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In a new interview with Brazilian journalist Igor Miranda, BUSH frontman Gavin Rossdale reflected on the band’s 30th anniversary. Gavin said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’m very, very lucky. I’ve had a lot of great people to help me. And there’s times when I’ve won the match and times whe…

Gibson Gives — the charitable arm of Gibson, the iconic American instrument brand — and Guitars For Vets have announced the third annual “Rock To Remember” live concert on Tuesday, November 8 at the Gibson Garage in Nashville, Tennessee.
The “Rock To Remember” live concert at the Gibson Garage will…

In a new interview with MetalSucks, LACUNA COIL’s Andrea Ferro, who is currently promoting “Comalies XX”, the recently released “deconstructed” and “transported” version of the band’s third album, “Comalies”, was asked about the band’s plans for a new studio LP. He said: “We’ve been working on it a…

Grammy-nominated Lancaster five-piece August Burns Red have announced their new album Death Below. It arrives on March 24 via SharpTone Records.”‘Ancestry” is a complex and technical ABR track held together by perhaps the most painful and personal lyrics Jake has ever written,” says Brubaker. “I loved this song in every phase since its inception. From the instrumental rendition, to the lyrics and vocals being added, to finally bringing it all together with Jesse’s anthemic guest vocals, “Ancestry” is a song we’ve been looking forward to sharing with the world for a long time.”The album features additional guest spots from guitarist Jason Richardson, as well as JT Cavey of ERRA and Spencer Chamberlain of Underoath.Death Below track listing:”Premonition””The Cleansing””Ancestry” (Feat. Jesse Leach)”Tightrope” (Feat. Jason Richardson)”Fool’s Gold in the Bear Trap””Backfire””Revival””Sevink””Dark Divide””Deadbolt””The Abyss” (Feat. JT Cavey)”Reckoning” (Feat. Spencer Chamberlain)August Burns Red – Ancestry (feat. Jesse Leach)More info: augustburnsred.com.

Sammy Hagar has admitted that he is thinking about how he will eventually retire from performing live.
The 75-year-old musician, whose raspy, soulful voice has been one of the most recognizable sounds in hard rock, from his early hits as a member of MONTROSE and a solo artist to his multi-platinum r…

Check out two variations in the company’s new sustainable line that feature Fishman electronics, an expressive voice, and a combination of African mahogany and European spruce tonewoods.Breedlove Organic Performer Pro Concert CE – Aged Toner with Suede Burst Back

A player’s guitar, the Performer Pro Concert CE seamlessly translates any musical style. The sheer versatility of the venerated Breedlove Concert shape finds full expressive voice in the outstanding tonewood combination of African mahogany and European spruce. This all-solid wood guitar offers power, sustain, and clarity, which is ideal for fingerpickers sketching out difficult passages along the slim, easy-playing neck, or for rock and rollers who want to dig in and strum through the night. With Fishman Flex T-Plus electronics built into the body shape that has defined the Breedlove sound for more than 30 years, this go-to guitar will shine (and sing) no matter how or where you play it.Breedlove Organic Performer Pro Concert Thinline CE – Aged Toner with Suede Burst Back

The newest revolutionary body shape designed by the Breedlove acoustic guitar geniuses in Bend, Oregon. Our Concert body has been amazing players for more than three decades with its balanced sound, versatile play, and comfortable size. For the last few years, our designers have been tinkering with ways to get that same depth and projection in a thinner bodied instrument that would reduce arm angle, and therefore arm fatigue. The Concert Thinline has a ¾” shallower body than our traditional Concert with the same range, projection, and resonance. The Organic Pro Performer is first production guitar line to offer this innovative shape, and we’re confident that everyone who plays it will fall in love with it. Though initially built to accommodate players with smaller frames and shorter arms, none of us in the shop can put this guitar down. It’s just SO comfortable. With a European spruce top, and all solid African mahogany back, sides, and neck, this guitar gives an all-new feel to a classic look and sound. Add in Fishman Flex Plus-T electronics and you’ve got a powerhouse instrument that you want to hold in your lap all day long.

