Indholdsfortegnelse for Vol. 162 i Australian Guitar

THE VERSO SINE IS A FUTURISTIC ELECTRIC WITH FREELY MOVABLE PICKUPS Last month’s NAMM show wasn’t just about legacy brands unveiling new additions to familiar lineups: it was also for experimentalists looking to break new ground in instrument innovation – and Verso is continuing that tradition with its bonkers new Sine electric guitar. You need only take a glance at the Verso Sine to realize you’re not dealing with your average six-string here, but the developments it ushers in for guitar design go way beyond the outlandish looks and futuristic – albeit slightly intimidating – ergonomics. Because although the Verso Sine looks very much like a guitar of the future, it behaves like one, too: not only does it have freely movable pickups, it also boasts an interactive Sine Pad…

THE NEW MC5 album is called Heavy Lifting, but that would have been an equally fine name for the just-released tome MC5: An Oral Biography of Rock’s Most Revolutionary Band. The book was painstakingly compiled by writers Brad Tolinski and Jaan Uhelszki using the late rock scribe Ben Edmonds’ recorded interviews with the proto-punk Detroit rockers. Tolinski and Uhelszki are no strangers to this territory. Both are Detroit natives who made their mark in rock journalism: Uhelszki as a cofounding editor of Detroit’s legendary Creem magazine, and Tolinski as the longtime editor of Guitar World magazine and the author of the celebrated rock tomes Eruption: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen, Light & Shade: Conversations with Jimmy Page, and Play It Loud. The duo inherited the project from Edmonds — a…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3SyHhN9 Since the release of the 1984 debut album, Fistful Of Metal, thrash metal has provided the backbone to Anthrax’s unstoppable sound. In addition to fast down-picked sequences, alternate-picked riffs and serious palm muting, the band has no issues delivering a mid-tempo, heavy stomp. Or indeed blending grungy, alt-rock textures with sinister, menacing undertones. Anthrax has always been a two-guitarist band and, despite the lead guitar position moving through several players, Scott Ian has always been the driving force behind the group’s powerful rhythm guitar work. With that in mind this lesson delves into Scott’s unapologetic approach to thrash rhythmic precision, and the nuances that place Anthrax among The Big Four of thrash metal bands, alongside Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. “This lesson delves into Scott Ian’s unapologetic…

RRP $369 CONTACT Jands WEB jands.com.au KRK’s Rokit series is one of the most established monitor ranges, and although very affordable and considerably cheaper than its flagship V Series, they offer great sonics and decent features. The new fifth generation release has three models built around 5, 7 and 8 inch woofers, and it’s the smallest Rokit 5 Generation Five we have for review. Before we get started, it’s worth mentioning that although these monitors replace the fourth generation Rokits, the third generation Rokits are still available and are known as the Classic Series. So if you’d rather have physical controls and Class A/B amplification at a similar price point, it’s worth bearing these in mind. “The Rokit 5 Generation Five is ideal for smaller rooms and spaces and also…

RRP $4,299 (inc case) CONTACT Fender Australia PHONE 02 8198 1300 WEB www.gretschguitars.com Debuting in 1958, the 6119 Tennessean was the least fancy of the four Chet Atkins models available from Gretsch. Eschewing the Western bling of the other instruments – including the 6120 beloved of Eddie Cochran, the 6122 Country Gentleman favoured by Atkins himself, and the Les Paulsized 6121 chambered ‘solidbody’ Round-Up – it featured just one Filter’Tron humbucker at the bridge and was played most notably by The Beatles’ George Harrison, albeit in later form. Although nominally a 406mm (16-inch) wide single-cutaway hollowbody, the Tennessean’s depth wavered during its first few years until settling on the 64mm (2.5-inch) we see today. However, the most notable change came when Gretsch added a neck pickup, significantly enhancing the guitar’s…

RRP From $749 CONTACT Lava Music WEB www.lavamusic.com As we reach the second quarter of this century, it seems that nothing is safe from the ‘smart’ revolution. What started with our phones and TVs has made its way through our rigs and, now, the movement that we’re calling ‘The Internet of Strings’ has reached our acoustic guitars. “About bloomin’ time!” we hear you cry. Because it’s true, no good music has been made on an unplugged steelstring. Ever. You can’t even hear it over a drummer and, frankly, we don’t know how the dreadnought ever made it this far… In case AI and interconnectivity have stifled your perception, we are, of course, being sarcastic. Plus, the ‘smartification’ of our strummers isn’t exactly new, either. Lava Music has been around since…

