See these jam-happy ganders soar with one guitar each and a stockpile of Strymons. Plus, learn why Rick Mitarotonda embraces random changes to his pedals’ settings.“Are you guys with the band?” A pleasant passerby asked while we were loading out camera gear near the Goose tour bus parked outside Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl.“No, we’re just here to do an interview.” I responded.“Oh man, tell the band that last night’s concert was uh-mazing,” exclaimed the joyous fan. “We’ll be talking about it for years to come.”And with that sort of impassioned, infectious positivity, Goose is following the freeform footsteps of the Grateful Dead, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, and Umphrey’s McGee—where polished, recorded albums are secondary to improvisation-rich, snowflake-unique performances that illicit exchanges like that above. (Adding to their jam-band credit, they livestream most shows, and guitarist Peter Anspach mixes the band’s gigs for release shortly afterwards.)Formed in 2014, the quintet still retains its original members: Peter Anspach (guitar, keys, vocals), Jeff Arevalo (percussion, vocals), Ben Atkind (drums), Rick Mitarotonda (guitar, lead vocals), and Trevor Weekz (bass). The Northeast-based crew has released two albums (2016’s Moon Cabin and 2021’s Shenanigans Nite Club), an EP (2020’s Night Lights), and Dripfield is on the horizon, for release on June 24.However, the recorded songs are just guideposts and mile markers. It is all about the live experience. The band often performs two sets, without an opener, and keeps fans on their toes with natural, symbiotic excursions and unlikely, progressive covers. The first evening of their sold-out, two-night run in Nashville saw them flex their musical adeptness and vocabulary with covers of Wes Montgomery (“Switchin’”) and Steppenwolf (“Magic Carpet Ride”).Their word-of-mouth growth has elevated them to cross several milestones in 2022. They sold out their first arena (Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut) and followed that with sell-outs at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre and historic Radio City Music Hall. So you can plan on seeing these birds fly high for years to come.Before Goose’s second sold-out show in Nashville, PG was invited onstage to catalog their current setups. In this Rundown, guitarists Peter Anspach and Rick Mitarotonda show off their all-night 6-string costars, detail the pedals that help them warp space and time for organic odysseys, and Mitarotonda explains how a looper helps him from hitting mental walls and getting cornered in redundant guitar-playing boxes.[Brought to you by D’Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]Suhr Is PrettyGoose guitarist Peter Anspach has always loved humbuckers, but he felt the huskier tones on ’bucker-equipped guitars had a few shortcomings—primarily lacking the 2- and 4-position squawk of an S-style instrument. The solution was switching to this Suhr Mateus Asato Signature Classic that threads the needle with an Asato Custom Humbucker and a pair of ML Standard single-coils. He rocks D’Addario Classic Celluloid picks (1.0 mm), NYXLs (.010 –.046), and Original Fuzz straps.The Backup BeautySitting close by in the bullpen is this Fender American Vintage ’62 Stratocaster that pulls its weight as a backup.A Reliable Deluxe“It’s just so full, clean, and reliable, and that’s what you need on the road. I can’t emphasize its reliability enough,” says Anspach of his Fender ’64 Custom Deluxe Reverb. “I have a ’70s silver-panel Deluxe Reverb at home that gets blown out of the water by this one.” He plugs his guitar into the normal channel, while putting his clavinet into the bright channel.Peter’s Pedal PlaygroundQuickly glancing at Anspach’s pedalboard, you see that he has his feet in the analog and digital worlds. The industry standbys include a Moog Moogerfooger MF-101 Lowpass Filter, Electro-Harmonix Small Stone phase shifter, Keeley Compressor Plus, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer (with Analog Man mod), and an Analog Man King of Tone. The modern juggernauts include a trio of Chase Bliss boxes (Dark World, Tonal Recall, and Mood) and a pair of Strymon stomps (TimeLine and Flint). A Dunlop Cry Baby Classic GCB95F sits in the lower righthand corner and a TC Electronic Polytune 2 Mini keeps his guitars in check. Underneath is a Strymon Zuma to power his noisemakers.One for the Birds!During his formative guitar-playing years, Rick Mitarotonda’s father took him to the House of Guitars in Rochester, New York. He tried a bunch of instruments that day, but the cream of the crop for 13-year-old Rick was a PRS. And ever since he’s been partial to the birds. His main ride for some time has been this PRS Hollowbody II Piezo. The hollowbody features PRS’ 58/15 LT (low turn) humbuckers that work alongside the LR Baggs/PRS proprietary piezo electronics. And similar to his guitar mate, Mitarotonda employs D’Addario NYXLs (.010 –.046).Bird of a Feather Flock TogetherRick’s 6-string insurance plan is in the shape of another PRS Hollowbody II Piezo, but this one technically still belongs to Anspach, who has settled into his Strat-osphere.Blast Off With BoogieRick has been plugging into Mesa/Boogie combos for 10-plus years. He started his journey with the smaller Express 5:25 Plus 1×12 combo with EL84s. He’s since graduated to the Express 5:50 with 6L6s. He’s stayed loyal to the brand because he enjoys how the amps naturally compress his guitar sound.V FormationMitarotonda has some serious pedal power at his feet. The first board on his far right is dedicated to vocals. He has a TC Helicon Play Electric vocal effects processor that integrates and is controlled by the TC Helicon Switch-3. (The Play adds an octave-up harmony. The three buttons on the Switch-3 toggle engage hardtune, delay, and reverb for his vocals.)Moving left, we have his first board for guitar. He has a Dunlop Cry Baby 535Q wah and DigiTech Whammy at his disposal before hitting a Lovepedal Eternity Fuse. Then he goes into a Mu-Tron Micro-Tron IV envelope filter, Strymon OB.1 compressor and clean boost, and a MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe. The top-right corner holds a TC Electronic Polytune. Strapped to the bottom is a Truetone 1 Spot power supply.The third and final board has a MXR Analog Chorus. And then things get serious with a 5-pack of Strymons that include a Deco tape saturation and doubletracker, El Capistan dTape Echo, TimeLine, Flint tremolo/reverb, and a NightSky time-warped reverberator. Off the board to the left is a TC Electronic Ditto X4 that Rick leans on to peel open new textures to help him get out of his head during improvisational parts and see his instrument with a fresh lens.

