News

Listen: Megadeth Premiere New Song, "Kingmaker"

Guitar World Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:55:49 +0000

Megadeth will release their new album, Super Collider, June 4.

In anticipation, the band has unveiled a new track from the record, titled "Kingmaker." Check it out below and let us know what you think in the comments. You also can stream the album's title track right here.

For a new interview with Megadeth's Dave Mustaine and Chris Broderick, check out the June 2013 issue of Guitar World, which is available now at newsstands everywhere and at the Guitar World Online Store.

Super Collider can be preordered now at Amazon.com. The "Super Collider" single is available at iTunes for $1.29.

Additional Content

Video: Sample Guitar World's New 'Mastering Scales' DVD

Guitar World Staff — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:54:06 +0000

Guitar World has released a new DVD we think you'll enjoy: Mastering Scales.

The DVD, which is available now at the Guitar World Online Store, is a deluxe crash course in guitar theory, with more than 80 minutes of instructional video to help you reach the next level.

The DVD features everything you need to know about the pentatonic, hexatonic and blues scales, plus exotic scales, monster shred patterns, moving through the cycle of fifths.

Your Instructor on the DVD is Jimmy Brown, author of Guitar World's best-selling DVD, Mastering Fretboard Harmony. Over the last 24 years, Jimmy has built a reputation as one of the world's finest music editors through his work as transcriber, arranger and senior music editor for GW. He's also a busy working musician, performing regularly as a solo acoustic guitar/vocal act and rocking out with a full band at taverns, restaurants, resorts, weddings and private parties.

Here's the complete list of chapters:

• Chapter 1 – C Major, A minor, G major, E minor pentatonic scales.
• Chapter 2 – Two-notes-per-string pentatonic box patterns.
• Chapter 3 – Moving through the cycle of fourths and fifths.
• Chapter 4 – “2+3” and “3+2” fretboard patterns.
• Chapter 5 - Two-note-per-string and three-note-per-string pentatonic box patterns.
• Chapter 6 – Pentatonic “modules.”
• Chapter 7 – A minor, C major, E minor, G major blues scales.
• Chapter 8 – More blues scale exercises, the “monster shred” pattern, E minor hexatonic scale.
• Chapter 9 – E minor, D major, C Lydian, A minor, and G major hexatonic scales.
• Chapter 10 – Alternating between hexatonic scales.
• Chapter 11 – Obscure but cool-sounding hexatonic scales.
• Chapter 12 – Comparing back to back hexatonic scales, and the “Iberian” hexatonic scale.

The Mastering Scales DVD is available now at the Guitar World Online Store for $14.99. NOTE: This product includes a PDF booklet on the DVD and can be retrieved by opening the DVD on your computer.

Video Premiere: "Desire" by The Winery Dogs — Richie Kotzen, Billy Sheehan and Mike Portnoy

Damian Fanelli — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:33:32 +0000

The Winery Dogs — a band featuring guitarist Richie Kotzen, bassist Billy Sheehan and drummer Mike Portnoy — have released a music video for a track off their new self-titled album.

Check out "Desire" below, and be sure to tell us what you think in the comments.

Last month, the band released a music video for "Elevate," the first single from the new album. You can watch "Elevate" right here.

For more about the Winery Dogs and the new album — which seems to be available as an import from Japan (We will check on the official release date) — visit the band's Facebook page and official website.

While you're at it, check out our interview with Sheehan from last month, right here.

The Winery Dogs Track Listing:

01. Elevate / 02. Desire / 03. We Are One / 04. I’m No Angel / 05. The Other Side / 06. You Saved Me / 07. Not Hopeless / 08. One More Time / 09. Damaged / 10. Six Feet Deeper / 11. Criminal / 12. The Dying / 13. Regret

Additional Content

Interview: Guitarist Robby Krieger Discusses The Doors' Albums and Working with Jim Morrison

Alan Paul — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:48:11 +0000

The Doors’ Jim Morrison lit the world on fire, but it was guitarist Robby Krieger who supplied the matches. In 2008, the legendary axman shed light on one of rock’s most mysterious bands for Guitar World.

The Doors’ Jim Morrison lit the world on fire, but it was guitarist Robby Krieger who supplied the matches. Here, the legendary axman sheds light on one of rock’s most mysterious bands.

“It was hard living with Jim.”

Robby Krieger is talking about his days as guitarist with the Doors, reflecting on his role as creative sidekick to one of rock’s all-time great lyricists, singers, sex symbols and extreme personalities, Jim Morrison. “It would have been so great if we’d just had a guy like Sting,” says Krieger wistfully. “You know, a normal guy who’s extremely talented, too. Someone who didn’t have to be on the verge of life and death every second of his life.”

The guitarist laughs at his own fantasy. He knows better than anyone that it was Morrison’s inner demons, which surfaced all too frequently, that gave the Doors’ music its resonance and power. But while Morrison was undoubtedly one of rock’s great visionaries, the contributions of the other Doors to the band’s unique sound and success cannot be overlooked. The blues-based, often hypnotic music created by Krieger, organist Ray Manzarek and drummer John Densmore perfectly complemented Morrison’s commanding, sensual vocals and mesmerizing lyrics. And it was actually Krieger who penned many of the Doors’ greatest songs and biggest hits, including “Light My Fire,” “Love Me Two Times” and “Touch Me.”

Remarkably, when Krieger joined the Doors in 1965 he was only 18 years old and had been playing guitar for just two years — electric guitar a mere six months.

“I really learned to play as a member of the Doors,” he asserts. “I just tried to sound like myself—I consciously avoided copying Chuck Berry or B.B. King because that’s what everyone was doing. I tried to come up with the right part for the song and play something that would complement Jim’s singing.

“It must have worked,” he adds coyly. “I think we came up with a pretty good body of work.”

Pretty good, yes. Good enough to have gotten the Doors inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last January and to have inspired Oliver Stone’s reverential 1991 biopic. And, most of all, good enough to enthrall three decades of rock fans with music that remains as powerful and profound in the Nineties as it was in the Sixties.

