Innehållsförteckning för Vol. 143 från Australian Guitar

It’s telling how, in a time of unanimous distress, Teenage Joans were able to bring a distinct wallop of genuine, spirited excitement to Australia’s up-and-coming rock scene. They’d built a hearty local following in Adelaide throughout 2019, but with their wry and mighty 2020 single “Three Leaf Clover”, the perseverant duo burst onto the national stage. They deemed themselves underdogs in the year’s Triple J Unearthed High competition, but for those of us watching from the sidelines (AG previously championed Teenage Joans in the #138 Fresh Frets column), it was no shock at all when they scored the grand prize. Riding that high right into the stratosphere, Teenage Joans take another powerful leap forward with their debut EP, Taste Of Me – which, as its title hints, takes the listener…

It was in 2016 that Australian Guitar first highlighted Polish Club, then riding the high of their debut EP and opening shows to crowds of around 100. They swung with a thick, groove-ridden rock ’n’ roll swagger lionising the greats of the ‘40s and ‘50s - albeit with a gruff, caffeinated edge of Australian pub-punk aplomb. When they rang the next year in with their debut album, Alright Already, they cracked the mainstream with little more than David Novak’s roaring baritone howls and passionate semi-hollow strumming, and the wall-rattling fills of drummer John-Henry Pajak. 2019’s Iguana retained the duo’s rock-centric bite with a slick dose of disco-flavoured sparkle and buoyant pop spirit, introducing a Polish Club less restricted by genre, but which still fit ardently in its wheelhouse of guitars,…

For any band 12 albums deep, there’s a level of normality to be expected - you’re not hovering over the play button thinking, “Okay, this is gonna be the one that really makes a stink!” This much is especially true for any band packing out theatres and shifting thousands of discs on the regular; if they stuck gold on a certain sound or formula, you can bet a hot dollar they’ll be riding it right to the grave. Every so often, of course, there’ll be one band eager to buck the trend. They may not completely shed their stylistic skin, but they’ll stir the pot just enough to keep longstanding fans hooked in and pique the interests of potential newcomers. In the case of genre-defining ‘90s icons Dinosaur Jr, that…

Deftly fusing prismatic prongs of blues, soul, pop, folk, rock, grime and hip-hop, Rag’N’Bone Man simply refuses to be pigeonholed. That’s been the case since the East Sussex singer-songwriter, real name Rory Charles Graham, dropped his debut EP Bluestown in 2012 - where on one track he croons with a gruff, battered twang alongside dusty acoustic strums and a ripping harmonica solo, and on the next he spits menacing rap bars over jazzy keys and 808 beats. Graham burst into the mainstream with his full-length debut in 2017, boldly dubbed Human. In addition to a torrent of critical acclaim, it earned the distinction of being the fastest-selling debut album by a male artist in the 2010s, debuting in the Top 5 on nine countries’ charts (and taking out the #1…

From the perspective of your average, casual music fan – think the suburban mum sees P!nk as the pinnacle of rock music, or the stocktrading suit who swears songwriting peaked with The Beatles – metalheads are the human embodiment of recklessness and depravity. But look past the gory and gristly aesthetics and you’ll find one of the friendliest, most sympathetic and benevolent communities on the planet. Wherever tragedy strikes, you can be sure to find at least one long-haired brute in a ragged Metallica shirt ready to help out. Notably so in recent years, progressive activism has become a cornerstone of the heavy music scene. Case in point: French groove-metallers Gojira, who’ve long championed environmental causes with their equally emotive and explosive shreddery. Their seventh album, Fortitude, looks to mobilise…

If there are two things we could all use right now, it’s a tall beer and a turbulent mosh pit. Both go hand in hand with the Celtic punk cataclysm of the Dropkick Murphys, so it’s a damn great sight to see them back and more boisterous than ever with their monolithic tenth album, Turn Up That Dial. It’s a markedly more cheerful effort from the Norfolk County sextet, for three distinct and calculated reasons: firstly, the band felt as though their last full-length, 2017’s 11 Short Stories Of Pain & Glory, was far too dismal – they needed to level out the field with some speaker-throttling party tunes; secondly, we’ve all just slogged through 18 months of a global pandemic – goddammit, we’ve earned that party; and thirdly, Don**d…

