OK. I’m as geeky as the next guitar nerd and, like you all, I love looking at videos of guitarists’ rigs. I love seeing their seventy stage guitars and their two full height racks full of esoteric effects with flashing LEDs and their wall of stacks and that special plectrum they use that’s made from a shark’s tooth. I love that crap.

Still though, I can’t help feeling that this look at Buddy Guy’s rig is a breath of fresh air. Deep down, I’m a traditionalist and, no matter how much fun it is to examine a million bucks worth of shiny gear, I can’t help getting a bit misty-eyed and nostalgic for a simpler time.

Tone’s a personal thing and a crapload of effects and equipment has its place. It’s nice to sometimes plug a guitar into an amp though (ok, maybe with a spotty Wah).

Check out this video from Premier Guitar. Great stuff.

Incidentally, that polka-dot Strat nearly gave my brother concussion. During one of Buddy’s jaunts into the audience, the headstock missed his head by less than an inch as Buddy spun around. Disappointed it didn’t make contact as it would have made for a better story.

In common with many (probably) on this side of the Atlantic, my first experience with Seasick Steve came in 2006 on Jools Holland’s New Year show; his Hootenanny. Also in common with many (almost certainly), I was blown away by what I saw.

Here was Steve, this bearded, crazy, red-neck stomping a box for percussion and playing a beat-up, three-stringed shit-box of a guitar.

And it was brilliant.

I was a fan straight away.

I’ve been lucky enough to see him play live a couple of times and that’s when he’s in his element. I was also lucky enough to see him threaten to come down after some loud and obnoxious idiots in the audience who quickly became much more quietly obnoxious. Nobody likes the idea of a pissed-off Seasick Steve coming for them.

Have a listen to the first Seasick Steve I heard. This song is on Dog House Music (Amazon MP3 link) and I heartily recommend you go get yourself a copy.

I hate using terms like lo-fi and old-school (or skool) to describe music – simply put, this is blues. Good, proper, blues. And what’s not to love?

I have a confession to make. I’m a bit embarrassed about this and, as you can see, Robert Plant is looking at me with a look of smug annoyance.

You see, yesterday, I posted about a quote from Robert Plant that seemed to suggest something slightly positive about his participating in a Led Zeppelin reunion. I took this information from a secondary source and, although I looked for the original, I didn’t look hard enough and simply found a number of other secondary sources.

The problem is, the quote was taken a little out of context and could be (and probably should be) read quite differently if combined with the subsequent answers he gave in his interview with A.V.Club (scroll towards the end for the relevant section).

The upshot of this is that it still seems unlikely that Planty will get back with his Zeppelin buddies in the near future. Have a read of the interview – it’s good.

For my part, sorry folks. Teacher has sent me home with ‘must try harder’ marked on my report card.

Great thanks must go to the angry rantings of Steve at Lemon Squeezings for bringing this, rightly grumpily, to the attention of those of us to lazy to notice. Cheers, Steve. ;-)

Here’s the coolest thing. Joe Bonamassa is playing in Dublin’s Vicar Street venue next week (Thursday 7th, if you’re interested in popping along – and why wouldn’t you). I’ll be there, front and centre (or more likely somewhere closer to the bar) and I’m looking forward to it immensely.

Let’s face it, Bonamassa knows his way around a fretboard. He’s rightly hailed as one of the best blues guitarists of recent years, even being bigged up by The Clapton – praise from Ceasar indeed. I’m eagerly awaiting the day when my copy of Black Country Communion arrives but, in the meantime, I’ll be watching Joe rock up Dublin.

Splendid. Now, like any normal music-geek, when I’m going to a gig, I like to find an excuse to gloat about it and, luckily for me, I got that chance…

Here’s the thing (and this is cool for me and for you guys – keep reading)… You may have noticed the graphic of Bonamassa over in the sidebar. Joe’s management asked if I’d mind, as a Dublin-based blogger, popping that there to promote the gig. And when Joe comes calling…

In return for this very simple favour, Joe’s guys have very kindly given me a promo code that will allow you guys to download one of Joe’s songs for FREE. Yep, free.

