CATEGORIES

STONES IMMACULATE

The first Rolling Stones shows in the capital sans Charlie provide the epitaph he deserves. Good tonight: Kris Needs

UNDER THE RADAR

Artists, labels, and magazines meriting more attention

Two-fisted tales from the vault

A Sid Griffin archive revamp is in the offing, and RC asked him and Cherry Red archivist Steve Hammonds to tell us what’s in store

The Collector

This month: music programmer and DJ Miche

NO LAUGHING STOCK

One of the great living Liverpudlians, Michael Head has plenty to smile about. But his has been a bumpy journey, as widely admired albums he’s made first with The Pale Fountains then Shack, under the aegis of The Strands and now The Red Elastic Band, have come either side of addiction-related potholes. Reanimating the latter project in some style at 60, fresh from another withdrawal induced by Covid lockdowns, he tells Pete Paphides how “I got my shit together, got focused” for his latest release, the Top 10 LP, Dear Scott.

THE ENGINE ROOM

The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music

The Meter Is Running Wild

MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST FAREES AND METERS GUITAR LEGEND LEO NOCENTELLI DISCUSS THEIR DEBUT COLLABORATION, “THE MELTING”

STARDUST MEMORIES

Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust producer (and Beatles engineer) KEN SCOTT recalls the making of two of DAVID BOWIE and MARK RONSON’s most iconic albums.

Bartees Strange

THIS D.C. ARTIST’S LATEST ALBUM IS A CONVINCING REMINDER TO REMEMBER WHERE YOU CAME FROM — WHETHER IT’S THE MUSIC YOU WERE RAISED ON OR THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE

Lexi Rose

THIS PROLIFIC POSTER HAS AMASSED 500,000 FANS ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF SOME OF HER IDOLS. AND ALL IT TOOK WAS ONE KINGS OF LEON CONCERT

Charlie Worsham

HOW THIS SESSION SLINGER AND SINGER-SONGWRITER SWITCHES NASHVILLE’S GUITAR SCENE INTO OVERDRIVE

Lindsay Ell

THE COUNTRY-POP STAR GEEKS OUT ON ANALOG GUITAR GEAR

GWAR

PUSTULUS MAXIMUS and BALSAC THE JAWS OF DEATH discuss exactly what you’d expect super-powered outer-space al iens to talk about: old-school vs. new-school gear

PLAY BALL

Sixty years ago, a man named ERNIE BALL forever revolutionized the guitar string industry — and the rest, as they say, is history…

The Badass Ambassador

DAVE MUSTAINE DISCUSSES HIS “BRAND AMBASSADOR” RELATIONSHIP WITH GIBSON — AND LET’S NOT FORGET HIS TWO NEW SIGNATURE FLYING V’S!

LIFE & DEATH

THE STRENGTH. THE COURAGE. THE CRUSHING NEW ALBUM. IN THIS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, MEGADETH MAIN MAN DAVE MUSTAINE WITH AN ASSIST FROM GUITARIST KIKO LOUREIRO TAKES YOU DEEP INSIDE THE SICK, THE DYING... AND THE DEAD!

This Year’s Model

AFTER SERIOUSLY REINING THINGS IN ON THE LATEST OFFERING BY HIS MAIN BAND, FROST*, PROG-ROCK STALWART JOHN MITCHELL BRINGS HIS AX TO THE FORE ON THE NEW LONELY ROBOT ALBUM, A MODEL LIFE

JOHNSON AND JOHNSON

The Texas guitar great has concocted not one, but two albums bursting with new material — plus a few extras. “It feels good to clear out the vaults and to get everything out there…”

Fifteen composers at 30

What were the great composers getting up to as they reached three decades? Jeremy Pound looks at some notable examples

BACKSTAGE WITH… Cellist Guy Johnston

How did you come up with the inspiration for it?

This month: Trish Clowes

‘I respond to what band members are interested in – you develop together’

Order & Progress

Since Brazil gained independence 200 years ago, its composers have enriched both classical and jazz worldwide, as Mervyn Cooke relates

Sheku Kanneh-Mason

Music that changed me

Bodø Norway

Michael Beek joins the inaugural Aria Borealis Bodø, a biennial Early Music festival and singing competition just beyond the Arctic Circle

Benjamin Britten

His music was deeply rooted in the landscapes of Suffolk, but Britten also drew inspiration from well outside Europe

Roger and out

As a leading pioneer of the period performance movement, Roger Norrington has transformed how we hear composers from Bach to Mahler. As he retires, he shares his memories with Julian Haylock

Pentopixels

Communication between musicians and their fans was once time-consuming if more personal. Ariane Todes looks at how social media has changed everything

Billy Howerdel – "It Was a Happy Accident"

Billy Howerdel on his ‘Frankensteined' guitar and his debut solo album

Tash Sultana – "It's Fully Plugged in!”

Tash Sultana is an artist playing by their own rules. A new Unplugged album features plenty of acoustic guitars - but also a Strat, a Tele and a Whammy pedal

The greatest guitar albums of all time - The 60s

Beatlemania inspired millions of kids to pick up guitars. And with the dawn of the rock era and the elevation of the album as an art form, a golden generation of guitar heroes emerged - Clapton, Beck, Page, Santana and Hendrix...