It stands to reason that, as one of the bands that helped pioneer and define it, Weezer are synonymous with the boom of bubbly and buoyant, ultra-melodic pop-rock of the late ‘90s and early 2000s. But while that’s where the Californian quartet’s mainstream esteem may have peaked, it’s undoubtedly today that Weezer’s flame burns the brightest. Since roaring back to life from their second hiatus with 2014’s ripping and rousing Everythingt Will Be Alright In The End (on which they treated old-school fans to an onslaught of booming hooks and earwormish choruses), they’ve struck gold with everything from doughy ‘60s-revering surf-rock (on 2016’s White Album) to polarising avant-garde pop (on 2019’s Black Album) and even tongue-in-cheek covers of yesteryear’s cheesiest FM hits (on 2019’s Teal Album). But as they near…

It was well overdue. Since Zappa’s death in 1993 there has been a yawning gap where a film about his life should be, and actor/director Alex Winter found it hard to believe that nothing had been done to fill that space so far. “It seemed striking to me that there had yet to be a definitive, all-access documentary on the life and times of Frank Zappa,” he said. “We set out to make that film, to tell a story that is not a music doc, or a conventional biopic, but the dramatic saga of a great American artist and thinker – a film that would set out to convey the scope of Zappa’s prodigious and varied creative output, and the breadth of his extraordinary personal life. First and foremost, I…

During rock ’n’ roll’s fledgling years of the 1950s, Gibson was riding the wave of the electric guitar boom while Epiphone’s once-feted archtops became dead in the water. Whereas Gibson flourished in the post-war years following its acquisition by Chicago Musical Instruments (CMI) in 1944 and the subsequent appointment of Ted McCarty as CEO in 1948, Epiphone embarked on a long, slow decline following the death of its visionary founder, Epi Stathopoulo, in 1943. Along with infighting, unionisation problems and a partial relocation to Philadelphia in 1953, the House of Stathopoulo (as it was previously known) stood divided. The once-proud brand, Epiphone Inc. of New York – Gibson’s fiercest competitor in the revolutionary pre-war archtop era – was now a spent force. Save for one thing: it still built some…

For an album that took 13 painstakingly long and arduous years to bring to life, it stands to reason why Tool guitarist Adam Jones would put so much effort into meticulously crafting his tone for Fear Inoculum. The Californian post-metallers’ fifth album was critically adored for a multitude of reasons, but at the forefront of them all was the punchy, polychromatic and poignant guitar runs that Jones delivered. Working closely with Jones on Fear Inoculum was producer Joe Barresi – who alongside Tool has worked with such alternative staples as Kyuss, Slipknot, the Melvins, Queen Of The Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails (to name just a select few). There’s a method to Barresi’s madness that makes him the kind of legendary producer bands pray they have the chance to…

RRP: $99 The WIDI Master is a new MIDI-via-Bluetooth wireless system from CME and one of three wireless MIDIs they’ve been developing. Designed for hooking up devices with traditional five-pin DIN MIDI connections, WIDI Master can communicate directly with Bluetooth LE-equipped devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops. Significantly, and unlike some other options on the market, you can also use two pairs of WIDI Masters to connect two MIDI-socket-equipped devices. Each pack includes two MIDI adapters – main and sub. The slightly larger main unit is connected to your device’s MIDI Out (from which it gets its power) and this acts as a send-and-receive module. The smaller sub unit connects to your device MIDI In and gets its signal when plugged into the main unit using the small…

RRP: $1,449 Ever since the early days of multi-effects units, the market has understood that it makes good sense to offer the same basic product in a variety of simpler and more complex configurations. The Line 6 Helix is a revolutionary piece of kit, but if you need something much more stripped down, there’s the adorable little HX Stomp, with a smaller footprint than most tablet computers but loaded with over 300 amps, cabs and effects from the Helix. It’s a riotously fun piece of kit, limited only by its control configuration which is based on a trio of footswitches. The HX Stomp, which uses those same great sounds and features as a starting point, sees you regarding Helix with envious eyes and decides to meet you halfway there with…

