Articles by Evan Kepner - Page 21

How many times have you had a volume war during practice? Ever wish you could control the levels for each instrument? JamHub, “the silent rehearsal studio,” looks to give you that control. JamHub made it’s first appearance at this year’s Summer NAMM and is getting a lot of attention for good reason. Steve Skillings, JamHub inventor and CEO, says it...

Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt has broken into fashion. He has been working with Macbeth footwear to design a shoe, the 45 RPM. The 45 RPM is completed vegan, all of the materials used in its creation are free of animal products. Dirnt is donating all royalties from sales to shoe charity Soles4Souls, the international shoe charity dedicated to providing...

Nick Lowe joined guitarist Ry Cooder as a bassist for his latest tour, which kicked off in June. The duo is planning to head to Australia. Lowe is best known for his songwriting efforts including (What’s so Funny Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding, Cruel to be Kind, and I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass. “I was very pleased [to...

Bassist Ben Kenney of Incubus was recently interviewed by the Cleveland Scene. He talks about what everyone was up to during Incubus’s long hiatus and how they have matured as a band. Kenney joined Incubus in 2003 after playing with The Roots. From the interview: “It was the band’s choice to put out Monuments,” says Kenney. “We wanted to put...

You may remember earlier in the summer when Panic at the Disco split losing Ryan Ross and bassist Jon Walker. They have announced that bassist Dallon Weekes of The Brombecks will be joining them along with guitarist Ian Crawford. In a recent interview with MTV, Panic at the Disco said they were excited about the direction: ”… there was never...

Bassist Chris Morrissey has done an interview with CityPages, where he talks about his move to New York City and his latest album, The Morning World with the Chris Morrissey Quartet. You may know Morrissey from his work with Mason Jennings, Haley Bonar, Bill Mike Band, Tarlton, Ben Kweller on his “The Trio on the Train Track Tour” and Andrew...

We recently got our hands on Go For It, the latest release by bassist Frans Vollink and his trio, One Spirit. One Spirit is a high powered jazz/fusion trio and brain-child of Vollink and drummer Sebastiaan Cornelissen, with Flying Dutchman guitarist Richard Hallenbeek joining as a new permanent member. Go For It released in April, 2009, and features guest appearances...

Cream bassist Jack Bruce has revealed that he has been receiving death threats after insulting Led Zeppelin. Bruce described the Led Zeppelin reunion gig at the 02 Arena as “lame” and chided them: “You’re crap and you’ll never be anything else. Cream is 10 times the band Led Zeppelin is,” during an awards ceremony. Bruce was shocked by the responses...

Jazz composer George Russell has passed away. His publicist has released that he died due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease on Monday at the age of 86. Russell, a MacArthur fellow who is credited with the first theoretical contribution to music from jazz with The Lydian Theory, published in 1953 and responsible for first introducing modal improvisation, taught at the...

BBC News recently reported that the latest summer performances by Blur may mark the end of the band. Blur bassist Alex James comments: “That was what we said we’d do and we did it and it was great. It hasn’t been mentioned, the idea of doing anything else but hey, it was great.” James has also commented on how overwhelming...

Studio Devil has released a Virtual Bass Amp, available for purchase and download. Studio Devil is “a virtual tube amplifier processor based on dynamic models of vacuum tube preamps and power stages. While primarily intended for guitar amp modeling and direct recording of both electric guitar and bass, Studio Devil excels wherever natural tube overdrive and distortion is needed.” The...

Carvin has delivered yet again with the BX1200 bass amplifier. The BX1200 pumps out 1200 watts at 4 ohms and remains free of distortion with it’s class A preamps. The BX1200 also has extensive equalization features, giving you total control over the shape and feel of your tone. The BX1200 also includes a bi-amp crossover system for feeding the dual...