Nope, not really but here is a Facebook meme, courtesy of David Bishop, where you combine random searches on Wikipedia and Flickr to create a mock-up of your mythical band's first album cover.
These are the instructions: Click here to be transported to a random Wikipedia article. The first random article you get is the name of your band. Next, click here to visit a random quotations page. Use the last quote on the page as the title for your album. [If the quote's too long, just use the last four or five words.]
Now click here and you'll be taken to a Flickr page will full of interesting photos uploaded in the last seven days. The third picture - no matter what it is - is your album cover art. Use iPhoto or Photoshop or similar to edit the picture as required. Then put all the elements together in Pages or inDesign or another desktop design piece of software.
Jet Black Berries gained ominous notoriety as one of the bands that contributed to the “Return of the Living Dead” soundtrack along with the Cramps, the Damned and the legendary Roky Erickson. The Jet Black Berries released 3 albums in the mid to late 80’s on Restless and Enigma Records. The band broke up in 1989.....but zombies are hard to kill.........
20 years later three of the band's original members, bass player/writer Gary Trainer, lead guitarist Chris Yockel and drummer/writer Roy Stein find themselves through an unusual set of circumstances together in an upstate recording studio one afternoon. Roy is engineering another session and his two old chums dropped in to check things out and give him a hard time. They talk about recording in the old days vs. the new digital era and how fantastic it is that now you can get your music recorded and out to people to hear in just hours. The studio is chocked full of gear, the session is over....so.....the band phones up a young local guitarist and singer they really admire named Johnny Cummings (yes Ramones' fans that's his real name) and 3 hours later the band has recorded "Gardens of Delight." Back from the grave and ready to party the band digs up their original keyboardist/organist Mark Schwartz and head into the studio to have a blast and record some more tunes.
A few months later Bug Music, one of the world's largest publishing companies hears the new tunes. Bug loves the sound and the band signs a deal with Bug Digital. The fabulous folks at Bug will be releasing the resurrected band's first full length CD in the fall of 2010.
So here we go again for another round....four zombies and a punk kid. If you dug the first incarnation, undoubtedly you'll agree the new songs serves the legacy of the band well.
Recent Press Reviews
"What a great band. The band's three-song EP-release show was riveting, and it played in front of a packed house." City Newspaper
Best of 09 Critics Pick, "it sounds great. It's timeless with relevant and reminiscent components throughout." City Newspaper
When I was 14 I read this DC Presents which presented the Superboy of our Earth.
Before DC decided to turn Superboy-Prime into a fanboy psycho, this story touched me about the dreams that one could have and how incredible if those dreams could come true.
24 years later I still look up to the sky wondering if I could just reach out...
Black Francis’s vocals have been called a lot of things, but in all likelihood, they have rarely if never been called: calming, heart-warming and comforting.
And yet, 35 seconds into the opening track on Petits Fours, the delicate echoing keydoards creating a freefalling sonic landscape for the first 34, Black Francis and a telecaster start in, upsetting table and chairs and kicking over, with intent not volume, all the tables and chairs. And as a listener who had a healthy dose of Doolittle and Bossanova during my college years, hearing Black Francis again is like putting back on that coat and getting out of the house for a drink.
It matters not that Petits Fours lacks the sonic fury of The Pixies, after all, few things come close, but that on Lovesick, in comes Violet Clark sounding like a more stable Kim Deal giving us charming pop with a menace and edge to it. Don’t stop that breathing/leave it when you’re older/listen to that devil on your shoulder she sings on the code, the band quietly chugging along.
"Fort Wayne" keeps Black Francis’ toes into ‘50’s pop, like that strange bald uncle that gives you the creeps when you look at him out of the corner of your eye. He’s disturbing like that. His falsetto striking even as he sings about teenagers listening to, gasp!, rock and roll. But it is up to Violet to come in during the breakdown and add the fury to the song: I can’t decide/do I confide/these things in my heart. And then, in true fashion, backs off to the delicate chiming background vocals while she whispers in French over the beat. It is a song about Indiana and children who might have been lost, or stolen, by the demon rock and roll. Black Francis may be singing about himself.
