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Joe satriani - Surfing With The Alien

2008-06-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

Joe Satriani Rig

2007-06-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Joe Satriani Latest News

2006-12-06T00:08:00.000-08:00

SATRIANI LIVE! (worldwide release date oct 31, 2006)
A double-live DVD & CD, recorded live at the Grove in Anaheim, CA May 3 2006. The DVD release includes a treasure trove of bonus footage (see below).

As the release date gets closer we'll be doing a number of promotional contests and sneak peaks at the DVD, so check back mid-October!

PREORDER IT NOW // Amazon: DVD or CD

DVD Track Listing

Disc One
1. Flying In A Blue Dream
2. The Extremist
3. Redshift Riders
4. Cool #9
5. A Cool New Way
6. Satch Boogie
7. Super Colossal
8. Just Like Lightnin'
9. Ice 9
10. One Robot's Dream
11. Ten Words
12. The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing
13. The Meaning of Love
14. Made of Tears
15. Circles
16. Always With Me, Always With You
17. Surfing With The Alien
18. Crowd Chant
19. Summer Song

Bonus Features:
The Tour Rehearsal
In The Studio Recording "Crowd Chant"
The Last US Show
Super Colossal Video

Disc Two (All Bonus Features)
Indian Documentary: "Flying In A Blue Dream"
2006 Tour Podcasts #1 - #4
European Tour Slide show

CD Track Listing

Disc One
1. Flying In A Blue Dream
2. The Extremist
3. Redshift Riders
4. Cool #9
5. A Cool New Way
6. Satch Boogie
7. Super Colossal
8. Just Like Lightnin'
9. Ice 9
10. One Robot's Dream

Disc Two
1. Ten Words
2. The Mystical Potato Head Groove Thing
3. The Meaning of Love
4. Made of Tears
5. Circles
6. Always With Me, Always With You
7. Surfing With The Alien
8. Crowd Chant
9. Summer Song

Bob Dylan Biography

2006-10-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Bob Dylan's influence on popular music is incalculable. As a songwriter, he pioneered several different schools of pop songwriting, from confessional singer/songwriter to winding, hallucinatory, stream-of-conscious narratives. As a vocalist, he broke down the notions that in order to perform, a singer had to have a conventionally good voice, thereby redefining the role of vocalist in popular music. As a musician, he sparked several genres of pop music, including electrified folk-rock and country-rock. And that just touches on the tip of his achievements. Dylan's force was evident during his height of popularity in the '60s -- the Beatles' shift toward introspective songwriting in the mid-'60s never would have happened without him -- but his influence echoed throughout several subsequent generations. Many of his songs became popular standards, and his best albums were undisputed classics of the rock & roll canon. Dylan's influence throughout folk music was equally powerful, and he marks a pivotal turning point in its 20th century evolution, signifying when the genre moved away from traditional songs and toward personal songwriting. Even when his sales declined in the '80s and '90s, Dylan's presence was calculable.

For a figure of such substantial influence, Dylan came from humble beginnings. Born in Duluth, MN, Bob Dylan (b. Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) was raised in Hibbing, MN, from the age of six. As a child he learned how to play guitar and harmonica, forming a rock & roll band called the Golden Chords when he was in high school. Following his graduation in 1959, he began studying art at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. While at college, he began performing folk songs at coffeehouses under the name Bob Dylan, taking his last name from the poet Dylan Thomas. Already inspired by Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie, Dylan began listening to blues while at college, and the genre weaved its way into his music. Dylan spent the summer of 1960 in Denver, where he met bluesman Jesse Fuller, the inspiration behind the songwriter's signature harmonica rack and guitar. By the time he returned to Minneapolis in the fall, he had grown substantially as a performer and was determined to become a professional musician.

Dylan made his way to New York City in January of 1961, immediately making a substantial impression on the folk community of Greenwich Village. He began visiting his idol Guthrie in the hospital, where he was slowly dying from Huntington's chorea. Dylan also began performing in coffeehouses, and his rough charisma won him a significant following. In April, he opened for John Lee Hooker at Gerde's Folk City. Five months later, Dylan performed another concert at the venue, which was reviewed positively by Robert Shelton in the New York Times. Columbia A&R man John Hammond sought out Dylan on the strength of the review, and signed the songwriter in the fall of 1961. Hammond produced Dylan's eponymous debut album (released in March 1962), a collection of folk and blues standards that boasted only two original songs. Over the course of 1962, Dylan began to write a large batch of original songs, many of which were political protest songs in the vein of his Greenwich contemporaries. These songs were showcased on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. Before its release, Freewheelin' went through several incarnations. Dylan had recorded a rock & roll single, "Mixed Up Confusion," at the end of 1962, but his manager, Albert Grossman, made sure the record was deleted because he wanted to present Dylan as an acoustic folky. Similarly, several tracks with a full backing band that were recorded for Freewheelin' were scrapped before the album's release. Furthermore, several tracks recorded for the album -- including "Talking John Birch Society Blues" -- were eliminated from the album before its release.

Comprised entirely of original songs, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan made a huge impact in the U.S. folk community, and many performers began covering songs from the album. Of these, the most significant were Peter, Paul & Mary, who made "Blowin' in the Wind" into a huge pop hit in the summer of 1963 and thereby made Bob Dylan into a recognizable household name. On the strength of Peter, Paul & Mary's cover and his opening gigs for popular folky Joan Baez, Freewheelin' became a hit in the fall of 1963, climbing to number 23 on the charts. By that point, Baez and Dylan had become romantically involved, and she was beginning to record his songs frequently. Dylan was writing just as fast.

By the time The Times They Are A-Changin' was released in early 1964, Dylan's songwriting had developed far beyond that of his New York peers. Heavily inspired by poets like Arthur Rimbaud and John Keats, his writing took on a more literate and evocative quality. Around the same time, he began to expand his musical boundaries, adding more blues and R&B influences to his songs. Released in the summer of 1964, Another Side of Bob Dylan made these changes evident. However, Dylan was moving faster than his records could indicate. By the end of 1964, he had ended his romantic relationship with Baez and had begun dating a former model named Sara Lowndes, whom he subsequently married. Simultaneously, he gave the Byrds "Mr. Tambourine Man" to record for their debut album. The Byrds gave the song a ringing, electric arrangement, but by the time the single became a hit, Dylan was already exploring his own brand of folk-rock. Inspired by the British Invasion, particularly the Animals' version of "House of the Rising Sun," Dylan recorded a set of original songs backed by a loud rock & roll band for his next album. While Bringing It All Back Home (March 1965) still had a side of acoustic material, it made clear that Dylan had turned his back on folk music. For the folk audience, the true breaking point arrived a few months after the album's release, when he played the Newport Folk Festival supported by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. The audience greeted him with vicious derision, but he had already been accepted by the growing rock & roll community. Dylan's spring tour of Britain was the basis for D.A. Pennebaker's documentary Don't Look Back, a film that captures the songwriter's edgy charisma and charm.

Dylan made his breakthrough to the pop audience in the summer of 1965, when "Like a Rolling Stone" became a number two hit. Driven by a circular organ riff and a steady beat, the six-minute single broke the barrier of the three-minute pop single. Dylan became the subject of innumerable articles, and his lyrics became the subject of literary analyses across the U.S. and U.K. Well over 100 artists covered his songs between 1964 and 1966; the Byrds and the Turtles, in particular, had big hits with his compositions. Highway 61 Revisited, his first full-fledged rock & roll album, became a Top Ten hit shortly after its summer 1965 release. "Positively 4th Street" and "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" became Top Ten hits in the fall of 1965 and spring of 1966, respectively. Following the May 1966 release of the double-album Blonde on Blonde, he had sold over ten million records around the world.

During the fall of 1965, Dylan hired the Hawks, formerly Ronnie Hawkins' backing group, as his touring band. The Hawks, who changed their name to the Band in 1968, would become Dylan's most famous backing band, primarily because of their intuitive chemistry and "wild, thin mercury sound," but also because of their British tour in the spring of 1966. The tour was the first time Britain had heard the electric Dylan, and their reaction was disagreeable and violent. At the Manchester concert (long mistakenly identified as the show from London�s Royal Albert Hall), an audience member called Dylan "Judas," inspiring a positively vicious version of "Like a Rolling Stone" from Dylan and the band. The performance was immortalized on countless bootleg albums (an official release finally surfaced in 1998), and it indicates the intensity of Dylan in the middle of 1966. He had assumed control of Pennebaker's second Dylan documentary, Eat the Document, and was under deadline to complete his book Tarantula, as well as record a new record. Following the British tour, he returned to America.

On July 29, 1966, he was injured in a motorcycle accident outside of his home in Woodstock, NY, suffering injuries to his neck vertebrae and a concussion. Details of the accident remain elusive -- he was reportedly in critical condition for a week and had amnesia -- and some biographers have questioned its severity, but the event was a pivotal turning point in his career. After the accident, Dylan became a recluse, disappearing into his home in Woodstock and raising his family with his wife, Sara. After a few months, he retreated with the Band to a rented house, subsequently dubbed Big Pink, in West Saugerties to record a number of demos. For several months, Dylan and the Band recorded an enormous amount of material, ranging from old folk, country, and blues songs to newly written originals. The songs indicated that Dylan's songwriting had undergone a metamorphosis, becoming streamlined and more direct. Similarly, his music had changed, owing less to traditional rock & roll, and demonstrating heavy country, blues, and traditional folk influences. None of the Big Pink recordings were intended to be released, but tapes from the sessions were circulated by Dylan's music publisher with the intent of generating cover versions. Copies of these tapes, as well as other songs, were available on illegal bootleg albums by the end of the '60s; it was the first time that bootleg copies of unreleased recordings became widely circulated. Portions of the tapes were officially released in 1975 as the double-album The Basement Tapes.

While Dylan was in seclusion, rock & roll had become heavier and artier in the wake of the psychedelic revolution. When Dylan returned with John Wesley Harding in December of 1967, its quiet, country ambience was a surprise to the general public, but it was a significant hit, peaking at number two in the U.S. and number one in the U.K. Furthermore, the record arguably became the first significant country-rock record to be released, setting the stage for efforts by the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers later in 1969. Dylan followed his country inclinations on his next album, 1969's Nashville Skyline, which was recorded in Nashville with several of the country industry's top session men. While the album was a hit, spawning the Top Ten single "Lay Lady Lay," it was criticized in some quarters for uneven material. The mixed reception was the beginning of a full-blown backlash that arrived with the double-album Self Portrait. Released early in June of 1970, the album was a hodgepodge of covers, live tracks, re-interpretations, and new songs greeted with negative reviews from all quarters of the press. Dylan followed the album quickly with New Morning, which was hailed as a comeback.

Following the release of New Morning, Dylan began to wander restlessly. He moved back to Greenwich Village, he finally published Tarantula in November of 1970, and he performed at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971. During 1972, he began his acting career by playing Alias in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, which was released in 1973. He also wrote the soundtrack for the film, which featured "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," his biggest hit since "Lay Lady Lay." The Pat Garrett soundtrack was the final record released under his Columbia contract before he moved to David Geffen's fledgling Asylum Records. As retaliation, Columbia assembled Dylan, a collection of Self Portrait outtakes, for release at the end of 1973. Dylan only recorded two albums -- including 1974's Planet Waves, coincidentally his first number one album -- before he moved back to Columbia. The Band supported Dylan on Planet Waves and its accompanying tour, which became the most successful tour in rock & roll history; it was captured on 1974's double-live album Before the Flood.

Dylan's 1974 tour was the beginning of a comeback culminated by 1975's Blood on the Tracks. Largely inspired by the disintegration of his marriage, Blood on the Tracks was hailed as a return to form by critics and it became his second number one album. After jamming with folkies in Greenwich Village, Dylan decided to launch a gigantic tour, loosely based on traveling medicine shows. Lining up an extensive list of supporting musicians -- including Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Rambling Jack Elliott, Arlo Guthrie, Mick Ronson, Roger McGuinn, and poet Allen Ginsberg -- Dylan dubbed the tour the Rolling Thunder Revue and set out on the road in the fall of 1975. For the next year, the Rolling Thunder Revue toured on and off, with Dylan filming many of the concerts for a future film. During the tour, Desire was released to considerable acclaim and success, spending five weeks on the top of the charts. Throughout the Rolling Thunder Revue, Dylan showcased "Hurricane," a protest song he had written about boxer Rubin Carter, who had been unjustly imprisoned for murder. The live album Hard Rain was released at the end of the tour. Dylan released Renaldo and Clara, a four-hour film based on the Rolling Thunder tour, to poor reviews in early 1978.

Early in 1978, Dylan set out on another extensive tour, this time backed by a band that resembled a Las Vegas lounge band. The group was featured on the 1978 album Street Legal and the 1979 live album At Budokan. At the conclusion of the tour in late 1978, Dylan announced that he was a born-again Christian, and he launched a series of Christian albums that following summer with Slow Train Coming. Though the reviews were mixed, the album was a success, peaking at number three and going platinum. His supporting tour for Slow Train Coming featured only his new religious material, much to the bafflement of his long-term fans. Two other religious albums -- Saved (1980) and Shot of Love (1981) -- followed, both to poor reviews. In 1982, Dylan traveled to Israel, sparking rumors that his conversion to Christianity was short-lived. He returned to secular recording with 1983's Infidels, which was greeted with favorable reviews.

Dylan returned to performing in 1984, releasing the live album Real Live at the end of the year. Empire Burlesque followed in 1985, but its odd mix of dance tracks and rock & roll won few fans. However, the five-album/triple-disc retrospective box set Biograph appeared that same year to great acclaim. In 1986, Dylan hit the road with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers for a successful and acclaimed tour, but his album that year, Knocked Out Loaded, was received poorly. The following year, he toured with the Grateful Dead as his backing band; two years later, the souvenir album Dylan & the Dead appeared.

In 1988, Dylan embarked on what became known as "The Never-Ending Tour" -- a constant stream of shows that ran on and off into the late '90s. That same year, he released Down in the Groove, an album largely comprised of covers. The Never-Ending Tour received far stronger reviews than Down in the Groove, but 1989's Oh Mercy was his most acclaimed album since 1974's Blood on the Tracks. However, his 1990 follow-up, Under the Red Sky, was received poorly, especially when compared to the enthusiastic reception for the 1991 box set The Bootleg Series, Vols. 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased), a collection of previously unreleased outtakes and rarities.

For the remainder of the '90s, Dylan divided his time between live concerts and painting. In 1992, he returned to recording with Good As I Been to You, an acoustic collection of traditional folk songs. It was followed in 1993 by another folk album, World Gone Wrong, which won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. After the release of World Gone Wrong, Dylan released a greatest-hits album and a live record.

Dylan released Time Out of Mind, his first album of original material in seven years, in the fall of 1997. Time Out of Mind received his strongest reviews in years and unexpectedly debuted in the Top Ten. Its success sparked a revival of interest in Dylan -- he appeared on the cover of Newsweek and his concerts became sell-outs. Early in 1998, Time Out of Mind received three Grammy Awards -- Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Male Rock Vocal. Another album of original material, Love and Theft, followed in 2001. Soon after its release, Dylan announced that he was making his own film, to star Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman, Val Kilmer, and many more. The accompanying soundtrack, Masked and Anonymous, was released in July 2003.

