Gregory Adams
Gregory Adams is a Vancouver-based arts reporter. From metal legends to emerging pop icons to the best of the basement circuit, he’s interviewed musicians across countless genres for nearly two decades, most recently with Guitar World, Bass Player, Revolver, and more – as well as through his independent newsletter, Gut Feeling. This all still blows his mind. He’s a guitar player, generally bouncing hardcore riffs off his ’52 Tele reissue and a dinged-up SG.
Latest articles by Gregory Adams
John Browne on how Doom composer Mick Gordon ended up on the new Monuments album – and why they're moving forward as a one-guitar band
By Gregory Adams published
The prog-metal mainstay discusses the making of devastating new record In Stasis and why nothing cuts through like his Mayones Qatsis
Alex Lifeson on life after Rush and finding a new sound with Envy of None
By Gregory Adams published
The legendary Rush guitarist is taking a scaled-down approach to his new project but, as he explains, making “ear candy” that suits the song takes focus – and lots of it
Silverstein: “We are still very much a heavy guitar band, but we love seeing what other creative things we can do that don't fit inside the original box”
By Gregory Adams published
Guitarists Josh Bradford and Paul Marc Rousseau talk blending blitzkrieg-style hardcore with synth-driven pop flavors on new album Misery Made Me, and how Kanye West became an unwitting mentor during its composition
Alex Edkins: “I was open to getting basic with Weird Nightmare – I was like, ‘Oh, an open D chord? That feels awesome!’ I hadn’t done that in 10 years”
By Gregory Adams published
The Canadian alt-rocker talks embracing traditional rock and pop tropes on his self-titled Weird Nightmare debut, and how the METZ fan community came together to support the band after the theft of their gear last year
The Flower Kings’ Roine Stolt on taking the Swedish prog-rockers back to the future for the uplifting By Royal Decree
By Gregory Adams published
Expansive, psychedelic, humane, Stolt and The Flower Kings’ return is a triumph of imagination, and thinking outside the box with a wah pedal
Ludic: “Groove is something that should exist on every instrument you’re playing – it’s a side of guitar playing that can easily be neglected”
By Gregory Adams published
The Vancouver trio on the Latin American influences that flavor new coming-of-age-themed EP, Grown?, and how guitarist Ayla Tesler-Mabe came to lay down tracks on Willow Smith's latest album
Mark Holcomb and Misha Mansoor on returning to Haunted Shores for a pissed-off djent-thrash record
By Gregory Adams published
New album Void is the first Haunted Shores record since 2015 and 100 percent a knuckle-twister
Pink Mountaintops’ Stephen McBean: “There are a lot of tones on this record where I might have been like 'yuck' before, but now I like it”
By Gregory Adams published
The psych-rock mainstay on his newfound love of Charvels, balancing Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops, and jamming with J. Mascis
Deaf Club: "We have a little language as far as chord voicings go – they’re definitely anxious chords!"
By Gregory Adams published
Tommy Meehan and Brian Amalfitano dish on their unique brand of pedalboard nastiness, covering the Pixies, and their shared love of ring modulators
Mark Engles: "We wanted the sound to evolve, but you’ve got to keep those roots. It’s still big and heavy… we still love that"
By Gregory Adams published
The Black Map and Dredg guitarist on his tonal predilections, switching from Teles to Ibanez Artists and SGs, and the slide tricks he learned from David Gilmour
Snail Mail's Lindsey Jordan: “I’m a perfectionist – I will rip a song apart until it is done”
By Gregory Adams published
Jordan details the making of her sophomore full-length, Valentine, designing custom Fender models, and undergoing vocal cord surgery just days before she was due to tour in support of the record
At the Gates on creating new nightmares, orchestral influences and the evolution of an iconic death metal sound
By Gregory Adams published
Three albums into their reunion phase, The Nightmare of Being finds Swedish death metalers At the Gates addressing their legacy while pushing off into wild new horizons
Joshua Travis on his love of rhythm guitar: “I’ve always wanted to hit you hard. Lead playing doesn’t hit me like that – it doesn’t punch you in the face”
By Gregory Adams published
The Emmure guitarist talks tackling the lower registers with 7-, 8- and 9-strings, and how his all-out work ethic inspired pummeling new solo EP, NO REST
Star One’s Arjen Lucassen: “I really felt I needed to do a heavy, guitar-oriented album again. That’s in my blood”
By Gregory Adams published
The prog-metallers’ new album, Revel in Time, finds Lucassen joined by an all-star team of guitar heroes including the likes of Michael Romeo, Steve Vai and Adrian Vandenberg
John Reis details his approach to guitar playing: “Rules are important – you need to know how to do something in order to know how to f**k with it”
By Gregory Adams published
The Hot Snakes guitarist on why he dubs new supergroup PLOSIVS' upcoming self-titled debut “distance rock”, how he recovered his stolen gold sparkle Gibson Les Paul Custom, and his latest solo outing, Ride the Wild Night
The Black Tones' Eva Walker: “We would start our sets with a heavy blues instrumental. It locks people in, like, 'Oh s**t, that Black girl's actually shredding'”
By Gregory Adams published
The Strat-toting rocker on the four-note sequence that set her on a quest to conquer the blues and the duo's raucous new Sub Pop single, The End of Everything
Spoon's Britt Daniel: "My playing is all about the right hand. That’s my way of being expressive, by establishing a feel and rhythm"
By Gregory Adams published
Daniel discusses his role as a rhythm guitarist, why a Vox Pathfinder is his go-to amp, and dissects Spoon's latest LP Lucifer on the Sofa, from its back-to-basics approach to its "fuckin' ferocious" leads
Venom Prison: “The whole ‘aggressive, nonstop assault of riffs’ approach isn’t really a thing on Erebos – this album is about the songs”
By Gregory Adams published
Ash Gray and Ben Thomas on expanding the UK death-metallers' horizons, their mutual love of the EVH 5150III, and the art of balancing the heavy with the light
Bria reveal how a 1963 Epiphone Casino and their decade-long musical relationship led to their "accidental" debut EP
By Gregory Adams published
Bria Salmena and Duncan Hay Jennings talk swapping Strats for semi-hollows, recording on a farm and why they don't plan on pursuing a career in country music – contrary to what their debut EP, Cuntry Covers Vol. 1, would suggest
Man With a Mission's Jean-Ken Johnny: “I’m not really a technical guitar guy: it’s all about the emotion – how you descend your soul into the sound”
By Gregory Adams published
The wolf-headed Japanese guitar-slinger on his love of '90s rock, and digitizing AC/DC's Thunderstruck with some howling Whammy-flavored leads on new album Break and Cross the Walls I
Creeping Death's Trey Pemberton: “It used to be, ‘Let’s write a bunch of riffs, throw ‘em together, and go hard.’ Now we think about how it flows together”
By Gregory Adams published
The Creeping Death guitarist on why the band opted to re-record tracks from their 2016 EP for this year's The Edge of Existence, and how Muay Thai has amped up his stage presence
Circa Survive: "It used to be difficult not to fill up every space with guitar – this record shows how our ability to restrain ourselves has grown"
By Gregory Adams published
Colin Frangicetto and Brendan Ekstrom dissect their less-is-more approach on A Dream About Love and confess their newfound affinity for the Line 6 Helix
Enslaved’s Ivar Bjørnson: “Sometimes a bit of chaos is what you need to get things moving when they’re going stale”
By Gregory Adams published
The creative driving force behind the Norwegian extreme metal stalwarts on why the guitar solos had to return, and why shorter doesn't mean less progressive when it comes to songs
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