In a new interview with Metallerium, SKID ROW guitarist Dave “Snake” Sabo once again spoke about the decline of the music industry as consumers value access over ownership and experiences over assets. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Napster [the pioneering late 1990s/early 2000s peer-…

Wisconsin’s Casket Robbery offer blood and guts death metal in their latest video.
The post Video Premiere: Casket Robbery – “Post-Mortem” appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

How many bands can pinpoint the exact number of times they’ve played together? “It’s rare,” acknowledges guitarist Vernon Reid of Free Form Funky Freqs, the power trio he co-leads with bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma and drummer G. Calvin Weston. Because “Free Form” is meant quite seriously—not a note of the music is planned in advance—every Freqs performance is a wholly unrepeatable event with its own distinct marker. This includes the three FFFF studio albums to date. The just-released Hymn of the 3rd Galaxy was performance number 73. Urban Mythology, Vol. 1, the band’s 2008 debut, was number three, after kickoff gigs at Tonic in New York and Tritone in Philadelphia (both defunct). Bon Vivant, the 2013 sophomore release, was number 15.Owing to pandemic isolation, however, Hymn of the 3rd Galaxy was the first FFFF project to unfold asynchronously. First, Weston laid down his drums. Tacuma responded on bass. Reid brought up the rear with a pair of signature model Paul Reed Smiths and an abundance of digital and analog stompboxes, amp modelers, guitar synth floor units, and laptop-driven software synthesizers. There were no rules, save for this ironclad dictum: one uninterrupted take per track, no fixes, no overdubs. If it’s not “an organic improvised scenario,” in Tacuma’s words, it’s not Free Form Funky Freqs. It’s something else.“I always dig an amp that’s gonna shake the room.” —Jamaaladeen Tacuma“I just closed my eyes and pretended I was onstage with those guys,” Tacuma recalls. “The key was to keep the integrity of our process,” says Reid. “It was kind of like a self-imposed honor system.” This is, after all, a band that makes a point of not soundchecking together at gigs. “We have to explain this to house engineers,” Reid continues. “We’ll get sounds, then maybe check bass and drums, then guitar and drums. But we make it clear that the three of us are going to play only when it’s actually time to play.” To do otherwise would corrupt the method.This improvisational purism makes sense given the band members’ overlapping histories in what Reid calls “the loose circle around Ornette Coleman.” The legendary alto saxophonist and free-jazz pioneer hired Tacuma for his groove-oriented ’70s band Prime Time, when the bassist was only 19. He later hired Weston, as well, at 17. “I was playing with [founding Prime Time drummer] Ronald Shannon Jackson,” adds Reid. “Calvin had played with Blood [experimental blues guitarist/singer James ‘Blood’ Ulmer].” There was a shared vein of experience in the contemporary avant-garde, and yet, as Tacuma observed to Reid one night, the three had never played together as a unit.“We have to explain this to house engineers. We’ll get sounds, then maybe check bass and drums, then guitar and drums. But we make it clear that the three of us are going to play only when it’s actually time to play.” —Vernon ReidReid, of course, had also ascended to rock stardom with Living Colour in the late ’80s and cofounded the innovative Black Rock Coalition. For decades, each one of the Freqs had straddled genres and blown open the conversation about creative music in their time. It was practically fated for this band to form.Vernon Reid’s GearGuitarsTwo Paul Reed Smith Custom Vernon Reid Signature S2 Velas (one with EMGs, one with DS pickups)1958 Gibson ES-345 (on “Earth”)AmpsLine 6 HelixKemper ProfilerStrings & PicksD’Addario NYXLs (.011–.049)Dunlop 205s, Brass TeckPicks, V-PicksGraph Tech TUSQ 2.0 mm (“It’s kind of a fetish,” Reid says of his fascination with picks.)EffectsMoog MF-107 FreqBoxRed Panda TensorDigiTech Space StationEventide H9Chase Bliss Tonal RecallChase Bliss Dark WorldBoss SY-300Roland GI-20 Guitar MIDI InterfaceSpectrasonics Omnisphere software synthArturia Pigments software synthStudio production for FFFF has been divvied up evenly: Reid produced Urban Mythology, Vol. 1, Tacuma took the helm on Bon Vivant, and Weston brought the remote recording of Hymn of the 3rd Galaxy across the finish line. Each album bears the imprint of its producer in some way.Weston named the new album and the individual tracks as well, and the meaning of it all becomes clear when you pull up a map of the Milky Way (one of three galaxies, along with Andromeda and Triangulum, that dominates what is known as the Local Group). “Near Arm,” “Outer Arm,” “Norma Arm,” “Perseus Arm,” “Sagittarius Arm,” “Orion Spur,” “Scutum Centaurus,” “Far 3 kpc”—these are names that astronomers have given to the Milky Way’s various regions. In this environment, “Earth” and “Sun” (two more track titles) are just infinitesimally small dots.