Steve Morse Biography

2006-10-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

Although Steve Morse enjoyed a healthy following among guitar players, his name was never a household commodity, and he remained a cult figure who earned his greatest success in the readers' polls held annually by musicians' magazines. Although initially inspired by the Beatles, as a teen, Morse began to expand his listening to include the Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. Although he played a little piano and some clarinet, he became fascinated with guitar after seeing a concert by classical guitarist Juan Mercadal, who later gave a teenage Morse some lessons. Deeply influenced by a campus performance by John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Quartet while attending the University of Miami, Morse decided to focus on instrumental rock music; in 1974 that he put together his first band, the Dixie Dregs (later simply the Dregs), which would go on to become one of the defining groups in the fusion rock genre. After some 14 albums fronting the Dregs, the Steve Morse Band began their recording career in 1984 with an album called Two Faces. Soon after, Elektra Records snatched Morse up and he cut two albums for the company, The Introduction in 1984 and Stand Up in 1985, before switching to MCA. Morse releases for the label included High Tension Wires (1989), Southern Steel (1991), and Coast to Coast (1992). After leaving MCA in 1992, Morse recorded two excellent albums for Windham Hill/BMG Records, Structural Damage (1995) and StressFest (1996), and also joined Deep Purple for a U.S. and European tour in 1996. Richard Skelly, All Music Guide

Zakk Wylde Biography

2006-09-23T20:24:00.000-07:00

Zakk Wylde was born Jeffery Philip Wielandt to a Mr. and Mrs. Jerome Wielandt on January 14, 1967 in Bayonne and raised in Jackson, New Jersey. He also has a sister, Amy. Zakk was given the nickname “Flip,” short for his middle name Phillip, by his dad. This is what friends and family called him. Zakk began guitar at the age of eight, only to quit a short time after due to lack of interest. Zakk then attended Jackson Memorial High School were he then picked up the guitar again at age 14. He began taking lessons from his high school football coach’s son, LeRoy Wright. And later studied classical guitar with a guy from Freehold, NJ, and later with a guy in Manhattan. Zakk formed his first band “ Stone Henge” playing songs at parties like Ozzy’s “Bark at the Moon” and other songs by Black Sabbath and Rush. It was at that time when Zakk started dating a classmate named Barbaranne Caterina, who would later become his wife.

After graduating from Jackson Memorial High School in 1985 at the age of 18, Zakk was working at a local supermarket and doing roofing, and playing in various bands. That’s when Zakk began to write originals and joined a band called “Zyris” replacing guitarist Dave Linsk who left to form his own band and is currently playing for Overkill. Upon joining Zyris is when he started calling himself Zakari Wyland. He got the name from the TV show Lost In Space’s character Dr. Zachary Smith. Zyris played original material as well as covers by their favorite bands, like: Black Sabbath & Led Zeppelin. It was at that time Zakk gave guitar lessons in Jackson, New Jersey. Zyris played some, but not many gigs in the southern Jersey area. Many believed they toured up and down the whole eastern coast of Jersey, but that is not true, though they did get a special gig at the infamous “Stone Pony” made popular by Bruce Springsteen, and Bon Jovi.

Hearing on the Howard Stern Show that Ozzy would be auditioning unknown guitarists, Zakk never thought it to be more than a fantasy. At one Zyris show Zakk was discovered playing by rock photographers Mark Weiss and Dave Feld. Amazed at Zakk’s playing, Dave confronted Zakk, and mentioned that Ozzy was looking for a new guitarist and that they would pass along a press kit. Zakk got the audition with Ozzy. He took the audition figuring, “Well I’m only working at a gas station, what do I got to lose?!” During the audition Zakk played a few Ozzy songs and some acoustic and classical stuff. After the audition he returned home thinking he didn’t get the job. One day he received a phone call from Sharon Osbourne asking if he would join the band.

Zakk had joined up with Ozzy at the age of 20, in May of 1987. It was then he was given the last name “Wylde”, which he was called for obvious reasons. Ozzy introduced Zakk as his new guitarist at the Hard Rock Café in New York City, on Dec.15, 1987. Zakk Wylde made his debut with Ozzy Osbourne on album in 1988 with "No Rest For The Wicked." Zakk quickly became a big name in the guitarist community, due to his instantly recognizable guitar sound and style.

In 1989, Zakk got to tour the world playing guitar for Ozzy. He basically went from an unknown kid playing small clubs in New Jersey, to playing huge arenas. Ozzy and his band were booked to play the Moscow Peace Festival during the summer of 1989, along with Skid Row, Motley Crue, Bon Jovi, and the Scorpions, among many other bands. The live E.P. "Just Say Ozzy" was released in 1989. It featured Ozzy, Zakk, Geezer Butler, and Randy Castillo playing three No Rest For The Wicked tunes, a version of the Jake E. Lee penned song "Shot In The Dark" from The Ultimate Sin, which is universally recognized as way better than the studio version, and two Black Sabbath classics, "War Pigs," and "Sweet Leaf."

In 1990, Ozzy, Zakk, Randy, and Bob Daisley & Mike Inez recorded No More Tears, the second studio release in which Zakk appears on. No More Tears is generally regarded as one of Zakk's best performances. From the mega-hit title track with the amazingly breathtaking solo, to the thunderous Mr. Tinkertrain, and the mellow acoustic ballad Mama, I'm Coming Home, the album was perfectly balanced. Zakk's style changed a lot from No Rest For The Wicked until No More Tears. There is more of a southern rock style "chickin' pickin'" element to his playing that was virtually nonexistant on most of No Rest.

The tour for No More Tears, aptly titled "No More Tours" was billed to be Ozzy's final farewell tour. He was in the best shape he had been in in years, completely sober (except for a pill-popping problem that was not known by the public at the time), eating healthy, excersizing, and boxing, etc. Ozzy's voice was in top condition, he was moving around and jumping onstage more than he ever had. The energy was there. Zakk, Mike, and Randy clicked perfectly. Many beleive this to be Ozzy's best line-up to date. The band went back into the studio during the tour to record a few new studio tracks that were to be included as bonus tracks to the live album they were going to release. The studio tracks that were recorded, "Aimee," and "See You On The Other Side," one of which containing Jeff Scott Soto (of Yngwie Malmsteen fame) on backing vocals. More tracks are beleived to be recorded back then, but no titles are available. Unfortunatly, the songs were not released on Live & Loud, and as a matter of fact, those 1992 versions of the songs have never been released. Live & Loud was a double disc set of live recordings from Ozzy's supposed final tour.

Zakk formed a band called Lynyrd Skynhead with James Lomenzo and Greg DeAngelo of White Lion fame in 1992 while he was still with Ozzy. They jammed a bunch of classic rock and southern rock tunes from bands such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Bros, ZZ Top, and Mountain. This lineup recorded the track "Farm Fiddlin'" which appeared on the "Guitars That Rule The World Vol. 1" compilation album, which is now out of print.

On August 1st, 1993, Zakk Wylde got to fill-in for Dickey Betts in the Allman Bros. Band for a show. This show is heavily bootlegged and is an amazing show. Everytime someone mentions Zakk Wylde's numerous bands, the Allmans are always brought up, but in actuality, he only did one show with them.

Greg DeAngelo was replaced by a much better drummer, Brian Tichy in 1994, and the band name was changed to Pride & Glory. Pride & Glory released their self-titled debut (and also final) album in 1994 on Geffen Records. Zakk made an appearance on Headbangers' Ball in 1994 by himself and performed the Pride & Glory song "Machine Gun Man." Pride & Glory, a potent mix of country, southern rock, blues, and heavy metal acheived limited success, although touring with the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Aerosmith, Ted Nugent, and Whitesnake. James Lomenzo left the band in November 1994 after a tour of Japan. There was only a 3 day gap before a US Fall tour began, and Zakk found a replacement for James, his long-time friend J.D. Pride & Glory played their final show on December 10th, 1994 in Los Angeles. Slash of Guns N Roses appeared at this show and jammed "Voodoo Chile" and "Red House" with the band. A live album was supposedly recorded and intended for release, but it was scrapped. But the next best thing to a live album, asoundboard recording of one of Pride & Glory's final shows which was recorded on the last Japanese tour is now heavily bootlegged as "Fadin' Away."

In 1995, Ozzy came out of retirement and recruited Zakk, Geezer Butler, and Deen Castronovo to record his next album. Ozzmosis came out in 1995, which featured the pounding leadoff single "Perry Mason." Zakk did not write every single track on the album, though. One of the tracks was written by Steve Vai ("My Little Man"), and several others by different people. The songs "Aimee" and "See You On The Other Side" we re-recorded for Ozzmosis. "Aimee" was released as a B-side track, but was recently added to the 2002 remaster of the album. During the recording from Ozzmosis, Zakk used to go to a restaurant called Brew's in New York after a full day in the studio and jam some stuff he was writing but was unable to use on Ozzmosis, due to obvious reasons. According to Kieran Brew, Zakk would come in around 3:30 a.m. when few people remained in the restaurant, and would sing and play guitar. Brew's became the proving grounds for the material that would later become "Book of Shadows".

It was during this time that Zakk began jamming with a few of the guys from Guns N Roses. Several songs were demoed with the band, including a song with an early version of the riff for "The Rose Petalled Garden." Zakk was torn between joining Guns N Roses, and touring with Ozzy. He waited too long, and Ozzy eventually hired a guitarist by the name of Joe Holmes for the Ozzmosis tour. Zakk received a message from Guns N Roses that his services would not be needed.

Also, around this time Geffen Records was wanting a new album from Zakk. He decided to record and release all of the excess material that he had laying around, which became "Book Of Shadows" Zakk called up former Pride & Glory bassist and asked him to play on the album, and Joe Vitale, veteran drummer from Joe Walsh and Crosby, Stills & Nash was recruited to play on the album as well. "Book Of Shadows" was released in 1996 on Geffen Records. Nick Catanese, a guitarist from Pittsburg emailed Zakk enquiring on whether he needed another guitarist or not, and he actually got the job playing backing guitar for Zakk on the B.O.S. tour. Zakk started jamming an unreleased song live in 1997 called "Spoke In The Wheel. "During this tour, a drummer by the name of Phil Ondich met Zakk in California. Towards the end of the tour in Roanoke, Virginia, Phil met Zakk a second time and gave him a tape of him playing with a a band called Raging Slab. Outside of a radio station there in Roanoke, Zakk jammed a new song on acoustic called "Beneath The Tree." Phil kept time for Zakk by patting his hands on his legs loudly. A recording exists of this rare performance, but it has never seen the light of day. Zakk did a solo electric Japan tour in the Fall of 1997 with Nick on rhythm guitar, Ian Mayo on bass, and Brock Avery on drums. A pro-shot video exists of one of these performances called "Rock Around The Bay '97." Zakk also performed at the Jason Becker Benefit on November 17th, 1997.

On January 31, 1998, the original Pride & Glory band reunited for a one-off reunion show at the Whiskey in Hollywood, CA. This momentous occasion was beleived to be bootlegged, but no video has turned up anywhere.

Zakk Wylde, Mike Inez, and Randy Castillo, the No More Tears band, were rehired by Ozzy Osbourne in early 1998 for a tour in New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. Mysteriously, the entire band was let go without reason by the Ozzy camp after they got back from Japan. They were supposed to play Ozzfest '98 in the US, but this never happened. Zakk went to Italy in early May 1998 to do a one-off show by himself, and then he called up Phil Ondich (due to Nick Catanese recommending him as the drummer to use...) and what became Sonic Brew was recorded in May 1998 in Miama, FL. Zakk loved the lyrics on the song "Beneath The Tree" that he had jammed with Phil in Roanoke the previous year, so he wrote a new song and kept the lyrics for it. This haunting song was recorded during a huge thunderstorm, and it was eerie as hell. You can tell that the creepy feel of the song was most-likely inspired by the setting in the studio that night. Zakk and Phil decided to call the band "Hell's Kitchen" and the album was to be called "Sonic Brewery." Phil designed all of the artwork and layed out the booklet for the album. But, after a few weeks, it was decided that they were changing the band name to Black Label Society, because they were unable to get a trademark for the Hell's Kitchen moniker. The front and back artwork for the album had to be changed, but the inside booklet was kept almost exactly the same. If you look, all of the art inside the booklet is set up like a kitchen menu. Hilarious liner notes and artwork (a devil devouring a chef, etc) fill the booklet, and if you replace the word "society" with the word "kitchen" in a lot of the liner notes, it makes a lot more sense; such as, "its the height of bad manners to hieve in somebody else's kitchen" makes much more sense than "somebody else's society."

Sonic Brew was released in Japan on October 28th, 1998. It contained 13 tracks ("Lost My Better Half" and "No More Tears 2000" did not exist yet), an awesome album cover that was printed on clear plastic, with a seperate paper booklet. The back cover was printed with golden ink, and the packaging was, overall, a lot better than the USA version ended up. There was a long delay for the USA album release, because everyone collectively decided that it needed remixed. The drums & vocals were buried on some of the tracks towards the end of the disc, so it was decided to remix it for the US release. Zakk and Phil decided to give the USA an extra bonus track for the album, and went to the studio in California and recorded "Lost My Better Half" as a one-off bonus track for the album. It was Zakk's heaviest song to date. Sonic Brew was finally released on May 4th, 1999.

The band needed a bass player, so Zakk put out an ad in all guitar magazines: "Looking for a bassist. Preferably a guitarist who's willing to play bass. Fender P Bass preferred. Mid/Late 20's, early 30's. CRUSHINGLY HEAVY. If you don't dig Cliff Burton don't bother replying." Evidently, finding an unknown bassist didn't work out, because Zakk ended up hiring his long-time friend and former P&G replacement bassist J.D. as BLS' bass player. Black Label Society's lineup was now complete. Zakk, Nick, J.D., and Philth.

BLS performed their first ever show in Japan on May 1st, 1999 at Club Quattro, Shibuya Tokyo. On the final Japanese date of that tour, Stephen Pearcy, lead (out of key) singer of the washed-up '80's band Ratt joined BLS onstage for an encore of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid." After the Japanese tour, BLS went to Europe for a tour, playing for what was probably their largest crowd they've played before and since, Dynamo Open Air '99.

After the European tour, the American tour dates that were scheduled all got cancelled, and there was a wait before the US tour. A rumor was put out that said that Phil had broken his arm while jet-skiing; this was a completely untrue rumor. As a matter of fact, Phil doesn't even jet-ski. Around the same time, the Johnny Walker whisky company issued a cease and desist order to Zakk on the album cover, which looked just like a bottle of Johnny Walker's black label whisky. The band decided to reissue the album with a different album cover, and as an added incentive, they wanted to record a bonus track for the fans who wanted to buy the new version of the album. Zakk, Phil, and Mike Inez recorded the song "No More Tears 2000" as a bonus track. The reissue of the album could be bought at merchandise stands on the tour before it could be found in stores. A guitar pick was inside of the early pressings of the reissue as an added bonus to those who got it early. Black Label Society finally kicked off their tour of the US in mid September 1999, with the band Loudmouth opening for them for many of the dates. They played most of the songs from Sonic Brew, a few Pride & Glory songs, and at a few shows, they covered "Miracle Man" by Ozzy. The tour was wrapped up without a hitch.

In the winter of 1999/2000, Zakk and Philth headed to the studio in California to cut their sophmore effort "Stronger Than Death." Mike Piazza, catcher for the NY Mets was hanging with them in the studio, and recorded backing vocals/growls on the title track. Axl Rose was actually in the studio next to theirs and hung out with them on several occasions, but no collaboration occured. Phil did all of the artwork yet again on the album. Stronger Than Death was released in Japan on March 8th 2000, and in the United States on April 18th 2000. J.D. decided to leave the band to persue other interests, and he was replaced by Steve "S.O.B." Gibb, son of Berry Gibb from the BeeGees. Black Label Society kicked off the Penchant For Violence tour in Japan on June 14th, 2000. The band was playing new songs from Stronger Than Death, songs from Sonic Brew, and an amazing cover of Ozzy's "Demon Alcohol."

