Here's our interview with Yngwie Malmsteen from the January 1986 issue of Guitar World. He discusses his roots, his rep and his 1985 album, Marching Out.
The band, its label and its management also came up with the idea to release the three discs in succession rather than put them out all at once or as a set. ¡Uno! comes out September 25, ¡Dos! hits on November 13, and ¡Tré! will be released on January 15, 2013. It’s an unconventional move, but one that’s perhaps more attuned to the short-attention-span digital era.
“This isn’t ‘old-timer’s day,’ ” Paul Stanley says of Kiss in 2012. “If that’s anybody’s idea of what we’re doing, then that’s just morbid and ridiculous.” Indeed, the 60-year-old singer and guitarist has just one word for those who question whether there’s still a fire raging beneath Kiss’ pancake-makeup exterior: Monster. That’s the title of the band’s new and—zounds!—20th studio album, which is Kiss’ hardest-hitting effort since 1992’s Revenge. The collection’s 13 tracks are streamlined and direct, with a vibe that recalls their Seventies-rock heyday and a sound that is solidly modern.
The Gaslight Anthem have been compared to Bruce Springsteen so many times that it almost seemed an inevitability when the Boss hopped onstage with the New Jersey quartet at England’s Glastonbury Festival in 2009. Their 2010 album, American Slang, was essentially Born to Run remade by four snot-nosed punks.
You’ll have to speak up a bit,” Gary Rossington says, practically shouting into the phone. The Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist and co-founder is speaking to Guitar World from “out in the mountains” in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and cell service is sketchy. Which is fine by him—Rossington is taking advantage of a short break in the band’s schedule for some quiet time with his wife and grandkids.
In the summer of 2011, as Incubus prepared to release their seventh studio album, If Not Now, When?, the band built their own performance space in a West Los Angeles warehouse and launched into something new: a participatory media exhibit and real-time performance and documentary project that allowed fans to experience and interact with the band as never before.
In a career that spans five decades and more than 40 albums, guitarist Lee Ritenour has developed a unique balance between the wisdom of experience and the enthusiasm of youth. Ritenour’s 2010 album, 6 String Theory, focused primarily on guitar and featured the winners of his 2009 guitar competition alongside guest appearances by guitar greats B.B. King, Steve Lukather and Slash, among others.
As the newest member of rock band Tight, singer/songwriter Kelley Jean also faces the greatest challenge: replacing the group’s original lead vocalist, Monica Mayhem. Tight is a four-piece managed by Bree Olson and consisting of guitarist Layla Labelle, bassist Tuesday Cross, drummer Alicia Andrews and, initially, Monica Mayhem as frontwoman. The women also have backgrounds in adult entertainment, adding yet another twist — and challenge — to launching a band.
Zakk Wylde had long been known for his guitar pyrotechnics, signature look and over-the-top personality. Beneath all that, however, lies Zakk Wylde the guitar ambassador. Though his instructional videos, tab books and Guitar World columns, Wylde has made the instrument more approachable, and he never shies away from giving credit to his influences or peers.
Make no mistake. Eddie Van Halen can still kick your ass. The man who single-handedly changed the face of rock is still mean, lean and sharp as a tack. And if you dispute the ownership of the crown, try to imagine a world without him. I came to pay my tribute, sneak a peak at that famous Marshall and meet the man I most wanted to be at 17.
Take heart, lonely grandmothers. Quebec-based indie rockers Les Trois Accords have plenty of hugs 'n' kisses to go around. They've even named their new album J'aime ta grand-mère (I love your grandmother). "I think we'll open a door for every grandmother who doesn't have a husband anymore so they can find love with a younger person," says lead guitarist Alexandre Parr. "But not grandfathers. Only grandmothers."