Metal On Ice book to become EP and show

Canadian guitarist and author Sean Kelly is gearing up to release an EP inspired by his book Metal On Ice.

The title documents the glories and struggles of Canada’s hard rock and heavy metal heroes in the 80s and early 90s, drawing on interviews with members of the bands that made that chapter of Canada’s music history so memorable for its fans.

Metal On Ice includes interviews with members of Anvil, Voivod, Brighton Rock, Helix, Coney Hatch, Kick Axe, Sven Gali, Slik Toxik and many others.

Kelly, who’s currently playing guitar with pop star Nelly Furtado, has booked studio time to record his own version of some of the songs of bands that inspired them – with the original vocalists appearing on each track.

The Metal On Ice EP will feature Carl Dixon of Coney Hatch, Brian Vollmer of Helix, Lee Aaron, Darby Mills of Headpins, Nick Walsh of Slik Toxik and Russ Dwarf of Killer Dwarfs.

A Pledge campaign is underway to support the recording, and a live tour featuring the guest vocalists alongside a house band is being prepared.

Kelly says: “Great songs are born from great stories, and these classic anthems and tales will take on a whole new life when the Metal On Ice Show brings the Canadian arena rock experience across the country.

“Set in an ‘electric storyteller’ context, the Metal On Ice Show will bring audiences back to a time when the amps were cranked, the beer was cold, and the plan was to have a good time, all the time!”

source: classicrockmagazine.com

Halestorm Edge Out Anthrax, Lamb of God, Marilyn Manson, Iron Maiden and Megadeth for Hard Rock/Metal Grammy

Halestorm — featuring Lzzy Hale, one of Revolver’s Hottest Chicks in Hard Rock and Metal — beat out heavyweights Anthrax, Lamb of God, Marilyn Manson, Iron Maiden and Megadeth last night to win the Grammy award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance for “Love Bites (So Do I).”

The song, the opening track from The Strange Case Of…, the band’s 2012 album, was up against “I’m Alive” by Anthrax, “Blood Brothers” by Iron Maiden, “Ghost Walking” by Lamb Of God, “No Reflection” by Marilyn Manson and “Whose Life (Is It Anyways?)” by Megadeth.

The Black Keys — those two blues- and garage-loving Ohioans best known for recording raw, stripped-down, “mid-fi” albums — picked up four Grammy awards last night. The duo, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, earned Best Rock Album for El Camino (released in December 2011), plus Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance for “Lonely Boy.” Auerbach scored a bonus Grammy as Non-Classical Producer for the Black Keys’ El Camino, plus his work on Dr. John’s Locked Down album and two discs by Hacienda.

Album of the Year went to Mumford & Sons for Babel. Record of the Year went to Gotye (featuring Kimbra) for “Somebody That I Used To Know,” while Song of the Year went to Fun. for “We Are Young.”

It was a disappointing night for Jack White, who was nominated for Album of the Year, Rock Album of the Year (both for Blunderbuss) and Best Rock Song (“Freedom at 21″) but lost in every category. His Third Man Records label mates, Alabama Shakes, also lost in three categories, including Best New Artist and Best Rock Performance.

Performance-wise, White performed with both his all-female and all-male bands. Black Keys tore through “Lonely Boy” with Dr. John; a tribute to the late Levon Helm of the Band featured Zac Brown, Elton John, Mavis Staples and Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes, who performed “The Weight.” Bruno Mars kicked off a Bob Marley tribute with his own song, “Locked Out of Heaven,” before introducing Sting, who led the band into “Walking on the Moon.” Rihanna, Ziggy Marley and Damian Marley finally joined them for Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved.”

For the show’s finale, Tom Morello, LL Cool J and Chuck D performed “Whaddup.”

Other guitar-centric or noteworthy Grammy wins:

• Best Blues Album: Locked Down, Dr. John (produced by Dan Auerbach)
• Best Score Soundtrack For Visual Media: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
• Best Reggae Album: Rebirth, Jimmy Cliff (featuring a cover of the Clash’s “Guns of Brixton”)
• Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical: Dan Auerbach (of the Black Keys)

For a complete list of winners and losers, visit the official Grammy awards website at grammy.com.

source: revolvermag.com

Find Out The Gear Secrets of Eddie Van Halen

Super-fast two-handed tapping, monstrous dive-bombs, legato licks with machine-like precision - no other guitarist since Hendrix influenced the guitar community more than Dutch-born Edward Lodewijk Van Halen.