WHEN WRITING FOR a vocalist like Amyl and the Sniffers’ Amy Taylor, punk-rock orthodoxy isn’t going to move the needle – not when she tears into the mic with stream-of-consciousness verses, using C- and F-bombs for punctuation. “The traditional sort of, ‘Here’s four chords, Amy, what can you do on that?’ doesn’t work for her,” guitarist Declan Martens agrees. “She needs to feel the craziness she has on stage when she’s writing, otherwise she’s not inspired. I need to entertain Amy to get her to choose my riffs to write to. I guess it’s just like taking vegetables to a toddler and being like, ‘Please eat this!’” That’s why it’s such a thrill to press play on the Australian pub punks’ third album, Cartoon Darkness: you don’t know what’s coming…

L.A. PUNK LEGENDS X made their major-label debut in 1982 with Under the Big Black Sun. The record, which followed two critically acclaimed indie releases — Los Angeles (1980) and Wild Gift (1981) — spotlights a more refined and polished version of their sound while not losing an ounce of the urgency of the previous two albums. As always, at the heart of the band’s — and the album’s — sound was guitarist Billy Zoom’s sparkling ’55 Gretsch Silver Jet. Zoom’s under-appreciated (and killer) chops are the lynchpin that ties together the left-of-center vocal stylings of Exene Cervenka and John Doe, not to mention D.J. Bonebrake’s rock-solid drumming. Below, Zoom discusses the making of Under the Big Black Sun and then gets into gear, the band’s latest album and his…

VIDEO & AUDIO https://bit.ly/3QPJWk7 The Rolling Stones have been around since 1962 so this is their seventh decade making music. With such a long history, the iconic band has a massive body of work, to which has been added their latest album, Hackney Diamonds. Starting out as a London-based blues group, The Stones achieved phenomenal worldwide success mixing pop, rock and blues, crafting their own unique sound that’s stood the test of time with classic songs like Jumpin’ Jack Flash, Honky Tonk Women and Angie which, even decades on, still sound fresh and exciting. The Stones have always been a two-guitar outfit, with the legendary Keith Richards having been there from the beginning, partnered originally by Brian Jones who tragically drowned in his swimming pool in 1969. Jones was followed…

EARTHQUAKER DEVICES GARY RRP: $399.99 • au.yamaha.com Conceived by Idles guitarist Lee Kiernan, Gary started as a simple request to create a compact version of the now discontinued Gray Channel, which was a mainstay on Lee’s board and a big part of his main drive tone. This was all fine and good, and sounded quite sick, but Gary was demanding that ED look deeper and explore his dark side a little more, Gary after dark, Saturday night Gary. So, they sat him down and began the trek of figuring out old Gare-Bear once and for all. The result is a dynamic and destructive pulse width modulated fuzz paired with a natural-sounding op-amp overdrive. PHIL JONES BASS DOUBLE FOUR PLUS BG-80 RRP: $1,199 • egm.net.au With increased power and newly added…

RRP $1,499 CONTACT Martin Guitar WEB martinguitar.com If you want that “symphony orchestra in your hands” sensation that only a 12-string acoustic can provide, my mantra is “go big or go home.” That usually means a jumbo or dreadnought model. If dreadnought is your preference, a Martin 12-string is a wise choice as they not only invented and perfected the dreadnought acoustic but they’ve also been making 12-string acoustics longer than any other company on the market today — just over 60 years, as a matter of fact. The Martin D-X2E Brazilian is an affordably priced 12-string acoustic-electric that delivers incredible value and should induce serious consideration from guitarists looking to add some 12-string magic to their stage and studio performances. Build & Playability You may have read the word…

RRP $699 CONTACT Dynamic Music PHONE 02 9939 1299 WEB www.dynamicmusic.com.au Whether you’re a novice, a shredder or even a dabbler, there’s a guitar that Cort can quickly curate for you. How so? Just head over to Cort’s comprehensive website and you’ll find a trio of dropdown menus that will generate the ideal guitar for your needs. While this sounds like I’m shilling for them, rest assured, I have no skin in the game; Cort has done just fine selling a dizzying amount of guitars, basses and acoustics without my help. What I can say is I’ve reviewed a few of the firm’s guitars in the shredder and the more contemporary categories — the KX700 Evertune and the G290 FAT II, respectively — and both were genuinely outstanding instruments. Once…

