Norse Guitar Feeds

LaLonde estimates that he lost about 58 guitars in the wildfire, including the “Sailing on the Seas of Cheese” Strat he had since high school

Crafty use of subtractive equalization can define the old adage “less is more.”

One of the earliest revelations for guitarists learning to record themselves at home is that what sounds good soloed doesn’t always translate well in the mix. Many instinctively reach for EQ with a boost-first mentality—more presence, more warmth, more punch. But a more effective and musical approach often lies in the art of subtraction. When we remove the right things, space emerges for the character of the guitar to shine without fighting for attention. This month, I’m going to give you some EQ techniques to help make your recordings sound professional. Tighten up your belts, the Dojo is now open.

When EQing guitars, especially multiple layers of electric (and/or acoustic) parts, the first step is identifying where frequencies are clashing or clouding the arrangement. That usually means isolating your track and listening closely for signs of muddiness, boxiness, or harshness. These problems tend to gather in generally predictable frequency ranges. For example, mud and boominess often live between 200 and 400 Hz. Boxiness can lurk from 400 to 800 Hz. And the harsh nasal presence that makes a guitar feel brittle or grating usually hovers in the 2.5 to 4 kHz region.

Try this: Temporarily boost an EQ band by +10 dB with a medium Q and sweep through these frequencies until you locate the ugliest resonance(s), then gently reduce it/them with a tighter Q and a lighter touch, often just 2 to 4 dB. You’ll be amazed how the entire performance opens up when you remove the right junk.

Once the trouble frequencies are addressed, EQ becomes a more graceful tool for shaping tone. Subtractive EQ clears the canvas, letting you gently reintroduce body or presence where needed. This is where shelving EQ comes into play. A low shelf can bring warmth or fullness to a guitar that now feels thin from all the midrange cleanup. A modest bump at 80 to 120 Hz—just a dB or two—can fill out the sound, but it’s only effective if you’ve already dealt with masking around 200 to 300 Hz. Likewise, a high shelf can help lift a track into clarity and air, especially if you’ve trimmed that harsh upper-midrange build-up. Once the 2.5 to 4 kHz range has been smoothed out, a high shelf boost from 3 to 6 kHz will add shimmer and definition without aggression.

“Your ears should always be calibrating to the ensemble, not just the isolated signal.”

One of the greatest EQ challenges comes when stacking multiple layers of guitar. While it’s tempting to think that more is more, each additional track adds weight to overlapping frequencies, quickly turning rich textures into a blurry wall of noise. To prevent this, it’s helpful to think of EQ as a way of assigning each part its own lane. Maybe one rhythm track gets a small cut around 300 Hz, while the second has a dip at 500. One lead might have a bit less bite at 4 kHz, while another leans into a little high-end sheen. These are subtle moves, but when layered thoughtfully, they allow the listener to perceive each track distinctly, rather than as a blend of midrange congestion.

All of this assumes you’re frequently toggling between soloed and full-mix listening. It’s easy to over-EQ when listening in isolation, especially with midrange cuts. What feels like a relief to the ear in solo may rob a part of its edge or personality in the context of a full arrangement. A useful rule of thumb in the Dojo is: Solo to find the problem, mix to determine the solution. Your ears should always be calibrating to the ensemble, not just the isolated signal.

For those encountering intermittent harshness—say, a strummed acoustic guitar that only gets brittle during certain attacks—dynamic EQ is an elegant solution. Instead of making a static cut that dulls the track, a dynamic band can be set to tame harsh peaks only when they occur, such as around 3.5 kHz. This preserves the life and detail of the performance while reigning in the discomfort.

Ultimately, EQ should be approached like a sculptor working with stone: The goal is not to pile on more material, but to reveal what’s already there by removing what isn’t serving the final form. By focusing on reduction first, and only adding when it enhances clarity or emotional presence, home recordists can achieve mixes that sound more professional, more intentional, and less fatiguing. Until next month, namaste.

Blackstar Amplification has unveiled Polar Go, an ultra-portable audio solution for musicians and content producers who demand pro-level sound without the hassle of a full studio setup.

Polar Go is more than a mobile interface; it’s a complete, pocket-sized studio designed for the modern creator. With a built-in stereo mic system powered by Blackstar’s exclusive ProCapture™ technology, Polar Go delivers crystal-clear, professional-grade sound straight from your phone, tablet, or laptop, no studio or experience required. Whether you’re a singer-songwriter, podcaster, livestreamer or filmmaker, Polar Go transforms your audio from phone-quality to studio-ready instantly. Guitarists and bassists can plug in their instrument or use the built-in stereo mics to record anywhere, anytime.

Key Features:

• ProCapture™ Stereo Mics: Capture vocals and instruments with stunning depth and clarity
• Combo XLR / ¼” Input: For mic, line or instrument, with +48V phantom power for condenser mics
• Rechargeable Battery: Up to 6 hours of portable recording power
• Works with iOS, Android, macOS, Windows
• Dual USB-C Ports: One for power, one for data
• 3.5mm Headphone Output: Loud and clear monitoring, even on noisy sets
• Compatible with GarageBand, BandLab, Zoom, and all major recording apps

The Polar Go App:

• Available free on iOS, Android, Mac and PC, the Polar Go app gives creators powerful tools to polish and share their content with ease:
• Magic Wand Tool: Auto-enhance audio with one tap
• Built-In Video Recording: Sync sound and video in a single app
• Presets for Vocals, Guitar, Podcasts, and More
• Zero Learning Curve: Simple, intuitive UI

Blackstar’s Polar Go carries a street price of $129. For more information visit blackstaramps.com.

By: Rick Landers

The explosive guitar work of Jon Butcher ripped through the airwaves when he arrived on the music scene. And his heavy hitting vocals tied to his hard driving melodies offered, and still offer his fans a full force musical gale to get them pumped and rockin’.