Robby Krieger cannot escape his past with the Doors, even though the band essentially died with Morrison in 1971. Although he has remained active, touring regularly and recording seven solo albums dominated by instrumental music, Krieger says, “I realized pretty quickly that I would never again have another band like the Doors. Music has become more of a fun thing for me, much like painting is — something that’s personally rewarding. It’s what I do and how I identify myself: I’m Robby Krieger, guitarist.”

Most people would say: Robby Krieger, Doors guitarist. What follows are Krieger’s recollections of the Doors’ career, from their 1967 self-titled debut to 1971’s brilliant swan song, L.A. Woman.

THE DOORS
Released January 1967

GUITAR WORLD: What was your first impression of Jim Morrison?

I first met him when he came to my house with John Densmore and he seemed pretty normal. I didn’t really get a sense that there was anything unusual about him until the end of our first rehearsal. Initially, everything was cool. Then this guy came looking for Jim. Something had gone wrong with a dope deal, and Jim just went nuts. Absolutely bananas. I thought, Jesus Christ, this guy’s not normal.

What were your impressions of Ray Manzarek?

When I first met him, he was the “big man on campus” at the UCLA film school. In fact, our first gig as a band was to provide music for one of his student films. Afterwards Ray got up in front of an auditorium full of people and gave a speech. I remember it well, because he had them in the palm of his hand. He was down-right mesmerizing. He was a major character, but Jim kind of kept him in his place. Jim was so out there that Ray’s personality was overwhelmed — which, oddly enough, created a good balance.

And you were pretty much what you appeared to be: a nice, quiet guy who fit in between these two powerful personalities?

Well, dealing with Jim kind of changed me, too, because I was pretty crazy myself. I was the first one at my school to try acid and I was always the one pushing things. Then I got into the Doors and I couldn’t hold a candle to Jim and Ray. [laughs] But I had already gone through acid and I was onto meditation by the time I joined the Doors—I actually met John at meditation class—so I had already mellowed out.

When were the Doors thrown out of the Whisky-A-Go-Go for performing “The End”?

Well, that’s overstating it a little bit. That whole incident has been blown out of proportion. There was a fight with the owner and we were thrown out, but I don’t think we were actually fired. We kept playing the Whisky after that.

Jim’s antics are held in such reverence now. Were they funny at the time?

It was always a bummer. We had this group which we all knew had the potential to be something really big, and Jim was trying to sabotage it by fucking up at every turn. We would call a rehearsal, Jim wouldn’t show, and we’d get a call from Blythe, Arizona, telling us that he was in jail.

Yet you guys were amazingly productive. You produced six studio albums in three or four years. Were his work habits really that bad?

No. the music was all he lived for. A lot of times he was at the office when we weren’t. He’d even live there sometimes, because that was his whole life. We all had lives other than the Doors, but he didn’t, and he kind of resented that. He felt like he was living it 24 hours a day, and we weren’t. And he was right.

But the recording sessions really bored him. We had to hang around interminably until they got the drum sound down and all that shit, so I can’t blame him for going crazy. Paul Rothchild, our producer, was a real perfectionist.

How important was Paul to your music?

It really differed from album to album. On the first one, he just turned on the mic and stepped out of the way. The second album, when we actually had a budget, Paul really got involved in the sound.

We were all kind of freaked out recording the first album because we didn’t know what it would be like. For example, it really bothered us that we couldn’t turn up as loud as we wanted.

Yet it really sounds like you were all playing with total abandon.

That’s because we had been playing those songs for so long that we really had the material down cold. Everything was cut in one or two takes.

Your version of “Back Door Man” is really effective. Were there any debates about how faithful you should be to the original version?

No. For one thing, we probably weren’t good enough musicians to do exact copies and we knew that Jim would never sing it anywhere near the original anyhow. So we just went on our own.

For years it was a little-known fact that you wrote “Light My Fire.” That changed when Oliver Stone made it a point to show how the song evolved in his movie, The Doors. Was it as simple as pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of your pocket and offering it to the band like the movie suggests?

It’s pretty close. Jim had been writing all the songs and then one day we realized we didn’t have enough tunes, so he said, “Hey, why don’t you guys try and write songs?” I wrote “Light My Fire” that night and brought it to the next rehearsal. It was my idea to have that scene in the movie, by the way. I wanted it there because it’s always kind of bugged me that so many people don’t know that I was the composer.

Your solo on “Light My Fire” is truly one of your shining moments as a guitarist. Was it improvised in the studio?

It was the kind of solo that I usually did, but it was different every night. To be honest, the one on the record is not one of my better versions. I only had two tries at it. But it’s not bad; I’m glad it was as good as it was.

Was the whole album recorded live?

No. Jim always sang with us, but they rarely used the scratch vocal. “The End” was an exception.

What do you think of the song now?

I think that particular version of “The End” was nowhere near as good as the way we played it many other times. All the songs on the first album were like skeletons of how we really played them. It was just a combination of not having any studio experience and having to do everything so fast. I also think that studios are, by nature, limiting. You cannot get the sound of five big amplifiers on a little piece of tape.

Did you ever think about how strange it was not to have a bass player?

Definitely. We always thought about that. We wanted a bass player, and we auditioned a few — but we never could find one who was right. Looking back, I’m glad we didn’t, because the Doors’ sound was largely a result of the fact that Ray had to play really simple bass lines, which gave the music a hypnotic feel.

And not having a bass player affected my guitar playing a lot. It made me play more bass notes to fill out the bottom. Not having a rhythm player also made me play differently to fill out the sound. And then, of course, I played lead, so I always felt like three players simultaneously.

“Light My Fire,” the first song you ever wrote, was a number-one hit. It’s sudden success must have been mind-boggling.

It wasn’t that sudden. It actually felt like forever to us. We started the band in 1965, and nothing happened for two years. We were going crazy. Finally, after being turned down by everyone in town, Elektra signed us. Our first single bombed, and it was another six months before “Light My Fire” hit. So it seemed like a long time. We felt like veterans.

Did you use your standard gear in the studio? Were you playing an SG?

