Tag Archives: Guitarist

Dropkick Murphys On New Album “We’ve Got A Couple Songs That Are Like Pretty Ready To Go”

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Celtic-American punk rock band Dropkick Murphys formed in 1996 in Boston, Massachusetts. Originally the band just jammed for fun with a goal of blending the music they grew up with which included punk rock, Irish folk, rock and hardcore. It seems like a mess of genres to mix together but the sextet has created a genre all to themselves. Their band includes an array of different instruments that you won’t find on stage at a normal rock or hardcore show. Those include accordion, bagpipes, mandolin, bouzouki, keyboard, bodhran, piano, banjo, harmonica, tin whistle and then of course your everyday hard rocking guitar, bass, and drums. It helps that both Tim Brennan and Jeff DaRosa are multi-instrumentalists and can play 7 or more instruments each. In the bands storied career they have released 9 studio albums. The band’s first 5 albums were all released via independent punk record label Hellcat Records. Since 2007 the band has released everything on their own imprint label, Born & Bred via Alternative Distribution Alliance. Dropkick Murphys biggest hit thus far is “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.” The track was featured on the start studded 2006 Academy Award-winning movie The Departed, and went on to become a Platinum-selling single. Dropkick Murphys is most well known for their super energetic live shows and are beloved in the city of Boston for their St. Patrick Day performances and their charity work in their local communities. The band’s charity The Claddagh Fund was founded by bassist and vocalist Ken Casey. Their mission statement states “The Claddagh Fund honors the three attributes of the Claddagh Ring: Friendship, Love & Loyalty. Our mission is to raise money for the most underfunded non-profit organizations that support the vulnerable populations in our communities.” For more information about the Claddagh Fund you can visit their website here. The band just wrapped up their headlining tour with support from Clutch, Hatebreed and Amigo The Devil. The band has been touring in support of their 2017 album “11 Short Stories of Pain & Glory.” Continue reading →

Bourbon & Beyond Festival Spotlight: SAMANTHA FISH [Official Videos]

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Samantha Fish will be one of the many tremendous acts at this year’s Bourbon and Beyond Festival. Bourbon and Beyond has a new home. It is still in Louisville, Kentucky of course, but will call a new festival grounds home. This year, Bourbon and Beyond will take place at the Highland Festival Grounds at the Kentucky Expo. The previous location, Champions Park, had a terrible flood last year and day 2 of Bourbon and Beyond was cancelled. However, to make up for that, Bourbon and Beyond is now a 3 day festival. This means an additional day of bands, bourbon and best friends! How awesome is that? This will be Samantha Fish’s debut for Bourbon and Beyond. All I can say is be prepared to be wowed with her masterfully skilled guitar playing and showmanship. With that being said, let’s talk a little bit about Samantha Fish. Continue reading →

Nita Strauss On Amy Lee “She Was A Real Trailblazer For Women In Music.” [Video]

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Nita Strauss is first and foremost known as one of the best guitarists around. From 2011-2015 she was shredding in the all female Iron Maiden tribute band The Iron Maidens. In June 2014, it was announced that Nita would replace legendary guitarist Orianthi as Alice Cooper’s touring guitarist for his 2014 tour. She has since remained the guitarist for Alice Cooper and took the world by storm wowing crowds all around the world and truly making a name for herself as one of rock and metal’s best guitarists. In addition to her work with Alice Cooper and The Iron Maidens, Nita has also played with R&B star Jermaine Jackson, early MTV darlings Femme Fatale, video game supergroup Critical Hit. In 2017 she took the stage in front of a sold out crowd in Columbus, Ohio at Rock On The Range and played the National Anthem in support of our nations military. In January of 2018 Nita was officially announced as the first ever female Ibanez signature artist with her own model guitar, the Ibanez JIVA10. She also released her signature pickups, the DiMarzio Pandemonium. April of the same year saw Nita playing WWE Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura’s entrance music at Wrestlemania in New Orleans in front of an audience of 78,000 fans and millions streaming worldwide, and in the same month she launched a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign for her debut solo record ‘Controlled Chaos.’ The campaign reached its goal in two hours, doubled it by the end of the day, tripled the following day and ended up over 800% funded. ‘Controlled Chaos’ released November 16, 2018 and made a huge debut on the Billboard charts at #1 Top New Artist, #3 Label Independent, #8 Top Rock, #8 Top Internet, #20 Top albums, and #7 on the iTunes Rock chart. In addition to her already grueling tour schedule with Alice Cooper this year Nita will also be touring in support of her solo album, the tour kicked off May 14th in Charlotte, NC. The Alice Cooper tour with co-headliner Halestorm and support from Motionless In White will kick off on July 17 in Allentown, Pa. This tour schedule isn’t for the faint of heart and it’s one reason Nita is referred to as Hurricane Nita. She is unstoppable. Continue reading →

YNGWIE MALMSTEEN Announces Release of New Album ‘Blue Lightning’ Out March 29!

