Rig Rundowns

Punk rock is about energy, attitude, and message. It’s been the gateway drug for a lot of guitarists and music lovers. And those forces are what steered East Bay Ray away from his bar-band gig in 1978. “The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up,” Ray remembered during a https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/forgotten-heroes-east-bay-ray (2016 PG interview). “I saw the Weirdos playing. I said, ‘This is what I want to do.’ I phased myself out of the bar band and put an ad up in Aquarius Records and Rather Ripped Records. Klaus Flouride (bassist Geoffrey Lyall) and Jello Biafra (singer Eric Boucher) answered the ad.” And with the addition of drummer Ted (Bruce Slesinger), the Dead Kennedys were born. By the time they recorded their 1981 EP In God We Trust, Inc. (on their own independent label, Alternative Tentacles), Ted was gone and D.H. Peligro (Darren Henley) became their stalwart skin slammer. Through the band’s initial eight years, four albums, and an EP, their subversive har

The last two years have given us plenty of reasons to seek a jaunty, joyous listening experience in our music. And one of the best finds around is https://www.premierguitar.com/videos/the-big-5/los-bitchos (Los Bitchos)—the all-female, internationally assembled outfit consisting of Australia-born Serra Petale (guitar), Sweden’s Josefine Jonsson (bass), Uruguay’s Agustina Ruiz (keytar), and South Londoner Nic Crawshaw (drums). Los Bitchos’ bubbly instrumental psychedelia cocktail mixes their collective musical ingredients (Argentinian cumbia, Peruvian chicha, Turkish Anatolian rhythms, and classic American surf rock), creating a devilishly delicious concoction that’s refreshing as a mojito, hits like a negroni, and is as tropical as a mai tai. The good-time gals socked the world with their 2022 debut, Let the Festivities Begin!, showcasing their superpower of rump-shaking revelry. Before Los Bitchos’ Nashville opening slot in support of Belle and Sebastian, PG was invited to the historic Ry

For nearly two decades and across five albums, https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/the-war-on-drugs-driving-music-for-the-american-dreamscape (The War on Drugs)’ founder and frontman Adam Granduciel has narrated our complex modern lives while his band has scored our dreams. The captivating moods of their music, much like us, morph from dense melancholy to saturated, swirling madness and everywhere in between. Granduciel often layers his Springsteen-meets-Young proletariat prose atop a post-rock soundscape, but the heartbeat of their impressive, expansive live shows is their gear and how it is implemented. “I could play the whole tour with two or maybe three guitars—a https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/1958-gretsch-6136-white-falcon (White Falcon), Strat, and maybe a Jazzmaster—but I bring all these out just for fun,” he says with a laugh as he considers his trove of axes. So, let’s have some fun already! Before a full evening of The War on Drugs’ jams in support of 2021’s I Don’t Live Here An

Mike Harris says he “Forrest Gump-ed” his way into the Grammy-winning Americana string band Old Crow Medicine Show when he was drafted to join in January 2021. But rather than picking his spot in the group from life’s box of chocolates, Harris’ initial connection was his friendship with drummer Jerry Pentecost. He quickly proved himself an important member of the https://www.premierguitar.com/pro-advice/last-call/nashville-broadway-bars (Nashville)-based outfit of “Wagon Wheel” fame, thanks to his flexible guitar, mandolin, banjo, resonator, and vocal abilities. Harris invited PG to Old Crow Medicine Show’s East Nashville studio, where they recorded their latest album, Paint This Town, for some show-and-tell about his favorite traveling and recording instruments. Brought to you by https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr (D’Addario XS Strings).

Following in a parent’s professional footsteps is daunting. Imagine re-treading that ground in the public eye. Now conceptualize walking in the footsteps of one of the greatest guitarists to ever live. Succeeding on any level seems impossible. So where do you start when trying to find your own voice on an instrument your dad basically reconstructed? “The main thing, when I started doing this, was that I wanted to find my own sort of sound and not do everything dad did,” says Wolfgang Van Halen. “When it came to guitar, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just wanted to sound like myself.” After 15 years in the family band (and working alongside Mark Tremonti for his solo project), that’s what Wolf did when he wrote and tracked all the instruments on the 15 songs for his debut album, Mammoth WVH, released last year. (The title is a nod to the original name of his father’s and uncle’s iconic band during 1972-’74.) Things have changed since we last checked out Wolf’s setup. Back in 2012, when https://

