Erik Fincher has been around the block…a few times. As a tech and manager for some of the biggest names in the Rock and Metal world (including Static-X, Ministry and Messhugah), he has a wealth of experience about instruments, with what gear works with what, and the industry in general. Combine this with his serious chops as a musician in his own right, and he is well on the road to a highly visible and successful run with his newest project. His new band Blood Red Summer just put the final touches on their Self Titled Debut Album Blood Red Summer, which was co-produced with and mastered by Ken Jay (Static-X). We sent Erik a Jarrell JZS-2 loaded with Seymour Duncan Blackouts which he was understandably floored by; so much so that he produced a video to expound upon its merits.
Check out the amazing review he provides in the video below as well as what’s going on with his band. Look for Erik playing his Jarrell in Blood Red Summer in a city near you soon!
A big congratulations to our friend, Mac McAnally, who has once again been nominated for musician of the year by the Country Music Association! Way to go Mac!
a 20-year career at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night, Sept. 3, 2010 with their 1991 debut single, ‘Brand New Man,’ during the encore. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)” width=”130″ height=”97″ align=”left” />
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The first song Brooks & Dunn ever sang together has become their last.
The country music duo closed out a 20-year career at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Thursday night with their 1991 debut single, “Brand New Man,” during the encore.
The sold-out show was the final stop on their Last Rodeo Tour and doubled as a fundraiser for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.
Kix Brooks said early in the night, “This isn’t a funeral. We did show up to party.”
They ran through many of their 23 No. 1 hits, including “Neon Moon,” “My Maria,” “Red Dirt Road” and “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.” Reba McEntire made the only guest appearance, singing a few lines during “Cowgirls Don’t Cry.”
Both Brooks and Ronnie Dunn joked about the reasons for their split. Brooks blamed it on his crazy concert ideas, like picking old songs and hoping the crowd would help if he forgot the words. Dunn said he was jealous of the cowboy hats Brooks got to wear all these years. Dunn explained that it was the reason he got a tattoo of the word “Cowboy” on his right forearm.
Brooks acknowledged those in the audience who played a part in the duo’s success, including songwriters and people behind the scenes. In a nod to the fans, he said, “Most importantly, to the people who paid our rent for the last twenty years, all I can say is, ‘Thanks.’”
Walking off stage for the final time, Brooks gave Dunn a playful push.
The duo has sold more than 30 million albums and won more than 80 major industry awards.
LONDON – Yoko Ono says John Lennon is still helping her in her endeavours as an artist and peace activist as she pays tribute to her late husband before what would have been his 70th birthday.
Ono visited Lennon’s childhood home and school in northern England’s Liverpool on Friday. She was welcomed by hundreds of students at Dovedale School, before she went to the semi-detached family home that Lennon shared with his aunt from 1945 to 1963.
The musician was shot outside his New York home in 1980, when he was 40 years old. He would have been 70 on Oct. 9.
Ono will travel from her home in New York to Iceland on Lennon’s birthday to light the Imagine Peace Tower, an illuminated memorial.
Kenny Loggins, Newfoundland’s Rockin’ The Upper East Side Music Festival, Rhonda Vincent and a show in New Jersey featuring classic soul artists have all scurried out of big bad Earl’s way.
Santana returns to its Las Vegas residency, slotting a few January dates while promising more to come.
Currently playing The Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel / Casino now through Sept. 5, the critically acclaimed “Supernatural Santana: A Trip Through The Hits” returns Jan. 5, 8, 12 and 14-16. With plenty of hi-tech eye candy to please even the most jaundiced concertgoer, Carlos and the band’s Sin City multiple-night runs have been described as “the only rock ‘n’ roll resident show in Las Vegas.”
The Joint/Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nev.
May 30, 2009 (Alan Poulin)
Santana has a new album coming out this month that marks a departure from what you’ve come to expect from the guitar maestro and his band. Guitar Heaven…The Greatest Classics Of All Time features the band with a series of guest vocalists performing some of the most memorable rock tunes of all time.
