Category — Fender Guitars

The new supergroup, Monsters of Folk, surprised their Halloween crowd this year at the Louisville Palace Theater. After a short intermission they came out dressed in full KISS costumes covering Detroit Rock City.  Watch it here:

The Monsters of Folk are Jim James, Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and Mike Mogis.

Anytime you’re given the chance to listen to one of the greatest guitar players ever to walk this planet talk about his new guitar, his new signature model, my advice is to listen.  A few weeks ago we got the chance to listen to U2’s The Edge talk about some of his favorite guitars, and now, we’re being graced with the chance to not only check out, but hear Eddie Van Halen talk about his new signature model he’s unleashing onto the world.

The guitar, called the EVH Wolfgang for now, and due out in stores sometime in 2009, looks like a beauty, and what’s best, it’s exactly up to THE EVH’s strict specifications.  When asked about the guitar, Van Halen said,

“I don’t need to do this for financial reasons. I could have just stayed at home and built this guitar for myself. I do this because a lot of people ask if they can get what I use. Well, yes you can and what you get is identical to what I use….The tolerance of things on this guitar is like NASA standards. It had to be tight, and it had to be quality…They paid attention to every damn detail.”

Paying attention to details is good, but being able to play a guitar that’s up to someone like Eddie Van Halen’s specs?  Priceless, as they say.  At any rate, it’s not out yet, but you can check out a great deal more on the guitar if you so desire.  Stay tuned for pricing and availability…when we know, you’ll know.

When a guitar legend like The Edge starts talking about guitars, my advice to you, is to sit still, listen quietly, and take some serious notes.  While he’s not as loud, flashy or gregarious as many rock and roll legends, The Edge has clearly earned himself a spot in the annals of Rock History.  To hear him talk about each one of his favorite guitars, the songs they’ve produced, and the love he has for them, I hate to say it but it gives a guitar lover like me chills.

First and foremost, his love for guitars is apparent.  Just look behind him during the interviews and get extremely jealous at the sheer NUMBER of guitars he has in his collection now.  Wow.  Nevertheless, a chance to hear a musician as talented as The Edge talk about and play his favorite guitars is a pretty special, not-to-be-missed opportunity.

A lot of artists are performing in support of Obama, the list keeps growing but includes Bruce Springsteen, Vampire Weekend, The National, The Breeders and many more.

Now I know that Jay-Z is a hip-hop artist and not really guitar-centric in any way. However, he did come on stage as the headliner of Glastonbury 2008 with a Fender guitar over his shoulder, which he used to make fun of Oasis with. Also, I think its really cool that he’s doing these free shows, because not only does it give people a fun evening, but younger fans of his are more likely to listen to Jay-Z than anyone else when it comes to voting.

The free concerts will be taking place in Detroit, MI and Miami, FL.

Ticket info for the shows:

(October 4th) Detroit MI, Cobo Arena

(October 5th) Miami, FL Bayfront Park Amphitheater

Source.

This past weekend My Bloody Valentine took the stage in New York as the headliner of the All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival, their first show in the US in 16 years. Other artists performing included Shellac, OM, Dinosaur Jr, The Meat Puppets, Thurston Moore, Les Savy Fav, Built To Spill, Tortoise, Yo La Tengo, Mogwai and many others.

I wish I could’ve gone, but I couldn’t make it, so once again Stereogum saves the day with great coverage. Their coverage is worth checking out as they have amazing photos and video. Judging by the photo’s, MBV had their usual array of Fender guitars, including Jazzmasters and Mustangs. They also had a lot of Marshall stacks so I’m sure the show was deafeningly loud.

Regarding Stereogum’s review, its nice to see a music site that has honest writers (ahem…pitchfork). It’s not that I think pitchfork writers aren’t honest but it seems that their level of fan-boy excitement tends to leave out certain details. From Stereogum’s piece on the set…

“The Stardust Ballroom sound, which sounded flawless for Shellac and others, crapped out here/there: MBV’s vocals were occasionally too low, the bass fuzzed out, and it was a bummer that so many of the riffs and accents were pre-sampled (Kevin and Belinda often strummed power chords). But! It was undeniably great to hear “Only Shallow,” “Sue Is Fine,” and “When You Wake” at massive volumes.”

