COOL VIDEO ALERT: British India – March Into The Ocean
This morning I interviewed Declan from British India, an Aussie band who happen to be from my town (Melbourne). They recently released a new single, March Into The Ocean, and they shot their own video for it. Check it out below. The interview is for a non-guitarry mag and I’ll let you all know which publication and where to find it when it’s available in a few weeks.
NEWS: Carvin announces Brian Bromberg signature bass
Brian Bromberg is a freak! Check out his recent Hendrix cover album, Bromberg Plays Hendrix. Scroll down to hear and see the bass in action at NAMM.
PRESS RELEASE:
San Diego, CA (March 30, 2011) — Carvin has announced their latest signature bass guitars, the Brian Bromberg Signature Series. Carvin worked closely with acclaimed bassist Brian Bromberg to create these new instruments, incorporating a sleek new design with innovative features. Available in four and five-string models, the new Bromberg B24 and B25 basses are designed to please the most discriminating bass player.
The B24 and B25 are neck-though instruments, with an alder body, maple neck and standard AAAA flamed maple top with matching headstock and abalone logo. Carvin’s unique new RAD-J radiused-top alnico single coil pickups are standard, and the cutting-edge design of these pickups allow the magnets to closely match the fingerboard radius, providing more even sound reproduction without dropouts or volume imbalance. Special circuitry and a high-impedance active volume pot unloads the pickups for better top-end and quicker response. You can also upgrade your B24 or B25 with our new RDH radiused-top humbuckers.
Other new features include a newly-designed headstock shape, and Brian’s signature 12th fret abalone inlay. And Carvin’s Custom Shop offers hundreds of additional options, including body, neck and fingerboard woods, upgraded top woods, finishes, inlays and more.
NEWS: Strymon Lex Rotary almost ready
Strymon is putting the finishing touches on their Lex Rotary pedal. I had the pleasure of hearing this incredible little device first-hand in January. It sounds amazing and I was really blown away by just how accurately it captured the minutiae of a real rotating speaker. Check out some pics of the Lex Rotary’s creation here, and watch the demo video below.
NEWS: Metal Sucks interviews Nergal
Behemoth’s Nergal has given Metal Sucks his first interview since he was diagnosed with leukemia last year. It’s great to hear he’s improving. Here’s an excerpt.
How are you feeling these days?
Actually, I’m doing pretty fine, thanks. It’s developing. It’s not like I’m completely healthy or something. But I got new bone marrow and the transplant went totally fine. The new bone marrow is accepted by my organisms. It’s not [fighting] against my organisms, which happens very often in such cases. But in my case, everything is going according to plan. There have been no delays. My blood was checked every week, and now every two weeks, so actually I reduced the amount of blood tests that they’ve been taking. Everything is going almost perfect and in the direction that it should. There is no reason to be worried. Physically I’m getting better. Obviously my muscles are not the same, not as strong. I get tired quite easily still. It’s still getting better. For example, [laughs] three weeks ago, I tried to do push-ups; I did three. Today, I did 11. That should tell you how it’s improving all the time, and every next push-up makes me happy. [laughs]
Read the full interview here.
NEWS: Black Label Society iPhone app
Here’s one for all of us Apple/metal geeks: a Black Label Society iPhone app. The band and Berzerkers around the globe can keep in touch with what the band are up to, send private messages to each other, rate and comment on all material posted by the band and Berzerkers, and share video, pics, audio and text. I’m downloading this bad boy as we speak.
NEWS: Whitesnake outsells Britney Spears
I don’t know if this means Whitesnake is kicking ass or if Britney Spears is really hitting the skids, but it seems that Amazon.co.uk preorders for Whitesnake’s cracking new album Forevermore were a whopping 35% higher than those for Britski’s Femme Fatale.
The Sun somewhat condescendingly says “The ageing stadium-fillers, led by Yorkshierman David Coverdale, are probably best known for their anthems “Is This Love” and “Here I Go Again”.” Well, to me they’re better know for the anthems “Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues”, “Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City” and the delightfully ribald “Slide It In,” not to mention the super-awesome cover of the album Lovehunter. But I digress. The Sun quotes an Amazon spokesperson thusly: “Britney Spears is one of the most successful global pop acts with a career spanning more than ten years but, even with this pedigree, she is being overshadowed and outsold by the elder statesmen of British rock. Whitesnake were already releasing their fourth album in 1981, the year Britney was born, and it is a major achievement to be racking up more pre-orders than the pop princess.”
Read my review of Whitesnake’s Forevermore here. Forevermore is out now on Frontiers.
MUSIKMESSE 2011: ESP limited edition Eternal Descent range
PRESS RELEASE:
London, UK – On April 9th and 10th, ESP Guitars Japan will simultaneously unveil a range of three Eternal Descent guitars at two high-profile events – Musikmesse in Germany and Kapow! Comic Con in London. The three guitar models are strictly limited to 50 of each design and are inspired by three major characters in the Eternal Descent comic book series: Lyra – a volatile succubus; Loki – a twisted demon; and Sirian – a fallen angel. Photos and specifications for the Eternal Descent range are available at http://www.eternaldescent.com/phantom/edrange.jpg
Eternal Descent is a comic book and music series unlike any other, a cross-genre story that blends elements of fantasy, action, music, superhero, gothic, science fiction, supernatural and other elements into an ongoing saga.
NEWS: Queensryche, Ash/Bloc Party, Slayer/Zombie/Exodus
Here are my news stories this week on Gibson.com - can’t wait for that new Queensryche album!
Queensrÿche Dedicate New Album to Chaos
Slayer, Rob Zombie, Exodus Bring Hell to Earth
NEWS: SIN-Atra listening party on now
Head on over to AOL Music to check out the listening party for the new various-artists release SIN-Atra, featuring Frank Sinatra covers by a bunch of metal singers. Check out the artist list at the end of the press release below!
PRESS RELEASE:
What would timeless songs like “New York, New York,” “Lady Is A Tramp,” and “Fly Me To The Moon,” sound like cranked out of Marshall stacks, crooned by members of Cheap Trick, Twisted Sister, Deep Purple, Anthrax, Mr. Big, or Queensrÿche? This can now be experienced on SIN-Atra, a brand new album to be released by Eagle Rock Entertainment on March 29, 2011.
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), Blunt, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Bandcamp or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com