Artists

According to vocalist Corey Taylor and guitarists Jim Root and Josh Rand, Stone Sour’s third album, Audio Secrecy wasn’t made to please their record label or silence the critics— they made it for themselves. But is that enough to keep the band’s streak of critical and chart successes alive?

Read more: Stone Sour: Stone's Secret

Read more: Backstage Pass: Warren Haynes

Read more: Sights & Sounds: September 2010 CD,DVD and Web Reviews

Avenged Sevenfold was dealt a devastating blow in late 2009 with the death of their long-time brother-in-arms Jimmy “The Rev” Sullivan. Filled with emotion and supported by Dream Theater’s Mike Portnoy on drums, the band headed into the studio and poured it all into their fifth album, Nightmare. Guitarists Zacky Vengeance and Synyster Gates talk candidly with Guitar Edge about the loss and the path ahead.

Read more: Avenged Sevenfold - Emerging From the Nightmare

Chicago is a music town, and a diverse one at that. From blues and rock to jazz and world music, the Windy City has all of the bases covered. That melting pot of styles led guitarist Giles Corey and drummer Rick King to form Lubriphonic. Both were well-respected sidemen touring with some of the biggest acts on the blues scene, such as Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, and Otis Rush. Lubriphonic’s sound combines the gritty sound of urban blues with a rock feel, and adds a dash of ’70s-era Tower of Power.

Joining Corey and King in the group is bassist Pennal Johnson, trombonist Norman Palm, saxophonist Garrick Patten, and keyboardist Andrew Toombs. The band is currently recording their third studio album entitled The Gig is On. It will feature vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Ivan Neville from the band Dumpstaphunk, and will be released this fall.

History
The seeds for Lubriphonic were planted during a residency at a club in Chicago called AliveOne. “We wanted to start a band and make our own music that infused the blues and funk with rock n’ roll music,” says Corey. “It was a total part-time thing in the beginning because we all had other gigs. Rick was with Koko Taylor and I was playing with Otis Rush. We were all jobbing as sidemen. Eventually, we put together a residency at AliveOne in Chicago. We played there every Thursday for a couple of years and that really built up the momentum for the band.”

Bright Ideas
The residency opened up some doors for the band and gave them a place to get their act together. Literally. “A residency is a real blessing when you start out,” Corey says. “We were real fortunate that the owner really liked us and believed in what we were doing. There’s not a lot of places that will give you a weekly gig where they let you play what you want to play. Many times when bands start out they play a gig here and there. It was easy to get people who were in a position to help us, such as managers and agents, because we were there every week. That consistency was a big help in building up our draw and fan base in Chicago.”

Booking Advice
There really is no secret to how to go about booking gigs. In the early days, Corey would hit the streets and try to be as persistent as possible. “When you start out, there is really no easy way to go about it. All you can really do is cold call and send out your stuff and try to hopefully find a connection.” This approach led to both the residency and the band making some important contacts. “When you are starting out, nobody has heard of you and you don’t have much of a draw. These guys get like 200 promo packs every week. Even if they listen to all of them they get really burned out, so the key is to be persistent. There is no sort of secret to that in the beginning. My advice would be to utilize every connection you can get. If you have a friend who is the barback at the Double Door, then use that. Basically, when it isn’t about numbers, it is about who you know.”

Best Gigs
Throughout the life of the band it was important to them to get in front of as many people as possible. Opening for more established artists really helped with developing a fan base. “The internet was a great resource, obviously. Our residency was in a good spot and through being on the scene with other bands, we were able to get a few key openers at bigger venues,” says Corey when asked about important gigs. “We opened for the Derek Trucks Band, The Greyboy Allstars, and George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars. All that stuff counts because not only are you playing in front of potential fans, but also promoters and talent buyers as well.”

Other Tips
According to Corey, staying true to your music is the most important thing to remember about being a musician. “Make sure you aren’t sacrificing musically to get ahead. Don’t make it all about hype. It is a desperate business and there is a temptation to stop thinking about your art and creativity. Don’t forget why you are playing music in the first place.”