Certified New York City Hardcore superstar Danny Diablo resurrects Skarhead and Crown of Thornz for a multi-front breakdown war.
The post Rebirth Part 2: Reactivated Skarhead Takes New “Defiance” On the Road appeared first on Decibel Magazine.

Eddie Van Halen’s ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli has dismissed the long-standing belief among some fans that she contributed to the split of the original lineup of VAN HALEN.

Bertinelli, who has spent the last few weeks promoting her new book, “Enough Already: Learning To Love The Way I Am Today”, opened up about her life with the legendary guitarist during an appearance on the “Literally! With Rob Lowe” podcast.

Speaking about what life was like after the pair began dating in late 1980 following their initial meeting backstage at a VAN HALEN concert, she said: “After Ed and I became involved, all of a sudden there was this rule that there was no girlfriends and no wives allowed on the road.

“I got along great with Al [drummer Alex Van Halen] and with Mike [bassist Michael Anthony]. It was someone else,” she continued, apparently referencing singer David Lee Roth. “I don’t know why he didn’t like me, but what are you gonna do? I don’t know why he didn’t like me. I mean, I was always nice to him. I honestly don’t know.

Bertinelli told Lowe that she hopes to eventually make peace with Roth, who recently announced his retirement.

“One day I’d like to sit down with him and go, ‘Dude, what did I do? Honestly, I’ve always been a fan of yours. I think you’re a brilliant frontman, I think you’re a brilliant songwriter, I love your lyrics. Why don’t you like me? What did I do?'” she said.

When Lowe asked Bertinelli if Roth believed that she was the “Yoko Ono of VAN HALEN,” a reference to the wife of THE BEATLES’ John Lennon who is often blamed for the iconic British band’s untimely split, Valerie said: “Well, I have been accused of that, even though Yoko didn’t break up THE BEATLES, and I certainly didn’t break up VAN HALEN.”

Bertinelli split with Van Halen in 2002 after 21 years of marriage. They officially divorced in 2007. Eddie then went on to marry Janie Liszewski in 2009, while Valerie also remarried, tying the knot with Tom Vitale in 2011. Valerie told People magazine that both marriages were struggling before Eddie’s death. She eventually filed for separation from Vitale in November 2021.

