Do you hear that thunder? That’s the sound of strength in four 100-watt stacks. (Actually, one is a 200-watt bass tube head.) IDLES’ guitarists Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan finally have the firepower to match their fury. (Original members singer/lyricist Joe Talbot, drummer Jon Beavis, and bassist Adam Devonshire fill out the band. Kiernan took over for guitarist Andy Stewart after 2015 EP Meat was released.) For much of the 2010s, the bashers from Bristol played on anything and plugged into every...
Dec 02, 2021•1 hr 6 min
About 10 years ago Mannequin Pussy bubbled up from the percolating Philly rock scene. Formed by guitarist/singer Marisa “Missy” Dabice and drummer Athanasios Paul, their primary calling card was a stinging combination of snippy and sizzling ragers. The lineup was eventually filled out with Drew Adler (drums) and Colins “Bear” Regisford (bass). (Paul moved to lead guitar in 2013 and Kaleen Reading took over for drums in 2015. Ultimately, Paul left earlier this year after recording Perfect.) Over ...
Dec 01, 2021•33 min
Music—and guitar—are therapeutic. The songs we write and riffs we play help reduce the pain, alleviate the stress, and produce some positivity in our lives. Microwave's singer/guitarist/lyricist Nathan Hardy has been using the studio and stage as his leather couch for nearly 10 years. Stovall , in 2014, saw him question his Mormon missionary upbringing. Two years later, Much Love focused on realities versus the romance of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle. And 2019's Death Is a Warm Blanket is a dark,...
Nov 17, 2021•24 min
Mackenzie Scott (aka Torres) likes a good juxtaposition. Her music is a tightrope act between vulnerability and violence. Scott's lyrics often reflect introspection over a backdrop of angular, explosive guitar sounds, and those lyrics and her imagery combat the standard gender tropes by deconstructing their longstanding definitions and re-empowering them for all people. (Look no further than the cover of Torres' latest album, Thirstier , to see her take on the "classic" guitar pose.) Even her pl...
Nov 10, 2021•21 min
Will Swan has celebrated and elevated radical guitar music through the course of nine frenetic, volatile Dance Gavin Dance albums, a pair of releases with his psychedelic post-hardcore side project Sianvar , and the creation of his Blue Swan Records label. The common thread is his hue of beautiful dysfunction and his ethos of pushing the instrument (and its sounds) forward. Make no mistake, Swan can play the guitar. His style is equal parts violence and grace, with pit stops at all points betwee...
Nov 03, 2021•25 min
Recently Thrice's Dustin Kensrue (vocals/guitar) and Teppei Teranishi (guitar) participated in PG 's Hooked . (The video series features musicians talking about a moment, riff, or song that turned their world upside down and sideswiped them into playing.) Kensrue raved about the Pixies' dissonant melodies, while Teranishi highlighted Metallica's heavy impact. And at the conclusion of the video, they both admit the band has a lot of "Pixies" parts and "Metallica" moments throughout its catalog. O...
Oct 27, 2021•30 min
Tired of pretentious music? Are you looking to just have fun and rock out? The good-time, make-you-move- and -groove medicine you're after is what White Reaper dispenses. The band's core was formed in 2012 when Louisville high schoolers Tony Esposito (guitar/vocals) and Nick Wilkerson (drums) started jamming as a duo. Then Nick recruited his twin brother Sam (bass) and Esposito added friend Ryan Hater (keys). And the fearsome foursome released their rowdy, ripping 2015 debut, White Reaper Does I...
Oct 20, 2021•25 min
At age 76, Eric Clapton remains a major presence in guitar. He's touring again rather than simply resting on nearly six decades of laurels, and with Slowhand's blessing, Dan Dearnley—the legend's tech for a dozen years—showed us his boss' setup before a September 21 concert at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena. Three Signature Strats, Martins, and not much else. Dig in! [ Brought to you by D'Addario XS Strings : https://ddar.io/xs.rr ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: ht...
