CATEGORIES

10 ALBUMS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

TOP MOST VINTAGE ALBUMS

SUPER TROUPER

JANNE SCHAFFER REMEMBERS BEING IN THE STUDIO AS THE ABBA GUITARIST.

CATCHING UP WITH JOHN OATES

CAROL ANNE SZEL CONTACTS ONE HALF OF THE POP DUO HALL & OATES TO FIND OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW AND WHAT’S IN STORE FOR 2021.

CÜLTÜS REDÜX

BLUE ÖYSTER CULT RETURN WITH THEIR FIRST STUDIO ALBUM OF NEW MUSIC IN NEARLY 20 YEARS.

'80s WEISS GUY

PHOTOGRAPHER MARK WEISS HAS MADE A SUCCESSFUL CAREER TAKING ICONIC IMAGES OF ROCK STARS SUCH AS OZZY OSBOURNE AND JON BON JOVI. HE RECENTLY COMPILED MUCH OF HIS MEMORABLE PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE 1980S INTO A HARDCOVER BOOK CALLED THE DECADE THAT ROCKED.

Elvis Costello – This Year's Model

Elvis Costello is back with his 31st (or so) studio album. But don’t look for any consolation from him.

THE DEAN GENIUS

Metal monsters Destruction return with a new live album. We meet frontman Marcel ‘Schmier’ Schirmer for a chat about the album he recorded by mistake...

PICKUPS EXPLAINED

Dan Veall closes this issue with a guide to those wiry pickup units

THE LAW OF LEE

The Texan trio Khruangbin is unlike almost any other band we know. Jamie Dickson asks bassist Laura Lee to explain...

PEARLS of WISDOM

Jeff Ament of Pearl Jam returns with a solo project, American Death Squad, and advice that applies to all of us.

TOP OF THE LAKE

Matthew Leone of Madina Lake recalls his way into bass

PASS NOTES

Lindsay Manfredi of Cold brings us essential survival advice, for life in general as much as related to bass playing

ICONIC

Jazz maestro Christian McBride looks back at his storied career

I SPY… THREE-NOTE SEQUENCES

Hey there, bass players! Welcome back to our game of ‘I Spy’. Let’s take a moment to recall the rules. In this game, our goal is to refine the most essential tool in our musical arsenal: Our ears. By highlighting a particular theme and attempting to spy it on a record, we’re actively listening for something that lies beneath the surface of the songs that we love. Our goal is to draw attention to it, to call it by its name, and to recognize it in its natural habitat.

FAIR GAME

Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention has been a leading light of the British folk-rock movement for half a century. Sessions with troubadours such as Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, and John Martyn cemented his reputation over the years, with a 15-year stint in Jethro Tull a particular influence on a generation of American bassists. One of these is our guest writer Steve Di Giorgio, currently playing bass with thrash metal heavyweights Testament, who interviewed Pegg for us in an unlikely, but productive, collision of two very different worlds...

BITE Roxanne

Austrian luthiers Bite have a novel approach to bass-building, driven by the customer. We test out the company’s Roxanne P-Bass...

KVELERTAK

ON THE UBER-DYNAMIC SPLID, NORWAY’S FINEST RETURN WITH THEIR THREE-GUITAR ATTACK, A NEW SINGER AND A NON-STOP ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ASSAULT. BJARTE LUND ROLLAND AND VIDAR LANDA TELL ALL!

STEVE HOWE TRACK BY TRACK

THE YES LEGEND UNCOUPLES FROM THE MOTHERSHIP TO DRIFT THROUGH EVER-SHIFTING LANDSCAPES, BOTH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL, ON HIS FIRST SOLO ALBUM IN NINE YEARS

Right-Hand Man

FUNK RHYTHM MASTER CORY WONG GOES DEEP ON GEAR, PLAYING WITH VULFPECK AND THE FEARLESS FLYERS — AND HIS UNDYING FENDER STRAT LOVE

Swan Dive

CATCHING UP WITH DANCE GAVIN DANCE’S WILL SWAN: “I DON’T WANT TO SOUND LIKE LIAM NEESON HERE, BUT I REALLY DO HAVE A SPECIFIC SET OF SKILLS!”

Kathleen Edwards

AFTER A SIX-YEAR BREAK SERVING UP COFFEE, SANDWICHES AND MUFFINS IN ONTARIO, THIS RESILIENT CANADIAN ALT-ROCKER IS BACK WITH A FRESH NEW RELEASE, THE APTLY TITLED TOTAL FREEDOM

DevilDriver

GUITARISTS NEIL TIEMANN AND MIKE SPREITZER DISCUSS THEIR LESS ”SHREDDY” APPROACH TO THEIR NEW DOUBLE ALBUM — AND WHY YOU NEED A 5150 IN YOUR ARSENAL

Jasmine Star

Stevie Ray Vaughan, country, K-Pop, hip-hop – she's soloed over it all on her way to TikTok viraldom

A Steady Diet of Riffing

Ian MacKaye of Fugazi – and now Coriky – talks Hendrix and harnessing what you have

All The Madmen

Fifty years after its release, DAVID BOWIE bassist TONY VISCONTI recounts the making of The Man Who Sold the World — and the rocking influence of guitarist MICK RONSON

STONES SOUP

DAVE THOMPSON LOOKS THROUGH ALL THE INGREDIENTS OF THE ROLLING STONES ALBUM GOATS HEAD SOUP IN ITS REI SSUED BOX SET, AND FINDS EVERY LITTLE SPICE THAT’S IMPORTANT.

THE RIGHT MOULD

ALTERNATIVE ROCKER BOB MOULD RELEASES THE STUDIO ALBUM BLUE HEARTS, A SET CALLED DISTORTION: 19892019 — WHICH CHRONICLES MOULD’S SOLO MUSIC AND HIS WORK WITH THE BAND SUGAR — AND RECORD STORE DAY VINYL WITHIN A MONTH’S TIME.

TRUTH REMIX BOX FOR LENNON'S 80TH

ANNIVERSARY EDITIONS

THE BOOK ON FRAMPTON

PETER FRAMPTON RELEASES AN ENGAGING MEMOIR CHRONICLING HIS PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL HIGHS AND LOWS.

SHE'S GOT IT GOIN' ON

DRUMMER CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA STEPS UP TO THE MICROPHONE ON HER NEW SOLO ALBUM, FEATURING HER FAMOUS HUSBAND AND OTHER BIG-NAME GUITARISTS.