Recently Guitar Center went on the road with Los Angeles indie pop band Saint Motel to produce this commercial about life on the road. Saint Motel is A/J Jackson (lead vocals/guitar), Aaron Sharp (lead guitar), Dak (bass), and Greg Erwin (drums). If you like high-energy innovative live music, you’ll want to check out their show when they come to town.
With an unmistakable voice and poignant honesty, Alexisonfire front-man Dallas Green brings a stripped-down, personal approach to his solo project, City and Colour. Checkout this exclusive performance of “Silver & Gold” from the latest episode of podcast “At Guitar Center with Nic Harcourt”. Highlights of the interview include Dallas discussing what led him to start C & C, the struggle to craft such personal lyrics, and why he prefers to record analog versus digital as well an exclusive performance of “Fragile Bird”. For more info on our podcast and to subscribe, stream or download visit www.guitarcenter.com/podcast
It’s a rare occurrence when a rock band stays together continuously for 30 years or more, but it’s even more uncommon for a punk rock band to last that long. Bad Religion is one of only a handful of exceptions that have defied the odds by continuously touring and issuing albums without ever breaking up or reuniting. Throughout the years they’ve remained faithful to their initial punk ideals even as their musical directions expanded and progressed.
“We’ve written 15 albums that we’re proud of,” says Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. He sat down with bandmate Greg Graffin (vocals) to discuss his band’s illustrious and unusual career with Nic Harcourt for an At Guitar Center podcast at the Hollywood Guitar Center store. “We’ve written hundreds and hundred of songs. We have a body of work that we’re quite proud of and that has some gravity to it.”
Bad Religion’s lineup has remained surprisingly consistent since Graffin, Gurewitz, and bassist Jay Bentley formed the band in 1980, although Gurewitz and Bentley have taken brief hiatuses and various drummers have come and gone. Guitarist Greg Hetson has stayed with the band continuously since joining in 1984, as has guitarist Brian Baker, who became a member in 1994.
Read the entire interview HERE
A listener with a trained ear can easily identify the work of producer Daniel Lanois, but not because he uses a particular bag of sonic tricks or employs signature sounds. Rather, it is the atmosphere and sense of space along with the emotion and soul that he pulls out of performers that makes his work stand out. While Phil Spector may be known for his innovative “wall of sound” productions, Lanois makes music that sounds like it can’t be confined by walls, creating an environment that seems as infinite and spacious as the universe while providing listeners with an intimate, passionate portrait of an artist in performance.
Lanois has given his unmistakable touch to some of the most critically acclaimed and influential albums of the last 30 years, including U2′s The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree, Peter Gabriel’s So, and Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind. More recently Lanois produced Neil Young’s fascinating truly solo effort, Le Noise, and he formed the band Black Dub, featuring singer/multi-instrumentalist Trixie Whitley (daughter of Chris Whitley), bassist Daryl Johnson, drummer Brian Blade, and Lanois on guitar. Lanois discussed all of these projects at the Hollywood Guitar Center during a taping of Guitar Center’s new podcast At Guitar Center with Nic Harcourt.
Read the entire interview HERE
Download or stream the podcast on iTunes, Zune or Blackberry HERE
Enjoy an exclusive performance of Daniel Lanois and Black Dub’s “Silverado” from our podcast, At: Guitar Center, below.
W
ith a career that spans almost 20 years, the band Cake has outlasted countless contemporaries and proven to be a tenacious survivor in an industry that often seems geared towards impermanence. While the business of music has seen its share of evolution, both financial and technological, for Cake the old saying still rings true: the more things change, the more they stay the same. Now, as ever, it’s all about the songs. And in the case of Cake, infectiously catchy songs propelled by old-school groove and unique lyrics that are simultaneously both cuttingly clever and full of genuine insight.
With Cake’s newest album, Showroom of Compassion, just hitting the stores, Guitar Center hosted the band in the Hollywood store’s Vintage Room for an engaging episode of Guitar Center Sessions on DIRECTV. They performed and chatted with host Nic Harcourt about a wide variety of topics, including their early years. Cake got their start in the Northern California city of Sacramento, a laid back environment that played a big part in developing their highly individual sound. “It was all about cheap rent in Sacramento,” remembers singer John McCrea. “You could live cheaply enough to work maybe three days a week and spend the rest of the week playing music and so we were able to just really spend a lot of time on making music.”
Read the complete interview HERE.
See more Guitar Center Sessions on DIRECTV HERE.
Performance of their new single “Sick Of You” below.
