Watch AC/DC and Iron Man Trash Rochester Castle

Posted on April 23rd, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

AC/DC recently took on Iron Man in an architectural projection blastaway on the side of Rochester Castle in Kent, UK. This took place on 16 April 2010 and I’m sure you’ll agree, the results are just stunning – the impressive landmark that is Rochester Castle being trashed by AC/DC and Iron Man. The soundtrack to the forthcoming film Iron Man 2 is a compilation of 15 classic AC/DC tracks, including Back in Black, T.N.T. and War Machine. Iron Man 2 is released in UK cinemas on 29 April 2010. Thanks to Classic Rock Mag for this story.

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Guitar: The Movie This Time It’s One Louder Than 11

Posted on April 5th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

I love guitars. And I love movies. And I love movies with guitars in ‘em. So here’s some classic scenes from some of the finest movies with guitars in them. Hey, I know this isn’t the most verbose post in the world, but these guitar movies are (for the most part) ace. Love them.

What are your classic movie guitar moments? (Note, the only reason I didn’t include the Back to the Future Johnny B. Goode scene is because the YouTube vids were either embed-disabled or rubbish). Some of these vids contain plot spoilers (and sweary words) so if you’re considering watching them at some point, beware.

The Karate Kid meets Devil’s henchman, Steve Vai – note: Spoilers (Crossroads (1986))

Tenacious D blows the audience (and theDevil) away with Master Exploder and Beelzeboss (Tenacious D: The Pick Of Destiny (2006))

Duelling Banjos – nuff said (Deliverance(1972))

I too would raise the bridge, file down the nut and take the buzz out of the low E – (Wayne’s World (1992))

It’s one louder… (This is Spinal Tap (1984))

God gave rock and roll to them (Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1988) and Bill And Ted’s Bogus Journey (1992))

The Late Great Jeff Healey (Road House (1989))

Schneebly/Dewey Improvs (School Of Rock (2004))

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Yellow plastic Spinal Tap rock the world but Lego ain’t laughing. Check out the banned video Tap fans…

Posted on August 27th, 2009 GuitarSavvy No comments

I know this isn’t exactly up to date news, but I thought I’d re-post the video anyway as it’s ace!  Spinal Tap band members (Nigel Tufnell, Derek Smalls and David St. Hubbins) in all their yellow plastic glory… and there’s crowd surfing too! It’s a bit of harmless fun and although Lego successfully pushed for a withdrawal of the video, describing it as “inappropriate”… naturally its all over YouTube (see below).  According to this post on Media Monkey on the Guardian website, the video was made back in 2007 by a 14 year old kidnamed Coleman Hickey.  This news although reported by many as “embarrassing” for Spinal Tap, is actually a bit of a publicity booster for them… an excellent new Limited Edition Marshall Amp version of This is Spinal Tap reported previously(featuring a Blu-Ray and DVD version of the amazing spoof rock-doc as well as a miniature working custom Marshall Amp that goes up to 11 and doubles as an iPod speaker) is on the way. 

Thanks to Rock Radio’s Father Ted for the reminder.

Happy birthday Gene Simmons of Kiss. The Kiss bass player and vocalist is a youthful…

Posted on August 26th, 2009 GuitarSavvy No comments

Gene Simmons Rocking his axe... image from Wikipedia

… 60 years old today.  Born on this day in 1949 (Haifa, Israel), Chaim Witz as he was known then, emigrated to the USA (New York City) at 8 years of age), with his mother.  He took the name Eugene (“Gene” for short) Klein then later Gene Simmons.  Simmon’s started the band, Wicked Lester before Paul Stanley (rhythm guitar) and Gene Simmons (bass guitar) moved on following a les than amicable split with the remainder of Wicked Lester.  They joined up with drummer Peter Criss who had placed an advert looking for band members.  Finally, Criss, Simmons and Stanley held auditions for a lead guitarist before the gig finally went to Paul “Ace” Frehley.  The boys became “Kiss” and the rest is history (you can Google it or check Wikipedia if you’re craving granularity). 

So Kiss are still going strong and there’s still talk of a 2009 studio album release.  I’m afraid I haven’t been able to get to the bottom of this, but if I don’t post now, his birthday will be over (Greenwich Mean Time).

As well as music, Simmons has a number of acting roles under his belt.  Check out this trailer for 1986 film Trick or Treat guest starring, among others, Gene Simmons and the legened who is Ozzy Osbourne playing an evangelical preacher no less! (See 0:29)

This is Spinal Tap – new DVD/Blu-Ray collectors version comes with tiny, working Marshall Amp. Check it out…

Posted on August 19th, 2009 GuitarSavvy 1 comment

If you haven’t seen This is Spinal Tap, add it to your list of films to see before you join the parrot and shuffle off yer mortal coil.  If you’re after the definitive version it will be this, the Limited Edition Marshall Amplification pack due for release on September 7 2009…

This Spinal Tap collection has a fully working custom Marshall Amp that goes up to 11 and doubles as an iPod speaker as well as the remastered and restored DVD, the Blu-Ray version and the original This is Spinal Tap soundtrack CD – plus over 5 hours of extras!

A classic from start to finish, two of the most famous (infamous?) scenes are the customized Marshall Amp where “the numbers all go up to 11” and “Stonehenge” (see below)! To set the Stonehenge scene, a small paperwork mixup meant that the stage props for Spinal Tap tour were not quite built to specification. The result? See for yourself…