Yeah, though the first red one I had was a Melody Maker. I had a few red SGs in the Doors, but they’re all gone now, mostly stolen or lost. Amp-wise, I usually used a Twin Reverb in the studio.

You almost allowed “Light My Fire” to be used in a car commercial before Jim put an end to it. Did Jim do the right thing?

Oh yeah, absolutely. In fact, it’s been our policy to reject any subsequent offers—and we’ve had quite a few. I really hate it when I see other bands selling their music to commercials. And by the time a big corporation is interested in using your music, you don’t need the money. So there’s really no excuse.

STRANGE DAYS
Released November 1967

When the second album came out it was attacked by many critics as being a retread of the first. Do you think that was valid criticism?

Only on one count. I’ll admit that “When the Music’s Over” was similar to “The End” in length and structure, but so what? Something works, so you do it again. It’s one of my favorite songs.

I don’t think that Morrison’s poetry rap is quite as interesting on “When the Music’s Over” as “The End.”

No, it’s not. How can you possibly top “The End”? What’s left once you’ve fucked your mother and killed your father? [laughs] The reason it’s my favorite song is my solo — I think it’s my best.

That solo is composed of two solos being played simultaneously. Did you improvise both of them on the spot?

Pretty much. In fact, I’ve never been able to reproduce them. That solo was really a challenge because the harmony is static. I had to play 56 bars over the same riff, which isn’t easy. It’s a lot easier to play something over an interesting chord progression. But we did that a lot because we were really into [saxophonist] John Coltrane, who pioneered “modal” jazz and soloed brilliantly over static harmonies and minimal chord progressions. I was always trying to play something that sounded like him — just totally out there in terms of tonality. I think “When the Music’s Over” is the closest I ever came.

You recorded Strange Days less than a year after your debut. Did Elektra put a lot of pressure on you?

No, we were ready. We had tons of material for the first two albums; the pressure came on the third album. We ran out of stuff and Jim was pretty fucked up on liquor by then, so it was hard to write with him and that’s when I started writing more of my own songs. It was also difficult to write while we were touring, so we started writing a lot more in the studio.

What was life on the road with the Doors like?

Not as crazy as you would think. At first, it was mostly teenyboppers and groupies and a few local nuts hanging around. But a couple of years down the road, when people realized how weird we were, we really started drawing some creeps. We still do, I might add—Morrison wannabes show up on my doorstep all the time. And they always want to sing. [laughs]

Speaking of weirdoes, “People Are Strange” has a great chord progression. Did you write that?

Yeah. Jim came up to my house in Laurel Canyon one night, and he was in one of his suicidal, downer moods. So John said, “Come on, Jim, we’ll go see the sunset. That’ll get you out of this.” We went up to the top of Laurel Canyon and it was incredibly beautiful — we were looking down on the sun reflecting off the top of the clouds. Jim had a total mood flip-flop, and said, “Wow! Now I know why I felt like that. It’s because if you’re strange, people are strange.” And he wrote the lyrics right there. Then I came up with the music and we went back down the hill.

Why wasn’t “Moonlight Drive,” the first song you wrote and rehearsed together, on the first album?

It wasn’t really the first song: “Indian Summer” was, and “Moonlight Drive” was the second. But we didn’t think the version that we cut was good enough, so we decided to drop it off the first album and try again next time. Unfortunately we’ve never been able to find the damn master for the first version. I think we may have found it now, and I hope I’m right because I always thought it was good. It was totally different than the one on Strange Days. It was real dark and laid-back, very spooky.

Any strange memories from the Strange Days album?

One time, we were getting ready to leave for the night and Jim didn’t want to stop because he was feeling good. He kept saying, “Man, I want to play all night.” But we were all tired and wanted to go home. Jim finally left, but he came back half an hour later, climbed over the fence, broke into the studio, took out the fire extinguisher and sprayed it into the piano and all over everything. It was quite a surprise in the morning. [laughs]

Were you guys around when Jim recorded “House Latitudes”?

Yeah. He said he had a poem he wanted to read and he wanted something real weird to back it. There were all these instruments in the studio from an orchestra session — harpsichords and pianos and timpani. We all started banging on them and fumbling around inside the pianos, and there were 10 or 12 people just screaming at the top of their lungs. After we laid that down, Jim overdubbed the poem.

The funny thing was, as we were listening back at full volume and Jim was reading, the guys from the Jefferson Airplane came straggling in — high as kites, or course. They stared at us like we were out of our minds, but we just acted casual and said, “Oh yeah, this is one of our songs.” [laughs]

Were you friends with them?

Sort of. We always played on the same bill, but we didn’t really hang out much. There was always a bit of competitive vibe—to see who could blow who off the stage.

We didn’t hang out with other musicians that much — just Van Morrison when he came to town, and occasionally the guys in Buffalo Springfield. We didn’t get too close with the San Francisco groups — especially the Grateful Dead, who wouldn’t let us use their amps one night. We had a gig at Beverly Hills High School in the afternoon and then one about an hour up the coast in Santa Barbara, so we left our gear, figuring the Dead would let us use their stuff. You’d always let people use your amps in those days, but they just refused. I ended up playing through a Pignose or something equally ridiculous.

Ray was aghast at the fact that Pigpen wouldn’t let him use his organ. He kept saying, “Pigpen? Someone named Pigpen won’t let me use his instrument? I could catch cooties from his organ.” He couldn’t believe it.

WAITING FOR THE SUN
Released August 1968

It seems like the band was in a creative lull and feeling a lot of pressure by the third album. Do you see a band like Pearl Jam going through a similar thing?

Their situation is a lot different, but, yes, I see the similarities. I know Eddie [Vedder] — he sang with us at our induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year—and he wants to be like Jim. He was drilling me about Jim — asking me a million questions about how Jim would have reacted to various situations. And he is kind of a troubled person and a very serious guy, like Jim was. But I don’t think he, or anyone else in that band, is too fucked up to write good material. They may not be the straightest people in the world, but it’s not like our situation, where you have a guy who’s really out of control. Eddie’s not like that; he knows what he’s doing.

