The Grammy-nominated high minister of funk guitar and host of PG’s Wong Notes podcast take us through his spare but carefully tailored setup.Hey, what’s happenin’ people?!!! For Cory Wong, who kicks off episodes of his Wong Notes podcast with that question, the answer is he’s currently deep into an international tour—while still recording new episodes, writing music, and producing. But that didn’t stop the prodigious, prolific picker from taking the time during a recent stop at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl to guide us through his rig. By the way, the new season of Wong Notes begins March 9 with a big-deal guest, so stay tuned.Dracula Is in the HouseOkay, so that’s a guitar case and not a sarcophagus, but there’s a bloody cool instrument inside. Cory Wong tours exclusively with his signature Fender Cory Wong Stratocaster. This sapphire-blue-transparent-satin-lacquer-finished Strat features a scaled-down alder body with sculpted contours, a maple D-shaped neck with a 10–14″ compound radius, Seymour Duncan Cory Wong Clean Machine single-coils, a vintage-style 6-screw synchronized tremolo, and deluxe locking tuners. A panic button push/push pot on tone dial 2 bypasses the 5-way switch and defaults to Wong’s favorite sound: position 4. Wong tours with two of these instruments in standard tuning and one tuned down a half-step. While Wong’s on tour, Fender sends examples of his signature Strats for him to play—and quality check—at shows before they are sold. The Strats stay strung with Ernie Ball Paradigm steel .010 sets and he uses Dava Delrin medium picks.Plenty of BarkWong runs two DV Mark Eric Gales signature Raw Dawg heads. They’re solid-state but have a 6205 mini tube in the preamp, and, despite weighing less than six pounds each, power out 250W at 4 ohms and 150W at 8 ohms.Convene the CabinetsTo run with the Dawgs, Wong uses a pair of DV Mark cabinets. One has a Jenson 12″ and the other an EV EVM12L—all in service of staying clean.The Chairman’s ’BoardWong runs his Strat into a Shure GLX D16 Wireless. From there the signal hits a Wampler Ego Compressor, Hotone Soul Press II volume/wah, GFI Systems Rossie envelope filter, a Beetronics Vezzpa octave fuzz, Vertex Ultra Phonix Special Overdrive, a Jackson Audio The Optimist overdrive, a Strymon BigSky reverb, and a TC Subnup dual octave pedal.

Kid Rock will join forces with FOREIGNER and GRAND FUNK RAILROAD for a U.S. tour this spring and summer. JASON BONHAM’S LED ZEPPELIN EVENING will appear on select dates, with a special appearance by Trey Lewis at all shows. The 24-city “Bad Reputation Tour” will kick off on April 6 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana, making stops across the U.S. in Nashville, Boston, Chicago, and more before wrapping up with two shows in Detroit.

Asked in a new interview with Rock Band Reviews what he would say to those FOREIGNER fans who are reluctant to come out to see the band because of Kid Rock’s involvement with the tour, FOREIGNER bassist Jeff Pilson said: “If they’re not coming because of Kid Rock, if it’s musically oriented, well, I would say listen to Kid Rock; he’s a great artist. I mean, yes, he’s a rapper and maybe some people don’t like rapping, but there are definitely songs in there as well, And his band is great, and the audience is very enthusiastic. It makes for a great show. So I would say there’s absolutely no reason to not come out. I mean, if you’re politically against Kid Rock, I guess that’s one thing, but, hey, listen, we’re not letting politics get in the way. We’re all getting up there in very friendly terms and just make it a great rock show.”

Back in 2017, Pilson — an acclaimed producer and a veteran bassist who has also played with DIO, DOKKEN and T&N — said that then-President Donald Trump was “a dangerous man” whose vitriolic and divisive rhetoric could ignite another American civil war.

Kid Rock, a vocal Trump supporter, recently released a profanity-laced single that bashes President Joe Biden and Dr. Anthony Fauci over vaccine mandates and other policies. “We The People” features the chorus of “Let’s go, Brandon,” conservative code for “Fuck Joe Biden” (born when a NASCAR reporter misheard a crowd, reporting that they chanted in support of racer Brandon Brown when they were actually chanting expletives toward the U.S. president), and also takes aim at the mainstream media, CNN, TMZ, Twitter and Facebook. The track was released in January, along with two others, to promote the “Bad Reputation” tour, which Kid Rock claims could be his last.

In “We The People”, Kid Rock shouts: “We the people in all we do reserve the right to scream, ‘Fuck you!’ Wear your mask. Take your pills. Now a whole generation is mentally ill,” he adds.

Elsewhere in the song, he raps: “(Hey-yeah) man, Fuck Fauci (Hey-yeah). COVID’s near. It’s coming to town. We gotta act quick, shut our borders down. Joe Biden does, the media embraces. Big Don does it, and they call him racist.

“Inflation’s up like the minimum wage. So it’s all the same. Not a damn thing changed,” he exclaims.

He then calls for politically polarized Americans to come together, saying: “We gotta keep fighting for right to be free. And every human being doesn’t have to agree. We all bleed red, brother, listen to me. It’s time for love and unity.”

The track concludes with sampled crowd chanting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

In a Facebook video announcing the new tracks, Kid Rock described “We The People” as a “hard rock-rap tune.”

“[It’s] about, well, all the craziness going on in our world in the last few years and the politics and the polarization and social justice,” he said. “You know, constantly for just being a Trump fan attacked in the media day in day out.”

He added: “I don’t mind taking a punch, but I hit back, motherfucker, and I hit hard.”

“We The People”, “The Last Dance” and “Rockin'” are all expected to appear on Rock’s new album, “Bad Reputation”, which is due later this year.

Featuring members of Strife, World Be Free, and Internal Affairs, Berthold City brings the straight edge hardcore fire to lead us “Out of Darkness.”
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