef Jean reunite to lead an all-star tribute to two sadly missed musical legends we lost in 2025 – D’Angelo and Roberta Flack.
Jean was playing guitar as part of the performance and brought out a lesser seen but still revolutionary piece of guitar history – the hybrid electric-acoustic Taylor T5z.
Raphael Saadiq’s Minarik Diablo
Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
It’s not often that you write the words ‘Minarik guitars’ and ‘Grammy awards’ in the same sentence, but we have former Prince bassist and Grammy-winning producer Raphael Saadiq to thank for this one.
While Minarik’s bizarre shapes and gaudy visuals make the brand great fodder for ‘what the hell is that?!’ videos from the NAMM show floor, Saadiq’s choice to play this for the D’Angelo/Flack tribute was actually a very poignant one. D’Angelo was a fan of the Diablo model, and regularly used a pearled-out custom model on stage – Saadiq’s decision to rock this more demure one in tribute is a lovely way of acknowledging D’Angelo’s guitar impact.
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Justin Bieber played an obscure, cheap 80s guitar at the Grammy Awards 2026 for some reason
Justin Bieber probably isn’t the first name on your list when you think of celebrity guitar guys, but the pop star’s choice of guitar for his performance at the 2026 Grammy Awards might indicate he’s more One Of Us than you might expect.
The majority of the attention garnered by Bieber’s performance of his nominated-song Yukon focused on the fact that it was stripped down in pretty much every way you can imagine – the one-time teen heart throb performing the song solo wearing just a pair of silk blue boxer shorts – but our well-honed guitar sense was more interested in what he had slung over his shoulder.
The Grammys are prime real estate for the big guitar brands, who no doubt bend over backwards to ensure that artists performing at the globally televised event are using their gear – remember Fender producing a custom transparent Stratocaster for H.E.R to use in the Grammys (and later the MTV Music Awards) a few years back? – but clearly nobody told Biebs.
Because for this most high-profile performance, the lefty guitarist chose to use a… purple Yamaha RGX?! Yep, this obscure relic of the pre-Pacifica days of Yamaha courting the 80s shred market somehow ended up on stage at the Grammy awards in 2026.
It’s not like it’s an expensive guitar either – while there aren’t a lot of them still in circulation, you can currently find various examples for sale in other colours in various states of disrepair for sub-$500. It’s hard to fully tell what specific RGX model it is from the performance, but the pickup and knob configuration would imply it’s a RGX 612S.
Primarily made in Taiwan in the mid-to-late 80s – though some models for the Japanese market were made in Japan – the RGX 612S has everything you’d expect a pre-grunge SuperStrat to offer. That meant a HSS configuration (with coil split bridge bucker), bulky Yamaha RM-Pro locking tremolo system, basswood body with maple neck and rosewood board, and of course that eye-catching violet finish.
Bieber has been pictured playing guitars many times of course – but it’s always previously been fairly unremarkable fare from Fender, Martin or Gibson. The RGX 612S is the sort of leftfield curio that implies that he’s at least more of a considered guitar buyer than we might have otherwise expected. Or maybe he just likes the colour, who can say.
Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
More evidence for Bieber’s guitar interest can also be found on the floor for the performance. In what is probably overkill for a performance where he loops a single 20-second guitar part, he’s got the big boy Boss RC-600 Loop Station – with its ability to playback six simultaneous stereo phrase tracks – holding things down. And as if that wasn’t enough, he’s got it all running into a first-generation Neural DSP Quad Cortex – did you not have time to upgrade to the QC Mini before the show, Justin?!
While playing a random and rare Yamaha guitar from the 80s by no means confirms Bieber as a Guitar Guy of course – but it certainly makes us wonder about it a lot more than we did before the performance. The colour is perhaps the most notable part of it – violet-finished RGX guitars from this era don’t appear very often, and there aren’t currently any for sale on Reverb. We did notice that one sold 10 years ago though that was in SSS configuration – has Bieber been keeping it in the stash all that time and routed it out for a full-sized humbucker?! We just don’t know.
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Watch: Slash, Duff McKagan, Andrew Watt, Chad Smith and Post Malone lead fiery Ozzy Osbourne tribute at the Grammys
The 68th Grammy Awards briefly turned into a metal arena last night, as an all-star lineup paid tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne with a thunderous performance of Black Sabbath’s War Pigs.
Taking the stage at Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena, Slash, Andrew Watt, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith and Post Malone joined forces for the Paranoid classic, complete with towering walls of pyro and an audience that included Osbourne’s wife Sharon and their children.
Guitar fans were treated to a particularly memorable moment during the solo section, with Slash and Watt trading licks side by side and Malong joining in to help Watt with a burst of finger tapping.
The chemistry onstage felt fitting, given that every musician involved had previously worked with Osbourne in some capacity. Malone famously duetted with the Sabbath frontman on Take What You Want and It’s a Raid; Watt served as executive producer on Ozzy’s final two albums – Ordinary Man (2020) and Patient Number 9 (2022) – while Slash featured him on 2010’s Crucify the Dead. McKagan and Smith also contributed to Osbourne’s later solo work.
As the band powered through the song’s closing section, screens behind them displayed images honouring other recently lost figures from the rock world, including ex-Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley, Mick Ralphs, Anthony Jackson and producer Roy Thomas Baker.
WAR PIGS
A tribute to Ozzy Osbourne – Slash, Duff McKagan, Chad Smith, Andrew Watt and Post Malone#GRAMMYSpic.twitter.com/d8ey3tWfzv
— Jen
(@TheGNRGiirl) February 2, 2026
Elsewhere in the ceremony, Osbourne’s legacy surfaced again when Yungblud picked up the Grammy for Best Rock Performance. He shared the award with Nuno Bettencourt, Frank Bello and Adam Wakeman for their rendition of Sabbath’s Changes, recorded at last year’s epic Back to the Beginning farewell concert.
Yungblud, who had formed a close bond with Osbourne in recent years, embraced Sharon Osbourne onstage before delivering an emotional speech.
“To grow up loving an idol that helps you figure out your identity, not only as a musician but also as a man, is something that I’m truly grateful for,” he said. “But then to get to know them and form a relationship with them, honour them at their final show and receive this because of it, is something that I and I think we’re all finding so strange to comprehend. We fucking love you, Ozzy!”