After the Japanese tour ended on June 21st, the US tour began right away and there was no break. The entire band came back from Japan sick. The first show was June 23rd, to a packed crowd at The Sun Theater in Anaheim. About 5 songs into the set, Phil collapsed from his kit due to his stomach flu and exhaustion. Craig Nunenmacher of the band Crowbar (who were touring with BLS) came back on stage and played a few Sabbath songs with BLS, and the show ended. The next 2 shows were cancelled, and then the band returned, playing what some say were their best shows to date. When BLS got to Indiana on July 6th, 2000, about 3 songs into the set, there was a brawl on stage between Zakk and Phil, and Phil was fired from the band. They did a few Sabbath songs with Craig on drums again, and he replaced Phil as BLS' drummer from that point on.

"Alcohol Fueled Brewtality Live", BLS' live album was recorded in October of 2000, and was released on January 16th, 2001. Black Label Society was added to Ozzfest 2001 that summer as the main stage opener. Superterrorizer was recorded at one of the Ozzfest shows and added to the live Ozzfest 2001 cd; the track featured an intro which later became the song "Battering Ram." Steve Gibb left the band mid-Ozzfest tour, and was replaced by former Ozzy/Alice In Chains bassist Mike Inez. Mike Inez had to fly back to California because he had obligations with another band, and the bass tech, Frey Theiler filled in on a few dates towards the end of Ozzfest.

During Ozzfest, Zakk recorded a few demos with a guy by the name of Christian Werr on drums, to show Ozzy, for possible inclusion on Ozzy's next album. Ozzy rejected these tunes, so Zakk kept them for the next BLS album. The demos that were recorded were "Bleed For Me," "Life/Birth/Blood/Doom," "Demise Of Sanity," an alternate piano version of "Bridge To Cross," and a demo with an unknown title. The latter two tracks were never released. Robert Trujillo, who played bass with Zakk in Ozzy's band, played on "Life/Birth/Blood/Doom" as well.

Zakk recorded a new album with Ozzy in the Summer/Fall of 2001, but did not write any of the tracks for it. "Down To Earth" was released on October 16th, 2001, and Ozzy and Rob Zombie toured together as the "Merry Mayhem" tour.

Somewhere around this time, either before or after the Merry Mayhem tour, Zakk and Craig went into the studio and recorded what became "1919 Eternal." The album was supposed to be called "Deathcore Warmachine Eternal" but the title was changed in light of the tragic events of September 11th. The album was released on March 5th, 2002.

DAVID GILMOUR BIOGRAPHY

2006-09-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

David Gilmour was born on 6th March 1946 in Cambridge, the second child of Douglas Gilmour, a senior lecturer in Zoology at the University and Sylvia, a teacher. Best known as guitarist, vocalist and writer with Pink Floyd, he is also renowned for solo work and collaborations with other artists including Kate Bush, Paul McCartney, and Pete Townshend.

David Gilmour and Roger 'Syd' Barrett met as children in Cambridge and later, whilst studying at the Cambridgeshire College of Arts and Technology, began playing guitar together. In 1965 they spent a summer hitchhiking and busking around the South of France before Syd joined Roger Waters, Nick Mason and Rick Wright to form Pink Floyd, and David continued playing with his own band Jokers Wild, subsequently touring Europe with Flowers, and later Bullitt.

David was asked to augment the Pink Floyd line up as the singer and guitarist in 1967, only for Syd to leave the group five gigs later, struggling with mental illness.

David's guitar playing and song writing became major factors of Pink Floyd's worldwide success during the 1970s, including his distinctive vocals and guitar playing on Dark Side of the Moon, the third most successful album of all time.

As a side project, David released his first solo album David Gilmour in 1978. Featuring Rick Wills on bass and Willie Wilson on drums & percussion, the album charted in the UK and the US.

David's second solo album About Face was released in 1984, again hitting the Top 20 in the UK.

David assumed control of Pink Floyd in 1985, after Roger Waters' departure, creating the new Floyd album A Momentary Lapse of Reason with Nick Mason and Rick Wright. The Division Bell followed in 1994. Both albums charted at number one on both sides of the Atlantic and were supported by sell-out world tours. A live album and video, Pulse, followed in 1995. In 1996, Pink Floyd were inducted into the US Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, followed by the same honour in the UK in November 2005; in 2005 David Gilmour was made a CBE for services to music.

In July 2005, Pink Floyd reunited with Roger Waters for a one-off performance at Live 8 in London's Hyde Park, which was regarded by many as the highlight of an astonishing show.

In 2002, following a concert for Robert Wyatt's Meltdown Festival, three semi acoustic concerts were performed by David Gilmour and friends at London's Royal Festival Hall, with one critic remarking that a "reinvented rock god shines on as 21st century folk hero".

In 2003, David donated the £3.6 million proceeds of the sale of his London house to Crisis, the charity for the homeless of which he is a vice-president.

David Gilmour's position in the canon of rock guitar players can be construed from his headline billing at the 2004 Wembley concert celebrating 50 years of the Fender Stratocaster guitar.

David's latest project is a new solo album, On An Island. Released on 6th March 2006, it is accompanied by tour dates in Europe and North America.

CARLOS SANTANA BIOGRAPHY

2006-09-13T01:19:00.000-07:00

Santana is the primary exponent of Latin-tinged rock, particularly due to its combination of Latin percussion (congas, timbales, etc.) with bandleader Carlos Santana's distinctive, high-pitched lead guitar playing. The group was the last major act to emerge from the psychedelic San Francisco music scene of the 1960s and it enjoyed massive success at the end of the decade and into the early '70s. The musical direction then changed to a more contemplative and jazzy style as the band's early personnel gradually departed, leaving the name in the hands of Carlos Santana, who guided the group to consistent commercial success over the next quarter-century. By the mid-'90s, Santana seemed spent as a commercial force on records, though the group continued to attract audiences for its concerts worldwide. But the band made a surprising and monumental comeback in 1999 with Supernatural, an album featuring many guest stars that became Santana's best-selling release and won a raft of Grammy Awards.

Mexican-native Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947, in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico) moved to San Francisco in the early '60s, by which time he was already playing the guitar professionally. In 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band with keyboard player and singer Gregg Rolie (born June 17, 1947, in Seattle, WA) and other musicians, the personnel changing frequently. The group was given its name due to a musicians union requirement that a single person be named a band's leader and it did not at first indicate that Carlos was in charge. Bass player David Brown (born February 15, 1947, in New York, NY) joined early on, as did Carlos' high school friend, conga player Mike Carabello (born November 18, 1947, in San Francisco), though he did not stay long at first. By mid-1967, the band's lineup consisted of Carlos, Rolie, Brown, drummer Bob "Doc" Livingston, and percussionist Marcus Malone. The name was shortened simply to Santana and the group came to the attention of promoter Bill Graham, who gave it its debut at his Fillmore West theater on June 16, 1968. Santana was signed to Columbia Records, which sent producer David Rubinson to tape the band at a four-night stand at the Fillmore West December 19-22, 1968. The results were not released until almost 30 years later, when Columbia/Legacy issued Live at the Fillmore 1968 in 1997.

Livingston and Malone left the lineup in 1969 and were replaced by Carabello and drummer Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949, in San Francisco), with a second percussionist, Jose "Chepito" Areas (born July 25, 1946, in Leon, Nicaragua) making Santana a sextet. The band recorded its self-titled debut album and began to tour nationally, making an important stop at the Woodstock festival on August 15, 1969. Santana was released the same month. It peaked in the Top Five, going on to remain in the charts over two years, sell over two million copies, and spawn the Top 40 single "Jingo" and the Top Ten single "Evil Ways." Santana's performance of "Soul Sacrifice" was a highlight of the documentary film Woodstock and its double-platinum soundtrack album, which appeared in 1970. The band's second album, Abraxas, was released in September 1970 and was even more successful than its first. It hit number one, remaining in the charts more than a-year-and-a-half and eventually selling over four million copies while spawning the Top Five hit "Black Magic Woman" and the Top Ten hit "Oye Como Va." By the end of the year, the group had added a seventh member, teenage guitarist Neal Schon (born February 27, 1954).

Santana's third album, Santana III, was performed by the seven band members, though several guest musicians were also mentioned in the credits, notably percussionist Coke Escovedo, who played on all the tracks. Released in September 1971, the album was another massive hit, reaching number one and eventually selling over two million copies while spawning the Top Ten hit "Everybody's Everything" and the Top 20 hit "No One to Depend On." But it marked the end of the Woodstock-era edition of Santana, which broke up at the end of the tour promoting it, with Carlos retaining rights to the band name.

Following a tour with Buddy Miles that resulted in a live duo album (Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live!), Carlos reorganized Santana and recorded the fourth Santana band album, Caravanserai, on which each track featured individual musician credits. From the previous lineup, Rolie, Shrieve, Areas, and Schon appeared, alongside pianist Tom Coster, percussionist James Mingo Lewis, percussionist Armando Peraza, guitarist/bassist Douglas Rauch, and percussionist Rico Reyes, among others. (Rolie and Schon left to form Journey.) The album was released in September 1972; it peaked in the Top Five and was eventually certified platinum. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance with Vocal Coloring.

Carlos, who had become a disciple of the guru Sri Chinmoy and adopted the name Devadip (meaning "the eye, the lamp, and the light of God"), next made a duo album with John McLaughlin, guitarist with the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Love Devotion Surrender). Meanwhile, the lineup of Santana continued to fluctuate. On Welcome, the band's fifth album, released in November 1973, it consisted of Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, Rauch, keyboard player Richard Kermode, and singer Leon Thomas. The album went gold and peaked in the Top 20. In May 1974, Lotus, a live album featuring the same lineup, was released only in Japan. (It was issued in the U.S. in 1991.) Carlos continued to alternate side projects with Santana band albums, next recording a duo LP with John Coltrane's widow Alice Coltrane (Illuminations). Columbia decided to cash in on the band's diminishing popularity by releasing Santana's Greatest Hits in July 1974. The compilation peaked in the Top 20 and eventually went double platinum. The sixth new Santana album, Borboletta, followed in October. The band personnel for the LP featured Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, a returning David Brown, saxophonist Jules Broussard, and singer Leon Patillo, plus guest stars Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, and Stanley Clarke. Borboletta peaked in the Top 20 and eventually went gold. Carlos steered Santana back to a more commercial sound in the mid-'70s in an attempt to stop the eroding sales of the band's albums. He enlisted Santana's original producer, David Rubinson, to handle the next LP. The band was streamlined to a sextet consisting of himself, Coster, Peraza, Brown, drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler (Shrieve having departed to work with Stomu Yamashta), and singer Greg Walker. The result was Amigos, released in March 1976, which returned Santana to the Top Ten and went gold. The band was back only nine months later with another Rubinson production, Festival, for which Santana consisted of Carlos, Coster, returning members Jose "Chepito" Areas and Leon Patillo, drummer Gaylord Birch, percussionist Raul Rekow, and bass player Pablo Telez. This album peaked in the Top 40 and went gold. Never having issued a live album in the U.S., Santana made up for the lapse with Moonflower, released in October 1977, for which the band consisted of Carlos, Coster, Areas, Rekow, Telez, returning member Greg Walker, percussionist Pete Escovedo, drummer Graham Lear, and bass player David Margen. The album peaked in the Top Ten and eventually went platinum, its sales stimulated by the single release of a revival of the Zombies' "She's Not There" that peaked in the Top 20, Santana's first hit single in nearly six years.

Turning to producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, Santana returned to the studio for Inner Secrets, released in October 1978. The revamped lineup this time was Carlos, Rekow, Walker, Lear, Margen, returning members Coke Escovedo and Armando Peraza, keyboard player Chris Rhyne, and guitarist/keyboard player Chris Solberg. The album was quickly certified gold, and a revival of the Classics IV hit "Stormy" made the Top 40, but Inner Secrets peaked disappointingly below the Top 20. Once again adopting his guru name of Devadip, Carlos issued his first real solo album (Oneness/Silver Dreams - Golden Reality) in February 1979. Marathon, the tenth Santana band studio album, followed in September, produced by Keith Olsen, the band here being Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Solberg, singer Alex Ligertwood, and keyboard player Alan Pasqua. The album equaled the success of Inner Secrets, peaking outside the Top 20 but going gold, with "You Know That I Love You" becoming a Top 40 single. Again, Carlos followed in the winter with another solo effort (the Swing of Delight).

Santana (Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Ligertwood, keyboard player Richard Baker, and percussionist Orestes Vilato) spent some extra time on its next release, not issuing Zebop! until March 1981, and the extra effort paid off. Paced by the Top 20 single "Winning," the album reached the Top Ten and went gold. The band lavished similar attention on Shango, which was released in August 1982. The same lineup as that on Zebop! was joined by original member Gregg Rolie, who also co-produced the album. A music video helped Santana enjoy its first Top Ten single in more than a decade with "Hold On," but that did not translate into increased sales for the album, which peaked in the Top 20 but became the band's first LP not to at least go gold. Carlos followed with another solo album (Havana Moon), but did not release a new Santana band album until February 1985 with Beyond Appearances, produced by Val Garay. By now the lineup consisted of Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Ligertwood, Vilato, returning member Greg Walker, bass player Alphonso Johnson, keyboard player David Sancious, drummer Chester C. Thompson, and keyboard player Chester D. Thompson. "Say It Again," the album's single, reached the Top 40, but that was better than the LP did.

Santana staged a 20-year anniversary reunion concert in August 1986 featuring many past bandmembers. The February 1987 album Freedom marked the formal inclusion of Buddy Miles as a member of Santana, alongside Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Vilato, Johnson, Chester D. Thompson, and returning members Tom Coster and Graham Lear. The album barely made the Top 100. Carlos followed in the fall with another solo album (Blues for Salvador), winning his first Grammy Award in the process (Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the title track). In 1988, he added Wayne Shorter to the band for a tour, then put together a reunion edition of Santana that featured Areas, Rolie, and Shrieve beside Johnson, Peraza, and Thompson. In October, Columbia celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the band's signing to the label with the retrospective Viva Santana! The next new Santana album was Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, released in June 1990, for which the band was Carlos, Peraza, Thompson, returning member Alex Ligertwood, drummer Walfredo Reyes, and bass player Benny Rietveld. A modest seller that made only the lower reaches of the Top 100, it marked the end of the band's 22-year tenure at Columbia Records.

In 1991, Santana signed to Polydor Records, which, in April 1992, released the band's 16th studio album, Milagro. The lineup was Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Rietvald, and percussionist Karl Perazzo. Polydor was not able to reverse the band's commercial decline, as the album became Santana's first new studio release not to reach the Top 100. The group followed in November 1993 with Sacred Fire - Live in South America, which featured Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Perazzo, singer Vorriece Cooper, bass player Myron Dove, and guitarist Jorge Santana, Carlos' brother. The album barely made the charts. In 1994, Carlos, Jorge, and their nephew Carlos Hernandez, released Santana Brothers, another marginal chart entry. The same year, Areas, Carabello, Rolie, and Shrieve formed a band called Abraxas and released the album Abraxas Pool, which did not chart.

Santana left Polydor and signed briefly to EMI before moving to Arista Records, run by Clive Davis, who had been president of Columbia during the band's heyday. Carlos and Davis put together Supernatural, which was stuffed with appearances by high-profile guest stars including Eagle-Eye Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Rob Thomas of matchbox 20, Everlast, and Dave Matthews. Arista released the album in June 1999, followed by the single "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas. Album and single hit number one and in 2000, a second single, "Maria Maria," also topped the charts. Supernatural's sales exploded, taking it past ten million copies and the album garnered 11 Grammy nominations. Santana won eight Grammys, for Record of the Year ("Smooth"), Album of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Maria Maria"), Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ("Smooth"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance ("El Farol"), Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Put Your Lights On"), Best Rock Instrumental Performance ("The Calling"), and Best Rock Album, and "Smooth" won the Grammy for Song of the Year for authors Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur. The follow-up, Shaman, appeared in 2002. Three years later All That I Am arrived with Steven Tyler, Michelle Branch, Big Boi, Joss Stone, Bo Bice, and many more making guest appearances.

