http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/interview_archive Modern Guitars archive of feature length interviews. en-us news@modernguitars.com 2008-04-23T17:10:46-06:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004361.html by Steven Rosen. The year is 1983. Six albums ago (including the one yet to be released), Van Halen, the group, released its first record - Van Halen. It was dramatic, intense and bold. Within the 11 tracks was a feeling of "This is an important statement." It was. The energy, passion and technique of guitarist Edward Van Halen set the band apart from hordes of others, and now with the Pasadena-raised quartet about to release its sixth record, it is obvious that Edward stands as the main catalyst of the electric guitar's ascendancy in the '80s. Still staggering from the effects of the US Festival (1983), Van Halen sits in his home nestled in the Hollywood Hills feeling bitter about the performance. Ultimately, the show will be viewed as one of the grandest rock 'n' roll fests in history, but in the following conversation guitarist Van Halen clears the cobwebs, sheds real light on the concert, and describes the work thus far on the band’s upcoming album. This one will be called 1984... 4361@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-04-23T17:10:46-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004360.html Tim Huffman, co-founder and CEO/President, and his team at iVideosongs are pushing the guitar lesson envelope in a major way. The company has developed a viable web-based formula for teaching all levels of guitar skills and songs to aspiring and working musicians. Although we’ve all seen artist-developed guitar instructional videos, they run the full length of the quality spectrum. Some are very good, but many are amateurish at best and of little value. Huffman brings his own musical background to the game as a 1983 Grammy-nominated recording artist who has played with members of Kansas, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Atlanta Rhythm Section and other known groups. His hard-won business acumen is drawn from 25 years of building his own set list of successful businesses, as well as producing the 1997 award-winning Blues Guitar Explorer instructional video. More » 4360@http://www.modernguitars.com/ News Archive 2008-04-23T17:07:22-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004336.html by Matt Baamonde. Nearly all of today’s blues-rock guitarists are Hendrix influenced to some degree. Few, however, are capable of developing a destinctive, ethereal, almost 'otherworldly' tone combined with the tasteful phrasing that characterizes Robin Trower's body of work. Once considered the heir apparent to Jimi, the ex-Procol Harum, Strat-wielding, English rocker blazed his own path over a long career. Trower has pulled his weight as a band member and on many occasions served as a band leader to plow new territory in the blues-rock fusion genre. Trower's sweeping and lush riffs on such masterful albums as Bridge of Sighs, Twice Removed from Tomorrow, Passion and other world-wide attention-getting albums have offered him a place alongside such luminary guitarists as Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and others who have inspired guitar wannabes to pick up their guitars and play. Robin's signature sound is identifiable and unmistakably his own... 4336@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-04-17T08:29:28-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004331.html by Brian D. Holland. Arlen Roth, known to many as “The Master of the Telecaster,” recently released an album of classic rock songs and a couple of originals, entitled Toolin’ Around Woodstock. Along for the ride were friends Levon Helm, Bill Kirchen, Sonny Landreth, daughters Lexie Roth and Amy Helm, and more. The special edition release includes a bonus DVD of studio views, conversations, and performances, filmed at Levon Helms’ studio in Woodstock, New York. Over the past thirty years, the name Arlen Roth has been associated with global guitar instruction, to the point of overshadowing his status as a prominent touring musician and recording artist. In addition to a long running, prominent column in Guitar Player magazine (known as “Hot Guitar”) and numerous authoritative instructional books, in the late '70s he started one of the most successful guitar instruction enterprises of all time... 4331@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-04-14T03:19:00-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004314.html by Brian D. Holland. Performing alongside the likes of Jimmy Rogers, Jimmy Dawkins and Willie Smith certainly assisted Chicago’s Nick Moss in becoming a genuine Chicago bluesman. However, genuine is genuine, and that level of adeptness doesn’t come easy. Having been fermented and embedded into his soul, the music eventually solidified into an adoring passion that he doesn’t take lightly. Originally a bass player, Nick switched to guitar at the request of Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. The Muddy Waters drummer realized, when their touring guitarist suddenly departed, that it would be much easier to educate a new bass player than a new guitarist, as Nick was quite adept at both anyway. He’s never looked back since, because in due course the six-string instrument grew to be his natural comfort zone for performing... 