Osbourne died in July 2025 at the age of 76, just weeks after his final onstage appearance at Back to the Beginning.
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Strymon Olivera review – a notoriously lo-fi delay effect gets the hi-fi treatment
$259/£259, strymon.net
The beauty of modern digital effects is that you can recreate the sounds of arcane vintage devices without worrying about operating noise, reliability issues… or having to understand how those kooky old things actually work.
Take the Strymon Olivera: the online manual even includes an illustrated guide to the inner workings of a real oil-can echo, and I’ve studied it closely, but I still can’t fully get my head around what’s going on in there. What I do know is that, in the hands of Strymon’s engineers, a delay can be grubby and strange without being a pain to live with. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Image: Press
Strymon Olivera – what is it?
This much is clear enough: an oil-can echo is so called because it uses a spinning disc inside a metal can as its medium, lubricated by oil; the record/playback heads, meanwhile, are chunks of conductive rubber. Doesn’t sound like the last word in audio fidelity, does it? But, as with tape delay, it’s the imperfections that make it so appealing – and ripe for digital emulation.
Strymon’s effort follows the compact format of its Brig and EC-1 delays, with the same five knobs and three-way mode switch. In this case the switch is for selecting either or both of the playback heads, and the knobs include modulation rate and intensity. The added modern features include stereo output, MIDI and expression pedal control, plus a range of secondary functions – notably adjustable tone on the repeats, true or buffered bypass, and analogue or digital dry-through.
Incidentally, ‘oil-can’ is being used as a compound modifier here so I’m hyphenating it, if you don’t mind. We don’t have to abandon the basics of grammar just because Strymon has, do we?
Image: Press
Strymon Olivera – what does it sound like?
It’s well made, it’s easy to use and it isn’t unduly hissy – in other words, it’s a Strymon. The effect itself, however, will make you swear you’ve plugged into something cobbled together out of old dishwasher parts in a strange-smelling garage.
The ‘lo-fi’ aspect of this delay is comprised of three separate elements: tonal filtering, overlapping echoes, and a nice bit of wobble. So first of all, while the dry signal stays crisp, the repeats are decidedly dark. You can brighten them up to an extent, but Strymon has elected to stay within the bounds of authenticity here rather than really opening things up.
Some overlapping occurs even with only one playback head engaged, the effect beginning to trip over itself a little after the first couple of repeats. It’s rather nice, and surely won’t clutter up your sound because the attack is so soft. Engaging both long and short playback heads together adds more rhythmic complexity, with the repeats still starting out fairly clean and spaced out but then gradually dissolving into a reverby mush.
The modulation is a gentle pitch vibrato, which sounds more like chorus once it’s blended with the dry signal. This adds a tasty bit of depth to the sound, especially if you’re running the Olivera in a stereo setup using a TRS cable. The stereo picture isn’t hugely expansive, though, and there’s no ping-pong option for splitting the two heads left and right.
There is, however, an option for controlling as many knobs as you want with an expression pedal. The manual includes detailed instructions for setting this up – but I just plugged my Moog EP-3 straight in, maxed out the ‘regen’ knob with my toe down and let the saturated self-oscillating chaos begin. It’s a riot… but, this being Strymon, a thoroughly disciplined riot.
Image: Press
Strymon Olivera – should I buy it?
Let’s take a step back: is this effect different enough from tape delay that you need to own both? I’d say probably not, but it’s certainly a viable alternative with a character of its own. Beyond that question, what you are getting with the Olivera – impeccable audio quality aside – is a bunch of potentially handy added features that cheaper oil-can emulators can’t offer. So if you like playing in stereo, or creating ferociously snowballing squawks and screeches with an expression pedal, it could be a canny purchase.
Image: Press
Strymon Olivera alternatives
More affordable options than the Olivera include the Catalinbread Adineko ($209.99/£199.99) and JHS 3 Series Oil Can Delay ($99/£99); a more expensive one, with some soundscapey skills thrown in, is the Old Blood Noise Endeavors Black Fountain Stereo ($329/£299).
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Noah Kahan found global acclaim with his Stick Season album – and he’s just announced its followup
Singer-songwriter Noah Kahan has announced his highly anticipated fourth album The Great Divide, kicking things off with its first single and title track, out now.
Arriving 24 April via Island/Mercury Records, The Great Divide finds Kahan reflecting on his rapid-but-deserved rise to global acclaim in recent years, which was supercharged by his 4x Platinum 2022 album Stick Season. That album’s title track was a breakout single which earned him numerous Grammy nominations, billions of streams, and even sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden and Boston’s Fenway Park.
Produced by Kahan’s Stick Season collaborator Gabe Simon and Grammy-winning producer Aaron Dessner, The Great Divide was recorded at a secluded farm outside Nashville, Gold Pacific Studio in Nashville and Dessner’s famed New York studio, Long Pond.
“The last five years have been the single most challenging, complicatedly beautiful, and life-altering of my career,” Kahan explains.
“I was somewhere I understood, and suddenly I was somewhere completely foreign. I was living in the opportunity I always wanted but felt disoriented and unsure of whether I deserved it.
“Writing for this album was a balancing act of trying to go back in time and move forward in the same moment. Songwriting has always been the way I reflect on my life, and I hope these songs show you a glimpse of what this journey has looked like.”
You can listen to the album’s lead single and title track below. A music video will be premiering during Mastercard’s 2026 commercial break at the Grammy Awards, airing this Sunday, 1 February on CBS.
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Brian May says Queen won’t tour the US again: “It’s not what it was. Everyone is thinking twice about going there at the moment”
Queen wrapped their last US tour back in 2023, but guitarist Brian May says they have no plans to head stateside again any time soon on account of it being too “dangerous” to do so.
In a new interview with the Daily Mail, May explains the band’s decision not to tour America again for the foreseeable future.
“America is a dangerous place at the moment, so you have to take that into account,” May says. “It’s very sad because I feel like Queen grew up in America and we love it, but it’s not what it was.”
Queen have toured extensively in America throughout their career, performing hundreds of times in the mid-to-late-‘70s and early-80s, and with singer Adam Lambert since 2014.
But, Brian May adds: “Everyone is thinking twice about going there at the moment.”
May’s comments come amid heightened tensions in the US as thousands protest against ICE – United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement – following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE agents.