Early on in the ’70s, Jon toured with Johanna Wild, then later hit the road again, accompanying the J. Geils Band’s Freeze Frame Tour At the time, the buzz focused on the Stratocaster playing Butcher as a musician with the guitar licks and flare of the late Jimi Hendrix, although Jon didn’t embrace the notion, but he did pay homage to Jimi, by naming his group, Jon Butcher Axis. The group became the opening act for KISS and Jon’s star continued to rise.

Jon’s group picked up an international record deal with the Polygram label and worked with producer-engineer, Pat Moran who worked with other top acts, including: Rush, Iggy Pop, Queen, Robert Plan, Big Country and Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians.

In 1982, Jon Butcher Axis released its self-titled debut album, that featured the track, “Life Takes A Life,” and the album reached Billboard’s 91 spot for pop albums. And Jon’s Life Takes A Life music video caught the attention of MTV, a success that was a bit of a coup when few Black artists were able to get such traction, other than very few like, Prince, Tina Turner and Michael Jackson.

Having signed with Capitol Records in the early ’80s, the Jon Butcher Axis crew released its album, Along The Axis, nailed down Grammy nominations (Best Rock Instrumental Performance) for the instrumental track, “Rituals”. Other songs gathered well-deserved attention and one, “The Sounds of Your Voice,” hit the Billboard chart reaching the 94 slot, that led to the band being invited on tour with INXS.

During the late ’80s, Jon released two albums, Wishes (1987) and Pictures from the Front (1989), and cuts from the albums were highlighted on the popular MTV show;  “Holy War”, “Goodbye Saving Grace” and “Wishes”.

During the ’90s Jon began to work in the multi-media field, as well as continued to compose and record his music, most notably starting a new group, Barefoot Servants, working with the legendary bassist, Leland Sklar. Butcher continued to be a prolific songwriter-producer, releasing a number of albums during the ’90s and developing expertise as a multi-media/video aficionado. By 2004, he was ready to release his first DVD, Live at the Casbah, a compilation of video from one of his concerts, as well as several songs from his earlier career.

More recently, Jon established his company, Electric Factory Music, where he works on a variety of projects for other musicians and artists, as well as has ventured into the synch arena, music production, film/television work and computer gaming. His work includes developing music for such well-known projects as HBO’S Deadwood series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, My Name is Earl, Hendrix: The Movie and more.

Guitar International caught up with Jon to talk about his multi-faceted career and entrepreneurism, perspectives and lessons learned he’s gathered along the way, his current projects including his recent release, Nuthin’ but SOU, and of course, his select choice of guitars and gear. We are pleased to present to our readers, one of the hardest working and most creative musicians around.

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Rick Landers: Your work ethic looks to be pretty formidable, not so much that you’ve got your hands in so many pots, but the work you’ve chosen is labor intensive; composing music, developing videos for yourself and others, recording and production, and performing. Although, the work looks like fun, there’s also the tedious administrative and managerial side. What are the most challenging aspects of your work that demand disciplines that may not be part of your creative calling and how do you drive projects home to completion? 

Jon Butcher: That’s a good word, discipline. I’ve met many great players who never had enough discipline to make natural talent into marketable business. It’s probably the left and right sides of the brain in conflict! The truth is, I’ve always had focus – on becoming a better song writer, a better guitarist, a better music producer. I think I get that focus from my Mom, the career drive and craft focus.

Rick: I see you’ve recorded 21 albums, with over 230 tracks. What were some of the toughest lessons to learn in the area of engineering and production, as well as keeping up with technological changes along the way?

Jon Butcher: Learning how to produce myself was and is an ongoing process that requires insight and a measure of self-reflection that takes some getting used to. Also, knowing when not to mess something up! On my new album I re-wrote songs sometimes as many as ten times or more. Not because rhyming is hard, but because expressing complex feelings- in simple and digestible ways is a challenge. 

Rick: Let’s get to your latest project. Nuthin’ but Soul, as far as how did you select the songs for the album, who’s on board in the studio with you and what did they bring above and beyond their talents that helped you enjoy the process involved? 

Jon Butcher: I recorded most of Nuthin’ but SOUL by myself, in my own home studio before taking the tracks to Bang-s-Song in Gloucester Massachusetts, my home town.

I have a profound creative relationship with my engineer of the last decade, Warren Babson. We’ve formed a creative partnership which has created at least, at least six albums. But I record all the tracks- guitars, vocals, keys, bass, drums and more alone in my basement.

This record also features some great guest vocalists in Chris Pierce (L.A. singer/ songwriter ), Debby Holiday, Rene Dupuis all contributed their wonderful voices. I also had Danny Borgers and Sandy MacDonald contribute piano and B3 (Hammond Organ) on a couple of songs.

Rick: Did you stick with the Strat on the cover or grab other instruments for Nuthin’ but Soul?

Jon Butcher: That ’63 Fender Stratocaster affectionately named ‘The Fat Man’ has been with me a long time, it’s been used on all of my records since the ’90s. I also use several others; a 1953 Fender Telecaster ‘black guard’, a 2018 Gibson ES-335 and an Epiphone ES-355, a ’63 Fender Precision bass and my fav acoustic guitar, a Martin D-28.

Rick: For newbies to your music, do you have a recommendation of one of your albums you think would prove to be a good introduction to your music? 

Jon Butcher: For anyone stumbling across me I’d immediately suggest Nuthin’ but SOUL as an introduction and then works backwards from there, to Barefoot Servants with Lee Sklar and then to Holy War and Life Takes a Life by my first band, the Jon Butcher Axis.

Rick: Early on a few folks were comparing you to Jimi Hendrix. I’d imagine that it was important to get attention, but did that kind of hype distract from your own creative intentions or did you just ride it for what it was worth, then move to define your own work about your own style(s)?

Jon Butcher: Yes. At first you want to diminish comparisons, especially when they seem so lazy and unthought out. Then you get to a place where you realize there’s no point in trying to reshape someone else’s impressions. You just do what you do and hope that’ll eventually connect with someone, then one day you realize that you found your own authentic voice.

