Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 271

Rock and metal supergroup The Damned Things is back with a new lineup and a new album. “High Crimes” features Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian, Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman, Every Time I Die vocalist Keith Buckley, Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley, and Alkaline Trio bassist/vocalist Dan Andriano.

GR Bass has expanded its line of bass specific gear with the Pure Drive pedal. The unit features a four-band EQ with four selectable frequencies for the mid-range control. It also has deep and bright filters for more general tonal shaping.

Les Claypool and Sean Lennon kicked off their latest tour with a special treat for fans – and for Claypool. Geddy Lee joined The Delirium onstage in Toronto for their rendition of Sean Lennon’s dad’s, “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

Stu Brooks and Dub Trio have just released their fifth album, entitled “The Shape of Dub to Come.” A play on the groundbreaking Ornette Coleman album “The Shape of Jazz to Come,” as well as The Refused’s “The Shape of Punk to Come,” the record is also experimental in its approach to the style.

Maxon has announced a new limited edition pedal called the OD808-40 to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their original OD808 overdrive. It was originally created by former Maxon engineer Susumu Tamura in Japan.

The Cranberries were already in the process of making their next album when Dolores O’Riordan tragically passed away in January 2018. Now the remaining members have finished and released what will be their final album, called “In The End.”

It’s always refreshing to see bass builders thinking outside the box. This week we’ve got a great example of that with the Not Pear by Wes Urbaniak. The thin-bodied acoustic bass takes on a violin-esque shape, but every single Not Pear is different from the next.

The metal titans in Born of Osiris have returned with their fifth studio album, which marks the first album since longtime bassist David Da Rocha left the band. “The Simulation” instead features the bass work of Nick Rossi, who joined the group late last year.

Electro-Harmonix is now shipping the Switchblade Pro, a pedal for switching that has features including true mechanical bypass, soft switching, and high quality/low noise buffers. It also has volume controls for all input signals.

Fifty years after it was recorded, Resonance Records has unearthed yet another live album from the Bill Evans Trio. “Evans in England” features Evans’ longest-running trio, including bassist Eddie Gomez, live at Ronnie Scott’s in 1969.

Back in January, we featured a unique instrument by Doner Designs as our bass of the week. Now the Time Machine bass is up for sale as part of a charity to benefit Parkinson’s Disease research.

Jazz bassist Fumi Tomita has reimagined the literary works of Japanese writer Haruki Murakami into a new album. “The Elephant Vanishes” takes seven of the author’s short stories that draw on themes of despair, loneliness, disconnection, and self-discovery and transforms them into music for a jazz combo.