Archive for December, 2009
This article is to pay tribute to the behind the scene people who make the concerts you see possible. Roadie is the broad term used to describe those people who do everything involved except the performance itself. When you think of a roadie you think of someone who sets up amplifiers and electric guitars but if you look closer you’ll find they do much more.
Under the umbrella of a roadie you’ll find guitar techs, bass guitar techs, keyboard techs, lighting techs, tour managers, and even techs in the use of fireworks, there are many other titles Most bands give credit to their roadies with a few word on the jacket cover of an album, but their has been some exceptions.
Jackson Browne pays tribute to his roadies with the closing song of every show “The Load Out, Todd Rundgren had roadie Jan Alejandro play piano with him and the band on a song John Marshall a guitar tech for Metallica has replaced James Hetfield the bands rhythm guitarist on several occasions.
The band the title refers to is Kiss. Kiss was formed in New York City in 1973. They are identified not by their music but by their comic book inspired painted faces.
The band consisted of Gene Simmons on vocals and bass guitar, his face was painted as the Demon, Paul Stanley on vocals and rhythm guitar, his face was that of Starchild, Ace Frehley playing lead guitar and vocals, Spaceman was his face, and on drums, percussion, and vocals Peter Criss, whose face was that os Catman. With their faces painted they employed such gimmicks as fire breathing, smoking guitars, and the use of fire works in their performances.
1983 saw Kiss perform without their makeup for the very first time. Although some of the original members of the band were replaced, 1996 was the year of a reunion of the original members of Kiss without their makeup.
The title of this blog refers to a southern rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1963 and gained fame in 1973, the name of the band is Lynyrd Skynyrd. After gaining that fame three of the members of the band were killed in a airplane crash in 1977, among them was their lead singer and vocalist Ronnie Van Zant.
The band got back together with the youngest of the three brothers Johnny Van Zant as their singer-frontman. What happened to the second brother you ask, he went on to form another southern rock band you might have heard of .38 Special.
Gary Rossington is the only original member left with the band today. He play lead and rhythm guitar. The electric guitar he plays is a ‘59 Gibson Les Paul that he bought from a women whose boyfriend left it behind when they broke up.
The early 1970’s saw southern rock lean more towards a hard rock and a heavy metal type sound achieved through fast electric guitar leads and boogie rhythms. One of the bands responsible for the southern rock movement at that time was Lynyrd Synyrd a group out of Jackson Florida.
Other groups that came out of that wave include .38 Special (my favorite), ZZ Top, Molly Hatchet, and Blackfoot. In the 1980’s and 1990’s southern rock was continuing to influence groups such as AC/DC, with their origin in Australia singer Bon Scott would often be seen wearing a southern flag belt buckle.
During the 1980’s MTV brought about New Wave music along with the glam metal sound, this pretty much relegated southern rock back to its roots. The 1990’s saw the reuniting of the Allman Brothers, and resurgence of Lynyrd Skynyrd. The 2000’s saw Kid Rock go from hard rock to southern rock.
Gibson had signed an endorsement deal with Les Paul for what was and still is known as the Gibson Les Paul. When sales for the Les Paul electric guitar were down in 1961 Gibson decided to redesign the Les Paul, they made it slimmer and changed the design to a double cutaway.
Sales for the newly designed guitar were good but were done without Les Paul knowing about it, and when he did find out he asked Gibson to take his name off it as it was not the original guitar he ok’d. There are a few sides to the story but Gibson decided to rename the new guitar the Gibson SG the SG stands for “Solid Guitar”. There were a few of the SG guitars made with the Les Paul name on it but were discontinued in 1963.
The Gibson SG is the electric guitar you hear used when you listen to “Free Bird” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, the guitar is also used by Angus Young of AC/DC, and Tony Iommi formally 0f Black Sabbath.
Born in 1915 Lester William Polsfuss better known as Les Paul is the founding father of many of rocks methods that are used to this day. With all of this mans inventions you could easily call him the grandfather of rock and roll.
