POP QUIZ, HOTSHOT: Which group has played to more people in North America over the past decade than any other rock act? Most music business observers would likely answer U2 or Metallica, maybe the Stones or the Dave Matthews Band. According to industry trade publication Pollstar, however, the top rock draw in the U.S. during the second decade of the 21st century is a band that tours just seven weeks each year. From every mid-November through late December, though, TransSiberian Orchestra (TSO) perform to approximately a million fans, selling out arenas from coast to coast with a Yuletide-themed show that mixes rock, classical and theater with a state-of-the-art production featuring dazzling lasers, extensive pyrotechnics and a stage that literally transforms before your eyes.
Two-thousand-nineteen marks the 20th anniversary of the group’s first winter tour, and once again, guitarists Chris Caffery and Al Pitrelli will lead the charge. Pitrelli — who has toured with TSO for all but one of the past 20 years — boasts an impressive résumé, as in addition to a brief stint in Megadeth (which caused him to miss TSO’s winter tour in 2000), the Long Island native has toured or recorded with the likes of Alice Cooper, Asia and Blue Oyster Cult. Fellow New Yorker Caffery — who, along with drummer Jeff Plate, is the only musician to take part in every TSO tour over the past two decades — has performed with artists ranging from German metal queen Doro Pesch to Polka king Jimmy Sturr on top of releasing six solo albums. He’s best known, though, for his work with cult favorites Savatage, whose ambitious and theatrical metallic hard rock — think Queen meets Queensrÿche — laid the groundwork for TSO.
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Denne historien er fra January 2020-utgaven av Guitar World.
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Kittie - Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara Mcleod discuss the canadian metal powerhouse's unexpected rebirth — by fire!
Guitarists Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod explain that making new music was “not on their bingo card” when the band regrouped in 2022 for a few festival appearances, preferring to think of the sets as more of a “final lap” than a new beginning. But drilling into old favorites — whether the nu-flavored teenage slams of 1999’s Spit or the more venomously groove-thrashed tunes of their late-’00s period — revealed that despite not having raged together in years, there was something undeniably special about Kittie’s musical connection. “Playing with these girls is like putting on an old pair of pants,” Lander says. “It’s very comfortable — and it looks good too.”
McKinley James - Why all you really need is a guitar, a drummer and some serious low-end six-string skills
Nashville-based blues rocker McKinley James came flying out of the gate in 2022 with his Dan Auerbachproduced EP, Still Standing By. His momentum screeched to a halt, however, when his keyboardist split, leaving only him and his drummer, Jason Smay (who also happens to be his father). “For a moment, I was like, ‘What are we going to do?” James says. “But then I thought, ‘Well, other bands have succeeded as a duo. Maybe we can, too.”
TC Electronic TC 2290P Dynamic Digital Delay
THE MID EIGHTIES was a golden age for digital delay, thanks to the proliferation of pro- and studio-quality rack effects units from Eventide, Korg, Lexicon, Roland and Yamaha.
Danelectro Doubleneck
WHEN I THINK back to the Seventies, the famously coined “Me” decade, it seems the only surefire way you could leave audiences awestruck was to strap on a doubleneck guitar.
CARLOS ALOMAR
The former David Bowie guitarist talks Young Americans, Station to Station and the Berlin Trilogy, plus recording (and co-writing) \"Fame\" with John Lennon
GEORGE TERRY
It turns out Eric Clapton's Seventies guitarist (and co-writer of \"Lay Down Sally\") also played on ABBA's \"Voulez-Vous.\" Below, he looks back on a decade-plus of E.C., Bee Gees, Diana Ross and more
FRANK MARINO
The Mahogany Rush frontman charts the band's Seventies lows and highs, plus SG's, pickups and how he was definitely not visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix
DEWAYNE "BLACKBYRD" MCKNIGHT
The jazz/funk/fusion veteran on his smooth segue from Herbie Hancock sideman to full-on Funkdaledic member -plus his '70s gear and what he learned from Shuggie Otis
PAT TRAVERS
The Canadian-born virtuoso discusses the rise and fall of the Pat Travers Band, witnessing the U.K. punk revolution and the riotous roots of \"Snortin' Whiskey\"
JOE PERRY
The iconic guitarist looks back on Aerosmith in the Seventies, the decade that literally made and temporarily broke apart those Bad Boys from Boston
