guitar world - holiday 2015.pdf
TRANSCRIPT
GUITAR & BASS TRANSCRIPTIONS
T H E B E A T L E S “Here Comes the Sun”
T R I V I U M
“Silence in the Snow”
R E O S P E E D W A G O N
“Roll with the Changes”
“Catch Your Train”
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G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
V O L . | N O . | H O L I D A Y
C O N T E N T S
FEATURES
DEAFHEAVEN
American black metal scene continue their
rise to prominence.
50 KEITH RICHARDS
revisits his musical roots with a new
solo album, Crosseyed Heart, and
documentary film Under the Influence.
60 IRON MAIDEN
making of the new Book of Souls double
album and the resilience of singer Bruce
Dickinson after a recent cancer scare.
70 THE BEATLES’
LOVE AFFAIR WITH
THE EPIPHONE CASINO
and George Harrison all fell in love with
the Epiphone Casino and made it their
guitar of choice during the height of
Beatlemania.
collection of holiday gifts ever!
COVER PHOTOGRAPH
MARK SELIGER D E A F
H E A V E N : J E R E M Y
D A N G E R
Deafheaven’s Kerry McCoy
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E x p e r i e n c e t h e S w e e t w at e r D i f f e r e n c e !
T e a r I n t o N e w M u s i c G e a r T h i s H O L I D AY S E AS O N !
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G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
V O L . | N O . | H O L I D A Y
C O N T E N T S
S C O T T
U C H I D A
TRANSCRIBED
21 TUNEUPS
Trivium, SayWeCanFly and more!
SD-1W pedals
String
94. Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-45ME Acoustic/
Electric
Humbucker
104. String Theory
by Jimmy Brown
by Joe Satriani
108. Acoustic Nation
by Dale Turner
110. In Deep
by Andy Aledort
Nolan Symmonds’ Guitar Boy
Misha Mansoor, Periphery
©2015 JCMI . Jackson® and the distinctive headstock designs commonly found on Jackson guitars are
registered trademarks of Jackson/Charvel Manufacturing, Inc. (JCMI). All rights reserved.
jacksonguitars.com
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
I L L U S T R A T I O N
B Y
POETRY IN MOTION
IF YOU’RE READING this, you’re holding some-
thing in your hands that is very near and dear to our
hearts: print. Despite the modern day push to turn every
reading experience into a loud, screaming digital one,
there are plenty of us who will always love the printed
page: letting our imaginations fill in the blank spaces as ink smudges our fingers.
However, if there’s a downside to print, it’s that it doesn’t move; it’s static. Stationary.
Maybe that’s why I get so excited about our recent efforts with regard to video,
and I wanted to make sure our beloved print readers are up to speed on what we’re
doing on GuitarWorld.com, our YouTube channel and our Facebook page. Yes, we
love print, but we love moving pictures too.
Currently, the Guitar World YouTube channel has more than 350,000 subscrib-
ers—that’s substantial, and it’s no accident. So what’s all the fuss about? If you head
over there, you’ll see for yourself. Artists are coming through our office doors al-
most daily, and many are being invited into our studio to film exclusive content for
our YouTube channel. Recent visits include Alexi Laiho, who showed us his five fa-
vorite riffs from the new Children of Bodom record, I Worship Chaos; Joe Satriani
and Tommy Emmanuel, who performed all the techniques covered in their current
Guitar World magazine columns; and Queensrÿche’s Michael Wilton, who talked
about and demonstrated some of his most classic riffs and licks. We’ve also enjoyed
having so many guitarists come through and do playthrough videos in which they
play guitar to a backing track of one of their songs: recent participants include
Atreyu, Crowbar, Shinedown, For Today and Braden Barrie from SayWeCanFly.
Add to that all the in-depth gear reviews and demos from our editors, and you have
a YouTube channel worth subscribing to.
If you’re looking for something more down-n-dirty, head over to our Facebook
page and see what the other 1.5 million followers have been enjoying lately. Every
few days we treat our fans to an impromptu “desk jam” featuring one of our tal-
ented editors. On any given day you may see gear editor Paul Riario in his cluttered
office laying down the solo to an Eighties metal classic, or online editor Damian
Fanelli showing off his immense skills as a blues guitarist and hopeless Beatles ad-
dict, all filmed with nothing more than my own iPhone 6.
At the end of the day it makes me appreciate all of the incredible talent lurking
behind these walls. We’ll always be magazine aficionados, and I hope you enjoy
the issue you hold in your print-loving hands—but there’s plenty more to this op-
eration, and we hope you get as much out of it as we put into it.
—Jeff Kitts
EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE CONTENT DIRECTOR Jeff Kitts EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brad Angle TECH EDITOR Paul Riario ASSOCIATE EDITORS Andy Aledort, Richard Bienstock, Alan di Perna, Chris Gill CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joe Bosso, Ted Drozdowski, Dan Epstein, Greg Evans, Randy Harward, Peter Hodgson, Mark Holcomb, Joe Satriani, Dale Turner, Jon Wiederhorn SENIOR VIDEO PRODUCER Mark Nuñez
MUSIC SENIOR MUSIC EDITOR Jimmy Brown MUSIC TRANSCRIPTIONIST Jeff Perrin MUSIC ENGRAVER Patricia Corcoran
ART DESIGN DIRECTOR Stephen Goggi ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Ben Avny ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Natalie Skopelja
ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Damian Fanelli EDITORS Brad Angle, Jeff Kitts
PRODUCTION PRODUCTION MANAGER Nicole Schilling
BUSINESS VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL MANAGER Bill Amstutz [email protected]
GROUP PUBLISHER Bob Ziltz [email protected]
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GUITAR WORLD (ISSN 1045-6295) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus Holiday issue following December issue, by NewBay Media, LLC, 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Phone: 212.378.0400. Fax: 917.281.4704. Web Site: www.nbmedia.com. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices. Newsstand distribution is handled by Time Warner Retail. Subscriptions: One-year basic rate (12 issues) US: $14.95. Canada: US$29.95. Foreign: US$49.95. Canadian and foreign orders must be prepaid. Cana- dian price includes postage and GST #R128220688. PMA #40612608. Subscriptions do not include newstand specials. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to Guitar World, P.O. Box 469039, Escondido, CA 92046-9039. Ride-along enclosure in the following edition(s): B1, B2, B3, B4, and B5. Standard enclosure: None. Returns: Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2, Canada. Entire contents copyright 2012, NewBay Media L.L.C. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part is prohibited. NewBay Media L.L.C. is not affiliated with the companies or products covered in Guitar World. Reproduction on the Internet of the articles and pictures in this magazine is illegal without the prior written consent of Guitar World. Products named in the pages of Guitar World are trademarks of their respective companies. PRODUCED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE: Guitar World Magazine Customer Care, P.O. Box 469039, Escondido, CA 92046-9039. Online: www.guitarworld.com/customerservice. Phone: 1-800-456-6441. Email [email protected]. BACK ISSUES: www.guitarworld.com/store REPRINTS: NewBay Media, LLC, 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016. Phone: 212.378.0414
“Fretlight is the fastest way to become a better guitar player.
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fretlight.com Fretlight® is a registered Trademark of Optek Music Systems, Inc.
Orianthi is an official endorser of the Fretlight Learning System.
FG-521 Traditional
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
sible to overcome it. Thank you for
putting out such a great magazine.
—Jason Gottstein
for 26 years and have never writ-
ten in until now. I have watched
the band Decapitated mature
hoping you guys could transcribe
anything from their latest record,
Blood Mantra. I think Vogg (gui-
tar) has a Dimebag type of energy,
sort of like a death metal groove.
I am tired of rewinding licks on
cassette and would pay anything
for real tabs, especially for the
rhythmic masterpiece “Blind-
—Larry Franco
Ink Spot
roll guitarists: Chuck Berry, Keith
Richards, and Johnny Thunders.
and Johnny Thunders’ Gibson Les
Paul TV, which was a 1958, 1959 or
1960 depending on who you believe.
—Jon Dameron
want to share with us? Send a
photo of your ink to sounding-
[email protected] and
our Facebook page!
the cover of the November issue.
I’ve been a Slayer fan from the
first time I heard Reign in Blood ,
and to me they are the best thrash
metal band of all time. Frankly
I don’t think they get the credit
they deserve. Repentless is an
amazing record—a great come-
back after the tragic death and
loss of Jeff Hanneman. To me, it’s
the album of the year.
—Travis Zboril
For Christ’s Sake I’m writing in regard to the
comment about Ghost made by
James Harris in the September
issue. I am a follower of Christ
and enjoy living in a free nation,
and as far as GW covering Ghost,
that is a freedom I treasure
dearly. I am in contact with peo-
ple overseas who are persecuted
for their beliefs—thrown in jail
just for giving someone a bible.
Let’s keep things free in the USA.
—Jim Chumley
more pathetic than the sour mope
who fails to get the joke is the pre-
SEND LETTERS TO: The Sounding Board, Guitar World , 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or email us at [email protected].
All subscription queries must be emailed to [email protected]. Please do not email the Sounding Board with subscription matters.
