Weekly Roundup – As I see it.

Posted on August 22nd, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

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So – weekly roundup. It’s nearly 2:30am, and I’m not feeling too compus. Is this really the best time to write this stuff? Here goes, anyway…

Guitar Hero

So Guitar Hero… the game…
The full track list of the latest incarnation of the divisive guitar game is kicking around. “Just cos you’re good at GH, doesn’t make you a guitar player,” some say… others say “GH introduces rock, hard rock and metal music to a bunch of kids who may have never experienced it before.” Anyhoo – I reckon I’m qualified enough to say GH has it’s place in the universe.
Guitar Hero track list is here.

On the plus side, I heard that Soundgarden, newly reunited, will release a new album to some players via the game so wahaay! I consider myself a Soungarden fan but not really a GH fan. I’ll maybe wait for the general release.

Tony Iommi’s Gibson SG

OK – more last week’s news but Some scumbag nicked Tony Iommi’s Gibson SG at a concert by the surviving members of Heaven and Hell played in memory of Ronnie James Dio who died recently after a battle with cancer. Hope someone, somewhere will out the thieving detritus.

Joe Satriani – New Album Imminent

Joe “Satch” Satriani has a new album due out soon. Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards (!) – having some trouble unravelling that particular title choice. Maybe when I hear the songs… or maybe not.

Rock Birthdays

This week saw birthdays for Robert Plant (62) and the late Dimebag Darrell Abbot (44) – any others I missed with my radical apathy (cheers to old mate Pete Bates for that tagline) – sorry – please feel free to update in comments.

Steve Tyler is American Idol judge

Spare me. Nothing much to add. Joe Perry summed up my feelings on this when he helped Steve Tyler take a stage dive earlier this week. As much as I love Tyler, I’d have done the same. As long as he wasn’t hurt this time. I’d hate for Liv and me to fall out

Right I’m declining fast so best get back to this in the cold light of day. This was if I say so myself, one of the slackest, laziest blog posts, I’ve ever written – I fell asleep no less than 4 times during the writing of it. Feel free to abuse in comments. Peace out.

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All quiet on the Guitar Front?

Posted on August 7th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

Sorry folks – it’s been awfully quiet from us for the last wee while. I’ve been in jail. Well not jail exactly… more like purgatory. Well, holidays and the inevitable, horrendous work catch up. And coming back from 35 degree sunshine to the pishy weather in my beloved Glasgow was a bit of a downer. I’m not the only person here but the others seem to be lazy procrastinators. Actually, noone’s heard from Grim for a while – the bottles of cheesy milk are building up on his doorstep, newspapers are blocking the letter box. and there’s a funny smell near his front door. I’m sure he’s fine though. Vim, on the other hand has been busy putting some shred guitar vids together and tabbing them too, so watch out for those coming soon. We’re looking forward to hearing a lot more from Vim very soon.

So while I’ve been inside, the world of guitars and rock and stuff rumbles on. Iron Maiden, Rammstein and friends ripped up Knebworth. Any new Rammstein fans out there? Forgiven them for shortening their set, yet? Motley Crue had some tech problems leading to speculation that several members of the band had in fact, died years ago, were brought onstage Weekend at Bernie’s- style but the tape and several of their strings broke. Nikki Sixx turned things around with the increasingly disgruntled fans by actually acknowledging them – it was all allegedly a bit too much for poor old Mick Mars who took a load off his age-ing pins, playing some of the set on his arse (well, he played while sitting on his arse). Did we get to the bottom of why that was by the way? All joking aside (bad taste) – he’s not a well chap but his playing is still blistering.

Steve Tyler and Joe Perry are at it again… this time over Tyler’s next day job – filling Simon Cowell’s trousers.
Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot was allegedly rather miffed at running out of time during his High Voltage festival slot with new side project Down’n'Outz and may have been involved in a back stage ruckus with some crew and Ian Hunter (Mott the Hoople). The crew in question cut the power… ooh… big mistake.
Fear Factory narrowly avoided being cooked in their tour bus:

Plenty more has happened but I’ve still to get around to reading about it. In the meantime, I have two issues of Total Guitar Magazine waiting for me to open. Happy days.