4314@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-04-10T10:35:22-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004300.html 4300@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-04-05T05:16:13-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004285.html by Geoff Byrd. I met Jed Leiber in Aspen when I was asked to write some songs with John Oates. I didn’t even know there was going to be a third person there. Soon after the session, I understood why John likes to include Jed in the songwriting process. Leiber's an amazing piano player, Julliard trained, with a gift for melody and lyric. When he plays he's in control. Today, after he's finished up a staff meeting at his newly renovated recording studio, NightBird, he sits down at a seven-foot-long Yamaha grand piano and melts into it. He looks like a mad scientist in the throes of a work out. His arms are muscled and his hair wild. I find Jed is self-deprecating and affable. It doesn't take long for me to figure out that... 4285@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-04-01T04:12:14-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004216.html by Brian D. Holland. Anyone familiar with guitarist Laurie Morvan knows she’s a complete performer who takes her music seriously. Following the release of her third CD, Cures What Ails Ya, the stunning California axe slinger has seen the doors of recognition open up to her exhilarating electric blues guitar style. However, this occurrence was far from effortless. Laurie found out the hard way that it often takes time for a female blues guitarist to be taken seriously. Some nightclub doors weren’t open to the idea at first, be it a good idea or not. "I don’t want a girl guitarist. We had one last year," she’d often hear, like she was a mere novelty item. But ultimately, unbiased listeners have come to recognize the true authenticity and devotion in her music and in her guitar playing. Laurie’s fluid licks, incredible tone, and the emotion she exerts in her songs, of which are mostly original, are evidence enough of just how serious she is... 4216@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-02-29T10:05:20-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004115.html by Skip Daly. Daniel Johns, lead vocalist and guitarist for Australia's most popular rock-grunge group, Silverchair, met Ben Gillies (drums) and Chris Joannou (bass) before they were in their teens. By the time they reached 15, the trio made its mark "Down Under" as a major rock group. Today, Silverchair's reputation is global. Silverchair’s entry to rock stardom came early when they were 14 years old and headlined as the Innocent Criminals at local shows. Johns, Gillies and Joannou proved worthy when they won an Australian record demo competition with “Tomorrow” that helped land them a three-album record deal with Sony Music. The song sat at the top of the Australian singles charts for six weeks. The group re-recorded the track for U.S. consumption and it became one of the most played songs on U.S. rock stations during the '90s... 4115@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2008-01-08T05:27:59-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004097.html by Steven Rosen. The weekend had all the earmarks of a lost one. Sleepless nights spent wondering if the next day would produce the promised sitting with guitarist and composer Jimmy Page. There were words of illusory wisdom containing hope but having little to do with reality: “It looks like it’s going to happen tomorrow,” as espoused by Firm manager Phil Carson. But after a delay of two days (a mere trifle really when one considers I waited five days to see him when I interviewed Page in 1977), the meeting took place. Jimmy looked tired but spry. He smiled, exchanged greetings and looked at a photo he and I had taken during our first encounter nearly ten years ago. Remembering that tête-à-tête, his body seemed to relax. Phil Carson had explained Page’s usual aversion to interviews as a reaction to past “hatchet jobs.” As I sat down to talk with Jimmy, I realized that I must have passed some kind of security check. Jimmy’s personal guitar technician, Tim Marten, was always close by. His presence was welcome and a stabilizing influence... 