His talents were shown as a jazz and country guitarist but he was also a songwriter and inventor. He was one of the early musicians with the idea of making a solid body electric guitar, an idea that would make rock and roll possible. His inventions stretched to recording also where he invented overdubbing (the process of recording over recording), tape delay and multi-track recording. For his achievements he has anentire exhibit dedicated to him at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1940 saw the first of his electric guitars “The Log” and was built in the Epiphone factory. Adolph Rickenbacker in the 1930’s and Leo Fender in 1946 are also credited with starting the solid body electric guitar revolution. Les Paul tried to sell his idea of a solid body guitar to Gibson but they had no interest. After Fender began production of its Telecaster and esquire models Gibson took an interest and designed an electric guitar using Les Pauls’ design. The guitar only offered in a “gold top” was named the Gibson Les Paul.
Living in Seattle, I have grown up immersed and infatuated with the grunge rock music scene. With the Experience Music Project chronicling the emergence of bands like Mudhoney, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and, of course, Nirvana, it is hard not to be. EXP not only features memorabilia and artifacts from these pioneers of grunge music, but has relics from other native Seattleites, such as Jimi Hendrix and Heart, too.
One of my favorite attractions at the rock museum is the remnants of instruments that the grunge bands mercilessly destroyed on stage. I particularly remember one amusing anecdote centering on Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. After a particularly rowdy show he smashed his guitar violently on the ground. As this was prior to the band’s bends-inducing rush to stardom and financial success, Cobain was forced to bandage the mangled guitar for the performance the next night-he may have been better served to just search around for some cheap electric guitars to smashup.
The last blog I wrote about Freddie Mercury who was the frontman for Queen, Mick Jagger with the Rolling Stones, Blondies’ frontwoman Debbie Harry, and the impressive Janis Joplin from Big Brother and the Holding Company, this list is going to be filled with more great frontmen. Mostly frontmen and women just sang, although many of them could play guitar or keyboards their real talent lied with their ability to win over audiences.
Dave Evans was the first singer for AC/DC, but the band felt he did not have what it took to be a frontman. In 1974 they replaced him with Bon Scott. With Angus Young doing his patented duck walk with his signature Gibson SG electric guitar behind him, Bon Scott would often involve the audience in songs like “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. His voice sounded as though it was strained to the limit, but that’s why his songs sound as fresh today as they did when they were recorded. No list would be complete without Robert Plant the voice of Led Zeppelin. The members of the band were John Bonham playing drums, John Paul Jones on bass guitar, and keyboards, and one of the best guitarists of all time Jimmy Page. (Jimmy Page made popular playing a double necked electric guitar). With such talented musicians they needed a special talent to be their frontman and that was Robert Plant. With his high tenor voice and a stage presence equal to none, it makes him one of the greatest frontmen of all time.
There is several elements that go into Rock and Roll, you’ve got to have a good beat supplied by a drummer, you need good rhythym from an electric guitar, and you need a driving beat that’s delivered by an bass guitar. Some bands rely on someone that either dresses in a unique fashion or has a personality that is above others, or has a talent to captivate an audience, that man or woman is called a frontman or front-woman.
Here are some of the very best in the business that I have thought of: For me the top frontman of all time was Freddie Mercury, while he had the guitar of Brian May in back of him he was the one that held his audiences in the palm of his hand. His live performances are among the very best of all times. You can’t talk frontmen without mentioning Mick Jagger, noone sold rock and roll like he did, he invented struting around the stage with the mic in his hand as so many do today. There was Debbie Harry with Blondie, as well as Janis Joplin fronting Big Brother and the Holding Company, she was a tiny girl with a powerful voice that would leave you shivering.
Whether your looking for a new guitar as a beginner or intermediate player an acoustic guitar package may be just what your looking for. Sure you can buy an acoustic guitar or electric guitar seperately, but sooner or later you will find yourself back at the music store to purchase other accessories that you could have bought at the time you purchased your guitar and at a much less price.
What makes an acoustic guitar package so special is the versatility, If you bought an acoustic guitar with an equalizer that means it can be plugged into an amplifier if your playing a gig, or play it by itself as the sound will come out of the sound hole. Buying a package you will already have the amplifier for those times you need more power. A guitar package will also give you a gig bag and a stand. The gig bag can be for transporting you guitar to a gig, or just for storing it in your room, while the stand likewise can be used to hold your guitar while playing a gig inbetween sets, or at home if you don”t want to keep it your guitar set up ready to play instead of in a gig bag. A complete guitar package will also come with a guitar tuner, guitar strap, and guitar polish and rags.