Indholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 131 i Australian Guitar

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS A VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH PETER PIK Peter Pik was the resident guitarist at the City Tattersalls Club for ten years from 1995, where he opened for every show. It was here that he supported artists such as Marcia Hines, James Morrison, Russell Morris, Normie Rowe, Don Burrows, Gina Jeffreys, John Williamson and Doug Parkinson – just to name a few. He also has worked with guitar powerhouses like Phil Emmanuel, George Golla, Kevin Borich, Mal Eastick, and Bruce Mathiske. He has performed recitals at guitar conventions in Australia, USA and the South Pacific, and is also known for his collaboration with guitar legend Tommy Emmanuel on Tommy’s critically-acclaimed guitar instruction book, Note For Note. FROM THE VAULT: AN INTERVIEW WITH REX GOH Rock guitarist and musical director Rex…

Thanks in part to an unwavering eagerness to reinvent themselves with each release, AFI have pummelled through the decades and maintained their status as legends in an ever-twisting rock landscape. Whether emos, goths, hardcore kids or pop-rockers, the band have worn every new mask like it was perfectly molded for them. Such is what makes The Missing Man so polarising: it feels like a throwback to the AFIs of Christmas past, though spun through such a web of creative furor that it feels utterly fresh, too. In five short bursts of crumbly guitars and soul-caressing wails, the Californian crew deliver an album’s worth of dynamics, a full setlist of singalongs and enough searing Les Paul riffs to justify spinning the disc on repeat for a week straight. It’s also AFI’s…

Imagine this: you’re a young girl, trans or non-binary person growing up in Australia, interested in the exciting world of music and passionate enough to chase your dreams... Where do you go from there? Well, thanks to the work of Chiara Grassia, Shannon Driscoll and the global Girls Rock! Camp Alliance network, young people in Australia now have a place to take their next steps into the world of music. Spread out all over Australia, Girls Rock! camps provide a safe space for these young groups of people – who may not feel welcome elsewhere – and works to empower, inspire and encourage their passions in all areas of the music industry. When Grassia, founder of Girls Rock! Canberra, finished her Undergrad and went over to America, she had already…

The Sheriff is a compact preamp modelled off Victory’s amp head of the same name. Sonically, it courts the ballpark sound of Marshall amps from the '60s and '70s. Functionally, it’s designed to integrate with the circuit of an amp that you already own. It’s primarily designed to run in the effects loop of a head and provide extra preamp channels ahead of the final power stage. If you don’t have an FX loop but really want this particular setup, it’s also got separate outputs for a more conventional placement ahead of the amp. Ultimately, the main intention of a pedal preamp like this is to take a valve amp you already own and buttress its versatility with some extra tube channels. It’s easy to see how this could be…

The Line 6 Helix is ridiculous, in the best possible way. In its floorboard format, it’s the most performance-friendly processor on the market and can do pretty much everything. But it’s also priced justifiably high, and not all players need every feature it offers. For those who want a more streamlined onstage experience, Line 6 now offers the diminutive little HX-Stomp: a professional-grade processor which packs Helix amps, cabs and effects in an ultra-compact pedal. SONIC SCREWDRIVER The HX-Stomp is still loaded with plenty of sounds – over 300 amps, cabinets and effects, plus a looper. We’re talking all of the same HX models found in the Helix line, plus the legacy effects library from Line 6’s M-Series pedals and stompbox modellers like the iconic DL4. In their marketing, Line…

Firstly, the similarities: these two beginner guitars are inexpensive instruments, handmade by expertly trained and experienced manufactures in Guangzhou, China. Both have standard string length and an easy-feel neck that doesn’t seem thick like some classical guitars do, making it smooth and giving the player the best start to their nylon-stringed musical pursuit. TRADITIONALLY TERRIFIC Each with the usual 19 frets, they are equally light and nicely balanced, both in relation to the weight of the instrument itself as well as aurally across the strings and up the fingerboard. Either way, you’ll feel right at home very quickly with one or the other, and well on the way to making a great sound. Both with traditional bracing, the sounds are close to those you’d imagine walking through the tree covered…