A lot of bands are lucky enough to carve a career with one big hit. If they’re even luckier, they’ll ride the wave of an impactful album for decades. But for melodic metalcore heavyweights https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/rig-rundown-all-that-remains-oli-herbert-and-mike-martin (All That Remains), who are honoring their game-changing The Fall of Ideals with a full album play, it’s not even their most-popular record. Following on the energy and success of that influential 2006 album, they released five straight albums that landed in the top 10 of Billboard’s U.S. Rock chart. The coal fueling All That Remains’ locomotive is their propulsive guitar work. The original firepower was supplied by cofounding shredmeister Oli Herbert who was originally flanked by Chris Bartlett. Current rhythm rifleman Mike Martin replaced Bartlett in 2004 and provided the classically trained Herbert a solid substratum to dance all over. That duo defined ATR’s harmonious heaviness, https://www.premierguitar.

Musical acts currently filling arenas fall into a few categories: pop, electronic, country, and legacy. The notion of modern or contemporary rock bands packing enormo-domes feels like a fossil, but don’t tell that to platinum-selling Shinedown, who’s been packing thousands-of-seats houses for years. The group was founded by vocalist Brent Smith in 2001, after his previous band, Dreve, disbanded). He enlisted Jasin Todd (guitarist), Brad Stewart (bass), and Barry Kerch (drums). Zach Myers joined the fold in 2005 (as a touring member). He and current bassist Eric Bass (no joke) first earned album credits with 2008’s smash The Sound of Madness. (Rig Rundown alumnus https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/rig-rundown-nick-perri (Nick Perri) was a short-time member of Shinedown and earned lead guitar credits on TSOM before fully handing over the 6-string reins to Myers.) The quartet’s ability to fuse post-grunge pyrotechnics, four-on-the-floor rockers, and glossy, arms-in-the-air anthems, and t

https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/guitarists/matt-sweeney (Matt Sweeney) doesn’t want to dazzle you with rock guitar. That’s boring. That’s lazy. At least to him. He wants to mesmerize you. “Really, that’s the point of music: to get people’s minds off of whatever and to hypnotize them a little bit,” https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/guitarists/matt-sweeney (Sweeney told PG in 2021). After beginning his Superwolves collaboration with Will Oldham, “that’s when I thought, ‘Cool, I did the thing that I wanted to do. I can fingerpick now and I can play with a really great singer who is working in an idiom that I hadn’t worked in before.’ “I started playing with Will and that gave me the opportunity to keep developing the way that I was playing, because it went well with his singing. After a couple of years, that led to Will suggesting that we write songs together.” The audible opiate that Sweeney provides has also cast his spell over the works of Rick Rubin, Johnny Cash,

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American music legend—a https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/gallery-backstage-at-the-2010-grammys (Grammy)-winning outfit that’s also been inducted into the https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/gallery-guitars-of-the-country-music-hall-of-fame-and-museum (Country Music Hall of Fame). In this group’s case, what becomes a legend most is still working as hard as when Jeff Hanna co-founded the NGBD in 1966. So, when PG’s https://www.premierguitar.com/pro-advice/last-call/nashville-broadway-bars (John Bohlinger) recently checked in with Hanna and his guitar-playing son, Jaime Hanna, they were rehearsing at Nashville’s SIR for an ambitious spring and summer Nitty Gritty Dirt Band tour supporting a new album, https://orcd.co/dirtdoesdylan (Dirt Does Dylan), to be released May 20. The Hannas took us through their touring gear and gave us a close-up look at some guitars that Jeff has played since the beginning. [Brought to you by https://ddar.io/XSE.RR (

Nir Felder has been called “the next big jazz guitarist” by NPR and hailed by The New York Times as a “whiz kid.” Will Lee is the Grammy-winning Musician’s Hall of Fame member you’ve likely seen and heard playing bass as part of Paul Shaffer’s World’s Most Dangerous Band on David Letterman’s late-night talk shows. Currently, Felder and Lee are touring together with drummer Keith Carlock (Steely Dan, Sting), Jeff Coffin on saxophones and woodwinds (Dave Matthews Band, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones), and keyboardist Jeff Babko (James Taylor, Toto) as Band of Other Brothers. On April 20, the Other Brothers made a stop at Nashville’s City Winery, supporting their second album, Look Up. Lee and Felder took a break pre-soundcheck to usher PG’s John Bohlinger through their rigs. [Brought to you by https://ddar.io/XSE.RR (D’Addario XS Electric Strings)]