Happy plucking.

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Ronnie Wood Radio Show guests Slash and Myles Kennedy link here

Posted on June 10th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

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Essential listening:  “Hey that’s awesome, man”… another excellent radio show by Ronnie Wood.  In this edition, Ronnie chews the fat with old pal Slash and his “solo” project touring band frontman Myles Kennedy (Alter Bridge).  And they play some great tracks as well (Slash, the Stones, The Faces, Clapton, AC/DC and more).

Slash hits the Maurice Jones Stage at the Download Festival, Castle Donington on Sunday at 2:55pm.

Thanks to Total Guitar Mag (Facebook Page) for the heads up on this.

If you fancy a wee listen, check out the Ronnie Wood Show in question.

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So how was Record Store Day for you? Lots of unique music releases from some major bands…

Posted on April 18th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

So Record Store Day took place yesterday (Saturday 17 April 2010). Did you support your local independent record store? It seems that this event is gaining a lot of support. I didn’t realise the extent of the support from major artists until today. There were some amazing record collectables to be had from the likes of:

Avenged Sevenfold: Unholy Confessions 12-inch picture disc; 500 copies
Bat for Lashes: How / Wild is the Wind live 7-inch vinyl
Black Sabbath & Metallica: Paranoid (alternative take) / Frantic (Unkle remix) 7-inch picture disc; 1000 copies
Bullet for My Valentine: 7-inch picture disc; 1000 copies
Beatles: Paperback Writer / Rain 7-inch vinyl; 1000 copies
Deftones: Rocket Skates 7-inch vinyl; 1000 copies
Flaming Lips: Dark Side of the Moon LP on 140g coloured vinyl; 500 copies
Hold Steady: Heaven is Whenever pre-release clear vinyl LP with limited-edition screen-print cover; 85 copies
Jimi Hendrix: Valleys of Neptune coloured numbered 7-inch vinyl; 1000 copies
Julian Casablancas: 11th Dimension Live on red 7-inch vinyl; 500 copies
Fucked Up: Daytrotter Session unreleases tracks on 7-inch vinyl; 500 copies
Pavement: Cut Your Hair / Grounded 7-inch vinyl; 500 copies
Pulled Apart by Horses: Live at Leeds hand-stamped 12-inch vinyl with collactable photos; 500 copies
Queens of the Stone Age: Feelgood Hit of the Summer 10-inch picture disc with three extra tracks; 500 copies
Rolling Stones: Plundered My Soul / All Down the Line 7-inch vinyl; 1000 copies
Sick of It All: Self-titled 7-inch clear vinyl; 100 copies
Soft Machine: Live at Henie Onstad Art Centre 1971 vinyl LP; 500 copies
Soundgarden: Hunted Down translucent orange 7-inch vinyl; 300 copies
Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball / Ghost of Tom Jones (feat Tom Morello) live 10-inch vinyl; 100 copies
Them Crooked Vultures: Mind Eraser, No Chaser / Hwy 1 / Vulture Speak 10-inch picture disc; 100 copies
Yeasayer: ONE 12-inch vinyl with limited-edition print, remixes and demos; 325 copies

Many thanks to Rock Radio for this list.

Looking at this list, I think next year’s Record Store Day will see even more great releases. In the meantime, your local independent record store is for life, not just for Record Store Day. If you’re a music lover, please support your local independent music retailer all year round.