What then, to think about the lounge act that opens up "Seeing Stars?" I’m getting a vibe of Violet in a sequined dress, holding a Patsy Cline microphone and a lot of Highballs on the bar, despite this being recorded in France. Black Francis never feels the need to run roughshod over the song, instead it inhabits its time and place utterly and totally. And yet, 2:41 in, when the bass starts to chug along, the rest of the band dropping out, it is to allow the keyboard and Violet’s vocals “I guess I’m seeing stars again” to build, not to the manic fury of Gouge Away.
We leave that to the next song, "Black Suit", which quicly overwhelms its pathetic little drum sample with the bassline, and the guitar on the edge of losing it, and Black Francis’s vocals, deep and resonant and forceful, counterpointed only by Violet’s echoing angel. The two combine is a scary, deep, duet that rips the song to shreds: The soul keeps slipping down the coul shoot/into the alien mind/the boy looks good in a the black suit/we all know he looks divine sings Black Francis, while Violet sings Deep in my mind/I am the light/I am the light - holding her own.
How to follow the most powerful track on the album? To keep up the tempo: quick drums and submerged bass under Violet’s vocals and its not too long before the guitar is careening drunkenly down the front porch steps, cascading to almost out of control while Violet holds the center, calm and quirky and with more than a little menace before losing herself to the swirl of sonic violence around here. And its in your hair/and its in your mind/and its in your eye sockets which is a deliciously Black Francis line. The 10 seconds of guitar solo you get at the end of"The Long Song" is all you’re going to get. Enjoy it.
Break the Angels"" has a loose, improvised feel that matches Violet’s letter of intent on their website, which was the simply go in to the studio, stripped down and open to what ever came out. "Break the Angels" is having a rave up with Violet and Black Francis and, unlike the heaviness of "Black Suit", is the lightness and fun that helps to create the dark shadows that songs like "lack Suit" hide in. Violet’s sweet vocals, “And as the years go by/bye bye!” her background self sings to them, belie the chugging bass and drums that keep the song moving.
The pounding drums of "Volcano" belie Violet’s “is the song starting? I’m a bit confused.” Because when her vocals start on the next measure, she knows what she’s doing. A song as much about being married to Black Francis as anything else, “move the party because we’ve got to go/that big volcano is about to blow.” Rave it up and rave it down, Violet and Francis, because we’re all in your world, hanging on for a ride.
Looking good in MY black suit - The fearless rock iguana
I could have sworn Miss Lava was from Sweden. Their high energy rock action reminded me of the Turbonegro, Backyard Babies, Hellacopters, etc right away but it turns out their from Lisbon, Portugal! Almost as impressive as their big rock sound is the offensive artwork and clever CD packaging. The psychedelic vagina might be almost as good as the semi-subliminal one on the Mom’s Apple Pie album cover from 1971.
How’s it sound, you ask? Big, loud, catchy, dumb and fun. Big guitars, bigger drums, throbbing dirty bass and in your face vocals. “Play it loud until her hips shake” is their motto and I bet that’s what they do when they rage the stage. Blues For The Dangerous Miles is a solid 11 song album that should get any party started off on the good foot. “Don’t Tell A Soul” starts it off in righteous fashion with a big riff and heavy foot stomping beat.
Other highlights include the dirty “Black Rainbow.” The bass sound is pure raunch n roll and propels the music forward. Can’t help think that this was inspired by some Dio-era Rainbow and Sabbath, even though it doesn’t really sound like either of those bands. “Birth, Copulation and Death” has a saucy Turbonegro bounce and some racy female backing vocals. The 8 minute album closer “Scorpio” is not a cover of the Dennis Coffey classic, but a no nonsense rocker with a tripped out interlude.
Miss Lava are a solid rock n roll band, nothing more or less. In their native country they’ve shared the stage with everyone from Slash to Meshuggah and I bet they give the headliners a run for their money every time.
