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Are your favourite guitar strings about to get more expensive? D’Addario expects to incur more than $2 million in tariffs this year as a result of US trade policy
Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs have wreaked havoc on markets around the world, and the musical instrument industry has been heavily affected.
We’ve seen US amp and pedal companies stretched to breaking point already, with some industry commentators predicting “mass layoffs” as a result of price hikes and consequential low sales of goods.
Now, in a new conversation with Reuters, John D’Addario III – CEO of family-run instrument accessories company D’Addario – explains the impact tariffs, both potential and already enforced, have had on the business, and what he predicts for the landscape for the rest of the year.
“We estimate that we have incurred anywhere between $500,000 to $750,000 in additional costs that we didn’t plan for, already this year,” says CEO John D’Addario III.
According to the video’s description, D’Addario expects to accumulate more than $2 million in tariff costs this year alone.
“We’re not alone,” he continues. “I’m sure other businesses are dealing with that. But it did force us to react quickly in terms of price changes.”
D’Addario is one of the world’s leading makers of musical accessories, with a strong presence in markets around the world.
“What did we do in the onset of the tariff war? Lots of things,” he goes on. “First, we filed an application for a foreign trade zone that we could designate for portions of our facilities, which would allow us to import either finished goods or parts of finished goods. And avoid tariffs, presumably, if you re-exported that product to our export customers.
“And that’s very important because our business is roughly 50/50 US and international in terms of volume.”
D’Addario explains that in response to Trump’s tariffs, the company has developed the agility to reroute shipments of its goods on the fly.
“We can literally, if we need to, divert shipments that are on their way to the states to other markets where we have our own entities,” he says. “So literally stuff that’s on the water intended to go to the US, we can divert if we need to to different parts of the world, to avoid the tariffs.”
The big question though: are the price of D’Addario strings and other accessories set to rise?
“We implemented a price change in early May, and if necessary we may need to consider additional price increases if tariffs continue to escalate,” D’Addario says.
“At the end of the day, I think what we have to concentrate on is things that we can control. Things like onshoring, things like creating a foreign trade zone. Those are the things that we can control and we’ll continue to do those things so we can preserve our company’s presence and strength in the market.”
View D’Addario’s full product lineup via its official website.
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“For the Prince of Darkness, he sure gave us a lot of light”: Tobias Forge pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at Ghost’s sold-out Madison Square Garden show
Yesterday, Ozzy Osbourne sadly passed away, just weeks after putting on the show of a lifetime and raising nearly $200 million through Black Sabbath’s grand farewell gig. As the metal world mourns this monumental loss, artists are honouring the Prince of Darkness’s career, with Ghost even dedicating last night’s Madison Square Garden show to Ozzy.
Before performing The Future Is A Foreign Land, frontman Tobias Forge addressed the sold-out crowd. “We’re going to dedicate tonight’s show to the memory of the life and laughter of Ozzy Osbourne,” he said [via NME]. “For being the Prince of Darkness, he sure gave us a lot of light, so we’re gonna tap into that tonight and carry it forward through a time of darkness.”
In a since-deleted Instagram post, the Swedish metal band shared the clip, re-iterating the fact that the evening was entirely dedicated to Ozzy. “We wish to inform you that Ghost dedicated their sold out New York ritual at Madison Square Garden to the Prince Of Darkness himself: Ozzy Osbourne,” the caption read.
While Ghost were unable to play Black Sabbath’s final show on 5 July, frontman Forge dropped everything to jet overseas on his own, performing solo at Ozzy’s groundbreaking Back To The Beginning farewell concert. Appearing as his Ghost persona, Papa V Perpetua, Forge was part of the ever-shifting roster, temporarily fronting the Ozzy/Sabbath supergroup to cover Ozzy’s 1983 solo track, Bark At The Moon.
Back in March, Forge told NME that Ozzy’s work has always been a major inspiration. “Ozzy as a frontman and Ozzy as a solo artist is something I put a divide between, because I grew up in the ‘80s where he was much more of a rockstar than Black Sabbath were,” he explained. “I gravitated towards that, but I also grew up listening to the old Black Sabbath records.”