JEFF BECK

2006-09-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

While he was as innovative as Jimmy Page, as tasteful as Eric Clapton, and nearly as visionary as Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck never achieved the same commercial success as any of his contemporaries, primarily because of the haphazard way he approached his career. After Rod Stewart left the Jeff Beck Group in 1971, Beck never worked with a charismatic lead singer who could have helped sell his music to a wide audience. Furthermore, he was simply too idiosyncratic, moving from heavy metal to jazz fusion within a blink of an eye. As his career progressed, he became more fascinated by automobiles than guitars, releasing only one album during the course of the '90s. All the while, Beck retained the respect of fellow guitarists, who found his reclusiveness all the more alluring.

Jeff Beck began his musical career following a short stint at London's Wimbledon Art College. He earned a reputation by supporting Lord Sutch, which helped him land the job as the Yardbirds' lead guitarist following the departure of Eric Clapton. Beck stayed with the Yardbirds for nearly two years, leaving in late in 1966 with the pretense that he was retiring from music. He returned several months later with "Love Is Blue," a single he played poorly because he detested the song. Later in 1967, he formed the Jeff Beck Group with vocalist Rod Stewart, bassist Ron Wood and drummer Aynsley Dunbar, who was quickly replaced by Mickey Waller; keyboardist Nicky Hopkins joined in early 1968. With their crushingly loud reworkings of blues songs and vocal and guitar interplay, the Jeff Beck Group established the template for heavy metal. Neither of the band's records, Truth (1968) or Beck-Ola (a 1969 album which was recorded with new drummer Tony Newman), were particularly successful, and the band tended to fight regularly, especially on their frequent tours of the U.S.. In 1970, Stewart and Wood left to join the Faces, and Beck broke up the group.

Beck had intended to form a power trio with Vanilla Fudge members Carmine Appice (drums) and Tim Bogert (bass), but those plans were derailed when he suffered a serious car crash in 1970. By the time he recuperated in 1971, Bogart and Appice were playing in Cactus, so the guitarist formed a new version of the Jeff Beck Group. Featuring keyboardist Max Middleton, drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Clive Chaman, and vocalist Bobby Tench, the new band recorded Rough and Ready (1971) and Jeff Beck Group (1972). Neither album attracted much attention. Cactus dissolved in late 1972, and Beck, Bogert and Appice formed a power trio the following year. The group's lone studio album -- a live record was released in Japan but never in the U.K. or U.S. -- was widely panned due to its plodding arrangements and weak vocals, and the group disbanded the following year.

For about 18 months, Beck remained quiet, re-emerging in 1975 with Blow by Blow. Produced by George Martin, Blow by Blow was an all-instrumental jazz fusion album that received strong reviews. Beck collaborated with Jan Hammer, a former keyboardist for Mahavishnu Orchestra, for 1976's Wired, and supported the album with a co-headlining tour with Hammer's band. The tour was documented on the 1977 album, Jeff Beck With the Jan Hammer Group -- Live.

After the Hammer tour, Beck retired to his estate outside of London and remained quiet for three years. He returned in 1980 with There and Back, which featured contributions from Hammer. Following the tour for There and Back, Beck retired again, returning five years later with the slick, Nile Rodgers-produced Flash. A pop/rock album recorded with a variety of vocalists, Flash featured Beck's only hit single, the Stewart-sung "People Get Ready," and also boasted "Escape," which won the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental. During 1987, he played lead guitar on Mick Jagger's second solo album, Primitive Cool. There was another long wait between Flash and 1989's Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop With Terry Bozzio and Tony Hymas. Though the album sold only moderately well, Guitar Shop received uniformly strong reviews and won the Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental. Beck supported the album with a tour, this time co-headlining with guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. Again, Beck entered semi-retirement upon the completion of the tour.

In 1992, Beck played lead guitar on Roger Waters' comeback album, Amused to Death. A year later, he released Crazy Legs, a tribute to Gene Vincent and his lead guitarist Cliff Gallup, which was recorded with Big Town Playboys. Beck remained quiet after the album's release prior to resurfacing in 1999 with Who Else!. You Had It Coming followed two years later.

Gary Moore Biography

2006-09-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

Gary was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 4th 1952. Like many others, he was turned on to rock and roll first through hearing Elvis Presley, and then via The Beatles. Seeing the likes of Jimi Hendrix and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in his hometown in the mid-60s opened up to him the rich world of The Blues. Hearing the art of the Blues guitar performed by such lauded exponents as Peter Green fired Moore's nascent talent, and it wasn't long before he was being hailed as a teen musical prodigy. Indeed, it was Green himself who helped foster Moore's career, a debt that was repaid handsomely when Gary cut his warm and heartfelt tribute to his mentor, the 'Blues For Greeny' album, released in 1995.

Gary's first band of note, the power trio Skid Row, secured a record deal with the CBS label in 1970. By this time, Gary had moved to Dublin, and befriended Phil Lynott, who filled the vocal role with Skid Row until shortly before the CBS deal was signed. Gary cut three albums with the band, and toured the USA supporting The Allman Brothers Band, and Mountain amongst others, before he split Skid Row to embark on a solo career. This proved short-lived, as Gary was soon to reunite with Phil Lynott as replacement for Eric Bell in the Thin Lizzy line-up. Although he was in the band for a relatively brief tenure, he would rejoin their ranks following the departure of Brian Robertson in 1977, and again, finally, for the 'Black Rose' tour in 1978.

In 1979, Gary's solo career began in earnest with the evocative hit single, 'Parisienne Walkways', which pitched Gary's tasteful, blues-soaked lead guitar with a moody Phil Lynott guest vocal. The single reached the UK Top Ten in April of that year, and the subsequent album, 'Back On The Streets' was similarly well received. The late 1970s and early 80s were characterised by Gary's restless search for the best musical settings for his talents; a reunion with Phil Lynott produced the powerful 'Out In The Fields' hit single (1985). He explored his Celtic roots on the album 'Wild Frontier' (1987), but it was with the 1990 album, 'Still Got The Blues', that Gary arrived at a rich musical vein within which his creativity could flow freely. This and its successor, 'After Hours' saw cameo appearances from the likes of such Blues guitar greats as Albert King, BB King, and Albert Collins, and it is a testament to Gary's own remarkable talents that he more than held his own amongst such august company. In 1994, Gary worked alongside Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce in the band BBM, cutting one accomplished album, before resuming his solo career.

The, 'Back To The Blues' (2001) album saw this consummately talented musician revisit The Blues with renewed vigor and determination, after the more experimental 'Dark Days In Paradise' (1997) and 'A Different Beat' (1999) albums. A ten-track collection that mixes excellent Moore originals with gritty and intense covers of standards such as 'Stormy Monday', 'You Upset Me Baby' and 'I Ain't Got You', the album is nothing less than a resounding return to form. Gary effortlessly mixes and matches contrasting styles within the idiom whilst displaying awesome feel for the music and dazzling technique. 'Back To The Blues' swings and rocks, and shows Gary Moore to be a True Keeper of the Blues Flame.

But, in the tradition of keeping his fans and critics guessing, 2002 saw Gary Moore crashing back onto the music scene with what has to be his heaviest collection of songs to date, once again forcing people to reassess any opinions and preconceptions they may have of him. That time round though, Moore had decided to share the limelight, joining forces with ex-Skunk Anansie bassist Cass Lewis and Primal Scream drummer Darrin Mooney to form "Scars", a true power trio in every respect. The "Scars" album was completed in early 2002 and that line-up, then went on to record the "Live at the Monsters of Rock" 2003 live CD and DVD, which featured the band's set as performed on two separate nights on the UK Tour of the same name in May 2003. That live set encompassed a diverse range of material, from across Gary's playing career.

2004, saw possibly the rawest album yet from Gary Moore, "Power of the Blues". The 10-track set, recorded mostly live in the studio, ranged from the hard rock/blues of the title track, via the upbeat swing of "Can't find my baby", to the haunting "Torn Inside".

Taking time out in August of last year, for a brief reunion with some of his old Thin Lizzy pals, for a one off concert in Dublin. The evening was filmed for a 2006 DVD release. "Gary Moore and Friends, One Night in Dublin, A Tribute to Phil Lynott" (for UK release March 27th, 2006).

Gary's new album "Old New Ballads Blues" (for UK release April 24th, 2006), features 5 new original songs, including the up tempo "Ain't Nobody", the poignant ballad "Gonna rain today", the country influenced "No reason to cry" and the driving instrumental "Cut it out".

Also included are rerecorded versions of the classic "Midnight Blues", which originally appeared on Gary's multi million selling, 1990 album "Still Got The Blues", Otis Rush's "All your Love", which was the song which turned Gary onto the blues, when he first heard it on the Bluesbreakers "Beano" album, in 1966 and blistering covers of Willie Dixon's "You know my love" and Elmore James's "Done somebody wrong".

Richie Blackmore

2006-09-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

Born in Weston-Super-Mare (a seaside town on the west coast of Britain), April 14th 1945. Blackmore moved to Heston, in Middlesex when he was two. At school he joined The 2I's Coffee Bar Junior Skiffle Group on wash-board. He then bought a Framus acoustic and took classical lessons for a year.

At 15 Blackmore left school to work at Heathrow and with school-friend Mick Underwood, formed The Dominators. They then joined The Satellites before Blackmore moved on to Mike Dee and The Jaywalkers, becoming accomplished technically as a result of rigorous practising. He bought a cherry red Gibson ES335 and took lessons from Big Jim Sullivan, guitarist with The Wilde Cats.

In early 1962 Blackmore joined Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages and at the end of the year he and Underwood joined The Outlaws, working for producer Joe Meek on their own records and as session musicians for three years for artists like Heinz, Tom Jones, Burr Bailey, John Leyton, Glenda Collins, Deke Arlon, Mike Berry, Davy Kaye, Freddie Starr, Gunilla Thorne and many more. The Outlaws also played live for Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent. Blackmore joined Heinz & The Wild Boys in May 1964, cut a solo single in 1965, produced by Derek Lawrence, before returning to Lord Sutch. He then toured Germany and moved to Hamburg.

In late 1965 he formed The Three Musketeers who did just one concert, and then joined Neil Christian's Crusaders for six months before playing in Italy with The Trip, then joining Sutch's latest band The Roman Empire in 1966. Blackmore got a band together at the end of 1967 in Hamburg, called Mandrake Root. It was at this time he was contacted by manager Tony Edwards and returned to the UK to be in at the start of Deep Purple.

Blackmore stayed with Deep Purple from 1968 - 1975 (Mk 1, 2, 3) before starting his own band, Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow. In 1984 Deep Purple reformed with Blackmore (Mk 2, 5) but he quit in 1993. He briefly reformed Rainbow for one album before moving on to acoustic based music with his girlfriend, in Blackmore's Night. Their first album was issued in 1997.

my favorite guitarist

Some people seem as if they were born to be great players. The minute an instrument is thrust into their fledgling hands,they take to it like a second skin, shedding the darkness of ignorance in favor of the light of musical prowess.No so for Ritchie Blackmore. Although he had strong motivation to improve ("When I was eleven I had an acoustic guitar,and my father threatened me with it. He said, ‘If you don’t learn this instrument, I’ll smash it over your head!’"), his firstfew years were a struggle. Classical lessons didn’t help much either. But at 13, he was drawn to the fretting prowess of English artists like Hank Marvin of the Shadows, and Gene Vincent’s guitarist Cliff Gallup. American rockers Duane Eddy, Buddy Holly, and others also caught his ear. Hours spent learning
their guitar parts paid off, and he began to get the hang of it.

The real turning point, though, was his discovery of country pickers: Chet Atkins, Speedy West, Jimmy Bryant and their compatriots impressed young Blackmore with their speed and adept flatpicking techniques. He worked hard to develop the same qualities in his playing, and thus acquired much of the quick picking and double note riffing that characterizes his style to this day.
Although it still wasn’t easy, he worked hard, coming home from school as soon as possible and putting in up to eight hours of practice every day. He even slept with his guitar. "I didn’t know whether it was safer to keep the guitar in the bed or underneath it," Blackmore recalls. "Either way I was afraid I’d break the thing." By the time he reached 16, the devotion to and subsequent mastery of fast, complex riffing led to session work – often sharing studio dates with Jimmy Page – and stints with the theatrical rock group Screaming Lord Sutch. He eventually tired of session work and moved to Hamburg, playing with several bands, and meeting organist Jon Lord and drummer
Ian Paice, with who he would form Deep Purple.

At first the band (which included bassist Nicky Simper) was fronted by lead singer Rod Evans. Their first album, Shades of Deep Purple, gave them a Top Five hit in the US in 1968: "Hush," a Joe South cover; they scored another US hit in 1969 with Neil Diamond’s "Kentucky Woman" from The Book of Taliesyn, released only in the States. Following their third album, Deep Purple, their American label folded and the group made the first of their many personnel changes. After seeing a young Robert Plant singing in a club, Blackmore decided, "We’ve got to have a singer who can compete with this guy," and Evans was replaced by Ian Gillan, while Simper was replaced by bassist Roger Glover. Following 1970’s Concerto for Group and Orchestra, the new lineup began moving away from the more classical organ sound of their early albums and towards a more guitar-driven, aggressive-vocals "metal’ sound, which was evident on their 1970 release, Deep Purple in Rock and 1971’s Fireball, both successful albums. It was 1972’s Machine Head that
earned them their place in rock history, with the enduring hit "Smoke on the Water," as well as "Space Truckin’" and "Highway Star." Who Do We Think We Are in 1973 gave them the hit "Woman From Tokyo," but Gillan and Glover left the band, to be replaced by David Coverdale and Glenn Hughes for 1974’s Burn and Stormbringer.

In 1974, Blackmore left Deep Purple and formed Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow with a New York band called Elf and its lead singer, Ronnie James Dio. Deep Purple endured for another year or so before officially disbanding. For nearly ten years Rainbow was a fairly successful band, especially in the UK, and endured many personnel changes, but in 1983 Blackmore dissolved it to reform Deep Purple with Gillan, Glover, Paice and Lord, and they recorded their comeback album, Perfect Strangers, which went platinum. Blackmore continued with Deep Purple through several more albums, during which Gillan left and returned (replaced by Rainbow’s Joe Lyn Turner in the interim), but Ritchie left the group during the supporting tour for 1992’s The Battle Rages On…, citing displeasure with Gillan’s performance. Following his second departure from Deep Purple, Blackmore reformed Rainbow in 1994, recording and touring with them throughout 1995, 1996 and 1997. In ’96 he began moving in a new direction, without Rainbow. Teaming up with vocalist and lyricist Candice Night, they released the acoustic Renaissance album Shadow of the Moon as Blackmore’s Night, and followed it up in 1999 with Under a Violet Moon and 2001’s Fires at Midnight. Taking a decidedly different turn from the usual rock tour, Blackmore’s Night has instead undertaken "castle tours" of Europe, in which they play special evenings in medieval and Renaissance castles, as well as fairs and smaller venues.

JIMI HENDRIX - The Legend

2006-09-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

In his brief four-year reign as a superstar, Jimi Hendrix expanded the vocabulary of the electric rock guitar more than anyone before or since.