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SOUNDI NG BOARD
bother to experience something
painfully obvious that you have yet
to actually spin a Ghost album, yet
you apparently know what’s best
for our guitar loving youth. It must
be terribly boring to live in your
world where everything is exactly
as it appears rendering experience
completely unnecessary.
—Kevin Miller
think you guys do a great job with
the transcriptions—would you
Guitar World : Yes’ “I’ve Seen All
Good People (Your Move),” Frank
Zappa’s “Black Napkins” or any of
these from Led Zeppelin’s live The
Song Remains the Same album:
“Whole Lotta Love,” “Since I’ve
Been Loving You,” “The Song
Remains the Same” or “No Quar-
ter.” Thanks for all you do!
—Matt Scoggins
ted by other readers in the Sound-
ing Board, I decided to share my
yard lamp. It was inspired by my
friend who painted his trash can in
the VH style. I told him he puts his
trash can in the garage whereas
my Van Halen lamp is on proud
display year round.
claims Slayer as having the
“Metal Record of the Year.”
Tough to argue that, because
Repentless is a great album…but
personally I will go with Meliora
by Ghost. The depth of the song-
writing, musicianship and pro-
duction are astounding on
theatrical bands, like Slipknot,
by critics as being all style over
substance, but then the music
proved that narrative wrong. The
Nameless Ghouls in Ghost give
insightful and entertaining inter-
November issue showcased their
nuanced arrangement skills and
powerful, tasteful playing. Please
continue to feature them.
10 years, and am currently serv-
ing a sentence in the PA D.O.C.
Life in here is tough, and you have
a lot of time to fill with whatever
rec you can get. I’ve also been an
avid reader of Guitar World my
entire time here. I love the arti-
cles and especially the columns.
Every month I learn something
new and I figure out how to add it
to my playing style. The last few
issues—especially the cover stories
on Slayer and Lamb of God—hit a
nerve in me because it was great to
read how some of my heroes have
overcome bad situations. The sto-
ries gave me a sense that, no mat-
ter how tough shit can get, it’s pos-
guitarworld.com
S T A Y C O N N E C T E D W I T H G U I T A R W O R L D O N &
A N D G E T T H E L A T E S T G U I T A R N E W S , I N S I D E R U P D A T E S , S T A F F R E P O R T S A N D M O R E !
Are you a Defender of the Faith? Send a photo, along with your answers to the questions above,
to [email protected]. And pray!
DEFENDERS of the Faith
Katina St. Onge
AGE 15 HOMETOWN Montreal, Quebec, Canada GUITARS Black Fender American Stan- dard Strat, Tobacco Sunburst Fender Squire, Cream Wood Fender Tele, 1972 Fender acoustic
SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Bryan Adams “Summer of ’69,” Kiss “Shock Me”
GEAR I MOST WANT Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul
Trailer Park Vampire
AGE 150 HOMETOWN Tupelo, MS GUITARS Homemade Super Strats, 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Weezer “Hash Pipe,” Ghost “Mummy Dust,” Trailer Park Vampire “Rocking Vampire” GEAR I MOST WANT Friedman Brown Eye 100-watt amp
Brent Fettkether
AGE 18 HOMETOWN Dunkerton, IA GUITARS Jackson JS32T King V, ESP/ LTD EX-50 SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Metallica “Am I Evil?” and “Of Wolf and Man,” Megadeth “In My Darkest Hour,” Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train”
OF THE MONTH
If you created a drawing, painting or sketch of your favorite guitarist
and would like to see it in an
upcoming issue of Guitar World, email soundingboard@ guitarworld.com
with a scan of the image!
DAVE MATTHEWS BY DIANA PASIKOVJOHNNY MARR BY HECTOR LOZANO
Actual size: 11.5”l x 2.5”w x 1.25”h • Weight: 18.6 oz.
Not just another version of the Fly Rig 5® simply
bearing his name, the Richie Kotzen RK5 Signature
Fly Rig was a close, year-long collaborative effort.
Meticulous about every facet of his playing, singing,
songwriting and tone, Richie’s attention to the details
of this pedal was nothing less.
What distinguishes the RK5 from the Fly Rig 5 is Richie’s
Signature OMG overdrive. Tuned specifically to Richie’s
ear, the OMG section brings in the organic Class A-style
distortion, but with a tighter, snappier response. It is designed
to articulate every nuance of Richie’s dizzying playing style
for all modes and moods, from clean to aggressive and from
rhythmic chords to infinite sustain when it’s solo time.
The RK5 offers the same other essential features as the Fly Rig 5:
the all-analog SansAmp™, reverb, delay with tap tempo, and a
powerful boost. For fly gigs across the globe, jamming at the local
hang, and running off to last minute sessions, just pop your RK5 into
your guitar case and head for the door.
PORTRAITS
Overdrive is also available as a
stand-alone pedal.
WWW.TECH21NYC.COM
guitarworld.com
TUNE-UPS
P H O T O S B Y J A Y B L A K E S B U R G
T I M
tktktktkt
“pedal junkie.” At the San Rafael,
California, building that Metallica
affirms that he has “shelves and
shelves full of effects—hundreds of
them, for sure,” he says.
Now, rather than merely col-
lecting pedals, Hammett is making
his own. The guitarist has paired
up with industry vet David Karon,
with whom he collaborated on his
signature Randall amplifiers some
pedal company, KHDK Electronics.
high-quality, USA-made products
slightly different from what every-
one else is doing.”
Kirk Hammett Ghoul Screamer,
a Tube Screamer on steroids. It’s
something I’ve been wanting to do
for years.” The Ghoul Screamer
boasts three control knobs (drive,
tone and volume), as well as five
EFFECT PEDALS.
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
P E D A L : M A R T I N
K O V Á L ; G R A V E Y A R D : J J
K O C Z A N
extra switches—bass, high, body, and two
for compression—that greatly expand the
tonal options. “So you have more ability to
shape and mold the sound,” Hammett says.
“The most important part for me in that
regard is the two compression switches. I
like to mess around with compression, and
that was always a major thing I felt was
missing on a Tube Screamer—to be able
to have control over how much compres-
sion you want. So that’s one of my favorite
components on this pedal.”
cuit that everybody knows and loves, and
that Kirk has been using since the begin-
ning of Metallica, and create a pedal that
offers a little something different than all
the other products that are out there.”
Along with the Ghoul Screamer, KHDK
has issued two additional pedals, the No. 1
Overdrive and the No. 2 Clean Boost, both
of which, Karon says, “are original circuits
that we created with our lead engineer, An-
tonin Salva [ owner of Salvation Mods ]. So
the line is going to be a mix of pedals that
boast completely new circuits, and ones
that pay homage to already existing ones.”
Adds Hammett, “We’re going to take
ideas and morph them, mutate them,
expand on them and see where we wind
up.” To that end, the company is currently
in the midst of developing roughly 15 new
products, including an octave fuzz and a
wah. “And you know how I am about wah
pedals,” Hammett says. “I’m addicted to
them. So we’re going to take the wah pedal,
throw it on the ground, break it open and
see where we can go with all the individual
components to make something new.”
“Kirk’s strength is his tone knowledge,”
Karon says. “He comes to us with an idea,
we create the rough draft, and he comes
in and perfects it. He has a great ear for
these things.”
using his new pedals with Metallica, the
guitarist says, “I’ve been messing around
with the Ghoul Screamer a lot at home and
in rehearsal, and I’ll definitely have it in my
back pocket when I go in to start recording
leads in a few weeks.”
When asked if that means a new Metal-
lica album is imminent, Hammett laughs.
“All I can say is that if I’m recording leads,
then that means all the backing tracks to
whatever batch of songs we’re working on
are done. So it’s a pretty good indication
that we’re pretty deep into things.”
JOAKIM NILSSON OF GRAVEYARD
“Tensions” Charles Mingus
“Really cool psychotic wind instrument in this tune, which makes me doubt my
own musical skills…and that’s a good thing if you want to keep your feet on
the ground!”
“Roscoe” Midlake
“Nice song to just lie down, close your eyes and listen to. Bonus that it sounds like the theme to M*A*S*H in the begin-
ning.”
3
“On Battleship Hill” PJ Harvey
“I almost never get blown away by music anymore, but PJ never lets me down. She
and her music are as beautiful as ever and also truly amazing live, and that is
extremely rare in my book.”
4
“Raging River of Fear” Captain Beyond
“Extremely talented musicians, and one of the most underrated bands in history. Great vocals from Rod Evans, who was an original member of Deep Purple. He
influenced me a lot when I was younger.”
5
“With You There to Help Me” Jethro Tull
“Ian Anderson is a genius at making melodies. And it doesn’t hurt that he
plays the flute standing on one leg—it’s how it should be played!”
PLAYLIST
M A N D I M A R T I N I
NEWS+ NOTES
What influenced you to
you pick up a guitar? Well, I always loved music. My mom was a Fifies kid and when we were little, we used listen to all her 45s.
INQUIRER DOYLE
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
And that transpired into, you know, heavier stuff—Alice Cooper, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin and all that shit back in the Seventies. And when I realized I wasn’t
gonna play in the NFL, I picked up a guitar.
What was your first guitar?