Rick: Many of our readers are musicians who are at various stages of their career ambitions, and I’d think you may be able to categorize your own career in stages and pivotal moments from playing open mics to paid gigs, then other stages of success and set-backs? What might those be and how do you handle success, as well as set-backs? 

Jon Butcher: It’s just life. If you’re a bricklayer or train conductor or musician, there’s going to be some disappointment. Maybe a lot of disappointment. That comes with being alive. It’s the dues we pay to be able to wake up, see the Sun and smell the air. Some of us may develop cancer or heart disease or other health challenges during the journey. The key is to just keep on keepin’ on, as my brother Chris Pierce says. Keep your compass pointed North, toward the music. Failure and success are flip sides of the same coin. In my opinion failure is a much better teacher.

Rick: Has your choice of guitars evolved over time and have you settled on a “go to” guitar while at home practicing, as opposed to studio work? And, what about effects, any favorites or new ones that you’re now experimenting with? 

Jon Butcher: When I was a kid I thought the Fender Stratocaster in it’s factory form was pure genius. Then I got distracted by the ’80s, playing Strat-types with hot humbucker bridge pickups, Floyd Rose trem for super gain, overly processed guitar sounds. At the time I thought that and a couple of Marshall JCM-800’s made for a pretty awesome noise. Which it did.

Then one day on a tour bus I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Live at El Mocambo video tape. It blew me away, not just his playing, but his tone. And I remembered all the things a good Strat and amp platform could do. Gear-wise it brought me back to more traditional guitar tones, pedals, etcetera.

(EDITOR: Jon was kind enough to send me a complete list of his gear, below.)

GUITARS

’63 OLY WHITE STRATOCASTER

’63 FCS SUNBURST STRATOCASTER

’53 TELECASTER w/ a newer neck

’63 GIBSON CS ES-335

EPIPHONE INSPIRED BY GIBSON ES-355

GIBSON CS ’58 LES PAUL

MARTIN D25 1935 model

FENDER ’63 P-BASS

AMPS

MARSHALL 100 PLEXI w/ Marshall 2X12 CAB

FENDER ’63 PRINCETON

FENDER VIBROLUX 

’90s FENDER ’59 BASSMAN

FENDER TONE MASTER PRO

PEDALS

’60s VOX 848 CLYDE WAH

2010 TEESE RMC3 WAH

2012 LANDGRAF DYNAMIC OD

THE ‘UNKNOWN FUZZ’ SILICON FUZZ, no idea who made it

KING TONE miniFUZZ

CHASE TONE SECRET PRE AMP

STRYMON EC-1

R WEAVER FX MIDNIGHT VIBE

Rick: Did you grow up in a family that supported your music ambitions or did you find you had to fight against a tide of traditional expectations to “find a real job” to survive or thrive?

Jon Butcher: My mother saw something in me and supported it, I think my Dad’s thought I was losing my mind. That was all through high school, then I chose Boston almost on a whim as a place to go to college, to ‘have something to fall back on.’ One day I announced to my parents visiting my Boston dorm room that I was leaving school to become a professional musician. This was not met well by Bill Butcher. Several blows landed, Mom trying to pull him off and the rest of my college career pretty much ended there. But, it was the beginning of my Boston adventure…which led to everything.

Rick: Were you surprised to be nominated for the New England Hall of Fame and/or the Grammy nomination? 

Jon Butcher: I think I was just grateful for being recognized. 

Rick: I see you have a video production side of your “brand”. What video services do you offer and do you target various budget interests of clients? For example, straight lyric videos versus videos with story lines demanding more complexity and higher pricing? 

Jon Butcher: My company Electric Factory Music was born out of a tv show commercial I was hired to provide music for in the early ’90s. That show was The Simpsons and the commercial was seen by millions. Since that beginning we’ve provided music for a litany of Network and Cable programming, from Ugly Betty for ABC to Star Trek for FOX. In recent years our focus is on making video for budget conscious clients who understand  how important it is to visualize your message. These don’t have a proscribed script and I think more can be accomplished than just lyric videos for those on a budget. 

Rick: Early on were you hoping for or chasing labels or did you have more interest in having your own company, to develop multiple revenue streams? And, is there any need to keep your identity as a creative versus a businessman separately or is this dicing your personal interests up unnecessarily? 

Jon Butcher: Early on we were desperate to get on a major label, like all of my musical colleagues were at that time. To us that was how we’d ‘make it’, the door through which all hopeful rock stars passed. Nowadays that right of passage is mostly gone. The Internet, from the perspective of releasing, distributing and monetizing music is both the good news and the bad news.

We’ve all learned that simply posting your new song at your website means almost nothing without a plan to bring vast numbers of people to your website. I don’t think I consciously identify as a creative, I feel like I am one and make no separation from a public perspective. This of course doesn’t negate being ready and equipped to do the business at hand.

Rick: Where are you generally happiest, studio, stage, or at home noodling to get some creative traction?  

Jon Butcher: Yes!

Rick: After writing, doing the studio work and you’re ready to package an album, I’m finding it hard to come up with an album cover design. What process or feel do you go by to nail down the cover art and format of your albums? 

Jon Butcher: It might be different for others, but I find marketing myself,  in other words my visual image to be the best avenue for getting my message out. I’ve chosen to be on the cover for many of my albums so music seekers know immediately what and who they’re looking at. There are certainly iconic artists who’ve chosen different images for their album covers, Led Zeppelin comes to mind. But, those Led Zeppelin album covers were created in a time where the artistic pallet was the size of an LP. These days this is often not the case.

Rick: Have you ever had a need to find a session player from afar, like from the FIVERR site? Is it important to actually know the session players personally? 

Jon Butcher: I think it helps to have close relationships with those you work with, particularly on the road and in the studio. Those environments can be tough physically and psychologically. I don’t think I’ve ever hired a stranger or solicited someone online for a project I was working on. It’s always among my list of colleagues and friends.