“Nowadays, I love most Black Sabbath releases… Vol. 4, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath and Sabotage have been absolute milestones for me for as long as I’ve been writing music. They’ve been very influential, even though it might not be super evident. I’ve always listened to them, and I’ve always been inspired by them.”
News of Ozzy’s passing was shared yesterday (22 July) by his family. “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning,” an Instagram post said. “He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
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James Blunt savages Noel Gallagher as a “sad human” for saying unkind things about him behind his back
When James Blunt released his mainstream hit You’re Beautiful back in 2005, we’re sure he didn’t think it would earn him the title of “the most hated man in pop”. Nowadays, Mr. Blunt has become the industry’s unofficial punching bag, with artists like Oasis‘s Noel Gallagher even firing criticism his way.
Back in 2013, the Gallagher brother told Time Out Dubai that he sold his Ibiza villa to avoid being neighbours with the soft rock singer. He explained that Blunt didn’t necessarily do anything to “wind him up”, but “he just moved there… and I can’t have that.”
However, Blunt isn’t one to take negative comments lying down. In an episode of the High Performance podcast in October, Blunt fires back at the Oasis man, calling him a “sad human being”.
“[Noel was] saying he can’t live in Ibiza because I live down the road,” he said. “Well, what a sad human being he is – because it’s a big enough island, you know? I’m not asking [him] to come and see me!”
Amid the comments, Blunt implied that Noel was being two-faced. “Noel Gallagher’s never said anything unkind to my face,” Blunt explained. “He just always does it to your back when he’s trying to flog music.”
He even managed to sneak in his own jab at Noel: “Weirdly, house prices went through the roof the moment he left! I don’t know whether the house prices went up because he’d left or because I’d arrived… But there’s gotta be some connection.”
While Noel has been making headlines recently in light of the Oasis reunion, Blunt has generated plenty of headlines about the guitarists’ two-faced behaviour over the years. On a 2023 episode of podcast Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake, he also explained: “I do actually bump into Noel at various places… to your face he’s a coward. [But in the papers] he said he couldn’t have me writing my shitty songs just down the road from him.”
Other musicians have also been quick to fire criticism in Blunt’s direction over the years. Elsewhere in his chat with High Performance, the singer even recalled being snubbed by Blur and Gorillaz star Damon Albarn during the Jools Holland Show.
“At the end of the show, they take a picture of all the musicians, and Damon Albarn refused to be in that photo because I was on the episode with him,’ Blunt said.
When asked if Albarn had said that directly to Blunt, the singer explained: “No, his management went and spoke to the producers of the show, and he’s a big deal, so they went along with that… which is bizarre, because they should’ve just told him not to be such a prick.”
“So I was then held back in my dressing room while all the musicians were lined up around Jools Holland for the photo with Damon,” he continued. “Then he was led out to his car and off he went home. I was brought out for the second photo, and only one of those makes the Wall of Fame… but it’s very petty stuff.”
When considering why musicians feel so comfortable criticising him, Blunt seems to be quite understanding. “It’s very easy… to fall for the trap when we’re trying to flog our own music, when someone says, ‘Which album don’t you like?’ or ‘Which musician don’t you like?’,” he explained. “We just fall for that.”
“It’s too easy for us to start saying, ‘I don’t like this person, I don’t like that person’ and we say whoever’s the easiest whipping boy or girl at the time… and I happen to be that person.”
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“That might be stupid coming from the son of Eddie Van Halen”: The surprising opinion Wolfgang Van Halen holds about guitar solos
While some rockers opt to show off their chops through excessive guitar solos, Wolfgang Van Halen is with many who believe they’re not always a necessary ingredient when crafting killer track.
Despite Wolfgang’s father, Eddie Van Halen, being renowned as a solo master, Mammoth’s upcoming record, The End, features a few tracks without solos. “Whenever there is a song that doesn’t have a guitar solo people are like ‘Dude? What?’,” he tells SiriusXM. “[But] it’s more about the song and how it is crafted altogether. Not everything needs a guitar solo.”
