California-based Cleartone has announced it will release Dave Mustaine Signature “Monster" guitar strings, a set of strings that pays tribute to the Megadeth frontman. The strings come as a .010-to-.052-gauge set.
"The first time I played Cleartone strings, I noticed a ton more volume," Mustaine said. "They were bright, felt solid and durable, but really loud. I really feel Cleartone strings are amazing. They are the best-sounding strings out there, which is why I use them exclusively on all my guitars."
From a Cleartone press release:
All Cleartone strings, including the heavy metal-centric Monster series, employ VolumeBOOST. According to an independent sound lab, VolumeBOOST gives Cleartone strings up to 36 percent more loudness compared to uncoated strings.
In addition to VolumeBOOST, all Cleartone strings also include ToneLOCK technology. With ToneLOCK, Mustaine's strings last three to five times longer than other non-coated strings. Because the coating is less than one micron thin, Cleartone Monster strings don’t shred or peel or suffer from the “feel” issues associated with other coated strings.
“I didn't even know they were treated until I realized how long they were on the guitar," Mustaine added. "They last much longer than other strings I’ve used.” And unlike other coated strings, the Cleartone treatment is applied to all six strings, including the unwound ones.
Mustaine used Cleartone Monster strings exclusively on Megadeth’s newest album, Super Collider. He’s using them throughout the Gigantour heavy metal music fest, which Megadeth headlines. It also features Black Label Society and Death Division.
The Cleartone Monster Mustaine .010-to-.052 set will have a US MSRP of $19 and a US street price of around $12.99 per set.
Cleartone Monster strings are owned by Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers, and the company is run by his son, Jason Everly. Cleartone manufactures strings in its Burbank, California, production facility. In addition to Cleartone and Monster, Everly owns the B-52s brand of un-coated alloy-52 strings, Red copper-bronze acoustic guitar strings and Sevilla classical guitar strings.
After more than 50 years of playing music, several chart-topping singles and collaborations with a host of revered musicians, swamp-rocker Tony Joe White will release a new album, Hoodoo, September 17 via Yep-Roc.
White was born in Oak Grove, Louisiana, in 1943 and was raised on a cotton farm owned by his father. After he finished schooling, following a stint driving a truck in Georgia, he formed a series of bands and took to the road. A trip to Nashville in 1966 was marked by one lucky break after another, and his fruitful recording career began at the fabled country-soul crucible of Monument Records.
Gems like “Polk Salad Annie” and “Rainy Night In Georgia” were just the beginning, as he proceeded to write, record and perform regularly through the present day, finding success at home and abroad. Through the years, his songs have been recorded by everyone from Tina Turner to Elvis Presley to Ray Charles.
Culled from an initial stack of roughly 17 tunes, the nine songs on Hoodoo come alive in the haunting atmosphere and intensity of the stripped-down recording process. Cut mostly live to tape — vocals and all — much of Hoodoo consists of first takes.
“There’s some actual magic that came over all of us when we were doing this,” White says. “I would sit down with my drummer Cadillac [Bryan Owings] and my bass player the Troll [Steve Forrest], play 20 seconds of the tune and then say ‘We’re gonna hit record, and you just play what comes into your heart.’ It’s like everyone is getting the hoodoo sensation. Spontaneity is beautiful. And,” he adds, “since it’s our studio, there’s no hurry: No one is over our shoulder saying when we gotta get in and when we gotta get out … we were the record company.”
Hoodoo features autobiographical songs about his life growing up on farm and learning the blues ("9 Foot Sack"), cautionary tales of rural Mississippi ("Alligator Mississippi") and a tale of his trek homeward after the Nashville flood of 2010 ("The Flood").
White feels no pressure to top himself. “There’s not a push nowhere,” he concludes. “Maybe I’ll stop playing shows and making records when the songs quit coming to me. But they still come to me. You see, I don’t work for a song — but once I get a hold of it I don’t let go. I just keep writing, and when I do, I want to go out and play it for somebody. It’s the songwriting that keeps me going.”
TC Electronic has announced a new TonePrint campaign featuring Deep Purple, including two TonePrints from bassist Roger Glover and three from guitarist Steve Morse.
The Glover and Morse TonePrints are available immediately, for free, at tcelectronic.com/deep-purple-toneprints or via the free TonePrint App for iOS and Android.
Morse's three TonePrints quickly became fan favorites. First he made the Steve Morse Delay, which is available for Flashback Delay and Flashback X4 Delay.
From TC Electronic:
"Steve has a unique and very cool way of using his delay. He basically uses two stacks, one for his dry sounds and one for his delay sounds, and he sets the mix between them using a volume pedal on the delay stack. It's that mix we captured with this TonePrint. All knobs can be set at 12 o'clock for Steve's standard delay sound. With the Delay Time knob all the way down, the delay is so short it actually functions as a chorus too, which is exactly how Steve uses his second Flashback Delay pedal.
"Next, Steve provided TonePrints for Hall Of Fame Reverb. One is simply called Beautiful Reverb, which works particularly well for big clean sounds, with a full and lush tone.
"The final TonePrint is called Spring. The springy character of a really good spring reverb is unmistakable in this TonePrint and useful in countless rock and pop genres. Steve's twist on this TonePrint makes it suitable for lead and crunch sounds in particular."
Tore Mogensen, business manager for guitar at TC Electronic, adds: “Deep Purple is one of the cornerstones in music. It’s difficult to overstate their importance. Steve Morse is one of the most versatile guitarists I know. How he manages to be completely comfy with wildly different genres is such a compliment to his musicality. That’s the kind of guy you just know will make great TonePrints."
It's always good to be busy working when you’re a full-time musician. It can wear you out, but it's hard to complain when the phone is ringing and work is coming in. Knowing you have a couple of months booked in advance is all the job security that one can ever feel in this business. It's a good problem to have as a musician, and I embrace it.
As I take the red eye to the East Coast for a festival with Lee Rocker, I have vowed to get something written for the blog.
“But what should I write about?” I pondered. The second-most-asked question I get while traveling by air is, "How do you travel with your guitar?" (The first question is always, "What band are you with?")
I have tried just about everything as far as how to handle traveling with a guitar, and I think I have it down pretty well. I thought I might share my findings with those of you who might be wondering what the best way is for getting your axe from one place to another. Here goes:
When I joined Sha-Na-Na in 2000, I was faced with the reality that I would be flying to 99 percent of the shows and would need to travel with my trusty axe as efficiently and easily as possible. I figured the best way to fly my guitar would be to have a proper anvil case I could check with the rest of my baggage.
I had a case built custom for my hollow body and thought, problem solved, right? Wrong. I quickly found out that checking a guitar would not be as easy as I thought. First of all, that anvil case is really hard to carry, especially if you consider you have your regular luggage as well. Secondly, some of the airlines would charge me as much as $100 one way depending on their mood. I knew I needed to figure out something else before I spent my hard-earned drinking money on baggage fees.
After carrying a normal hard-shell case, I finally discovered two words that have become my favorite when it comes to guitar travel: Poly-foam. Or is that one word?
For those of you who don't use a poly-foam case, let me say you're making a mistake whether you are flying with your guitar or not. Poly-foam is a super-light material that is used in a formed case that, in my opinion, can take a hit as well or better than any regular hard-shell case. Best of all, they are extremely light and usually come with shoulder straps. This means you can carry it easily and still have two free hands.
So, you've got your poly-foam case and you figure, "Problem solved," right? Not necessarily. There is still the problem of getting your instrument on the plane with you. Although your guitar will usually fit in the overhead compartment, that doesn't mean the ticket-counter person will allow you to avoid checking it.
If you are forced to check your axe, not only will your case take a beating going through the conveyor belt, but there is always a good chance it won't be on your flight at all. I can't tell you how many times I have shown up with just hours till downbeat and I have no guitar at baggage claim. Airlines have a tendency to prioritize the guitar dead last when it comes to a full baggage compartment. You can't trust the airline. You need to take control of the situation yourself.
Whenever I fly, I always carry on my guitar. Sometimes I am asked at the ticket counter to check it with my luggage. This is where you really need to do your best Jedi mind trick. If you don't keep a cool head, the suitcase police will have you guitar hurling down the conveyor belt before you can blink an eye.
So do as I do and repeat after me: When the ticket counter person says you must check your guitar because it's too large or there is no room in the overheads, you say, "Oh, no problem. I have no problem checking it. I hate to carry this thing anyway, but if it's OK with you, I'd like to gate check it. It's really expensive and I don't want it to go down the conveyor belt."
The delivery of these lines is crucial. I guarantee if these lines are delivered kindly and in "Jedi mind trick" form, they will let you walk your precious cargo all the way to the to the gate. Nine times out of 10, they will have room in the overhead and will allow you to bring it on the plane and place it in the overhead compartment yourself.
Every so often, a crew member will even put it in one of their private closets designated for crew gear where your guitar will have more leg room than you do. Truly a first class experience — relish it!
Today they asked me to check it at the gate as the flight was very full, but I happily do so as I know it will be on the plane because I hand-delivered it myself. And it will most likely be on top of the luggage because I brought it there last after other luggage has already been loaded. I also believe they take a bit better care of your luggage after having contact with you directly. Best of all, no conveyor belt!
This is a 98-percent fool-proof method of getting that guitar on the plane safely, but I do need to touch on the 2 percent of suitcase police who live their lives to stop you from bringing your axe safely to your aircraft. If the ticket counter person insists on your checking the guitar, even after you have recited what we will now refer to as the gate check mantra, you simply ask nicely to speak to a manager and repeat the gate check mantra to the new person.