Rick: When tough or awkward decisions need to be made, what have been some of your toughest ones and the outcomes, especially when it comes to relationships with others? 

Jon Butcher: There’s a musician in the Boston area who I’ve known personally for many years, worked with that person on records and generally had a positive and rewarding relationship with until recently. That relationship appears to now be on hold and I’m not exactly sure why. I think these things happen sometimes and I don’t think there is a good way to avoid awkwardness. No one likes it, we all struggle with trying to find balance in our relationships, but sometimes *#&# happens”. How to successfully navigate that ? I honestly don’t know the answer.

Rick: I saw you were once looking for someone to draw stick figures for a project. A few weeks ago I suggested to one member of my songwriter circle to watch Nick Drake’s “The Shed” video, so the guy could develop an inexpensive yet effective video. I’ve also suggested Elliott Smith’s bathroom video for “Between the Bars” with over 10 million views, as a way to focus on the song first – What was the result of your stick figure idea and where do you get your ideas for various kinds of videos?  

Jon Butcher: Great question! Before I started Nuthin’ but SOUL I had a record completed and in the can ready for release. That album was called Electric HollowHead, a character I dreamed up to describe how I was feeling at that time in 2022-23. I began to develop some artistic ideas to represent that character. Anyway the Electric Hollowed album was mixed, mastered and ready to send to replication… and then I pulled the plug. I’d spent dozens of hours writing, recording, re-recording and on and on. But it wasn’t right. It wasn’t the message I was prepared to underwrite and promote. So, just as I was looking at stick figure drawings to represent the character I was realizing it was time to start over.

Rick: What can people expect from your live shows? And do you ever offer unplugged shows where you rely solely on an acoustic guitar? 

Jon Butcher: In my opinion my electric shows speak for themselves, meaning I think we present a very engaging and dramatic live electric show. I also do a number of acoustic shows a year and I really think that’s where I shine best these days. There’s something truthful in an acoustic performance. There’s a connection that can be made that can be deeply personal. I’d like to do more acoustic shows a year.

Rick: With the release of Nuthin’ but Soul, knowing artists tend to have many ideas or projects in the fire, what’s next for you and do you have many more projects you’ve been planning, but finding it challenging to begin? 

Jon Butcher: I’m going to promote Nuthin’ but SOUL until the wheels fall off the wagon for the foreseeable future! Recently I recorded a version of, “All Along The Watchtower,”  which turned out really well, but I’m not sure what I’ll do with it yet. I’m hoping and encouraging all Indie film makers reading this to reach out to me. I love the relationship of film and music and have always been interested in expanding those lines of collaboration. Film makers hit me up!

BONUS VIDEO!

 

 

 

 

 

Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones might be having a blast with the band’s new frontman Frank Carter, but the guitarist assures he’s got “nothing but love” for their former vocalist Johnny Rotten.

Though John Lydon has certainly dished out a fair bit of criticism regarding the band’s decision to reunite with Carter in tow, it seems Jones isn’t holding it against him. Carter, of Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, joined the reunited band in 2024, and has been performing with them ever since.

• READ MORE: “With them Marshall 800s? There honestly ain’t a lot to it”: Steve Jones reveals the secrets of his Sex Pistols guitar tone

In an interview for the print edition of Guitar World, Jones explains the differences between the vocalists, noting a difference in energy between the two: “Frank’s a lot younger, so he’s got a lot more energy. He’s literally the best; I call him the ringmaster. He loves getting the crowd going; he goes crowd surfing and just takes the heat off of me, [Paul Cook] Cookie and Glen [Matlock].

“I’m 70, so I’m definitely not jumping into the crowd. [Laughs] He’s great – and he’s definitely not trying to be Johnny Rotten. He’s really something else, and he’s made it a lot of fun,” he states.

Asked if he ever feels sad that Lydon is missing out on their fun, he replies, “I’ve got nothing but love for John. He was brilliant back in the day, and I never would take that away from him. I would never deny it; he was fantastic. But I think we’ve just grown apart.

He adds, “He’s going somewhere else, and we’re going somewhere else. It’s just the way it is. But you never know. l’ll never shut the door, but I don’t think he’d have the energy like Frank does, to be honest with you.”

Sex Pistols and Frank Carter are touring across the US and Canada in September and October – you can grab tickets to see them live now.

The post “I’ll never shut the door, but I don’t think John would have the energy like Frank does”: Steve Jones says he’s got “nothing but love” for former Sex Pistols bandmate John Lydon appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Paul Reed Smith, PRS founder and tonewood connoisseur, thinks there’s nothing more important when it comes to making guitars than the neck.

While some may argue that pickups, body shape, or weight matter more, Reed Smith thinks that how the neck feels and how its wood resonates is far more key: after all, that’s where most of the action happens in-play.

• READ MORE: PRS celebrates 40 years with the McCarty SC56 Limited Edition: “We started with our take on a classic late ‘50s singlecut body”

In a new video on the PRS Guitars YouTube channel for the brand’s Rules Of Tone series, Reed Smith explains, “Neck making in my mind is fundamental to guitar making. You’re a guitar maker, you’re a neck maker – there’s nothing more important on the guitar.

“You could argue that the pickups are the most important thing or the weight of it, but in the end, how it feels, how you change the length of the strings, how it resonates [prevails]. There’s this sound that the neck makes as a raw blank that makes a big difference,” he adds.

“You have the body of the guitar and then you have this [part] sticking out and it’s a-weighted. It has tuning pegs at one end, there’s more frets at one end than the other; it’s not evenly weighted like a tuning fork is. So, the strength of the neck has a huge impact on how it rings. One of the things that is important from the rules of tone is not putting the neck under a huge amount of tension, unless it’s from the strings.”