For example, Chris Cornell joins the band for a rendition of Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love.” Other collaborations include India.Arie appearing with Yo Yo Ma on The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Pat Monahan singing Van Halen’s “Dance The Night Away” and Rob Thomas doing Cream’s “Sunshine Of Your Love.” Guitar Heaven…The Greatest Classics Of All Time drops Sept. 21.
Although the newly announced Supernatural Santana dates are the first announced for 2011, they won’t be the last. Santana is doing the Vegas residency thing approximately 36 nights per year, so expect more shows to be announced. Meanwhile, the new dates are on sale now. Just click here for the info
Phillip Jarrell is a guitar-maker and professional photographer based in Shanghai. He is a guitarist and an experienced songwriter with writing credits including “Torn Between Two Lovers,” written with Peter Yarrow.
In the spirit of GigMaven’s forthcoming Golden-Axe Competition (we’re giving away the beautiful instrument below), we’d like to bring you the thoughts and inspirations of the founder and maker of Jarrell Guitars.
Why did you start making guitars?
I’ve always loved guitars. I can remember watching my father play along with Johnny Cash, when I was about four or five years old. He had some kind of Jazz archtop guitar, and was using a Grundig Hi-Fi as an amp. I told all my friends I could play until I was ten, when I actually bought my first guitar (I think a Silvertone), and learned a few chords. I played songs like “Gloria” and “Walk Don’t Run” when I was 13, during my first gigs with a rock band. Then my dad bought me an old Fender ST from a pawn shop when I was fourteen. Wish I had kept that one. It was worn and needed paint. When my band started playing Hendrix songs, I stripped it down and painted white. That paint job didn’t last long. I sent it off to get painted, and it got lost. I went on to a Vox semi-hollow model. Then a Mosrite or two. Then finally a Gibson 335, and Martin D-28, which I kept and played nightly for the next twenty years or more.
When I was a recording artist with 20th Century Fox, I use to collect guitars. I noticed that a lot of touring artists used different guitars for different songs, sometimes using an instrument for only one song. I realized the sound and feel that certain guitars gave certain songs, and I used them as inspiration for my writing.
When I moved to Shanghai, I did not bring a guitar with me. I opened a fashion photography studio, and that dream came true. I worked. I shot everyday for about four years, until one day I fell down some steps in a restaurant and broke my foot. That slowed me down, and I started thinking about playing the guitar again. I looked around all the shops and could not find an acoustic guitar that sounded like an acoustic guitar. I went through all the shops in Shanghai, and then went to Beijing. Finally I did find an acoustic guitar that could inspire a song. I had never heard of the brand name. I set out to find who made it, which must be the most difficult task in the world. I’ve found that the source of a good guitar is a best kept secret. During the many months of research that followed, I realized two important things. First, that I knew photoshop very well, and with it, I could design whatever guitar I wanted. Second, the Gibsons and Fenders of my youth were now considered to be some of the best guitars ever made. For me they are just what a guitar is suppose to sound like. Since then, my quest has been twofold: to design a guitar that looks so great that you want to wear, and to make a performing guitar that sings, that inspires, and that sends me into another dimension.
Do you design the instruments yourself?
Yes. I remembered my dad talking about how a good tailor could make a suit after seeing a picture of it (he had a ring made from a picture he found in a New York Times). Once I found a couple of guitar makers whose work I liked, I started to design guitars in Photoshop. We got great looking designs quickly, but it was the art of guitar making that took time, and is something that will continue indefinitely. For the first two or three years, I read everything I could about guitar making, which led me to a guy with a Plek Machine in L.A. He could scan the guitar and show me each point on the fretboard where a buzz might occur. After each trip I’d go back to my luthiers to give them feedback. The learning process was difficult–they don’t speak English, I don’t speak Chinese, and my interpreter doesn’t know anything about guitars!