Many musicians have spoken out against ICE and Donald Trump in recent weeks, including Green Day, Neil Young, Moby, Duran Duran, Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Bruce Springsteen, the latter of whom recently released a new single, Streets of Minneapolis, in protest against ICE and Trump.
Elsewhere, Brian May recently commented on the state of things, saying if people spent more time being creative, the world would be a better place.
“I feel despondent about the world of humans,” he said. “It keeps me awake at night. The cruelty, the ignorance, the lies, the rewriting of history. I think an understanding and love of art and music make it impossible to be the kind of person who wants to go out and be cruel to others.
“There’s so much suffering in the world, why would we want to add to it? We’ve lost the ability to discuss things and respect other people’s point of view, we have a horrendous polarisation. If people spent more time looking at the stars and making music, none of this would be possible.”
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Pat Metheny doesn’t believe there’s much difference between rock, pop and jazz: “It all seemed more about the dress code than the music”
There’s a certain preoccupation with the idea of genres; we all love to signify our adherence to rock music, jazz, pop, EDM or whatever else floats our boat. But should we care as much as we do about placing our favourite music into well-defined categories?
In an interview in the latest issue of Uncut magazine, Jazz ace Pat Metheny suggests people place too much emphasis on the idea of musical genres.
“It’s always been kind of mysterious to me,” he says. “What is rock? What is pop? What is jazz?
“If I think of the spectrum of all the sounds that human beings could possible make, it is interesting to me how it’s so tightly clustered around a very tiny part of that spectrum that has to do with somebody playing the root on one, somebody smacking the crap out of two, maybe something on three, and then somebody smacking that crap out of four. It all seemed more about the dress code than the music… And I don’t get that, man. I’ve never gotten that.”
Let’s be honest, genres aren’t going anywhere. Humans are tribal; it’s in our nature to seek out and form groups with those with similar interests to us. Not to mention it’s hella fun to be at a rock show surrounded by thousands of fellow heavy music lovers. But at a certain point, does being too boxed in with the genres we like prevent us from being open to new music which may move us? Something to think about…
Elsewhere in the interview, Metheny reflects on how it took him “a couple years” to get into Jimi Hendrix.
“I did hear Are You Experienced and I was like, ‘Well, this cat, at least he can really play the blues.’
“I liked it, but I was just in a different place at that time. So it took me a couple years, and then I got it. I more than got it. Everything on those first two records, it’s just the greatest. The guy was incredible. In some ways, his thing was transcendent of guitar, even.
“It’s a little like Trane [John Coltrane] for me: the guy was probably the greatest saxophone player ever, but that’s about the fourth thing you would talk about with him. That’s not really what it’s about, and I think it’s the same way with Hendrix.”
You can view a full list of Pat Metheny’s upcoming live dates via his official website.
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“I brought my guitar, there was Rick, an engineer and the guys from Run DMC. One was late because they towed his rental car!”: Joe Perry on the recording of Walk This Way
Joe Perry has opened up about the now-legendary collaboration between Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. that turned Walk This Way into one of the most important crossover hits in rock history.
Speaking in a new interview with Guitar World, Perry shares how the unlikely team-up came together at a pivotal moment for both artists. By the mid-’80s, Aerosmith’s career had stalled, while Run-D.M.C. were rising stars in hip-hop. With some convincing from producer Rick Rubin, the two camps ended up in the studio together.
“It was a lot of fun and definitely a high point of our career,” Perry says of the 1986 remake, which not only reignited Aerosmith’s commercial fortunes but also helped introduced rap to a wider audience.
At the time, the guitarist was already getting an education in hip-hop at home: “My son, who was 11 or 12, was blasting it in his room. I dug the groove. It was really basic music; it’s all about rhythm and guys standing on a street corner with a boombox,” says Perry.
So when Rubin proposed linking up with Run-D.M.C., Aerosmith were game.
“Aerosmith was up for anything. That’s why our music goes from hard rock to almost heavy metal to blues to ballads. We thought, ‘Let’s try it!’”
The recording session itself, however, started off a little more chaotic than one would expect.
“We were, I think, in North Carolina,” Perry recalls. “They sent us plane tickets, and me and Steven [Tyler] went to Queens. I brought my guitar, and there was Rick, an engineer and the guys from Run-D.M.C., and one was late because they had towed his rental car. [Laughs] He was flipping out because he didn’t know what he was gonna do about it, but Rick kept saying, ‘Listen, you’ve got Aerosmith here. Focus. We’ll take care of the car later. Don’t worry about it.’ After that, everybody settled down.”
From there, the track quickly took shape: “We got the drum beat down, which was the common ground for the song – from our version and theirs. I think Rick said, ‘You’re using the drums to rap to anyway; you might as well take it all the way. Let’s try it.”
The guitarist also reveals how he ended up playing bass on the track, thanks to a surprise assist from some future hip-hop royalty.
“There were these three kids in the studio sitting on the couch… I didn’t know who they were, but they were cool guys and a little younger. We were listening to the mixdown, and Rick said, ‘I think we need to put a bass on it.’ We looked around the studio, and there were no basses, but one of the kids said, ‘My apartment ain’t too far, I got a bass there.’”
Those “kids” turned out to be the Beastie Boys: “He went to his apartment and was back in 15 minutes with a P-Bass or a Jazz. Anyway, I played the bass,” says Perry.
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“He took offense to that”: Dave Mustaine on why he and James Hetfield don’t talk anymore
Even decades later, the relationship between Dave Mustaine and former bandmate James Hetfield remains… complicated.
In a new interview, the former Metallica guitarist shares how a long-simmering dispute over songwriting credits on some of the band’s earliest material became a lasting “bone of contention” – and ultimately the reason he no longer speaks to Hetfield.
While Metallica has spent the last few years reissuing just about everything from Kill ’Em All through Load, one crucial piece of their history has mostly been left behind: the band’s first demo, No Life ’Til Leather. Recorded in 1982 by Hetfield, Mustaine, Ron McGovney, and Lars Ulrich, the tape has become the stuff of legend among fans – yet it’s only ever seen a small Record Store Day re-release in 2015, limited to just 10,000 copies.
Speaking to Classic Rock, Mustaine says the songwriting credits tied to the demo were never properly sorted out.
“I wrote all the music on Phantom Lord, all the music on Metal Militia, all the music on Jump In The Fire and The Mechanix,” he says. “And I wrote the lyrics for Jump In The Fire and The Mechanix. So do the math: if I wrote the music and James wrote the lyrics, then the credit is 50 per cent me, and 50 per cent James.”