Reed Smith goes on to give an analogy of a bell to better explain his argument, stating that if you were to drill a hole in a bell, put a piece of thread through it and start to tighten down the nuts on each side, the sound of it would be far more flat and dull, and it would lose its crystal clear ring.

“When you have to tighten the truss rod too much, it adds that kind of lack of sustain load mid-range to the instrument. The truss rod’s there as a safety. If you’re going to put really heavy gauge strings on it and tune it up, you’re going to need a truss rod. That’s just the way it is. But the more guitars we make for artists, the more we learn that the stronger the neck is, the better the guitar sounds,” he states.

You can watch the full episode below:

PRS, famous for its bird-decorated fretboards, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Reed Smith often shares his passionate views on guitar craft, with his opinions on topics like tonewood and his unique business practices often garnering a lot of attention.

In a column shared last year, he expressed why wood is another key part to building a great-sounding axe: “A magic guitar can be made of many different types of wood, but those woods need to have certain qualities and need to be handled correctly throughout the manufacturing process. So to me, woods matter.”

He added, “To me, if wood doesn’t matter, then logically it follows that the material the bridge is made of doesn’t matter and the material the nut is made of doesn’t matter. What I believe, because of scores of experiences, is that if we make two identical guitars out of different woods, the guitars will sound different from each other.”

Find out more about the brand or shop its full product range at PRS Guitars.

The post Paul Reed Smith says there’s “nothing more important” to guitar making than this appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The bassist stood shoulder to shoulder with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads at the height of Osbourne’s 1980s success. Now, in an exclusive interview, he recalls how the Black Sabbath icon changed his fortunesand earned his loyalty for life

Though sadly not edible, it takes the prize as the best confectionery-themed guitar we’ve ever seen

The blues hero has reflected on their unlikely union in 2005, and why he sees Ozzy as heavy metal’s John Mayall

If you’ve lost track of the current status of The Who’s lineup, you’re not alone. But let us try and catch you up.

Back in April, following a choppy performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend fired Zak Starkey, who was the then-touring drummer of the band. Starkey quickly put out a statement in response, saying: “I’m surprised anyone would have an issue with my performance that night, but what can you do?”

• READ MORE: “I’ve never liked the way that little man runs that band”: Ringo Starr slams Roger Daltrey for firing his son from The Who

Just days after, Townshend and Daltrey announced that Starkey was back in the band, on the condition that he would “tighten up”. However, it was not to last, as a month later, it was announced that Starkey had been fired again.

Starkey later suggested that his firing was primarily the work of Roger Daltrey, saying “Pete had to go along with it because he’s had 60 years of arguing with Roger”.

Now, in a new interview with The Times, Daltrey has had his say, going as far as to accuse Starkey of “character assassination”.

Starkey told Rolling Stone in June that he was not to blame for the Royal Albert Hall slip up, and instead accused Daltrey of “getting lost”. “He blamed it on the drums being too loud, and then it got made into this huge social media thing,” he said.

Now, Daltrey describes the whole situation and fallout with Zak Starkey as “incredibly upsetting”.

He explains of the incident at the Royal Albert Hall: “It is controlled by a guy on the side, and we had so much sub-bass on the sound of the drums that I couldn’t pitch.

“I was pointing to the bass drum and screaming at [Starkey] because it was like flying a plane without seeing the horizon. So when Zak thought I was having a go at him, I wasn’t. That’s all that happened. Pete and I retain the right to be The Who. Everyone else is a session player.”

You can see the Royal Albert Hall incident in the video below:

As it currently stands, Zak Starkey is out of The Who, and drummer Scott Devours is handling drums for the band’s upcoming farewell tour.

You can view a full list of dates via the band’s official website.

The post “Pete and I retain the right to be The Who. Everyone else is a session player”: Roger Daltrey comments on firing of drummer Zak Starkey appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

Reid toured with the Rolling Stones, Cream, Jethro Tull, and Fleetwood Mac, released seven studio albums, and was even a session player for the likes of Jackson Browne and Bonnie Raitt

If one thing’s for sure, it’s that anyone who passes through King Crimson’s ranks is as technically proficient as they come.

In a new interview with Prog, bass player Peter Giles recalls his first impression of guitarist Robert Fripp, and how practicing reading music together nurtured their budding friendship in the late ‘60s.

• READ MORE: The real story of The Final Countdown: John Norum explains why Europe’s biggest hit made him quit the band in disgust

“He had a nice, droll sense of humour, and his chops were really good, his chords and stuff. He was hot,” Giles recalls when asked about his first impression of Fripp.

“He’d been playing with some older musicians at the Majestic Hotel in Bournemouth, and you learn a lot from those people. We thought London was the place to be. It’s a lot easier to do it from London than bloody Bournemouth.”

Giles goes on to recall Giles, Giles and Fripp, the short-lived rock group consisting of himself, his brother Michael on drums, and Robert Fripp on guitar between 1967 and 1968.

“My brother was working in the evenings in dinner dance stuff, covering the Top 40,” Peter remembers.

“I used to work in Frith Street in the heart of the West End in a restaurant with an Argentinian guitarist and blind organist who used to play everything in F sharp. Fripp was teaching. But Gile, Giles and Fripp never did any gigs together.”

Giles also remembers making a habit of sourcing old pieces of sheet music with Fripp, with the pair going over them together to hone their musical skills.

“We used to go to the La Gioconda Café in Denmark Street where all the music publishers were. We’d go into some of them and ask if they’d any old sheet music. We used to get handfuls of this bloody stuff and then go back home and stick it up with Fripp reading the top line and the chords, and I used to read the bass parts. We’d have a go at it.

“We used to spend hours doing this! [laughs]. That’s what we did all day apart from writing and recording. Whenever one of us had a song or an idea, the three of us would chip in. My brother is a very good ideas man, not just a drummer. I mean, he has a lot of brilliant ideas, melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic.”