I have not had this fail in the last eight-plus years I have been flying to gigs. The key is to be very agreeable and nice. Most people flying are not used to traveling and are therefore stressed and out of their comfort zones. The airline employees are not used to someone who is cool-headed and agreeable. It defuses them.
"These are not the droids you are looking for, move along."
— Obi-Wan Kenobi
No matter what the rule for that particular airline, the person you get at the ticket counter makes the call. If you challenge them, you'll lose every time. They'll shut down all your pleas, toss your beloved axe down the chute and put your rock-star wannabe butt in a middle seat between two morbidly obese creatures without batting an eye.
So stay cool, calm and collected. Be nice. Use the Force, and control your destiny. Good luck and good flying.
Buzz Campbell, who is based in San Diego, plays guitar in the Lee Rocker Band and in Buzz Campbell & Hot Rod Lincoln. Check out his new solo album, //buzzcampbell.com/music.cfm">Shivers & Shakes.
The aggressive fluidity of economy picking is a valuable technique in any guitarist’s repertoire, providing the means for maximized speed with minimal effort.
There are myriad applications of this close relative of sweep picking, most notably the three-note-per-string scalar patterns described in Frank Gambale’s Monster Licks and Speed Picking and used by countless jazz, fusion, country, rock and metal players.
But this time around, I’m going to focus on manipulating economy picking for the powerful execution of rapid-fire arpeggios.
To get a grasp of the fundamental properties of these economy picked arpeggios, Example 1 depicts the three basic forms of simple two-string, root-3rd-5th arpeggios found in any common minor or major key (Minor, Major and Minor flat 5). For the sake of this lesson, we’ll stay in the key of Am (A,B,C,D,E,F,G).
With root notes on the B string, Example 1a is an Am arpeggio depicting the minor shape, Example 1b is a C Major demonstrating the major shape and Example 1c is a Bm(b5) showing the minor flat 5 fingering.
Perform the exercises so that when you see two consecutive downstrokes, you pick the first note and PUSH the pick to the next.
For a split second, rest the pick on the next string and as you remove the finger from the previous note, continue to push through the next note. This should be all in one fluid downward motion, slicing through the friction presented by the strings. Focus on getting an articulate snap of the strings and complete the motion with an upstroke on the third note of the pattern.
Repeated properly and with rhythmic evenness, the overall action should feel like a broad alternate pick stroke. Try a little bit of a palm mute to emphasize the individuality of the notes and accentuate the flowing percussiveness of the pick stroke. Check out the beginning of Zakk Wylde’s solo on the Ozzy Osbourne track “Miracle Man” to hear this style of economy picking in action (Zakk plays these as syncopated 16th notes as opposed to triplets).
Similar to the economy picked licks of Marty Friedman, the phrasing of the arpeggios in Examples 2a, 2b and 2c adds a pull-off to the end of the previous examples and ups the speed quotient with an absolute minimum of added effort. Keep the duration of all of the notes even and rhythmic, and don’t rush the pull-offs!
Kicking things up a notch by adding some alternate picking to the mix (as well as making things a little more harmonically interesting), Example 3 adds the 7th (the scale tone below the root note of each chord) to each of the above arpeggios.
As such, Example 3a is an Am7, Example 3b is a C Maj7 and Example 3c is a Bm7(b5). Now that we’re using 7ths there is a 4th type of chord in the key, so Example 3d is the Dominant 7th chord found in the key of Am: G7. Be sure to emphasize the “swing” of your right hand wrist as you combine the alternate picking strokes with the economy picking sweep motion.
Examples 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d are the same notes as the previous example, just shifted relative to the beat. This melodic relationship to the rhythm is one often used in the “shred-era” playing of Gary Moore (R.I.P) as well as in the solos of Nuno Bettencourt, Kirk Hammett and Synyster Gates.
And while these obviously work well with arpeggios, try experimenting with any and every 2 string/4 note (2 notes per string) fingering you can think of. You’ll be amazed at some of the lightning fast, intervallic-ally exciting licks you’ll come up with!
Continuing further, the shapes in Examples 5a-5d add a slightly exotic flair to the proceedings with add9 arpeggios. Dealing with the “standard” shapes found in most keys, Example 5a is an Am add9 arpeggio and Example 5b is a Cadd9. The Bm(b5)addb9 arpeggio in Example 5c and the Em add b9 in Example 5d round out the other types of add9 shapes in Am, here emphasizing the two half-step scale relationships between B and C and E and F in the key.
These shapes sound particularly cool due to the close proximity of the 9 to the 3rd in the arpeggios and can give your pinky quite a workout. Start slowly, pay attention to the evenness of your left hand articulation and feel the flow of your right-hand motion.
The previous examples have added more chord tones to the arpeggios on the B string, but Examples 6a-6d add the 11th to the mix and switch things up mechanically with the extra E string note. In these cases, the add11 note pulls off to the 3rd, adding an easy means of achieving even greater speed with simple means. The motion of the pick hand is switched up as well, and you’ll find that this set of examples will feel most similar to straight alternate picking at high speeds.
Example 6a and Example 6b are the basic minor add11 and major add11 (Am add11 and Cadd11, respectively), Example 6c is the Bm(b5)add11 and Example 6d rounds out the types of add11s in the key with the Lydian-flavored Fadd#11 arpeggio.
As with the above examples, try varying the examples with different arpeggios in the key and with other scale types and fingerings (with one note on the B string and 3 notes on the E), using the examples as a template for your experiments. These sound particularly cool with wide stretch pentatonic and blues scale fingerings!
Finally, Example 7 is a short etude following an A harmonic minor (A,B,C,D,E,F,G#) progression: Am-Bmb5-G-Am-F-G-E7-E7 (E7b9 in this case- a G#Dim7 chord superimposed over E). I’ve used the add9 forms here to give the maximum left hand workout and for an exotic flair in the harmony, but be sure to try the same progression with the other types of arpeggios found in the previous examples.
Note that for the final two bars I’ve expanded the picking to include full-on three-string sweep picking, thus increasing the challenge of maintaining pick control by combining alternate, economy, and sweep picking in the piece. Note that you’ll start the whole etude on an upstroke to maintain the continuity of the picking on subsequent repeats.
I’ve only scratched the surface here with what is possible with the utilization of economy picking, but these examples should serve as a great primer for those unfamiliar with the technique as well as being excellent refinement exercises for experienced players who may not use the skill very often.
As always, use the above examples to get comfortable with the technique, get creative with your own variations and look to seamlessly integrate them into your own individual style. Happy shredding!
Scott Marano has dedicated his life to the study of the guitar, honing his chops at the Berklee College of Music under the tutelage of Jon Finn and Joe Stump and working as an accomplished guitarist, performer, songwriter and in-demand instructor. In 2007, Scott developed the Guitar Strength program to inspire and provide accelerated education to guitarists of all ages and in all styles through state-of-the-art private guitar lessons in his home state of Rhode Island and globally via Skype. Learn more at GuitarStrength.com.
Different styles of music have varying approaches to ornamenting notes — from a subtle trill in classical music, to gamaka, the technique of quickly going back and forth from a pitch to the closest microtone in Indian music.
The focus of this lesson will be on ornamentation in Celtic music. Most ornamentations are notated as grace notes. A grace note is performed by playing the note(s) as fast as you can, ending on the target melody note. Grace notes are notated as smaller notes preceding the target note.
There can be one grace note above or below the target note, or in the case of the piece I wrote for this lesson, several notes. The effect should be subtle enough that the listener may not realize that other notes were played around the melody note, but that something else is happening besides the melody.
So why do we want to learn this technique? Two reasons. The first would be if you want to expand your palate of phrasing by taking in techniques of different styles. The second would be that by practicing the techniques in this lesson, you will develop more strength and clarity in your legato playing.
This lesson is for everyone, regardless if you want to learn Celtic music or just want to learn a new technique to strengthen your left hand by doing something you aren’t accustomed to. Some examples you can find in rock music are the guitar intro to Thin Lizzy’s version of “Whiskey in a Jar” and the second half of Steve Morse’s “Highland Wedding."
In the piece I wrote for this lesson, “Galtymore Crest," I’ve included several instances of grace note phrasing. Playing the piece can actually serve as a good warmup/workout if done daily at different tempos.
A few sections to focus on, would be the initial phrase and first instance of the grace note passage:
Bar 4 presents a phrase with a stretch:
Finally, the second half of bar 5 has a 4 note, grace note phrase that you will want to practice until all of the notes come out clearly.
I hope the tools presented in this lesson will add some new techniques to your playing and inspire you to try things you may not have thought of before.
Steve Booke is a composer for film and TV from the New York area. His compositions range from orchestral to metal to world styles from every corner of the earth. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Steve has played guitar for more than 27 years. He has recorded 10 albums of his own and has played on countless others. He plays gigs in the NY area and tours the East Coast with a variety of bands. He has performed with Ben E. King and members of Mahavishnu Orchestra. He endorses D'Addario/Planet Waves, Larrivee Guitars, Levy's Leathers, Peavey, Stylus Pick, Finale PrintMusic, Pigtronix, Tech 21, Toontrack, Graph Tech, Seymour Duncan, Waves, Studio Devil and L.R. Baggs. His music is available on iTunes and Amazon. He can be contacted at info@stevebooke.com. Visit stevebooke.com.
