Latest articles by Gregory Adams
Duane Denison on the time he attempted to convince Steve Howe to buy a guitar from him
Denison had grown up idolizing prog rock shredders – then one day he found himself attempting to convince one of them to buy a rare Guild guitar
How Joe Cocchi looked to the X-Men and the Punisher for Within the Ruins’ comicbook inspired sequel
Metal's comic book guys return with Phenomena II, as Cocchi draws on Ron Wasserman’s '90s era X-Men soundtracks for inspiration, and his pedalboard for color
Intervals' Aaron Marshall on making the impossible possible, and jamming with Wolfgang Van Halen
Memory Palace is another dizzying work of instrumental genius from Aaron Marshall and co, but creating all this on record presents a challenge when it comes to the live show. Marshall's approach? Play it by any means necessary...
Orange Goblin’s Joe Hoare on life’s simple pleasures – Les Pauls, Marshall amps and signature beer
The UK metal stalwart's new album, Science, Not Fiction is a career high, but if Hoare is stretching out beyond the Pentatonics in search of new horizons for lead, the power of the riff lies in its primitivism. Some things will never change...
Meet Asymmetric Universe, the Italian brothers who graduated from theme park music and video game scores to world-beating jazz-djent
Introducing Frederico and Nicolò Vese, two brothers who traffic in progressive djent, elevator jazz and mercury-dripping guitar and bass runs
The nine lives of Morgan Lander and Tara McLeod – and how swapping ’00s-era Hamers for a Solar V helped supercharge their revival
Returning with their first album in 13 years, Lander and McLeod discuss their tone chemistry and explain why you can shove them through the meat grinder but you'll never kill them
Bill Kelliher and Mark Morton on how Leviathan and Ashes of the Wake changed everything
With two classic albums, both released on the same day, Lamb of God and Mastodon's fates have long been connected and now they're touring together, Kelliher and Morton reflect on a turning point for both bands
“I always think about what Brian May would do”: Witherfall’s Jake Dreyer on flamenco, metal, vibes…
Sounds of the Forgotten is Witherfall at their best: musically ambitious, virtuosity swinging for the fences, and it came together by Dreyer chasing vibes and taking melodic metal bigger
Ken Andrews on how Failure conquered space from Lita Ford’s house with Fantastic Planet
Fantastic Planet was recorded at a time when substance abuse was tearing them apart and their record label folded. Now Andrews can look back with a bit of perspective on an artistic triumph that's given them a second life
The Pineapple Thief’s Bruce Soord on crossing the Rubicon with Porcupine Tree’s drummer
It Leads to This finds Soord and company working in weird time signatures and towards the point of mental exhaustion in search of new sounds
“I wasn’t playing accurately in the beginning – I was just going crazy. It became a balance of visceral expression and actually trying to play”: Ben Weinman on the Dillinger Escape Plan’s chaotic birth – and unexpected return
Ben Weinman on the Dillinger Escape Plan’s chaotic birth – and unexpected return
No Doubt’s Tom Dumont names 10 guitarists (and one genre) that shaped his sound
The No Doubt and Dreamcar guitarist attempted two Rush songs at a seventh-grade talent show, chunked up on Black Sabbath and later named his son after Ace Frehley – but reggae got deepest into his heart
Meet Pedal Steel Noah, the teenager going viral with country-fied covers of Judas Priest, Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine
With help from his dad, brother and the family pet, Instagram hit musician Noah Faulkner is reshaping classic grunge, metal, synth pop and more with his 10-string pedal steel
Meet Amy Rose Mills, the accidental luthier who sets up some of the rarest guitars on the planet
The noise improv specialist for Brooklyn’s Couch Slut is also a luthier at NYC institution Retrofret. She details some of the most treasured instruments she’s encountered, the magic of running a Gretsch at high gain, and grabbing one of her hero’s pedals before anyone else got the chance