So then, to get yourself a copy of Joe Bonamassa’s Blue And Evil (from his Black Rock album), just click the link, add the song to your cart and use promo code Guitarless when you check out. You’ll magically get it for no money. Gratis.

What are you waiting for? It’s a great song. All bluesy and rocky with – I think – a little tinge of Zeppelin hiding in there. If you’re new to Bonamassa, you could do much worse than start here.

Thanks Joe.

Late last year, Jimmy Page announced he would tour in 2010. There was speculation aplenty over whether John Paul Jones and Robert Plant might join him. After the one-off, Led Zeppelin reunion gig (with Jason Bonham on drums), for Atlantic in 2007, many fans were hoping the band would get something sorted and hit the road.

Nothing though. Well, not much anyway. Pagey continued to talk about touring, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that, but nothing concrete has emerged. The spanner in the works seemed to be Robert Plant who was happily doing his own thing (and why not) with his Band Of Joy and with Alison Krauss. When the two toured as Page and Plant, it seemed to be Jonesy who was preventing a full-scale reunion; this time around Plant appeared to be the stop-out.

UPDATE: The following, originally posted information is not quite correct.  While the quote is word-for-word, it’s out of context of the full interview.  I’d advise anyone interested to have a read of that interview as it gives a different impression to that given here and in other places on the web.  I’ve posted a grovelling, self-deprecating apology here.  Feel free to  go there and kick me.

Now though, and in keeping with the non-concrete, nebulous nature of these rumours and hopes, Planty has fanned the reunion flames a little.

When asked if Zeppelin were thinking about playing again, Plant said “I think we’re probably thinking about talking.” Story at contactmusic.com.

Ooooh. My hooks are tentered and my breath bated.

By the way, it is a ridiculous photo of Plant. If he announces a reunion, I’ll replace it with something cooler. (This still stands).

Today, the 25th of July, marks the 30th birthday of Back in Black by AC/DC.

For those of you, like me, who went through their teenage years with this particular circle of black plastic spinning on their record players, this may make you feel a little old but the fact remains – 25th of July, 1980: Back in Black released.

Thirty years. Forty-nine million albums. That’s a lot of albums. Back in Black is the second best selling album worldwide. It’s ahead of Dark Side Of The Moon and only Michael Jackson’s Thriller has outsold Back in Black. That’s pretty impressive.

Back in Black was the AC/DC first album recorded and released after the death of, former singer, Bon Scott. Bon died, from alcohol poisoning, a few months earlier on the 19th of February. He was 33 at the time. Bon’s bandmates considered splitting up after his death but decided to carry on. Some of the songwriting for this album was already complete when Brian Johnson was hired as new lead singer

The album was recorded in Compass Point Studios in Nassau and in Electric Lady Studios in New York. The band asked Mutt Lange to produce (they had worked with Lange before and would again).

The result contains some of AC/DC’s biggest hits and best known songs. The iconic Hell’s Bells opens the album and the remainder of the track listing tilts heavily towards AC/DC’s traditional mix of some songs about their penises and some songs about where they’d like to put them. Always a winning formula and it doesn’t fail here.

While I’m a bit of a Bon Scott traditionalist at heart, it’s impossible not to love Back in Black. Johnson brought something new but not so new that it was no longer AC/DC. Back in Black is a classic and, if you don’t own a copy, you should. The Amazon link to the left will magic you off to buy one (49 million people can’t be wrong)…

First though, have a listen to a couple of AC/DC’s best tracks. You Shook Me All Night Long (with a mind-scarring Beano-in-the-bathtub moment and plenty of non-PC girlie dancing and riding of mechanical bulls) and a live version of the title track. Brilliant.

Enjoy

Jimmy Page has been inducted into the Mojo Hall Of Fame.