As we reported earlier this week, Motörhead were forced to cut short their set at Germany's Wacken festival last Friday after Lemmy Kilmister felt too weak to continue.
Motörhead guitarist Phil Campbell immediately tweeted a few Lemmy updates and responded to the obligatory Lemmy death rumors, writing, "Contrary to some reports, Lem is alive and kicking, so take no notice of these rumors from asshole tweeters."
Yesterday, Slash also tweeted a reassuring Lemmy update of his own, letting Motörhead fans know their hero is "doing well."
Here's the full Tweet:
"Motörhead rocked the Black Stage for more than 30 minutes and Lemmy gave everything to play an amazing show," said organizers of the Wacken festival not long after Lemmy walked off the stage. "He's keeping well, but the temperatures and circumstance led to the point that continuing the show would have led to a loss of quality. They did everything humanly possible to play this gig. Thank you so much, guys!"
Motörhead will release their 21st studio album, Aftershock, in the fall. They're also scheduled to play the following UK dates with Saxon in the fall:
Weds 13th November 2013 – NOTTINGHAM Royal Concert
Thur 14th November 2013 – NEWCASTLE City Hall
Sat 16th November 2013 – LONDON Brixton O2 Academy
Sun 17th November 2013 – LONDON Brixton O2 Academy*
Tue 19th November 2013 - WOLVERHAMPTON Civic Hall
Wed 20th November 2013 – MANCHESTER O2 Apollo
Fri 22nd November 2013 – GLASGOW O2 Academy
Forty-seven years ago this summer — in late July and August 1966 — the Beatles found themselves in a touchy situation.
On July 29 of that year, a teen magazine called Datebook published segments of a nearly 5-month-old interview with John Lennon. Among the republished segments was this quote by Lennon:
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first — rock 'n' roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."
The quote, which originally appeared in a March 1966 London Evening Standard story by Maureen Cleave (a reporter who was friendly with Lennon and the other Beatles), didn't cause much of a stir in the UK or the rest of the world when it was originally published. After all, the Jesus line was just a tiny part of a lengthy piece full of tidbits like:
In the sitting room are eight little green boxes with winking red lights; (Lennon) bought them as Christmas presents but never got round to giving them away. They wink for a year; one imagines him sitting there till next Christmas, surrounded by the little winking boxes.
However, with its publication in Datebook, the quote reached a wider audience — including the American South. On Sunday, July 31, a disc jockey in Birmingham, Alabama, kicked off a drive to ban the Beatles from the airways. He said their radio station would no longer play records by the Beatles, who "grew wealthy as the music idols of the younger generation."
By early August, deranged knuckleheads began hoisting "Ban The Beatles" signs and burning Beatles albums, even establishing pickup points where "Beatles trash" (including records, photos and other memorabilia that would've been worth a lot of money today had they not been destroyed by deranged knuckleheads) could be dropped off, stomped on — and burned, of course.
Forty-seven years ago today (August 8, 1966), The Daily Gleaner of Birmingham published the following notice:
"Hundreds of Beatles records are to be pulverized in a giant municipal tree-grinding machine here because of what Beatle John Lennon said about Christ, a disc jockey revealed today. 'After going through the "Beatle-grinder" borrowed from Birmingham City Council, all that will be left of the records will be fine dust.' A box full of the dust will be presented to the British pop stars when they arrive in Memphis, Tennessee, not far from here, for a concert Aug. 19, said local disc jockey Rex Roach."
That summer, the London Evening Standard piece and its Datebook excerpt grew more notorious as the storm of controversy escalated. Lennon was forced to apologize, which he did at a Beatles press conference during the band's final tour in August.
EPILOGUE: With its nearly 36 million fans, the Beatles' Facebook page is much more popular than any single Jesus-related Facebook page. Hey, I'm just pointing it out! Please don't pulverize this website in a giant municipal tree-grinding machine!
As you contemplate all this nonsense, check out a a spoof of this interesting slice of the Beatles' history. It's a scene from All You Need Is Cash, a 1978 made-for-TV film about a fictional band called the Rutles. The film was written and narrated by Eric Idle of Monty Python:
Damian Fanelli is the online managing editor at Guitar World.
2011 was well on the way to being one of the best years of Tony Iommi’s life. The guitarist was on a successful book tour to promote Iron Man, his revealing autobiography in which he talks about his life and his career with Black Sabbath.
At the same time, he was reuniting with the original Black Sabbath members—vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, bassist Geezer Butler and drummer Bill Ward—to write and record a new full-length album, the quartet’s first since 1978’s Never Say Die!
But celebration gave way to concern when Iommi discovered a lump in his groin. Doctors initially misdiagnosed the problem as nothing more than an infection, but when Iommi’s condition worsened, his doctor biopsied the mass. At a follow-up appointment, he told Iommi the result: We found lymphoma.
“Once I heard my doctor say that, my whole world changed,” Iommi says. “I thought, Bloody cancerous lymphoma? Well that’s it. I’ve had it.”
This news came as such a shock that even today, as Guitar World sits across from a healthy-looking Iommi in a cottage in rural West Midlands, England, the guitarist’s affable disposition darkens when he recalls that grim period.
“Once they diagnosed it, I had to start the treatment right away,” he says. “And it knocked me about. I’d go through stages thinking, Can I do this? And then: Of course I can do this. I don’t want to die. I want to carry on and do what I’m supposed to do.”
Iommi’s treatment included an aggressive course of chemotherapy and radiation that attacked the cancer but seriously taxed his immune system. He began to feel sicker, lose weight and weaken, and had to focus what little energy he had into fighting his illness. Plans for the Sabbath record were put on hold. But as the guitarist’s body began responding to treatment, Iommi’s creative spark was rekindled. Much to everyone’s surprise, he turned his attention back to writing the songs that would eventually make up Black Sabbath’s new disc, 13.
“They thought I would pack up,” Iommi says. “But I asked the doctor, ‘Is it okay if I work?’ And he said, ‘Yes, you’ve just got to be careful.’ So I’d go in the studio and play for a bit. Then I’d get tired and I’d have to go and sit down. The guys would tell me not to push it.”
Iommi was determined to get the album made. And as Osbourne and Butler tell us when we catch up with them in a Los Angeles recording studio, where they’re putting the final touches on the album, he rose to the occasion.
“We all rallied around him,” Osbourne says. “But it’s not like we’d be saying, ‘Are you okay? Are you okay?’ We just got on with it. Sure, he looked tired, but he was a soldier and marched on. He still had more riffs coming out of him than anyone. None of us would go, ‘Oh, he’s fucking ill again.’ We’re bros. We grew up together. It’s like a family member getting sick.”
“It brought up how we’re all just mortal beings, and we aren’t gonna be here forever,” Butler adds. “Tony and I were on the Heaven & Hell tour with Ronnie James Dio, and six months later Ronnie was dead [from stomach cancer, in 2010]. We didn’t have any inkling that was gonna happen. When Tony got the cancer, obviously that was in his mind. We didn’t know how he’d respond to the treatment. So it was like, Let’s get the album done at all costs, as long as Tony’s up to it. So we’d write for three weeks, and then he’d go for his treatment and we’d all have three weeks off. But it didn’t affect his playing at all. In fact I think it really encouraged him and kept his mind off the cancer, which is the best thing you can possibly do if you have that.”
As Iommi got stronger, his future, as well as Black Sabbath’s, started looking brighter. The band continued writing and rehearsing, and making progress on the new album. On November 11, 2011, Sabbath held a press conference at Los Angeles’ Whisky a Go-Go to officially announce that they had reformed and would record an album of new material. But in early 2012, Bill Ward surprised everyone when he announced that he would not move forward with recording, saying he felt “ostracized” by the band and calling the contract he was offered “unsignable.”
“I was shocked,” Iommi says. “We were hearing stuff from lawyers, like, ‘I’m not happy with this. I’m not happy with that.’ We waited a long time for Bill and we wanted to sort it out. But at the end of the day, especially after I was diagnosed, I thought, Fucking hell, that’s it. We’ve got to get a move on. I might pop off next year! So I emailed him and said, ‘Bill, we can’t wait any longer. We’ve got to get on with it.’ And that was it.”
The band switched gears and began auditioning drummers but didn’t find the right fit until producer Rick Rubin offered the seemingly left-field suggestion of Brad Wilk, from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave. “We had our doubts, because they play a different, funky sort of music,” Iommi says. “But after a few days of rehearsal, we knew Rick was right. Brad was a really good player, and he was getting it. We liked his style and the way he tried different things instead of being regimented. It was sort of jazzy and loose, like Bill.”
With Wilk in place, Black Sabbath set up camp at Rubin’s Shangri-La studios in Malibu to record the album. Rubin had the band cut the basic tracks live in the studio together to help capture the vibe of the early Sabbath records. These sessions were also the first time Osbourne had tracked a studio record with Sabbath since the contentious, drug-addled experience of recording 1978’s lackluster Never Say Die! Not surprisingly, the singer felt a twinge of performance anxiety.
“The pressure on us was terrific,” Osbourne says. “I didn’t want to sound hokey, trying to cop Paranoid or Master of Reality. But at the end of the day, you just have to go with your heart and ‘let go and let god,’ as they say. I’ll know if I’m cutting corners and if I can do a better vocal take or melody.”
“I’ve never seen Ozzy the way he’s been this time,” Iommi says. “He showed up for everything and was really enthusiastic. We’d be running through a track for an hour and a half trying to catch the right one. And Ozzy is sitting in the booth, sweating and going, ‘I can’t breathe in here!’ ” He laughs. “We’d go out and listen to the track and look back to see Ozzy still sitting in the booth. He hadn’t realized we’d gone!”