Rock ’n’ roll has a long tradition of building on the work of previous stars and reinterpreting their influences. The Beatles honored the Isley Brothers, Elvis covered Little Richard … up to contemporaries like the https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/the-black-keys (Black Keys) celebrating hill country blues beacons https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/forgotten-heroes-r-l-burnside (R. L. Burnside) and Junior Kimbrough, and Greta Van Fleet echoing Led Zeppelin and Motown. Dirty Honey is reenergizing the hard-rock sound of the 1970s and sleazy Sunset swagger of the 1980s with their amalgamation of heroes that range from Prince and Queen to AC/DC and Guns N’ Roses. Before Dirty Honey’s headlining show at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, PG’s Chris Kies popped onstage to witness the power and might of guitarist John Notto’s Appetite-ish assault. Notto shows off a pair of old-soul Les Pauls, explains his intermittent two-amp approach (and where he stole it from), and we enjoy a t

To most people, WWJD spells out “What Would Jesus Do?” But in the case of sworn shred disciple Diamond Rowe of Tetrarch, it stands for “What Would James (Hetfield) Do?” “The longer you talk to me, you’re going to find out that I’m super old school with my rig,” admits Rowe. “We’ll go on tours and play festivals and people will approach us and ask, ‘why aren’t you doing this’ or ‘why aren’t you doing that’ and I’m just like, I don’t know … because Metallica did it this way [laughs].” Tetrarch was founded in Atlanta during 2007 by friends (and guitarists) Diamond Rowe and Josh Fore. (Fore is also the band’s lead singer and handled drums for their 2013 EP Relentless). Ryan Lerner has been locked in at bass since 2009 and drummer Ruben Limas has been onboard since 2015. The band hustled and self-released three EPs and their debut album Freak over the course of 10 grinding years. During that time, their thrashy roots broadened to incorporate nu-metal sounds delivered in a polished, more melodic, hoo

There’s heavy music … and then there’s End. Formed in 2017, the band is vocalist Brendan Murphy (Counterparts), guitarist Will Putney (Fit for an Autopsy), guitarist Gregory Thomas (formerly of Shai Hulud and Misery Signals), bassist Jay Pepito (Reign Supreme), and drummer Billy Rymer (the Dillinger Escape Plan). The supergroup was created to push the extremes of hardcore music. And, as you’ll soon find out in this Rig Rundown, mission accomplished. From day one, guitarists (and producers) Putney and Thomas strived to achieve a signature calling card. They wanted a monstrous, monolithic tone that bulldozed listeners. “It’s pretty aggressive [laughs],” concedes Putney. “When we started the band, Greg and I talked about finding an identifiable tone that was us and sticking with it.” And the roots of their sledgehammering sound? “We’re very influenced by the Nordic metal of Entombed, and then, later, Rotten Sound, and American delineations Trap Them,” says Thomas. “A lot of those bands rely on the Boss HM-2 or c

We thought a grizzly bear had entered Nashville’s 3rd & Lindsley when Hannah Wicklund fired up her rig at soundcheck on March 20, when she headlined the club with her band the Steppin' Stones. Luckily, it was just the rude tone of her Tom Anderson Guitarworks Guardian Angel model pumping through the sneer of her Orange head and cab, so … no carnage, but some echoes of classic Peter Green. Although Wicklund—who was the subject of a https://www.premierguitar.com/artists/hannah-wicklunds-coming-of-age (PG profile) in 2018—has U.S. and Canadian tour dates scheduled through early September, this was a rare stop in the South Carolina native’s adopted home town. She’s also been at work on a sequel to her 2018 album, Hannah Wicklund & the Steppin’ Stones, which she says is a coming-of-age story that will accent both her songwriting and her feminine side, although still showcase her 6-string chemistry. And speaking of chemistry, there’s an almost mystical conversation about tuning in 432 Hz

Shiner sprouted from the fertile, black-dirt underground rock scene of the Midwest. Cofounded by guitarist/vocalist Allen Epley in 1992, the band toured with contemporaries Sunny Day Real Estate, Chore, Jawbox, Season to Risk, the Jesus Lizard, and Girls Against Boys, recorded with Shellac’s Steve Albini, and released four albums between 1996 and 2001. Injections of new blood for 1997’s Lula Divina (bassist Paul Malinowski) and 2000’s Starless (Josh Newton on keyboards/guitars and Jason Gerken on drums) helped carve fresh ground and broaden their sound. Shiner’s sweet spot lives among the smoldering soundscapes that brood, blossom, and bolster their cannonball core. The Egg, from 2001, was a crowning achievement—the early career apex of the band’s evolution from noisy dissonance and powder-keg rock to mosaic, prog-like orchestrations that were equally brutal and beautiful. And after nearly two years of touring behind The Egg, the quartet split up in 2003. Over the next 15 years,

