Analog Man’s Ibanez Tube Screamer history
I just stumbled upon this great page by Analog Man on the history of the Ibanez Tube Screamer, one of the greatest freaking pedals ever. Analog Man looks at the various different models and internal changes over the years, and includes a great family shot of a whole bunch of different Tube Screamers.
Introducing the IHG Nostalgia pedal
In our eternal quest for tone, we here at IHG Labs have created a slew of unique one-off effect pedals. These units have been kept under lock and key under great secrecy until now – secrecy so deep that we were careful to not even label the controls. Or differentiate one pedal from another. This might have been a mistake.
Now IHG Labs throws its doors open to you, the reader/tone-seeker, with the introduction of the IHG Nostalgia. As we all know, music is tangibly better when it reminds you of a treasured memory. Using the latest in digital-replicating analog technology, the Nostalgia emits a strong RF field which reads the biorhythms of the audience and tailors the pedal’s response in order to invoke different levels of nostalgia in the audience, thus making your music demonstrably better.
The First Beer circuit reaches into the listener’s memory and stealthly makes a wax paper copy of the brainwave profile experienced when the listener drank their first beer. The First Beer knob superimposes this brainwave profile onto the input signal and amplifies it as much or as little as desired – from a vague reminiscence to uncomfortable flashback.
The First Grope matrix secretes sex pheromones into the air which remind the listener of the first time a member of their preferred gender got their hands on the listener’s goodies.
The Early Stuff knob triggers an endorphin rush which persuades the listener that the music you’re making is every bit as good as your first couple of albums. If you hold down the bypass switch, the First Beer and First Grope circuits are run in series into the Early Stuff circuit and fed back into itself through a feedback loop to evoke extremely complex emotional chains.
The IHG Nostalgia will be available in September 2011.
CD REVIEW: Devin Townsend Project – Deconstruction & Ghost
It’s one of the amazing musical moments of 2011 so far: after various levels of straightforwardness in the first 10 minutes of Deconstruction - some heavy, some restrained - Devin Townsend demands ‘show yourself!” and all the savage energy left dormant since the dissolution of Strapping Young Lad is unleashed, grabbing you by the throat and dragging you back to its skull pit before you know what the fuck happened.
The minutes leading up to that moment – “Praise The Lowered” and “Stand” – leave hints at what’s going to happen next. The former gradually increases in intensity from floaty electronica to metal screams, never dropping the steady but restrained tempo even as the death screams build up. The latter sounds like the spiritual cousin of “Destructor” from Ki (the first album of the Devin Townsend Project tetralogy), and it also drops little crumbs of heaviness behind it, leading up to that ‘Show yourself!’ moment. From then on, anything goes. Crushingly heavy rhythm guitars. Choirs. Blast beats. Death metal. Fusion-tinged chord progressions. Spoken word interludes. Fast passages. Techno beats. Someone taking a particularly cathartic shit. A cheeseburger.
My interview with Queensryche’s Geoff Tate
Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Geoff Tate, vocalist for Queensryche (who just happen to be one of my favourite bands). Queensryche is about to release a bold new album called Dedicated To Chaos (via Roadrunner), and the ever-eloquent Mr. Tate took some time out to talk about the album’s unique direction and the changing way that listeners consume music.
Here’s a snippet.
Queensrÿche have an extremely varied back catalog – it all sounds like Queensrÿche but no two albums sound like each other.
In our stuff, we’re kind of a difficult band for a lot of people. We try really hard to stay out of categories and genres, and we don’t think of ourselves as anything other than Queensrÿche. We don’t attach ourselves or our thinking or identity to any genre. But the industry is kinda built around selling a genre. So record companies have a difficult time with us because we don’t fit neatly into a little package that they can market. We’re always experimenting with our music and pushing it in different ways, adding our musical influences into our writing. A lot of times people find that frustrating. They don’t see the art in it, which is beyond me, because that’s what I always look for in music. I see music as being strictly art. It’s not a competitive sport.
You can read the full interview here. Dedicated To Chaos is out on June 24 or 28 depending on which territory you’re in.
INTERVIEW: Leader Cheetah’s Dan Crannich
Hey! Check out my interview with Leader Cheetah’s Dan Crannich for Australian Musician Magazine.