Butler, along with deploying tons of his massive signature low-end lines, shared lyric-writing duties with Ozzy. The two cover a lot of heavy topics on 13, such as methamphetamine addiction (“Methademic”), clone consciousness (“End of the Beginning”), Nietzschean nihilism (“God Is Dead?”) and pedophile priests. “ ‘Dear Father’ is about this guy who goes to confession, and it’s the priest that molested him,” Butler says. “He confesses that he’s about to murder, and he gets his act of contrition. And once he’s got it, he kills the priest.”
“You don’t wanna take a girl on a date to listen to this new Sabbath record,” Osbourne interjects with a laugh. “You should probably stick with something like Adele.”
When the dust settled at Shangri-La, the band emerged with the eight-song, 50-plus-minute behemoth 13. (The two-CD deluxe version includes three bonus tracks.) The epic record, which is scheduled to drop in June, possesses both the raw, aggressive abandon of early Sabbath and the gravitas and confidence befitting its seasoned members.
While Iommi still has to undergo periodic treatment sessions to keep his lymphoma at bay, for the moment the guitarist is feeling optimistic about the future and is especially looking forward to 13’s release and the upcoming batch of Black Sabbath worldwide tour dates.
“I don’t think we have to go out and prove anything,” he says. “It doesn’t have anything to do with that. We’ve already accomplished a lot by doing this album, and working with the guys was great. Everybody always said, ‘Do you think you’ll ever do another Sabbath album?’ But no one knew if it’d ever happen. Finally, I can go, ‘Yes, we’ve done one now!’ ”
In the following exclusive interview, Tony Iommi opens up about how he survived the biggest fight of his life while tracking the most highly anticipated heavy metal album of the year.
GUITAR WORLD: The original Black Sabbath lineup first reunited in 1997 for Ozzfest and then in 2001 announced that work had started on a new record. Why did those sessions fizzle out?
Well, we started writing, but to be honest we didn’t really have anything. We had done about six or seven songs, and we played them for Rick Rubin. I think he liked three or four of them. And then it just fell to pieces. Ozzy had The Osbournes [reality show] coming up, and his head was somewhere else. But it wasn’t just him; it was everybody. It just wasn’t gelling at that time. So we left it, and Geezer and I carried on with Ronnie.
Did working on the Heaven & Hell record [2009’s The Devil You Know] help you get back into the Sabbath mindset?
Possibly, yeah. Ronnie was really good to work with in that he liked the strange chords, the semitones and all that evil sort of stuff I like. It was great to work together as a team. We had a great vibe going. It was almost sad at the end of the tour, like, “Well, what are we going to do now?” I mentioned to Ronnie about doing another album, and he said, “Yeah! Let’s do it!” But of course, we never did.
It’s hard to imagine that you were sharing a stage and making plans with Ronnie and then, just a short time later, attending his funeral.
It was a terrible period. We had all these plans, and then poor Ronnie went through [his battle with cancer]. I was in L.A. for Ronnie’s funeral, and I had a phone call from Sharon saying how sorry she and Ozzy were about Ronnie’s death, and would I talk to Ozzy? I said yeah, and I spoke to him. He asked if we could meet up when he got back to England and talk about some stuff. And that’s basically what happened. We got together and talked about how much we missed playing and how nice it would be to do an album together.
After you reconnected with Ozzy, what came next? What were those first jam sessions like?
The first thing was the four of us—Bill, Ozzy, Geezer and myself—went to the Sunset Marquis in L.A. They’ve got a studio under there, and we wanted to go somewhere quiet where it wouldn’t be, “Oh, we saw Sabbath all together!” You can drive underneath the Sunset without anybody seeing you. So we went in, and I brought my CDs filled with song demos. I played them to everybody, and everyone liked them. So we started rehearsing at Ozzy’s home studio outside of L.A., because it was also quiet and nobody would know. Then we moved to England to rehearse for a while, just to get a different environment.
Because of all the time that passed since you last wrote an album with Ozzy, were you ever nervous that you might not click?
Well, we all knew we could still play. But the difference was the commitment that we all had. It wasn’t, “All right, I guess we’ll do this now.” We all really wanted to do it, including Ozzy, which was great. He’s been at all the rehearsals and was there for all of the recording. He was never there in the past, except in the very early days. He got to a point where he’d be there five minutes and go, “Anybody want a cup of tea?” And he’d disappear for two hours. [laughs] We’d be playing and be like, “What happened to our tea? What happened to Ozzy?” He’d be in the other room, snoring on the sofa. [laughs] But now it’s been so different. He’s been so into it all.
This was also around the time that you received the news of your cancer, right?
The diagnosis came when I was doing my book tour [in 2011] before we started rehearsal. On the book tour, I saw a doctor because this lump appeared in my groin. We thought it was just a swollen gland, so he gave me antibiotics. After the book tour, I was going to L.A. to start rehearsals. He said if it wasn’t gone in two weeks when I got there, I should see another doctor. So I did, because it was still there. He gave me more antibiotics, because I had developed an infection from this other problem I had with my prostate. It was too big and had to be cut down. So I thought the other lump was part of that. But it never went away.
So we were rehearsing and writing, and I kept feeling this pain down in my groin. And Ozzy kept saying, “You don’t look really well.” And I’d say, “Well, I don’t feel too good.” He also told me to go get it checked out. I was going back to England to have the prostate operation, so I decided just to wait until then. They said they’d take out that other lump while they were in there. I thought nothing of it at all, but they found out it was cancer.
I’m sure nothing was the same after those words came across the doctor’s desk.
Yeah, my whole life changed. And they’re so casual about! They say, “The good news is that your prostate is really good. But the lump, we found lymphoma in it.” Lymphoma, what’s that? Well, I knew what it was, but I wanted to hear them say it: cancer. Once I heard that, it was awful. I thought, God, of all the times. We’re right in the middle of working on this record.
Did you immediately stop work on the album?
All my mind was on treatment and trying to get rid of it. That’s all I could really think about for awhile. I couldn’t think about the music. I had to get this sorted out, so everything had to wait. I was in terrible pain from the prostate operation as well. And then I started the chemo. I didn’t feel well and started losing weight. Then I had radiotherapy [radiation] every day. But I did say to the guys while I was in treatment, “If you come to England, then we can carry on.” I couldn’t move away from the treatment, and I was weak and tired. But I wanted to carry on.
What propels you to continue working on an album when you’re literally fighting for your life?
I was determined that it wasn’t going to stop me. I’ve always been that way. I can’t give in to things. Having my wife, Maria [Sjöholm, former Drain STH vocalist]—who was so great, put up with so much and never complained—and friends around me was actually the best thing for me. It helped get my mind off of it. I would be in the hospital a couple of days before they’d come. And then I’d walk in the studio and we’d start talking and we’d play for a bit. Then I’d get tired and I’d have to go and sit down. They were all right behind me, so it was good.
Of course, when I told Ozzy I have lymphoma, he said, “Didn’t so and so die of that?” [laughs] Thanks! I had to laugh. Typical him. But it was great he was there. You’ve got to be positive about it, and I try as much as I can. Sometimes I start going downhill a little bit, and then I perk back up. Like I mentioned, my wife has really helped me, as well as the people around me. I got so many nice letters and messages from fans saying, “You’ll be okay. Just hang in there!” Even Lance Armstrong sent me a letter. And when [Deep Purple keyboardist] Jon Lord was ill, before he passed away [in July 2012], I would get messages from him, saying, “Look, if there’s anything I can do to help with the treatments, just ask.” It really does help and makes you want to fight more.
How is your health now?
When I’d finished the chemo and the radiotherapy, I went to see the doctor again for my regular blood tests. I said, “So it’s gone now?” And he said, “No, it’s not going to go. You’re not going to get rid of it. But we can treat it and work with it.” I got all dismal, because I thought it was gone. He said there was a 30 percent chance of it going away, but I was probably going to have this for life. Now I get treatments to keep it from spreading. So every six weeks I go in for an infusion of Rituximab, which is one of the four ingredients when they give you the chemo. It takes a few hours, and it makes you feel a bit crap inside and a bit sick. But a couple weeks after, I start perking up again. So that’s how we are working it with the shows. I go out, then come back and go into the hospital for more treatment, more blood tests and all the rest of the rubbish. And then we do it all over again.
In the best of times, Sabbath are famous for summoning some heavy dark vibes. Did your health struggles add even more grimness to your riffs?
Yeah, it made the music even grimmer. I came up with some really grim riffs. [laughs] But the funny thing is, you come up with all these grim riffs and then you get together with the guys and we have so many laughs and so much fun. Ozzy will always say something that cracks me up. Geezer will say something and Ozzy’s like, “What?” And then Geezer will shout at him, “Put your hearing aid in!” [laughs] It’s funny between them two, and it’s great for me.
As if juggling cancer treatments and working on the record wasn’t enough to deal with, around that same time Bill announced he wasn’t moving forward with the recording. Did his decision surprise you?
It was a hell of a shock. We couldn’t believe it. We had just done the bloody announcement on 11/11/11, and shortly after we had a letter from lawyers saying Bill didn’t want to do it. We couldn’t quite figure out what was going on, because we hadn’t spoke about it. Bill hadn’t sat us down and said, “I really don’t want to do it,” or, “I’m not satisfied with what’s going on.” We wanted him to come back because he wanted to, not because he was bribed back. But it never got that far. It never got to him phoning up and saying, “I want to come back and do it.” But we love Bill, and we’re still the best of friends. I still email him, and I got a message from him the other day.