Hendrix was a master at coaxing all manner of unforeseen sonics from his instrument, often with innovative amplification experiments that produced astral-quality feedback and roaring distortion. His frequent hurricane blasts of noise and dazzling showmanship -- he could and would play behind his back and with his teeth and set his guitar on fire -- has sometimes obscured his considerable gifts as a songwriter, singer, and master of a gamut of blues, R&B, and rock styles.

When Hendrix became an international superstar in 1967, it seemed as if he'd dropped out of a Martian spaceship, but in fact he'd served his apprenticeship the long, mundane way in numerous R&B acts on the chitlin circuit. During the early and mid-'60s, he worked with such R&B/soul greats as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis as a backup guitarist. Occasionally he recorded as a session man (the Isley Brothers' 1964 single "Testify" is the only one of these early tracks that offers even a glimpse of his future genius). But the stars didn't appreciate his show-stealing showmanship, and Hendrix was straight-jacketed by sideman roles that didn't allow him to develop as a soloist. The logical step was for Hendrix to go out on his own, which he did in New York in the mid-'60s, playing with various musicians in local clubs, and joining white blues-rock singer John Hammond, Jr.'s band for a while.

It was in a New York club that Hendrix was spotted by Animals bassist Chas Chandler. The first lineup of the Animals was about to split, and Chandler, looking to move into management, convinced Hendrix to move to London and record as a solo act in England. There a group was built around Jimi, also featuring Mitch Mitchell on drums and Noel Redding on bass, that was dubbed the Jimi Hendrix Experience. The trio became stars with astonishing speed in the U.K., where "Hey Joe," "Purple Haze," and "The Wind Cries Mary" all made the Top Ten in the first half of 1967. These tracks were also featured on their debut album, Are You Experienced?, a psychedelic meisterwerk that became a huge hit in the U.S. after Hendrix created a sensation at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967.

Are You Experienced? was an astonishing debut, particularly from a young R&B veteran who had rarely sung, and apparently never written his own material, before the Experience formed. What caught most people's attention at first was his virtuosic guitar playing, which employed an arsenal of devices, including wah-wah pedals, buzzing feedback solos, crunching distorted riffs, and lightning, liquid runs up and down the scales. But Hendrix was also a first-rate songwriter, melding cosmic imagery with some surprisingly pop-savvy hooks and tender sentiments. He was also an excellent blues interpreter and passionate, engaging singer (although his gruff, throaty vocal pipes were not nearly as great assets as his instrumental skills). Are You Experienced? was psychedelia at its most eclectic, synthesizing mod pop, soul, R&B, Dylan, and the electric guitar innovations of British pioneers like Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, and Eric Clapton.

Amazingly, Hendrix would only record three fully conceived studio albums in his lifetime. Axis: Bold as Love and the double-LP Electric Ladyland were more diffuse and experimental than Are You Experienced? On Electric Ladyland in particular, Hendrix pioneered the use of the studio itself as a recording instrument, manipulating electronics and devising overdub techniques (with the help of engineer Eddie Kramer in particular) to plot uncharted sonic territory. Not that these albums were perfect, as impressive as they were; the instrumental breaks could meander, and Hendrix's songwriting was occasionally half-baked, never matching the consistency of Are You Experienced? (although he exercised greater creative control over the later albums).

The final two years of Hendrix's life were turbulent ones musically, financially, and personally. He was embroiled in enough complicated management and record company disputes (some dating from ill-advised contracts he'd signed before the Experience formed) to keep the lawyers busy for years. He disbanded the Experience in 1969, forming the Band of Gypsies with drummer Buddy Miles and bassist Billy Cox to pursue funkier directions. He closed Woodstock with a sprawling, shaky set, redeemed by his famous machine-gun interpretation of "The Star Spangled Banner." The rhythm section of Mitchell and Redding were underrated keys to Jimi's best work, and the Band of Gypsies ultimately couldn't measure up to the same standard, although Hendrix did record an erratic live album with them. In early 1970, the Experience re-formed again -- and disbanded again shortly afterward. At the same time, Hendrix felt torn in many directions by various fellow musicians, record-company expectations, and management pressures, all of whom had their own ideas of what Hendrix should be doing. Coming up on two years after Electric Ladyland, a new studio album had yet to appear, although Hendrix was recording constantly during the period.

While outside parties did contribute to bogging down Hendrix's studio work, it also seems likely that Jimi himself was partly responsible for the stalemate, unable to form a permanent lineup of musicians, unable to decide what musical direction to pursue, unable to bring himself to complete another album despite jamming endlessly. A few months into 1970, Mitchell -- Hendrix's most valuable musical collaborator -- came back into the fold, replacing Miles in the drum chair, although Cox stayed in place. It was this trio that toured the world during Hendrix's final months.

It's extremely difficult to separate the facts of Hendrix's life from rumors and speculation. Everyone who knew him well, or claimed to know him well, has different versions of his state of mind in 1970. Critics have variously mused that he was going to go into jazz, that he was going to get deeper into the blues, that he was going to continue doing what he was doing, or that he was too confused to know what he was doing at all. The same confusion holds true for his death: contradictory versions of his final days have been given by his closest acquaintances of the time. He'd been working intermittently on a new album, tentatively titled First Ray of the New Rising Sun, when he died in London on September 18, 1970, from drug-related complications.

Hendrix recorded a massive amount of unreleased studio material during his lifetime. Much of this (as well as entire live concerts) was issued posthumously; several of the live concerts were excellent, but the studio tapes have been the focus of enormous controversy for over 20 years. These initially came out in haphazard drabs and drubs (the first, The Cry of Love, was easily the most outstanding of the lot). In the mid-'70s, producer Alan Douglas took control of these projects, posthumously overdubbing many of Hendrix's tapes with additional parts by studio musicians. In the eyes of many Hendrix fans, this was sacrilege, destroying the integrity of the work of a musician known to exercise meticulous care over the final production of his studio recordings. Even as late as 1995, Douglas was having ex-Knack drummer Bruce Gary record new parts for the typically misbegotten compilation Voodoo Soup. After a lengthy legal dispute, the rights to Hendrix's estate, including all of his recordings, returned to Al Hendrix, the guitarist's father, in July of 1995.

With the help of Jimi's step-sister Janie, Al set up Experience Hendrix to begin to get Jimi's legacy in order. They began by hiring John McDermott and Jimi's original engineer, Eddie Kramer to oversee the remastering process. They were able to find all the original master tapes, which had never been used for previous CD releases, and in April of 1997, Hendrix's first three albums were reissued with drastically improved sound. Accompanying those reissues was a posthumous compilation album (based on Jimi's handwritten track listings) called First Rays of the New Rising Sun, made up of tracks from the Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge and War Heroes.

Later in 1997, another compilation called South Saturn Delta showed up, collecting more tracks from posthumous LPs like Crash Landing, War Heroes, and Rainbow Bridge (without the terrible '70s overdubs), along with a handful of never-before-heard material that Chas Chandler had withheld from Alan Douglas for all those years.

More archival material followed; Radio One was basically expanded to the two-disc BBC Sessions (released in 1998), and 1999 saw the release of the full show from Woodstock as well as additional concert recordings from the Band of Gypsies shows entitled Live at the Fillmore East. 2000 saw the release of the Jimi Hendrix Experience four-disc box set, which compiled remaining tracks from In the West, Crash Landing and Rainbow Bridge along with more rarities and alternates from the Chandler cache.

The family also launched Dagger Records, essentially an authorized bootleg label to supply harcore Hendrix fans with material that would be of limited commercial appeal. Dagger Records has released several live concerts (of shows in Oakland, Ottawa and Clark University in Massachusetts) and a collection of studio jams and demos called Morning Symphony Ideas. ~ Richie Unterberger & Sean Westergaard

my favorite guitarist....the legend

JIMMY PAGE

2006-08-31T00:54:00.000-07:00

James Patrick Page, known as Jimmy Page, (born January 9,1944) is one of the most influential guitarists in rock and roll. He was the founding member for the band Led Zeppelin and, prior to that, a member of The Yardbirds from late 1966 through 1968. Page was born in the north London suburb of Heston, Middlesex-Britain. His father was an industrial personnel manager and his mother a doctor's secretary. Jimmy Page is often thought of as a quintessential rock guitar hero, being in the same class of talent as peers such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and the late Jimi Hendrix . Page and Beck, who grew up near each other in England and both spent time as guitarists for the Yardbirds, were among the first guitarists to help popularize the use of electronic feedback and distortion with the Roger Mayer fuzzbox. Jimmy Page began learning guitar when he was 12. His early influences were rockabilly guitarists Scotty Moore and James Burton, who both played on recordings made by Elvis Presley, and Johnny Day who played guitar for The Everly Brothers. The Presley song "Baby Let's Play House" was an early favourite on his first electric guitar, a second hand1949 Gibson Les Paul. Page's musical tastes however also encompassed acoustic folk playing particularly that of Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, and the blues sounds of Elmore James and B.B.King. At the age of 14, Page appeared on ITV's Search For Stars talent quest programme.

After graduating from school with an initial aim to work as a lab assistant, Page’s love of the guitar saw him switch to playing for Beat poet Royston Ellis before joining his first band, Red E Lewis and The Red Caps. Page was then asked by Neil Christian to join his band, The Crusaders, which gave him his first taste of touring life and an appearance on a November 1962 single, "The Road to Love". Living from out of the back of a van and intermittent wages however, led Page to take up a totally different focus in painting at Sutton Art College in Surrey. While still a student, Page would often jam on stage at the Marquee with bands such as the Cyril Davis All Stars, Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and with guitarists Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton. He was spotted one night by John Gibb of The Silhouettes, who asked him to help record a number of singles for EMI, "The Worrying Kind" and "Bald Headed Woman". It wasn't until an offer from Mike Leander from Decca Records that Page was to receive regular studio work. His first session for the label was the recording "Diamonds" by Jet Harris & Tony Meehan which went to Number 1 on the singles chart in 1963. After brief stints with the band Mickey Finn, and Carter Lewis and The Southerners, Page committed himself to full-time session work. His studio output in 1963 included Brian Pool & The Tremeloes' "Twist and Shout", Heinz's "Just Like Eddie" and in 1964, The Rolling Stones "Heart of Stone", Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By", The Nashville Teens' "Tobacco Road", Dave Berry's "The Crying Game", and Lulu's hit "Shout". Under the auspices of producer Shel Talmy, Page recorded The Kinks "You Really Got Me" (1964) (although there is a dispute on whether Page or Dave Davies played lead]), the guitar part on Them's "Baby Please Don’t Go" (1965), and recorded a lead guitar part on The Who's first single "I Can't Explain", although there is disagreement over whether or not it was used. In 1965 Page was hired by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham to act as house producer for the newly formed Immediate Records label, which also allowed him to play on tracks by John Mayall, Nico, and Eric Clapton. Page also formed a brief songwriting partnership with then girlfriend, Jackie DeShannon. It is estimated that Jimmy Page appeared on 60% of rock music recorded in England between 1963 and 1966. After being invited to replace Eric Clapton in The Yardbirds on March 20, 1965, Page instead turned down the offer and suggested his friend Jeff Beck. On May 16, 1966, drummer Keith Moon, bass player John Paul Jones, keyboardist Nicky Hopkins, Jeff Beck and Page recorded "Beck's Bolero" in London's IBC Studios. The experience gave Page an idea to form a band with John Entwistle on bass (instead of Jones), however the lack of a quality vocalist and contractual problems sent the project down like a "lead zeppelin". Within weeks Page was again offered to join The Yardbirds and at first played bass guitar with the group after the departure of Paul Samwell-Smith, before finally switching to twin lead guitar with Beck when Chris Dreja moved to bass. The musical potential of the line-up however was scuttled by personality differences caused by constant touring and a lack of commercial success. Despite the departure of Keith Relf and Jim McCarty in 1968, Page wished to continue the group with a new line-up. The New Yardbirds eventually evolved into Led Zeppelin. Page's past experiences both in the studio and with The Yardbirds was critical in the success of Led Zeppelin in the 1970s. As a producer, composer and guitarist for the band, he was one of the major driving forces behind the rock sound of that era, with his trademark Gibson Les Paul guitar and Marshall amplification. His use of distorted fuzz guitar ("Whole Lotta Love"), slide guitar ("Tangerine", "In My Time of Dying"), eastern scales ("Black Mountain Side", "Kashmir"), acoustic guitar ("Gallows Pole", "Bron-Yr-Aur") and recording techniques made Led Zeppelin a prototype for all future rock bands. Page also put to use his bowed playing technique he developed during his session days, and experimented with feedback devices and a theremin. After Led Zeppelin broke up in 1980, Page attempted to form a supergroup with ex-Yes members to be called XYZ however it came to naught. In 1982, he was commissioned by director Michael Winner to record the soundtrack to the film Death Wish II. Page made a successful return to stage with the ARMS Charity series of concerts in 1983 which honoured Small Faces bass player Ronnie Lane. Page then linked up with Roy Harper for an album and tour. In 1984, Page recorded with Robert Plant in the guise of The Honeydrippers. Various other projects soon followed such as The Firm, with Paul Rodgers, session work for Graham Nash, Box of Frogs, and Robert Plant, a solo album Outrider, a collaboration with David Coverdale in Coverdale Page, and a live album with The Black Crowes. He also reunited with Robert Plant to do two albums and successful tours in 1995 and 1998. They did an MTV UnLedded special showcasing their album No Quarter, a compilation featuring restyled Led Zeppelin songs. Page has been one member of Led Zeppelin that has always left open the option for a group reunion. Since 1990, Jimmy Page has been instrumental in remastering the entire Led Zeppelin back catalogue and is currently involved in various charity concerts and charity work particularly the Action for Brazil's Children Trust (ABC Trust), founded by his wife Jimena Gomez-Paratcha in 1998. His daughter, Scarlet Page, is a respected photographer. Jimmy Page's first solo recording was a single for Fontana Records in 1965 which featured "She Just Satisfies". The B-side was "Keep Movin'".

my favourite guitarist

Marty Friedman - Dragon's Kiss

2006-08-29T23:59:00.001-07:00

Marty Friedman has sold over 10 million albums with the multi-platinum band Megadeth. He has also a dedicated following for his own solo albums which stylistically range from orchestral soundtrack style music to furious aggressive rock, with the common thread being Marty`s unique and tasty sense of melody. His latest album is called `Music For Speeding` and it marks his solo debut with the heavy hitting major label Universal Japan as well as Steve Vai`s Favored Nations label in the US. Marty has toured the world several times over very successfully withMegadeth. Along with touring, he is in high demand to do music/guitar seminars and clinics all over the U.S., Asia, Europe and South America, which he has done hundreds to date. Marty is also a regular columnist for Guitar World magazine, Young Guitar magazine (Japan) and Burrn Magazine in which he writes a column in Japanese, a reader favorite. Marty has designed his own signature model guitar with Jackson Guitars (the KE-1) that has been selling consistently since it was put on the market. He has just begun an endorsement relationship with Ibanez. His new 'Marty Friedman model' guitar will make its world debut in Oct '05 at the Tokyo Music Show. Along with doing his solo performances around the world, Marty is currently touring and recording with Japanese mega-star Aikawa Nanase.

Before joining Megadeth in Feb.1990, Marty was in a band called Cacophony, which released 2 albums (among their indie label's highest selling) and toured the U.S. and Japan. This band highlighted the potent guitar playing of Marty and fellow guitarist Jason Becker (who was to join David Lee Roth's band and record an album with him in 1990). Marty has received extremely high acclaim and many awards around the world for his unmistakably `Marty-esque` way of playing the guitar.