Though usually tackling interviews with deadpan prose and a generally intimidating aura, Reba Meyers is in high spirits when Australian Guitar snags a call with her. The guitarist and vocalist is taking a short break from rehearsals, where, amidst brushing up on their breakdowns ahead of a trip Down Under (where she’ll leave no ears unscathed at the second local Download Festival), Code Orange are hashing out a few new ideas. It’ll be interesting to see where the future takes the five-piece. Their 2017 album, Forever, was a dimensional leap into new territory for the Pennsylvanian pit-brewers, dosing their usual gritty and guttural hardcore with a dash of sludge metal, some alt-rock attitudes and even a hint of industrial electro vibes. Though they arguably never were, it cemented well and…

Change is one of the perennial topics for an artist. There’s safety in playing to your strengths, but stagnation is also a real danger. Matt Corby has received almost as many props for his excellent guitar playing as his distinctive and powerful voice. His hit “Brother” was buoyed by a complex arrangement of electric arpeggios, and his acoustic fingerstyle prowess backed up his voice beautifully when covering The Black Keys for Triple J’s Like a Version. However, with Rainbow Valley, Corby expands his musical vision, leaning hard on keyboards and modern soul productions to inspire his songwriting and creative voice. “I’ve been getting stuck with guitar, because it’s the instrument I know the most,” he muses. It’s a sentiment any guitarist can empathise with. “It’s a psychological thing. When you…

In addition to having a great core sound and design, the Sheriff is loaded with many sensible features that really help to justify the high asking price (in Australia, you'll be looking at a number close to $700). A TRS jack gives the player the option of switching the pedal remotely. Both on/off and channels One and Two are controllable either via a two-button latching footswitch, or programmable switching unit. It’s a simple extra, but it gives you full control over the unit regardless of where you decide to place it. While this feature means it’s possible to secure the Sheriff out of harm’s way, it’s also worth mentioning that these delicate valves are housed very sturdily. The solid steel chassis feels bulletproof, and you can feel that same sense…

Eddie Van Halen ignited a custom-guitar revolution when he landed on the scene in ‘78. Yeah, there’s his famous ‘Frankenstein’ parts guitar, which has undergone all sorts of iterations over the years, but that’s just scratching the surface. Eddie took a saw to an Ibanez Explorer, put Danelectro necks on Strat-style bodies, chucked a Floyd Rose on a Les Paul, and on and on. And it turns out that all this experimentation was a sort of de-facto product research, because Eddie went on to pour all of that practical know-how into his first signature guitar – the Ernie Ball Music Man Edward Van Halen Model – and then into the Peavey Wolfgang – an instrument which was clearly an evolution on ideas first expressed in the Music Man guitar. Eddie’s…

The Les Paul Standard is the flagship of Gibson’s storied and diverse family of guitars – the pinnacle of Gibson USA’s historically revered (for good reason) guitar craft. Gibson knows that if you want a ’59-style Standard, you’re probably going to be shopping in its Gibson Custom range, so instead it treats the Gibson USA Standard as a way of reflecting what they see as the standard right now, not the standard as it was meant to be interpreted as a concept in the ‘50s. So what you get here is not a recreation of those iconic ‘bursts – if that’s what you’re in the market for, the Les Paul Traditional is much closer to that concept. Rather, this is a guitar with classic Gibson tone but modern playability. WELCOME…

In Venom & Faith, sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell – better known as Larkin Poe – have created a rip-roaring, melody melting, sinfully soulful album. That’s lot of adjectives, sure, but it’s appropriate given the voluptuous colour of this blues-rock wonder. As far as how the album represents where Larkin Poe are in 2018, younger sister Rebecca (the outfit’s lead singer and multi-instrumentalist) explains how by self-producing Venom & Faith, they were able to explore deeper into their own abilities, as opposed to 2016’s Reskinned and 2017’s Peach. “There’s so much non-verbal communication,” she says. “We’re able to creatively have conversations. And to be able to make decisions without having to run them by anybody else. When people listen to Venom & Faith, they’re listening to what our souls really…