It was a 1955 Les Paul. My
brother got it or me or eighth-grade graduation.
What was the first song
you learned? “Smoke on the Water.” [laughs]
What do you recall about playing your first gig?
It was at Irving Plaza in New York City. Technically, our first gig was, like, a TV show out on the coast. But Irving Plaza, you had to have a pass to get in. I thought I was at the top. It was totally cool.
Ever had an embarrass-
Not really, no.
No fights, equipment fail- ures, falling off the stage…
That shit happens every day—all o that has happened to me. The most recent thing that happened, I was playing at Golden Gods 2013 and, on the last song, I slammed my guitar so hard that it broke into three pieces.
Your last album was
Abominator in 2013. Are
you working on a new one? Yeah, we just gotta mix it, master it and title it. We’re kickin’ some shit around; we don’t know what we’re calling it yet.
What is your favorite guitar or piece of gear?
Gorilla Snot. It’s this glue that holds the pick in your hand.
Do you have any advice
for young players? Don’t spend your lie in your room learning all those arpeg- gios and G cles and all that bullshit. Learn how to write good songs and get a good singer. RANDY HARWARD
“I slammed my guitar so hard
that it broke into three pieces.”
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
J A S O N
M A G A E U
NEWS+ NOTES
Hate Eternal
changes. When guitarist Mike Reynolds
abruptly left in 2013, Sam Penner stepped
in. But he was asked to leave earlier this
year after the band felt he was too divided
between family and music. Then it looked
like Jim Hughes would be the new rhythm
guitarist, until lead guitarist Ryan Leitru
realized the ideal rhythm guy was right
under his nose: his brother and For Today’s
bass player Brandon. “He’s stepping in and
playing guitar because he’s always been
able to,” Ryan says. “He’s been writing
guitar parts with me for the entire time in
the band, so he will become the guitar
player for all intents and purposes.”
The lineup change hasn’t affected
the sound of new album Wake, given
that Ryan has always handled the guitar
tracking. “It just tends to go faster that
way, so we’ve never really gone through
a lineup change with that,” he says. But
when the band hits the road he expects
a new level of precision, power and syn-
chronicity. “Every guitar player has their
same language, but Brandon and I have
the same one because we learned to play
together. We have our own little mind-
meld thing. We can say things like ‘play
the geek chord’ and we’ll know exactly
what we’re talking about.”
Leitru’s latest guitar is a sleek black
custom Ibanez FR with dual-mode Fish-
man Fluence pickups selected to dial
in more refined high-gain and clean
tones. “I’ve played RGs for about five
years but I like Tele bodies and Ibanez
has a really cool line of them,” he says.
“It’s a giant chunk of mahogany and it
resonates very well: it feels like an adult’s
guitar. When it feels like it’s heavy and
you have to earn it, you sound so much
better for it.” The rhythms were tracked
through a Mesa overdrive into an old
Peavey 5150 and a PRS Archon. “We shot
out 10 different overdrives and about 40
different delay and reverb pedals. It’s
those little things that no one will ever
notice, but that’s what makes it fun for
the guitar dorks of the world!”
For Today IOWABASED CHRISTIAN METALCORE OUTFIT SHAKES THINGS
UP ON THEIR SIXTH ALBUM, WAKE.
By Peter Hodgson
Introducing the first por table loudspeaker that lets you easily control
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STRAIGHT J REVERSE J C
SHAPE YOUR SOUND
P H O T O B Y J A M E L T O P P I N G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
DEAR GUITAR HERO
“Captain Love” reminds
you guys toss around older
bands when you’re recording?
—Sherman “Old” Yeller
said, “Hey, let’s do something
like so-and-so…” It probably hap-
pens subconsciously, because
not planned. That song started
happening when I was in the
bathroom—I had this idea for
three huge power chords that
just ring. We tried it out, and be-
fore you knew it, the whole thing
was there. Actually, I take back
what I said somewhat: I thought
of the Darkness when writing
the lyrics. If you read the words,
they’re silly and comical, just like
what they do.
do an all-instrumental album
just for us shredders?
removed from that world, and I
have for probably 20 years. That
first record I did defined me as
a shredder, and it was a blatant,
deliberate shred record. Aside
tal record I had to do to get out
of a contract, I haven’t been in
that genre for a long, long time.
“Oblivion” is a clever song that is
a shred vehicle, but you can sing
the chorus. To me, that’s more
valid than an entire instrumental
record—a personal opinion. As
for an all-instrumental record, no,
I wouldn’t want to do it.
You worked with Billy
Portnoy? —B.T. Mosely
ally understood each other’s per-
sonality. With musicians who’ve
achieved a certain level of success,
sometimes their style or persona
is set in stone. I have my thing
that I do, as does Billy and as does
Mike. Sometimes that can make it
complicated to create something
each other’s established “thing.”
I knew Billy, but Mike was a wild
card—I didn’t know him. Some-
how we hit it off instantly; it was
like we knew each other for years.
I love Mike. We mess around and
have a great time.
Your live guitar sound
the secret? —Timmy Kehoe
and when I play it. On my last
few tours, I’ve used different
rigs—Marshall Plexis, Fender
Vibro-Kings, two Fender Twins—
so I’ve changed gear a lot. It really
A WHILE BACK, YOU OPENED FOR THE ROLLING STONES IN JAPAN. DID YOU ACTUALLY GET TO JAM WITH KEITH?CAROLYN JENKINS I didn’t jam with Keith, but Ron Wood gave me a fantastic compliment. We were all standing together for a group shot,
and he put his hand on my throat and said, “Oh, my God. Mick, did you hear him sing? He sounds like a cross between Rod Stewart and Bernard Fowler.” Ber- nard’s an amazing singer who’s been with the Stones for 20 years. After Ronnie said that, I had a real attitude problem for a couple of weeks.
comes down to how I play within
the context of the band. Billy and
Mike are very impressive players
and can be over-the-top, which
fits the music, so I have to find a
way to fit into that. I really can’t
overplay—it’ll sound like chaos.
I know how to listen well, and I
know what to do and what not to
do. I really think that’s the key to
sounding good.
Dogs song “Fire”—it
ballad. Have you ever written a
ballad and scrapped it because
you thought itwas cheesy?
lot of non-ballads and scrapped
them because I thought they
were cheesy. On the other hand,
I’ve probably written and re-
leased some things that were to-
tally cheesy. [laughs] You never
know. When I listen to something
that I’ve done and I like it, I want
to put it out. There’s been some
things I’ve held on to because I
didn’t like them. Whether they
were cheesy or not, I don’t know.
“Cheesy” is subjective.
signature Fender
about Telecasters so much?
guitar” rule?
—Barbara Farmington
I was a kid, my fantasy guitar was
RICHIE KOTZEN He’s released 20 solo albums, played guitar for Poison and Mr. Big, and is now on a “hot
streak” with Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy in the Winery Dogs, but what Guitar World
readers really want to know is…
Interview by Joe Bosso
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
a B.C. Rich—I loved the Warlock
and the Bich. I thought they were
the coolest things ever. Maybe I
should treat myself and buy them
now. As for Teles, to me they feel
like a blank canvas, particularly
my signature Telecaster, which
sound traditional, I can make it
sound huge like a Les Paul, and
I can do everything in-between.
The transparency of the instru-
ment is what I love. You can really
hear the player.
and work on technique?
I don’t do that, no. I look at the
guitar so differently than when
I was a teenager. Back then, I
wanted to practice and play stuff
to impress people. Pretty soon,
I realized that it wasn’t going to
work—there’s so many people
with that objective who do it bet-
ter than me. I didn’t want to be in
a competition I couldn’t win. So I
went back to when I was a child,
wanting to be creative and make
music. The guitar is just one
of many tools for me to make
songs. If I practice at all now, it’s
because I’m trying to take what
I hear in my head and make it
something I can play and record.
But I don’t do scales and all that
stuff anymore.
Chris Cornell to record a
duet? Your voices are very
similar. —Carson McMullen
would be fucking cool. We could
do a great R&B thing—he’d
probably be into that. I could play
guitar, he could drum, and we’d
both sing. But I think that once
people heard us on the same
song, they would stop comparing
us. First off, I’m nowhere near as
good a singer as he is. Second
of all, we sing pretty differently.
When we scream in a high regis-
ter, we have a similar tonality, but
beyond that, we’re not the same
at all. It would be interesting to
try to do something together. I’d
be into it.
DEAR GUITAR HERO
the one who told Rikki that I was
going to start to see her, and
that’s when the chaos started
and I left the band. But we did
bury the hatchet, eventually. I’ve
shaken everybody’s hands. Brett
Michaels hugged me at one of his
shows. I’ve seen Bobby [Dall] a
bunch of times—we’ve laughed
and joked. I’ve seen Rikki and
shook his hand, too. So there’s no
issues there.
you did “Shy Boy” by
Billy’s old band, Talas. Would
you ever attempt a Dream
Theater song? —Terry Johnston
familiar with Dream Theater as I
am with Steve Vai and Billy Shee-
han. I can only do a cover song
if I can connect with it on some
level. “Shy Boy” reminds me of
the Richie Kotzen who was 15, 16
years old, listening to albums like
[Vai’s] Flex-Able and trying to
figure out how to play like that.