Does it trouble you to see someone emulate a person whose self-destruction you witnessed?

Yeah, it really does. I always tell people, “Don’t drink because Jim drank. That was a mistake. That’s what fucked him up.” If it weren’t for the booze he might still be writing today.

Had his drinking gotten seriously worse when you were recording Waiting for the Sun?

Definitely. That’s when the liquor really started being a problem. Before that, everything was more or less fine. LSD was no problem because it was a creative thing. There’s nothing good about liquor — it just fucks you up—though at first it relaxes you, which is what you probably need after taking eight-zillion acid trips. [laughs]

“Hello, I Love You” was a number-one hit and Waiting for the Sun topped the album charts. Can that kind of success get you through a creative lull?

It helped a lot. In fact, we were just going out on tour when “Hello, I Love You” hit number one, and it really buoyed our spirits. People always think that we stole that track from the Kinks’ “All Day and All of the Night,” but we weren’t thinking of them at all. What I did steal was the drumbeat: I told John to play something like “Sunshine of Your Love.” So, we ripped off the Cream, not the Kinks.

What specific recollections do you have of these sessions?

A lot of very horrible ones. By that time, Jim was being taken advantage of by various hangers-on. He would bring them to the studio and Rothchild would go crazy — all these drunken assholes would be hanging around, fucking in the echo chamber and pissing in the closets. It was a mess.

Jim would drink with anybody because we wouldn’t drink with him. He would take on all these assholes, who used him: “Hey, we’re hanging with Jumbo.” And they wouldn’t care how fucked up he got—they’d leave him on somebody’s doorstep in his own puke.

At what point did you guys refuse to drink with him?

I never drank with him because I didn’t like to drink to excess and he loved to go until he couldn’t see. I knew what was coming and hated to see it, so I would usually be gone by that point. John and Ray felt the same way.

Were you three using a lot of drugs at that point?

No. Not at all. And the fact that Jim was using so much made us use even less. The romance was definitely gone. Once in a while he would talk me into taking acid — just like you saw in the movie — but not often.

THE SOFT PARADE
Released January 1969

The Soft Parade features several heavily orchestrated, intricately arranged songs. Were you compelled to go into this direction because of the Beatles?

Yeah, totally. In those days you had to try to keep up with the Beatles! But, to be honest, I didn’t really like orchestrating the songs. It definitely wasn’t my idea — it was Paul Rothchild’s. I never would have done it.

Does it sound better to you now?

Actually, it does sound better with time. But I never thought it sounded bad—I just thought it didn’t sound like us. The Doors were lost. It was Jim and the orchestra.

This was the first album where you had individual songwriting credits.

Right. Jim originally wanted everything to say “written by the Doors” to keep things mysterious. But everybody just took it for granted that he wrote everything. I think he realized that wasn’t fair and wanted to give others credit.

Did he actually write the music on those songs where he alone is credited?

No. He would hear the song in his head. But he didn’t play anything, so he would sing a vocal melody, and we would have to figure out what to do. But a lot of times he just had a poem on paper and I would come up with something. Other times I would come up with a melody, and he’d put words to it.

What about the Soft Parade sessions sticks out in your mind?

The endless mixing sessions. That was a very long, drawn-out album. We spent more money on it than we did on any other album. And Jim was hard to find. All the mixing bored the hell out of him. But I think his drinking problem wasn’t as bad as it was on Waiting for the Sun, because he had started making a film, which kept him busy.

There was one funny thing that happened. This crazy guy appeared and apparently he thought that “The Celebration of the Lizard” [a Morrison poem which appeared on Waiting for the Sun] was written about him. He was yelling, “How did you know that I’m the Lizard King, goddamn it! That’s me. You wrote a song about me!” And he smacked Ray right in the eye because he thought Ray was Jim. Ray had his glasses on and they just crumpled. It was a mess.

Before the poem appeared had you ever heard Jim refer to himself as the Lizard King?

He was always obsessed with lizards—he loved that kind of stuff because he’d seen it on acid a lot. But I don’t know when he came up with “I am the Lizard King.” I think he wished he had never said that. It was just another thing he had to live up to.

During the Soft Parade tour, your Miami concert erupted in pandemonium and was canceled. Later Jim was charged with indecent exposure. What do you remember of the concert?

Well, first of all, Jim did not pull it out. But it was bedlam, just total craziness. The place was oversold, thousands of people swarmed the stage, and it collapsed. I remember Jim just rolling around in the midst of all those people and I was wondering if we would ever get out of there. It was very much like in the movie — they did a real good job on that one.

But you had no sense that the incident was going to turn into such a big thing?

No, hell no! Okay, the concert was fucked up, and we didn’t finish, but nobody was angry, nobody asked for their money back. And the cops were friendly — they sat around drinking beers with us after the show. Nothing happened until a week later, when somebody decided to make a stink about it. Some politician decided to make their career at our expense. Then it fucked everything up. We couldn’t play anywhere for a year. The Hall Managers’ Association basically banned us.

Did Jim feel very persecuted?

I’m sure he did. But he wasn’t surprised. He knew he was pushing authority as far as it could go. We really did have the sense that we had pushed the system to the edge and finally they were pushing back.

MORRISON HOTEL
Released March 1970

“Roadhouse Blues” and a couple of other songs on Morrison Hotel hinted at the changes to come on L.A. Woman—heading in a bluesier, more bare-bones direction.

I think it was a reaction to the overproduction of The Soft Parade. We wanted to get back to basics. “Roadhouse Blues” is one of my personal favorites. I was always proud of that song because, as simple as it is, it’s not just another blues. That one little lick makes it a song, and I think that sums up the genius of the Doors. I think that song stands up really well as an example of what made us a great band. And the session was really cool — one of my fondest memories of the band. We cut the tune live, with John Sebastian playing harp and Lonnie Mack playing bass—he came up with that fantastic bass line.

How did Mack end up on there?

He just happened to be hanging around. I think he had a contract with Elektra and wasn’t recording so they gave him a job at the studio. We just said, “Hey, why don’t you play bass?”