Marty is from Washington D.C. originally but has lived in many places including Hawaii, Germany and California, giving him an odd and interesting approach to making his music. He currently resides in Tokyo

Marty speaks Japanese well and when in Japan, does all of his TV and radio interviews in fluent Japanese.

In September, 2000 he hosted a documentary about the Kiss farewell tour on NHK, (a major Japanese network similar to America's PBS) .

The first major concert Marty did was with his group,' Hawaii' at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu,HI. supporting Deep Purple.

Marty has around 25 guitars in his collection, the majority of them being variations of his signature series (Jackson KE-1 Marty Friedman model) guitar.

Prior to joining Megadeth, Marty produced a handful of albums for indie labels, some of which to lead to major label releases. He has also produced or co-produced all of his solo albums.

In his spare time on the road, Marty likes to give music seminars or sit in and jam with the local bands at clubs around the country.

When at home off the road, he often plays the national anthem at Phoenix hockey games.

A major Elvis fan, Marty has collected Elvis stuff since elementary school.

In 2001 Marty played all the lead guitar on "Explorers Club 2" with Terry Bozzio

Marty played lead guitar as a guest on the major label debut (indie debut sold double platinum) of "Mr. Orange", a wildly popular band in Japan.

Besides the arduous task of creating `Music For Speeding` Marty has laid down tracks for ESPN, a NYC charity album, as well as 2 tribute albums to his pal Jason Becker.

2003-

Marty put together a stellar band for his US tour to promote his solo album, "Music For Speeding".

Arranged 3 songs and played guitar for Sera Masanori's "Twist Songs" album released on Columbia Records on 9/25.
Marty also performed with Sera at the Festival Hall in Osaka as well as the legendary Budokan in Tokyo on 10/8.

Marty appeared on NHK with Sera and Ayumi Hamasaki's guitarist Yoshio Nomura.

Fuji Television will broadcast Marty and Sera on 10/12 on the prime time program "Mina ga utaeru super hit" "Super Hits everyone can sing"

Performed 2 songs from his solo album live for nationwide broadcast on Sky Perfect TV's "Party Dude!" program.

2 page spread and interview in Sony UV magazine. (issue 94 released 9/25)

Constant coverage in Young Guitar, Player and Guitar from Japan as well as Guitar World and Guitar Player from the US.

Marty recorded with Aikawa Nanase on her upcoming single, "Ai no Uta"

A popular Nissan Commercial for the new X-trail was recorded by Marty in Tokyo.

Marty also did guest guitar work on a track for Avex band "03" for an album saluting the legendary Gedo which will be released on Sony.

After over 1000 shows worldwide Marty finally played at Budokan on Oct. 8th!

Marty has inked an endorsement deal with Ibanez guitars who in turn are sending him around the world to play their guitars and promote his album, "Music for Speeding". Ibanez is launching an ad campaign in the US featuring Marty and his new "SZ" guitar.

An attendance record breaking guitar clinic/mini-live promotional tour of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong took place in October. Winter '03/'04 had similar events in Thailand, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Brazil bringing in bigger attendance than during his tenure in Megadeth.

Marty apprears on Fuji TV's "Music Fair" on 11/22.

Aikawa Nanase's New Year's concert at Nagashima brings in 30,000 in attendance.

Marty records Aikawa Nanase's single "Ai No Uta" which charted on Japan's Oricon chart. It was Marty's first recording on a J-pop single.

Intent on making his mark on the Japanese music world, Marty has spent much of 2003 being involved in extensive music work in Japan, from guitar playing to producing, songwriting, arranging and live concerts, all leading towards some very special music from Marty in 2004.

In 2004 Marty did Aikawa Nanase's two major tours, "THE GIG '04" (which featured guest superstar Yumi from "Puffy" and the "LIVE EMOTION '04" tour which spawned a hit live DVD filmed in Kobe, Japan.

Marty also inked an endorsement deal with Ovation Acoustic Guitars. He debuted these guitars at the Aikawa Nanase unplugged concert in November. (to be released on dvd in '05)

Marty also released "99 Secret Lead Guitar Phrases", which critics have called 'possibly the most useful instructional DVD ever made'.

Along with lots of radio, TV and magazine work, Marty did many solo concerts as well as more shows with Japanese household name singer/actor Sera Masanori.

2005 has Marty's new song "Street Demon" to be released on Avex in March, music for Sony Playstation's hit game Formula One 2005, lots of TV appearances, radio, live concerts and a long awaited new solo album and tour.

my favorite guitarist

ERIC CLAPTON - BIOGRAPHY

2006-08-29T01:15:00.000-07:00

Eric Patrick Clapton was born on March 30, 1945, in his grandparent's house at 1, The Green, Ripley, Surrey, England. He was the illegitimate son of Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Fryer, a Canadian soldier stationed in England. After W.W.II Fryer returned to his wife in Canada, Patricia left Eric in the custody of his grandparents, Rose and Jack Clapp. (The surname Clapton is from Rose's first husband, Reginald Cecil Clapton.) Patricia moved to Germany where she eventually married another Canadian soldier, Frank McDonald.

Young Ricky (that's what his grandparent's called him) was a quiet and polite child, an above average student with an aptitude for art. He was raised believing that his grandparents were his parents and his mother was his sister, to shield him the stigma that illegitimacy carried with it. The truth was eventually revealed to him, at the age of nine by his grandmother. Later, when Eric would visit his mother, they would still pretend to be brother and sister.

As an adolescent, Clapton glimpsed the future when he tuned in to a Jerry Lee Lewis appearance on British television. Lewis's explosive performance, coupled with young Eric's emerging love of the blues and American R&B, was powerful enough to ignite a desire to learn to play guitar. He commenced studies at the Kingston College of Art, but his intended career path in stained-glass design ended permanently when the blues-obsessed Clapton was expelled at seventeen for playing guitar in class. He took a job as a manual laborer and spent most of his free time playing the electric guitar he persuaded his grandparents to purchase for him. In time, Clapton joined a number of British blues bands, including the Roosters and Casey Jones, and eventually rose to prominence as a member of the Yardbirds, whose lineup would eventually include all three British guitar heroes of the sixties: Clapton, Jimmy Page, and Jeff Beck. The group became a sensation for their blues-tinged rock, as did the budding guitar virtuoso Clapton,
who earned the nickname "Slowhand" because his forceful string-bending often resulted in broken guitar strings, which he would replace onstage while the crowd engaged in a slow hand-clapping.

Despite the popularity of the band's first two albums, Five Live Yardbirds and For Your Love, Clapton left in 1965, because he felt the band was veering away from its bluesy bent in favor of a more commercially viable pop focus. He joined John Mayell's Bluesbreakers almost immediately, and in the ferment of that band's purist blues sensibilities, his talent blossomed at an accelerated rate--he quickly became the defining musical force of the group. "Clapton is God" was the hue and cry of a fanatic following that propelled the band's Bluesbreakers album to No. 6 on the English pop charts. Clapton parted company with the Bluesbreakers in mid-1966 to form his own band, Cream, with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. With this lineup, Clapton sought "to start a revolution in musical thought . . . to change the world, to upset people, and to shock them." His vision was more than met as Cream quickly became the preeminent rock trio of the late sixties. On the strength of their first three albums (Fresh Cre
am, Disraeli Gears, and Wheels of Fire) and extensive touring, the band achieved a level of international fame approaching that of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles, and Clapton became even more almighty in the minds of his fans. In fact, the "Clapton is God" gospel contributed largely to Cream's disintegration--the band had always been a three-headed beast of warring egos, and their intense chemistry, exacerbated by the drug abuse of all three, inevitably led to a farewell tour in 1968 and the release of the Goodbye album in 1969. Early in 1969, Clapton united with Baker, bassist Rick Grech, and Traffic's Steve Winwood to record one album as Blind Faith, rock's first "supergroup." In support of their self-titled album, Blind Faith commenced a sold-out, twenty-four-city American tour, the stress of which resulted in the demise of the band less than a year after its inception.

Clapton kept busy for a time as an occasional guest player with Delaney & Bonnie, the husband-and-wife team that had been Blind Faith's opening act during their tour. A disappointing live album from that collaboration was released in 1970, as was Clapton's self-titled solo debut. That album featured three other musicians--bassist Carl Radle, keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, and drummer Jim Gordon--from Delaney's band, and yielded a modest pop hit with Clapton's version of J.J. Cale's "After Midnight." The collective proceeded to baptize themselves Derek and the Dominos, and commenced recording Clapton's landmark double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, with the added contribution of slide guitarist Duane Allman. An anguished lament of unrequited love, "Layla" was inspired by a difficult love triangle between Clapton, his close friend George Harrison, and Harrison's wife Pattie (she and Clapton eventually married in 1979 and divorced in 1988). Unfortunately, personal struggles and career pressure on the gu
itarist led to a major heroin addiction. Derek and the Dominos crumbled during the course of an American tour and an aborted attempt to record a second album.

Clapton withdrew from the spotlight in the early seventies, wallowing in his addiction and then struggling to conquer it. Following the advice of the Who's Pete Townsend, he underwent a controversial but effective electro-acupuncture treatment and was fully rehabilitated. He rebounded creatively with a role in the film version of Townsend's rock opera, Tommy, and with a string of albums, including the reggae-influenced 461 Ocean Boulevard, which yielded a chart-topping single cover of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff." Some critics and fans were disappointed by Clapton's post-rehab efforts, feeling that he had abandoned his former guitar-heavy approach in favor of a more laid-back and vocal-conscious one.

Just One Night, Clapton's galvanizing 1980 live album, reminded devotees just exactly who their guitar hero was, but unfortunately, this period marked Clapton's critical slide into a serious drinking problem that eventually hospitalized him for a time in 1981. He experienced a creative resurgence after reining in his alcoholism, releasing a string of consistently successful albums--Another Ticket (1981), Money and Cigarettes (1983), Behind the Sun (1985), August (1986), Journeyman (1989)--and turning his personal life around. Though some say Clapton never regained the musical heights of his heroin days, his legend nevertheless continued to grow. That he was a paragon of rock became more than apparent when Polygram released a rich four-CD retrospective of his career, Crossroads, in 1988; the set scored Grammy awards for Best Historical Album and Best Liner Notes.

In late 1990, the fates delivered Clapton a terrible blow when guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton road crew members Colin Smythe and Nigel Browne--all close friends of Clapton's--were killed in a helicopter crash. A few months later, he was dealt another cruel blow when Conor, his son by Italian model Lori Del Santo, fell forty-nine stories from Del Santo's Manhattan high-rise apartment to his death. Clapton channeled his shattering grief into writing the heart-wrenching 1992 Grammy-winning tribute to his son, "Tears in Heaven." (Clapton received a total of six Grammys that year for the single and for the album Unplugged.)

In 1994, he began once again to play traditional blues; the album, From the Cradle, marked a return to raw blues standards, and it hit with critics and fans. The fifty-one-year-old Clapton shows no signs of slowing down: in February of 1997 he picked up Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Grammys for "Change the World," from the soundtrack of the John Travolta movie Phenomenon.

Already a double inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Yardbirds and Cream, a third nod as a solo artist is an inevitable honor for the legendary guitarist. Until Clapton springs his next album on a waiting world, fans can content themselves with his latest side project, TDF. The band's techno-pedigreed 1997 release, Retail Therapy, represents a marked musical departure from Clapton's blues-rock roots, and he appears on the album with the correspondingly off-the-wall pseudonym "X-Sample."

Next came the acclaimed Pilgrim, which captured the Grammy nomination for Best Pop Album in ‘98. In 1999 he won a Grammy for his performance on “The Calling” from Santana’s Supernatural. Clapton revisited the blues with friend and musical legend BB King in 2000’s Riding With The King, garnering the artist more platinum and a Grammy nomination in a career full of chartbusters and precious metal.

The only triple inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of both The Yardbirds and Cream and as a solo artist), Eric Clapton continues to astonish and delight a vast spectrum of music lovers. It’s a legacy that continues with the release of Reptile, the latest journey in the lifelong musical odyssey of an authentic musical genius.

Favorite Guitarist popular guitarist

EDDIE VAN HALEN

2006-08-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

With their 1978 eponymous debut, Van Halen simultaneously rewrote the rules of rock guitar and hard rock in general. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen redefined what electric guitar could do, developing a blindingly fast technique with a variety of self-taught two-handed tapping, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and effects that mimicked the sounds of machines and animals. It was wildly inventive and over the top, equaled only by vocalist David Lee Roth, who brought the role of a metal singer to near-performance art standards. Roth wasn't blessed with great technique, unlike Eddie, but he had a flair for showmanship that was derived as much from lounge performers as Robert Plant. Together, they made Van Halen into the most popular American rock & roll band of the late '70s and early '80s, and in the process set the template for hard rock and heavy metal for the '80s.

Throughout the '80s, it was impossible not to hear Van Halen's instrumental technique on records that ranged from the heaviest metal to soft pop. Furthermore, Roth's irony-drenched antics were copied by singers who took everything literally. One of these was Sammy Hagar, an arena rock veteran from the '70s who replaced Roth after the vocalist had a falling out with Van Halen in 1985. Hagar stayed with the band longer than Roth, helping the group top the charts through the late '80s and early '90s. However, the group's sales began to slide in the mid-'90s, just as tensions between Hagar and Eddie began to arise. In one of the most disastrous publicity stunts in rock history, Hagar was fired (or quit) and Roth was brought back on, seemingly as a permanent member, but only for two songs on a greatest-hits album. He was subsequently replaced by Gary Cherone, a former member of Extreme.