How did you start the process of finding Bill’s replacement?
Well, at first we were using Ozzy’s drummer Tommy [Clufetos]. He was a really good player and a nice guy, and it enabled us to continue writing and coming up with ideas. But Rick Rubin wanted to use a different drummer. First, he wanted an English drummer. I said, “Well, who is around the same age as us and around the same era and has that sort of style that we want?” Most are either dead or packed up! [laughs] So he mentions Ginger Baker. And I was like, “Fucking hell! Throw the fat into the fire, you are going from bad to worse! We’ve got enough problems here already and then you want somebody like Ginger Baker?” [laughs] I can’t imagine what that would be like. He mentioned a couple of other big name people, and then moved on to some American drummers. Then he suggested Brad.
Were you familiar with Brad’s work?
We were familiar with Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, of course, but none of us had ever met Brad. We told him to learn “War Pigs” and “Dirty Women” before he came in. When we tried him out, he was obviously really nervous. He’d only really played with those two bands for most of his life. So he was a bit shaky at first, but he got the style after we’d been playing awhile. He got to feel more comfortable, got relaxed and was playing different stuff. It wasn’t that perfect sort of drum thing where you play exactly the same thing every time. It was loose and really natural, which is probably what Bill would have done. Plus, we all liked Brad. He’s really a nice guy.
Rick Rubin is known for having an idiosyncratic hands-off way of producing records. What was your experience like with him?
Honestly, I didn’t quite know what to make of him at first. His whole idea [of preproduction] was, “Write the song. Call me when you think it’s ready.” So I would. Actually, I’d email him, because I couldn’t phone him…nobody phones him. So I’d email him: “Do you want to come down tonight?” And he’d pop in, have a listen, go, “Yeah, I like that,” or, “I don’t like it.” We wanted him to be more involved, like, “Well, what about changing that, or putting that bit there, or go to the A,” or whatever. But he was this elusive guy that we never really saw.
But when we started recording, he was there all the time…lying on the bed with the microphone. [laughs] Blimey, what a strange guy. [laughs] His way of working was he’d have us playing it live in the studio like we did on the first album. We’d play the song a couple times, then Rick would say, “Can you do it again?” After we’d finish, Geezer would be sitting next to me, and I’d say, “That sounded all right didn’t it?” And he’d say, “It was a good one.” And Rick would go, “Do another one.” [laughs] So we’d do another one, and another one, and then Rick would go, “I think we’ve got it, but do you want to try another one to see if you can better it?” Ozzy would be sitting in the booth going, “Fucking hell, we got to do it again?” [laughs] Rick definitely pushed us.
When you first met with Rick, he sat you guys down and played you the first Sabbath record. Were you worried he wanted you to make a throwback record?
I understood the point he was trying to make. He didn’t want an exact copy of that album, but he wanted the vibe of that album. Like, what would it be if this album was the follow up to Black Sabbath? What would we have done? It’s hard to wipe out 40-odd years and forget all the things we’ve learned. For us, you experiment and you move on. Your sound changes, and your way of doing everything changes. It’s really difficult to go back to the first page again. But I understood what he meant as far as creating the same vibe that the first album had, which was quite raw and natural.
When you started recording, did he offer any specific suggestions on how to produce that vibe?
We did a lot of preproduction on the tracks so we could go in and play it live. But when we got into Rick’s studio and started playing, he would say, “I’m not sure about that. Can you extend that part? Can you slow that down?” Once you’ve rehearsed it and gotten one tempo in your head, it’s really hard to change, especially without click tracks. But he wanted it that way. He’d say, “If it speeds up that’s fine. If it slows down that’s fine.” We’d gotten out of doing it that way over the years. But when we’d done that first album, it was all up and down.
Did Rick’s desire to capture that old feel extend to the gear used on 13, as well?
I knew that was his intention, but I was shocked when I walked into the studio and there’s like 20 amps there. I go, “What’s all these?” And the engineer said, “Well, we brought in all these vintage amplifiers for you to play.” I already had my own Laney signature amp there, but he’s like, “Well, these are old Seventies amps.” And I was, “Okay, let’s try them.” So I tried them, and I didn’t find one that remotely got close to the sound.
They thought just because the amps were vintage, they would produce that old sound.
Yeah. But anybody who had an amp back then, like the Who or whatever, would have them worked on and modified. I remember borrowing a Hiwatt from Pete Townshend in the Seventies, and I thought, Oh this is great, I love this. So I call Hiwatt and ask them to send some amps down. Of course, they sent some and they sounded nothing like Pete’s. That’s because he had them worked on! It was the same with the Marshalls. So this time I knew it wasn’t going to sound great, but they kept going on and on about all the vintage stuff.
At what point did you push back on the engineers?
They had this old Laney Klipp amp. I’ve been with Laney for a long time, and I knew the early ones used to blow up. So I said, “Blimey, I’m surprised that hasn’t blown up.” And they went, “Oh, no, it’s never blown up.” So I start to play, and I hadn’t been in there an hour and it blows up! [laughs] And they were like, “I can’t believe it’s blown up!” [laughs] So I go in the next day and they’ve got four of these Klipps. I don’t know where they’ve gotten them, because Laney can’t even get them now. I went, “Oh no. I’ve been down this route. I started off with this. I started this bloody stuff!” I’ve gone through all this and now I’m here, and somebody is telling me how to get my sound. That’s a bit weird. So I had to draw the line.
After all that, did you end up using your signature Laney model?
Yeah, the Laney Iommi model. I had two. I had one out about 10 or 12 years ago [Laney GH100TI]. And the new one, Laney TI100, which has a couple of channels. It’s got preamps and everything built in. I did the bass channel like I did in the early days. I used to plug into the bass channel with the treble boost to give it that sort of sound. In those days boosters were unknown. Nobody used them. It’s supposed to be a clean sound. So I tried the same method with my own Laney. At one point, Rick was saying it was too “metal” sounding. I just plugged it into the other input and said, “I can get the sound. I’m the one that started that sound.”
Did they also try to dig out your ’65 Gibson “Monkey” SG from the Hard Rock Cafe?
No, that’s still in the Hard Rock in New York. In those days, I used it because that’s what I had, like the amps. It’s what you had so that’s what you’d work with it. And I got used to it and I really liked it. But it was really temperamental. If you touched the neck, it would go all out of tune. And of course things come off in the years—bridges and stuff. So I stopped using it. It was in a case for years. And then we talked with Hard Rock about it, and I decided to retire it there. It’s better to be where somebody else can see it than be stuck in a box in storage.
What were your main guitars on the new record?
I’ve still got my old Jaydee [“Old Boy” SG], which I really like. J.D. [John Diggins] originally came along to work for me on the road, and he made this first guitar at home on his kitchen table. I kept it for a while and never used it. But then one day I started to use it and I liked it. So now he’s made me about four or five to go on the road with. For the recording, he made me a new Jaydee: a white one with an aged look. I used that, and I used my old Jaydee. Gibson Custom Shop made these limited-edition Iommi SG models, which are really great. I have the first six of those. But I don’t actually think I used one of them on this album.
Gibson also made me this custom ES-175 jazz guitar. Actually, they’ve been making it for me for five years. They made it for my 60th birthday, and I’ve just had my 65th, so I don’t know what happened. [laughs] It went wrong somewhere. Years went by, and I thought, Well, they’re never going to do it. And it turned up a week into recording. It’s a one-off black 175, and it’s really lovely. For the acoustic track “Zeitgeist,” I used a big Taylor [815L], which is a great guitar, and the 175 for the outro solo.
What were some of the main effects you used this time out?
My setup is quite primitive, really. I had a board built to use with Heaven & Hell, with a long delay, which I don’t use now, a chorus and the wah-wah. The wah-wah was the old Tychobrahe, which I’ve used for years. Then the company started making the Parapedal, and I use them now. I’m actually not sure what I’m using right now for the chorus.
Let’s talk about some specific tracks. How did “God Is Dead?” come together? Is that main riff one of the things you had stockpiled from your studio demos?
I actually came up with the sketches of that heavy riff when we were first writing at Ozzy’s house in L.A.
Geezer has a very active bass line in that track, which never gets in the way of your riffs. Can you speak about how your styles complement each other?
Well, we’ve really built it up from playing together all these years. He knows exactly what I’m going to play and can follow it. And we do the same things: he’ll bend the strings when I bend the chords and so on. Geezer always knows what to play, and I just love his style. He always knows how much to put in, and also what not to put in.
“God Is Dead?” has a relatively short solo break. Did you have that in mind from the start, or was it part of the editing process?
I never know how long we are going to do a solo part. On “God Is Dead?” it was actually longer, but Rick moved things a bit. He let the riff go for a bit and then brought the solo in. On some of the others, the ends become a jam and the solos go on longer.
“End of the Beginning” starts with a very simple early-Sabbath-style doom line, which you steadily build into an upbeat galloping riff. When you are writing, do you consciously think about how to structure build-and-release dynamics?
I suppose so. Once you start off with the riff, you never know where it’s going to go. You just put in another and then another, until it sounds like it flows. I’ve always done it like that. There are a lot of different riffs in some of them. You could make five songs out of one song, really.
That song also has two wild solos, which are both pretty long. Did you track those in pieces?