Almost single-handedly he brought technical innovation and harmonic diversity to the blues-based Hard Rock of the 60s and 70s. The breathtaking instrumental 'Eruption' on Van Halen's 1978 debut album alone made many established guitarists of the day want to throw their guitar on the dumpster. But not only Eddies' playing was breathtaking, his tone was equally astonishing. Achieved through a combination of highly customized guitars and amps he coined the phrase 'Brown Sound' which set a new reference tone for thousands of guitarists following his path

Eddie first guitar was a cheap Teisco Del Rey solid body guitar, which he swapped for his drum set with his brother Alex Van Halen. Later he acquired a Les Paul copy to learn all the songs and licks from his guitar idol, Eric Clapton.

But he doesn't like the heavy weight and the fact that he can't get a usable tone from the neck pick-up.

The first album was recorded with a self-made Strat-style guitar that consisted of several Charvel guitar parts as well as a '58 Fender Stratocaster. Both guitars have maple necks, which Eddie prefers. The Charvel 'Frankenstein' guitar has a mahogany body which Eddie likes, as it doesn't produce the Fender Twang. He rips the humbucker out of an old Gibson ES-335 and screws it in the bridge position of the guitar and uses sticky tape to give it the famous 'stripe' look.

As soon as the first 'modern' Vibrato-system becomes available Eddie installs it on his Franken-Strat and from then on the Floyd Rose vibrato is a staple on all of his guitars. In the early '80s Eddie had an endorsement-deal with Kramer guitars, who build his signature guitars - equipped with a single humbucker, a single volume control, Floyd Rose vibrato and the trademark white-and-red stripes.

After his deal with Kramer ended he developed his signature guitar with Music Man in the early '90s. This guitar has an attractive curly maple cap and specially designed custom neck and bridge pick-ups by DiMarzio, a great playing neck with compound radius and is extremely successful. It has a very unique tone and is one of the most interesting rock-guitars of the 90s.

1996 sees the end of the collaboration with Ernie Ball / Music Man. Eddie moves to Peavey to release a very similar guitar, called 'Wolfgang' after his son. Music Man renames the EVH-model into Axis and changes a few details and keeps the guitar successfully in their program.

But the Peavey Intermezzo is only short-lived.

Just recently Eddie has launched his own brand, EVH. In collaboration with Fender he now has a range of EVH signature Wolfgang guitars, the EVH 5150 III amps and EVH shoes(!)

The other part to his 'brown sound' is of course his amplifier. In the beginning he uses several cheap amps until he acquires a late '60s Marshall. This Plexi-Marshall is usually played with the 'english setting' - all controls on 10! He later uses a Variac Transformer to alter the voltage in the amp and to make the sound 'spongier'. Effects wise Ed keeps it simple - a Univox EC-80 Tape-Echo or an old Tube Echoplex, an MXR Phase 90 and MXR Flanger are all he needs. Occasionally you can find a MXR Distortion Plus on his pedal board. Later on he will turn to Roland SDE-3000 Delay, Lexicon PCM 70 Reverb and Eventide H-3000 harmonizer to create a full and wide live-tone. Also in his live-rig are a Boss OC-2 Octaver and SD-1 Super Overdrive.

Once Eddie gets accustomed to all the trickery that's available in the studio he makes full use of them, double tracking his guitars, using a Firefox Mini-Strat or a Danelectro 6-string bass.

In the early '90s Eddie starts playing around with the Hi-End amps made by Mike Soldano. He loves the lead sound but the rhythm tone doesn't do it for him. After a meeting with Hartley Peavey they develop a signature amplifier, the Peavey 5150. This amp is extremely popular and fellow guitarist like Ted Nugent, Brad Whitford of Aerosmith or Joe Satriani integrate it in their set-up.

As the partnership with Peavey comes to an end, Ed returns to his trusted Marshall for a while only to team up with Fender to release the EVH 5150 III.

Chris Basener is a guitarist, composer, producer and instructor who plays instrumental groove rock with vibrant melodies that speaks to the cosmopolitan music fan as much as the guitar community.

The graduate of the Munich Guitar Institute (MGI) in Germany did many clinics and demos at tradeshows and fairs across Europe (Germany, Austria, France and Belgium) performing for tens of thousands of people. He has more free articles on his website http://chrisbasener.com

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