Through all the upheaval over lead vocalists, Eddie Van Halen and his prodigious talent remained the core of Van Halen. The son of a Dutch bandleader, Eddie and his family moved from the Netherlands to Pasadena, CA, in 1967, when he was 12 years old and his older brother, Alex, was 14. As their father supported the family by playing in wedding bands, Eddie and Alex continued their classical piano training. Soon, both boys were enraptured by rock & roll. Eddie learned how to play drums and Alex took up the guitar, eventually switching instruments. The brothers began a hard rock band called Mammoth and began playing around Pasadena, eventually meeting David Lee Roth. At the time, Roth, who had been raised in a wealthy Californian family, was singing in Redball Jet. Impressed by the Van Halen brothers, he joined forces with the group. Shortly afterward, bassist Michael Anthony, who was singing with Snake, became a member of Mammoth. After discovering that another band had the rights to the name Mammoth, the group decided to call themselves Van Halen in 1974, rejecting the proposed Rat Salade. For the next three years, Van Halen played throughout Pasadena, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles, playing both clubs and hotel bars. The band's repertoire covered everything from pop and rock to disco, but they eventually worked in their own original material. Within a few years, they had become the most popular local band in Los Angeles, and Eddie became well known for his groundbreaking technique. In 1977, Kiss' Gene Simmons financed a demo recording session for Van Halen after seeing them at the Starwood Club. On the strength of Simmons' recommendation, Mo Ostin and Ted Templeman signed Van Halen to Warner Bros., releasing the band's debut the following year. Van Halen became a hit due to strong word of mouth, constant touring, and support from AOR radio. Within three months the album had gone gold, and five months later it went platinum. It would eventually sell over six million copies, thanks to the album rock staples "You Really Got Me," "Jamie's Cryin'," and "Runnin' With the Devil." Van Halen II, released in 1979, continued the band's success, as "Dance the Night Away" became their first Top 20 single. Women and Children First (1980) didn't have any charting singles, but was a success on the album charts, reaching number six. The band supported the album with their first headlining, international arena tour, and the group was quickly on their way to being superstars. Released in 1981, Fair Warning wasn't quite as popular as their previous records, yet it still peaked at number six. Diver Down, released in 1982, was a huge hit, spawning a number 12 cover of Roy Orbison's "(Oh) Pretty Woman" and reaching number three. While all of their previous albums were successful, Van Halen didn't become superstars until 1984, when their album 1984 became an across-the-board smash. Released on New Year's Day, 1984 rocketed to number two on the strength of the number one single "Jump." Like many songs on the album, "Jump" was driven by Eddie's new synthesizer, and while Roth was initially reluctant to use electronics, the expansion of the group's sound was widely praised. Throughout 1984, Van Halen gained steam, as "I'll Wait" and "Panama" became Top 15 singles and "Hot for Teacher" became a radio and MTV staple. Despite the band's breakthrough success, things were not well within the band. During their 1984 tour, each member played separate solo sets and were physically separated on the stage. Roth was unhappy with Eddie's appearance on Michael Jackson's 1983 hit "Beat It," and Van Halen grew tired of the comic antics of Roth. In 1985, Roth released a solo EP, Crazy From the Heat, which spawned hit covers of "California Girls" and "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody." When Roth delayed the recording of Van Halen's follow-up to 1984, he was fired from the band. Most observers were taken by surprise when Van Halen named Sammy Hagar as Roth's replacement. The former lead singer of Montrose, Hagar's solo career had been sporadically successful, highlighted by such arena metal hits as "Three-Lock Box" and "I Can't Drive 55." Though many critics suspected Hagar wouldn't be able to sustain Van Halen's remarkable success, his first album with the band, 1986's 5150, was a huge hit, reaching number one and spawning the hit singles "Why Can't This Be Love," "Dreams," and "Love Walks In." Released in 1988, OU812 was just as successful, earning stronger reviews than its predecessor and generating the hits "When It's Love" and "Finish What You Started." For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge, released in 1991, was another number one hit, partially due to the hit MTV video for "Right Now." Van Halen followed the album with their first live record, the double album Van Halen Live: Right Here, Right Now in 1993. By the spring 1995 release of Balance, tensions between Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar had grown considerably. Eddie Van Halen had recently undergone well-publicized treatment for alcoholism, and Hagar was notorious for his party-hearty ways, even writing a paean to Amsterdam's hash bars with "Amsterdam" on Balance. Furthermore, the band had become subject to criticism that they simply repeated a formula. While Balance was successful, entering the charts at number one and selling two million copies shortly after its release, it stalled quickly afterward. The band wanted to release a greatest-hits collection, but Hagar balked at the idea, escalating tensions even further. Following a skirmish in 1996 over the recording of a song for the Twister soundtrack, Eddie decided to make a change by switching singers. Van Halen began recording new material with Roth without informing Hagar, who went ballistic upon learning of the group's reunion. According to Hagar, Eddie fired him shortly afterward; Van Halen claimed Hagar quit. Roth proceeded to record two new songs for Van Halen's Best Of, Vol. 1, and once the reunion became public, the rock media reacted positively to the news; MTV began airing a welcome back commercial days after the announcement. However, the reunion was not to be. Following an appearance at the MTV Music Awards, Van Halen fired Roth from the band, claiming that he was only on board to record two new songs. Roth said that he was duped into recording the songs, believing that the reunion was permanent. Former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone was announced as the band's new lead singer. Though the resulting Best Of, Vol. 1 was a success, Eddie Van Halen's reputation as a nice guy was tarnished once the entire affair was over. Cherone's long-awaited debut with Van Halen, entitled Van Halen III, was finally released in March of 1998. Although the album debuted high on the charts, crashing in at number three, it quickly slipped down the charts, since the reception to the album from fans, critics, and radio was mixed.

After Van Halen III proved to be the worst-selling album of Van Halen's long and illustrious career (the ensuing world tour was poorly attended as well), Cherone was dismissed from V.H. in 1999. Immediately, rumors began to swirl once more of an impending David Lee Roth/Van Halen reunion. Things were kept completely hush-hush in the V.H. camp until early 2001, when David Lee Roth went public on his website with an update, confirming that he had recorded several new songs with the band (tracks that Roth described as amazing, phenomenal, and astonishing), but hadn't heard back from them since the previous summer. Only a few days after Roth's news, Eddie Van Halen admitted to the public that he was battling cancer, but was told by his doctors that chances were good for a complete recovery. In the summer of 2001, Eddie told MTV News that V.H.'s remaining members had penned a total of three albums worth of new material and that they were still unsure of who their next singer would be. Months later, fans were shocked to hear that the band parted ways with Warner Brothers, their label since 1979. The band blamed the label for promoting younger bands, while also admitting that they had not yet found Cherone's replacement and were no longer considering Roth.

Favourite guitarist, popular guitarist

2006-08-26T01:18:00.000-07:00

KIRK HAMMET - The Biography

Kirk Lee Hammett was born on November 18th 1962 in San Francisco, California. He got his first own guitar at the age of 15, when he would buy a Montgomery Ward Strat copy from a friend for ten dollars and a Kiss album ("Dressed To Kill"). But he only started really playing it after about six months later. During his adolescence, Kirk was very introverted, as he had moved from San Francisco to a suburb, the East Bay. He suffered a lot from the culture shock, and the music he would listen to -Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix or Cream- set him apart from the other kids even more. But playing his favorite songs like "Purple Haze", "Wild Thing" and "Communication Breakdown" on the guitar made him feel closer to the music he was listening to. Together with John Marshall (from "Metal Church" -he replaced James Hetfield a couple of times when James broke his arm and when he had the accident with the pyrotechnics in Montreal in 1992) he would figure out songs and jam on them. The first real good guitar Kirk bought was a blonde Stratocaster with a maple neck, because of Hendrix. After listening to UFO, with Michael Schenker, he bought a black Flying V, which can be heard on the first three or four Metallica albums. By then, he had formed a band called Exodus, and they would play Thin Lizzy, UFO, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden cover songs, but also original ones. From the money they actually got for playing at garden parties or so they had to pay the PA they rented. Exodus opened a couple of shows with Metallica, and Kirk was very impressed by them, and their original sound. When lead guitarist Dave Mustaine got expelled, after a fight with James Hetfield, Kirk was invited to an audition in New York and he joined the band without thinking twice. Actually he found that he was more suited playing with these guys than with the band he himself had formed! In 1982, a few weeks before Metallica recorded their debut album, "Kill 'Em All", Kirk took lessons from Joe Satriani, from whom he also adapted that 12 hours a day playing routine. "Kill 'Em All" would then mark the beginning of an incredible Metalli-era! . In the band, when recording, Kirk used to play only the lead guitar parts ( until "Load") and eventually contribute arrangement ideas. He would compose up to 40 takes for one single solo, recording them on his portable recording machine. Kirk really considers his solos as "songs in the song", and so he would not stop working on them until he is fully satisfied with the result. ( Take for example the "Enter Sandman" solo. It's composed of several takes to give the perfect solo! ) His playing has quite evolved since the early years with "Kill 'Em All". So Kirk admits having overplayed on "...And Justice For All", where he tried to impress everybody and make proof of his virtuosity. But on the "Black Album" and especially on "Load"/ "ReLoad" Kirk dropped some speed in favor of a more bluesy playing style and experimental sounds. His song writing role changed too and he contributed some rhythm guitar work to the last two albums. His influence in the band has considerably grown this last years, as Metallica used to be fairly dominated by the duo Hetfield/Ulrich. But Kirk's charisma has always put him apart and has at least equally contributed to his popularity as his extraordinary guitar playing has. In his private life, Kirk got divorced from his first wife Rebecca (which he married on December 3, 1987) and wed his girlfriend, Lani, on January 31 1998 in Kailua, Hawaii.

Favourite guitarist, popular guitarist

2006-08-24T18:56:00.000-07:00

JOHN PETRUCCI - BIOGRAPHY

John grew up on Long Island, Kings Park to be exact, where he, John Myung & Kevin Moore all attended school together. He started playing guitar at the age of 12 (After a brief fling at age 8 when he noticed his sister got to stay up late for her organ lessons. His little plan didn’t work out being that his guitar lesson was after school, and soon lost interest.) He quickly realized his influences and was determined to reach their level of ability. Some early influences include Yngwie Malmsteen, Randy Rhoads, Iron Maiden, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Yes, Rush etc. As the rise of thrash & metal hit John expanded his influences to include bands like Metallica & Queensryche. Needing more of a technical challenge, his fingers demanded adapting the hammering speed & melodic style of players such as the Steves (Steve Morse & Steve Vai), the Als (Allan Holdsworth & Al DiMeola), Mike Stern, Joe Satriani, Neal Schon & Eddie Van Halen.

His musical education began with a great music theory class he took in high school. Being primarily self taught, he did receive a few lessons when he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he learned jazz composition and harmony. While at Berklee John and John Myung who was also attending, met Mike Portnoy and started a band called Majesty which would later turn into Dream Theater. John has recorded 8 albums with Dream Theater, and has also been involved in several side projects including Liquid Tension Experiment with Tony Levin, Age of Impact and even a Sega Saturn game called Necronomicon. His love for lyric writing combined with his unique composing style of progressive fusion shape the sound of Dream Theater. John lives with his wife, Rena, and 3 children, SamiJo, Reny and Kiara in New York. When he’s not playing guitar he spends most of his time with his wife and children inline skating, biking, working out and watching movies.

Favourite guitarist, popular guitarist

2006-08-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

Eric Johnson Biography

Eric Johnson is on the short list of all-time guitar heroes, but his creative path has taken some interesting twists and turns. He has earned critical and commercial success, a Grammy, accolades from his peers and unabashed devotion from his fans. However, his story as a guitarist, vocalist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer is not a "typical" one. But this three-decade journey has led to his new 2005 Favored Nations studio album 'Bloom.'

'Bloom' features 16 new songs ranging the stylistic gamut, which has always been Johnson's approach on his solo albums. He is one of the precious few musicians to fully succeed artistically and commercially with this philosophy. The rock 'n' roll raveup "Summer Jam" fits comfortably alongside the bright Bob Dylan cover "My Back Pages," the hypnotic "Sea Secret," lyrically provocative "Sad Legacy" and the rollicking country jam "Tribute to Jerry Reed." His already-astonishing gifts as a songwriter and producer, in addition to his jaw-dropping guitar technique, have grown substantially on this album. 'Bloom' will appeal to Johnson's longtime fans while also bringing new ones into the fold.

Johnson is a native of Austin, Texas, which is steeped in blues and country music. But Johnson's music reflects a broader range of influences in addition to blues and country, particularly pop, rock and jazz/fusion. His meticulously-produced albums are almost always equally divided between instrumentals and vocal songs showcasing all of his musical interests.

By the time Johnson had reached his teens, he was making waves on the Austin scene. At 16, he was a member of a band called Mariani and by 21, he was part of Electromagnets, a jazz-rock band with an intense cult following.

He recorded his first album, 'Seven Worlds,' between 1976 and 1978, but it was not released until 1998. Ark 21 issued the album with Johnson's blessing. A previous manager owned the rights to 'Seven Worlds.'

Johnson's burgeoning reputation in the late 1970s and early 1980s led to session work with the likes of Cat Stevens, Carole King and Christopher Cross. In fact, he played on Cross' Grammy-sweeping, self-titled 1980 debut album.

One of the most important breaks of Johnson's career was a 1984 appearance on the PBS television show 'Austin City Limits.' Reportedly, Prince saw Johnson's performance and recommended him to his label, Warner Bros. Records. The Warner subsidiary Reprise Records signed Johnson, and 'Tones' was released in 1986. Prince band members Wendy and Lisa even sang uncredited background vocals. The song "Zap" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental. Johnson had already earned considerable coverage from the guitar magazines at this point, and their chronicling of his career increased rapidly.

Johnson's breakthrough into the mainstream occurred with 1990's Capitol release 'Ah Via Musicom.' The buoyant, cascading instrumental "Cliffs of Dover" enjoyed mountains of radio airplay across multiple formats. The platinum-selling album was nominated for a Grammy and "Cliffs of Dover" itself earned Johnson a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental, topping fellow nominees the Allman Brothers Band, Danny Gatton, Rush and Yes. The smooth, supple instrumental "Trademark" is another highlight. 'Ah Via Musicom' gave Johnson the distinction of over being the first artist to have three instrumentals from one album reach the Top 10 in any format. He spent three years on the road promoting 'Ah Via Musicom' and then toured with B.B. King and contributed to albums by Chet Atkins and Dweezil Zappa.

In 1996, Johnson returned with 'Venus Isle' on Capitol. Notable songs from it include "S.R.V." (a tribute to his friend, fellow Austin native and guitar legend, the late Stevie Ray Vaughan) and "Manhattan." This album illustrated Johnson's growth as a songwriter, producer, vocalist and, perhaps most surprisingly, keyboardist. He promoted the album with the massively successful, first-ever G3 tour, which also featured his friends and fellow guitar virtuosos Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. The live album and VHS home video 'G3 Live in Concert' followed in 1997; the DVD home video reissue came along three years later. The video has been certified platinum.

One of Johnson's favorite side projects, apart from his own albums and guesting on other artists' albums, is the blues trio Alien Love Child. The group's 2000 album 'Live and Beyond' was Johnson's first project for Favored Nations, Vai's label. The song "Rain" was nominated for a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental.

2002 saw the release of 'Souvenir.' This popular collection of 12 previously-unreleased demos, outtakes and live recordings spanning his entire career is available only through www.ericjohnson.com or at his shows.

Johnson went on to surprise his fans, yet again, with a solo acoustic tour in 2004 showcasing his acoustic guitar and piano skills. He was also honored by Martin Guitars with his own signature acoustic model. That summer, he was also invited by Eric Clapton to take part in the Crossroads Guitar Festival.

A perennial favorite at the Austin Music Awards, Johnson and his band members won a variety of awards in March 2005 for the 2004-05 time period. Johnson won Austin Musician of the Year, Best Electric Guitarist and Best Acoustic Guitarist, as well as placing high in male vocalist, keyboardist and songwriting categories. Chris Maresh was named Best Bassist and Tommy Taylor earned Best Drummer honors.

The release of 'Bloom' and the following tour will be the main highlights of 2005 for Johnson, but the year certainly kicked off on a high note. In January, he joined Fender at the NAMM trade show in Anaheim, California, to introduce his own new Fender Signature Series Stratocaster guitar.

Favourite guitarist, popular guitarist

2006-08-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Steve Vai Biography

Along with his one-time teacher Joe Satriani, seven-string wizard Steve Vai set the standard for rock guitar virtuosity in the '80s. Born on June 6, 1960, and raised in Carle Place, NY, Vai became interested in the guitar via such legendary artists as Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Alice Cooper as a teenager, and upon starting high school, took lessons with an older player from his high school, Joe Satriani. Playing in several local bands, Vai quickly picked up on the instrument, and by the age of 18 was attending the renowned Berklee School of Music in Boston. As a student there, Vai transcribed several of Frank Zappa's most technically demanding compositions for guitar, and even sent a copy of one such transcription, "Black Page," to Zappa himself. Zappa was so impressed with the young guitarist that upon meeting him, he invited Vai to join his band.

Subsequently, Vai toured the world with Zappa (giving Vai the nicknames "Stunt Guitarist" and "Little Italian Virtuoso"), and played on such albums as 1981's Tinsel Town Rebellion and You Are What You Is, 1982's Ship Arriving Too Late, 1983's Man From Utopia, plus 1984's Them or Us and Thing Fish, before leaving to set out on his own. First off was a pair of self-financed, recorded, and released solo albums in 1984, Flex-Able and Flex-Able Leftovers, both of which showcased Vai's guitar playing and songwriting talents, yet were still heavily influenced byZappa.