King Crimson fans got excited recently when guitarist Jakko Jakszyk revealed they were recording their first new album in 20 years. But Crimson manager David Singleton was quick to dispel the rumours – at least partially – when he said “getting excited is somewhat premature”.

The post “We used to spend hours doing this!” The pastime Robert Fripp and Peter Giles enjoyed pre-King Crimson appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

The guitar-wielding pop queen invited the ’90s rock icons on stage for a sterling two-song spot as she continues to champion her alt-rock influences

Weaned on the blues, raised on rock 'n' roll, Kiszka and Ida Mae's Turpin bring their kindred spirit to bear on Mirador's breathtaking debut album. Kiszka reveals how it all went down

From his lucky ’83 Les Paul and Fleetwood Mac-inspired soloing to “getting away with murder” at the sessions, the Dire Straits legend opens up in his most revealing interview in years

New influences, a change in production methods, and moving away from thrash led to the pair switching up their tandem

Europe’s The Final Countdown is one of the most iconic and beloved anthems of the 1980s. Its synth- laden riff, underscored by hard driving guitars, bass and drums features a melodic guitar solo that shreds like no other courtesy of Norwegian born guitarist John Norum, who laid the solo down in 15 minutes. The song went on to become the Swedish group’s calling card, while the album of the same name, has remained the group’s most enduring and most commercially successful to date. Not bad for a song that Norum initially at first hated, but later came to embrace it.

• READ MORE: Why have we forgotten the greatest female guitar heroes? The pioneering women who shaped guitar history

Both the song and album’s birth went back a number of years prior to the group entering the studio. The group’s vocalist Joey Tempest had earlier recorded a bare bones demo of the track on a cassette tape with plans to use it as an opening piece of music to open the group’s concerts. Having filed it away in the cupboard, it was only when the group were undertaking writing sessions for the album, that Tempest revisited his old demo and brought it to the band.

The group also shared an admiration for the arena rock of Journey, which came to play a major role in the musical direction of the album. “We’d been listening to Journey a lot, and we loved the sound of their albums,” recalls John Norum today. “And Neal Schon is one of my favourite guitar players too. And because of that, we wanted to work with producer Kevin Elson who produced those Journey albums in the late Seventies and early Eighties. We thought Kevin Elson would be perfect for us because we wanted to get that kind of Journey sound.

“At the time Joey and I were doing demos of the songs at his house. We had maybe four or five songs, and I was putting down some guitar solos and stuff like that with one of those little Rockmans. After that, we got Kevin to come out to Sweden and we did pre-production for the album for about two weeks, and then we moved to Zurich, Switzerland to begin recording at Powerplay Studios.”

Swiss Precision

The Swiss picturesque environs provided the perfect setting for the group to focus on the music and for Norum, capturing his guitar sound at its best. “We were there for about five weeks, and it was great,” he says. “It was out in the countryside, and we were living there too as they had bedrooms and stuff so we were working constantly just focusing on the music with no outside distractions. I remember pretty much just playing guitar all the time and Kevin got me a great guitar sound too.

“Because I didn’t really have that much knowledge about how to dial in a good guitar sound, he kind of dialed it in for me. For the album, I used my 1965 Fender Stratocaster and plugged it into a rental amp, a Marshall JCM800, 100-watt. I used a Boss Super Overdrive and a Boss DS-1 Distortion together. Though we mixed them together, most of the gain came from the amp. And using those two Boss pedals together proved to be a good combination. We did try using each pedal separately, but it just didn’t seem to work in giving me the sound we wanted to achieve.”

Journey On

Once Norum’s guitar sound was put to tape, and recording sessions ended, the band along with producer made their way over to the west coast of America to begin mixing, which again, had ties to Journey. “We went to San Francisco and mixed it at the same place where Kevin had mixed the Journey stuff, at Fantasy Studios in San Francisco,” says Norum. “And because that was the first time we, as a band, had been in the States – it was very exciting. After the album got released, it just exploded. It became number one in 25 countries, and we quickly started touring.”

But success became a double-edged sword for Norum. While the commercial success gave the band the world at its feet, for Norum though everything had become less about the guitar, and more about fame and its excesses. Instead of solidifying its standing as a hard rock group, with the guitar as its primary driving force, Europe had now morphed into purveyors of synth-pop rock. This led to Norum facing a career crossroads.

“When you get success that quick, it goes so fast, and you don’t really know how it works, how the business works and everything,” he explains. “Suddenly it’s like you have to get up and do the interviews every day from morning till night, and TV shows and get on early flights and all that stuff. And the fact that the keyboards were taking over a lot more, we had become more like a pop band.

“I hated that whole bubblegum image with the big hair and the spandex pants and that whole eighties image. Then some guys in the band got really big headed, and just doing the sex and drugs and rock and roll thing way too much and drinking every day, all the time. I was constantly waking up with a hangover, and finally came to the realization that this life was not for me. It’s not what I wanted to do and it wasn’t me and I didn’t want any part of it. So, I quit.”

Norum went on to enjoy a prolific solo career though, while Europe would soldier on until 1992. A decade later in 2003 the band reunited with Norum back in its ranks, and far-removed from the excess of their 80s pomp, the band remains active today on the touring circuit with plans for a new album, and a reputed return to their classic sound, currently in the works for a late 2025 release.

The post The real story of The Final Countdown: John Norum explains why Europe’s biggest hit made him quit the band in disgust appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.

On Flickering Resonance, the instrumental auteurs throw down a spellbinding slab of post-metal majesty.

To some, a rock band without a singer can seem like a band without a voice. But for Pelican, the lyrical guitar lines of Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec are not without a point of view. Their self-professed “unconscious melting pot” of influences includes post-hardcore, punk, and doom metal, among others, but their music also often displays the grandeur of cinema, blending a thick sonic backbone with melodic passages and moments of quiet, introspective solemnity. They intentionally press against the heaviness of their preferred drop-tunings and endlessly yearning rhythms to find a musical sweet spot that is as uplifting as it is unrelenting. “I think the music has this exalting, elevating melody to it that could be described as positive or affirming,” describes Schroeder-Lebec. “It was never the intention to be dark or foreboding or menacing.”