Rather than compromising on his vision to force in a meaty, shred-heavy solo, Wolfgang is more satisfied when a track feels correct. He labels himself as a songwriter first and foremost. “The ‘songwriter’ leads more than anything,” he notes. “I think that what makes me happy. What brings me purpose with Mammoth is writing the songs.”
He’s aware some people might find his stance surprising. “That might be stupid coming from the son of Eddie Van Halen to say,” he notes. “But, for me, I get [the] most joy from crafting the song, piece by piece.”
Of course, that’s not to say Wolfgang’s forthcoming third release is totally solo-free. “There are definitely more guitar solos,” he confirms. “But, again, that is not what it is about for me. But [they are] there, and I am going to give my A-game!”
Wolfgang’s band, Mammoth (formerly known as Mammoth WVH), recently dropped the first taste of The End. The Spell highlights the Wolfgang’s multi-instrumental talents – and it’s one of the new tracks that does feature a guitar solo.
While some may raise an eyebrow upon hearing Wolfgang’s views on soloing, Wolfgang is actually following in his father’s footsteps. His father voiced similar views in his later years, telling Guitar Player’s Jas Obrecht that he was well beyond his years of shredding in 1991.
“A lot of people just do all kinds of crazy shit,” he said. “Sure, that’s fine and dandy when you’re young… playing as fast as you can doesn’t really hold much water for me… To me, a solo is to highlight song. It’s not to show off.”
“What’s important to me now isn’t how fast I can solo,” he continued. “It’s the whole picture… the whole band thing, the songs… that’s what’s important.”“
The End will be released on 24 October.
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Fender Play review: sleek learning platform is better than ever in 2025
Fender Play! You’ve likely heard of it – it’s one of the most popular learning platforms out there. It was launched in 2017, but thanks to some savvy promotions by Fender it hit the big times across the pandemic. As people collectively realised that 2020 might be the time to dust off that charity-shop guitar and learn some Nirvana songs, Fender offered three months of free lessons via the platform.
The strategy was astute – it drove a huge spike in the size of Fender Play’s userbase, quickly making it one of the most talked-about learning platforms out there. But what is Fender Play like in the post-lockdown world of 2025? Has time been kind to the platform? Is it still a good option for a beginner player? What about someone with a little more experience? I spent several weeks with Fender Play to find out.
Getting started with Fender Play
Fender Play offers a mobile app alongside the browser-based platform. UI-wise, it’s all a pretty unified experience, but for my testing I stick mostly to the browser experience – mainly for screen size reasons. But hey, it’s good to see the flexibility on offer in both directions – apps that offer no desktop version can be just as frustrating as those that are desktop-exclusive.
When I first sign up, I’m given the classic questionnaire – what kind of instrument do I have, what genre am I interested in learning (a choice between rock, pop, blues, country, folk and R&B/soul), and how good am I already. When it comes to my skill level, I do tell Fender Play that I’m able to play across the fretboard (thank you, thank you), but despite this I’m placed at the very start of the Rock Path, and given lessons on how to tune and pluck strings. This makes me think that at least some of the initial questionnaire is not for my sake, but is instead (shock horror) market research.
In any case, I can easily pick a more advanced course – but this is a good opportunity to see what the average beginner will be faced with when they sign up. These early lessons are particularly crucial to the value of a learning tool, as they’re laying down the foundations on which you will build everything else.
Down the path
The bulk of the lessons are housed in Paths, the main superstructures of Fender Play’s library. Each Path consists of different levels (except the ‘essentials’ Path, which is just one level), and each level consists of different courses, and each course consists of different activities. A course will teach either a specific technique, or apply what you’ve learnt so far to a song, and an activity will either be a video lesson or a dynamic tab to hone your skills.
The Path you’re on varies by instrument – acoustic, electric, bass or ukulele, as well as genre. You can change your Path at any time, and select any lesson at any level – although to keep you chugging along a single Path, Fender Play will track your progress and let you easily choose your next lesson when you log in.