4097@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2007-12-21T11:37:04-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004096.html To guitar lovers, a new book by Tom Wheeler is an important event and his latest, The Soul of Tone - Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps (Hal Leonard), is no exception. But, while the beautifully written and presented 512-page hardbound book is a must-have for every amplifier fan, Fender or otherwise, to many guitarists the inner sanctum of the amp is a bizarre, uninviting landscape that could have sprung from the mind of Tim Burton. Modern Guitars spoke to Tom Wheeler on December 16, 2007, about what makes the Soul of Tone a celebration the not-so-technically inclined electric guitar enthusiast might want to attend. Which is not to say that Soul of Tone's invitation to celebrate wasn't clear from a reading. The book's introduction is one of the best examples of guitar-related writing to be found. Wheeler understands his potential audience: people who love the electric guitar, are interested about how fingers, guitars and amplifiers conspire to produce sound and tone, but who find the technical jargon of amplifier mechanics daunting to say the least. Wheeler's introduction puts the reader's mind at ease. He is one of us. The difference between the author and the uninitiated is that Wheeler has made the pilgrimage to the strange heartland of amplification and returned to tell the tales of the interesting characters encountered and mysteries revealed. Interview » 4096@http://www.modernguitars.com/ News Archive 2007-12-21T09:27:48-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004075.html by Rick Landers. The band’s name was bold. It was massive. Mountain. Some claim it reflected the man standing his ground and hammering chords and a tight riff to the group’s hit “Mississippi Queen.” The name could have as readily been based on the towering stacks of Sunn amps that drove the group in its early days. Whatever the reality, Leslie West, lead guitarist for Mountain, gave the group's sound its high peaks and deep roots. West is a big man. He’s shed his massive girth from the early days, but he's tall and built solid. He has a presence that immediately informs that he’s an individual of consequence, someone to be taken seriously. While other groups were moving in more experimental directions, West planted his guitar riffs deep into the bedrock of rock ‘n’ roll. Listen to the now classic "Mississippi Queen" with its simple I, IV, V chord structure coupled with Leslie’s beast vocal. The song is pure power with the formidable Leslie West dead center... 4075@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2007-12-17T07:06:49-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004057.html John Sayles talks to Modern Guitars about his new movie, Honeydripper, written, directed and edited by the fiercely inde-pendent auteur. Set in the fictional town of Harmony, Alabama, Honeydripper is a warmhearted story about if and how Tyrone "Pinetop" Purvis (Danny Glover) can save his beloved 1950 roadhouse lounge, Pinetop's Honeydripper, from impending financial ruin. Sayles' 16th feature film and the 13th produced by his creative partner, Maggie Renzi, Honeydripper is scheduled for screenings on December 28, 2007, at two theaters in Los Angeles (Laemmle's in Pasadena and West Hollywood) and at the Cinema Village in New York City, with several more dates and locations set for January and February. Broad distribution is expected sometime in 2008. Interview » 4057@http://www.modernguitars.com/ News Archive 2007-12-10T08:26:00-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004053.html by Rick Landers. Louisiana-born Kenny Wayne Shepherd grew up on the blues. From the age of seven he had a guitar in his hands and kept at it until five years later he was on stage with Jump Street Five blues group guitarist Bryan Lee. At 17, Kenny produced his first album, Ledbetter Heights, that sat at the Number 1 spot on Billboard’s chart for five months earning a Gold Certification. The album tracks were both hot and soulful, reflecting a love of rock ‘n’ roll and his deep appreciation for Chicago,Texas and Delta blues. Blazing onto the charts during the 1990s, Kenny was considered a young prodigy with some talk of his filling the boots of the late great Stevie Ray Vaughan. Shepherd would soon enough earn four No. 1 blues album spots and a series of blues-rock hit singles. He gathered up a couple of Billboard Music Awards and later was recognized for his contributions to music in 1998 and 2001 by the Gibson Guitar Corporation when he was presented the prestigious Orville H. Gibson Guitar Award for Best Blues Guitarist... 4053@http://www.modernguitars.com/ Feature Stories 2007-12-07T07:04:58-06:00 http://www.modernguitars.com/archives/004048.html You would be hard pressed to find someone more qualified to tell the Gibson electric guitar story than Walter Carter. The author of several well known and respected books about guitars, Carter has been a keen Gibson observer for over 20 years from a unique perspective - as both a company insider and an outside chronicler of the Gibson story. The Gibson Electric Guitar Book (Backbeat Books) succinctly recounts the Gibson saga from the company's beginning through today. While Carter's previous 308-page book on Gibson, Gibson Guitars: 100 Years of an American Icon, is a must-have reference and enjoyable read, the new 160-page book condenses the Gibson story down to 60 pages of text without sacrificing important detail or behind-the-scenes color. Interview » 4048@http://www.modernguitars.com/ News Archive 2007-12-04T11:03:22-06:00