Here’s a snippet:
Do you have any kind of routine for letting [songwriting] happen? Some musicians get into meditation, some need to work out before they riff out…
I’ve started trying to meditate a little bit. It’s my first time living by myself. I just came out of a long-term relationship and I’ve got a lot of things going on in my life on top of that. So I’ve actually be trying to do things like lighting some candles and doing a bit of meditation, just to try and clear away a little bit of the psychic baggage that’s hanging around. But I find music, especially performing and writing it, being creative, just really helps to stay in that positive mood. It does shed weight and feelings that are hanging around you. It’s a very renewing kind of thing. But the meditation, not before I write, I don’t. It’s more just picking up the guitar. You kind of know when you’re in a mood where things are going to come. Sometimes you surprise yourself – sometimes you’re not at all even really thinking about music, and you pick up the guitar and stuff starts happening, but quite often it’s that time when you sit down by yourself and you’ve just got a feeling that if you do it now, something’s gonna happen! I don’t know whether it’s something to do with the planets or whatever, but I definitely think there’s a feeling that you have when the good stuff is going to come. That’s why I’ve never felt a huge amount of ego attached to my songwriting. You definitely do get better at writing songs, but that’s just because you get better at honing in. The most integral part of a great song is that initial flash, that initial idea, that initial melody. Whatever it may be. For the kind of songs I write it’s melody. For a different style of music it may be a rhythm. You definitely get better at knowing how to arrange and trim the fat, and build it up, but I think that initial thing is always kind of the same.
CLICK HERE for the full interview.
NEWS: Leslie West has amputation surgery
Sending my thoughts to Leslie West, who just had part of his leg amputated due to complications from diabetes.
According to Blabbermouth.net: “West had flown in to Mississippi to perform at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino with his band Mountain. On Saturday, his leg began to swell, and as a diabetic he was rushed to the emergency room. It was decided that an amputation was required in order to save his life. Surgery was a success and the procedure removed his limb up to the knee.
West is expected to fully recover and faces extensive rehabilitation.”
A Snapshot of Dimebag Darrell
Guitar World editor Brad Tolinski has written a very cool account of a snapshot taken with Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul in 2004 during a photo session for a Guitar World cover. I’m pretty sure I’ve got that issue stashed away in the study somewhere in my ridiculously overflowing stash of guitar mags. Aah, Dimebag. We miss ya! Back in high school my band used to play both “This Love” and “Becoming.” And when I was 16 I totally got loaded on masala to Far Beyond Driven while my parents were out of town. Good times. It’s like everyone has a Dimebag story too, whether they met him or not (I did not. Dammit). Anyway, check out the story behind the Guitar World photo here.
COOL GEAR ALERT: MXR Analog Chorus
PRESS RELEASE:
Dunlop announces the release of the MXR Analog Chorus.
This all-analog pedal uses bucket-brigade circuitry to create classically lush, liquid textures that you just can’t get with digital circuitry. Rate, Level, and Depth controls, as well as knobs for cutting High and Low frequencies allow ultimate tone control. Like all MXR pedals, the Analog Chorus comes in a heavy-duty housing with durable jacks and switches for a lifetime on the road.
Check out the official demo of the MXR Analog Chorus here. For more info, visit jimdunlop.com.
NEWS: Guitar World Publishes Top 10 Hot Male Guitar Players List
PRESS RELEASEGuitar World’s new Guitar Girl’d blog focuses on women and guitar, a new feature for the website. This week’s blog article, The Top 10 Hot Male Guitar Players, has been causing quite a stir, with postings by several of the lucky guitarists on the list.
The author created this list with tongue-in-cheek commentary after repeatedly coming across Top 10 lists of “Hot Female Guitar Players.” And deeming it only fair, decided it was time to turn the tables!
Find the list here:
http://www.guitarworld.com/guitar-girld-top-10-hot-male-guitar-players
Coolest pedal demos on YouTube: FuzzBoxGirl
Okay, so I was just checking my Twitter followers (you can become one of them here) and I noticed that my most recent follower was someone called FuzzBoxGirl, and she has a YouTube Channel with a bunch of pedal reviews, including a vintage 1968 Univox (Shin-ei) Super Fuzz. She also has a wicked sense of humour, a killer guitar collection, a knack for matching cocktails and fuzz pedals, and a great line in retro rock riffage. Only her feet and hands appear on camera. Mysterious. My prediction: FuzzBoxGirl will own the guitar world by this time next week.
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