What’s immediately clear is that Fender Play’s roster of video presenters is one of its strongest points. For the earlier lessons, the basics are explained patiently and clearly, and the teachers strike a good balance between being comprehensive without overwhelming you with terminology. There’s a lot of presenters, and they’re all skilled players and good instructors.
The tone of the videos is also nice and encouraging, for the most part. Presenters generally seem keen and approachable, without any exhausting and cringey over-enthusiasm – good for diving into an extended learning session without going insane. Things can swing a little too hard in the other direction, though, as every once in a while a presenter will deliver a lesson with the sort of subdued corporate dryness that says “I am just trying to get through what it says on the autocue” more than it does “hey, let’s learn the guitar”. But this is luckily pretty rare, and not too shocking given Fender’s overall video playbook – you rarely see much joking about in its product demos.
Fender Play is also good at establishing a tight loop of ‘learn, play, then reinforce’. While some guitar learning platforms can feel like the sort of video game that only lets you actually play it in 10 minute segments between 45 minute cutscenes (enjoying Death Stranding 2?), Fender Play is instead keen to keep you active and playing along to the teacher as much as possible.
The bulk of the video lessons are followed by smart tab exercises that you can do at your own pace to cement what you’ve learnt. There is also a feedback mode, which works similarly but lets you record your playing for analysis. Whilst the insight gained from automated analysis like this is always going to be limited, I find the idea of playing and then analysing pretty handy. Apps that offer Guitar Hero-style real-time feedback can lead you to concentrate a bit too hard on the app itself while you play – here, you are given the space to do the best performance you can, and then find where you can improve.
Theory will only take you so far
What is also very good to see is the focus on theory essentials as well as guitar essentials, particularly in the early stages. Time signatures and rhythm subdivisions are explained early on, and as mentioned the tabs include traditional rhythm notation as well as a metronome.
While the efficacy of modern, alternative approaches (Yousician’s bouncing ball and so on) is, er, debatable, a mix of traditional rhythm notation and guitar tab is generally agreed to be the best compromise between keeping things legible from a guitar perspective, while remaining musically unambiguous.
And regardless of whether or not those alternative approaches work, what’s true is this: if you stick with the guitar and start playing in bands with other people, tabs and traditional rhythm notation are both going to be understood pretty generally. But if you join a band and need to have your parts notated exclusively in ‘Yousician Bouncing Ball’ format, you might be in trouble.
Simple, but accurate
Given its beginner focus, Fender Play features a good deal of songs that have been simplified for the earlier stages of the Paths. When this has happened, the instructor tells you that the arrangement has been changed, and there’s often a good balance between keeping things recognisable while still communicating the relevant ideas. Simplified riffs are used to draw outlines of concepts, before Fender Play gives you the chance to add detail and colour as you progress throughout the courses.
Take John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom, which appears very early in the Blues Path – it’s literally the first thing you learn after learning how to fret notes. The version taught gets you playing the second (simpler) part of the song’s call and response, using it to establish how you go about playing a sequence of notes in time, within the framework of a bar of 4/4. And, thanks to the rhythmic tabs ever-present below the video lessons, you’re immediately exposed to how to read quarter notes and rests.
This approach is, I think, a good one – all learning platforms understand that most people pick up the guitar in order to actually play songs, and the sooner that happens the better. However, there is a balance you need to maintain as you do this. Calling these simplified arrangements done and dusted could be more confusing than satisfying, but luckily Fender Play’s teachers explain how a track has been adjusted for learning purposes, and the accurate notation is helpful in seeing how the more basic parts fit together.
As you progress through a Path towards the more intermediate lessons, the arrangements reflect your progress. In the case of rock, metal and other riff-driven music, the transcriptions are accurate to the real thing. In the case of tracks where the original is a more abstract pop arrangement with less of a guitar focus, there are some pretty creative fingerstyle interpretations of the tracks – it’s not always a campfire acoustic version with solely cowboy chords!
More advanced techniques
Fender Play has historically been a pretty beginner-focused platform, and it’s clear that since the lockdown-induced surge of users it’s the early phases of guitar where Fender has put the bulk of its attention. But it’s been half a decade since then – that’s five years of learning for all of those absolute beginners that signed up. So has Fender expanded the ceiling of its learning platform upwards to follow?
