Articles by Tom Poak | Guitar World

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Tom Poak has written for the Hull Daily Mail, Esquire, The Big Issue, Total Guitar, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and more. In a writing career that has spanned decades, he has interviewed Brian May, Brian Cant, and cadged a light off Brian Molko. He has stood on a glacier with Thunder, in a forest by a fjord with Ozzy and Slash, and on the roof of the Houses of Parliament with Thin Lizzy's Scott Gorham (until some nice men with guns came and told them to get down). He has drank with Shane MacGowan, mortally offended Lightning Seed Ian Broudie and been asked if he was homeless by Echo & The Bunnymen’s Ian McCulloch.

Articles by: Tom Poak

Jack J. Hutchinson on the latest episode of Pedalpocalypse

"I was ill and when I picked the guitar up again, I wasn't playing Joe Satriani stuff – I was struggling to play Oasis!" Jack J. Hutchinson on how illness changed his playing style and his Black Crowes-inspired pedalboard

By Tom Poak published 2 April 24

British blues guitarist and songwriter Jack J. Hutchinson on pedals, power trios, solos – and the illness that derailed his career

"When I was 14 I saw George Thorogood and thought, ‘That’s cool – I’m going to do that’”: Ruzz 'Guitar' Evans on the two pedals and amazing pickups behind his rock 'n' roll tone

By Tom Poak published 26 March 24

Pedalpocalypse: Ruzz 'Guitar' Evans of Ruzz Guitar's Blues Revue on the two pedals and amazing pickups behind his rock 'n' roll tone

Robin Davey talks pedaLS WITH HENRY JAMES FROM ROBERT JON AND THE WRECK oops apologies for caps lock

“We did a Pepsi Challenge on the Klon!” Henry James of Robert Jon & The Wreck names his favorite pedals – and his no. 1 Klon clone

By Tom Poak published 20 March 24

It's the return of Pedalpocalypse, “the Desert Island Discs for pedals”, with Henry James from Robert Jon & The Wreck and King Tree & The Earth Mothers on the three pedals he would take with him in the event of a future lockdown

Green Day's Mike Dirnt wrote the bassline for Longview on LSD: "Later, it took me a long time to be able to play it, but it made sense when I was on drugs"

By Mike Brooks published 16 July 23

In praise of Dookie, the 1994 album that put Green Day on the pop-punk throne

Deon Estus moved to Dublin to play with Phil Lynott. He ended up giving George Michael (and Wham!) groove

By Mike Brooks published 2 July 23

George Michael could play bass – but it was Deon Estus who gave his songs groove, especially on 1987's Faith album...

David Bowie: The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (1972) sleeve

"I never wanted to be just the bass player, plonking away. I played a lot of notes – too many sometimes!" Trevor Bolder and the low-end magic of David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust

By Mike Brooks published 25 June 23

The Lowlist Ziggy Stardust was recorded in just one day. It made David Bowie a star. But bass players could only hear Trevor Bolder...

Level 42's debut album: a Britfunk classic that took slap bass and bent harmonics to a new, uh, level

By Mike Brooks published 4 June 23

It's 1981 and the bass players of the UK are looking at their thumbs and wondering if they can keep up…

The Lowlist: Primus' Sailing The Seas Of Cheese – a weird mix of twisted basslines, warped lyrics and general weirdness

By Tom Poak published 7 May 23

For the second Primus album, Les Claypool decided that he was bored with the 4-string and his playing needed something to "blow it wide open". Cue 6 string fretless mania…

"With no disrespect to Cliff Burton, I think my picking brought a new tightness to Metallica. Cliff's sound wasn't very defined": An interview with Jason Newsted on the release of The Black Album

By Karl Coryat published 24 April 23

From the Bass Player archive: Jason Newsted on picking vs fingers, the gear and technique behind The Black Album and how it feels to fill Cliff Burton's shoes...

Watch Mountain’s Felix Papplardi and Leslie West tear Pennsylvania a new one on Mississippi Queen as they redefine ‘heavy’ for the 70s

By Tom Poak published 17 April 23

“All stoner and doom bands are foam in the wake of Mountain!” An unmissable performance that generated some amazing YouTube comments

The Lowlist: Blondie’s Parallel Lines – the album that defined New Wave

By Mike Brooks published 16 April 23

The rhythm section was "was totally out of whack". The producer was "like Adolf Hitler". But out of it all came an all-time classic.

Images from Paul McCartney's 1973 special

The 1973 Paul McCartney TV Special is not only the most ’70s thing you’ll ever see, it’s a fascinating snapshot of a post-Beatles McCartney

By Tom Poak published 16 April 23

50 years ago, the James Paul McCartney TV special hit the screens. Born out of acrimony, and panned by critics, it’s a flawed but fascinating insight into McCartney’s mindset

AUGUST 1962: (L-R) Booker T. Jones on the organ, bassist Donald 'Duck' Dunn, drummer Al Jackson and guitarist Steve Cropper of the R&B band Booker T. & The M.G.'s perform onstage in August 1962

Watch Donald “Duck” Dunn as Booker T and the MGs blow minds in Norway in 1967

By Tom Poak published 7 April 23

On 7 April 1967, the Stax/Volt Revue hit Europe. Norwegian TV caught them in action in Oslo. What’s Norwegian for “locked in”?

Watch Ronnie Wood and Ronnie Lane trade guitar and bass solos with the Faces on Paul McCartney's Maybe I'm Amazed

By Tom Poak published 1 April 23

The two Ronnies letting rip will brighten your day.

The Lowlist: Thin Lizzy's Live And Dangerous is one of the greatest live albums ever released

By Mike Brooks published 26 March 23

Unfairly maligned as an album "fixed in the studio", a new version of Live And Dangerous proves Lynott and co didn't need overdubs

Jet Harris was Britain’s first bass guitar player, the first to own a Fender Precision, and its first rock’n’roll hellraiser too

By Tom Poak published 18 March 23

Fights, car crashes, affairs with starlets – Jet Harris set the template for British bass players and bad behaviour, and along the way inspired everyone from McCartney to Lemmy

Ebet Roberts/Getty Images SEPTEMBER 20 1979: PALLADIUM Photo of Paul SIMONON and Joe STRUMMER and CLASH, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon performing live onstage

Paul Simonon: “I couldn't hear the bass on The Who, but with reggae I could work out the basslines and play along”

By Tom Poak published 7 March 23

The former Clash bassist chats with Guy Pratt about how he learned to play, Norman Watt-Roy, negotiating with Tony Allen and John Entwistle's watch

Paul Weller and Bruce Foxton performing live onstage, singing at same microphone, Wembley Arena, December 1982

How The Jam's Town Called Malice turned a cheeky Motown steal into a bona fide bass classic

By Tom Poak published 17 February 23

Bruce Foxton on destroying Rickenbackers and the band's history of borrowing bass parts – plus, how to play Town Called Malice

Someone on Twitter said “Basslines aren't needed in songs”. Cue hilarious pile-on…

By Tom Poak published 4 January 23

“Who are you? The dad out of Footloose?”

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