Articles by Kevin Johnson - Page 825

Iron Maiden bassist and founder Steve Harris recently admitted to considering dissolving the band after vocalist Bruce Dickinson quit in 1993. “I was a bit down when Bruce left,” he explained. “I was going through a divorce, probably at my lowest ebb ever, and for a couple of hours I thought about finishing Iron Maiden. Then I thought, ‘What are...

Rancid’s Matt Freeman will be making the switch to upright for his side project, Devil’s Brigade. Devil’s Brigade will be releasing a self-titled debut album on August 31st with a tour to follow through September and October. The project began between Freeman and guitarist Tim Armstrong, who wrote songs between their tours. Devil’s Brigade recorded a few EP’s, but ultimately...

This Gov’t Mule clip begins with a solo by Andy Hess, where he makes a groove that just won’t stop and propels audience into a frenzy.

A documentary claiming Sid Vicious could not have murdered his girlfriend Nancy Spungen has just made it’s U.S. debut. Who Killed Nancy covers the details of Nancy’s last moments, as well as Sid’s, with testimonials from the couple’s friends and followers, including Vicious’ predecessor in the Sex Pistols, Glen Matlock. The film points out that Sid had taken such a...

Here’s John Paul Jones in rare shredding form! Here he uses his 10-string with a pitch shifter to tear through this song on the .

Details for this year’s Detroit Bass Fest have been revealed, and it looks like it will be another great day of bass. The event has been set for September 3 at Bert’s Warehouse Theatre in Detroit, Michigan. Laying down the low-end will be Gerald Veasley, Ralphe Armstrong, Anthony Wellington, and Doug Johns. The performers will also be clinicians in workshops...

Smallsound/Bigsound has released an updated version of their Team Awesome! Fuzzmachine bass fuzz pedal. The new stompbox includes added controls that allow for blending overdrive and fuzz, phase inversion, and higher gain levels. The input signal is split into two channels for clean and fuzz, both having their own volume controls. Also added is an input gain circuit to boost...

Avenged Sevenfold has released their newest effort, Nightmare. This is the first album not to feature the band’s original drummer, Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan, who passed away late last year. In his stead for the album and subsequent touring is Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy. “Mike Portnoy has always been a hero of ours and Jimmy’s,” bassist Johnny Christ told Bloody-Disgusting.com....

Former Deep Purple and Black Sabbath member Glenn Hughes has announced a fall tour of the UK. “I’m thrilled to embark on the most extensive U.K. solo tour of my career,” he reports. Most recently, Hughes collaborated with drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Joe Bonamassa in the supergroup Black Country Communion. Glenn Hughes Solo Tour Dates: Sep. 23 – Academy...

While checking out all the booths at Summer NAMM last month, we ran into custom bass builder, Pierre Erizias. Based out of Montreal, Pierre wowed us with not only his basses, but his cool story of how he got started building. We were able to catch up with him recently to dig a little deeper and find out about his...

Bassist Mike Mills and R.E.M. have announced that they have completed work on a new album, which will be due out sometime spring 2011. This will be the group’s 15th studio album, following 2008’s Acceleration. Though the group has been keeping the new album’s sound secret, they revealed in an online post that their recording location in Berlin has affected...

Gear fanatics, get ready. The Nashville Amp Expo, which will be taking place August 21-22, is your chance to try out amps, effects, instruments, and accessories as loud as you want. The exhibitors are mostly high-end and boutique dealers that are usually hard to find in local music stores. For only five bucks per day, you can take your own...