The end of that song was one of the jams where we kept it going. Geezer always follows me, so when I’m recording I always have to concentrate and think, Well, if I try something here and I go to the wrong thing, it might all go to pieces. That’s why sometimes I put the chords in, so I can then relax and work in a solo. And I know if I make a mistake in the solo I can do it again. But when you are doing the song live, there’s no room for trying things or for making mistakes.
Wait—so you did that outro solo live? Wow, was that nerve-wracking?
Yeah, it was. I told them, “Well, I’ll just play, and when I go back into the chords, you’ll know the end is so many from that.”
So you were laying down the solos live. But what’s your process like when you are writing them? Do you plot them out in advance?
No, I can’t sit down and work out solos. I’ve never been able to do that. I just play them. And if I don’t capture them in so many takes, I’ll just leave it and come back to it later.
“Epic” contains one of the album’s most lyrical solos. Do you ever think about Ozzy’s parts when you’re soloing?
Yeah, I know where Ozzy might sing or roughly where he might go. I did the main theme for “Epic” at home in England, and we started putting in the tempo changes and stuff in L.A. And since Ozzy was there while we were doing it, I knew what he’s going to do, roughly.
Because of all the expectations around a new Sabbath record, did the weight of your own legacy ever distract you during this process?
Well, you know it’s got to be good. But you can’t let that take over. Otherwise you’ll be all over the place and get too confused. You can’t be led by what everybody is expecting. You’ve just got to play. If you start following trends, it doesn’t work. You’ve got to believe in what you are doing. This is what we do. And if we like it, we know our fans will like it.
You’ve completed the record, are recovering from cancer, and are about to hit the road. Have you come out of the other side with a clearer vision about what you want to accomplish in the future? Or are you just taking it a step at a time?
It’s really hard, because I have to take it in stages. I don’t know what’s down the road. I just do what I can and enjoy it while I can. No one knew if Sabbath would ever put out another record. So that’s done. And now the next thing, of course, is to do a great show. We don’t have to prove anything. We just have to go out, play our music and enjoy what we do.
A few years ago, the editors of Guitar World compiled what we feel is the ultimate guide to the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos of All Time.
The list, which has been quoted by countless artists, websites and publications around the world, starts with Richie Sambora's work on Bon Jovi's “Wanted Dead or Alive” (100) and builds to a truly epic finish with Jimmy Page's solo on "Stairway to Heaven" (01).
On June 10, we kicked off a summer blockbuster of our own — a no-holds-barred six-string shootout. We pitted Guitar World's top 64 guitar solos against each other in an NCAA-style, 64-team single-elimination tournament. Every day, we asked you to cast your vote in a different guitar-solo matchup as dictated by the 64-team-style bracket. Now Rounds 1 and 2 have come and gone, leaving us with 16 guitar solos and eight matchups.
So ...
WELCOME TO THE SWEET 16 ROUND, where all 16 still-standing solos will go head to head before your eyes! As always, you can vote once per matchup, and the voting ends as soon as the next matchup is posted.
In some cases, genre will clash against genre; a thrash solo might compete against a Southern rock solo. But please get real, people! They're all guitar solos, played on guitars, by guitarists, most of them in some subset of the umbrella genre of rock. When choosing, it might have to come down to, "Which solo is more original and creative? Which is more iconic or important? or Which one kicks a larger, more impressive assemblage of asses?"
Latest Sweetwater Sweet 16 Results
Winner:"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (53.35 percent) Loser:"One" (46.65 percent)
Today's Sweetwater Sweet 16 Matchup (2 of 8) "Free Bird" Vs. "No More Tears"
Moving right along, today we see a serious front-runner — Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" (ranked as the No. 3 guitar solo out of 100) — going up against a relative dark horse, Ozzy Osbourne's "No More Tears" (51), which didn't even make our original top 50, but which has obliterated everything that has stood in its way, including a pair of top-20 solos. The Skynyrd classic features a joint guitar solo by Allen Collins and Gary Rossington. "No More Tears" is all Zakk Wylde.
HOW THEY GOT HERE
• "Free Bird" defeated Pink Floyd's "Money" (62) in Round 1 and Joe Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien" (30) in Round 2.
• "No More Tears" defeated Derek and the Dominos'"Layla" (14) in Round 1 and Pantera's "Floods" (19) in Round 2.
Get busy! You'll find the poll at the very bottom of the story.
03. “Free Bird” Soloist: Allen Collins, Gary Rossington Album: Lynyrd Skynyrd—pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd (MCA, 1973)
51. "No More Tears" Soloist: Zakk Wylde Album: Ozzy Osbourne—No More Tears (Epic, 1991)
Four Force amps showed up at last year's Summer NAMM show and took home the Best of Show award.
Now they’re back with the EM-1 combo amp. It’s a lightweight, grab-and-go, 5-watt amp that shares a striking resemblance to Darth Vader.
You’ve been there: You have your gigging amp, but you want something to keep at home to practice or record ideas with. Sure, you can lug a 100-watt head and matching 4x12 cab up a flight of steps just to be able to crank it up somewhere between 0 and 1, but, well, that's just miserable all the way around.
The idea behind the EM-1 is to mimic the sounds of big tube amp in a small 5-watt, 12-pound, solid-state package. The control panel offers an input jack, a 3-band EQ consisting of Bass, Mid and Treble knobs, a Gain and Master Volume knob and a ¼-inch output jack in case you’d like to disable the stock 10-inch speaker and power another cabinet. The amp can power speaker loads from 4 to 16 ohms.
The combo is a Class A design with a J-Fet preamp and an audiophile Mosfet power amp. What I like best about this amp is it’s built to sound great on any combination of settings. You can crank it up and it doesn’t thin out. I credit some of this to the ports on the back of the amp. The amp offers four different gain stages. The electronics are quality, meaning this isn’t one of those practice amps that picks up your local country music station whether you want it or not!
I could keep typing, but let’s get to the sound clips.
Clip 1 is a the neck pickup of a Tele with the amp cranked up and clean. Still full with plenty of bottom. Clip 2 is the same Tele on the bridge pickup with the amp’s gain set around 12 o’clock. Hey, we’ve got an amp with useable clean and dirty tones! For Clip 3, I plugged a Les Paul and an AMT Metalizer pedal in front to see how much gain I could get away with.
You can't believe everything you read on the Internet, but Billy Voight is a gear reviewer, bassist and guitarist from Pennsylvania. He has Hartke bass amps and Walden acoustic guitars to thank for supplying some of the finest gear on his musical journey. Need Billy's help in creating noise for your next project? Drop him a line at thisguyonbass@gmail.com.
In this Monster Lick, I'm using the E minor pentatonic scale and demonstrating how to create huge transitions all over the fretboard.
I was always fascinated when I'd watch guitar players soloing and moving all over the neck — players like Steve Vai, Shawn Lane and Eric Johnson. I approach this my own way, by combining six-string arpeggios with hammers, pulls and slides. I love the effect this creates.
Although this lick is very quick, this style of playing can be used in a melodic sense also. Check my song “Sterling” on YouTube or iTunes. Toward the end of the song, I use this approach with six-string arpeggios to create a passage that moves with the chord changes. It sounds very pretty. Obviously, this style sounds great when you want to shred peoples' heads off when soloing!
There are two main techniques to factor in here when learning this lick.
First, there are the stretches. As I move down the neck, the stretches become quite wide and can be very tricky. I suggest you make sure your left thumb is in the middle of the neck to help you maximize your stretching capability. Also, you can simply focus on the parts of the licks higher up the octave first if the stretches are too difficult. Your stretching capability, like anything on the guitar, can be improved and worked on, so don’t worry if you struggle at the start. It will get easier with every practice session.
Second, there's the picking hand. In theory, as I'm using sweep picking, the picking on paper looks incredibly easy, as a majority of the time, it is all down-strokes or all up-strokes — just like when you're strumming a chord in a slow, controlled manor. The difficult thing here is the syncopation between your left and right hands. Your left hand is working “over time” with the quick transitions and wide intervals the arpeggio shapes create, so it becomes very difficult to sync up both of these to create a smooth, clean-sounding run.
The way I worked on this was by trilling the pattern in one position and working through it slowly with a clean sound, making sure I'm syncing my hands together perfectly. As with any lick, it is best to work on it very slowly at first and build speed. I am a big advocate of practicing with a clean sound as opposed to having a heap of gain on your amp when learning something. Practicing clean will help you control the techniques better and allow you to pick up the unique nuances of certain techniques.
Once you are comfortable and have the lick under control, crank it up!
Australia's Glenn Proudfoot has played and toured with major signed bands and artists in Europe and Australia, including progressive rockers Prazsky Vyber. Glenn released his first instrumental solo album, Lick Em, in 2010. It is available on iTunes and at glennproudfoot.com.
As we discovered in the first part of this series on 3rd and 7th chord voicings, sometimes all you need to properly and musically outline any chord progression is two chords.
Today, we’ll be continuing our exploration of these fun and easy-to-play jazz guitar shapes by looking at how to apply 3rd and 7th two-note chords to the fourth and fifth strings of the guitar.
After you’ve gone through these first two lessons, you’ll be ready to start adding color tones on top of these chords, taking these small but powerful chords to the next level in your comping, chord melody and chord soloing ideas.
As this was discussed in detail in the first lesson in this series, I’ll just do a quick review here for all of those readers that are new to the subject. 3rd and 7th chords are simply what their name implies — chord shapes built from the 3rd and 7th of the underlying chord symbol.
These two-note chords allow you to state whether the chord is major or minor (the 3rd takes care of this), as well as if the chord is a maj7, 7 or m7 (the 7th takes care of those).