“Bill Connors’ playing is so full of fire, but it’s also emotionally vulnerable in a way.” —Vernon ReidThe album title is also a conscious reference to Return to Forever’s 1973 album Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy—the fusion supergroup’s one recording to feature guitarist Bill Connors. “That record was very important in my development,” says Reid. “Bill Connors’ playing on it is so full of fire, but it’s also emotionally vulnerable in a way. I was very affected by the compositions, as well. When Calvin mentioned the title, it put this project into a frame for me—the idea of spatial ambience—and that did affect my choices for sounds.”Those sounds are an amalgam of raw, plugged-in lead guitar crunch and otherwordly sonic glitter: notes that start as notes but become starbursts, or decay like pyrotechnic embers; chordal shapes that overlap and gather into big nebulous clouds. With his seemingly limitless tech-heavy rig, Reid has all frequencies covered.Jamaaladeen Tacuma’s GearBasses1974 Fender Jazz BassAmpsAguilar Tone Hammer 500Aguilar 2x12s​EffectsKorg ToneWorks G5 Synth Bass ProcessorJAM WahckoJAM WaterFallJAM LucyDreamerStringsLa Bella various-gauge setsThe groove is just as essential, and Tacuma and Weston know how to bring it, whether it’s a slow shuffle (“Perseus Arm”), a mid-tempo Meters-like vibe (“Norma Arm”), or an outbreak of fast, full-tilt abstraction (“Far 3 kpc,” “Sun”). Regardless of feel, Tacuma’s criterion for a bass sound is straightforward: “I always dig an amp that’s gonna shake the room. I mean, I need that room-shaker. Coming up in Philly, hearing R&B groups at the Uptown Theater, which was like the Apollo, as long as that bass was shakin’ the room, that was the most important thing. Aguilar has proven to be a wonderful addition to my setup for the clarity and punchiness, and the ability to dial in certain sounds that I want.” Holding up the Korg Toneworks G5 synth-bass unit that he used on Hymn, during our Zoom call, he adds: “I’m not really a pedal guy, but now and then I’ll bring one out for a special black-tie occasion.”Ultimately, what explains FFFF’s ability to create together on the fly is musical intelligence and empathetic listening. When Reid’s guitar is more enveloping and spacious and legato, Tacuma’s playing might get busier, and vice versa. “If you go outside right now,” Tacuma observes, “somebody’s walking, somebody’s running. Somebody’s listening, somebody’s talking. Somebody’s eating, somebody’s drinking. All these things are happening, and with music it’s the same thing.” For Reid, as well, deciding when to go for maximum synthesized mayhem (“Galactic Bar”) or a cleaner, more identifiably guitaristic tone (“Earth”) is a matter of attending to the moment. “It’s different than dealing with songs that have a verse-chorus-bridge,” he says. “This is a whole different kind of flow.”“I’m not really a pedal guy, but now and then I’ll bring one out for a special black-tie occasion.”­ —Jamaaladeen TacumaWhen discussion turns to Tacuma’s other projects, such as his 2017 album Gnawa Soul Experience, the bassist suggests a link between the FFFF worldview and the time he shared with ethnic Gnawa musicians in Essaouira, Morocco. “Musically, I learned so much,” he recalls. “When they play all night and they don’t have anything written in front of them, and they’re just grooving and going higher and higher in the music, that’s basically what we do, when you put it in perspective. People relate to that; they can understand that.”With every Freqs encounter, the three bring new elements and ideas they’ve absorbed in the interim, and this keeps the music fresh and evolving. Tacuma and Weston continue to nourish their local Philly scene, mentoring and giving exposure to younger players. Tacuma’s annual Outsiders Improvised & Creative Music Festival always provides a burst of energy. Living Colour is still percolating since the release of Shade, its sixth album, in 2017. Meanwhile Reid has kept additional irons in the fire, including the Zig Zag Power Trio (with bassist Melvin Gibbs and Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun) and other projects. If he, Tacuma, and Weston keep up the pace, they could soon hit the big 100—the Freqs’ centenary performance. Stay tuned for that album.Free Form Funky Freqs Live | Ch0 | 2012All hail the groove! Sure, this 2012, Ljubljana, Slovenia, performance by Vernon Reid, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Calvin Weston is freaky … but the funky vibe dictates the flow of its ambient sounds. Catch Tacuma freestyling on the mic at 4:00.