Modern Guitarist

Adam Rogers Launches New Website

modern guitarist — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:27:00 +0000

Jazz guitarist Adam Rogers has recently launched his new website www.adamrogersmusic.com.
For eleven years Rogers has co-led the critically acclaimed Lost Tribe, which has toured nationally and internationally, releasing three albums. However, he has recently been focusing more on recording and performing with his own groups. Since 2002 Adam Rogers has released 4 albums as a leader, his most recent one, “Time and the Infinite”, with Scott Colley and Bill Stewart, was released in February 2007.

Check out Adam Rogers’ equipment here.

Velvet Revolver: Back in the Studio & Looking for New Vocalist

modern guitarist — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:01:17 +0000

Velvet Revolver founding members Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum and Dave Kushner announced last April 1, 2008 that they were parting ways with singer Scott Weiland: “This band is all about its fans and its music and Scott Weiland isn’t 100% committed to either,” said Slash. “Among other things, his increasingly erratic on-stage behavior and personal problems have forced us to move on.”

Billboard recently reported that Scott Weiland will announce a full set of tour dates with his old band, Stone Temple Pilots. With Scott Weiland officially out as singer, Velvet Revolver has returned to the studio to record some new material. Bassist Duff McKagan reported on the website for his side project, Loaded: “I just left Matt’s where we laid down 12 new jams.”

Velvet Revolver has not yet introduced a Weiland replacement, however Slash mentioned the band has some people in mind, but he didn’t want to start “naming names.”

Van Halen Postponed Dates Now Re-Scheduled

modern guitarist — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:34:59 +0000

Van Halen has announced new dates for all previously postponed shows on its 2008 North American tour. Seventeen concert dates on the Van Halen tour were rescheduled so that Eddie Van Halen, could continue medical tests to define a course for his treatment.

The New Tour Dates are:

04/19 - Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay Bay Events Center
04/22 - Cincinnati, OH @ U.S. Bank Arena
04/24 - Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
04/26 - St Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
04/28 - Milwaukee, WI @ Bradley Center
04/30 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Mellon Arena
05/02 - Charlottesville, VA @ John Paul Jones Arena
05/05 - Raleigh, NC @ RBC Center
05/07 - Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
05/09 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Boardwalk Hall
05/11 - Duluth, GA @ Gwinnett Arena
05/13 - East Rutherford, NJ @ Izod Center
05/15 - Baltimore, MD @ 1st Mariner Arena
05/18 - Hershey, PA @ Giant Center
05/20 - Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
05/23 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
05/25 - Providence, RI @ Dunkin Donuts Center
05/28 - Manchester, NH @ Verizon Wireless Arena
05/30 - Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena
06/02 - Grand Rapids, MI @ Van Andel Arena

Check out Van Halen’s official Tour Date page for up to date info.

Guitar User Reviews at Modern Guitarist: $100 Giveaway

modern guitarist — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 01:49:33 +0000

Join one of the newest and most unique gear communities on the web, made specifically with guitarists in mind! An account gives you access to various features, for example:

Keeping record of your reviews
Adding comments on other reviews
Uploading pics of your gear
Keeping track of favorite reviewers, friends
Creating a profile
Listing gear you are currently selling
Personal messaging and much more
You can also submit reviews without being registered

To encourage guitarists to join, we are giving away a $100 Musicians Friend Gift certificate or cash (you decide). The winner will be selected from the first 50 people that register and post a review following our guidelines (mainly an honest and well written review).

REGISTER NOW

Or check out the new section: User Reviews.

Update from Nuno Bettencourt

modern guitarist — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:18:36 +0000

As announced last November, Extreme is set to return in the spring of 2008 with their first album of all new material in 13 years. The band features original members Nuno Bettencourt, Gary Cherone, and Pat Badger, along with new drummer Kevin Figueiredo (Paul Geary, the band’s original drummer is now involved in the managerial side of the band). These are some of the highlights of Nuno’s latest update regarding the band:

“We are now finishing up the recording of our new release…We ended up with about 24 tunes…which we dwindled down to the 14 that will be on the record. And I’m sure it’s no surprise to you, our fans, that they are a “mish mosh” of Old School Rock and some tasty abstract ditties…Both on record and live when we come to your town…and WE WILL. Yes… we plan to tour for at least 1 year, well probably 2 years…cause we’ve got a lot of catching up to do with you guys and gals…

Lock up your daughters and lock up your wife…Lock up your back door and run for your life. Cause once we move back in…We plan to be around for the rest of our days…God willing… how ever long that may be. Well… that’s it for now. Who ever is making the trip to LA to see us… see ya there and say hello. We will have a drink at the Hilton bar afterwards.”

Check out Nuno’s Myspace to read the complete announcement.

Jonathan Kreisberg: The South Of Everywhere

modern guitarist — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 21:34:26 +0000

Jonathan Kreisberg’s latest release “The South of Everywhere” features Mark Ferber on Drums and Matt Penman on Bass. The album includes a couple standards as a trio, plus six new original tunes by Kreisberg and also joined by Gary Versace’s on piano and Will Vinson’s on alto saxophone. “The South Of Everywhere” is Kreisberg’s second album for Mel Bay Records and his sixth album as a leader. Check out his website for a bonus bootlegs section and other free stuff.

Track listing: Altered Ego; Elena; Funeral For The Ants; Kiitos; Stella By Starlight; Strange Resolution; The Best Thing For You; The South Of Everywhere.