Only one band can say they are the hottest and best thing to come out of South Africa since Charlize Theron. That band is Die Antwoord, a hip hop/rap group that heavily relies on electronics or as they describe it, new zef gang$ta rap. Their name is Afrikaans for "The Answer.” The lineup is reminiscent of Salt-N-Peppa and Run DMC with two excellent emcees backed by a remarkable DJ.Die Antwoord consists of lead vocalist Ninja, Yo-Landi Vi$$er also contributing vocals as a hype-man similar to Flavor Flav of Public Enemy and DJ Hi-Tekspinning their beats (Note: Vuilgeboost aka Hi-Tek Junior spins for the band occasionally). Over the past two years, the band has become a YouTube and Internet sensation with their music videos, especially their “Enter the Ninja” music video.
The best way to describe the band is they are absolutely addictive. Their viral hit song, “Enter the Ninja” kicks of the "5" EP and is a tease of what lies ahead for the group. The obnoxiously catchy song is filled with smooth rapid flowing lyrics. And if you’re still haunted by the song and want some more, a danceable remix of “Enter the Ninja” is included as the fifth and final track.
Their next song, “Wat Kyk Jy,” an Afrikaan slang for “what are you looking at?”, shows the gritty side of the band with a lazy rap. Yo-Landi and Ninja exchange in English and Afrikan between persistent hooks. Their unpredictable vocal choice, beats and lyrics is what makes this band so unique and remarkable. This is followed up by “I Don’t Need You,” an infectious dance song that is more of a rave/ dance song. It completely catches you off guard at first, but once you recognize Ninja’s rapping its quite enjoyable. Ninja’s monotone rhyming and spacey sound is extremely enticing in a weird way, but it somehow works on this song.
“Enter the Ninja” is the song that catapulted them to fame, but it’s “Fish Paste” that will bring Die Antwoord more mainstream success and their careers to a whole new level. This is easily by far the most accessible song of the bunch and proves this band isn’t one of those bands who will disappear. Ninja, Vi$$ser and DJ Hi-Tek are having fun with their music and so should you. This particular song is reminiscent of a Drake and Kid Cudi song, but it’s a smoother, ridiculous fun song.
Die Antwoord is a breath of fresh air to the rap industry and that cannot be emphasized enough. This EP is merely a warm up act to a revamped version of their debut $0$ album, which was previously released through Die Antwoord’s website. Their odd, eclectic sound is what makes them such a fantastic and exciting band to listen to in this current dreary filled rap music scene. The future looks bright. If you enjoy this band, also check out similar artists Jack Parow and MaxNormal.Tv. -- Mr Brownstone
...all I'll say is that the table read was pretty amazing, the guest star or stars will be fabulous, Matt's great, Arthur's wonderful and I never got to say hullo to Karen (who was amazing).
Eleven minutes away from going downstairs and finding the room the readthrough of my Doctor Who episode is in. No, I'm not nervous. Why would you think that I'm nervous? I always do this with my hands. You just haven't noticed before.
Unfortunately the Beeb has decided against commissioning a series of Pulse, the blood strewn horror pilot that aired on BBC3.
BBC 3 controllor Danny Cohen in Edinburgh commented: "The decision about which series to commission was not determined solely by audience numbers. BBC3 looks hard at Appreciation Index responses, how good they thought a series might be. Pulse got an okay AI. There's a range of reasons. It's about which one you think creatively - instinctively - has the most mileage."
Shame really as horror doesn't really get much showing and another genre show on telly suits me fine.
Also bad luck for writer Paul Cornell, Who writer and on a current exclusive contract with DC Comics, who was very pleased with the ratings for the pilot - and with around 300,00 for each showing who can blame him.
Actually with those sort of ratings, I wonder why the Beeb ditched this - after all Being Human got 430,000 for its pilot?