“Well, that’s not what went down when I left. James and Lars figured out that they were going to give Lars some percentage of the songs he didn’t write anything on, and that happened on all four songs.”
The disagreement over credits became a “bone of contention” that affected Mustaine’s relationship with the band moving forward: “It just wasn’t fair. You guys got more money than God, why do you have to take my money?” says Mustaine.
And years later, when Metallica approached him about reissuing the demo, the conversation went south just as quickly.
“So James called me up, ‘Hey, man, we want to release this No Life ‘Til Leather thing, and we want to get all this publishing stuff straight, and, you know, we really don’t remember what went down,’” Mustaine recalls. “I said, ‘Well, that’s good, because I do. I remember what went down, and I can help with that.’”
“And then the conversation took a turn,” he continues. “James goes, ‘Well, that’s not the way that we remember it.’ And I went, ‘Well, James, honestly, there’s three ways to look at this: there’s your way, my way, and the truth, which is some combination of the two.’”
That remark, Mustaine says, shut down the discussion entirely: “That was the end of the conversation. He took offense to that, and we hung up, and I don’t remember speaking to him since then.”
Meanwhile, Mustaine and Megadeth are in the midst of what they’ve announced as the band’s final chapter. Following the release of their self-titled studio album last week, the group is set to embark on an extensive farewell tour running through 2026 and beyond.
View the full list of dates on the Megadeth website.
The post “He took offense to that”: Dave Mustaine on why he and James Hetfield don’t talk anymore appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“You never say never”: Zakk Wylde says new music with Pantera’s tribute lineup is possible
Could fans ever hear new music from Panetera’s touring tribute lineup? Possibly – but don’t expect it to arrive under the Pantera name, says Zakk Wylde.
The guitarist – who shares the stage with classic Pantera members Phil Anselmo and Rex Brown, alongside Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante – speaks in a new interview with Music Radar, where he addresses a question fans have wondered about since the lineup first hit the road 2022.
“Yeah, you never know,” says Wylde. “We could do something as like The Traveling Wilburys or something! [Laughs] Nah, you know what I mean, call it something different.”
Originally formed to honour the legacy of Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul, the tribute lineup has since taken in arena tours, major festivals and high-profile support slots with Metallica. With all four players juggling multiple bands and projects, though, finding time to create something in the studio together wouldn’t be easy.
“Well, I mean, Phil’s busy right now. He’s doing a Down thing, and then he has En Minor,” Wylde explains. “I think he’s doing a Scour thing, too. So Phil’s doing that. I think Rex is still writing, and he’s doing another Rex Brown record, and then, obviously, Charlie has Anthrax, so he’s been doing that, and then, obviously, we got the new Black Label [album], so I don’t know.”
Still, the door isn’t closed.
“I don’t know. But you never say never,” he continues. “Because it’s just like, we could all [be sitting there] one day, Philip might just call and go, ‘Guys, why don’t we get together, and we’ll do something, all of us – and we’ll get two other of our buddies in here, and then we’ll do a band.’ You know what I mean? So yeah, you never know.”
And if that hypothetical project ever did take shape, don’t assume it would stick to the current four-piece setup. Wylde imagines something looser – think rock supergroup as opposed to a traditional band.
“Like the Eagles or whatever!” he says. “They have six guys in a band or something like that, and everybody’s kind of singing or whatever, you know?”
In the meantime, Black Label Society’s US tour kicks off on 27 February in San Antonio, Texas, while Pantera’s next show is set for 24 May as part of a four-date European run supporting Metallica.
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Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD review: “it has the looks, the attitude and the sound that you’ve been dreaming of”
$3,789/£3,699, gretschguitars.com
The big-bodied outline of a single-cut Gretsch Falcon is one of the most recognisable guitar shapes out there. But even the kindest observer will admit that historic iterations of the double-cut Falcon have lacked the elegance of the single-cut – or indeed its double-cut rivals from other brands.
In recent years, however, the DC Falcon has enjoyed something of a resurgence – perhaps in part due to the benediction of the beatified Johnny Thunders, but also the success of the signature models of Guns N’ Roses man Richard Fortus. I can hand on heart say that those Fortus guitars are some of the best Gretsch guitars I’ve played in recent years.
Now then, fans of the form can enjoy a new “refined” take on the concept – and it all looks very promising indeed.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – what is it?
Professional Series guitars represent the top end of the Gretsch production instruments – they’re hand-crafted in Japan, and are the very best guitars the brand makes outside of the very limited number of USA instruments made by the Gretsch end of the Fender Custom Shop in Corona, California.
The “Center Block” bit of the model designation refers to the fact that while traditional Falcons were big, unrestrained hollowbody instruments, this is one of the semi-hollow designs that the company has been producing since 2013 in a concession to the demands of actual playing musicians.
The body shape here is, as Gretsch tells it, a “refined” version of the classic Gretsch DC design, and in practice this is a sleek instrument with tight curves. Seen in silhouette, the all-maple body is almost identical to a Gibson ES-355. This won’t be a coincidence.
There are other similarities here too; the most important being the 24.6” scale length – unusual for a Gretsch Falcon, which usually boasts a full fat 25.5”. This is halfway to a Fender Jaguar and a touch shorter than the Gibson standard. Whatever next?
It’s a limited edition beast, however, so if you’re keen to make friends with this particular bird of prey, you’ll have to be quick sharp about it.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – build quality and playability
Decanting the Falcon from its posh leather hard case, and a sigh of satisfaction is unavoidable. Let’s face it – the aesthetics of a Gretsch guitar are a large part of the story and will doubtless help prospective buyers decide if they want it, need it or can’t live without it.
This is a very grown-up guitar. Much like a midnight blue tuxedo looks better under lights than a black fabric variant, the Midnight Sapphire metallic finish, sparkly gold flake bindings and gold hardware are a definite statement of intent. It’s pretty fucking rock and roll to be honest.
That same gold hardware contains some very Gretsch flourishes. We have the bejewelled gold arrow knobs typical of a Falcon – in this case with a master volume on the treble side ear which has a treble bleed circuit, an individual volume knob for each pickup and a master no-load tone control with “Squeezebox” capacitor.
Premium appointments should be expected with a Professional Series guitar, and it doesn’t disappoint here.