ACOLYTE THEY ARE an equally operatic and eruptive five-piece from Melbourne, whose monolithic records make even the most destructive riffs feel elegant. To put it succinctly, they’re the future of Australian prog-metal. THEY SOUND LIKE a blindfolded ride on the world’s most unpredictable rollercoaster. We have a theory that when people with synaesthesia listen to Acolyte, they’re able to see colours that don’t actually exist - the quintet will them into existence with the sheer might of their sonic volatility. YOU’LL DIG THEM IF YOU LIKE Karnivool, Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend, and hiking your way to the top of a mountain to stare in awe over the horizon, astonished by the widescreen beauty of the natural world… Then racing back down to thrash away in the mosh at a sweaty,…

After a century-plus of music’s evolution, the concept of ‘originality’ has started to feel obsolete. If a sound exists, or has the potential to, trust that some agile producer has already found a way to make it bop in 4/4. In the 21st century, innovation is less about what you can invent than what you can do with the elements at your disposal. In recent years, we’ve seen death metal with horn sections, electronic ska, even classic rock written by artificial intelligence. Sometimes I wonder how John Lennon would’ve responded to dubstep. The point is: genuinely anything is possible. And that’s the core ethos on which Texan pop-punk outfit Waterparks is built. Eschewing the typical monochrome garb and reliance on themes of angst and anxiety, the trio embrace eccentricity with…

With three consecutive #1 albums, a trophy case of accolades and more sold-out shows than you could wave a mic stand at, You Am I had one hell of a run in the ‘90s. But as the years went by and their stronghold on the Aussie alt-rock circuit waned, so too did frontman Tim Rogers’ adoration for it. By 2018, touring had become a chore, and Rogers seemed ready to pack up his pedalboard for good. He turned his songwriting efforts to folk tunes. He got a job at a bar. The dream, as it were, was over. It was on a 2019 trip to the New South Wales south coast, where You Am I spent their seminal years practising, that Rogers first penned “The Waterboy”. There was no grand…

It’s been a storied 15 years for Melbourne-native folk goddess Liz Stringer, with a string of critically cherished studio and live albums, a devoted cult following on local shores (though as NME’s David James Young attests, “she deserves her own megachurch”) and a phenomenal collaborative project with fellow indie-rockers Mia Dyson and Jen Cloher (nonchalantly dubbed Dyson Stringer Cloher). But despite already establishing a remarkable legacy, it’s on Stringer’s newest effort, First Time Really Feeling - her first solo full-length in half a decade - that she truly opens herself up to the world. In more ways than one, you could call it the debut album from Liz Stringer 2. On a sonic wavelength, First Time Really Feeling is Stringer’s sharpest, crispiest and most instantly earwormish effort - the soundscapes…

For their cool and cruisy 11th album (12th if you count Words Of Wisdom And Hope, their ’02 team-up with Jad Fair), Teenage Fanclub honed in on the art of introspection. Endless Arcade feels distinctly human, the Scottish rockers weaving sharp and soulful tales of hope, home, love and loss around passages of airy pop and fuzzy surf-rock. As for its seemingly nonsensical title, co-frontman Raymond McGinley explains, “I think of an endless arcade as a city that you can wander through, with a sense of mystery, an imaginary one that goes on forever. When it came to choosing an album title, it seemed to have something for this collection of songs.” Even without McGinley’s philosophical context, the title feels apt for Endless Arcade. There’s a lucid sense of serpentine…

The human body is intrinsically cruel: it’s the tastiest treats that do the worst damage to our teeth, the most exhilarating activities that hasten our decay, and the most euphonious sounds – big, belting rock ’n’ roll riffs – that pose the most risk to our eardrums. Listening to Royal Blood with our headphones cranked to their absolute limits may do wondrous things for our serotonin transporters, but it certainly isn’t healthy for us in the long run. But oh well – you only live once, right? The first two Royal Blood albums were all about getting heads thrashing and fists pumping – they’re vicious, ultra kinetic nuggets of garage-tinged punk that can turn even the most passive of crowd-dwellers into a bonafide king of the mosh. Especially for a…