Update: Although one genre series hasn't made it, apparently Touch has -
The series will be written by Jack Thorne, whose past work includes Skins and Channel 4 mockumentary Cast Offs. It will follow Paul, an awkward young man who can interact with ghosts and soon uncovers a war between the living and the dead and the programme will begin filming next year.
With the season starting this Saturday coupled with the inevitable boredom of the Autumn internationals - I'm sorry maybe it's just me but can we get back to proper test series or ditch the Autumn internationals completely? - I have found out that The Batman appears to be an England fan!
By which I mean things that at the time you wouldn't think would be a problem...
Stereos - My 6-yr-old daughter has appropriated the portable CD player on which she plays her CDs that includes the whole listen with mother stuff that was around when I was her age as well as more sophisticated fare as Angelina's guide to classical music.
Not bad, an appreciation of decent music and rhythm is good for language and brain...
...
However, after the eighth play of 'The Wombles of Wimbledon' at 6 in the morning you begin to twitch a bit..
to the extent that you begin to hear the oboe at the start and you shiver
I tell you I'll be in a padded cell with a jacket soon, imagining Uncle Bulgaria, Tobomore and the rest surrounding me singing: 'Do do do de do, do de do do do dod do...'
Although the modern mouth organ was invented in the early 1820's in Vienna, Austria, it wasn't until 1857 when Matthias Hohner shipped one of his creations to relatives in the United States that the blues harp began to evolve. It is said that it was so portable and such a hit that even Abraham Lincoln carried one in his pocket. It became the Civil War soldier's portable orchestra and was known to be played out west by lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Billy the Kid.
Harmonicas were first recorded in the 1920's on "race records" - music intended for African Americans. These recordings memorialized great blues harp players such as Walter Horton and Sonny Terry. The second great wave of American blues pocket piano players came in the 1950's with such notables as Sonny Boy Williamson, II, Little Walter, Big Walter Horton and Howlin' Wolf. This was the era when the mouth harp met the microphone which allowed the instrument to be heard above the electric guitar and drums. The sound became integral to the bump and grind music of the day. It is this era, the 1950's-early 60's, that Bob Corritore and Friends recapture on Harmonica Blues.
The disk is a 15 track compendium of recordings from 1989 through 2009 of Corritore with some of the greatest blues musicians of the 1950's and early 1960's. Only one song, "1815 West Roosevelt," was written by Corritore. It is an instrumental named after the address for a long gone blues joint called "Club Alex" on the West Side of Chicago that use to feature Muddy Waters. The remainder of the album is comprised of blues music written and performed by the creme de la creme of early Delta and Chicago blues artists.
For 20 years Corritore has been the host of Arizona radio station KJZZ's weekly radio show "Those Lowdown Blues" a show that brings the music of, and interviews with, bluesmasters to the desert airwaves. Corritore also books all of the entertainment for his nightclub the Rhythm Room (Phoenix's top spot for national touring blues talent.) As you hear on this record he is also a world class blues harmonica player. As a result Corritore was able to assemble a veritable Who's Who list of artists to play with him on "Harmonica Blues."
The album features the late Koko Taylor singing her song "What Kind Of Man Is This?" with Muddy Waters' guitarist Bob Margolin and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Legendary Louisiana Red sings his wife's song "Tell Me 'Bout It." Dave Riley, probably best known as the engineer for the Parliament-Funkadelic bands, warbles delta blues harmonica immortal Frank Frost's "Things You Do." The late Nappy Brown wails on the late Texas country blues legend Andrew "Smokey" Hogg's "Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes." Robert Lockwood, Jr. performs the immortal Jimmy Rogers' "That's All Right." Big Pete Pearson, known as Arizona's King of the Blues, tackles the late Bob Geddins' "Tin Pan Alley." Tomcat Courtney, a San Diego blues guitarist who didn't release his first album until he was 78 years old, belts out his blues "Sundown San Diego." Eddie "The Chief" Clearwater, a Chicago blues legend and contemporary of Magic Sam, Otis Rush and Freddie King, shreds on vocals and guitar on his blues anthem "That's My Baby." Howlin' Wolf's main piano player until 1968, Henry Gray, sings his song "Things Have Changed" with the late great Chico Chism, Howlin' Wolf's last drummer, on drums. Chism also joins the inimitable and seemingly ageless Pinetop Perkins on Perkins' tune "Big Fat Mama." Chief Schabuttie Gilliame, a local Phoenix blues legend, performs his blues "No More Doggin'." Dave "Honeyboy" Edwards who, along with Pinetop Perkins are the oldest Delta blues players still touring the US, sings the blues of legendary Memphis Minnie McCoy's called "Bumble Bee." Lafayette, Louisiana's Carol Fran plays her song "I Need To Be Be'd With" while the late Chism again sets the pace on drums. The album ends with the late Little Milton singing his "6 Bits In Your Dollar" accompanied by Henry Gray and Chism. Throughout it all Corritore blows a mean harp as an accompaniment to the work of these blues legends.