For starters, we have a pair of bona fide TV Jones Filter’Trons bringing the noise – a Classic at the neck and a Classic plus at the bridge – this by itself is a reliable indication of an incoming good time.
Providing the wobble, we have the reassuring presence of a Bigsby B7, and praise be: it’s a string-through version, and therefore much less of a hassle to restring. The Adjusto-Matic bridge is pinned in place and while it lacks vibrato-friendly niceties such as roller saddles, Gretsch has provided stability with a set of locking Grover Imperial tuners.
Further professional accoutrements can be found in the shape of a set of gold strap locks tucked in the case pocket, and you even get Luminlay glow-in-the-dark position markers – which give you a much better chance of seeing what is going on under stage lights than a Gretsch Falcon usually affords the player.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – sounds
As a Gretsch enthusiast of many years, I have experienced the agony and the ecstasy of a Falcon on stage and in the studio. It has often been said – especially of vintage models – that if a Gretsch is the most reliable guitar in your arsenal then you need all the luck you can get. That’s why so many come with a horseshoe inlaid on the headstock.
Yes, they have their foibles, and as such I was pretty confident I would know what to expect with this guitar, but my expectations are blown out of the water with the first open chords.
There is magic to be found in a guitar built around a shorter scale length – the trebles are sweet, woody and expressive and if you get it right there should be no compromise in bass content or articulation. Gretsch has got this very right indeed.
The neck Filter’Tron is velvet smooth, complex and responsive. It makes even the simplest shell chords sound expensive and delicious. Add a touch of harmonic tremolo pedal, a gentle dip of the Bigsby and then bask in throbbingly joyful economy of style.
The middle position is a blender’s dream, which allows a little of the bite of the bridge unit to come through – hinting at delights to come. Okay, there’s only one tone control for both pickups, but the guitar is responsive enough to hand position and playing dynamics that this really doesn’t feel like a compromise.
The bridge pickup on its own is probably where these guitars will spend the majority of their time. From Neil Young-style rhythmic grumbling to Lana Del Rey sex riffs, this is an immediately nourishing sound – evocative and uniquely Gretsch.
But let’s face it, double-cut aficionados treading the path of Thunders, Fortus and Duffy will be just as intrigued to see how this Falcon handles the rough stuff. Backhanding it with a Crowther Hot Cake, I am immediately rewarded with a bellicose roar that would fit nicely in any genre that demands a more hooligan approach.
The scale length and rolled fretboard edges make for a grippy playing experience that encourages bends and double stops – the improved access to the higher end of the neck is also appreciable.
The humble chunk of maple inside the body is responsible for a huge amount of this guitar’s tonal identity. While there is ample “air” in the voice, the instrument remains immune to unwanted feedback at all but the highest volumes.
Wanted, longed-for, even cherished harmonic feedback however, is here in spades and there are few things more joyful than feeling that controllable surge under the fingertips – a touch of vibrato is all it takes to make the beast spiral off into a howl. Yum.
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – should I buy one?
If you’re training your sights on spending the thick end of four grand on a semi-acoustic electric guitar, you expect something special to come of it. Thankfully, Gretsch knows exactly what those sorts of players require and have perfectly calibrated this bird accordingly.
It’s also an impressively versatile and responsive instrument, no matter what you throw at – within reason. Okay, it’s rubbish for Malmsteen covers but you knew that already. In fact, that’s probably a relief.
This is indeed a special instrument – it has the looks, the attitude and the sound that you’ve been dreaming of. The only question is, have you got the minerals?
Image: Adam Gasson
Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD – alternatives
You’re dealing with some true heavyweights at this price point, and you won’t go far wrong with any of the options at this point, really. I was very impressed with the Heritage Custom Shop Core Collection H-555 ($4799) I reviewed last year. If you really want to give it the beans, price-wise, the Collings L-235 LC ($6,925) is a truly superlative take on the semi-hollow concept. Finally, if money really is no object, a Gibson Custom Murphy Lab 1964 ES-335 Reissue ($8,099) is hard to beat.
The post Gretsch Professional Series Falcon Center Block LTD review: “it has the looks, the attitude and the sound that you’ve been dreaming of” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Maybe he felt my part was getting bigger than a band member should be”: Jake E. Lee on contract negotiations for Ozzy’s The Ultimate Sin
![[L-R] Ozzy Osbourne and Jake E. Lee](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Jake-E-Lee-Ozzy-new-hero@2000x1500.jpg)
Six-string sidekick on landmark albums Bark at the Moon (1983) and The Ultimate Sin (1986), Jake E. Lee is an integral part of the Ozzy Obsourne story.
When hired by Ozzy in 1982 at the fledgling age of 25, he had limited experience, and as he explains in a new interview with Guitar World, his limited songwriting and publishing rights on Bark at the Moon led to him pursuing a more robust contract prior to the recording of The Ultimate Sin.
“They realised they got away with something on Bark at the Moon,” Lee explains. “They knew it was something that would never happen again.”
When it came time to discuss Ozzy’s Bark at the Moon followup, Lee says he was adamant on signing a contract before going any further.
“I told him, ‘I’m not doing anything until I get a contract,’ and so, that came pretty quickly…’” he says.
“It was something that lingered over the Bark at the Moon sessions. When those were done, I became unhappy, so with The Ultimate Sin, before I gave him my demos, I said, ‘I want a contract that says exactly what I’m gonna get out of this record. I need a songwriting credit. I want the publishing I deserve.”
Lee had a vision for The Ultimate Sin which he clashed with producer Ron Nevison over, and that vision ultimately shaped the sound of the record.
“I wanted to hear the guitar like an orchestra. Kind of like having violins on top, cellos on bottom and then having moving and melodic parts. It was about more than basic chords and one guitar sound. That wasn’t my vision…”
He goes on: “I remember we had a big band dinner, and Ozzy raised his glass and said, ‘This is a toast to Jake E. Lee, who practically produced this record and was a very important part of making it.’ Maybe he felt like my part was getting bigger than a band member should be.
“I don’t know; a lot of things came with that. We were writing for the next record; I was pushing boundaries and getting rejected. I was bored with the restrictions. I’m sure Ozzy didn’t like that. But as far as The Ultimate Sin, I stand by it.”
Jake E. Lee ended up being dismissed by Ozzy’s wife Sharon Osbourne in 1987, and was subsequently replaced by Zakk Wylde.