The instrumental post-metal band came together in 2001 in Chicago, Illinois, with guitarists Shelley de Brauw and Schroeder-Lebec, along with brothers Bryan Herweg (bass) and Larry Herweg (drums). Known for incorporating expansive, ambient passages that set them apart from their contemporaries, Pelican has released several well-received albums since the early-aughts, starting with their debut EP, Pelican (2001), and subsequent full length, 2003’s Australasia.

Songstream

On their latest album, Flickering Resonance, Pelican takes “as much inspiration from titanic ’90s post-hardcore, space-rock, and emo as they do traditional metal, showing that though Godflesh and Goatsnake records occupied the shelves of Pelican’s songwriters, so too did Quicksand, Christie Front Drive, and Hum,” writes band biographer David Anthony. “Pelican’s foundation was built upon the rule-free, genre-agnostic [’90s] scene synonymous with Chicago’s [legendary] Fireside Bowl.”

Trevor Shelley de Brauw’s Gear

Guitar

• 1972 Gibson SG

Amp

• Sunn Model T
• Emperor 4x12

Effects

• Dunlop DVP Volume
• EarthQuaker Devices Avalanche Run Stereo Reverb & Delay
• EarthQuaker Palisades Mega Ultimate Overdrive
• Line6 DL4 MkII Delay Modeler
• Strymon BigSky Multi Reverb
• TC Electronic ND-1 Nova Delay
• TC Electronic PolyTune 3 Polyphonic Tuner

Strings and Picks

• D’Addario (.013–.056)
• Jim Dunlop USA Tortex Standard (.72 mm)

Most of the songs on Flickering Resonance were written by Shelley de Brauw, Schroeder-Lebec, and Bryan Herweg sitting in a room together. “We’ll get a rough version of a song together, record a voice memo [on a smart phone], send it to Larry, and he’ll compose drum parts around it,” explains Shelley de Brauw. “But the meat of the process is really all four of us being in a room together jamming and figuring out where the songs want to go. Once we’re in a room, we can really edit so that the DNA of all four of us is in there and it flows in a way that feels natural for us as a band.”

A core influence on Pelican’s DNA is post-hardcore progenitors Fugazi, and their indelible creative imprint is all over Flickering Resonance, even if subversively. “Those records were written in a space, jamming together, and somebody’s coming up with something, and somebody else comes up with a counterpoint, and then everything just starts to gel over time,” observes Shelley de Brauw. “For us, it’s a similar process in that the exchange of ideas makes the music feel more organic in a sense.”

“I think the music has this exalting, elevating melody to it that could be described as positive or affirming. It was never the intention to be dark or foreboding or menacing.” —Laurent Schroeder-Lebec

Aside from Shelley de Brauw’s occasional use of Ableton, he and Schroeder-Lebec mostly eschew leaning on DAWs for crafting songs and records, even if that means slowing down some of the productivity. “You can be super productive [with technology] if you’re like, ‘I’ll throw up an arrangement, lay it down to a click tonight, send it to you, and if you’ve got a part that fits pretty good, you lay that down,’ but it sometimes takes away the back and forth that happens when you’re hashing out the riffs in a room together,” explains Schroeder-Lebec. “And that’s what feels familiar and gratifying. It ends up being a better representation of the band in the end.” It took Pelican six years since their last album, Nighttime Stories, to complete Flickering Resonance, a testament to their face-to-face writing ethos.

Pelican recruited Sanford Parker to engineer the Flickering Resonance recording sessions. He’s worked with the band on and off for the past several decades, including for their first album, Australasia. “The idea was to work with somebody in a complementary way rather than a directive way,” explains Schroeder-Lebec. “Recording with Sanford seems to be a combination of miking with the DI out and staying open to the idea of splitting cabs, splitting heads, and trying to maintain the sound that you’re playing out of.”

Laurent Schroeder-Lebec’s Gear

Guitar

• 1981 Gibson Les Paul Custom

Amp

• Orange Rockerverb 100 MkIII
• Orange PPC412 cab

Effects

• Boss CE-2W Waza Craft Chorus
• Boss RE-2 Space Echo
• Boss TU-3W Waza Craft Chromatic Tuner
• EarthQuaker Devices Hizumitas Fuzz
• JHS Kodiak Tremolo
• Orange Two Stroke Boost and Equalizer
• Strymon blueSky V2 Reverb
• Strymon Brigadier dBucket Delay

Strings and Picks

• D’Addario EXL158 XL Nickel Wound Electric Baritone (.013–.062)
• Jim Dunlop USA Gator Grip Standard (1.5 mm)

When he went to record, Schroeder-Lebec says he was attached to his Orange Rockerverb, but he curiously determined that it probably wouldn’t work in the studio. “I thought that it might get too murky at times,” he admits. “We tried a bunch of stuff and Sanford and Trevor were like, ‘It needs to be the Orange. That’s the best sounding one.’ We filled out some of the frequencies with a Triple Rectifier that was adjusted to a low-gain setting and went between the two at varying levels.”

The guitar parts in Pelican songs are orchestrated more like conversations than distinct lead and rhythm roles. At times, Schroeder-Lebec says he will gravitate to foundational things, but what he enjoys most about the band, since returning after a long hiatus, is their openness with each other. “For me, it’s a sign of personal maturity not being super-attached to your awesome mega riff,” he attests. “And that is born of Trevor and I relating [to each other], and then Brian getting into the mix as a bass player.” He says open lines of communication end up informing intricacies within the songs, like picking patterns, especially when deciding if they are playing upstrokes or downstrokes, for example. “Even in the scheme of being instrumental, with as much slowness as there is, and repetition, and the wall of sound, there’s also nuance. The way the riffs are structured, they’re like interlocking pieces of the grander puzzle that I hope translate to the listener.”