This is a special album. It contains what may be some of the very last recordings made by some of the greatest blues artists and sidemen of the 20th Century. To be able to bring them all together in one album on which they play with such joy, abandon and soul is a thing of beauty. The album itself is a graduate level class in the harmonica blues given by a master instructor surrounded by the originals who pioneered the genre.
If you love Delta and Chicago harmonica blues this recording is a must have for your collection.
Since Racer and I have been doing this whole Ripple Effect blog thing and reviewing all of this great music that we’ve been discovering, there’s been this weird phenomenon going on where we’ll both receive a piece of music that we listen to once . . . twice . . . three hundred times and we know somehow, in some whacky way, said piece of music is one of the most important pieces of music that we’ve stumbled on. The problem is . . . we just don’t know what to say about it.
Sure, we could throw together a bunch of clever words that highlight our faux intelligence and have the reader reaching for a dictionary (faux means not real,) but that doesn’t necessarily tell you what the music is all about. We want you, oh dear reader, to go out and pick up these albums that we write about coz’ we want to share the excitement that we still find in music. So . . . enter Black Elk.
Black Elk’s album Always A Six, Never A Nine has been in and out of my player for something like two years. I feel a little bad because I’ve wanted to write this thing up all this time, but I knew that whatever I wrote wouldn’t be quite correct, wouldn’t be adequate enough. Always A Six, Never A Nine is an album that takes time to understand, even though I’m still not totally sure I do. But, I do finally feel that I’m in a place where I can at least throw together the right combination of words that best describes the music contained within to give you the best possible understanding of what you’re gonna get into when you buy this beasty-beast.
This album is defies categorization, however, it has elements of post-hardcore, noise, drone, doom, and several avant elements to boot. If you can imagine, Always A Six, Never A Nine would fall somewhere in the no man’s land between the primordial droning sludge riffery of Neurosis and the wildly eclectic avant garde sounds of We Insist!Black Elk has this way of lulling the listener into a state of complacency, carving out our existence and leaving a hollowed out husk, devoid of emotion and then . . . suddenly shoving all of the human elements and emotions into that mesmerized form, shocking our systems into a overly heightened sensitivity, and bringing us back to the immediate futility of our reality. The music has these great metallic moments, but is far from any metal I’ve ever heard. The music also has this great anti-everything attitude to it, but it’s not like any punk music I’ve ever heard. The music has a free form ambience and emotion to it, but it’s unlike any jazz that I’ve laid ears upon. Black Elk simply defy any standard musical categorization.
There are a few songs that I gravitate towards more than others, but the album as a whole is still a stunning experience. “Hospital” is downright killer! The songs opens with a bizarre guitar intro that is quickly accompanied by vocals that sound like they belong to someone strapped to a table with a leather strap shoved in their mouth. Maniacal and laced with paranoia, the vocals have an edge of all sorts of creepy . . . and the way they burst from dude’s mouth in time with the power and aggression of the music is a thing of cryptic beauty. The song has a deranged quality to it, but it’s not out of control. As the songs roils through a chaotic frenzy of heaviness, note the subtle bass lines juke and the warden of inmates. There’s an underlying melody that stands in striking contrast to the darkened lunatic outbursts. By the time the song fades into unconsciousness, odds are you’ll be a little winded and wondering what the hell just happened.