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Photo Courtesy of Yngwie Malmsteen Official Website

Yngwie Malmsteen will release ‘Blue Lightning’ globally on March 29 via Mascot Records / Mascot Label Group. To call Yngwie Malmsteen a ‘maestro’ or ‘virtuoso’ is to state the obvious. But such terms don’t do sufficient justice to either his talent or impact. There are innumerable guitarists who have copied a small part of the vast musical spectrum that defines him, but nobody comes close to achieving what he has over a period of nearly four decades. Continue reading →

My Last Time Seeing Oli Herbert Perform With ALL THAT REMAINS [Photo Gallery]

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All That Remains

 

I was writing the review for this show when I heard the news of All That Remains guitarist Oli Herbert’s passing. I had a full review almost completed but after the recent tragic news it was like my whole memory of the night was washed away and all I could recall was Oli shredding away under the lights on stage.  Continue reading →

Watch JOURNEY Guitarist Neal Schon Dedicate Nightly Performance of “Lights” To Steve Perry

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JOURNEY founder and only remaining original member Neal Schon, while on the current  JOURNEY & DEF LEPPARD 2018 Tour with wife Michaele Schon–who has been at the legendary guitarist’s side for his busy touring schedule for over 8 years and approximately 1000 shows–is paying tribute to former lead singer, Steve Perry, with a nightly dedication and moving performance of the band’s 1978 hit single, “Lights.” Co-written by Schon and Perry, “Lights” was featured on the band’s 4th full length album, ‘Infinity‘, and has become one of JOURNEY‘s most popular and easily recognizable songs.

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An Interview With DIAMOND HEAD’S Brian Tatler

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Formed in 1976 Diamond Head have been one of the most iconic yet underrated New Wave Of British Heavy Metal bands in the history of music. The band has influenced a long list of musicians and bands around the world but some of those topping the list would be Metallica, and Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine. You may have heard Metallica’s cover of “Am I Evil”, which they have also performed with the Big 4 during their tour. The song was originally written and recorded by Diamond Head in 1980 on the bands album ‘Lightning to the Nations’. The band has released 7 studio albums, 5 live albums, and several EPs, singles and splits. The bands most recent album released in 2016 and is self titled. The album was the debut of the bands new vocalist Rasmus “Ras” Bom Andersen. Ras is the third vocalist the band has had since their formation over 40 years ago. The bands original vocalist was Sean Harris who last left the band in 2004 and from then until 2014 the bands vocalist was Nick Tart. Though both the former singers released great material with the band I do feel that the vocal style Ras delivers in the bands new album is exactly what the band needed, and I believe it’s some of the best material the band has released to date. Diamond Head has been working on a follow up to the self titled album with plans to have it released during the winter of this year.

 

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Dave Navarro’s Contributions To Show Business!

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When you think about the great guitarist Dave Navarro, the first and utmost thing that comes to mind is Jane’s Addiction. For less informed fans it could even be the only thing associated with him. While Navarro has surely much more to offer, both in terms of contribution to music, as well as in other areas, today’s audience might have a little distorted image of his true talent and musical potential. Continue reading →

JOHN 5 “I Don’t Really Quit Bands Even When It Gets Really Bad”

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JOHN 5 has worked with a varied range of artists, performing as guitarist for some of the biggest headlining rock bands in the world such as Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, as well as playing session with Paul Stanley, Rod Stewart, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more. John 5 has became what ever band strives for in a guitar player. When he steps into the guitarist role for any band he just doesn’t simply play the notes, but he adds his own style to the music and on stage he gives personality to the instrument and brings the music to life. He is by far one of the most exciting musicians to see live regardless which band he is playing for at the time. Slash has called JOHN 5, “one of the most mind-blowing guitarists around” and Rob Zombie has dubbed him “a fucking shredder”. JOHN 5 has released seven solo albums to date, as well as a remix album, and has written music for the likes of Avril Lavigne, Garbage, Ricky Martin and others. When it comes to genre John 5 has no limitations, he simply isn’t just a rock and metal guitarist. Pop, country, southern rock or even classical he can play and create riffs for nearly any type of music. His current solo venture is John 5 And The Creatures which includes bassist Ian Ross and drummer Logan Miles Nix. John 5 And The Creatures are set to release a brand new live album, ‘It’s Alive!’, on January 25th. ‘It’s Alive!’ is the first album released by the world-renowned guitarist to be featured on vinyl. A stunning 24-page, full color tour book covering the John 5 And The Creatures tour journeys so far will also be available for separate purchase. Pre-orders are available now at www.john-5.com/store

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