Set list:
The Chicken is Worth More Alive than Dead
No Blues
Say Something Good
Under the Line
Coming Together
The Gig is On
Be Thankful for What You Got
Pay The Man
Whatever You Do
Don’t Stop
If There’s Hell Below (We’re All Gonna Go)

If you would like your band featured in this column, email Jason Shadrick at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The title track from Disturbed’s upcoming release Asylum clocks in at over seven minutes, and hardly sounds like anything the band might have played in the past. It begins with an orchestral array of acoustic strumming and clean-tone texturing until finally giving way to the psychotic thrash of drop-tuned metal that has become the band’s signature sound over 14 years and five albums. Disturbed’s band members playfully refer to themselves as “The Danny Donegan Orchestra” during these types of forays into unexpected sonic realms, a tribute to guitarist Dan Donegan’s knack for pushing the envelope with his arrangements.

Read more: Disturbed - The Asylum Builder

From vintage guitars to a poignant salute to all- American, blue collar rock, the Gaslight Anthem’s flare for American culture goes beyond the music—it’s an attitude.

With the release of their newest album, American Slang, it’s obvious that Gaslight Anthem guitarist Alex Rosamilia is talented enough to gracefully nod his head at the past while rousing listeners to a musical renewal of what we so dearly claim as American rock. It’s a talent recognizable in Rosamilia’s clean playing and minimal effects on this album. Opting to create tones through amps instead of pedals and manipulating pickups, it harkens back to a time when real musicianship was dependant on real ability and soul—an attitude that the Gaslight Anthem seem to represent so well. We caught up with Rosamilia as he prepared to play “The Boxer” off of American Slang on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Read more: The Gaslight Anthem's Alex Rosamilia

1 You’ve been successful in the past with duo albums with Ron Carter, Pat Metheny, Bill Evans and others. Tell me about your new album with drummer Joey Baron?

We’re still working on it, but it’s coming along well. Joey is an inventive drummer and percussionist. He brought a lot of great ideas to the project; sometimes just a phrase would give us a spark. He listens well and is very reactive. The music is free and improvisatory. A duo with only drums and guitar is unique, and quite a challenge, but it also grabs your attention!

2 How has your style evolved through the years?

It’s a matter of growing and fitting in with the situation. Now I’m generally the leader, but often in the past I was just trying to keep my job. Art Farmer used to like to hear a chord first. With Sonny Rollins, I’d wait and follow what he played. There are both human and musical sides to growing as a player. It doesn’t have to be all far-out or atonal.

3 What motivates you to practice these days?

Actually, it’s the guitar itself. I had surgery for a fractured spine and was in the hospital for nine weeks. My recovery was complicated and I didn’t play guitar at all for almost two years. Now I have to play in a completely different position, sitting down. It’s fascinating, and I really enjoy it. The guitar itself inspires me to practice. I don’t have a lot of guitars—basically two. Sometimes I’ll tune one of my guitars randomly to avoid getting stuck on scales and arpeggios. It’s fun, and I need to do it. It’s so much a part of me; it’s like bonding with an old friend.

4 I know you’ve been playing your Sadowsky guitar for more than 15 years. What amp do you use?

I use a Polytone. I used Gibson tube amps for years but my hearing has changed and I’ve become more experimental. With the Polytone, you can crank it up and still get a mellow tone. I use an amplifier to play softer. I find I can get a nice sound out of the amp without banging on the strings real hard. I think of the guitar like a wind instrument. If I can get a sound like [saxophonist] Ben Webster, I’m happy.

5 Looking back, what is your musical legacy?

I would like to live in the moment and not in the past. I would like to inspire younger players and have them see I’m trying to grow. There’s a young guitarist named Julian Lage. He sounds completely different than anyone I’ve heard. I want to be like him. I’d like to keep sounding unique and young.

“I approach everything mainly just to entertain myself. That is pretty much the approach for everything in my career,” says Keller Williams about the motivation behind his new album, Thief. Once again Williams joins forces with husband and wife duo The Keels—comprised of guitarist Larry and bassist Jenny Keel—on a collection of interesting and quirky covers all done in a bluegrass style. The album is a natural follow-up to their first collaboration in 2006, entitled Grass, and covers a lot of stylistic ground. The band shifts effortlessly between unconventional covers of pop hits like “Sex and Candy” by Marcy Playground and Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab” to more traditional selections, such as the pair of Kris Kristofferson tunes that open and close the album.