The post “Maybe he felt my part was getting bigger than a band member should be”: Jake E. Lee on contract negotiations for Ozzy’s The Ultimate Sin appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Mötley Crüe win legal battle over Mick Mars – former guitarist ordered to partially pay back $1.5M advance for not completing tour
For the last two years, Mötley Crüe have been involved in an ongoing legal battle with ex-guitarist Mick Mars. Following his retirement in 2022, Mars alleged that the band were withholding profits that were rightfully his. However, a new ruling has declared that Mars actually owes his former bandmates $750,000.
Despite Mars’ public crusade against the Mötley Crüe gang, arbitrator Honorable Patrick J. Walsh found that Mars had received a $1,500,000 advance payment to perform at 138 Mötley Crüe shows. Mars’ departure from the band meant that he never fulfilled his end of the bargain, rendering him un-entitled to the sum.
“[Mars] understood when he received the advance that it was an advance and that he had to pay it back if he stopped touring,” Walsh concludes in the final arbitration documents. “He stopped touring. Therefore, he must pay it back.”
“Mars is ordered to pay to MCI the pro rata rate for the shows he missed between September 2021 and today,” he continues. “He is not required to pay for shows that have not taken place.”
When Mars first pursued legal action against his former bandmates, his claim centred around his entitlement to the band’s profits as he hadn’t left the band, he had only retired from touring. As a result, he believed he was still owed a 25% cut of profits, including touring revenue.
However, as the arbitration document reveals, a 2008 amendment to the band’s governing agreement stated that if a member “resigns from performing”, he “in no event” would be “entitled to receive any monies attributable to any live performances”.
Furthermore, Nikki Sixx’s testimony claimed that Mars himself had “proposed this amendment” due to concerns that “Vince Neil [vocalist] and/or Tommy Lee [drummer] would again choose to leave the band and he wanted it to be clear… that anyone who left would not share in revenue from touring”.
Alongside the arbitrator ruling in favour of Mötley Crüe, the band were also cleared of allegations that they don’t play live. Mars had publicly alleged that Sixx’s basslines and Lee’s drumming in particular were pre-recorded. In 2023, he even claimed that he had been the only member of the band to ever play live, noting that Sixx “did not play a single note on bass”.
As Business Wire reveals, Mars “formally recanted his prior claims during sworn testimony”. When faced with “extensive live performance recordings” and a testimony from New York University professor specialising in music technology, Mars was “forced to admit under oath that his statements were false”.
The suit also reveals that Mars was cut from the band due to his own “deteriorated” guitar playing. The document explains that the band “believed that his guitar playing had so deteriorated that they had to make provisions to cover for his mistakes when he strayed during concerts”.
Mick Mars has not yet responded publicly to the ruling.
The post Mötley Crüe win legal battle over Mick Mars – former guitarist ordered to partially pay back $1.5M advance for not completing tour appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
The 12 new guitar albums you should all be excited for in 2026
![[L-R] Bruce Springsteen, Phoebe Bridgers and Joe Duplantier of Gojira, photos by Getty](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/Bruce-Springsteen-Phoebe-Bridgers-Gojira-hero-credit-Getty@2000x1500.jpg)
It wasn’t too long ago that guitar music was considered passé by the mainstream – a fact that’s frankly mind-boggling to reflect upon now. In 2026, indie and post-punk are two of the hottest genres in the Western world, and heavy metal is the biggest it’s been since the halcyon days of the early 2000s. This year seems set to thrust all those styles and more to new heights, with some of the biggest guitar heavyweights of all time preparing to release new music. From veterans like Bruce Springsteen to a slew of promising up-and-comers, these are the guitar albums everybody should keep an eye out for over the next 12 months.
- READ MORE: Unprocessed’s Manuel Gardner Fernandes names the viral shredders you need to watch in 2026
Bruce Springsteen
Is there any septuagenarian busier than Bruce Springsteen? Still regularly touring five decades into his career, he was recently the subject of a blockbuster biopic and has a ton of music lined up for 2026, chiefly his next solo album. The Boss has been cagey regarding what it’s going to sound like, but he told Rolling Stone in June that he’s also got a box set of unreleased material, Tracks III, on standby. “This is all music from different points in my work life that I’ve made, some with the band, without the band, some that go way back,” he said. A new covers album, the follow-up to 2022’s Only the Strong Survive, has been recorded as well. The man just will not stop.
Phoebe Bridgers
The queen of indie folk melancholy, Phoebe Bridgers hasn’t released a new album since 2020’s Punisher, having taken a detour for her collaborative project Boygenius. That dry spell may come to an end in 2026, however, as multiple sources hint that solo LP number three will come out soon. Among those fuelling the speculation is Phoebe’s own mum, who took to Instagram in January to give her “bold” prediction for the year ahead: “Phoebe Bridgers drops an album.” In addition, former Ticketmaster CEO Nathan Hubbard said on a podcast last year that both Phoebe and Harry Styles will mount comebacks in 2026, and the Harry prediction has already come true…
The Cure
It’s hard to trust Robert Smith with timeframes nowadays, given he initially wanted to release The Cure’s comeback album Songs of a Lost World for the band’s 40th anniversary then missed that deadline by five years. But, when the record was finally unveiled in 2024, he announced that it would be part of a trilogy, with a follow-up already in the can. Surely, if it’s all been recorded, there can’t be another decade-plus wait like there was for Songs…? The stars align even more clearly when you consider all the live dates the goth rock kings have planned for the summer. Fingers crossed that some new tracks come out before The Cure take the stage again.
Gojira
It’s been nearly five years since France’s enviro-metal behemoths put out their last album, but you can’t blame them. After the Fortitude tour lifted Gojira to arena-level, they spent the next few years consolidating their position, playing incessantly in both Europe and America. Then, in 2024, a performance during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games catapulted them even further. Progress on new material has been slow but steady, with drummer Mario Duplantier saying in 2023 that their upcoming release will be “heavier” than Fortitude. He doubled down last year, telling people to expect a “more modern but more metal sound” and revealing that work is “almost finished”.