Frisell, Townsend, Martine, Chamberlain: Floratone

modern guitarist — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 06:13:44 +0000

Floratone is a collaboration between Lee Townsend, Matt Chamberlain, Bill Frisell and Tucker Martine. The album, of the same name, contains eleven tracks and was released in August, 2007 (which somehow I missed). Floratone also features bassist Viktor Krauss, cornetist Ron Miles and violin/viola player Eyvind Kang. The genesis of the unique, two-year Floratone project came when Frisell hooked up to jam with Matt Chamberlain, best known for his background in pop music, including two longtime associations with pop singer-pianist Tori Amos and the jazz-funk band Critters Buggin. The pair, both based in Seattle, had talked over the years of getting together, to lay down free improvisations of their musical conversations. After they finally found time in their schedules to commit in 2005 to a session in Seattle, they turned the tapes over to Townsend and Martine, who took the raw material and sculpted songs.

Townsend likens the experience to a laboratory experiment. Martine, seconds that assessment. “We did some extreme editing, with a lot of cutting and pasting,” he says. “We found the strongest bits, edited them all together as compositions and made a CD of 18 tracks that we sent to Bill and Matt.” Frisell agrees. “It was a convergence experience,” he says. “Just Matt and me getting together for a weird jam session was one thing, but to have Lee and Tucker come in and make something of what we had done was like synchronicity. I couldn’t help but think of Miles and Teo, the playing over and over and then sorting things out.” From there, the project moved into new phases of development. Frisell invited Viktor Krauss to lay down the bass lines. Then the guitarist wrote horn and string parts to build the pieces with a harmonic heft.

Check out www.floratone.com for audio previews and a video explanation by the members of this project.

Radiohead: Limited Edition 7 Disc Box Set and USB Stick

modern guitarist — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 03:33:24 +0000

On the 10th of December, EMI and Parlophone will be releasing a limited edition box set collection of all Radiohead’s albums from 1993 to 2003: “Pablo Honey”, “The Bends”, “OK Computer”, “Kid A”, “Amnesiac”, “Hail to the Thief”, plus the live album “I Might Be Wrong”. The box set can be ordered in the following formats: CD Box Set, Download Box Set and USB data stick. The CD box set will feature original artwork in exclusive digipack sleeves. The 4GB memory USB data stick (shaped in Radiohead’s iconic “bear” image and housed in a bespoke deluxe box) will include Radiohead’s entire back catalog at CD-quality WAV files and digital artwork. Also a digital bundle of all seven albums will be available on December 10, as DRM-free 320kbps mp3 files, containing digital artwork for each album.

These are all available for pre-order at www.radioheadstore.com

Led Zeppelin Reunion Concert: A Message from Jimmy Page

modern guitarist — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 05:37:17 +0000

Led Zeppelin’s awaited reunion concert, originally scheduled for November 26, 2007 in London, has been postponed until December 10th as the result of Page having fractured a finger. Jimmy Page released the following statement:

“As you all know by now I was regrettably put in a situation where I had to postpone my performance at the Ahmet Ertegun Benefit show, on November 26th, due to a fractured finger. We have now rescheduled this show to take place, at the same venue, on December 10th. In doing so I was very conscious of the fact that many people are travelling great distances to attend. I do want to let everyone know that this decision was unavoidable. My apologies to anyone who has been inconvenienced by this change.

I would also like to thank everyone else involved for their help with making this change. Harvey Goldsmith, the trustees of the Ahmet Ertegun Foundation and, of course, the other artists who so willingly agreed to join us on the show. I look forward to the 10th December!”

(Picture: Page with a limited-edition replica of his iconic double-neck guitar created through a partnership with Gibson and based on the specifications of his original ’71 Gibson EDS-1275 double-neck model.)

New Sco: This Meets That

modern guitarist — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:52:10 +0000

Scofield’s latest album, This Meets That, was released last week, on September 18. The Trio includes bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Bill Stewart (the same trio that released En Route in 2004) as well as a four-part horn section (Roger Rosenberg, Jim Pugh, Lawrence Feldman and John Swana). Track number six, a cover of “The House of the Rising Sun”, features Bill Frisell on tremolo guitar. This is Scofield’s first project for Emarcy records. I don’t own a copy yet, so feel free to share your thoughts on this album (I will update this article as soon as I receive my copy). Also, check out his newly redesigned website.

Track listing: “The Low Road”, “Down D”, “Strangeness in the Night”, “Heck of a Job”, “Behind Closed Doors”, “The House of the Rising Sun”, “Shoe Dog”, “Memorette”, “Trio Blues”, “Pretty Out”, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.

US tour dates:
October
Trio featuring the ScoHorns (Larry Grenadier on bass, Bill Stewart on drums).
04-05 Cambridge, MA. Regattabar.
06 Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth College.
07 Newmarket, New Hampshire. The Stone Church.
09 Santa Cruz, California. Kuumbwa.
10-14 Oakland, California. Yoshi’s.
16-21 New York City. The Blue Note.

European tour dates:
November
Trio featuring the ScoHorns (Steve Swallow on bass, Bill Stewart on drums).
10 Cartagena, Spain.
11 Malaga, Spain.
12 Orense, Spain.
13 Lugo, Spain.
14 Sevilla, Spain.
15 Guimaraes, Portugal.
16 Bologna, Italy.
17 Vilnius, Lithuania.
18 Oslo, Norway.