Features archive
September 2025
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38 articles
- September 13
- September 12
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- “If you have a really fast run it’s just blazing past you. But with a lovely slow melodic line, you just kind of melt into it”: Meet Still Corners, the Anglo-American duo who write Shadows-inspired dream pop while they’re watching movies
- “My grandma asked me why I was spending so much time pretending when I could just get a real guitar”: Inhaler guitarist Josh Jenkinson on how Miley Cyrus and Harry Styles’ producer expanded their sound – and why he just bought his first electric last year
- "It was only £45 or something, and all the other guitars were getting into the hundreds": Jimmy Page's 5 most iconic guitars, in his own words
- September 11
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- “I saw the message and I was like, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ He called me the next day and offered me a world tour”: How Yungblud bassist Silke Blansjaar got the gig of a lifetime – despite not playing bass
- “I measure success by the number of knock-off clones I have – that gives me an idea as to how I’m perceived in the pedal world”: Robert Keeley on becoming one of the most imitated pedal builders in the biz – and the “smoking” drive he can't sell online
- “The first gig, they handed me a mayonnaise jar full of cocaine and said, ‘Welcome to the band’”: Blues survivor Walter Trout on wild times with Canned Heat, how John Mayall helped him get sober – and his death metal tone secret
- September 10
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- “The guitar I play live is secretly a Squier. I replaced the neck plate – I was like, ‘I’m too big for this!’” How Frankensteined Fenders and vintage Gibsons supercharged the rise of Jack White-backed rockers Die Spitz
- “If Leo Fender had released a Jazz Bass like this back in the ‘60s, it would have changed the entire history of popular music”: The inside story of Adrian Younge’s half-fretless, fuzz-loaded Fender Custom Shop Jazz Bass
- “You get emails saying they’d like to try a guitar and you think, ‘It’s not going to be THAT Audley Freed, is it?… Then the penny drops”: How Ivison Guitars became Britain’s hottest high-end brand
- September 9
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- “We did this show in Amsterdam. It was quite loud, so it was shut down after 20 minutes. The people started throwing wooden shoes”: Nigel Tufnel on the return of Spinal Tap – with Marshall amps that go to infinity, new custom guitars, and a point to prove
- “We all talked to each other before we went on – Kirk, Zakk and Slash. Kirk said, ‘I’m nervous, man!’ I said, ‘I am too’”: Jerry Cantrell looks back at the “walk-off home run” of Ozzy Osbourne’s final show
- September 8
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- “There are no limits. It’s basically: how long will it take and how much is it going to cost?” Behind the scenes at the Fender Custom Shop – where anything goes, and heritage and innovation go hand in hand
- “Our riffs are unconventional because we don’t know what key anything is in. Most guitar players wouldn’t admit that”: From Billy Corgan to Big Thief, how Momma became one of alt-rock’s most addictive bands
- “I almost cried when I first saw John Frusciante live. But when I got involved in extreme music, people would say, ‘Don’t mention RHCP’”: How Arve Isdal carved his own extreme metal path with Enslaved – and became Norway’s answer to Slash
- September 7
- September 5
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- “I look at guitar playing as a dance between both hands. One hand brings discipline, the other brings chaos…” John Butler shares his secrets in this stunning masterclass
- “I did the least amount of overdubs on Alive! – I’ll let the fans decide why that is…” Ace Frehley looks beyond his next Origins album to his travel guitar, more touring and even reconciling with Kiss
- “It was a major step up for me. I still pull it out from time to time at home – it’s a bit of a lost classic in the Gibson range”: Zakk Wylde on the miracle of his ‘Grail’ Les Paul and the three most important guitars in his life
- September 4
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- “I’d just hit the bass really hard and overdrive it with my hand. There’s no need to have any finesse if you’re a bass player”: Nikki Sixx recalls his decadent early days with Mötley Crüe
- "Back then, I was pretty much a nobody, so Gibson sold it to me at cost!" Slash's 5 most iconic guitars, in his own words
- “He’s written some of the heaviest, greatest rock riffs of all time. That’s served me tremendously”: How Harrison Whitford balances inspiration from Aerosmith guitarist dad Brad, boss Phoebe Bridgers and his devotion to alternate tunings
- “I was starstruck when I first met Ozzy. He said he had ‘a good feeling’ about me. He just encouraged me to play with my heart”: Gus G on growing up on Black Sabbath, playing with Ozzy Osbourne – and why Tony Iommi’s style was the hardest to master
- September 3
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- “John Mayer ruined me with getting new guitars and vintage stuff. He’s always experimenting, so I had to expand my own rig”: Isaiah Sharkey is one of guitar’s most versatile talents. He lets us in on how he works with Mayer, D’Angelo and Miles Davis
- “Our definition of what makes a ‘good’ guitar tone has changed dramatically in the past 10 years”: Does ‘bad’ guitar tone even exist anymore?