Oct 14, 2021•13 min
There's no doubt ZZ Top trademarked Texas boogie. And over 30 years later, the Sword furthered the Lonestar shuffle's legacy by darkening it. The Austin outfit's 2006 debut Age of Winters combined the rhythmic bounce of Tres Hombres with the power and might of Master of Reality . The cross-pollination of Gibbons and Iommi continued in 2008's Gods of the Earth, with heavier right-hand picking and tempos shading towards thrash-y Priest and Thin Lizzy's "Emerald." Traces of proggy psychedelia, like...
Oct 07, 2021•34 min
One guitar (with no knobs), one amp, and one pedal is all this punk-rock papa needs to command the stage. It's pretty astonishing that a sophomoric band of misfits and outcasts have chiseled a 40-plus-year legacy of punk rock, but that's what the improbable Descendents have been doing since 1977. Their brand of snotty, snarling, snarky, succinct songs have endeared them to rock titans like Dave Grohl. "[They have] this shameless, love-song aesthetic—none of the other bands had the balls to do th...
Sep 22, 2021•12 min
Guitarists Tim McIlrath and Zach Blair enjoy tenacious tones with rock's mightiest tag team—Gibsons into Marshalls—aided by a few everyman effects and one mythical stomp. Rise Against rose out of Chicago around Y2k on the back of roaring Gatling-gun guitars, blast-beat rhythms, and defiant, sharp-tongued social commentary. The band's first pair of albums—2001's The Unraveling and 2003's Revolutions Per Minute —are blistering bangers rooted in traditional hardcore chaos, spiced up with fist-pumpi...
Sep 15, 2021•28 min
Big tones for big rooms takes big gear. The Grammy-winning guitar-and-bass team of Jake and Sam Kiszka give us a tour of their on- and offstage rigs. [ Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: http://ddar.io/xpnd.rr ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Sep 09, 2021•41 min
A backwards Strat, a radical Jetsons -y guitar, Def Leppard's secret weapon, and more pedals than currently listed on Reverb fill this YouTuber's tone lounge. [ Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr
He's played on more than a thousand albums. Now, here's a close-up look at this Nashville session legend's live rig. [ Brought to you by D'Addario XS Strings: https://ddar.io/xs.rr ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Aug 25, 2021•38 min
Take a cruise through the Gibson- and Marshall-heavy world of this Grammy-winning, hard-rocking duo. [ Brought to you by D'Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Aug 18, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Grinding guitars + soaring vocals = stripped-down rock bliss. The spark for Striking Matches flared in 2007, on the first day Sarah Zimmermann and Justin Davis met in a guitar class at Belmont University. They've been playing as a duo and leading other musicians under the band's banner, with an album and a handful of EPs to their credit, ever since. Recently, Premier Guitar 's John Bohlinger met with Zimmermann and Davis in their East Nashville studio while they took a break from recording their...
Aug 11, 2021•41 min
Snap! Crackle! Pop! You've never heard T-styles deliciously deformed like this pair of steamrollers piloted by noise rocker Christian Lembach. [Brought to you by D'Addario Auto-Lock Straps: https://ddar.io/AutoLockRR ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Aug 04, 2021•57 min
Classic-rock warriors Doug Aldrich and Glenn Hughes show us their latest touring set ups. Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Jul 28, 2021•24 min
These Fat Wreck-label punkers keep it stupid simple with single-humbucker, classic-custom recreations for their ripping Ramones downstrokes and pogo-ready choruses. [ Brought to you by D'Addario's XPND Pedalboards: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Jul 22, 2021•13 min
An Austin guitar legend in the making shares her rare Gibson, a custom-built amp, ferocious fingerpicking style, and passion for bringing fire to the blues. [ Brought to you by D'Addario Auto-Lock Straps: https://ddar.io/AutoLockRR ] Mentioned in this episode: Check out D'Addario's latest here: https://ddar.io/wykyk-rr
Jul 14, 2021•17 min
