Guitar World

VOL. 43 | NO. 10 | OCTOBER 2022 MEGA MUSTAINE WHEN I SEE an artist on the cover of GW, I can’t help but recall the first time I ever saw that person on the cover. In the case of Dave Mustaine, my brain goes way back to the December 1991 issue, which was just before I stopped subscribing to GW. Yes, I admit it! I stopped subscribing for a little while in the Nineties; and don’t feel bad, Dave — it had nothing to do with seeing you (and Marty Friedman) on the cover! I actually forget why I stopped, but it probably had something to do with school and girlfriends and having no money. Anyway, here we are, almost 31 years later, and Dave is still a compelling interview, one of…

Got something you want to say? EMAIL US AT: GWSoundingBoard@futurenet.com READER ART OF THE MONTH If you’ve created a drawing, painting or sketch of your favorite guitarist and would like to see it in an upcoming issue of Guitar World, email GWSoundingBoard@futurenet.com with a scan of the image! DEFENDERS of the Faith Pigman AGE: 29 in pig years LOCATION: Detroit, MI GUITARS: Fender Stratocaster and Showmaster SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Songs I’ve written for an upcoming solo release, I Wish My Brother George Was Here GEAR I WANT MOST: More Celestion Greenback speakers. My Effectron shreds them to pieces. Denny Kidd AGE: 34 LOCATION: Whitley City, KY GUITARS: Ernie Ball Music Man Mariposa, Schecter Damien 7, Schecter acoustic (Synyster Gates signature) SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING: Nita Strauss “Dead Inside,” Trivium “What the Dead Men Say” and originals (Instagram: thekiddkave) GEAR I WANT MOST: Neumann TLM 103 Condenser,…

THERE ARE MANY great reasons U.K. prog veteran John Mitchell begins his latest Lonely Robot album, A Model Life, with a cut called “Recalibrating.” For starters, it’s a ripper — a pulse-quickening piece of peak pop-fusion-era Police full of vibrantly polyrhythmic piano and the guitarist’s uncanny waggling. The tune takes inspiration from Mitchell having exited a 16-year personal relationship during the height of Covid lockdowns, the musician faced with pushing himself forward and “trying to find [his] way again.” Fittingly enough, A Model Life is likewise Mitchell’s return to his Lonely Robot solo project, after delivering last year’s Day and Age with his other long-term project, progressive supergroup Frost*. And in terms of his lead chops, A Model Life was also a chance to get his bearings back after reining…

NASHVILLE COUNTRY-POP star Lindsay Ell has gotten a real-world education in guitar since playing clubs as a teenager in her native Canada, where her six-string skills led her to link up with veterans Randy Bachman and Buddy Guy. But after moving to Music City, the chops she showcased opening arenas for star slingers Keith Urban and Brad Paisley took a backseat on her albums and singles, which played more to her songwriting and vocal talents. That all changed when she went into the studio with Jay Joyce, a producer known for his work with Eric Church, Cage the Elephant, Coheed and Cambria and Halestorm. “The stage is where I’m most at home, and so it only makes sense that my recorded music matches that,” Ell says. “And I guess it’s just taken…

WHO SAYS YOUNG people aren’t forming rock bands anymore? Certainly not Penelope Lowenstein and Nora Cheng, teenaged co-guitarists of the Chicago-based indie rock trio Horsegirl. “Guitar music was meant for young people,” Lowenstein says. “I’ve played guitar my whole life, and I’ve been playing with Nora for years. We’ve always liked the raw power of guitars.” Adds Cheng, “There’s been a number of young punk bands coming out of Chicago recently. It’s exciting. I think if you want to be rebellious, there’s still nothing better than picking up a guitar.” The two grew up listening to classic rock. As a kid, Lowenstein spent days trying to learn David Gilmour’s “Comfortably Numb” solo, while Cheng cites Cheap Trick as her first concert. In their freshman year of high school, they discovered indie…

HE MAY NOT have the Eye of Agamotto, but Bartees Strange — the stage moniker of Washington, D.C.-based musician Bartees Leon Cox Jr. — creates his own kind of sorcery on guitar. Strange — who’s inspired by a wide spectrum of musical styles, including rock, blues, country, funk, hip-hop, rap, punk and hardcore — wanders freely between musical worlds and genres. His genre-bending talents are on full display on his latest album, Farm to Table. “Through this whole journey of finding new music and always being curious about how things worked, I just developed this style or taste profile that was all of these things all the time,” Strange says. “It was almost easier for me to just be a reflection of what I was hearing and feeling in the world…