You co-wrote “Peace Frog” with Jim.

Yes. I had written the music, we rehearsed it up, and it was really happening, but we didn’t have any lyrics and Jim wasn’t around. We just said, “Fuck it, let’s record it. He’ll come up with something.” And he did. He took out his poetry book and found a poem that fit. But it always seemed kind of forced to me, to tell you the truth.

The legend has Ray and Jim being very tight, but you’re the one who wrote with him a lot.

In the very early days Ray was very close with Jim; Jim actually lived with Ray and his wife. He was almost like their son, and he was great for a while—he wasn’t drinking or anything. The problem was that Ray became a father figure, so Jim rebelled. He fucked their house up—trashed it on more than one occasion — and took advantage of them in many ways. Then I joined the band and sort of latched on to Jim, and we hung out a lot.

Ray worked up all the early songs with Jim — everything on the first album. Then I wrote a lot with Jim — before I started really writing on my own—and those songs went mostly on the second and third albums.

Did you ever talk about lyrics with Jim?

Not much. He didn’t like to explain lyrics because he wanted people to interpret them themselves. But he thought about that stuff a lot. He was also somewhat into pure impressionism — which I think is what he liked about my songs. I always tried to write something that just fit the music, even if it didn’t especially mean anything.

L.A. WOMAN
Released June 1971

Legend has it that L.A. Woman was cut entirely live.

Not entirely, but a lot of it was live, and the song “L.A. Woman” was completely live. I think that could be the quintessential Doors song, and the way we came up with it was amazing. We just started playing and it came together as if by magic. Jim made a lot of it up as he went along, which is amazing because I think it’s one of his most poetic songs. I can remember Jim sitting in the bathroom with the mic singing and all of us just having a great time.

That album was the first time you had a rhythm guitarist— Marc Benno.

That was basically just so we could do it live. It freed me up. And we thought it might add a different flavor. I actually enjoyed it, and I didn’t have to do as much overdubbing.

You still did some overdubbing; it sounds like there are at least four guitar tracks on “I’ve Been Down So Long.”

Yeah, there probably are. Ray played a guitar and Benno played, and I probably overdubbed one too. I think I also overdubbed two or three slide parts.

That slide solo is one of your craziest.

Definitely. I was just trying to capture a mood without worrying about technique.

The beauty of your slide playing — and your blues playing in general — is you don’t mimic the originators. And you never really cleaned your blues up — you left it a little messy. Some white guys tend to be very anal.

That’s right. That’s what I didn’t like about Mike Bloomfield — too perfect. I always just tried to do my thing. I could play traditional blues slide, but all the other guys reacted more enthusiastically to my untraditional slide playing. In fact, that’s what got me into the band. Jim always loved my slide playing—he wanted me to play it almost exclusively.

Did Jim ever critique your playing?

He would always tell me that I was the most underrated guitar player around. What’s funny is that the four of us hardly ever criticized the others’ playing—or even suggested anything. We worked so well together that we hardly ever had to talk about it. Everybody just played the right part in the right place at the right time.

“Cars Hiss By My Window” is a rather unusual blues.

Yeah. That was our Jimmy Reed piece. Jim was really getting into the blues at that time and he loved it when I would just play straight blues. He’d sit there and make up songs on the spot. He just wanted to play all night. It’s too bad because I really think that had we done another album it would have been a lot more straight blues stuff, which I always loved.

How did “Riders on the Storm” develop?

We were fooling around with “Ghost Riders in the Sky” one day and somehow it turned into “Riders on the Storm.” It just happened.

Another change on L.A. Woman is the absence of reverb, particularly on Jim’s voice, which was so heavily reverbed on your first few albums.

Well, Sunset Sound, where we recorded the first two albums, had one of the best echo chambers in the world. It was a live chamber, which they don’t make anymore. And it sounded so great that we used it a lot more than we might otherwise have. We piped everything through there.

But L.A. Woman was recorded on an eight-track in our rehearsal space and Paul Rothchild was gone, which is one reason we had so much fun. The warden was gone.

So, even after all your success, you still had that sort of relationship with the producer, where he was cracking the whip?

Yeah, we just kind of took it for granted that he would produce and we would do things his way — you stick with success. And, finally, he was like a rat deserting a sinking ship. I think he figured it was time to bail.

So there was a sense that the Doors were a sinking ship?

Yeah, definitely. We couldn’t play anywhere, we were fucked because of the Miami incident. Morrison Hotel didn’t do that well, Jim looked bad and was getting fat… All things considered, I thought it was pretty cool that L.A. Woman did well.

I think we came up with something so loose because there was no pressure. We figured we were already screwed, so we were having fun again. we were so far gone that it was like our first album.

Just weeks after the album entered the Top Ten, Jim was dead. Do you remember finding out?

Yeah. I got a phone call and I didn’t believe it because we used to hear shit like that all the time—that Jim jumped off a cliff or something. So we sent our manager off to Paris, and he called and said it was true.

People often talk about the inevitability of him dying young. Do you buy that?

No! I thought he would never die. I thought he’d outlive everybody, like one of those Irish drunks who’d drink a fifth of whisky a day and live until they’re 80. He seemed invulnerable, the way he would do things and jump out of windows without getting hurt. I never saw those things, but I would hear about them the next day. For some reason, he was fairly well behaved around me. Somehow our relationship developed where he stayed fairly calm around me, thank God. [laughs]

After Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin died, Jim supposedly told people that he would be the third to die at 27. Did you remember him saying such things?

Yeah. He was definitely obsessed with death. He talked about it all the time.

There’s always been talk that he’s not dead, and Ray has occasionally fueled that idea. Have you ever thought that?

Yes and no. I’ve allowed myself to fantasize at times, but I’m sure that if he wasn’t dead he would have gotten hold of us by now. But then again, if there’s anybody who could pull off something like that, it was him. I still think about him quite a bit. I always have dreams that he’s alive, and we’re playing together again. Wishful thinking.