Here's how you'd build and play the 3rd and 7th of an A7 chord on the fourth and fifth strings of the guitar.
The one chord that isn’t fully outlined with 3rds and 7ths, at least from the four basic jazz chord types, is the m7b5 chord. We’ll look at this chord closer in an upcoming column.
3rds and 7ths Over A Blues Chords
Now that you know how to build 3rd and 7th chords, let’s take them to a blues in A chord progression, with a jazzy ii-V thrown into bars 9 and 10 for good measure.
We’ll start with the 3rd and 7th for the A7 chord, then move with as little movement as possible to all of the other chords in this progression. As you can see and hear, these chords will fully outline any chord progression, including the blues, and you need only one or two fingers to play them. Pretty cool, right?
Also, notice how little movement there is between shapes as you move between chords. This type of voice leading isn't only good musical practice; it also allows you to quickly and smoothly move between any chord in the A blues progression.
And here is the inversion of those chords to check out over an A jazz blues progression. So you now have the 7th and 3rd for the first A7 chord, playing the rest of the chords close to that starting shape from there.
Practicing 3rds and 7ths Over the Blues
Now that you've checked out these chords over a blues in A, here are some more exercises you can do in order to expand on these two-note chords in your practice routine.
01. Play the 3rds and 7ths through a jazz blues progression, moving between the fourth and fifth as well as the third- and fourth-string shapes.
02. Sing the bass notes for each chord as you do the first exercise, then repeat this in all 12 keys
03. Solo over a jazz blues progression, play single-note lines for two bars, then 3rds and 7ths for two bars
04. Repeat exercise 3, but now alternate one bar of soloing and one bar of 3rds and 7ths
05. Learn your favorite jazz guitar ii-V-I line, but now add in the 3rds and 7ths below the line, to make it sound like two hands of a piano.
Do You have a question about these cool-sounding blues chords? Post your thoughts in the COMMENTS section below!
Matt Warnock is the owner of mattwarnockguitar.com, a free website that provides hundreds of lessons and resources designed to help guitarists of all experience levels meet their practice and performance goals. Matt lives in the UK, where he is a lecturer in Popular Music Performance at the University of Chester and an examiner for the London College of Music (Registry of Guitar Tutors).
Guitar World magazine has launched its Ultimate Subscription Offer!
Receive 12 (13, actually — let's not forget the holiday issue!) issues of Guitar World AND instantly download four exclusive tracks: "Optimist" by Tosin Abasi and Misha Mansoor, "Pessimist" by Tosin Abasi and Misha Mansoor, "Nanna Banana" by Ben Weinman and Kim Thayil and "Vices" by Ben Weinman and Dweezil Zappa.
As another bonus, you'll receive Asking Alexandria’s EP of covers, Under The Influence: A Tribute To The Legends of Hard Rock! This latest collection features the band covering songs by their idols.
Songs include “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake, “Separate Ways” by Journey, “Hysteria” by Def Leppard and “Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe.
This video is bonus content related to the December 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the December 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now, or purchase this issue in our online store here.
Jimi Hendrix's stature as rock's greatest guitarist is by now an absolute and indisputable fact. In this month's edition of "In Deep," I'll examine his genius within the realm of rhythm guitar.
"Flight of the Bumblebee" has become a popular piece to play to show off technical prowess on the guitar.
Originally written for violin, there are many different versions you will find for guitar. There is no, single, master version for guitar, since it wasn't written for the instrument. Learning a few different versions would be a good idea. The different approaches will present varying techniques and interpretations.
Most, if not all, of the videos you see of "Flight of the Bumblebee" are performed at lightning-fast speeds. This was the intention of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the composer of "Flight of the Bumblebee." He wanted to write a piece of music that painted a musical picture of a bee buzzing around, which he very successfully accomplished.
That said, if you cannot play the piece at a fast tempo at this time, you shouldn't be discouraged. Even if you're never able to reach your goal, you will have at least gained something from trying and maybe discovered something new in the process. It’s completely up to you to choose to be discouraged or inspired when trying to accomplish something.
Don’t compare your progress to someone else’s; that's the surest way to fail. I used to compare myself to my peers and it did nothing for me, except wasted a lot of mental energy when I should have just relaxed and gone with the process of progress. Everyone develops and learns at different rates. If you see something you think at the time is unattainable, don’t be discouraged. Be inspired and know that with enough hard work, you will be able to do it or better one day. There's no reason to not be inspired 100 percent of the time!
The best way to approach learning how to play "Flight of the Bumblebee" is to work on memorizing bits of it at a time. A lot of the piece is essentially a main theme with leadups and outs of that theme, chromatically. Work on the main theme separately as a daily exercise, gradually increasing the tempo.
Here's an instance of the main theme:
The best fingering for this would be: 4-3-2-1 1-4-3-2 4-3-2-1 1-2-3-4. Compositionally, this is a cool call-and-response phrase.
At bar 12, I threw in some hybrid picking. Obviously, this wasn't in the original, but since it wasn’t written for guitar, almost anything goes, as I said earlier. I put this part in to help my students work on their hybrid picking as well as being able to quickly transition from standard picking to hybrid picking. To get into the hybrid phrase, I threw in a short legato line, which will allow you to set up your right hand for the hybrid picking.
Practice "Flight of the Bumblebee" slowly and memorize it. Eventually you can use it as a warmup “exercise." The best exercises are the most musical ones. If any part of it gives you trouble, isolate that one part and work on it slowly until you get it. You might find yourself working on independent parts of the piece as separate exercises.
The tempo I played it at in the video below is 180 bpm. Do your best to play it at whatever tempo sounds good to you. It could be slower than mine or faster. The most important thing is that it sounds good and you are relaxed while playing it at all times. If you begin to tense up, slow it down. It’s a long piece, so you will have to build up endurance to play it at challenging tempos. Have fun with it and good luck!
Steve Booke is a composer for film and TV from the New York area. His compositions range from orchestral to metal to world styles from every corner of the earth. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Steve has played guitar for more than 27 years. He has recorded 10 albums of his own and has played on countless others. He plays gigs in the NY area and tours the East Coast with a variety of bands. He has performed with Ben E. King and members of Mahavishnu Orchestra. He endorses D'Addario/Planet Waves, Larrivee Guitars, Levy's Leathers, Peavey, Stylus Pick, Finale PrintMusic, Pigtronix, Tech 21, Toontrack, Graph Tech, Seymour Duncan, Waves, Studio Devil and L.R. Baggs. His music is available on iTunes and Amazon. He can be contacted at info@stevebooke.com. Visit stevebooke.com.
The following content is related to the July 2013 issue of Guitar World. For the full range of interviews, features, tabs and more, pick up the new issue on newsstands now, or in our online store.
Bugera was the first and may still be the only budget-minded manufacturer whose all-tube, hand-built amplifiers successfully challenge and sometimes eclipse the performance of today’s elite super amps. Hearing and feeling these amps for the first time is enlightening, especially for guitarists like myself, who have—unnecessarily, it now seems—spent thousands of dollars in our search for a tube-driven amp that provides a simple but deep control set.
Bugera’s latest creation and flagship is the indomitable TriRec Infinium, an uncomplicated, all-tube, 100-watt boutique monster that delivers everything from warm cleans and vintage crunch to ultra-modern, skull-crushing gain, all at a street price under $1,000. Two years and more than $2 million were devoted to developing the TriRec’s short and pure signal paths and the Infinium technology, which monitors tube performance, vastly increases tube life and allows players to use any combination of power tubes to achieve their personal tonal nirvana.
For all the audio wizardry made possible by effect pedals, nothing quite rivals the expression allowed by a great wah pedal.
Originally intended to mimic the sound of a muted trumpet, it didn't take long for guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa to make that sweet, sweeping "wah-wah" sound an integral part of the rock and roll lexicon. Whether conjuring a voodoo child or a bad horsie, the human element of the active manipulation of the pedal and its voice-like qualities are what give the wah a special place on the pedalboards — in and in the hearts — of countless musicians.
This week, we look at five essential pedals tailored especially for players who really took the wah and made it an integral part of their signature sound.
As always, this list was compiled by a group of Guitar World staffers, including technical editor Paul Riario.
Outside of the realm of fretboard dramatics, few guitarists have used the wah quite so effectively as a tone control than Alice In Chains' Jerry Cantrell. The wah makes a subtle appearance on countless AIC classics, including "Them Bones" and "Down in a Hole," helping one of grunge's greatest players to home in on that tonal "sweet spot" for his ripping leads.
With a darker tonal spectrum than your stock Cry Baby, the JC95 gives you maximum control of your range by way of an adjustable Fine Tune knob. Thanks to Cantrell's predilection for cutting mids, you won't get bogged down with muddy bottom-end tones or shrill highs, instead getting a clear, throaty effect ideal for the careful tone-master and the stomp-happy guitarist.
What does it sound like?
Our own Paul Riario tries out the Jerry Cantrell Wah:
The Vox Joe Satriani Big Bad Wah dual-mode wah pedal is the result of a collaboration between Vox and Joe Satriani (one of three such collaborations).
In the context of wah pedals, the Vox BBW is unique because it truly is two wah pedals in one. Wah 1 is pretty much a classic VOX, complete with the expected vintage UK tones; Wah 2 captures Satriani's original drive and voice controls. The result is a wide range of new sounds — not exactly the kind of sounds you'd expect from your average wah pedal.