With Van Halen all the rage by the mid-'80s due to their massive hard rock/pop crossover success, Vai replaced Yngwie Malmsteen in a similarly styled outfit called Alcatrazz (which featured former Rainbow vocalist Graham Bonnett), playing on their overlooked 1985 release, Disturbing the Peace. The same year, Vai made a cameo appearance in the movie Crossroads (playing the devil's guitarist and shredding away in a guitar duel with Ralph Macchio) and got an invite from his friend/bass master Billy Sheehan to try out for the guitar spot in singer David Lee Roth's solo band (Roth had just split from Van Halen), and eventually landed the gig. 1986 saw the debut release from Roth and his stellar solo band, Eat 'Em Smile, which went on to become one of the year's top hard rock releases. Both Vai and Sheehan were catapulted to super-stardom due to their instrumental talents, as they took top honors in numerous guitar magazines for years afterwards.

But although the quartet showed great promise, Sheehan jumped ship just after their sophomore album, Skyscraper, was issued in 1988. Although the album was more pop-based than its predecessor, it became another sizeable hit -- with Vai earning a co-producing credit on the album along with Roth. The same year, Vai issued his own line of snazzy guitars, the Jem 777 series, via the Ibanez company. After the ensuing tour with Roth wrapped up in late '88, it was Vai's turn to jump ship. In addition to working on another solo album, he was invited to join up with chart topping pop-metallists Whitesnake, an offer which he accepted. His one and only album with Whitesnake, Slip of the Tongue, was issued in 1989, as was his third solo album overall, Passion Warfare, a year later. The album was based on dreams that Vai experienced as a teenager, as the largely instrumental album became a sizeable hit, earning gold certification and solidifying Vai's standing as one of the top guitarists of the day. It was also around this time that Vai created a seven-string guitar through Ibanez. Although the instrument didn't catch on initially, it would by the mid- to late '90s, when the guitarists in such metal acts as Korn and Limp Bizkit would utilize the instrument to achieve super-low tunings.

After an extended hiatus, Vai formed his first conventional rock band (called...VAI) along with newcomer Devin Townsend on vocals, T.M. Stevens on bass, and Terry Bozzio on drums -- offering their one and only album in 1993, Sex Religion. When the album proved to be a disappointment both critically and commercially, Vai returned back to all-instrumental work with the 1995 EP, Alien Love Secrets. For the remainder of the decade, Vai continued to issue solo releases, including 1996's Fire Garden, 1998's Flex-Able Leftovers (a re-release of his long-out-of-print second solo album, with added tracks), and 1999's The Ultra Zone. It was also during the late '90s that Vai and Satriani reunited for an annual co-headlining tour (with a different third artist added each year), called G3, unleashing a live album, G3: Live in Concert, in 1997.

The early 21st saw a flurry of releases from Vai, including a compilation of instrumentals, The 7th Song: Enchanting Guitar Melodies Archive, in 2000, and a year later, his first full-length live release, Alive in an Ultra World, as well as his mammoth career-encompassing ten-disc box set, The Secret Jewel Box. In 2002, he collected several pieces that he had contributed to films through the years, including the guitar duel from Crossroads and the theme to Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey and put them together in a 40 track collection called The Elusive Light and Sound Vol. 1.

Over the years, Vai has guested on countless albums by other artists, including Gregg Bissonette's self-titled debut and Submarine, Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid, Randy Coven's Funk Me Tender, Al DiMeola's Infinite Desire, Public Image Ltd.'s Album, Joe Jackson's Symphony 1, Billy Sheehan's Compression. He can also be found on such additional Zappa releases as Jazz From Hell, Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar, Guitar, and on several volumes of the on-going You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore series and the live tribute disc, Zappa's Universe. As if his busy schedule wasn't full enough, Vai pursued a life-long interest in the late '90s, when he began harvesting honey among five bee colonies in the backyard of his home.

2006-08-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

Yngwie J Malmsteen - The Neo-Classical King

Yngwie Malmsteen was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on June 30, 1963. The youngest child in a household that included his mother Rigmor, sister Ann Louise, and brother Bjorn, Yngwie originally had no interest in music. However, on September 18, 1970, Yngwie saw a TV special on the death of guitar iconoclast Jimi Hendrix. Seven-year-old Yngwie watched with awe as Hendrix blasted the audience with torrents of feedback and sacrificed his guitar in flames. The day Jimi Hendrix died, the guitar-playing Yngwie was born.

Applying his intense curiosity and tenacity to first an old Mosrite and then a cheap Stratocaster, Yngwie immersed himself in the music of such bands as Deep Purple and spent long hours practicing to learn their songs. His admiration for Ritchie Blackmore's classically influenced playing led him back to the source: Bach, Vivaldi, Beethoven, and Mozart. As Yngwie absorbed the classical structures of the masters, his prodigious style began to take shape. By age 10, he began to focus all his energies into music. His mother and sister, a talented flautist, recognized his unique musical gifts and gave him support and encouragement. His mastery of the instrument progressed rapidly. In his early teens, Yngwie saw a television performance of Russian violinist Gideon Kremer, who performed the highly difficult 24 Caprices of 19th century virtuoso violinist Niccolo Paganini. The effect was profound, and Yngwie understood at last how to combine his love of classical music with his burgeoning guitar skills and onstage charisma.

By age 15, Yngwie's trademark style had begun to emerge. He worked for a time as a luthier in a guitar repair shop, where he encountered a scalloped neck for the first time when a 17th century lute came into the shop. Intrigued, Yngwie scalloped the neck of an old guitar in similar fashion and was impressed enough with the results to try it on his better guitars. The scalloped fret board was somewhat more difficult to play than a normal neck, but his control over the strings was so improved that Yngwie immediately adopted it as a permanent alteration to his equipment.

About this time, Yngwie began playing in a number of bands built around his explosive guitar style, with long instrumental explorations. Around age 18, Yngwie and several friends recorded a demo set of three songs for Swedish CBS, but the cuts were never released. Frustrated, Yngwie began sending demo tapes to record companies and music contacts abroad. One such tape found its way into the hands of Guitar Player contributor and Shrapnel Music founder Mike Varney. Yngwie was invited to record with Shrapnel's new band Steeler--and the rest, as they say, is history.

From Steeler, Yngwie moved on to Alcatrazz, a Rainbow-style band, but it became clear that to fully develop his talents, Yngwie would have to go solo. Yngwie's first solo album, Rising Force (now considered the bible for neoclassical rock) made it to #60 on the Billboard charts, an impressive feat for a mostly instrumental guitar album with no commercial airplay. The album also gained Yngwie a Grammy nomination for best rock instrumental performance. He was voted Best New Talent in several reader's polls, Best Rock Guitarist the year after, and Rising Force became Album of the Year. Rising Force blazed a trail on the concert circuit that established Yngwie as one of rock guitar's brightest new stars and added a new genre to the music lexicon: neoclassical rock.

With his place in guitar history firmly established, Yngwie's neo-classical compositions fueled the ears of fans and the ambitions of aspiring guitarists worldwide for over a decade with such powerhouse classic albums as Marching Out, Trilogy, Odyssey, Live in Leningrad / Trial By Fire (gold-selling concert video of Yngwie’s 1989 sold-out concerts in Moscow and Leningrad), Fire & Ice (which debuted in Japan at #1 and sold over 100,000 copies on the day of its release), The Seventh Sign, Magnum Opus, Inspiration (covering the music of Deep Purple, Rainbow, U.K., Kansas, Scorpions, Rush, and Jimi Hendrix), Facing the Animal, Alchemy, and Attack!!

In 1997, Yngwie proved that he was much more than a rock phenomenon. After months of intensive work, Yngwie produced his first completely classical work, Concerto Suite for Electric Guitar and Orchestra in Eb minor, Op. 1. This groundbreaking album was recorded in Prague with the prestigious Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and famed symphony conductor Yoel Levi. Several years later, in 2001,Yngwie found his first opportunity to perform the critically acclaimed Concerto Suite with the New Japan Philharmonic Orchestra in Tokyo. The DVD/CD/VHS package of this groundbreaking performance became Yngwie's first release of the year in January 2002.

In 2003, Yngwie joined the famous "G3" Tour in a lineup many guitar fans saw as the ultimate dream combination (Satriani, Vai, Malmsteen). The CD and DVD of the tour became instant classics and hot sellers throughout the year. Once the G3 tour ended, Yngwie took to the road again in support of his Attack album.

Taking most of 2004 to rest, recharge his creative batteries, and work in his studio at his leisure, Yngwie produced a highly acclaimed new album titled Unleash the Fury. Featuring some of his most impressive playing and songwriting in years, the album garnered rave reviews from fans and critics alike. Virtuosityone.com, a popular Internet hard rock music review site proclaimed, "Yngwie Malmsteen, the Neo-Classical king is back to Unleash The Fury with another bag of alchemy fuelled compositions... Overall Unleash The Fury is a welcome return to form from ... to deliver the goods." Reviewers on Amazon.com and CD Universe gave the new album 5-star ratings, with consumers proclaiming "Yngwie is the original, don't settle for cheap imitations!" and "it's a great year for shredders!"

In the summer of 2005, the Unleash the Fury World Tour kicked off in Ireland and headed across the globe, blazing new trails of glory. Malmsteen and his Rising Force lineup proved they were back with a vengeance by selling out the famed Hammersmith Apollo theatre in London and playing to rapt capacity crowds across the U.K., and garnering legions of new fans from Paris to Vienna to Madrid. Eager fans in The U.S. can look forward to the Unleash the Fury Tour later in the year.

Favourite guitarist, popular guitarist

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2006-08-16T00:43:00.000-07:00

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2006-08-15T23:18:00.000-07:00

Joe Satriani - My guitar hero

Joe Satriani Biography:

Along with teaching some of the top rock guitar players of the '80s and '90s, Joe Satriani is one of the most technically accomplished and widely respected guitarists to emerge in recent times. Born on July 15, 1956, in Westbury, NY, and raised in the nearby town of Carle Place, Satriani -- inspired by guitar legend Jimi Hendrix -- picked up the guitar at the age of 14 (although he was initially more interested in the drums). Quickly learning the instrument, Satriani began teaching guitar to others and found a kindred spirit in one of his students, Steve Vai. By the late '70s, however, Satriani had relocated to Berkeley, CA. With his sights set on his own musical career, "Satch" kept teaching others, including such future rock notables as Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Larry LaLonde (Primus), David Bryson (Counting Crows), and jazz fusion player Charlie Hunter.

In the early '80s, Satriani got a gig playing guitar with power popster Greg Kihn, doing some session work and touring with the group (an archival release recorded around this time, King Biscuit Flower Hour, was later issued in 1996), and issuing his own solo self-titled EP in 1984, financing and releasing the project entirely on his own. But when Vai hit the big time as the guitarist of David Lee Roth's solo band in 1986, he offered praise for his good friend and former teacher in several major guitar publications, leading to widespread interest in Satriani's playing. The timing couldn't have been more perfect for Satch, as he'd just issued his first full-length solo album, Not of this Earth, which automatically made ripples in the rock guitar community.

But the best was still to come, in the form of his sophomore release, 1987's Surfing With the Alien. Almost overnight, Satriani was widely regarded as one of rock's top guitarists, as the album earned gold certification and the guitarist would finish at the top of guitar magazine polls for years afterwards. He was even handpicked by Mick Jagger to accompany the famous singer on a tour of Australia and Japan around this time. A stopgap EP, Dreaming 11, combed both studio and live tracks and was issued a year later, and in 1989, Satriani issued his third solo full-length, Flying in a Blue Dream. Another sizeable hit, the album also marked Satch's debut as a vocalist on several tracks. His career received another big push the same year when his song, "One Big Rush," was included on the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's hit movie, Say Anything.

The '90s began with Satriani creating his own line of guitars for the Ibanez company (the JS Joe Satriani model), but it wasn't until 1992 that he would issue his next solo release, The Extremist. The double-disc set Time Machine followed a year later (a combination of new tracks, live material, and the long out-of-print Joe Satriani EP from 1984), and in 1994, Satch filled in on tour for the departed Ritchie Blackmore for heavy metal pioneers Deep Purple. Although he was asked to become a full-time member, Satriani turned down the offer to return to his solo career.

Satriani issued two more solo albums during the '90s -- 1995's self-titled release and 1998's Crystal Planet, and also started the G3 guitar showcase tour with Steve Vai in 1996, becoming an annual event and issuing a live document of the tour's initial run, G3: Live in Concert, a year later. 2000 saw Satriani issue his most musically daring release yet, the electronic-based Engines of Creation, and a year later, the live disc Live in San Francisco. Engines... was nominated for a Grammy the next year, and after a successful tour he stepped back into the studio. The results, Strange Beautiful Music, were released in 2002. In addition to his own albums, Satriani has guested on several other artists' albums over the years, including Blue Oyster Cult's Imaginos, Alice Cooper's Hey Stoopid, Stuart Hamm's Radio Free Albemuth, Pat Martino's All Sides Now, and Spinal Tap's Break Like the Wind.

2006-08-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Find your favourite guitarist/music player website here~~~~~~

www.satriani.com Joe Satriani official website

http://www.yngwie.org/news/Contents.html Yngwie J Malmsteen Official Website

www.johnpetrucci.com The official homepage for the guitarist, John Petrucci. www.dreamtheater.net Dream Theater official website

www.eddievanhalen.com Unofficial fan site www.van-halen.com Van Halen Official site

www.vai.com The Official Steve Vai website

http://www.ericjohnson.com Official Website Of Eric Johnson

www.martyfriedman.com Marty Friedman official website

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http://kirkhammett.net Kirk Hammett fan site www.metallica.com Metallica official website

http://www.jimmypageonline.com Jimmy Page official website http://www.led-zeppelin.com Led Zeppelin official website

www.jimi-hendrix.com Official Jimi Hendrix website

www.slashonline.com official website of Slash www.snakepit.org SLASH's Official Fan Site

http://www.csun.edu/~igra/rhoads/rhoads.html Randy Rhoad official website

http://www.joewalsh.com Joe Walsh official website
www.eaglesband.com Eagles official website

www.davidgilmour.com David Gilmour official site http://www.pinkfloyd.co.uk pink floyd official website

http://www.stevieray.com Stevie Ray Vaughan Fan Club

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www.brianmay.com The official Brian May website

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www.martinbarre.com Martin Barre of Jethro Tull website

www.cobain.com The Cobain Memorial - A web site dedicated to the life of Kurt Cobain.

www.bbking.com The official B.B.King website

www.neilyoung.com Neil Young official website

www.robbykrieger.com Robby Krieger of www.thedoors.com official website

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www.iommi.com The official Tony Iommi website

www.zappa.com Frank Zappa official website

www.jeffbeck.com Jeff Beck official website

www.tonymacalpine.com Tony Mcalpine official website

www.zakkwylde.com Zakk Wylde site

www.paulgilbert.com Paul Gilbert Official website

http://stevehowe.com Steve Howe official website

www.georgeharrison.com George Harrison official website

http://www.joe-perry.net Joe Perry website

www.petetownshend.co.uk Pete Townshend (The Who) official website

www.nuno-bettencourt.com/Nu.html Nuno Bettencourt website

www.jasonbecker.com The Official Jason Becker Web Site

www.bobdylan.com Bob Dylan official website

www.aldimeola.com The Official Website of Al Di Meola

www.scotthenderson.net Scott Henderson website

www.gary-moore.com The OFFICAL Gary Moore Web Site

www.stevemorse.com Steve Morse official site

http://www.jonnylang.com Jonny Lang website

http://www.johnscofield.com Home page of musician/jazz guitarist John Scofield

www.kennywayneshepherd.net Kenny Wayne Shepherd official website

All About your guitar http://guitar.about.com