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Ray Manzarek, Keyboardist for The Doors, Dead at 74

Damian Fanelli — Mon, 20 May 2013 23:42:27 +0000

Keyboardist Ray Manzarek, a founding member of the Doors, died today (May 20) in Rosenheim, Germany, where he was being treated for bile duct cancer. He was 74.

Manzarek is best known for his work with the Doors, who formed in 1965 when Manzarek had a chance encounter in Venice Beach, California, with poet Jim Morrison, whom he had met earlier when they were students at UCLA.

The Doors went on to become one of the most controversial American rock acts of the 1960s, selling more than 100 million albums worldwide and receiving 19 Gold, 14 Platinum and five multi-Platinum albums in the US alone. "L.A.Woman," "Break On Through (to the Other Side)," "The End," "Hello, I Love You" and "Light My Fire" were just some of the band's iconic and ground-breaking songs.

After Morrison's death in 1971, Manzarek went on to become a best-selling author and a Grammy-nominated recording artist in his own right. His memoir, Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, was published in 1998. In 2002, he revitalized his touring career with Doors' guitarist and long-time collaborator, Robby Krieger.

"I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of my friend and bandmate Ray Manzarek today," Krieger said on the band's Facebook page. "I'm just glad to have been able to have played Doors songs with him for the last decade. Ray was a huge part of my life and I will always miss him."

"When I first met [Ray], he was the 'big man on campus' at the UCLA film school," Krieger told Guitar World (Read the full interview here). "In fact, our first gig as a band was to provide music for one of his student films. Afterwards Ray got up in front of an auditorium full of people and gave a speech. I remember it well, because he had them in the palm of his hand. He was down-right mesmerizing. He was a major character, but Jim kind of kept him in his place. Jim was so out there that Ray’s personality was overwhelmed — which, oddly enough, created a good balance."

Manzarek was born Raymond Daniel Manczarek Jr. on February 12, 1939, in Chicago. He took private piano lessons as a child but chose basketball over music at an early age. When he was 16, his coach insisted either he play guard or stop playing basketball, so Manzarek quit the team.

In the early '60s, he studied in the Department of Cinematography at UCLA, where he met Morrison, a film student. Forty days after finishing film school, Manzarek and Morrison met by chance on Venice Beach. Morrison said he had written some songs, and Manzarek said he wanted to hear them, so Morrison sang a rough version of "Moonlight Drive," which the band would eventually record. Manzarek liked the songs and co-founded the Doors with Morrison on the spot.

Manzarek met drummer John Densmore and Krieger at a Transcendental Meditation lecture. Densmore says, "There wouldn't be any Doors without [the] Maharishi."

Manzarek is survived by his wife, Dorothy; brothers Rick and James Manczarek, son Pablo Manzarek, Pablo's wife Sharmin and their three children Noah, Apollo and Camille. Funeral arrangements are pending. The family asks that their privacy be respected at this difficult time. In lieu of flowers, please make a memoriam donation in Ray Manzarek's name at standup2cancer.org.

The Door's Robby Krieger discusses "L.A. Woman" and working with Ray Manzarek

“I’ve always considered this the quintessential Doors song. It’s just magical to me, and the way it came about was fantastic. We just started playing and Jim started coming up with those words, and it just poured forth. Jim was sitting in the bathroom, which we were using as an ISO booth, singing. I don’t know how he came up with that whole concept on the spot like that, but he did. You would think that would have been a poem that he had written before, as many of our songs were, but it’s not. That was just written on the spot.

“It’s very natural and sums up a lot of our best qualities. All the interplay with Ray just happened. We really understood each other at that point. We could anticipate where one another were headed and just play.”

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Juke Box Hero: Lou Gramm Discusses New Autobiography and Foreigner

James Wood — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:07:02 +0000

Former Foreigner vocalist Lou Gramm pulls no punches in his new autobiography, Juke Box Hero.

In the book, which was co-written with Scott Pitoniak, Gramm leads readers on a journey from his humble beginnings in Rochester, New York, to the biggest stages in the world. He recounts his stint with Black Sheep, plus the ups and downs of working with guitarist Mick Jones in the band that made him famous.

From the diagnosis that nearly took his life to his solo career success and fascination for muscle cars, Gramm’s book is an honest portrayal of self-reflection from one of the greatest voices in rock history.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Gramm to discuss Juke Box Hero and get his thoughts on being inducted with Jones into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on June 13.

GUITAR WORLD: What made you decide to write a book at this stage?

It was a good point in my life to write the book. I had a lot to talk about and fortunately, I remember all of it! [laughs]. Those were exceptional times with a lot of great groups, and I really wanted to tell my story.

What was the writing process like?

Scott [Pitoniak] lives here in Rochester, and once a week he and I would meet at my recording studio for a few hours. It took almost a year and a half, but it was a good way to do it. We weren’t in any hurry and didn’t do it in any kind of chronological order. Scott would surprise me with questions from things that happened 30 years ago and then ask me others that were from six months ago.

Many of the questions would often instigate something, and I’d come up with an old story that usually had a funny end to it. Of course, there were also some questions that actually stirred up a little anxiety or anger, but I really wanted it to be off the cuff.

Prior to joining Foreigner, you were with Black Sheep when a van accident destroyed most of your equipment and ended your tour. Do you think if events had been different, that tour may have been the breakthrough for the band?

Who knows? We already had two albums out on Capitol and were opening for Kiss on a huge world tour. At one show we played in Boston, we received a standing ovation. Kiss’ management and crew were very good to us. Even though we were the opening act and knew we shouldn’t go back out, their tour manager told us to go answer our encore! If that accident didn’t happen, maybe that tour might have been our stepping stone.

One of the things I found intriguing about your time with Foreigner was that you always carried around notebooks everywhere you went. Tell me about that.

I always had a spiral-bound notebook or writing pad with me. I’d usually carry them around in a satchel and whenever I was reading a book or watching TV or a movie, if someone would say a phrase that caught my ear, I’d write it down. In my book of lyrics, I’d have song titles, verses and choruses all written out.

Can you give me an example of how that book came in handy?