In the nine years since they dropped the icy and introspective Days Go By, The Offspring haven’t been entirely quiet – they’ve been a festival mainstay everywhere from Austria to Australia, and the latter years of the 2010s were their most prolific on the touring circuit since the ‘90s – but on the recorded front, fans have been malnourished for much too long. But just when the world needed lively, pit-splitting skate-punk scorchers more desperately than ever, the millennial playlist mainstays pulled through. Let The Bad Times Roll is a turbulent as it is timely, with tracks that are polarising and political in theme, but unequivocally ripping in sound. ‘90s kids will glean the most out of its mid-fi production and raucous, rough-around-the-edges shredding à la colossal melodies – but…

Whether intentional or not, most albums are purpose-built for certain moods and backdrops – be it an emo record fitting for late-night existential crises under a fort of blankets, a hard-rock scorcher suited for blaring car stereos with the wind rippling through your hair, or a punk opus that offers some much-needed energy while you’re shredding at the gym. In the case of the latest epic from Atlantan indie-rockers Manchester Orchestra, we’d recommend dimming the lights, sparking up some incense, sinking into your comfiest recliner and breaking out the good headphones, cranking that volume up to 11 and allowing The Million Masks Of God to drag you deep into its world. A follow-up to 2017’s Americana-flavoured Black Mile To The Surface, LP6 expands the broad, lofty palate of tones and…

Open G, one of the most popular and widely used open tunings, is particularly associated with Keith Richards who used it on a number of tracks, including “Honky Tonk Women” and “Start Me Up”. It retains the core of standard tuning on the second, third and fourth strings (D, G and B) but both high and low E strings are dropped a tone to D. The fifth/A string is also lowered to G, making it the root note of most shapes – so much so that Keith Richards stopped bothering at all with the sixth string on the guitars he keeps in this tuning! However, there are some fantastic chords available using the sixth string for more fingerstyle/folky areas, and these take into consideration such players as Robert Johnson, Gram…

My Bloody Valentine are the ultimate ‘90s cult guitar band. They helped define a genre – shoegaze – before transcending it, then disappearing for 20 years. Though their influence remained, their records were so out-of-fashion that they were impossible to find until eBay came along. By the time of their seminal album Loveless, their approach to the guitar was completely iconoclastic. Led by the mercurial Kevin Shields, alongside coguitarist Bilinda Butcher, they developed a way of playing the guitar that had a lot more to do with atmosphere and sound design than just simple riffs or chord progressions. Saying that, however, they had some great hooks – the monolithic power chords of “Only Shallow”, legato whammy lines of “I Only Said”, or reverb-drenched main riff of “Come In Alone”, for…

Every producer has their secrets. Some use gear, like a certain mic or pre or vintage amp to get a signature sound. Sometimes it’s studio trickery. I just like to think of it as being in control of the studio space and the tools at hand. Sometimes the most obvious tracking methods are overlooked by the casual observer. Here are some of those tips. I guarantee a better sound by applying these simple methods – you might even discover your own signature sound! 1. GAIN STAGING The guitar goes into the amp or modeller. Then, if it is a modeller, does it go directly into your converter or into a preamp? If it is a preamp, it will leave the pre and then hit the converter before the computer. If…

When Boss introduced the flagship GT-1000 amp modelling and multi-effects floorboard a couple of years back it signified a major refresh for the long-running GT series, ushering in a number of features: an ultra-fast DSP engine, 32-bit operation and 96kHz sampling rate as well as AIRD (Augmented Impulse Response Dynamics) technology, designed for more realistic amp simulations and optimised integration with whatever’s next in the chain. Although more streamlined than the previous GT models, the original GT-1000 still has the form factor typical of a large floorboard unit, which will not appeal to every potential user, despite its tempting sound and facilities. Fortunately, now there’s a way for some of those users to buy into the sounds and facilities without the cumbersome footprint: the GT-1000Core delivers the complete internal tone…

TYNE-JAMES ORGAN HAILS FROM MELBOURNE, VIC PLAYS SOLO SOUNDS LIKE SUMMERY, SOULFUL POP WITH BIG GROOVES AND EVEN BIGGER HEART LATEST DROP NECESSARY EVIL (LP OUT NOW VIA UNIVERSAL) What’s your current go-to guitar? My Martin 000-15m is my baby. It’s a three-quarter-scale mahogany. I bought mine in 2014 and it’s served me so well every day and at every show since. I used to watch this guy from England on YouTube and he played one. His videos had no edits and I couldn’t get over the tone and look, so I just went searching. I knew it was mine from the first strum. I’ve got the LR Baggs Anthem pickup in there, which makes it a dream whenever I plug it in. How did you initially fall in love…

