Archive for September 2018 - Page 7

Alkaline Trio has returned to release their first album in five years, entitled Is This Thing Cursed? The pop-punk band took a new direction by writing the album almost entirely in the studio, but it also draws a comparison to their 2000 album, Maybe I’ll Catch Fire. “The songwriting process is almost like what it was back in the day....

AC Guitars has scaled down their Krell model with the new Micro Krell, a bass featuring a tiny 26.5-inch scale while still being tuned as a normal bass. Luthier Alan Cringean created the model out of a bit of exploration. “It started out as an experiment using a Krell guitar body I had in the workshop to find out just...

The Dave Matthews Band made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in support of their latest album, Come Tomorrow, performing “Again and Again.” Stefan Lessard backs the tune with a growly slap groove.

Rock legend Alice Cooper is still going strong. After releasing his 27th studio album, Paranormal, last year, he took his band on the road in support of the release. The massive tour culminated in an over-the-top show at the Olympia in Paris, France that is now available as a live album. A Paranormal Evening at The Olympia Paris captured the...

Last month we reported that Dug Pinnick was stepping down from the MC5 50th Anniversary tour this year, saying there was no drama but he was “not the right guy for the job.” However, the busy bassist is wasting no time in getting to work. In an interview with Rock Titan, he revealed that King’s X has committed to making...

It’s safe to say that the pop/rock music of the 1970’s have been trending in this column series. After recently highlighting the classic records and notable bass players of Fleetwood Mac, Dire Straits, and Billy Joel, I figured it was worthwhile to keep digging. The iconic easy listening songs that continue to permeate our musical landscape are chock full of...

We love it when Leonid Vorobyev and his band, Leonid & Friends, shares a new video. Check out their performance of “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day.” As always, these guys nail the Chicago covers.

The Band is one of the most influential rock groups of all time. 2018 marks the 50th anniversary of their debut album, Music From Big Pink, which has been re-released in a special edition. The original music has been given a new stereo mix by producer Bob Clearmountain, who used the original four-track analog master for his work. It has...

Dunable Guitars and Chicago Music Exchange have collaborated to offer Dunable’s first ever pedal: the SplatterBlaster. The two-in-one stompbox is an all-analog circuit that brings together a fuzz and a distortion into one pedal. It’s made for flexibility and can be routed as running two independent circuits in parallel or into two outputs. It also includes a clean signal blend...

Judas Priest ruined me. While I had been exposed to a myriad of musical genres over my young life, nothing has impacted me more than the infamous US Festival in 1983. Their “Heavy Metal Day” on Sunday, May 29th featured Quiet Riot, Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Triumph, Scorpions, Van Halen and the now-legendary Judas Priest. That one day – and...

Zander Zon took Alan Walker’s song, “Darkside,” and made it is own with this amazing cover. “I’m tuned CEGE for this one and am using my ebow and loop pedal,” Zander shared. “I’m also doing a lot of percussion on this tune which hopefully sounds cool.” Sounds amazing.

After releasing it to his Bandcamp subscribers last month, Steve Lawson has made his new album Beauty and Desolation available to the public. The improvised work is themed around beautiful things that are going to destroy us, says Lawson, and that brought out his melodic touch. “The hip-hop influence that’s been [in my music] for the last few years is...