- “A good guitar solo should sound like an orgasm. I can hear it in Eddie Van Halen’s playing, and Jimi Hendrix. I live for the juicy notes”: Carlos Santana on playing like a soul singer and his visitations from B.B. King, Miles Davis and Stevie Ray Vaughan
- September 2
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- “I used to have a really crap 335 copy – I think it was a Hohner. It would just never stay in tune. Fortunately it got stolen”: Pulp’s Mark Webber explains the happy accidents, thefts and uncontrollable pedals behind the Britpop icons’ guitar sound
- “Whether this is the first instrument you buy, or that dream guitar you’ve saved years for, the expectation from Ibanez has always been to over-deliver”: How Ibanez is continuing to cement its legacy as the alternative acoustic guitar brand
- “Ibanez has always been there at the forefront of the metal revolution and evolution”: How Ibanez became one of the biggest metal guitar makers on the planet, beloved by players and pros alike
- “I saw Kiki’s name, I stopped and thought, ‘Wait… I think I follow her on Instagram.’ …I was like, ‘Oh, that’s that person I really like’”: Billy Corgan and Kiki Wong on the guitar chemistry behind Smashing Pumpkins’ new era
- “I got a writeup in a guitar magazine, and a gentleman from the UK sent me a handwritten letter in the mail saying, ‘Hello, my name is Guthrie’”: Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal on the unifying magic of the guitar instrumental
- September 1
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- “Since Clapton was in London, I was tapped to fill in the spaces – I was given credit in the ‘special thanks’ section”: He played with blues legends and taught Trey Anastasio. Now Paul Asbell is reflecting on 50 years as a player’s player
- “I’ve got nothing but love for John. He was brilliant back in the day… We’ve just grown apart”: Steve Jones on the Sex Pistols’ legacy, their ill-fated second guitarist auditions and how a new singer has rejuvenated the band
- “Julian pushes the boundaries on the guitar. He’s got a specific sound and message he’s going for”: Meet the virtuoso axe-slingers from the Voidz – Strokes singer Julian Casablancas’ inventive other band
- “The closest alignment with Gibson’s legacy that Epiphone has ever achieved”: Epiphone draws on its 152-year-old history and Gibson’s aspirational craftsmanship to bring the Inspired by Gibson Custom Acoustic Collection to players at all levels
- “I didn’t set out to start a guitar company. I set out to solve a problem. That problem became a purpose”: Behind the rise of Strandberg, the firm that ushered in a headless guitar revolution – and changed the concept of guitar design in the process
- “We will continue to innovate and drive our company with passion that’s how we can win”: How Blackstar shook up the amp establishment – and cemented its place in the upper echelons of the industry
- “We really wanted to honor the past, honor the story, honor everything that makes Analog Man's King of Tone special – but with a twist”: Chase Bliss’ Joel Korte lifts the veil on the five-year process that led to Brothers AM – an overdrive for the ages