Along the way, as I reconnected with old music business buddies, I was surprised at the emotional responses our guitars were getting. We’d show them new designs via email, people were taking them seriously. They couldn’t wait to get one. These responses drove me to develop the instruments in the real world. In the beginning, my vision and ideas were limited by the craftsmanship of the luthiers, and I continued to search for more talented makers. My skills as an artist are exact, and guitar making is also exact. Every measurement is very precise, and once I figured out measurements that felt right, I was on my way to a great guitar. Presently, Jarrell guitars are the best playing instruments I know, bar none.
What other guitars inspire your instruments?
I am sure that all the guitars I have played somehow became a part of my understanding of guitars.
What’s one of your most memorable musical experiences?
I remember the first time I was in the studio with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section to demo my songs. Those guys signed me to write for them, and then when I brought the songs in they took me into the studio for the first time, and it was like a dream. I was so scared I could hear my self breathe and my heart beat, and I became so sensitive to the sound of my voice that I couldn’t recognize my self! Then there were the days when Mick Ronson and I spent a lot of time together. He and Mick Shane both played on some of my tracks. Being in the studio with Mick Ronson was also like a dream. One day after he finished an overdub, he laid his guitar down and walked out of the room. I went out and picked it up, and tried to play it with the sound set just as he had adjusted it for his performance. It was so powerful to touch that I could not control it at all. I have no idea how he did what he did, but it always felt like when he played a guitar, any guitar, it always felt like God was talkin’. Then there were some tracks I cut in Los Angeles. Listen to this group of players. We were in Malcolm Cecil’s studio in Santa Monica (Malcolm had moved his studio from NYC, where he worked on Songs in the Key of Life with Steve Wonder, check the video below). Malcolm was helping book the session musicians. We had Nicky Hopkins on piano, Earl Slick on lead guitar, Reggie McBride on bass, The Waters Family background singers, Raphael Ravenscroft on sax, the horn players from Tower of Power. That was still the favorite of all my studio days. It was in ’79, and the tracks were never released. Maybe we should put them out one day. There was also a few times that I met Stevie, and we would shake hands to say hello, and that was an erie feeling. I could feel him going inside my mind and reading my thoughts. No way to hide from a guy like that. Scary! Imagine if everything you thought was heard by those around you.
What’s your favorite part about making guitars?
I love putting new elements together. All the details are interesting. Even the smallest point like the color of the volume knobs, and how they feel when you touch them. I think of them like I am making a fashion show. Dress them up to evoke a certain style and vibe, and then figure our how to make that guitar sound like it looks.
What’s your least favorite part?
I discovered that when manufacturing anything, more things can go wrong than you can possible imagine. Only a road test over a long period of time will prove what really works and what does not. That is why it is only after 50 year that we know some of the guitars made in the 60’s and early 70’s were really great ones. I learned that there’s a great distance between what you think and what really is.
If you had to make another type of instrument, what would it be?
We have just started making bass guitars. There are so many different types of guitar, that it is like a whole other world to go from a semi hollow body to a solid body, and all the different points of a solid body, and then to acoustics, and now to bass. Each one is such a specialty. I can’t imagine making something I don’t have a feeling for. So anything outside of a guitar or bass I can’t even imagine.
Who are your top five favorite guitar players?
Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, Jimi Hendrix , Mick Ronson and Luther Perkins. These five guys had the biggest influence on me as a player, and I’ve listened to their music more than anyone else’s.
What are your top five favorite albums of all time?
Led Zepplin II, Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced, The Beatles Abbey Road, Tears for Fears Songs From The Big Chair and Loreena McKennitt The Mask and the Mirror.
What kinds of players are your guitars for ?At this time we have made a limited amount of guitars, but they are meant for professionals from a wide range of genres. They’re for sensitive players who recognize the what they are, and know the difference.
Do you think concert tickets cost too much? What would you give up in exchange for lower prices?