I had just finished reading a book about the Civil War and remember they were talking about how guys in the heat of battle became hot blooded and would kind of come out of themselves and just be mean warriors. Of course, I wrote “hot blooded” down in one of my books. A few months later, Mick was playing me cassette tapes of some of the guitar ideas he had been working on. I heard this one particular riff and as I was looking through my book, that “hot blooded” part just jumped right out at me and I started singing it along with the riff. We both just went crazy because it sounded so good [laughs]. That’s when we started working on the song.

What was it like working with producer Mutt Lange on the 4 album?

Mutt was a nice guy; very knowledgeable and knew how to get the best out of you. But a lot of things he did at the time were derivative to AC/DC (because that’s where he had his success). So when he wanted you to do things a certain way, he’d say, “Do it like AC/DC did on this song." He’d often try to get me to sing like Brian Johnson. Now I could tear it up and sing tough songs, but I certainly didn’t sound like Brian Johnson. But Mutt was pushing me to go in that direction, so I pushed back. By that point, we already had completed three successful albums. So why would I want to change my vocal style?

How did you and Mick determine royalties for Foreigner songs?

At the end of recording every record, Mick and I would both sit down with a list of song titles. For each song, we’d write down on a little scrap of paper what we thought the split should be and then show it to each other. Most of the time it was pretty close: 50-50, 60-40, 55-45. But for the song "I Wanna Know What Love Is," he wanted most of it for himself. Even though I had spent weeks and weeks with him on vocals, chords and words, he only offered me 5 percent.

Do you feel that one event was the turning point in your relationship with Mick?

Absolutely. Up until that point, we had always worked it out and I walked away satisfied. He was always a fair guy, but in that one instance he was determined to have most all of the song to himself. Offering me 5 percent was very insulting, so I told him I wanted nothing.

Having seen the success of that song, do you lament your decision?

Of course, but I think he goaded me into that decision. By insulting me, he was hoping I’d say I didn’t want anything, and I played right into it. I did help write that song. Maybe not 50-50 or 60-40, but I’d say at least 35 percent of that song was my input.

Is there one single event over the course of your career that stands out above everything else?

I’m proud of most everything I did. Playing Madison Square Garden was unbelievable. Playing the Forum in LA was fantastic. Then there was playing Cal Jam II in front of 450,000 people. That was a crowd as far as the eye could see, and beyond.

You and Mick will soon be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. What does that honor mean to you?

It’s an incredible honor and will be the first time Mick and I will play together in a dozen years. I enjoyed working with him and it’s going to be a good time. As a songwriter, it’s good because I had hits both with him and without him.

Before it’s all over, do you ever foresee a time where there might be another Foreigner reunion with you and Mick?

Honestly, I don’t know. If we could have some sort of friendship, that would be enough for me. Mick has his Foreigner and we really don’t have to play together other than this award ceremony. Unless something interesting happens, I’m just going to leave at that. But I wouldn’t anticipate it at this point.

James Wood is a writer, musician and self-proclaimed metalhead who maintains his own website, GoJimmyGo.net. His articles and interviews are written on a variety of topics with passion and humor. You can follow him on Twitter @JimEWood.

2013 Golden Gods Video: Danzig — "Hammer of the Gods"

Guitar World Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:16:12 +0000

The biggest names in hard rock and heavy metal rocked Los Angeles on Thursday, May 2, at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods Award Show.

As always, the event featured the once-in-a-lifetime collaborations that America’s only hard-rock and heavy-metal show has become known for.

Below, check out a video of Danzig performing "Hammer of the Gods."

To watch ALL the 2013 performances and awards, head here or visit GoldenGodsAwards.com.

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2013 Golden Gods Video: Danzig — "Mother"

Guitar World Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 18:08:48 +0000

The biggest names in hard rock and heavy metal rocked Los Angeles on Thursday, May 2, at the fifth annual Revolver Golden Gods Award Show.

As always, the event featured the once-in-a-lifetime collaborations that America’s only hard-rock and heavy-metal show has become known for.

Below, check out a video of Danzig performing "Mother."

To watch ALL the 2013 performances and awards, head here or visit GoldenGodsAwards.com.

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Fred Mascherino and Terrible Things Launch Kickstarter Campaign to Create Guitar Tab Book

Damian Fanelli — Mon, 20 May 2013 17:23:55 +0000

Fred Mascherino and Terrible Things want to put out a guitar tabs book of their songs, and they're using Kickstarter to get it done.

It's the first time the band has used the crowd-funded platform, where they're also offering Skype guitar lessons, digital downloads of tabs and tabs from Mascherino's solo project, The Color Fred.

In his Kickstarter video (Watch it below), Mascherino admits to being a true "guitar super-geek" and proves it by showing off his collection of '80s rock memorabilia and, most impressively, a paragraph he wrote that showed up in an official Van Halen book.

Mascherino is known as a punk rock shredder with a jazz degree. He played for Taking Back Sunday until 2007, when he left to pursue his own music. His latest band, Terrible Things, recently released the Zeppelin-esque Pre-Transmission and posted a live video of the band playing the EP in its entirety.

You can get tabs for a song starting at $1. Expect guitar solos with pull-offs for days and some really unique tunings. The best part about this project is Terrible Things is using it to get their fans involved. If you learn a song, you can show up at their next show and play it with them. Start practicing!

For more information, head to the project's Kickstarter page.

Photo: Ryan Russell

Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington Performs and Releases Single with Stone Temple Pilots

Guitar World Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:57:27 +0000

Fans attending KROQ’s annual Weenie Roast over the weekend got a surprise when Stone Temple Pilots took the stage unannounced, for a set with Chester Bennington of Linkin Park as lead vocalist.

The crowd went wild as the band performed STP classics like "Sex Type Thing" and "Vasoline" and also debuted a new song, “Out of Time," the recording of which KROQ premiered immediately following the band’s 40-minute set. You can hear the track below.

When Stone Temple Pilots band members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz began thinking of singers to accompany the new music they were working on, Bennington was at the top of the list. “Chester has a one-of-a-kind voice we’ve admired for a long time,” Dean DeLeo said. “We know Linkin Park will always be his priority, but we thought it would be cool to try something together. We managed to find the time to record a song and we’re all really happy with the result.”

