How Arctic Monkeys created their biggest-ever single – inspired by R&B and hip-hop grooves: “I feel like that song was a ghost within the walls of this old guitar that I bought”
“He’s the musical Jesus. It’s like when they describe the apostles hanging out with Jesus”: Todd Edwards on his second coming with Daft Punk, stage fright and why house producers need to stop rehashing old ideas
Steve Howe recalls his strangest guest sessions, from Lou Reed to Ella Fitzgerald: “There were people like Mick Jagger standing there”
“We started singing with Cass and Denny, and my God, that was a complete revelation for us – when the four of us were singing John’s arrangements”: How The Mamas & The Papas created California Dreamin’, a counterculture anthem for the Summer Of Love
“Robert Fripp asked me to get together with some guys he knew. In the studio were Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford and Robert. My jaw dropped”: Tony Levin’s lessons from Steve Vai, Robert Fripp and Peter Gabriel
“You just record ‘em. You don’t want to ‘grid’ the Rolling Stones, so the entirety of this album was made with no click tracks”: Andrew Watt says he kept thing loose when he produced the Stones, but also added a surprising plugin synth sub-bass
“I was broke. I only had $200 and we booked a gig. There was this guitar at a pawn shop that had been there for years…” How George Thorogood stumbled across the Gibson that became his go-to guitar – a week before his first gig with the Destroyers
“The day I was meant to leave, I was lying in my bed, paralyzed. I was like, ‘If I’ve got to keep doing these tours, I’m going to end up dead’”: Industrial metal pioneer Justin Broadrick on his punk salvation, Phoebe Bridgers collabs and burying Godflesh
“Neil Young was supposed to play the solo, but he couldn’t make it, so I did it myself”: The cult up-and-coming ’90s guitarist who ended up pitching in for Neil Young at the last minute
“It blew me away so badly I remember thinking to myself, ‘Either I have to give up guitar playing or really take this a bit more seriously’”: Brian May says that hearing Jimi Hendrix made him question whether he should be a guitar player
“I’m on tour. I may have a brain tumor. I didn’t tell nobody. Meanwhile, one ear is slowly turning all the way off”: Ben Kenney on touring with a brain tumor in Incubus – and why he will never hear stereo guitars again
“The people who go with Yamaha don’t want the old-style. There’s a level of freedom if you’re a brand that doesn’t have that baggage”: Matteo Mancuso on the making of his signature Yamaha Revstar
Michael Kiwanuka reveals that he’s had a stroke: “It’s a long, tough journey ahead but I’m fighting to get better”