In short – it has. Fender Play started out as a platform for just the very basics – however now, there are a good deal of much harder riffs and techniques taught in levels six and seven of each path. The rock path, for example, will eventually have you doing things like the fiddly verse riff of Led Zeppelin’s Bring It On Home and the speedy punk strumming of Green Day.
Beyond the Paths, there are also a few lessons that absolutely transcend the intermediate label, being bonafide ‘advanced’. Not as many as there are beginner lessons, for sure, but for example the solo for Crazy Train is taught, note for note – that’s some serious shredding, and you’ll likely need a good few years of learning under your belt to tackle it. In short, the amount of teaching on offer here is far more than a year’s progress unless you’re taking ten hours of lessons a day – so even if you get an annual subscription, it’s hard to argue that you’re not getting value for money.
Paths and songs aren’t the only way that Fender Play presents its video lessons, either. There are also Skills and Collections, which drill down into specific techniques, or specific sets of songs – things like artist spotlights and collections of famous songs featuring certain techniques are organised into courses that you can progress through, outside of those more structured sections. This is cool to see, particularly as a non-beginner interacting with a platform – it’s a great jumping off point to find ways to broaden your playing horizons.
Learning a song
Fender Play certainly has an impressive song library, and this is arguably one of the platform’s biggest draws – Fender has been able to license a very wide range of music, with a catalogue that includes guitar-driven classics, modern pop, country, R&B, blues, metal and indie rock.
But while simplifying tracks to teach them to beginners is all well and good, this has a bit of a strange effect as on the rest of the experience. Like a few other learning apps, the broader song library will include lessons taken from the wider context of the more structured side of things. When browsing the song library independently of the Paths, you may encounter a track that just happens to be taught as a very early lesson – and perhaps be disappointed when you can’t actually learn the full song.
It’s not all chained to the Paths, though – there are also a few songs that exist as simpler versions within the course, but are presented as more accurate versions within the actual song library. Regardless, it’s still worth noting that just because a song is technically included in the library, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to learn it in full.
Relatedly, it’s also not guaranteed that a song will have a ‘full’ video lesson where an instructor takes you through each part step-by-step. If you really prefer learning with that kind of granular instruction, it’s meted out a little randomly, and there’s no way to filter for songs that have it. Songs that don’t will instead either have a tabbed-out play along video, or just a dynamic tab. That’s not to say Fender Play’s library of lessons is meagre, not by any stretch – but not all of the 1,200 songs here have a ‘full’ video lesson.
I do also want to note that I run into a couple of technical issues with the ‘practice mode’ tab player every now and again. The worst of these is the occasional audio de-sync, which renders some songs totally unlearnable. This was however very rare and exclusive to the desktop interface – it only affected two tracks across my entire time with Fender Play.
Fender Play, with emphasis on the Fender
Overall my time with Fender play is all very positive. As a learning platform, it’s in excellent shape – this isn’t some lockdown hobby project Fender dumped a load of money into and then abandoned as soon as the pubs opened again, it’s a really solid educational tool that offers great quality teaching and great value for money. However, I do want to address a very Fender thing that comes from Fender Play: While the stated goal is to teach you the guitar, there is always the feeling that there’s another motivation at play here. Rather than a guitarist, Fender Play wants you to be a Fender Guitarist.
It’s undeniable that Fender is good at doing brand things, and not just because you can buy basically any piece of merch you can imagine with a Fender logo slapped onto it. Fender products often feel like they exist within an Apple-styled walled garden, into which no other guitar company may enter. This remains true here: the universe depicted in Fender Play’s video lessons is one where the Telecaster Deluxe is the only dual-humbucker single-cut ever invented, the only metal guitars are Jacksons and Charvels, and the only amps are Fender combos or EVH heads.
Lessons have a “tones” section along with tabs and other info – but rather than general advice on how to get an appropriate tone for the song, this is instead a download link for a Mustang GTX/GT preset. Admittedly handy if you do have either of these amps, and occasionally the instructor does give some more general, less Fender-specific gear advice – but for the most part, gear-focused lessons are about dialling things in on Fender gear.