IT’S PRETTY DAMN cool that the very first commercially produced solidbody electric guitar, the Fender Esquire, can still kick serious butt today; you can’t say that about too many 75-year-olds. Many guitarists often forget that the Esquire came before the Telecaster and that a two-pickup version of the Esquire, which came a few months after the single-pickup version, was essentially the first Broadcaster/Nocaster/Telecaster. But here I’m just going to focus on the single-pickup version. Featuring just one single-coil pickup in the bridge position, a volume knob and a tone knob, the Esquire seems like a no-frills minimalist design. However, if you look closely you’ll notice it also has a three-position blade switch. Instead of the usual pickup switching function, this switch ingeniously provides access to three different wiring configurations that…

THE CHILDHOOD HOME of AC/DC guitar heroes Angus and Malcolm Young has been demolished, despite the fact it had been listed on the National Trust Register of Historic Houses. Located at 4 Burleigh Street in Burwood, Sydney, the property became the Young home when the family moved in back in 1965, the same year that the pair’s older brother George Young released his debut album with The Easybeats. In 1973, AC/DC formed at the address, and in 2013, it was added to the National Trust Register of Historic Houses. However, when it came to demolishing the property, the company responsible stressed it was unaware of the building’s cultural significance. “We regret that the previous long-term owner did not share this vital part of the property’s background with us,” says Burwood…

The following is a preview of the upcoming Jeff Beck biography Blow by Blow by Brad Tolinski & Chris Gill, scheduled for release in October by Grand Central/Hachette Books. JEFF BECK’S BLOW by Blow shouldn’t have been a success. By all accounts, it was a huge risk, even in the heady, more musically adventurous era of the mid Seventies. It was an instrumental album — an instrumental jazz album. Perhaps oddest of all, it was an instrumental jazz album by a rock guitarist, which meant that it ran a highly possible risk of alienating rock and jazz audiences alike. And even though Epic Records released separate singles of three songs from the album in Japan, the U.K. and the U.S., none of the songs became hits. Yet audiences in the United…

ON STAGE AT El Club, a respectably divey club in his hometown of Detroit, for a Cinco de Mayo show in 2022, Wayne Kramer was preparing to play something more than 50 years in the making — a new MC5 song. “Some bands take two years between albums,” Kramer told a packed house at what was, in fact, the first show by a new MC5 lineup. “Some bands take five years between albums. We take 50.” He then cranked up his famed American flag–painted Stratocaster to play the metallic riff that introduces “Heavy Lifting,” the title track from what is the first MC5 album since 1971’s High Time. It’s a 13-track set that fits the band’s legacy well. From its boldly topical lyricism to a guitar assault led by Kramer…

The Killers have become one of the most successful bands of the 21st century. They were formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2001 by lead vocalist Brandon Flowers and guitarist Dave Keuning, and after a few short-stay bass players and drummers settled on bassist Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci Jr on drums. While there have been replacements on tour for both Keuning and Stoermer, this line-up has featured on all The Killers albums and powers most of the group’s tours. The band’s style incorporates an eclectic blend of influences, from Bruce Springsteen and U2, to New Order and Duran Duran. Koening’s guitar parts are melodic in their orchestration and always serve the song effectively. There are also hints of early Radiohead in some of the single-note phrases that he employs.…

Take a walk down New York’s 8th Street in modern times and you’ll find barely a sniff of the 60s counterculture that once pulsed in this neighbourhood. There is just one last holdout against the gentrification of Greenwich Village. Blink and you’ll miss the mirrored gunmetal door. Yet beyond it lies the city’s most fabled recording studio, conceived by Jimi Hendrix in the late 60s, operational by summer 1970, and the scene of the guitarist’s final creative burst before his death that September. By now, everybody knows about Hendrix’s 1966 touchdown in London and the shifting of rock’s tectonic plates, about this Seattle-born sonic terrorist’s onstage humbling of Clapton, and the breakout Bag O’ Nails show that forced Britain’s guitar class to give up or get serious. By contrast, one…

RRP $2,295 (inc gigbag) CONTACT Dynamic Music PHONE 02 9939 1299 WEB www.dynamicmusic.com.au It’s never been easy to pigeonhole Godin, the long-running Canadian maker, which turns its expansive hands to everything from affordable steel- and nylon-string acoustics to $6k-plus signature electric models. If there is a theme, it’s practicality: good, solid craft that’s always very fit for purpose. This Radium is case in point. It was actually introduced at the start of 2020, in Carbon Black and Winchester Brown, just before Covid caused its havoc, while the Matte Green version you see here was announced in 2021. A change in distribution meant reviews were on hold, and while we managed to get our hands on the higher-end Radium-X with its LR Baggs X-Bridge back in issue 152, this base model…