Shockingly little is known about the mythology surrounding I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (colloquially iDKHow, because ain’t nobody got time for that), but we do know this much: they’re an aesthetic-heavy and esoteric two-piece doling slick, enigmatic new-wave indie-pop with a scorching post-rock edge. Their name is a quote from the ’85 classic Back To The Future, which is fitting given the duo’s audacious affection for the era. In fact, part of the (semi-)official narrative declares that iDKHow are either the modern-day prophets for a “lost band” that circled the underground bar-band scene in the late ‘80s, or that very band themselves. Spearheading this peculiar new project is vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Dallon Weekes (ex-Panic! At The Disco) and drummer Ryan Seaman (ex-Falling In Reverse), taking the incandescent…

FENDER MONTEREY BLUETOOTH SPEAKER RRP: $799 • fender.com.au Powerful and packed with music-friendly features, the Monterey Bluetooth Speaker makes it easy to bring Fender’s classic stage-ready style, performance and sound to your home, office or dorm room. Designed in Southern California with a look inspired by Fender’s classic amplifiers, the Monterey brings a famously clear sound to streaming music. LINE 6 HX-STOMP RRP: $999.99 • au.yamaha.com The Line 6 HX-Stomp is a professional-grade guitar processor that delivers the sound of Helix amps, cabs and effects in an ultra compact pedal. Whether you prefer to play through a traditional amp-and-pedal setup, or go direct onstage or in the studio, the HX-Stomp seamlessly integrates into a variety of environments and applications. Utilising the same DSP and HX Modeling technology as its bigger…

It’s been interesting to see Fender Musical Instrument Corp juggle its many different guitar brands. In recent years, it appears they’ve really hit the right mix: Fender makes... Well... Fenders. If you want guitar with a hot-rodded Fender feel, you look to Charvel where you’ll get things like Floyd Rose tremolos and humbucking pickups on otherwise pretty Strat-like form factors. But if you want a real high-performance shred axe – the kind that lives for ultra-fast arpeggios, crushing metal rhythms and intricate fusion-inspired melodies – you’ll find it at Jackson. That doesn’t mean the lines can’t blur from time to time – the transparent satin finishes of the DK3 Okoume and DK3 Ash guitars on review here have a bit of a high-end Charvel vibe to them – but it…

The Cort catalogue covers such a diverse range of electric (and acoustic) guitars that it’s hard to know where to start. But across this breadth of styles and facilities, there are a couple of common denominators: useability and value. Even entry-level Cort instruments have pro features that defy the ticket price. So, it makes sense to look at one of those more affordable instruments and, along with it, the practise amp that comprises the other half of a great value package. STRAT-TASTIC! The Cort G110 is a Strat-like guitar that offers some familiar features, plus a few popular twists to the design that make it even more practical, without losing the classic lines and facilities. The first thing you’ll notice is the shape. It has that timeless Strat shape and…

Aside from being the youngest people there (it’s an 18+ festival, and their oldest member just makes the cutoff), Alien Weaponry will turn heads at the 2019 Download Festival for their one-of-a-kind fusion of churlish, hair-whipping thrash metal and traditional Ma - ori culture. Hailing from the Ngati Pikia - o and Ngati Raukawa tribes, the Kiwi trio deliver their unique brand of scream ‘n’ shred in a mix of both English and Ma - ori languages, with cultural politics and real life violence at the forefront of their ire. Between their striking and intimate concept, and the band’s truly age-defying talent, it makes sense that Alien Weaponry are currently taking the world by storm. Their debut album Tu - landed at #5 on the New Zealand album charts, and…