The pedal has a Drive knob that mimics the Wah 1 gain at its lowest setting; it also delivers a 10-dB boost at the maximum settings for growling overtones. Wah 2 mode incorporates the Voice switch, which lets you choose everything from trad wah voicings to dark, resonant tones reminiscent of a vintage talk-box.
What does it sound like?
Here's the official Big Bad Wah demo video, featuring Satriani in action, direct from Vox's website:
By now, you’ve probably guessed that this pedal was "designed according to the artist’s specifications," much like everything else on this list. And that is indeed the case for this pedal, Morley’s Steve Vai Bad Horsie Wah.
Vai has a close relationship with Morley Pedals, and the company makes three Vai signature models: the Bad Horsie, Bad Horsie 2 and the Little Alligator volume pedal.
As any Vai fan knows, this pedal is named after "Bad Horsie," the wah-heavy opening track from Vai’s 1995 album, Alien Love Secrets. (Check out a video of the song here.)
The pedal features Morley's electro-optical design, so there are no pots (which tend to get scratchy and wear out over time). Another cool feature is that you simply step on the pedal -- as in, touch it with your foot -- to engage it, and then just step off the pedal for true bypass.
You also can check out Morley’s official demo video for this pedal, featuring Tommy Bolan, below. (And feel free to watch this additional video by Gearmanndude, who reviews countless pedals from all makers, large and small.)
The Joe Walsh Signature Wah by Real McCoy Custom has been on Walsh’s pedal board (which you can see here) since late 2007, when the company, also known as RMC, began producing the pedal.
The pedal — which happens to be the company’s first signature model — was designed according to Walsh’s specs and aims to reproduce the wah sounds heard on Walsh’s early recordings.
The Walsh model features true bypass, an exclusive RMC ROC-POT potentiometer and easily adjustable rocker tension. As a visual bonus, the flame graphics on the chassis were created by artist Perry Hall according to — once again — Walsh’s specs.
What does it sound like?
This pedal doesn’t leave much of a footprint on YouTube (no foot/pedal pun intended). Hopefully, RMC will create and post an official demo video. Until then, you’ll find only one or two poor-quality videos on YouTube, plus this helpful video from ProGuitarShop.com.
You know any wah made for Zakk Wylde is going to be rough, tough and road-ready, and this metal-cased behemoth of a pedal is all of that and more.
Used by Wylde with both Ozzy and Black Label Society, the Z-45 from Dunlop is a wah pedal that, in the words Guitar World gear reviewer Eric Kirkland, will make "each note cry with a deep and evil-sounding moan that resolved into an emotional peak."
The secret to the Z-45's warm, cutting tones is the Fasel inductor, which was responsible for some of the most iconic wah sounds of the late '60s. A longtime user of the Jimi Hendrix Cry Baby, Wylde made sure his signature medal had both a "classic" feel as well as more than enough thickness cut through loads of gain.
What does it sound like?
Here's a video from Dunlop — featuring Wylde — that introduces and demos the Jim Dunlop Z-45 Zakk Wylde Signature Wah:
Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell has announced a solo tour of North America this fall.
He'll be playing a series of intimate shows highlighting songs he's written throughout his career. This is the first time US fans will hear acoustic arrangements of songs from 2012's King Animal, Soundgarden’s first new studio album in more than 16 years.
American/Sri Lankan folk artist Bhi Bhiman will support Cornell on tour.
This year also marks the launch of the Chris and Vicky Cornell Foundation, which helps the most vulnerable children. One dollar of every ticket sold on the tour will be donated to the Foundation, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit ChildHaven’s Creative Music Therapy Program Expansion. Visit childhaven.org for more information on ChildHaven and the program.
An exclusive pre-sale for American Express cardholder members will open for all dates August 14; venue pre-sales will open August 15; the public sale will begin August 16 at 10 a.m. local time. PRESS HERE to pre-order tickets.
Visit chriscornell.com for more information on the Songbook tour and Chris Cornell.
Chris Cornell Acoustic Tour Dates in Full:
10/15 San Diego, CA @ Balboa Theatre
10/16 Napa, CA @ The Uptown Theatre
10/18 San Francisco, CA @ Nob Hill Masonic Center
10/19 Eugene, OR @ Jaqua Concert Hall
10/20 Seattle WA @ Benaroya Hall
10/22 Victoria, BC @ University of Victoria – Farquhar Auditorium
10/23 Vancouver, BC @ Orpheum Theatre (check local listings for on-sale date)
10/25 Medicine Hat, AB @ Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre
10/26 Calgary, AB @ Jubilee Auditorium (check local listings for on-sale date)
10/27 Saskatoon, SK @ TCU Place (check local listings for on-sale date)
10/29 Winnipeg, MB @ Pantages Playhouse Theatre (check local listings for on-sale date)
10/30 Saint Paul, MN @ O’Shaughnessy Auditorium
11/1 Chicago, IL @ Cadillac Palace Theatre
11/2 Madison, WI @ Orpheum Theater
11/3 Lakewood, OH @ Lakewood Civic Auditorium
11/5 Buffalo, NY @ Center for the Arts
11/6 Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
11/13 Kingston, NY @ Ulster PAC
11/15 Boston, MA @ Shubert Theatre
11/16 New York, NY @ Beacon Theatre
11/17 Northampton, MA @ Calvin Theatre & PAC
11/19 Providence, RI @ Veterans Memorial Auditorium
11/20 New Haven, CT @ Shubert Theater
11/22 Reading, PA @ Sovereign Performing Arts Center
11/23 Washington, DC @ Lincoln Theatre
11/24 Collingswood, NJ @ Scottish Rite Auditorium
11/26 Red Bank, NJ @ Count Basie Theatre
11/27 Wilmington, DE @ Grand Opera House
11/29 Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata Casino & Spa – Music Box
11/30 Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata Casino & Spa – Music Box
John Waite’s new live album, Live All Access, is as real and raw as it gets.
Recorded live in Philadelphia and New Hampshire with absolutely no overdubs, the album features Keri Kelli on guitars, Tim Hogan on bass and Rhondo on drums and showcases the former Babys and Bad English vocalist at the top of his game.
Waite has achieved international success over the course of his 35-year career. His hits included 1984's "Missing You," which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100.
I recently spoke with Waite about his new live album and more.
GUITAR WORLD: What made you decide to do a live album?
The band was the reason. We also added Keri Kelli as our guitar player, which really upped the ante. I remember there were nights when we were out on stage and I just looked around and thought, "God, this is where I want to be!" This is where I live and I want to share it with people. It sounded so great. I knew I had to get it on tape somehow.
What was the recording process like?
I recorded a few shows at Philly Sound. It's a church in the blue-collar part of Philadelphia that was converted into a recording studio. Our friend Jacky Bam Bam at WMMR announced it on the radio, and we threw the doors open. It was a free concert and I brought along three kegs of beer each night [laughs]. We did two of those shows and it was wild. Then a few months later, I decided to try to record again, and we got another beautiful performance in Manchester, New Hampshire. I then mixed the best of Philly with the best from Manchester. I'm proud of it. There isn't one single overdub on this record, and it's fucking great. It came out exactly as I wanted it to.
You have a few songs from your last album [2011’s Rough and Tumble] on this package. How did you decide which songs to include?
My intention was never to create an album and then sell it as a “Greatest Hits Live” package. I really wanted to share with the rest of the world just how great this band is. I enjoyed the songs from my last album. It was watershed for me because I made half of it with Kyle Cook [Matchbox Twenty] and took a month to record five songs. The rest of the songs I recorded in three days in LA, and that's including writing "Rough and Tumble" the night before we went in. There's a magical aspect to that album where one side of it was methodical and thought out and the other was hell for leather. When you put them both together, it created quite an amazing album.
How did you get hooked up with Keri Kellie?
I think Jacky Bam Bam was the one who tipped us off to him. I had a bunch of gigs coming up and was in between guitar players and one day, Keri showed up for a run through. He came in and ran through the songs but also added some great licks as well. The thing I like is that he looks you in the eye and really gets it. Two months after playing those gigs with us, he [Keri] suddenly had an epiphany and realized he was the guitar player and there was going to be no one else.
Speaking of guitars, you actually started out playing yourself — as the bassist in the Babys.
I did, but I made a decision early on where I knew I could never do a version of Andy Frasier, but I could do an extremely good version of John Waite. I remember there was some dissension in the ranks at first, but I told everyone I just couldn't do both. From the moment I fronted the band, we were playing huge places. It was nerve-racking, but there was no choice. I didn't want to give the public some Mickey Mouse version of the Babys.
How did the band come up with the name the Babys?
Our manager in London was fairly contentious. He was a very dry and sardonic kind of guy. I remember he always used to stand there in his overcoat and just sneer at us. I could give as good as I get, so one day I just looked back at him and said, "What?" He looked and he said, "Ah, you're just a bunch of fucking babies!" and walked out. Then he came back in and said, "That's it! The Babies!" At the time, I had dyslexia and instead of spelling things with "ies," I'd just put a "y" around it. So I would spell it "Babys." He took that and it became the name of the band.
When you look back over your career, what thoughts come to mind?
My life has been unbelievable. I think back to when I was just a kid at age 5, listening to Marty Robbins and living in a cottage in the English countryside in the black-and-white 1950s. If you were to look at that and then step forward to where I am now, there's such an air of fragility that sometimes even I don't believe it. It's almost like I'm asleep. It's been such a great life, and it's nowhere near over.
For more about John Waite, check out his Facebook page.
James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.