“Pig Crazy” follows along the same lines as “Hospital,” driven by throbbing and pulsating rhythms and highlighted by layers of feedback that creates an eerie texture to the overall sound. The vocals are tortured and frightening, almost like having a conversation with a schizophrenic . . . never knowing if this person is going to turn on us and use violence as some means to an end. The music on this one shifts between heavily distorted guitar riffing to quasi-psychedelic soundscapes, lending an even eerier element to the paranoid visions of the vocalist. This is one of those songs that acts like a sharpened instrument to carve out our being and quickly replaces everything for maximum emotional shock. I love the breakdown towards the end of the track when the guitars completely drop out of the mix and we’re left rumbling along with the bass and drums. That bass tone is thunderous and imposing, giving the listener the impression that something terrifying was lurking around the corner of the next time change. And, for certain, you want to walk down that darkened hallway with both eyes wide open!
“She Pulled Machete” is a drunken narrative about a chick with a machete. Plain and simple. But only Black Elk could pull off a song like this. I love the imagery in this one . . . it doesn’t take much to imagine a guy at some desert truck stop in New Mexico or Arizona, sitting in a Dodge Dart with a fifth of whiskey, sober enough to question what’s going on, but just drunk enough to sit in the dark trying to piece together the puzzle . . . and this all may not be how it plays out, but in my mind, dude’s gonna get chopped up into itsy-bitsy bits and left as coyote chum. Gotta’ love music that let’s your imagination run crazy like that! And damn . . . she sure is sexy!
Always A Six, Never A Nine is the hairy chest on a super model. It’s bizarre and beautiful, it’s unreal and fascinating . . . it’s art! Black Elk have created a monstrous epic of an album that’s haunting and horrifying, a mind fuck in so many ways . . . kind of like David Lynch at his freaky best. It defies logic, it defies reality, yet . . . at the same time, it captures reality in all of its imperfection. It’s an album of serene madness and chaotic elegance, a contrast in every conventional thought. It’s a nightmare choreographed to sound and custom made for each individual listener. I can’t listen to it at night in fear that it will awaken some ancient evil buried deep within my psyche. I must have more! - Pope
The BBC and Steven Moffat have announced today that the transmission of the next series of Doctor Who, in 2011, will be split into two blocks, transmitting in spring and autumn.
The split transmission is the result of a request from Steven Moffat to write a new Doctor Who story arc which involves a big plot twist in the middle of the series. By splitting the series Moffat plans to give viewers one of the most exciting Doctor Who cliffhangers and plot twists ever, leaving them waiting, on the edge of their seats, until the autumn to find out what happens.
Steven Moffat said: "The split series is hugely exciting because viewers will be treated to two premieres, two finales and more event episodes. For the kids it will never be more than a few months to the next Doctor Who! Easter, Autumn, Christmas!!"
A few thoughts:
Yay, Doctor Who back on when the nights come in
Boo, having a split season with a wait in the middle
Does this mean that Matt Smith has honoured his contract a year early?
The one thing that really worries me is that the need for a big cliffhanger will result in the over-the-topness leading to a point of silliness!
Revered by many, but unknown by most, Poobah's Jim Gustafson is a guitar player who's style has morphed over the years. With the re-issue of the classic 1972 Poobah debut, Let Me In, looming in the very near future, we thought it might be nice to sit down with Jim Gustafson, the grand Poobah himself, and pick his brain a little on his approach to tackling the chores of being the band's sole six-string slinger for nearly forty years.
What made you decide to pursue playing guitar?
I saw the Beatles on TV, at a young age, and my sister and her hot friends were going crazy over them. Right then I said to myself, I want to play guitar.