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Alter Bridge tour and new album on the way woohoo

Posted on April 13th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

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Fresh from Myles Kennedy’s tour of duty with Slash’s touring band and Mark Tremonti’s sabbatical catching up with his old mates and touring and making some money and stuff (Creed), Alter Bridge are set to return to the studio to create a much anticipated third album and take things back on the road. The band have announced several UK dates for October already. I’ve seen them twice at the O2 Academy (formerly the Carling Academy) in Glasgow (see my amateurish vid below) and rate them as one of my favourite live acts. Myles has an amazing rock voice (not to mention being pretty damned handy around a fretboard) and Mark’s lead guitar playing is as tight as you’ll ever hear. Drummer Scott Phillips and bassist Brian Marshall manage to hold their own too. You can check out the MP3 samples of the amazing Alter Bridge album “Blackbird” below, if you’re not familiar with the band.

The announced Alter Bridge tour dates (UK) are as follows:

Saturday October 16 – Glasgow Academy
Sunday October 17 – Newcastle 02 Academy
Tuesday October 19 – Manchester Academy
Wednesday October 20 – Nottingham Rock City
Friday October 22 – Hammersmith HMV Apollo
Saturday October 23 – Southampton Guildhall
Monday October 25 – Birmingham 02 Academy
Tuesday October 26 – Bristol Colston Hall

Thanks to Metal Hammer for this news.

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Sorry to learn about death of Malcolm McLaren

Posted on April 9th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

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The 64 year old ex-Sex Pistols and Adam and the Ants manager passed away this morning (Thursday 8 April 2010) in Switzerland after reportedly battling cancer. McLaren was a major influence behind the explosion of the punk scene. He once commandeered a boat to ferry the Sex Pistols along the Thames so that they could play God Save the Queen outside the Houses of Parliament (for which he was arrested).

No doubt about it… Malcolm McLaren led an interesting life.

Malcolm McLaren talks to Conan whatsisname (see Slash’s badge on Jay Leno’s show) about the formation of the Sex Pistols:

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Please support the campaign to get Frankie Miller’s Bottle of Whisky track released

Posted on April 8th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

Hi everyone… just bigging up the Facebook campaign to get Frankie Miller’s demo track Bottle of Whisky an official release. The track is a brilliant wee song and deserves to be released in my opinion (for what it’s worth). The campaign is going strong (with numerous plugs on Rock Radio but needs more support. Please join up. Check out a clip of the track below.

Thank you!

GS

P.S. You can become a fan of Guitar Savvy on Facebook too, while you’re there

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Listen to full Slash album at Spinner.com – Link Here

Posted on April 4th, 2010 GuitarSavvy 1 comment

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Keen to check out Slash’s solo album in full, a couple of days ahead of US release and a whole month ahead of UK release (unless you bought or plan to buy the Classic Rock Slash Pack (out next week))? If so follow the link to Spinner.com here and check it out.  I’m not sure how long this link will work so be fast.

Please let us know what you think.  We’d love to hear your comments.  Don’t be shy now.

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Happy birthday to Angus Young from Cranhill Glasgow and AC/DC of course

Posted on March 31st, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

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Scots-born Angus Young is celebrating his birthday today (31 March 2010). The school uniform wearin’, SG-rockin’, stage-thrashin’ AC/DC guitar player is 55 today. Angus was born on this day 31 March 1955 in Glasgow and was raised in the tough Cranhill area of the city before moving to Australia with his older brother Malcolm and the family in 1963. Angus and Malcolm established AC/DC in 1973.

He might have lost his Weegie accent since then.

Yup… thought so. AC/DC rock!

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We’re not cool with BBC shutting down BBC6 Music and other stations – petition link here

Posted on March 10th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

So you may or may not have heard about the BBC cost-cutting plans. Cutting BBC6 Music is not cool. BBC6 Music is a welcome break from the everyday mass-produced crap music played on most “popular” stations for the X-Factor generation. It would be a great pity if this particular plan goes ahead. Please lend your support by signing the BBC6 Music and Asian Network petition here. At the time of writing there are nearly 60,000 signatures, but they’re aiming for 100,000.

For those in and around London, there will also be a benefit gig taking place TONIGHT from 7:30pm in Proud Camden. Tickets £5.

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