MY GIRL- FRIEND THINKS YOU’RE HOT, SO I HAVE A
REQUEST: CAN YOU
less handsome, and I’m
doing a hell of a job of
it. I weigh more now
than I ever have—I’m
not overweight, but I’m
getting there. I drink a
lot and I smoke a lot,
although I just quit
smoking and haven’t
myself up. I do have an
18-year-old daughter I
my appearance, it’s on.
Do you own any guitars
that are just for show, or
is everything in your collection
functional? —Gary Levett
it’s also for show. It was given
to me in Japan—I was doing an
autograph signing, and a kid gave
me a Telecaster that looks like
it was made out of bark. I don’t
know how they did it. It’s really,
really cool. Now that I think of it,
I should hang it on the wall in my
house. It should be seen.
I understand that you
ever bury the hatchet?
so many stories got out about
it. What happened was, I fell in
love with Rikki Rocket’s ex. We
got married, and my daughter,
August, was born two years into
the marriage. Rikki and his ex
weren’t together at the time
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G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
NEWS+ NOTES
Devil You Know ALL SHALL PERISH GUITARIST FRANCESCO ARTUSATO AND HIS
BAND OF METALCORE NOTABLES RETURN WITH A SCORCHING
SOPHOMORE EFFORT, THEY BLEED RED . By Richard Bienstock
H R I S T O
S H I N D O V
THE BEAUTY OF DESTRUCTION , the 2014
debut from Devil You Know, was a fierce slab of
technically accomplished metalcore, and lived up to
the high expectations set by its pedigreed lineup,
which boasts former Killswitch Engage vocalist
Howard Jones, All Shall Perish guitarist Francesco
Artusato, former Bleeding Through bassist Ryan
Wombacher and drummer John Sankey, who has
played with Fear Factory, among others.
Now, the metalcore supergroup is back with
a follow-up, They Bleed Red , which proves to be
both a deeper and also more ferocious effort. Says
Artusato, “We wanted to make a record that showed
a little more of what we do. This one is a little more
intricate in terms of guitar work, for sure, but there’s
also some very aggressive, simple and straightfor-
ward stuff. There’s a little bit of everything.”
The album kicks off with “Consume the Dead,” a
song that Artusato calls “pure energy.” But it’s hardly
the heaviest track on the disc. That would be the first
single, the blast beat–propelled “Stay of Execution.”
Explains Artusato, “John [ Sankey ] kept saying, ‘I want
to have a song that has a little bit more of an extreme
kind of sound, with a lot of blast beats.’ ” He laughs.
“And we already had some of that, but him being a
drummer, he wanted more of it.”
While Artusato says that Devil You Know is
now “everyone’s main priority,” he also says that,
“musically, we’re still free to do other things.” To
that end, Artusato last year released his second
instrumental solo album, Our Dying Sun, and is
currently working with All Shall Perish on a
new record, their first since frontman Eddie
Hermida left to join Suicide Silence (says Ar-
tusato, “We have a new singer—we just haven’t
announced who it is yet”).
Right now, however, he’s solidly focused on
Devil You Know. “We’re having a lot of fun and
people are really liking the music,” Artusato says.
“And next year is looking to be very, very busy for
us. So it’s an exciting time, and there will definitely
be more records to come.”
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Stone Cold Classic ON THEIR NEW ALBUM, SILENCE IN THE SNOW , TRIVIUM CHANNEL MAIDEN, PRIEST, DIO AND
OZZY TO ADD SOME RETRO GOODNESS TO THEIR FIERY BRAND OF AMERICAN METAL.
By Dan Epstein
a black-hoodied Dutch teen who seems
incredibly pumped to be there.
“You stoked to see Metallica?” we ask.
“No, man,” he defiantly responds. “I’m
just here to see Trivium. I’m going to leave
right after they play!”
shares this story with Trivium’s Matt Heafy
and Cory Beaulieu, the two guitarists burst
out laughing. “The biggest question I have,”
says Beaulieu, “Is that kid still a Trivium fan?
Does even he follow the band anymore?”
“Yeah,” seconds Heafy with a rueful
chuckle. “Anything is possible!”
hem show, Trivium were known chiefly
for 2005’s Ascendancy, their acclaimed
second album, which contained a ferocious
mixture of thrash, metalcore and melodic
death metal. But the brash young Florida
quartet was also just a few months away
from throwing their nascent fanbase a
major curveball with The Crusade, an ambi-
tious follow-up that completely ditched the
metalcore aspects of Ascendancy in favor of
a progressive-thrash approach that owed
a heavy debt to early Metallica. Critical
(and fan) opinion was decidedly split on
The Crusade, but that record essentially
set the course for their next three studio
albums—2008’s Shogun, 2011’s In Waves
and 2013’s Vengeance Falls—in which each
release took a strikingly different artistic
and sonic tack from the previous one.
“We don’t want to be the band that
writes the same album six times, where ev-
ery record has the same production, same
type of songs and same formula,” Beaulieu
explains. “We don’t want to be a stagnant
sounding band. We wanted to make a
record that sounds fresh and exciting in
2015, and doesn’t sound like it should have
come out in 2005.”
push their own creative envelope has lost
them some fans along the way (while also
gaining others), it’s kept the band remark-
ably vital, as evidenced by their seventh
and latest studio opus, Silence in the Snow.
Produced by Matt “Elvis” Baskette, Silence
eschews the modern metal precision of the
David Draiman–produced Vengeance Falls in
favor of punchy, melodic, concisely arranged
songs like “Blind Leading the Blind,” “Pull
Me from the Void,” “Breathe in the Flames”
and the title track, and an organic vibe that
is clearly rooted in the hard rock sounds of
the late Seventies and early Eighties.
“We’ve always looked to do the opposite
of what we’ve done previously, and what
everyone else is doing at the time,” says
Heafy. “That’s the big reason why there
was no screaming, no breakdowns or drop-
D tuning on The Crusade, because all the
other bands in the world were doing the
same style. It was the same thing with Si-
lence; we said, ‘What’s the opposite of what
we’ve been doing, and what’s the opposite
of what everyone else is doing?’ And the
answer was, ‘Let’s go back to the Seventies
and Eighties!’
heroes of our heroes,” Heafy continues.
“What was Metallica listening to when
they were getting into metal? What was In
Flames listening to when they were getting
into metal? And it all seems to stem back to
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ronnie James
Dio and Ozzy Osbourne. Those were things
that we were already into, but we wanted
to delve further into them and truly allow
them to influence us, and see what hap-
pened to our music when we did that.”
Adding to the “throwback” feel of
Silence is the fact that Heafy, who has
screamed and growled on a sizeable chunk
of the Trivium discography, sings only
clean vocals on the album. In May 2014,
Heafy blew out his voice while perform-
ing at Rock on the Range, which forced the
cancellation of the band’s subsequent tour
I T’S EARLY IN the afternoon of June 8, 2006, and a throng of Dutch metal fans is swarming across the park- ing lot of the GelreDome, a cavernous, 34,000-capacity soccer stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands. Metallica, in the
midst of their Escape from the Studio ’06 tour, are headlining tonight, with Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium making up the rest of the bill.
“You have to always make
what you want to hear,
and not worry about
whether people are going
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
S C O T T
U C H I D A
dates. But after working for over a year
with famed vocal coach Ron Anderson, the
singer says that he’s regained the ability to
scream—it’s just that he chose not to do so
on the new album.
the album, we said, ‘If this thing requires
screaming, we’re not doing it,’ ” Heafy
explains. “The screaming style I used to
do almost killed me as a vocalist. Luckily,
Ron has been able to teach me a new way
of screaming, which sounds the exact same
but is one hundred percent a different
technique. We still do the screaming live
on the old stuff, and if we’d needed it, we
would have put it on the record. But when
we finished all the clean vocals—because
we always do the clean vocals first—we
said, ‘This record doesn’t need it!’ ”
Recorded at Baskette’s Paint It Black
Studio, just a quick drive from the band
members’ homes in Orlando, Silence saw
Heafy and Beaulieu sticking with the
stripped-down gear arsenal they’ve typical-
ly employed in the past, both onstage and
in the studio. “I’ve always felt that the least
amount of gear between the listener’s ears
and the guitar player’s hands, the better,”
says Heafy. “Our sound has always been
some form of 5150 with a Tube Screamer in
front of it, and whatever cab sounds right.”
“The rhythm guitars for this record were
all done through a 5150 III,” adds Beaulieu.
“The melodies were done through a Kem-
per profile of a 5150 III that I have; and
then all the guitar solos were done on one
of those Rhodes Colossus amps, and that’s
pretty much it.”
King V on all of the tracks, while Heafy
recorded his rhythms with a late-Nineties
Les Paul Custom (“The same one I’ve
had since I was twelve,” he laughs) and
his seven-string parts with his Epiphone
signature MKH7; he also used an MXR
EVH Phase 90 and a Dunlop Dimebag Cry
Baby wah for color. “It’s a very minimalis-
tic setup,” says Beaulieu, “but that’s pretty
much been our M.O. for our whole career.