Alabama Shakes
In 2018, at the height of their Grammy-gobbling career, roots rock revivalists Alabama Shakes went on a surprise hiatus. The downtime let frontwoman Brittany Howard dedicate herself to her blossoming solo career, then got complicated and presumably extended by drummer Steve Johnson’s series of legal problems. The band regrouped without Johnson in 2024, before signing with major label Island and releasing the exuberant single Another Life last August. The developments have led many to speculate that a long-awaited third album is on the horizon, especially as more and more tour dates for the spring and summer get announced. The expectation’s pretty huge, but if anyone can deliver quality regardless, this lot can.
Mastodon
Mastodon’s 2021 album Hushed and Grim was a monument to late longtime manager Nick John, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2018. Unfortunately, times haven’t got any easier for the sludge metal four-piece. They parted ways with founding guitarist Brent Hinds last spring, marking their first lineup change in a quarter-century, and Hinds was in a fatal motorcycle crash in Atlanta just a few months later. Despite all the turmoil, the band are carrying on with album number nine and involving new guitarist Nick Johnson in the writing process. “[The songs are] all over the place,” drummer/singer Brann Dailor told Metal Hammer last year. “I hear some punk rock in there, but then I hear some insane prog and I hear the heaviest version of ourselves poking its head out again.”
Yard Act
“We’re making the greatest third album any band has ever recorded,” post-punk’s socially conscious cheeky chappies quipped in September. Already beloved for their breakthrough debut The Overload and dance-flecked follow-up Where’s My Utopia?, Yard Act are out to cement their reputation as the next big thing, having recorded with former Nine Inch Nails and Beck bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen. The Yorkshiremen describe their next release as “the sweet spot” between grindcore agitators Napalm Death and prog rock icon Bill Nelson, promising new textures in a sound that’s already touched upon funk, disco and Pulp-ish Britpop. The band have never been boring, but this could well be their most interesting offering yet.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw
One of the most exciting new bands of the last couple years, Man/Woman/Chainsaw make rock without limits. The six-piece have two guitarists, a violinist and a keyboard player in their ranks, with many members also serving as co-vocalists. On songs like Only Girl, they make irreverent statements that unite indie, baroque pop and heavy riffage under the banner of big, catchy singalongs. 2024 EP Eazy Peezy brought plenty of people onto the hype train, and the next stop will be at their debut album, which they hope to put out this year. “We’re working on a load of new material which will help lift the mind and cleanse the soul,” keyboardist Emmie-Mae Avery told Dork in January.
Slift
Slift write psych-rock epics with prog, jazz and metal bits – not exactly a mainstream approach to music. But, during the pandemic, the Frenchmen defied all logic, hosting a live session that reached more than a million YouTube users. 2024’s Ilion made their songs even more widescreen, and the trio have since secured a reputation as a top-notch live act, playing very loudly in front of kaleidoscopic videos. They ended their last album cycle in the summer and want to put out some more immediate material suited for the stage. “We’ve got the big concept and most of the songs,” singer/guitarist Jean Fossat told this writer in 2024. “It’s just demos, but we can’t wait to start playing these songs.”
Lowen
Lowen are based in London but draw influence from frontwoman Nina Saeidi’s ancestral homeland of Iran. Their music mixes modern heavy metal, inspired by Akercocke and System of a Down, with distinctly Persian melodies and vocals. Plus, the lyrics on their 2024 debut Do Not Go to War with the Demons of Mazandaran used Middle Eastern mythology to comment on Iran’s current, authoritarian regime, which prevents Saeidi from ever visiting the country. The singer recently told The Guardian that album two is in the works, and that one song will sample sounds from the Iran–Israel War in June. “I do not agree with anything that Israel has done,” she said. “It’s bad to bomb Iran. None of those governments are good – neither is ours.”
Courtney Barnett
A modern alt-music guitar hero, Courtney Barnett has dealt in acoustic ballads and fuzzy indie compositions alike. In October, she returned with the noisy Stay in Your Lane: her first new music since her soundtrack project End of the Day two years prior. A press release from the Grammy-winning Aussie called the song the first entry in Courtney’s “next musical chapter”, setting a distorted rock’n’roll precedent for album number five. Stay in Your Lane was recorded in L.A. with producer John Congleton (St Vincent, Big Thief), and Courtney’s recent setlists show other new songs in her repertoire, entitled Sugar Plum and Mantis. Safe to say, more is coming soon.
Elín Hall
Since she released her last album Heyrist í mér? (Can You Hear Me?) in 2023, Icelandic singer/songwriter/actress Elín Hall has played Yungblud’s festival Bludfest, won a few film awards and released a string of singles. Basically, she’s been inescapable, and she’ll continue to be so for the foreseeable future as well, with her fourth record set to come out this year. On her website, the musician says that her next release will be her first English-language effort. She also spills that it was produced and partially co-written by Grammy winner Martin Terefe, who’s collaborated with the likes of Adele and Elín’s old chum, Yungblud. Expect ambience, darkness and the plucking of a good few acoustic guitar strings.
The post The 12 new guitar albums you should all be excited for in 2026 appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“Huge in tone, mini in size”: Teisco’s vibrant new Mini pedal line covers all the bases of your pedalboard
[Editor’s note: Teisco is owned by Vista Musical Instruments, which, like Guitar.com, is part of the Caldecott Music Group.]
Teisco has launched a vibrant new collection of Mini Pedals, comprising 12 compact stompboxes which don’t compromise on tone.
The Mini Series offers a range of “essential” sounds for players of all levels, covering all the basic needs on your pedalboard, including fuzz, overdrive, delay, modulation, and tuning.
- READ MORE: RhPf Electronics Mosrawr review – a noise-bringer that’s designed for post-rock and shoegaze
Teisco says the sound of these pedals defies their tiny sizing, and they deliver “powerful, inspiring tones, proving that portability no longer comes at the expense of sound quality”. Each one is inspired by Japanese aesthetics, and showcases a distinctive design on its face.
Credit: Teisco
They utilise modern circuitry and true bypass switching to ensure optimal signal integrity, and make for an ideal entry point into pedals for budding musicians or those looking for no-nonsense pedals to meet their basic tonal needs. Each one offers super streamlined controls, with most featuring just three dials.
Speaking of innovative pedal design, you can now get a pedal inspired by some of the biggest celebs out there – from Millie Bobby Brown to Britney Spears and Adam Driver. Celebrity Pedals makes handmade and all-analogue stompboxes with punny names. Rated five stars on Reverb, its catalogue includes some real highlights, one being the Taylor Shift octave pedal, available in three variations, the Millie Wah-bie Brown, and Fuzztin Bieber – just to name a few.