Williams first met The Keels in Virginia while Larry was playing guitar in a bluegrass band. “I met the Keels in the early ’90s in a little bar in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Larry was playing in a band called McGraw Gap and I was a fan of that band,” remembers Williams. “We just love hanging out and pickin’ and partying and having a good time together.” The tunes on Thief reflect Williams’ offbeat sense of humor and his wide array of influences. Covers of tunes by The Raconteurs and the Presidents of the United States of America sit shoulder to shoulder with tracks penned by the Grateful Dead, Danny Barnes and Yonder Mountain String Band.

When it came time for the session, most of the source material for the album was totally new for guitarist Larry Keel. “It was completely interesting because Keller had selected all the songs and had made us a CD of him just playing the songs,” remembers Keel. “That was probably a month before the session. That gave us a chance to listen to them and really get them in our head.” During the session, Williams went with a Veillette Gryphon High 12 model guitar. In order to emulate the sound of a mandolin, he strung it with only the bottom eight strings, much like the lowest four strings of a guitar.

The band just came off a main stage performance at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, and according to Keel, the audience— comprised of more than a few bluegrass diehards and purists—responded well to the new material. “The funny thing was when we were playing Telluride and the whole crowd knew the lyrics to every song. I really felt like the odd man out, in a good way.”

GUITAR (KELLER): Veillette Gryphon High 12
GUITAR (LARRY): OM model Santa Cruz
STRINGS (LARRY): D’Addario medium gauge (.013-.056)

It’s exceptionally hard to pin down Anders Osborne. Not only does he have one of the best beards in the history of facial hair (sorry, ZZ Top), but he also embodies the unique and resilient spirit of the music of New Orleans.

Osborne was born in Sweden but has been residing in The Big Easy for more than two decades. After years of releasing albums on small indie labels, he gradually became known as a go-to songwriter and soon collaborated with artists such as Keb’ Mo and Tim McGraw. McGraw’s #1 hit, “Watch the Wind Blow By,” was written by Osborne and sold over three million copies.

American Patchwork is Osborne’s tenth solo album and his first since 2007’s Coming Down. For his latest album, Anders wanted to create a heavy blues vibe combined with a guitar sound straight from the ’70s. Joining Osborne on the album is drummer Stanton Moore, keyboardist Robert Walter and heavy metal guitarist Pepper Keenan. Moore and Osborne have been friends and jamming partners since Osborne moved to the area. When approached to put a group together for the 2009 New Orleans Jazz Fest, his first call was to Stanton. “I had a bunch of new tunes at the time and since Robert was in town, we decided to go with a trio,” Osborne remembers. “We did a few rehearsals and planned on just knocking it out of the ballpark at the festival. After that show we decided to put an album together.”

Soon after, the band booked time at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana. That particular studio, having served artists such as Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson and Kansas in years past, had just the sound that Osborne was looking for. “The studio we used has a real classic rock vibe to it. It is a masterpiece of a studio. If you let that studio do what it does, it sounds just like what we got on the record.”

The tone on the album is raw and in your face. “Pretty much for every take I had 8-12 signals going at once,” Osborne recalls. “I use all those sounds and set them up linearly so that they had their own projection. At a certain distance they would blend and that is where I would set up the mics.” He combines that multi-amp approach with a Strat that lives in Open-D tuning (D–A–D–F#–A–D) and super heavy strings for a sustaining, ringing tone. “I was trying to create some exaggerated moves with the amps. Everything is doing one simple thing and then I would mix them.”

Throughout the album, Osborne’s style comes through as part Delta bluesman and part songwriting troubadour. Since his move to New Orleans, Osborne’s music has become synonymous with the spirit of the city and its musicians. “The overall impressions of living here have affected me tremendously. If I had to point something out, it has to be the joy and sincerity in every time you play music,” says Osborne. “It isn’t a showcase ever here. You’re playing because that moment of playing music is the only thing that matters. That is very New Orleans.”

The rest of the year will find Osborne on tour with plans to record a follow-up in the winter. “I am going to try and get some time to go back in and begin the next record. I spoke with Stanton and we were so satisfied with the outcome, we just want to keep it going.”

Anders Osborne’s Gearbox

Guitar: 1968 Fender Stratocaster with original pickups
Amps: Marshall JCM800 100-watt head w/ matching 4x12 cabinet, 1964 Fender Concert, ’50s Silvertone 15-watt amp, Custom Category 5 amp
Strings: .013-.056