We know what we want to hear, and we
know what equipment we need to get that
kind of tone.”
has now spanned well over a decade, it
becomes apparent that “We know what we
want to hear” should probably be Trivium’s
official motto. Though their fans might not
always agree with their choices, the band
has consistently displayed a well-defined
sense of musical purpose—even in their
early days, when they ruffled a lot of feath-
ers in the metal world by telling the press
NEWS+ NOTES
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G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
that they wanted to be “the next Metallica.”
“Yeah, that rubbed a lot of other bands
the wrong way,” Heafy recalls. “We tried to
dial it back and be a little more humble af-
ter that, at least for a while. But what we’ve
come to realize is, why should anyone ever
be afraid to admit what their goals are?
“When I was a kid and I first heard the
Black Album and I first watched Binge
and Purge, I said to myself, ‘I want to be
in a metal band that sells out arenas every
single night, and I want to change the his-
tory of music and metal!’ That was my goal
when I was 12; and when someone sets a
lofty goal like that, you should never stray
from that path.”
particular sub-genre of heavy metal. “Early
on, people were trying to pin the term
metalcore on us,” Heafy says. “ ‘New Wave
of American Heavy Metal’ was another one.
But we stayed away from that, because we
knew that we were always going to try to
diversify, and try to progress and see where
we’re going as a band.”
“I think why we’ve stuck around this
long is that we’ve always focused on writ-
ing songs, and not heaviness or ‘Hey, check
me out, I’m shredding my ass off!’ ” says
Beaulieu. “With us, it’s always been about
the overall, and not the individual.”
“We’ve seen whole scenes and genres dis-
appear since we started making music,” says
Heafy. “We’ve also gone through a number
of lineup changes, we’ve had massive crew
and personnel and label and management
changes—there have been some people
along the way that haven’t represented us
well, including ourselves at times.
“But nowadays, people know who we
are. They know that we’re good dudes, and
they know that we have constant motiva-
tion, determination and hard work behind
us. We just want to play our instruments
well, play shows for people around the
world, and continue to grow this band.
That’s all that we want out of life.”
NEWS+ NOTES
like it should have
C O T T
T H E B E A T L E S “Here Comes the Sun”
T R I V I U M
“Silence in the Snow”
R E O S P E E D W A G O N
“Roll with the Changes”
“Catch Your Train”
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G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
I L L U S T R A T I O N
B Y
POETRY IN MOTION
IF YOU’RE READING this, you’re holding some-
thing in your hands that is very near and dear to our
hearts: print. Despite the modern day push to turn every
reading experience into a loud, screaming digital one,
there are plenty of us who will always love the printed
page: letting our imaginations fill in the blank spaces as ink smudges our fingers.
However, if there’s a downside to print, it’s that it doesn’t move; it’s static. Stationary.
Maybe that’s why I get so excited about our recent efforts with regard to video,
and I wanted to make sure our beloved print readers are up to speed on what we’re
doing on GuitarWorld.com, our YouTube channel and our Facebook page. Yes, we
love print, but we love moving pictures too.
Currently, the Guitar World YouTube channel has more than 350,000 subscrib-
ers—that’s substantial, and it’s no accident. So what’s all the fuss about? If you head
over there, you’ll see for yourself. Artists are coming through our office doors al-
most daily, and many are being invited into our studio to film exclusive content for
our YouTube channel. Recent visits include Alexi Laiho, who showed us his five fa-
vorite riffs from the new Children of Bodom record, I Worship Chaos; Joe Satriani
and Tommy Emmanuel, who performed all the techniques covered in their current
Guitar World magazine columns; and Queensrÿche’s Michael Wilton, who talked
about and demonstrated some of his most classic riffs and licks. We’ve also enjoyed
having so many guitarists come through and do playthrough videos in which they
play guitar to a backing track of one of their songs: recent participants include
Atreyu, Crowbar, Shinedown, For Today and Braden Barrie from SayWeCanFly.
Add to that all the in-depth gear reviews and demos from our editors, and you have
a YouTube channel worth subscribing to.
If you’re looking for something more down-n-dirty, head over to our Facebook
page and see what the other 1.5 million followers have been enjoying lately. Every
few days we treat our fans to an impromptu “desk jam” featuring one of our tal-
ented editors. On any given day you may see gear editor Paul Riario in his cluttered
office laying down the solo to an Eighties metal classic, or online editor Damian
Fanelli showing off his immense skills as a blues guitarist and hopeless Beatles ad-
dict, all filmed with nothing more than my own iPhone 6.
At the end of the day it makes me appreciate all of the incredible talent lurking
behind these walls. We’ll always be magazine aficionados, and I hope you enjoy
the issue you hold in your print-loving hands—but there’s plenty more to this op-
eration, and we hope you get as much out of it as we put into it.
—Jeff Kitts
EDITORIAL EXECUTIVE CONTENT DIRECTOR Jeff Kitts EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brad Angle TECH EDITOR Paul Riario ASSOCIATE EDITORS Andy Aledort, Richard Bienstock, Alan di Perna, Chris Gill CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joe Bosso, Ted Drozdowski, Dan Epstein, Greg Evans, Randy Harward, Peter Hodgson, Mark Holcomb, Joe Satriani, Dale Turner, Jon Wiederhorn SENIOR VIDEO PRODUCER Mark Nuñez
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FG-521 Traditional
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
sible to overcome it. Thank you for
putting out such a great magazine.
—Jason Gottstein
for 26 years and have never writ-
ten in until now. I have watched
the band Decapitated mature
hoping you guys could transcribe
anything from their latest record,
Blood Mantra. I think Vogg (gui-
tar) has a Dimebag type of energy,
sort of like a death metal groove.
I am tired of rewinding licks on
cassette and would pay anything
for real tabs, especially for the
rhythmic masterpiece “Blind-
—Larry Franco
Ink Spot
roll guitarists: Chuck Berry, Keith
Richards, and Johnny Thunders.
and Johnny Thunders’ Gibson Les
Paul TV, which was a 1958, 1959 or
1960 depending on who you believe.
—Jon Dameron
want to share with us? Send a
photo of your ink to sounding-
[email protected] and
our Facebook page!
the cover of the November issue.
I’ve been a Slayer fan from the
first time I heard Reign in Blood ,
and to me they are the best thrash
metal band of all time. Frankly
I don’t think they get the credit
they deserve. Repentless is an
amazing record—a great come-
back after the tragic death and
loss of Jeff Hanneman. To me, it’s
the album of the year.
—Travis Zboril
For Christ’s Sake I’m writing in regard to the
comment about Ghost made by
James Harris in the September
issue. I am a follower of Christ
and enjoy living in a free nation,
and as far as GW covering Ghost,
that is a freedom I treasure
dearly. I am in contact with peo-
ple overseas who are persecuted
for their beliefs—thrown in jail
just for giving someone a bible.
Let’s keep things free in the USA.
—Jim Chumley
more pathetic than the sour mope
who fails to get the joke is the pre-
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bother to experience something
painfully obvious that you have yet
to actually spin a Ghost album, yet
you apparently know what’s best
for our guitar loving youth. It must
be terribly boring to live in your
world where everything is exactly
as it appears rendering experience
completely unnecessary.
—Kevin Miller
think you guys do a great job with
the transcriptions—would you
Guitar World : Yes’ “I’ve Seen All
Good People (Your Move),” Frank
Zappa’s “Black Napkins” or any of
these from Led Zeppelin’s live The
Song Remains the Same album:
“Whole Lotta Love,” “Since I’ve
Been Loving You,” “The Song
Remains the Same” or “No Quar-
ter.” Thanks for all you do!
—Matt Scoggins
ted by other readers in the Sound-
ing Board, I decided to share my
yard lamp. It was inspired by my
friend who painted his trash can in
the VH style. I told him he puts his
trash can in the garage whereas
my Van Halen lamp is on proud
display year round.
claims Slayer as having the
“Metal Record of the Year.”
Tough to argue that, because
Repentless is a great album…but
personally I will go with Meliora
by Ghost. The depth of the song-
writing, musicianship and pro-
duction are astounding on
theatrical bands, like Slipknot,
by critics as being all style over
substance, but then the music
proved that narrative wrong. The
Nameless Ghouls in Ghost give
insightful and entertaining inter-
November issue showcased their
nuanced arrangement skills and
powerful, tasteful playing. Please
continue to feature them.
10 years, and am currently serv-
ing a sentence in the PA D.O.C.
Life in here is tough, and you have
a lot of time to fill with whatever
rec you can get. I’ve also been an
avid reader of Guitar World my
entire time here. I love the arti-
cles and especially the columns.
Every month I learn something
new and I figure out how to add it
to my playing style. The last few
issues—especially the cover stories
on Slayer and Lamb of God—hit a
nerve in me because it was great to
read how some of my heroes have
overcome bad situations. The sto-
ries gave me a sense that, no mat-
ter how tough shit can get, it’s pos-
guitarworld.com
S T A Y C O N N E C T E D W I T H G U I T A R W O R L D O N &
A N D G E T T H E L A T E S T G U I T A R N E W S , I N S I D E R U P D A T E S , S T A F F R E P O R T S A N D M O R E !
