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New GREAT WHITE singer Brett Carlisle spoke to Kevin McKay of the 99 Rock WKSM FM radio station about how he landed the gig after the departure of GREAT WHITE’s vocalist of only four months, Andrew Freeman (LAST IN LINE). He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “From what I understand, [Andrew…

Michael Sweet says that he doesn’t believe that STRYPER will get inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame during his lifetime.
Even though STRYPER’s third album, 1986’s “To Hell With The Devil”, made Sweet and his bandmates the first contemporary Christian act to score a platinum album, the grou…

Former Alice Cooper and current Demi Lovato guitarist Nita Strauss performed her new instrumental single, “Summer Storm”, during her clinic yesterday (Saturday, October 22) at Big House Guitars in Atlanta, Georgia. Fan-filmed video of her appearance can be seen below (courtesy of Jumping Jack YouTub…

During a recent appearance on the “Bibledingers” podcast, John Cooper, the frontman and bassist for the Grammy-nominated Christian rock group SKILLET, was asked what he would say to those who feel that SKILLET’s art contains “demonic imagery.” John responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I…

PG’s Joe Gore is giving you the chance to WIN his “Filth” pedal in today’s Stompboxtober giveaway! Enter below!Filth fuzzMan, I love those mad scientist fuzzes with too many knobs! I’ve collected them for decades and used them on a zillion sessions. It got to the point were people were hiring me specifically to make those sort of farting, fried-circuit tones.But the downside of those complex fuzzes is that they’re a little too wide-ranging, with many settings you’ll probably never use. It’s easy to spend 20 minutes dicking around with the dials without nailing the perfect tone. I’ve always wished for a wild, highly variable fuzz that was a bit more “curated,” with easier access to the tones you’re likeliest to use.That’s what inspired the Filth Fuzz. It’s only got four controls, but it’s a cornucopia of cool, quirky, and usable fuzz flavors.The drive and level controls do what you’d expect. But unlike many fuzz drive controls, this one sounds great throughout its range. Extreme settings are molten-lava thick. Lower settings are like…slightly cooled lava, maybe?But the real action is in the two sliders. They’re tone controls of a sort, but not in the usual way. Most fuzz tone controls are tone-sucking passive circuits situated downstream from the fuzz effect. But here, the sliders alter the voltages at the transistors, radically changing not only the tone, but also the timbre, response, attack, sustain, and compression. In other words, the sliders radically alter the fuzz’s core character, as opposed to simply EQing a single core tone.Stompboxtober Day 23 Joe Gore Pedals

MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer Tommy Lee celebrated his 60th birthday earlier this month with a special party in Punta Mita, the ultra-luxurious, 1,500-acre resort and residential community located on a private peninsula in Mexico’s Riviera Nayarit.
Among the friends and fellow musicians who attended the bash…

Fan-filmed video of Tarja Turunen’s October 22 concert at Municipal Cultural Center in Žiar Nad Hronom, Slovakia can be seen below.
As previously reported, Tarja will release her first-ever “best-of” collection, “Best Of: Living The Dream”, on December 2 via earMUSIC.
Looking back on 15 extremely su…

Brian Johnson says that he couldn’t bring himself to watch Axl Rose filling in for him at the end of AC/DC’s “Rock Or Bust” tour.
AC/DC postponed the last 10 dates of its spring 2016 North American trek after Johnson was advised to stop playing live or “risk total hearing loss.” The band went on to…

Dave was minding his own business, waiting for the traffic light to turn green, when the driver in the next lane got a little crazy. It was a lovely day—the kind of bright Saturday when you might want to roll the windows down and just go for a drive. The guy was waving his hands and motioning to make eye contact. He clearly thought that a busy intersection was a good place to have a conversation with a total stranger. Because Dave is a very friendly and outgoing guy, he played along and engaged. His new friend only wanted to know one thing: “Is it real?” This wasn’t the first time someone had asked the question. It came with the territory when you were in public with a genuine early-1960s Shelby Cobra.Despite racing success and an outsized reputation, the Cobra enterprise wasn’t a slam-dunk, and there were quite a few points where the whole thing could have gone south before it actually did. In the end, the Cobra only lasted a handful of years. Most sports-car fans know that there are a myriad of small builders who make replicas of the legendary Shelby creation—that’s usually what you see on the road today—but very few examples of the original cars, now worth millions of dollars, are routinely out on the town. So, it’s understandable that when fans spot what appears to be the real deal, they might want to confirm their suspicions. Not everyone cares, but if you are a member of the tribe of motorsports, it’s pretty exciting.The same sort of queries get tossed out in the guitar world, which readers of this column know is a parallel I like to point out. The most obvious example is probably the 1958-1960 Les Paul Standard “Sunburst.” Similar to the Cobra, the ’burst was made for only a few years, and is recognized as the best of the breed. Another similarity is that both icons became desirable not just because of their incredible performance, but by the legendary owners who wielded them while attaining their own fame.It might be a stretch, but I happen to think that the car and the guitar are also similar in other ways. Both are known for their power and appearance, and the fact that they’re not for everybody. But the allure remains so much so that Ford (who provided the motors for the Cobra) and Gibson continue to trade on the name and reputation created by a small number of originals made long ago. It has to be said that Gibson does a much better job of recreating the experience than Ford, though.Both icons became desirable not just because of their incredible performance, but by the legendary owners who wielded them while attaining their own fame.Of course, there are hundreds of examples of the same kind of thinking in the musical instrument industry. My own roots in the “modern vintage” angle stemmed from attempting to fill a void in the marketplace when the big factories abandoned production of their golden-age instruments. Since that time, musicians have rediscovered the sound, feel, and romance of gear from decades past. What might have been seen as business suicide back then, has proven to be a workable model today—and not limited to the guitar industry either.The idea of paying homage to the glorious roots of guitar-based music by emulating the looks and the sounds of the past, while employing modern advances in manufacturing, is everywhere. From the obvious reissues of amps, guitars, and effects, the same playbook is being applied to digital simulations of speakers, microphones, and outboard recording gear. If you don’t want to throw down for the real thing, buy a simulation!For certain, there have always been products that ignore nostalgia and attempt to push boundaries. Stages, studios, and bedrooms are chock full of merchandise that may or may not live on for future consideration. Some fade into obscurity while others become entrenched in the new vocabulary of music making. It’s hard to know which ones will persevere to take their place alongside the icons we love. But like the story of Dave’s Shelby Cobra, I’ll bet a lot of it depends upon superior performance, with a big dose of artist association. Shelby’s reputation is certainly bigger than the actual enterprise, which ironically has added to the lore. They say the cream rises to the top, but a lot of luck doesn’t hurt.