Gardens DEW PROCESS In the five years since we first heard their self-titled debut, Sly Withers have undergone a seismic transmutation. Gone is the dirty, loose ’n’ livid shredding and abrasive DIY tracking - the cuts on that first record still pack a punch, but in comparison to the Perth quadrant’s current output, they feel like demos laid down on a MacBook. If the 2019 EP Gravis was a soft reboot to the adventures of Sly Withers, Gardens plays out like the big-screen adaptation - huge emotional stakes, captivating story beats and seven-figure production. Instantly striking is how dynamic and three-dimensional the LP is; the band wade through a jungle of peaks and valleys across its 12 tracks, ebbing and flowing between heartrending slow-burners and big, mosh-ready punk anthems. The…

Hot on the heels of their breakthrough third album Patience, 2020 was poised to be the year Mannequin Pussy officially took over the world. It was a well-earned triumph for the Philly punks, following a decade of slugging it out in bars and basements around the US. But just as they were set to make their mark on the world stage, COVID-19 came and wreaked havoc on the music industry at large. Like virtually everyone else in the arts, Mannequin Pussy were forced to put their dreams on ice while the world around them crumbled. In the eye of the storm, frontwoman Marisa ‘Missy’ Dabice wondered if the band would make it out alive. It certainly seemed more lucrative for them all to pack up and start over in more…

The 2010s paved the way for some of the rock world’s biggest and best acts to thrive, with the advent of streaming services, a resurgence in the popularity of festivals, and landmark developments in artist-to-fan connections all at the forefront of a new golden age for the alternative scene. Wolf Alice took full advantage of music’s mid-decade cultural shift, and with their 2015 full-length debut, My Love Is Cool, established themselves as one of the bands Gen Z would be foolish to ignore. 2017’s Visions Of A Life only amped up the hype, scoring widespread critical acclaim, a Silver certification in their native UK, and the 2018 Mercury Prize. In less than a decade, Wolf Alice soared from nonchalant acoustic-folk duo to one of the most influential names in modern…

Since the dawn of the new millennium, The Bamboos have reigned as one of the brightest and most unflinching acts in Australian funk and soul. And although plans to celebrate their 20th anniversary were put on ice by last year’s plague, the Melbourne-native nonet have no plans to settle any time soon. Case in point: their formula-shattering tenth studio album, Hard Up. In effort to eviscerate The Bamboos’ time-tested status quo, the band opted not to record LPX in a studio. Instead, they headed to the North Victorian countryside town of Lancefield (no relation to ringleader Lance Ferguson), renting out a mansion where they’d spend a little over a week jamming out to their hearts’ content. Collaboration was key, with all nine members throwing their unique musical voices into the…

On their own respective accords, the words ‘custom’ and ‘shop’ are both very lucrative terms to any dedicated guitarist. Put them together, however, and watch the ears of any shredder with a spending problem prick up faster than a labrador at dinnertime. The Fender Custom Shop is a venerable Valhalla for gear nerds, with some of the world’s best luthiers forging monumental works of amp-ready art on the daily. And one extremely popular aspect of their craftsmanship lies in the recreation of classic guitars made iconic by some of music’s most illustrious names. Like, for example, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. After knocking it out of the park with his riffs on last year’s critically adored Gigaton album, McCready is continuing his six-stringed lightning streak with a (super limited) Custom…

According to Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson, it was fitting that No Gods No Masters – the impending new long-player from the millennial pop-rock powerhouse – came at this specific point in their timeline. “This is our seventh record, the significant numerology of which affected the DNA of its content: the seven virtues, the seven sorrows, and the seven deadly sins,” she declared in a press statement. “It was our way of trying to make sense of how f***ing nuts the world is and the astounding chaos we find ourselves in. It’s the record we felt that we had to make at this time.” The 11-track jaunt is a vicious and visceral scolding of capitalism, bigotry and political corruption, spun through the band’s ever-enigmatic web of brisk, booming pop music. Sonically,…