“I’ve loved STP since I was 13, and they’ve had a huge influence on me,” Bennington said. “When the opportunity came up to do something creative with them, I jumped at the chance. The guys in Linkin Park have been incredibly supportive of me undertaking this project while I’ve continued to work on new music with LP.”

For more info to get a free download of the new single, “Out of Time,” go to StoneTemplePilots.com.

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Album Premiere: “Metal” Mike Chlasciak — 'The Metalworker'

Guitar World Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:41:58 +0000

Halford guitarist and Guitar World columnist “Metal” Mike Chlasciak is streaming his new album, The Metalworker, for free, and you can hear it below.

The album will be released June 4 through C.M.M. Entertainment, LLC. Fans can buy an exclusive pre-sale package including a signed CD and postcard, plus a guitar pick, at metalmike.net.

“I am excited to finally release The Metalworker," said Chlasciak, who also has worked with Testament and Sebastian Bach. "I am very proud of it. I must confess it is everything I wanted it to be not only as a musician, but also as a fan of heavy metal. It was an ambitious undertaking because I wanted to make the absolute best album that I could make with no compromises or filler.

"I also did it old-school, meaning nothing is pro-tooled to death or auto tuned, no direct guitar sounds, no re-amps or studio ninjas making a song out of a 20 second guitar riff. What you hear is Marshalls cranking and me striving to make the best release that I can.

"Ultimately, I believe I was able to paint a great picture of who I am as a metal player and songwriter in a context of what I hope others will find to be a great, beginning to end, very likeable and great sounding record.”

The Metalworker features a guest appearance by former Outworld vocal siren Carlos Zema, plus a superb rhythm section — Kevin Talley (Daath, Hate Eternal, Six Feet Under) on drums and Mike LePond (Symphony X) on bass.

For more about Chlasciak, check out his columns on GuitarWorld.com and visit metalmike.net.

Former Nine Inch Nails Guitarist Robin Finck Rejoins Band

Damian Fanelli — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:48:28 +0000

Trent Reznor has announced that former Inch Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck is back in the band.

"I am proud to announce that the tour lineup now includes the incredible Robin Finck," wrote Reznor on the band's Facebook page. "The addition of Robin to the mix of players I’ve assembled makes this band incredibly powerful and versatile. We are deep in the rehearsal process and it feels exciting and great to be back at this. Lots of information, surprises and sweat headed your way. Stay tuned!"

Last week, Nine Inch Nails bassist Eric Avery announced said he was leaving the band because he was feeling a bit "overwhelmed" after a recent tour with Garbage.

"It's with very mixed emotions I tell you all that I'm pulling out of NIN," wrote Avery, a founding member of Jane's Addiction. "I know. It's been a tough call and I don't know if it's the right one. But I really want to focus on my musical life here in LA, on film work in particular. As the tour dates kept growing … I just got overwhelmed."

Finck can be heard on several Nine Inch Nails albums, including Closer to God (1994), Further Down the Spiral (1995), And All That Could Have Been (2002), The Downward Spiral (2004) and The Slip (2008).

Nine Inch Nails are scheduled to play Lollapalooza in Chicago and Jay-Z's Made In America Festival in Philadelphia this summer, with more tour dates to be announced soon.

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Behind-the-Scenes Video: Creating the Cover Art for Black Sabbath's New Album, '13'

Guitar World Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:23:47 +0000

Black Sabbath have revealed another behind-the-scenes video related to their upcoming album, 13. This time, the band shows fans how the distinctive album cover art was shot.

Check out the video below, and be sure to tell us what you think in the comments.

13 will be released June 11. For more about the album, check out the next issue of Guitar World!

Black Sabbath will kick off a North American tour July 25 in Houston, Texas.

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Queens of the Stone Age Premiere Music Video for "My God Is the Sun"

Damian Fanelli — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:11:57 +0000

Queens of the Stone Age have released another new music video for a track off their upcoming album, ... Like Clockwork.

This time, it's for a song called "My God Is the Sun," which starts off like a kick-ass modern surf-rock song (in case any surf bands out there are looking for new ideas).

The video, which you can watch below, continues the storyline from the band's previously released videos for "I Appear Missing," "Kalopsia," "Keep Your Eyes Peeled" and "If I Had a Tail."

If all the recent QOTSA videos and song premieres aren't quite enough for you, head over to the band's new website, Likeclockwork.tv, which offers fans creepy phone calls as part of the promotion for the new album.

Stay tuned for more new-album previews from Queens of the Stone Age. Apparently, they can — and do — strike at any moment!

Rare Beatles Vox Guitar Sells for $408,000

Guitar World Staff — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:03:38 +0000

A rare Vox guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison sold for $408,000 Saturday, May 18, in New York City.

The guitar, which was auctioned by Julien's Auctions at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, brought in considerably more than its pre-sale estimate of $200,000 to $300,000.

The striking custom guitar has a special place in Beatles history. It was built by Mike Bennett with electronics by Dickey Denney of Vox in 1966 and presented to the group the following year while they were at work on Magical Mystery Tour. Harrison played the guitar while practicing “I Am the Walrus” during the Magical Mystery Tour sessions, and Lennon used it while recording a video session for the song “Hello, Goodbye” from the same period.

Lennon later gifted the guitar to Beatles pal “Magic Alex” Mardas, whom the Beatles had hired to design their Apple Studio in Savile Row. A plaque on the back of the guitar reads “To Magic Alex / Alexi thank you for been [sic] a friend / 2-5-1967 John.” Mardas says the date is a reference to his 25th birthday, which preceded the date on which he received the guitar.

The guitar is notable for its unique scroll design. It features a mahogany hollow body with a single f-hole, a 24-fret rosewood fretboard with rectangular inlays, and electronics that include six pushbuttons for treble, bass, top boost, mid-boost, fuzz and repeat. The headstock is labeled "Vox Custom.” Though the guitar was not originally designed as part of the Vox Kensington line, it has since become known as such.

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