It is kind of a bummer that the band is using pre-sampled stuff, but I’m sure any MBV show would be a good time if you’re a fan. Maybe I’ll catch ATP NY next year.

Source.

A while back info about the Fender Jazzmaster 50th Anniversary Concert in NYC was posted here, well the event took place and Pitchforkmedia.com managed to get some good photos up on their site.

It seems like somewhat of a big event to have for a Fender guitar but it’s an important one. The Fender Jazzmaster and Jaguar proved to be incredibly influential during the formative years of alternative rock. Bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, My Bloody Valentine and countless others would go on to re-popularize the Jazzmaster and Jaguar.

During the early 90’s Jazzmasters and Jaguars were largely regarded as surf-music guitars by most players. As a result you could buy high-quality vintage versions of these guitars for around $200 or $300. As a result of their popularity vintage models now routinely sell for thousands of dollars. I’m pretty sure they’ll do a similar event for the 50th anniversary of the Fender Jaguar as well.

Now, you might be asking me why I am posting about the Virgin Music Festival in Toronto (yes, I know it’s In Canada) when I never mentioned the one in Baltimore. You might also be wondering why I would bother calling it a music festival when I know full well that Jack Johnson isn’t on the lineup. But then you would have just answered your own question. At just a little more than halfway through the fest, we’ve already got an array YouTube videos to sift through. Check out footage of Foo Fighters playing Learn To Fly . And don’t forget the customary drunk guy who climbs a tree and gets kicked out . With an arguably better lineup than the Baltimore fest, I wouldn’t mind traveling the extra mileage to Toronto. All I can say is, maybe next year you’ll be seeing footage of me up in that tree.

Here are some more videos from the fest to check out:

• Bloc Party - Helicopter
• Against Me! - Trash Unreal
• Spiritualized
• MGMT - Time To Pretend

Jimi Hendrix’s burnt 1965 Fender Stratocaster I mentioned yesterday, sold for £280,000 at the Fame Bureau’s It’s More Than Rock And Roll auction, after intense bidding. The guitar’s anticipated sale price of a quarter of a million dollars.

Daniel Boucher, an American collector and winner of the Hendrix guitar, says: “I thought I’d have to pay a little bit more for it, actually. I am going to play it, I hope some of it rubs off on me.” Wow, guy. You could get a lifetime worth of guitar lessons for less than what you spent on that guitar and I’m guessing they would work better.

Another item auctioned off that seems pretty cool was the lyrics for Sexy Sadie, a song from The Beatles’ White Album, which were carved by John Lennon onto a wooden plaque. Did I say pretty cool? Maybe not so cool along with a price tag of £32,000!

The legendary guitar, which was found earlier this year, will go on sale tomorrow at an auction in London titled It’s Not Just Rock n’ Roll. Hendrix “sacrificed” the fender strat by setting fire to it at the end of a performance on March 31, 1967 in the UK, an “act which turned him from rumor to legend.” According to the BBC, the pickup switch is the only thing that has been altered on the charred guitar since Jimi last played it. They anticipate that the guitar will go for at least a quarter of a million dollars.

Hendrix was known to have lit two guitars on fire during his short-lived career. Footage was taken of his second guitar torching during his kick-off performance of the Jimi Hendrix Experience and can be viewed here.

Other items that will be on sale in the auction tomorrow include The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison’s last notebook of poems, The Beatles’ first contract signed in 1962 and an unreleased song by David Bowie titled Mockingbird.

There are many actors who moonlight as wanna-be rockstars. And many who probably shouldn’t. This list includes Billy Bob Thornton, Keanu Reeves, The Bacon Brothers. Yes, you heard me right, The Bacon Brothers. Though he did play guitar in a band called The Kids, Johnny Depp has always been cool (or lucky?) enough to stay under the radar for most “Top 10 Worst” lists. Possibily because he joined the band in high school, before moving to Los Angeles to become an oscar-winning actor.

On Friday, Depp loaned his celebrity to his former band to play a show in honor of their later manager and to raise money for children with special needs. He played a Fender Telecaster and sang backup vocals at the show, which took place at Club Cinema in Pompano Beach, Florida, and benefited the Dan Marino Foundation. Check out a video of the performance here.