David Bowie: The Next Day (Video)
Mr. David Bowie has released the third video from his new album The Next Day and… well, it’s Bowie being Bowie. After decades of imitators pushing hackneyed symbolism and calculated shock value in the wake of Bowie’s example, he’s set about here to outdo them all. And he does – in a very knowing, sly way, which you’ll see and understand if you make it to the end of the video. This was briefly taken off YouTube and then added again with an explicit content warning, so if you’re sensitive to things and stuff, you might wanna skip it. Read my review of The Next Day here and my interview with guitarist Earl Slick here. And here’s the video: Continue reading
Joe Satriani talks Unstoppable Momentum
Joe Satriani’s new album, Unstoppable Momentum, is out now, and it stands as a fresh, kick-in-the-pants reboot of Satch music as we know it. There’s some of the restraint and enhanced focus on phrasing of his last few albums as well as the brash humanity of The Extremist, the fun of Chickenfoot and even some of that clash-of-adventurousness-and-directness that made Surfing With The Alien and Flying In A Blue Dream so memorable. Joe’s band on the album is Mike Keneally (keys), Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) and Chris Chaney (bass), and together these four guys really bring the material to life. Frankly, it’s kickass. Check out this video of Joe talking about the process of making the album. Continue reading
Cool Video Alert: Stone Sour – Children Of The Grave
Stone Sour have done it: they’ve covered the most perfect Black Sabbath song for them to possibly cover, Children Of The Grave from 1971′s Master of Reality. Check it out in the YouTube video below. There’s a soft spot in my twisted black heart for a good Black Sabbath cover, and I wrote an article about it for Gibson.com a while ago which you can see here. Particularly noteworthy is Type O Negative’s take on the song Black Sabbath, which they play even slower than the doomingly plodding original. Nobody but Type O could get away with a stunt like that. By the way, you can read my interview with Corey Taylor and Josh Rand here. We talked about Stone Sour’s House of Gold and Bones project and of course plenty of nerdy guitar stuff. Continue reading
COOL VIDEO ALERT: The Winery Dogs – “Elevate”
Check out the video below for Elevate, the first single by The Winery Dogs. That’s the new band featuring Richie Kotzen, Mike Portnoy and Billy Sheehan. The lads are planning a few shows in Japan in July, with more dates to be announced shortly. Here’s hoping they make it down here to Australia to make up for the cancelled Extreme/Richie Kotzen tour which was to have taken place right now.
Their self-titled debut album is out on May 15 in Japan via Victor Entertainment, which means an international release can’t be far off. Continue reading
COOL VIDEO ALERT: Sabbath In The Studio
YES! What do you think – are you looking forward to this one? Or is Sabbath not Sabbath without Bill Ward? Personally I’m a huge fan of Tony Martin-era Black Sabbath, and of course the Dio stuff, so any time there’s at least one original member I’m all good! Very keen to hear this album and see them live.
COOL VIDEO ALERT: Proton Saints – “Rely”
Check out the video for the awesome song Rely by Proton Saints. And keep an eye out for the sweet Buddy Blaze guitar used by Anu Gunn.
COOL VIDEO ALERT: Steve Lukather’s DiMarzio Transition pickups
I’ll have my review of these pickups very soon (short version: they’re currently in my Ibanez RG and they’re freaking addictive), but here’s the man himself showing you how the bridge and neck models sound in his beautiful Ernie Ball Music Man L-III guitar.
Paul Gilbert: “Enemies (In Jail)”
From Paul’s new album Vibrato
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