How quickly did you pick up playing the guitar? Did guitar playing come naturally, or was there a struggle involved?
I learned fairly quickly, as I really was drawn to it. I would say I had some natural ability, and was able to learn things at a very quick pace. It also helped, that where I grew up, there were some excellent players I would go see live, often. You can learn so much from watching others. I do not recall any difficulty, as I would gladly grab the guitar and go for it, every day. I still love to play, and grab a guitar most every day. This really helps in the songwriting department, as ideas come when you are just messing around.
What was the first guitar you owned?
My first guitar was very hard to play. It was a cheap, unnamed brand of acoustic, with strings set far from the neck, making it hard to play. My grandmother watched me try to play it anyway, and often. After about 4 weeks, she then purchased me a really nice National red electric, and it was a totally easy guitar to play, making my learning move ahead quickly. I started out taking jazz lessons as a sight reader, and then also took a few lessons from a rock guitarist, which really sent me up the path I wanted to be on. I wanted to be able to get up on stage and rock.
What kind of gear do you use? Guitar? Amp? Effects?
I have owned close to 35 guitars, but now I prefer, Carvin, Jackson, Hamer, Peavey electrics, and Martin, and Ovation acoustic guitars. I usually use a Carvin H-2 24 fret guitar live, and in the studio. There are more brands I am interested in, but the ones I am using are good to play live and record with. I own 3 Marshall amps, a Fender, Peavey, and even an Esteban amp. On stage I prefer newer Marshall 4 channel amps, but I also love my 1974 Marshall all tube 50 watt head, and Marshall 4x12 cabinets with Celestion 75 watt speakers. I own lots of effects pedals, and use many of them to achieve some wild sounds. Morley wah pedals and volume pedals are great, and I like Dunlop tremolo, DOD flanger, Line 6 echo with looping, Boss octave divider, Tech 21 compressor/distortion, Zoom multi effects and a few others. I like to play some complicated guitar riffs, and then add some flavor with effects, here and there. My newer Marshall has effects built in, for even more flavors of sound.
Do you play in standard tuning or do you use an alternate tuning? If so, why?
In recent years, I use alternate tuning, to have a bit heavier tone, tuning down a half step. On earlier Poobah albums I was in standard tuning. I like the sound of either, depending on what type of project I will be playing on.
What piece of gear can’t you live without? What’s your “secret” weapon?
My secret weapon is my ears and hands. I feel that I can play most any guitar/amp setup , and get a pretty decent sound, as long as the gear is working properly. In fact, I love to play lots of different guitars/amps, when I can. It always gives me perspective on what someone else thought was a good setup. There is so much to learn, and so little time.
Who are your primary influences? Guitarists, musicians?
For me, the Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, James Gang, King Crimson, were early influences, and then when I discovered many unusual players, meaning far from the style of the radio stars. I was and still am fond of listening to jazz, new age, and lots of technically challenging rock. Some players I like are Michael Hedges, Phil Keaggy, Steve Morse, John McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, and many others. So much great music to absorb. Lots of great unknown players I like, too.
When performing solos, are you aware of where you’re going or are playing purely by mood and feel?
After playing for many years, you can almost map out where you are going in your head, and hear the changes that signify a different key, or tone center. I also love to improvise, which changes the music a lot. I try to capture the feel and mood of the recording, and then make it more fun for myself, by improvising many parts on the fly. Some songs call for a close to the recorded part, and if it is a signature section, then you should play it as close to the record as possible, for the audience who wants to hear it that way.
What words of wisdom do you have for young (and old) guitar players who are just getting started?
There are so many tools out there these days for guitarists. You can learn at an incredible rate, if you have the passion. Videos, Youtube, books, all will take you to the next level fairly quickly, if you are willing to put in the practice time. If I could give advice, it would be to try to find your own sound. If you are the best at covering someone else, it may not give you your own voice. There’s no shame in being a cover artist, and probably will get you more work. However, if you want to be remembered for your music, you should try to write good songs, and strive to have your own sound and style.
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