For any guitarist worth their callouses, by and far, the most important thing is how an axe plays – some of the world best licks and most soaring solos were hashed out on kit that, had it not been in the hands of riff royalty, you’d assume was plucked from a dumpster. That being said, you have to admit, there’s something pretty damn special about the moment when you look a guitar and simply think, “Wow.” Such is the crux of Fender’s annual Prestige Collection, where the Master Builders that occupy the Californian giant’s Custom Shop – legendary luthiers with artistic vision only rivalled by their handiwork in caliber – get an unrestricted opportunity let their imaginations run wild. Highlighting the team’s idiosyncratic creativity and craftsmanship, the Prestige Collection has…

CORT G280DX JSS ELECTRIC RRP: $999 • dynamicmusic.com.au The new flagship model of the revamped G Series, the G280DX features the highest quality materials and components along with meticulous workmanship of Cort’s most outstanding builders. Designed with the best possible playability and sonic performance in mind, the G280DX comprises of alder body with flame maple top and Canadian hard maple neck for a versatile sound that can be used for both classic and modern musical genres. ERNIE BALL VOLT RRP: $215 • cmcmusic.com.au The Ernie Ball Volt gives the power to the pedal! With its multiple isolated, high current DC power outputs, the Volt supplies clean, regulated power to almost any digital or analogue effects pedal. The compact and rugged housing can fit almost anywhere on even the most dense…

There are many really important differences between hearing a track on speakers and through studio headphones, so if you only ever use headphones for mixing, it’s important to bear some principles in mind to avoid bungled mixes. Common mistakes include making the stereo field too narrow, and not splashing enough reverb onto vocals and synth parts, leaving them overly dry. Judging how much of any effect to use should be a decision that’s made through listening on both cans and monitors. A well produced track should sound great on everything from laptop speakers to a high-end hi-fi. Don’t forget: just because you can mix on headphones doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. That said, there are techniques that can help you mix more accurately when using just a sat of…

What do players like Richie Kotzen, Guthrie Govan and Rabea Massaad have in common? The many outstanding tones you may have heard on their recordings and live appearances come courtesy of Victory Amplifiers – a UK brand that’s fast becoming a rising star among boutique amplifier companies. Victory is the brainchild of chief designer Martin Kidd (of Cornford amplifiers fame) together with a team of engineers that hand-build these colourful, distinctively voiced amps. Scrolling through Victory’s diverse tube-amp series will reveal their amps come in the classic big-box deluxe head format or as a portable lunchbox head, along with matching speaker cabinet options. They also recast versions of their amp series in powered or preamp pedals, but as far as combos, there are only three as of this writing. For…

RRP: $749 In what is probably the most hopeful product launch of 2021 so far, Blackstar has announced the Carry-On travel guitar. It’s certainly a forward-thinking introduction and here’s hoping we’ll be able to travel somewhere before the end of the year! Timing aside, the Carry-On is a credible example of the downsized travel guitar. Designed in the UK by Blackstar in association with the master luthiers at Gordon Smith Guitars, and made in China, it’s certainly small, centring on a 527-millimetre (20.7-inch) scale length and a ukulele-sized body that measures approximately 211 millimetres across the lower bouts; body depth is 39.5 millimetres. It has a natural matte finish to the back, sides and neck, and the top is not only glossed but also bound with a tortoiseshell-like plastic. The…

The guitar solo has been declared dead many times. Late-‘70s punks actively tried to kill it, bored by 20-minute stadium rock indulgences. In the early ‘80s, some critics declared that the electric guitar itself was finished, replaced by the synthesiser. That prediction turned out comically wrong as the decade produced shred, Johnny Marr and a US alt-rock scene that went mainstream in the ‘90s. In the ‘90s, according to critics, solos were facing the mortuary slab once more. This did not, however, stop them from appearing in the biggest alternative rock hits of the decade, such as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, Pearl Jam’s “Alive”, or even Weezer’s “Buddy Holly”. Dying, it would appear, did little to deter the guitar solo. In the early 2000s, having recovered from nasty bouts…