In “Enough Already: Learning To Love The Way I Am Today”, Valerie writes about saying goodbye to Eddie when the legendary guitarist died from cancer. She and their son, Wolfgang, 30, were by his side in his final moments.

“I love you are the last words Ed says to Wolfie and me and they are the last words we say to him before he stops breathing,” Bertinelli writes.

Eddie died in October 2020 at the age of 65. The legendary VAN HALEN guitarist passed away at St. John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California.

Eddie was diagnosed with mouth cancer in 2000 and had tongue surgery. He later battled lung cancer and had been receiving radiation treatment in Germany. Things took a turn for the worse in early 2019 when Eddie got in a motorcycle accident. He was subsequently diagnosed with a brain tumor, and received gamma knife radiosurgery to treat the illness.

NIGHTWISH’s Floor Jansen has unveiled the cover artwork of her new solo single, “Fire”. Check it out below. The track will be released on March 25.

Less than two months ago, the 41-year-old Dutch-born singer, who made her live debut with NIGHTWISH nearly a decade ago, stated about the musical direction of “Fire”: “It’s a pop song, so it’s not metal, it’s not rock, but it’s definitely me.” Jansen went on to explain that the track will not necessarily be representative of all the new solo music she has been working on in recent months. “I guess it’s more of a mash-up [of styles] actually,” she said, referring to her upcoming collection of solo material, “though it’s not so extreme as in genres, like all of a sudden it becomes… Here’s a metal song and here’s a rock song and this is more poppy… I mean, pop music — the word of it — [it’s short for] popular music, and it kind of describes a lot, and within that it falls. I can only say that it’s not metal and it’s not rock, but it will have its influences and it will have a part of the sound. It can’t even be so that the first song is how everything else will sound like because, yeah, if you know NIGHTWISH and also for us, it’s always so hard to pick just one song that’s gonna be like the kick-off of an album but it can never really represent everything. And I guess it’s the same for this first song that comes on the 25th of March.”

Last summer, Floor said during an appearance on the “Breaking Absolutes With Peter Orullian” podcast that she had been working on a solo album since shortly before the beginning of the pandemic. “And it really kickstarted my own creativity that I haven’t really been able to use over the years,” she said. “It’s nice that it gets out. And I would like to do more of that and actually finish that album and make those steps and find a way to combine a solo career with NIGHTWISH and my life at home, which I even more value after spending so much time here in this green heaven [in Sweden] where I live.”

Jansen discussed the prospect of making a solo album during a 2020 interview with Metal Hammer magazine. At the time, she said: “After 20 years of rock and metal, I think I would like to do something else. I don’t mean stop with NIGHTWISH, but something alongside it.

“I was recently involved in a TV show in my home country in the Netherlands [reality TV show ‘Beste Zangers’, which translates to ‘Best Singers’]. That really inspired me to start writing, and the stuff that has come out is very calm.

“I would love to make an album where less actually is more. Something different — not because I’m bored, but because if you are already in one of the biggest bands in your own genre, and you have someone like Tuomas Holopainen as a songwriter, I don’t really see that I’d be adding anything by making another metal album myself.”

Earlier in 2020, Jansen spoke about a possible musical direction for her solo album during an Instagram Live chat. She said: “I cannot imagine it would be rock or metal — just because rock now I’ve done, and metal I’ve done a lot. And I’m already in one of the best bands, I think, that are out there, in my opinion, to my taste. Plus, if you’re in a band with a songwriter such as Tuomas Holopainen, it’s a little bit hard to come up with something — anything — better, I would say, and I only say that out of love and respect for him. Plus, after 20 years of metal, wouldn’t it be lovely to do something completely different for me? That’s how I feel.”

Jansen performed live with NIGHTWISH for the first time on October 1, 2012 at Showbox Sodo in Seattle, Washington following the abrupt departure of the band’s lead singer of five years, Anette Olzon.

Jansen officially joined NIGHTWISH in 2013 and made her recording debut with the group on 2015’s “Endless Forms Most Beautiful” album.

NIGHTWISH’s ninth studio album, “Human. :II: Nature.” , was released in April 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The effort is a double album containing nine tracks on the main CD and one long track, divided into eight chapters on CD 2.

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Posted by Floor Jansen on Wednesday, March 16, 2022