INTERVIEW: Pennywise’s Fletcher Dragge
Hermosa Beach, California punk rock pioneers Pennywise released their tenth studio album, All Or Nothing, on April 26 via Epitaph Records. It’s the veteran punk band’s first release with new singer Zoli Téglás from Ignite, who stepped in for already-booked live dates in 2009 when longtime vocalist Jim Lindberg was unable to make the shows due to documentary making commitments. A few months later Lindberg announced his resignation and Téglás was brought on board permanently. In addition to continuing to work with Orange County hardcore punk band Ignite, Téglás has filled in on vocals for The Misfits, he has collaborated with Motörhead, and he is head volunteer for Pacific Wildlife Project, rescuing and taking pelicans and other sea birds to rehabilitation hospital. And he’s also the volunteer music and outreach coordinator for Sea Shepherd. It sounds like he’s definitely the man to match the passion, intensity and fire of Pennywise at their finest. And the results are all there on All Or Nothing. I caught up with guitarist Fletcher Dragge to see how the newly revitalised Pennywise is settling in.
At what point did the band realise Zoli was the guy?
We had a situation where originally we had a couple of shows we were contracted to play. We didn’t want to cancel some shows, and he agreed to come in and do the shows. He was down for it. At that point we knew how things were going to be and we told him we would try some other people out [to be the new singer] But he did those shows, and he got the best try-out because he actually did those shows live with us. And he just brought it. He’s got a great stage presence. He’s got similar political views to what we have. He supports some causes we agree with. And he’s got a great voice. The thing is, you hear Pennywise, you near NOFX, Bad Religion, you think it’s just another punk band, but the fact that this stuff is really, really hard to sing. And although a lot of people we tried out were really good, Zoli was just that much better. He can do the older stuff that has a lot more dynamics and a lot higher register, because he has a higher voice, but he can still do the lows stuff. So we just mulled it over, tried everybody out, and said, well, he’s as crazy as they come, but we all are! So the rest is history. We’ve had a couple of ups and downs, a couple of bumps in the road, but for the most part I think we picked the right guy.
INTERVIEW: Dragonforce’s Herman Li
It’s always tough on fans when a singer leaves a band. Sure, Van Halen did fine with Sammy Hagar, and AC/DC didn’t exactly flounder when Brian Johnson joined, but there’s always that moment of “Oh jeez, will this work?” Post-Lane Warrant, heck, even post-Hagar Van Halen – there’s lots of scope for a misstep. Well the new Dragonforce album, The Power Within, will immediately shut up anyone who expects the band to lose some of its edge following the departure of ZP Theart. About a year after Theart walked, Dragonforce announced they’d enlisted Marc Hudson as their new voice. And what a voice. Dragonforce still sounds like Dragonforce, but even more musical, more powerful and more exciting. For a band who dishes out killer riffs and impossible guitar licks as easily as walking, kicking it up a notch is quite a feat. But The Power Within delivers.
Hi Herman! We haven’t met before but I remember you kicking around on the Jemsite forums back in the day.
Oh yeah! I still go to Jemsite. It’s got good information.
It’s been great to see forum regulars like you and James McIlroy (Cradle of Filth) going on to such big things.
Yeah! Actually James gave me the contact with Ibanez to get my deal!
No way!
Yeah!
Well, first question: What did the switch to Marc bring to the creative process?
With the switch of singer we definitely turned the whole recording process, the rehearsing, the whole band thing upside down and changed everything around. I think it was going to happen anyway, because after we finished the last album I wanted to really look back at the ten years we’d been doing the band – y’know, how we did it, how we wanted to change things, how we could make it better. So for this album and the recording process, I suppose I can almost say it’s completely different from the last album, the last two albums.
Guitar Gallery Of The Day: Ibanez Rules
Rich Harris at Ibanezrules.com has some absolutely incredible Ibanez guitars featured in his gallery. He’s also probably the most knowledgable guy there is for Ibanez tech issues, his setup work is legendary, and he’s a great dude to hang out with – even if his driving sucks. Check out Rich’s gallery here, where you’ll see my favourite Ibanez JS finishes (the Rainbow and Rainforest), plenty of Donnies, a bunch of left-handed Jems and JSs, ATD, MKR and reissue Universes, Petruccis, PGMs, RBMs, and even rare birds like the RGGold, RGGear and RGArt1.
Ibanez 25th Anniversary RG550 Relic
I’ve just managed to get my hands on Ibanez‘s latest RG 25th anniversary model, and it’s amazing. I guess Ibanez was encouraged by the response to the Evo relic announced at NAMM, so they’ve decided to apply the same treatment to the RG550.
The idea behind this model is to present a typical 1987 Ibanez RG550 as it might appear today, 25 years later and after plenty of hard playing. Features include:
* Basswood body with paint sinking into the wood grain and the joins between the multiple pieces of wood that make up the body.
* Authentic dings and scratches befitting a guitar that fell out of favour in the early 90s and was therefore chucked in a closet without a case.
* Authentic no-name case with Gama Go, Lou’s Records, What’s That Dude Play and Vai backstage pass stickers.
* Original Ibanez S1 single coil, Seymour Duncan Parallel Axis Trembucker humbucker in the bridge position and DiMarzio PAF Pro humbucker in the neck.
* Simulated drool patches to mimic what happened to the typical RG550 when the owner replaced the stock pickups with DiMarzios or Duncans.
* Neck joint finish crack.
* Neck crack in between the two bolts for the locking nut.
* ‘Finger dirt’ on the fretboard – as if the owner of the guitar was a loser who kept forgetting to clean his frigging guitar.
* Strap Locks in place of the original strap buttons.
* Dusty, rusted-ass Ibanez Edge tremolo bridge.
The Ibanez RG550APRIL1 is released worldwide on April 1, 2012.
REVIEW: Seymour Duncan Gus G. FIRE Blackouts
There are plenty of benefits to be gained from using active pickups, not the least of which are low noise and high signal integrity over long cable runs. But not everyone loves the sound of typical actives. EMGs are well known for their killer metal tone – they’ve driven the tones of players like Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield, Zakk Wylde and Devin Townsend to name just a few – and their single coils were long used by Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour. Seymour Duncan seems to be especially good at spotting holes in the market, and there was a pretty glaring one in the active sector: players who want the benefits of active pickups but would prefer a more organic tone. The Blackouts series of pickups do a great job of this, but the Blackouts Modular Preamp is another very clever approach to the issue.
Available separately and in the Blackouts Coil Pack and Gus G FIRE Blackouts System signature set (which is featured in some of Gus’s signature ESP and LTD guitar models), the BMP-1s replaces your existing volume pot, throws in a 9v battery, and allows you to get a high gain active guitar sound from any passive four-conductor pickup. In Gus’s case, the BMP-1s is combined with a matched pair of low-out Alnico 5-loaded passive humbuckers. Gus explains: “This system combines the massive tone, kick, and distortion of Blackouts with the rich tone and expressive feel of my favorite passive pickups. It responds perfectly to all my picking techniques, and more of my personality comes through than with any active pickup I’ve tried.” Naturally Gus needs plenty of sonic versatility within the rock/metal realm, since he does double time in Firewind and as Ozzy Osbourne’s guitarist.
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), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, 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 Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com