Are you a Defender of the Faith? Send a photo, along with your answers to the questions above,
to [email protected]. And pray!
DEFENDERS of the Faith
Katina St. Onge
AGE 15 HOMETOWN Montreal, Quebec, Canada GUITARS Black Fender American Stan- dard Strat, Tobacco Sunburst Fender Squire, Cream Wood Fender Tele, 1972 Fender acoustic
SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Bryan Adams “Summer of ’69,” Kiss “Shock Me”
GEAR I MOST WANT Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul
Trailer Park Vampire
AGE 150 HOMETOWN Tupelo, MS GUITARS Homemade Super Strats, 1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Weezer “Hash Pipe,” Ghost “Mummy Dust,” Trailer Park Vampire “Rocking Vampire” GEAR I MOST WANT Friedman Brown Eye 100-watt amp
Brent Fettkether
AGE 18 HOMETOWN Dunkerton, IA GUITARS Jackson JS32T King V, ESP/ LTD EX-50 SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Metallica “Am I Evil?” and “Of Wolf and Man,” Megadeth “In My Darkest Hour,” Ozzy Osbourne “Crazy Train”
OF THE MONTH
If you created a drawing, painting or sketch of your favorite guitarist
and would like to see it in an
upcoming issue of Guitar World, email soundingboard@ guitarworld.com
with a scan of the image!
DAVE MATTHEWS BY DIANA PASIKOVJOHNNY MARR BY HECTOR LOZANO
Actual size: 11.5”l x 2.5”w x 1.25”h • Weight: 18.6 oz.
Not just another version of the Fly Rig 5® simply
bearing his name, the Richie Kotzen RK5 Signature
Fly Rig was a close, year-long collaborative effort.
Meticulous about every facet of his playing, singing,
songwriting and tone, Richie’s attention to the details
of this pedal was nothing less.
What distinguishes the RK5 from the Fly Rig 5 is Richie’s
Signature OMG overdrive. Tuned specifically to Richie’s
ear, the OMG section brings in the organic Class A-style
distortion, but with a tighter, snappier response. It is designed
to articulate every nuance of Richie’s dizzying playing style
for all modes and moods, from clean to aggressive and from
rhythmic chords to infinite sustain when it’s solo time.
The RK5 offers the same other essential features as the Fly Rig 5:
the all-analog SansAmp™, reverb, delay with tap tempo, and a
powerful boost. For fly gigs across the globe, jamming at the local
hang, and running off to last minute sessions, just pop your RK5 into
your guitar case and head for the door.
PORTRAITS
Overdrive is also available as a
stand-alone pedal.
WWW.TECH21NYC.COM
guitarworld.com
TUNE-UPS
P H O T O S B Y J A Y B L A K E S B U R G
T I M
tktktktkt
“pedal junkie.” At the San Rafael,
California, building that Metallica
affirms that he has “shelves and
shelves full of effects—hundreds of
them, for sure,” he says.
Now, rather than merely col-
lecting pedals, Hammett is making
his own. The guitarist has paired
up with industry vet David Karon,
with whom he collaborated on his
signature Randall amplifiers some
pedal company, KHDK Electronics.
high-quality, USA-made products
slightly different from what every-
one else is doing.”
Kirk Hammett Ghoul Screamer,
a Tube Screamer on steroids. It’s
something I’ve been wanting to do
for years.” The Ghoul Screamer
boasts three control knobs (drive,
tone and volume), as well as five
EFFECT PEDALS.
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
P E D A L : M A R T I N
K O V Á L ; G R A V E Y A R D : J J
K O C Z A N
extra switches—bass, high, body, and two
for compression—that greatly expand the
tonal options. “So you have more ability to
shape and mold the sound,” Hammett says.
“The most important part for me in that
regard is the two compression switches. I
like to mess around with compression, and
that was always a major thing I felt was
missing on a Tube Screamer—to be able
to have control over how much compres-
sion you want. So that’s one of my favorite
components on this pedal.”
cuit that everybody knows and loves, and
that Kirk has been using since the begin-
ning of Metallica, and create a pedal that
offers a little something different than all
the other products that are out there.”
Along with the Ghoul Screamer, KHDK
has issued two additional pedals, the No. 1
Overdrive and the No. 2 Clean Boost, both
of which, Karon says, “are original circuits
that we created with our lead engineer, An-
tonin Salva [ owner of Salvation Mods ]. So
the line is going to be a mix of pedals that
boast completely new circuits, and ones
that pay homage to already existing ones.”
Adds Hammett, “We’re going to take
ideas and morph them, mutate them,
expand on them and see where we wind
up.” To that end, the company is currently
in the midst of developing roughly 15 new
products, including an octave fuzz and a
wah. “And you know how I am about wah
pedals,” Hammett says. “I’m addicted to
them. So we’re going to take the wah pedal,
throw it on the ground, break it open and
see where we can go with all the individual
components to make something new.”
“Kirk’s strength is his tone knowledge,”
Karon says. “He comes to us with an idea,
we create the rough draft, and he comes
in and perfects it. He has a great ear for
these things.”
using his new pedals with Metallica, the
guitarist says, “I’ve been messing around
with the Ghoul Screamer a lot at home and
in rehearsal, and I’ll definitely have it in my
back pocket when I go in to start recording
leads in a few weeks.”
When asked if that means a new Metal-
lica album is imminent, Hammett laughs.
“All I can say is that if I’m recording leads,
then that means all the backing tracks to
whatever batch of songs we’re working on
are done. So it’s a pretty good indication
that we’re pretty deep into things.”
JOAKIM NILSSON OF GRAVEYARD
“Tensions” Charles Mingus
“Really cool psychotic wind instrument in this tune, which makes me doubt my
own musical skills…and that’s a good thing if you want to keep your feet on
the ground!”
“Roscoe” Midlake
“Nice song to just lie down, close your eyes and listen to. Bonus that it sounds like the theme to M*A*S*H in the begin-
ning.”
3
“On Battleship Hill” PJ Harvey
“I almost never get blown away by music anymore, but PJ never lets me down. She
and her music are as beautiful as ever and also truly amazing live, and that is
extremely rare in my book.”
4
“Raging River of Fear” Captain Beyond
“Extremely talented musicians, and one of the most underrated bands in history. Great vocals from Rod Evans, who was an original member of Deep Purple. He
influenced me a lot when I was younger.”
5
“With You There to Help Me” Jethro Tull
“Ian Anderson is a genius at making melodies. And it doesn’t hurt that he
plays the flute standing on one leg—it’s how it should be played!”
PLAYLIST
M A N D I M A R T I N I
NEWS+ NOTES
What influenced you to
you pick up a guitar? Well, I always loved music. My mom was a Fifies kid and when we were little, we used listen to all her 45s.
INQUIRER DOYLE
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
And that transpired into, you know, heavier stuff—Alice Cooper, David Bowie and Led Zeppelin and all that shit back in the Seventies. And when I realized I wasn’t
gonna play in the NFL, I picked up a guitar.
What was your first guitar?
It was a 1955 Les Paul. My
brother got it or me or eighth-grade graduation.
What was the first song
you learned? “Smoke on the Water.” [laughs]
What do you recall about playing your first gig?
It was at Irving Plaza in New York City. Technically, our first gig was, like, a TV show out on the coast. But Irving Plaza, you had to have a pass to get in. I thought I was at the top. It was totally cool.
Ever had an embarrass-
Not really, no.
No fights, equipment fail- ures, falling off the stage…
That shit happens every day—all o that has happened to me. The most recent thing that happened, I was playing at Golden Gods 2013 and, on the last song, I slammed my guitar so hard that it broke into three pieces.
Your last album was
Abominator in 2013. Are
you working on a new one? Yeah, we just gotta mix it, master it and title it. We’re kickin’ some shit around; we don’t know what we’re calling it yet.
What is your favorite guitar or piece of gear?
Gorilla Snot. It’s this glue that holds the pick in your hand.
Do you have any advice
for young players? Don’t spend your lie in your room learning all those arpeg- gios and G cles and all that bullshit. Learn how to write good songs and get a good singer. RANDY HARWARD
“I slammed my guitar so hard
that it broke into three pieces.”
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
J A S O N
M A G A E U
NEWS+ NOTES
Hate Eternal
changes. When guitarist Mike Reynolds
abruptly left in 2013, Sam Penner stepped
in. But he was asked to leave earlier this
year after the band felt he was too divided
between family and music. Then it looked
like Jim Hughes would be the new rhythm
guitarist, until lead guitarist Ryan Leitru
realized the ideal rhythm guy was right
under his nose: his brother and For Today’s
bass player Brandon. “He’s stepping in and
playing guitar because he’s always been
able to,” Ryan says. “He’s been writing
guitar parts with me for the entire time in
the band, so he will become the guitar
player for all intents and purposes.”
The lineup change hasn’t affected
the sound of new album Wake, given
that Ryan has always handled the guitar
tracking. “It just tends to go faster that
way, so we’ve never really gone through
a lineup change with that,” he says. But
when the band hits the road he expects
a new level of precision, power and syn-
chronicity. “Every guitar player has their
same language, but Brandon and I have
the same one because we learned to play
together. We have our own little mind-
meld thing. We can say things like ‘play
the geek chord’ and we’ll know exactly
what we’re talking about.”