At the most recent Mojo Awards ceremony, the former Led Zeppelin guitarist was inducted with the award, apparently presented by Universal Catalogue Marketing. Nice.

Mojo has the following to say:

Jimmy Page is the musician by whom all other musicians are measured. Every guitar player wants to sound like him, every producer wants to capture the sounds he captured (check out the many samplings and emulations of that When The Levee Breaks drum sound). He is a genuine music legend, and a recent BBC poll, which placed Led Zeppelin above even The Beatles, only underlines it. And, tantalisingly, the prospect of a new Jimmy Page project suggests that the man still has something up his sleeve. I can’t wait to hear what it is.

Ah, yes. The ‘new project’. Pagey’s been hinting at it. Hinting at surprising people and lots of ‘big names’.

We’re intrigued. Most intrigued.

John Paul Jones, as many of you may know played bass and keyboards for Led Zeppelin. This is all that many people know of him and that’s a shame.

So, for this featured video, we’ll take a look (a listen, really) at a something Jonesy has done in the more recent past. Although a bit of a multi-instrumentalist, JPJ does have a thing for the bass. This post, therefore, is a bit of a homage to our low-down bass-bretheren.

In 1999, Jones released the album, Zooma. This was an instrumental album. While ‘instrumental album’ may make some readers groan inwardly (or outwardly if there’s nobody around), they shouldn’t. Zooma is actually very, very good with none of the ego or self-indulgence that some instrumental albums can have. Jonesy played keyboards, guitars, mandala, his crazy triple-necked guitar thing and bass. Not just one bass though – many basses. Not just ordinary basses – crazy frickin’ basses, including an 8-string, a 12-string bass and a lap-steel bass.

Really. I saw him tour Zooma (in a really small, intimate, brilliant venue) and he definitely had a lap-steel bass. Crazy bassists.

If you only know Jones from Led Zeppelin, Zooma may surprise you. It’s not at all Zeppeliny. For some, this might be a huge relief but there are some that may fear this sort of non-Zeppelin stuff. To these latter, I say, “give it a go, it’s good.”

Unfortunately, this is more of a featured audio. There’s no video footage as such – just a sad visualisation thing that looks like an early 8-bit video game. Never mind. Just close your eyes, open your ears and absorb those big, fat bass notes.

If this has whetted your appetite, you can pop to Amazon and get a copy of Zooma. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Also, check out Jones’ 2001 follow-up, The Thunderthief too. Lastly, if you’re still interested in hopping on the Jonesy Train, Them Crooked Vultures (with Grohl and Homme) is more than a little rocktastic and well worth a listen.

It seems that Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and John Frusciante have done it again.

You might recall a while back, Rodriguez-Lopez and Frusciante released an album they recorded to the public for free/anything you care to donate. Seems this wasn’t a one-off event (it’s at least a two-off now).

Sepulcros De Miel is the latest album from Frusciante and Rodriguez-Lopez (and also features Juan Alderete De La Peña and Marcel Rodriguez Lopez). It is available for download, in a variety of audio formats, right now.

As before, you can download completely free but it is also possible to make a donation (of any amount you like). All donations will be given to Keep Music In Schools fund. If you’re going to download, do try to contribute a little – even just to prove to the record companies that models other than theirs can work.

Listen to streaming songs, download, donate, or even buy on vinyl from Rodriguez Lopez‘ site.

Ok, Ok, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the awful title. I couldn’t resist it. I tried, but I had to do it. It’s some sort of illness, a compulsive disorder. I’m sorry.

When I heard the news, however, that Ronnie Wood is getting together with original members, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan, for a Faces reunion and that they were being joined by none other than Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall on vocals, I had to do it. You would too.

Also being joined by former Sex Pistols’ bassist, Glen Matlock, Ron and the boys will play the Vintage At Goodwood festival in August. Rod Stewart isn’t part of the reunion and Hucknall (yes, I deliberately picked the geekiest image I could find) will take his place.

Kenney Jones is quoted as saying “expect the classics and some incredible guests.”