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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Rammstein rocked the UK will do it all over again at Sonisphere. Iron Maiden too! Tickets on sale now.

Posted on February 11th, 2010 GuitarSavvy No comments

So Rammstein have just finished the UK leg of their current European tour in support of their new and, might I say particularly awesome album Liebe Ist Für Alle Da (see Amazon player to sample the tracks(below)). The reviews for the show were incredible (see the Times Online review here) as I’m sure I said before, if you’ve never seen a Rammstein gig, make sure you add them to your list of bands to see before you die. Unfortunately all dates were in England-shire so I didn’t get to see them this time but if you were also unlucky enough not to have seen them, you get another chance at this year’s UK Sonisphere Festival at Knebworth Park (30 July to 1 August 2010) – Sonisphere tickets are on sale now. For anyone who is yet to experience Rammstein, check out the video for the latest single Ich Tu Dir Weh (released on 15 February 2010) on Sonisphere TV below – the video is basically a WYSIWYG for their live show. Brilliant!

We’re really spoiled for choice again this year with Iron Maiden playing their only UK 2010 date at Sonisphere, along with the likes of Motley Crue, Slayer, Placebo, the Cult, Anthrax and the critically acclaimed Rollins Spoken Word (you’ve got to see this guy! – Henry Rollins YouTube video here.). He played the O2 Academy in Glasgow recently to some excellent reviews in the press. Anyway, I’m working on a festivals section for Guitar Savvy and will hopefully post some articles and news about the forthcoming crop of summer festivals, beginning with Download (Donington) 2010 and Sonisphere (Knebworth) and the acts still to be confirmed.

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