Leitru’s latest guitar is a sleek black
custom Ibanez FR with dual-mode Fish-
man Fluence pickups selected to dial
in more refined high-gain and clean
tones. “I’ve played RGs for about five
years but I like Tele bodies and Ibanez
has a really cool line of them,” he says.
“It’s a giant chunk of mahogany and it
resonates very well: it feels like an adult’s
guitar. When it feels like it’s heavy and
you have to earn it, you sound so much
better for it.” The rhythms were tracked
through a Mesa overdrive into an old
Peavey 5150 and a PRS Archon. “We shot
out 10 different overdrives and about 40
different delay and reverb pedals. It’s
those little things that no one will ever
notice, but that’s what makes it fun for
the guitar dorks of the world!”
For Today IOWABASED CHRISTIAN METALCORE OUTFIT SHAKES THINGS
UP ON THEIR SIXTH ALBUM, WAKE.
By Peter Hodgson
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P H O T O B Y J A M E L T O P P I N G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
DEAR GUITAR HERO
“Captain Love” reminds
you guys toss around older
bands when you’re recording?
—Sherman “Old” Yeller
said, “Hey, let’s do something
like so-and-so…” It probably hap-
pens subconsciously, because
not planned. That song started
happening when I was in the
bathroom—I had this idea for
three huge power chords that
just ring. We tried it out, and be-
fore you knew it, the whole thing
was there. Actually, I take back
what I said somewhat: I thought
of the Darkness when writing
the lyrics. If you read the words,
they’re silly and comical, just like
what they do.
do an all-instrumental album
just for us shredders?
removed from that world, and I
have for probably 20 years. That
first record I did defined me as
a shredder, and it was a blatant,
deliberate shred record. Aside
tal record I had to do to get out
of a contract, I haven’t been in
that genre for a long, long time.
“Oblivion” is a clever song that is
a shred vehicle, but you can sing
the chorus. To me, that’s more
valid than an entire instrumental
record—a personal opinion. As
for an all-instrumental record, no,
I wouldn’t want to do it.
You worked with Billy
Portnoy? —B.T. Mosely
ally understood each other’s per-
sonality. With musicians who’ve
achieved a certain level of success,
sometimes their style or persona
is set in stone. I have my thing
that I do, as does Billy and as does
Mike. Sometimes that can make it
complicated to create something
each other’s established “thing.”
I knew Billy, but Mike was a wild
card—I didn’t know him. Some-
how we hit it off instantly; it was
like we knew each other for years.
I love Mike. We mess around and
have a great time.
Your live guitar sound
the secret? —Timmy Kehoe
and when I play it. On my last
few tours, I’ve used different
rigs—Marshall Plexis, Fender
Vibro-Kings, two Fender Twins—
so I’ve changed gear a lot. It really
A WHILE BACK, YOU OPENED FOR THE ROLLING STONES IN JAPAN. DID YOU ACTUALLY GET TO JAM WITH KEITH?CAROLYN JENKINS I didn’t jam with Keith, but Ron Wood gave me a fantastic compliment. We were all standing together for a group shot,
and he put his hand on my throat and said, “Oh, my God. Mick, did you hear him sing? He sounds like a cross between Rod Stewart and Bernard Fowler.” Ber- nard’s an amazing singer who’s been with the Stones for 20 years. After Ronnie said that, I had a real attitude problem for a couple of weeks.
comes down to how I play within
the context of the band. Billy and
Mike are very impressive players
and can be over-the-top, which
fits the music, so I have to find a
way to fit into that. I really can’t
overplay—it’ll sound like chaos.
I know how to listen well, and I
know what to do and what not to
do. I really think that’s the key to
sounding good.
Dogs song “Fire”—it
ballad. Have you ever written a
ballad and scrapped it because
you thought itwas cheesy?
lot of non-ballads and scrapped
them because I thought they
were cheesy. On the other hand,
I’ve probably written and re-
leased some things that were to-
tally cheesy. [laughs] You never
know. When I listen to something
that I’ve done and I like it, I want
to put it out. There’s been some
things I’ve held on to because I
didn’t like them. Whether they
were cheesy or not, I don’t know.
“Cheesy” is subjective.
signature Fender
about Telecasters so much?
guitar” rule?
—Barbara Farmington
I was a kid, my fantasy guitar was
RICHIE KOTZEN He’s released 20 solo albums, played guitar for Poison and Mr. Big, and is now on a “hot
streak” with Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy in the Winery Dogs, but what Guitar World
readers really want to know is…
Interview by Joe Bosso
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
a B.C. Rich—I loved the Warlock
and the Bich. I thought they were
the coolest things ever. Maybe I
should treat myself and buy them
now. As for Teles, to me they feel
like a blank canvas, particularly
my signature Telecaster, which
sound traditional, I can make it
sound huge like a Les Paul, and
I can do everything in-between.
The transparency of the instru-
ment is what I love. You can really
hear the player.
and work on technique?
I don’t do that, no. I look at the
guitar so differently than when
I was a teenager. Back then, I
wanted to practice and play stuff
to impress people. Pretty soon,
I realized that it wasn’t going to
work—there’s so many people
with that objective who do it bet-
ter than me. I didn’t want to be in
a competition I couldn’t win. So I
went back to when I was a child,
wanting to be creative and make
music. The guitar is just one
of many tools for me to make
songs. If I practice at all now, it’s
because I’m trying to take what
I hear in my head and make it
something I can play and record.
But I don’t do scales and all that
stuff anymore.
Chris Cornell to record a
duet? Your voices are very
similar. —Carson McMullen
would be fucking cool. We could
do a great R&B thing—he’d
probably be into that. I could play
guitar, he could drum, and we’d
both sing. But I think that once
people heard us on the same
song, they would stop comparing
us. First off, I’m nowhere near as
good a singer as he is. Second
of all, we sing pretty differently.
When we scream in a high regis-
ter, we have a similar tonality, but
beyond that, we’re not the same
at all. It would be interesting to
try to do something together. I’d
be into it.
DEAR GUITAR HERO
the one who told Rikki that I was
going to start to see her, and
that’s when the chaos started
and I left the band. But we did
bury the hatchet, eventually. I’ve
shaken everybody’s hands. Brett
Michaels hugged me at one of his
shows. I’ve seen Bobby [Dall] a
bunch of times—we’ve laughed
and joked. I’ve seen Rikki and
shook his hand, too. So there’s no
issues there.
you did “Shy Boy” by
Billy’s old band, Talas. Would
you ever attempt a Dream
Theater song? —Terry Johnston
familiar with Dream Theater as I
am with Steve Vai and Billy Shee-
han. I can only do a cover song
if I can connect with it on some
level. “Shy Boy” reminds me of
the Richie Kotzen who was 15, 16
years old, listening to albums like
[Vai’s] Flex-Able and trying to
figure out how to play like that.
MY GIRL- FRIEND THINKS YOU’RE HOT, SO I HAVE A
REQUEST: CAN YOU
less handsome, and I’m
doing a hell of a job of
it. I weigh more now
than I ever have—I’m
not overweight, but I’m
getting there. I drink a
lot and I smoke a lot,
although I just quit
smoking and haven’t
myself up. I do have an
18-year-old daughter I
my appearance, it’s on.
Do you own any guitars
that are just for show, or
is everything in your collection
functional? —Gary Levett
it’s also for show. It was given
to me in Japan—I was doing an
autograph signing, and a kid gave
me a Telecaster that looks like
it was made out of bark. I don’t
know how they did it. It’s really,
really cool. Now that I think of it,
I should hang it on the wall in my
house. It should be seen.
I understand that you
ever bury the hatchet?
so many stories got out about
it. What happened was, I fell in
love with Rikki Rocket’s ex. We
got married, and my daughter,
August, was born two years into
the marriage. Rikki and his ex
weren’t together at the time
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G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
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Devil You Know ALL SHALL PERISH GUITARIST FRANCESCO ARTUSATO AND HIS
BAND OF METALCORE NOTABLES RETURN WITH A SCORCHING
SOPHOMORE EFFORT, THEY BLEED RED . By Richard Bienstock
H R I S T O
S H I N D O V
THE BEAUTY OF DESTRUCTION , the 2014
debut from Devil You Know, was a fierce slab of
technically accomplished metalcore, and lived up to
the high expectations set by its pedigreed lineup,
which boasts former Killswitch Engage vocalist
Howard Jones, All Shall Perish guitarist Francesco
Artusato, former Bleeding Through bassist Ryan
Wombacher and drummer John Sankey, who has
played with Fear Factory, among others.
Now, the metalcore supergroup is back with
a follow-up, They Bleed Red , which proves to be
both a deeper and also more ferocious effort. Says
Artusato, “We wanted to make a record that showed
a little more of what we do. This one is a little more
intricate in terms of guitar work, for sure, but there’s
also some very aggressive, simple and straightfor-
ward stuff. There’s a little bit of everything.”