Earlier this week Ticketmaster announced it would, whenever possible, post all-in prices up front, including all applicable fees and charges.
Meanwhile, Bob Dylanperformed a one-off show at The Warfield in San Francisco where fans could only purchase tickets for $60 apiece on the day of the show. What’s more, only cash was accepted. No credit cards, checks or even ATM debit cards were accepted as payment for an evening with Bob.
Then there’s indie singer / songwriter Joe Pug who announced that ticket prices for his upcoming club tour will have a $10 ceiling.
Let’s face it. In many instances when we plop down our hard-earned money for concert tickets we expect visual and sonic extravaganzas. Of course, that’s a given when you’re talking about a Britney or Madonna. But what about the bands and artists that don’t employ dancers or multiple costume changes yet still bring plenty of eye candy to the stage?
Yes, U2 fans, we’re looking at you. The current U2 tour, with its gigantic stage and special effects, costs a small fortune to produce. Would you sacrifice the visual for a cheaper ticket?
But this isn’t just about U2. Would you buy a ticket for KISS, Korn, or AC/DC sans lights, lasers and pyro? Would you be willing to settle for a little less flash if it meant a little more cash in your pocket? Just drop your comments in our rather low-tech discussion thread below.
Denmark’s National Gallery is displaying 40 acrylic paintings by Bob Dylan that have never before been shown to the public.
Curator Kasper Monrad says the paintings in Dylan’s “Brazil Series” were specifically made for the Danish exhibition, which opens Friday.
The collection includes figurative scenes from Brazilian slums, farms and beaches. The 69-year-old folk singer sketched the scenes during visits to the South American country and then painted them on canvas in a studio.
Monrad said there were connections between Dylan’s music and his art.
Guns N’ Roses was forced off stage at Dublin O2 Sept. 1 after furious fans pelted the band with cans and bottles for turning up more than an hour late.
The U.S. rockers, whose late start was greeted with a chorus of boos, were 20 minutes into their set when the missile barrage became too intense for them to continue.
“Here’s the deal: One more bottle and we go home,” fuming frontman Axl Rose warned the audience.
“It’s up to you. We would like to stay. We want to stay. We want to have some fun,” he said. “If you don’t want to have fun, all you’ve got to do is let us know. We’ve got no problem – we’ll go on our way.”
The group then left the stage for an hour, before returning to finish its set.
Earlier in the week Rose delivered an expletive-ridden tirade against the police and the organisers of England’s Reading Festival. He later wrote on Twitter that the act had been promised it could play beyond the curfew at Reading and Leeds Festival.
The band arrived late on stage at both Leeds and Reading, drawing criticism from other acts on the bill.
“In regard to Reading we feel at the very least the fans deserve an apology from those responsible for the nonsense. We’d also like to thank the fans for being so great, singing along n’ not tearing the place apart,” he said. “So u know, we allegedly had a deal in place pre-show with the city at Leeds to do a bit longer performance that was either miscommunication, someone wasn’t informed, changed their mind, didn’t care or was a con,” he added.
“Regardless the nonsense just seems so unnecessary but without real management or industry presence it is unfortunately beyond our control. We hope the fans feel they got at least what they could from us under the circumstances as for us all things considered that’s the main thing. The rest is filler.”
These are in no particular order. That’s because accurate lists are time-consuming, all-encompassing shared social knowledge that have to be precise, detailed, and accurate for the benefit of all who may come across said list. However, I lack the time necessary to develop a maquette that will cross off all the parameters that are usually present on one of these lists. So I’ll just run with what I can think of that I would like to party and sweat to AT THIS MOMENT.
5. FUNKADELIC – LET’S TAKE IT TO THE STAGE An unbelievable album. The three-guitar attack of Eddie Hazel, Michael Hampton, and Garry Shider combined with the FUNK combines to make what I consider their best effort. These dudes made some of the best, underrated guitar albums of the seventies. This one in particular makes me freak out when the needle hits the wax.
a 20-year career
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