Don Felder’s storied life followed a road that pulled him into the world of the blues, rockabilly and rock music. He studied the licks, the riffs and the styles of the pioneers of rock, R&B and the blues, including Elvis, Carl Perkins, B.B. King and Little Richard. And a young Don Felder would find himself buying mail order “race records”, that couldn’t be found in local shops.
Serious Rush fans become knowledgeable aficionados of the group as a whole, the members as professional artists and performers, and have their own stories to tell of concerts, detailed accounts of Rush albums and songs, but more often than not, they listen and become immersed in the emotional heft of Rush music.
One of my first interviews in the music industry was with Lee Dickson, who has been Eric Clapton’s guitar technician for nearly a quarter of a century.
Mountain’s high energy bassist, Rev Jones, is a single man mob scene on stage when he’s pushing out bass lines to power songs like “Mississippi Queen”, alongside legends Leslie West and Corky Laing. Rev’s the young pup on stage who honors his bandmates by giving his best during every performance.
After a life working with such greats as Edgar Winter and White Trash, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Pink Floyd, T-Rex, Three Dog Night and Michael Jackson, Neil’s heart still surges to the beat of his collection of international gear. Whether it’s a djembe, a snare, a tambourine or a big bass drum, Neil still thumps away in the quiet haunts of Woodstock, New York.
With hot young talent waiting in the wings, like Jacob Reese Thornton, it won’t be long before a new generation of guitarists will rearrange the musical landscape from theatrics and synthetic musical hype, and take it back to gut level guitar work grounded in traditional roots, but with a willingness and a drive to explore more than the pentatonic scale
The brainchild of legendary rock photographer, Robert Knight, and co-founder, Jim Evans, The Brotherhood of the Guitar led the way to his focus on young talented percussionists, including a young man who pounds the skins with the skill and intuition of many who are now legends. So, our lead on Knight’s cadre of drummers called Drummerhood is Logan Sheppard.
In part two of our exclusive conversation with The Struts, Guitar International dives into the process and pitfalls of producing an album while simultaneously touring like there’s now tomorrow. For those of you just now being introduced to the lads, they are: Luke Spiller (lead vocals), Adam Slack (guitar), Jed Elliott (bass) and on drums, Gethin Davies.
The Struts have already piled on a series of cool accomplishments that rival and surpass the likes of many a band significantly their senior
Guerra’s latest release, American Garden, is an eclectic mix that tracks well, without going off on some tangent. Guerra sticks to the knitting with solid and interesting riffs, adds some Tom Petty and Byrds jangle, grabbing influences and driving them home to make them his own. The production is excellent and serious….thoughtful.