The album kicks off with “Consume the Dead,” a
song that Artusato calls “pure energy.” But it’s hardly
the heaviest track on the disc. That would be the first
single, the blast beat–propelled “Stay of Execution.”
Explains Artusato, “John [ Sankey ] kept saying, ‘I want
to have a song that has a little bit more of an extreme
kind of sound, with a lot of blast beats.’ ” He laughs.
“And we already had some of that, but him being a
drummer, he wanted more of it.”
While Artusato says that Devil You Know is
now “everyone’s main priority,” he also says that,
“musically, we’re still free to do other things.” To
that end, Artusato last year released his second
instrumental solo album, Our Dying Sun, and is
currently working with All Shall Perish on a
new record, their first since frontman Eddie
Hermida left to join Suicide Silence (says Ar-
tusato, “We have a new singer—we just haven’t
announced who it is yet”).
Right now, however, he’s solidly focused on
Devil You Know. “We’re having a lot of fun and
people are really liking the music,” Artusato says.
“And next year is looking to be very, very busy for
us. So it’s an exciting time, and there will definitely
be more records to come.”
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Stone Cold Classic ON THEIR NEW ALBUM, SILENCE IN THE SNOW , TRIVIUM CHANNEL MAIDEN, PRIEST, DIO AND
OZZY TO ADD SOME RETRO GOODNESS TO THEIR FIERY BRAND OF AMERICAN METAL.
By Dan Epstein
a black-hoodied Dutch teen who seems
incredibly pumped to be there.
“You stoked to see Metallica?” we ask.
“No, man,” he defiantly responds. “I’m
just here to see Trivium. I’m going to leave
right after they play!”
shares this story with Trivium’s Matt Heafy
and Cory Beaulieu, the two guitarists burst
out laughing. “The biggest question I have,”
says Beaulieu, “Is that kid still a Trivium fan?
Does even he follow the band anymore?”
“Yeah,” seconds Heafy with a rueful
chuckle. “Anything is possible!”
hem show, Trivium were known chiefly
for 2005’s Ascendancy, their acclaimed
second album, which contained a ferocious
mixture of thrash, metalcore and melodic
death metal. But the brash young Florida
quartet was also just a few months away
from throwing their nascent fanbase a
major curveball with The Crusade, an ambi-
tious follow-up that completely ditched the
metalcore aspects of Ascendancy in favor of
a progressive-thrash approach that owed
a heavy debt to early Metallica. Critical
(and fan) opinion was decidedly split on
The Crusade, but that record essentially
set the course for their next three studio
albums—2008’s Shogun, 2011’s In Waves
and 2013’s Vengeance Falls—in which each
release took a strikingly different artistic
and sonic tack from the previous one.
“We don’t want to be the band that
writes the same album six times, where ev-
ery record has the same production, same
type of songs and same formula,” Beaulieu
explains. “We don’t want to be a stagnant
sounding band. We wanted to make a
record that sounds fresh and exciting in
2015, and doesn’t sound like it should have
come out in 2005.”
push their own creative envelope has lost
them some fans along the way (while also
gaining others), it’s kept the band remark-
ably vital, as evidenced by their seventh
and latest studio opus, Silence in the Snow.
Produced by Matt “Elvis” Baskette, Silence
eschews the modern metal precision of the
David Draiman–produced Vengeance Falls in
favor of punchy, melodic, concisely arranged
songs like “Blind Leading the Blind,” “Pull
Me from the Void,” “Breathe in the Flames”
and the title track, and an organic vibe that
is clearly rooted in the hard rock sounds of
the late Seventies and early Eighties.
“We’ve always looked to do the opposite
of what we’ve done previously, and what
everyone else is doing at the time,” says
Heafy. “That’s the big reason why there
was no screaming, no breakdowns or drop-
D tuning on The Crusade, because all the
other bands in the world were doing the
same style. It was the same thing with Si-
lence; we said, ‘What’s the opposite of what
we’ve been doing, and what’s the opposite
of what everyone else is doing?’ And the
answer was, ‘Let’s go back to the Seventies
and Eighties!’
heroes of our heroes,” Heafy continues.
“What was Metallica listening to when
they were getting into metal? What was In
Flames listening to when they were getting
into metal? And it all seems to stem back to
Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Ronnie James
Dio and Ozzy Osbourne. Those were things
that we were already into, but we wanted
to delve further into them and truly allow
them to influence us, and see what hap-
pened to our music when we did that.”
Adding to the “throwback” feel of
Silence is the fact that Heafy, who has
screamed and growled on a sizeable chunk
of the Trivium discography, sings only
clean vocals on the album. In May 2014,
Heafy blew out his voice while perform-
ing at Rock on the Range, which forced the
cancellation of the band’s subsequent tour
I T’S EARLY IN the afternoon of June 8, 2006, and a throng of Dutch metal fans is swarming across the park- ing lot of the GelreDome, a cavernous, 34,000-capacity soccer stadium in Arnhem, Netherlands. Metallica, in the
midst of their Escape from the Studio ’06 tour, are headlining tonight, with Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for My Valentine and Trivium making up the rest of the bill.
“You have to always make
what you want to hear,
and not worry about
whether people are going
G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
S C O T T
U C H I D A
dates. But after working for over a year
with famed vocal coach Ron Anderson, the
singer says that he’s regained the ability to
scream—it’s just that he chose not to do so
on the new album.
the album, we said, ‘If this thing requires
screaming, we’re not doing it,’ ” Heafy
explains. “The screaming style I used to
do almost killed me as a vocalist. Luckily,
Ron has been able to teach me a new way
of screaming, which sounds the exact same
but is one hundred percent a different
technique. We still do the screaming live
on the old stuff, and if we’d needed it, we
would have put it on the record. But when
we finished all the clean vocals—because
we always do the clean vocals first—we
said, ‘This record doesn’t need it!’ ”
Recorded at Baskette’s Paint It Black
Studio, just a quick drive from the band
members’ homes in Orlando, Silence saw
Heafy and Beaulieu sticking with the
stripped-down gear arsenal they’ve typical-
ly employed in the past, both onstage and
in the studio. “I’ve always felt that the least
amount of gear between the listener’s ears
and the guitar player’s hands, the better,”
says Heafy. “Our sound has always been
some form of 5150 with a Tube Screamer in
front of it, and whatever cab sounds right.”
“The rhythm guitars for this record were
all done through a 5150 III,” adds Beaulieu.
“The melodies were done through a Kem-
per profile of a 5150 III that I have; and
then all the guitar solos were done on one
of those Rhodes Colossus amps, and that’s
pretty much it.”
King V on all of the tracks, while Heafy
recorded his rhythms with a late-Nineties
Les Paul Custom (“The same one I’ve
had since I was twelve,” he laughs) and
his seven-string parts with his Epiphone
signature MKH7; he also used an MXR
EVH Phase 90 and a Dunlop Dimebag Cry
Baby wah for color. “It’s a very minimalis-
tic setup,” says Beaulieu, “but that’s pretty
much been our M.O. for our whole career.
We know what we want to hear, and we
know what equipment we need to get that
kind of tone.”
has now spanned well over a decade, it
becomes apparent that “We know what we
want to hear” should probably be Trivium’s
official motto. Though their fans might not
always agree with their choices, the band
has consistently displayed a well-defined
sense of musical purpose—even in their
early days, when they ruffled a lot of feath-
ers in the metal world by telling the press
NEWS+ NOTES
Matt Heafy
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G U I T A R W O R L D • H O L I D A Y
that they wanted to be “the next Metallica.”
“Yeah, that rubbed a lot of other bands
the wrong way,” Heafy recalls. “We tried to
dial it back and be a little more humble af-
ter that, at least for a while. But what we’ve
come to realize is, why should anyone ever
be afraid to admit what their goals are?
“When I was a kid and I first heard the
Black Album and I first watched Binge
and Purge, I said to myself, ‘I want to be
in a metal band that sells out arenas every
single night, and I want to change the his-
tory of music and metal!’ That was my goal
when I was 12; and when someone sets a
lofty goal like that, you should never stray
from that path.”
particular sub-genre of heavy metal. “Early
on, people were trying to pin the term
metalcore on us,” Heafy says. “ ‘New Wave
of American Heavy Metal’ was another one.
But we stayed away from that, because we
knew that we were always going to try to
diversify, and try to progress and see where
we’re going as a band.”
“I think why we’ve stuck around this
long is that we’ve always focused on writ-
ing songs, and not heaviness or ‘Hey, check
me out, I’m shredding my ass off!’ ” says
Beaulieu. “With us, it’s always been about
the overall, and not the individual.”
“We’ve seen whole scenes and genres dis-
appear since we started making music,” says
Heafy. “We’ve also gone through a number
of lineup changes, we’ve had massive crew
and personnel and label and management
changes—there have been some people
along the way that haven’t represented us
well, including ourselves at times.
“But nowadays, people know who we
are. They know that we’re good dudes, and
they know that we have constant motiva-
tion, determination and hard work behind
us. We just want to play our instruments
well, play shows for people around the
world, and continue to grow this band.
That’s all that we want out of life.”
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like it should have
C O T T