Prices for Teisco’s Mini pedals start at $59. Find out more and view the full range over at Teisco.
The post “Huge in tone, mini in size”: Teisco’s vibrant new Mini pedal line covers all the bases of your pedalboard appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“He saved my bacon!”: How Steve Stevens saved an “inexperienced” Steve Vai from tonal humiliation
It goes without saying that Steve Vai knows his way around a guitar. Even when Frank Zappa took Vai on tour in 1980 at the tender age of 20, he deemed the budding axeman a total “genius”. But as he found when he joined David Lee Roth’s band a few years later in 1985, Vai realised his ability to craft a “big rock guitar tone” was lacking.
Nowadays, of course, Vai could probably tackle any guitar tone he needed to. But as he explains in the latest issue of Guitar World, he was “embarrassingly inexperienced” in this area when he joined Roth’s band.
At the time, Roth had just severed ties with Van Halen. Keen to forge his own musical path, Roth was working on a bold, hard rock opus of a debut. To ensure 1986’s Eat ‘Em and Smile was a smash, perfecting the riffs was paramount – and Roth put full faith in 25-year-old Vai to fulfil his vision.
However, when Vai rocked up at New York’s Power Station studios, he realised just how unprepared he was. He’d brought along his Carvin X-100B… and it absolutely wasn’t going to cut it. “The Carvins weren’t cutting through for the more aggressive tracks,” he says.
While Vai was stressing over his weak tone, a guitar guardian angel would soon fly to his aid – or, rather, Steve Stevens. Billy Idol’s trusted guitarist was recording in the same studio, and was more than willing to help the young guitarist. “Luckily, Steve Stevens was recording across the hall,” Vai explains. “I mentioned my tone troubles, and he lent me one of his favourite Marshall heads and cabs. Boom! Instant magic! I ended up using his rig for most of the album.”
At the time, Stevens was working on two 1986 records, so its unclear whether his studio stint was for Idol’s Whiplash Smile or Ric Ocasek’s This Side of Paradise. Regardless, Vai was grateful for the assistance, both saving Roth’s debut and Vai’s reputation.
“He saved my bacon!” Vai laughs.
In other news, Steve Vai recently recounted his surreal encounter with Brian May as he celebrated his own custom Red Special guitar. “I played it like a baby giraffe on roller skates – but it was heaven,” he said.
The post “He saved my bacon!”: How Steve Stevens saved an “inexperienced” Steve Vai from tonal humiliation appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
“To join a band like that would be so cool”: Mateus Asato reveals the nu metal band he’d love to join
Social media sensation. Six-string sidekick to the stars. Mateus Asato has worn many hats over the course of his musical career. His latest, of course, is that of fully fledged solo artist, as he gears up to release his landmark debut album, ASATO on 27 February.
He’s crafted a serious name for himself since his early days growing up in the Brazilian countryside, and so it’s only natural he’s always pondering where the future might take him next. For now, Asato seems all-in on his solo career, but might he consider playing alongside other acts in the future?
“Right now, I’m in this phase of sharing my message with my own guitar,” Asato tells Guitar World in its new print issue.
“I’ve done tours by myself in 2019, and that was really amazing. I have so many expectations to continue that chapter. I don’t close the door, but I feel like right is a big standby moment. The main focus for me is to share my instrumental work. But I might get tired of playing my own music and be like, ‘Why not?’ You learn a lot from playing [other] people’s music.”
It’s not the first genre you’d associate with Mateus Asato, but he explains that he’d be open to the idea of playing with a heavier band, should the opportunity ever present itself.
“I think it’s definitely more doable for me to join a band, so yes, I would consider,” he continues. “For example, in 2023 I did a project with Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park, and afterward I went to his studio to write songs for the band.
“I remember that kind of put that sort of flame in my heart, like, “Wow, what if they invite me to play?’ I would love to join a band like that. I know it’s not my cup of tea – like, nu metal – but it’s cool. I’ve played so many styles, so yeah, to join a band like that would be so cool.”
Mateus Asato recently announced he was ending his longtime partnership with Suhr Guitars. In the aftermath, fans speculated as to which brand he might partner with next, but he quickly dispelled any speculation by saying he was “‘single’ and happy where I am”.
Mateus Asato’s debut album, ASATO, lands on 27 February.
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Dave Mustaine says he won’t have ex-members on Megadeth’s final tour because some have been “saying bad things in the press”: “Why would I want to play with those guys?”
Dave Mustaine has further explained why he doesn’t want former members of Megadeth to join them on their final tour.
In an interview shared earlier this January, Mustaine said doing so would be a “huge undertaking” and that he didn’t want their gigs to come off as a puppet show. The band released their self-titled, final album last week, and will be retiring for good following its supporting global tour.
Further expanding on his comments in a new interview with NME, Mustaine also says that he wouldn’t want any previous members to join them, as some have said negative things about him in the press.
“If we were to look at doing that, then you’ve got some members that are deceased. You’ve got some members that I’m friends with, but they can’t play anymore like Chuck [Behler, drummer from 1987-1989]. And then you’ve got a couple guys that are saying very bad things about me in the press. So why would I want to play with those guys?” he quizzes.
“We did this before with Marty [Friedman, guitarist from 1990-2000], and I’m sure that if the opportunity presented itself and the timing was right, I would reconsider having one of the guys from the band’s alumni play with us. But if it was something that didn’t end very well, why would I? There’s not a valid reason to do something like that, especially when we have limited time on stage anyway.”
On the band’s final album, Megadeth have also recorded their own rendition of Ride The Lightning, a track that Mustaine worked on during his time in Metallica. Though originally believed by many fans to be somewhat of a flip off to the metal giants due to Mustaine’s firing from the group and tense relations with its members thereafter, he’s clarified that the track is actually a nod of respect.
He told Record Collector, “The idea just felt good, so I agreed. I wanted to close the circle and pay my respects to James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman] and Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer]. I personally have always thought James was an excellent guitarist, so I think it was the right thing to do.
“Panic [Mustaine’s first band] was never solidified as a real band, so my first real band was Metallica. Now that I’m going into retirement, I think it’s the right way to pay my respects,” he explained.
Megadeth’s final album is out now. You can find a full list of their scheduled tour dates via the official Megadeth website.
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