“For me, it’s a sign of personal maturity not being super-attached to your awesome mega riff.” —Laurent Schroeder-Lebec

Shelley de Brauw and Schroeder-Lebec gravitate to different tonalities instinctually and find that they are surprisingly complementary of each other. “Trevor and I have known each other for a very long time, and friendship is a key component to the building blocks,” says Schroeder-Lebec. “It’s not infused with conversations like, ‘Hey I’m going to boost my mids,’ or anything technical like that, but we both want each other’s parts to be present, audible, and focused.” He recounts a funny anecdote from Russian Circles’ guitarist Mike Sullivan, with whom they toured recently. “Mike was watching us, and was like, ‘When I hear each of you individually, I’m like, how do these two guitars fit?’ They’re just such different ranges and when you hear the two together, it becomes this tapestry where everything hangs harmonically.”

Channeling all of that sonic 6-string ferocity into live shows means lugging heavy 4x12 cabs and guitar heads to gigs and rocking the same setup that they’ve used since the beginning. No in-ears, modeling amps, or plugins for Pelican. “We need the air at our backs, and we need to feel the sound waves,” attests Shelley de Brauw. “The physical sensation plays a huge part in what the band is about.” Their volume has crept down over the years because they’ve been in pursuit of clarity, and hearing each other on stage has become paramount. “In the beginning, it was just turn it up and pound hard, and it worked,” remembers Schroeder-Lebec. “But we want to play with each other. That’s the goal now and we’re hoping that the combined effort is relatable for people coming to see the show.”

YouTube It

Pelican deliver a crushing take on “Cascading Crescent” from Flickering Resonance.

Get to know the 5-string heartbeat of mariachi ensembles.

For any guitarist captivated by vibrant rhythm and unique sonic textures, the Mexican vihuela is an instrument that demands attention. Its instantly recognizable, bright, percussive strumming is the heartbeat of mariachi music, contributing an undeniable energy to the ensemble. But the vihuela’s story stretches far beyond the iconic mariachi sound we know today, rooted in European ancestry yet blossoming into a distinctly Mexican voice—one every serious string player should explore.

The vihuela’s lineage traces back to the Spanish vihuela de mano, a sophisticated plucked string instrument that thrived in the 15th and 16th centuries. This European ancestor, often boasting six courses of strings and a familiar figure-eight body shape, made its way to the Americas with the Spanish conquistadors. While the Spanish vihuela eventually faded in Europe, it found fertile ground in the New World, particularly in Mexico, where it began its remarkable transformation.

On Mexican soil, its size generally became more compact, and the string count typically settled at five, tuned in re-entrant courses, which is another way of saying the strings aren’t strictly pitched from low to high. The vihuela’s tuning is much like the first five strings of a guitar, but with the lower courses tuned higher. Most notably, the back of the instrument transformed into its characteristic convex shape, affectionately known as la jaroba. This unique curvature isn’t just for aesthetics; it’s a key contributor to the vihuela’s incredibly bright and resonant tone, allowing it to project over other instruments. While the exact reasons for this design shift are debated among historians, it undeniably gave the Mexican vihuela its unique sonic and visual identity—a true testament to organic instrument development.

“The Mexican vihuela remains an indispensable part of mariachi music, its lively strumming instantly evoking the spirit of Mexico.”

By the 19th century, the vihuela was deeply integrated into various forms of Mexican folk music, not solely confined to what we now recognize as mariachi. Historical accounts show it played in diverse regional styles alongside instruments like harps and violins. Its smaller size made it portable and perfectly suited for impromptu sessions and communal music-making—traits that resonate with any gigging guitarist.

The vihuela’s ascendance to international recognition, however, came with the rise of modern mariachi in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As mariachi ensembles solidified their instrumentation, the vihuela became a cornerstone of the armonía (rhythm) section. Its higher register and percussive attack cut through the ensemble, providing rhythmic and harmonic accompaniment with distinctive strumming patterns, complementing the deeper tones of the guitarrón and the melodic lines of the trumpets and violins.

For guitarists, the vihuela’s playing technique is where things get truly interesting. Often played with a powerful strum that uses all the fingernails—a technique called the mánico—it generates a driving and energetic pulse that’s both rhythmic and harmonic. While understanding chord voicings is crucial, the articulation of the mánico is paramount, providing the foundational groove and propelling the music forward. This rhythmic sophistication is so integral that the specific mánico strum pattern is often how experienced listeners identify the style of music a mariachi band is performing.

It’s a common misphrasing to say, “They are playing mariachi music,” when in fact, mariachi is the ensemble, performing various musical styles within its framework. Just as a symphony might play a sonata, rondo, or minuet, a mariachi ensemble performs styles including rancheras, huapangos, waltzes, sones, corridos, boleros, and polkas, to name a few. And the vihuela’s strumming, or mánico, is often the identifying factor.

Today, the Mexican vihuela remains an indispensable part of mariachi music, its lively strumming instantly evoking the spirit of Mexico. It’s a living legacy, a testament to the blend of cultural heritage and musical innovation. In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month and the celebration of Día de los Muertos, I’ve included photos of a custom Mexican vihuela I recently built for Olivia Nuñez, an artist performing with Herencia Mariachi Academy in Corona, CA. It features symbols representing cherished memories of her family members who have passed away—a perfect representation of not only the music it shares, but also the profound importance of Mexican culture and family it embodies.

The vihuela’s journey is a captivating one for any string player. It stands as a powerful example of how instruments evolve and adapt, ultimately finding their own distinct voice within a new cultural landscape. The next time you hear the spirited strum of a vihuela, you’ll appreciate its rich history—a story etched in wood and resonating through generations of captivating Mexican music.

These are uncertain times for brick-and-mortar guitar stores, but Dalporto is leading the fight back against unprecedented competition for guitar stores – and he thinks he’s found a winning formula