“Are you guys with the band?” A pleasant passerby asked while we were loading out camera gear near the Goose tour bus parked outside Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl. “No, we’re just here to do an interview.” I responded. “Oh man, tell the band that last night’s concert was uh-mazing,” exclaimed the joyous fan. “We’ll be talking about it for years to come.” And with that sort of impassioned, infectious positivity, Goose is following the freeform footsteps of the Grateful Dead, Phish, Dave Matthews Band, and Umphrey’s McGee—where polished, recorded albums are secondary to improvisation-rich, snowflake-unique performances that illicit exchanges like that above. (Adding to their jam-band credit, they livestream most shows, and guitarist Peter Anspach mixes the band’s gigs for release shortly afterwards.) Formed in 2014, the quintet still retains its original members: Peter Anspach (guitar, keys, vocals), Jeff Arevalo (percussion, vocals), Ben Atkind (drums), Rick Mitarotonda (guitar, lead vocals), and Trevor Weekz

Tinsley Ellis broke onto the national blues scene with his early ’80s band, the Heartfixers. By late in the decade, when the Atlanta-based guitarist and singer began releasing albums under his own name, he also became a fixture in the genre’s international club and festival circuit. Over the years he's earned a reputation for full-throttle live shows and well-crafted albums that hinge on his powerful singing and on his playing, which is based in tradition but packed with signature moves like deft finger slides, the use of open, ringing strings in single-note solos, and bends borrowed from B.B. King but laden with his own emotionalism and rock 'n' roll energy. Ellis has been a seemingly tireless road warrior—at least until Covid. But even the pandemic couldn't slow his songwriting, and he penned more than 200 new titles while in lockdown. You can hear 10 of those tunes, including 6-string bonfires like “Slow Train To Hell,” on his new album Devil May Care—the 20th in his catalog. Back on the road this yea

The Grammy-nominated high minister of funk guitar and host of PG’s Wong Notes podcast take us through his spare but carefully tailored setup. Hey, what’s happenin’ people?!!! For Cory Wong, who kicks off episodes of his http://premierguitar.com/wongnotes (Wong Notes podcast) with that question, the answer is he’s currently deep into an international tour—while still recording new episodes, writing music, and producing. But that didn’t stop the prodigious, prolific picker from taking the time during a recent stop at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl to guide us through his rig. By the way, the new season of Wong Notes begins March 9 with a big-deal guest, so stay tuned.

The Nashville-based power player uses classic-style guitars and amps to create big tones that echo from the past to the future. Our last Rundown with https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/rig-rundown-j-d-simo (J.D. Simo was eight years ago). Since then, the songwriter, guitarist, and producer has worked with Jack White, Tommy Emmanuel, Luther Dickinson, Dave Cobb, Blackberry Smoke, and even been a friend in Grateful Dead founder Phil Lesh’s band Phil and Friends. Currently, Simo is promoting his most unique, original, and raw album yet, called Mind Control, where he explores Afrobeat grooves and Mississippi trance blues. Simo invited John Bohlinger and the PG team to his studio to look at some new and old friends with strings, cones, and attitude. [Brought to you by D’Addario XS Strings: http://ddar.io/xs.rr (http://ddar.io/xs.rr)]

Behind the moody makeup, angsty energy, arena-level production, rebellious revelry, and 20 empty Marshall cabs blasting flood lights is a legit modern rock band. And behind the band’s charismatic leader Yungblud (aka Dominic Richard Harrison) is its producer, songwriter, and bona fide riff assassin Adam Warrington. Armed with a handful of Gibsons, a Gretsch, and an MIM Jazzmaster, he is a mortar of might. Before Yungblud’s redlining, headlining show at Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium on January 29, Warrington gave PG’s Chris Kies some quality time to detail his artillery. During the interview, he explains why he lives by this advice: “If you love a guitar, don’t change it.” Plus, he reveals how his Box of Doom iso cab has become an integral ingredient, and walks us through a recent pedalboard rebuild that occurred after his previous stomp station was stolen from his London flat. [Brought to you by D’Addario Nexxus 360 Rechargeable Tuner: http://ddar.io/Nexxus.RigRundown (http://ddar.io/Nexxus