“A musician serves an intention, a continuum, a storytelling… You need to be listening carefully to what you play”: The quintessentially French, impossibility brilliant Pierre Bensusan on the freedom of DADGAD and unpredictable magic of performance
In a brand-new interview, Ritchie Blackmore says Deep Purple reunion was like coming back from war: “Everybody thought I was dead. And there I was — I was alive.”
“Bruce told me he wanted to sound more like Jeff Beck, so he ended up buying this Gibson. It turns out he’d bought an EB-6!” How Jimmy Fallon’s bassist bonded with Bruce Springsteen over their shared love of 6-string bass
“When we met Elvis I was like, ‘You’re trying to learn bass, are you son? Sit down, let me show you a few things’”: Paul McCartney remembers teaching Elvis how to bass like a pro
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