Pearl Jam’s Jeff Ament names 11 bassists who shaped his sound
From Dee Dee Ramone to Eric Avery, fretless to 12-string bassists, Jeff Ament believes all his influences can all be heard on the latest Pearl Jam album Dark Matter
Pissed Jeans’ Bradley Fry on why he loves awkward offsets and solid-state Peavey amps
The Pennsylvania punks play so loud, Fry gets his sound engineer to mic a tiny Peavey combo instead, so he can keep his onstage amps raging
“A collector turned up with a Cherry Red Flying V and I was like, ‘Are you sure you want to customize that?’ It was such a beautiful thing already!” Meet the English entrepreneur who covers guitars with crystals for a living
Crystal Skins boss Zoe Brodie-James’ work has been seen in movies and on TV, and she’s completed commissions for some very, very rich people
“It didn’t sound right with just one guitar lead, so why not have two?” Mary Timony on her multiversal lead lines and why the Depression-era Gibson acoustic is the ultimate six-string survivor
The former Helium and Wild Flag D.C. rocker can still unleash some decidedly untame sounds and work an EBow like no-one else
“I became this musician because of jazz. I mean, I still wake up every day and work on Charlie Parker’s Hot House!” Even with a broken finger, Helmet’s Page Hamilton is one of the all-time great heavy riffsmiths – but he owes it all to jazz
Nothing can stop Hamilton's flow as Helmet return with a politically charged masterclass in punishing rhythms, off-kilter melodies and open-tuned acoustics
“This is f**king 4K s**t”: Erik Rutan and Rob Barrett on why Chaos Horrific is one of the grimmest releases from the Cannibal Corpse death metal meat grinder
How disgustingly low tunings and custom-built metal machines gave new rager Chaos Horrific a hellish weight and physicality as the death metal institution found joy in new extremes
“I loved the sound of doubled guitars, but it just becomes a slog. I couldn’t hate the process more… it goes right against the immediacy I wanted for this record”: Why Jawbox hero J. Robbins changed his attitude to recording… and smashing guitars
The Jawbox leader, who regrets breaking his “dearest companion” Jazzmaster, shares his love of hand-built Hiwatt clones, how Stone Temple Pilots hooked him up with his live guitar arsenal, and what it was like to snag Naked Raygun’s “secret shredder” John Haggerty for his latest album, Basilisk
“We joke about people that aren’t into this kind of music, and how it all sounds the same to them – it’s all ‘devil, devil, devil!’ – but heavy music brings a lot of people joy”: End Reign’s Domenic Romeo on the extreme-metal supergroup’s ripping debut
The Way of All Flesh Is Decay finds Romeo trading city-leveling riffs and searing leads with Exhumed/Noisem shredder Sebastian Phillips, and is a tour de force of 21st-century extremity
“I never really loved just playing chords. They eat up so much space, sonically and rhythmically. Doing things that were sparse was more effective to me”: Dante DeCaro on firing up his Jazzmasters for his Hot Hot Heat return
The reissue of the Canadian pop-rock quartet’s Make Up the Breakdown led to surprise new single Shock Me, and there’s more to come, says the Wolf Parade guitarist
“We had no idea it was going to perform the way it did – or if it was even going to be shown to anyone”: How Cardboard Sessions’ Dave Lee convinced Billy Gibbons, J Mascis and Keanu Reeves to slam on his Fender-approved cardboard guitars
Built by a Master Builder at Fender HQ, you can work the cardboard Strat hard and even whammy it – but you can also see right through it. Could this fun experiment be the future of guitar manufacturing?
“We’re always going to keep the proggy elements alive – it’s part of the essence of Soen”: Lars Åhlund and Cody Lee Ford may have scaled down the “eight-minute songs with a million riffs”, but their adventurous guitar playing remains intact
The Swedish prog-metal stalwarts are full of surprises on new album Memorial, but just because there are hooks aplenty doesn't mean they have lost their taste for musical expansiveness