None of the genuine musical teaching is undermined by this, and I’ve definitely seen more teeth-grindingly profit-driven approaches in educational apps. But it is always there, a background hum of hey, by the way, we also sell everything you can see. This is a strategy Fender has always employed: need an amp, pedal, modeller, guitar (pointy or non-pointy!), audio interface or indeed a learning platform? You can get all of these things and more if you stay within the garden. Please don’t look over the walls. There’s nothing out there!
It is obviously not some searing insight to say that Fender is going to promote its own gear within its own learning platform. But despite the crushing inevitability of businesses needing to make money, it still feels more than a little distracting the more time I spend within Fender Play. I’d rather see beginner guitarists encouraged to explore beyond the big F, as there’s a lot out there – and discovering that whole wide world is as much a part of the guitar journey as learning to play is.
Is Fender Play worth it?
Advertising whinge over, let’s examine the value for money you get with Fender Play. Its base cost is £19.49 a month, or £12.08 a month if you buy annually. This is about average for a learning platform these days – it’s on par with other video library platforms like Guitar Tricks, but it’s a little more expensive than a basic platform like Simply Guitar. The quality of the lessons and the breadth of scope on display, however, are undeniable for the beginner player. It’s a very comprehensive and detailed overview, the kind of thing that can really only be bettered by finding a one-on-one teacher, or finding a bespoke course made by a specific teacher that you resonate with.
For a more intermediate or advanced player, however, Fender Play is perhaps less easy to recommend. It’s still great if you want to go over the basics again to work on the more fundamental aspects of your playing. Don’t expect a lot of super-advanced courses that’ll turn you into some sort of shred god, but there are still a few courses that you may find useful – whether they’re worth it will depend on your approach. There is luckily the option of a free trial, and so with that in mind I would say it’s worth signing up and poking around the platform.
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Dawsons opens online store in Australia, serving “one of the most passionate and creative music communities in the world”
[Editor’s note: Dawsons is a brand under Vista Musical Instruments, which, along with Guitar.com, is part of the Caldecott Music Group.]
Music fans down under can now access Dawsons’ curated selection of premium, vintage and pre-loved instruments, as the music retailer unveils its brand-new Australian online store.
The new digital store offers a vast range of guitars, accessories and pedals from a diverse selection of brands. So far, the brands on offer include Heritage Guitars, MONO, TC Electronic, Behringer and more, as well as used and vintage products provided by used instrument specialist retailer, Well Played Gear.
Dawsons also plans to add more brands to the store within the coming months.
“Australia has one of the most passionate and creative music communities in the world,” David Nam Le, Managing Director at Vista Musical Instruments, explains. “We are beyond excited to join that energy and support artists at every level. Whether you’re picking up your first instrument or producing your next record, Dawsons is here to be part of your journey.”
Dawsons’ arrival in Australia comes two years after the music retailer first began to re-establish itself back in 2023. The company kicked things back off with the launch of a brick and mortar store on Denmark Street in London, which was also the birthplace of NME.
The new Denmark Street location marked the music retailer’s first new physical store in London since the brand’s foundation back in 1898.
While Dawsons hasn’t shared plans to launch a physical store in Australia, it has set up a local service location in Melbourne to help support its customers. The online store also boasts a dedicated team, if you can’t get to the Melbourne support centre. It’s the company’s way of giving that personal, expert’s touch to your shopping experience.
Right now, there’s free delivery on every order over $100. Dawsons also offers a 10% off Music Education Discount for full-time students and music educators.
Head to Dawsons Australia to find out more.
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“There would be no metal without you”: Jack White, Tom Morello and the guitar world react to the passing of Ozzy Osbourne
Founding Black Sabbath vocalist and overall metal legend Ozzy Osbourne has died at the age of 76, just weeks after performing his farewell show with the band. His family released a statement today reading, “It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love.”
Osbourne leaves behind an immense and incomparable musical legacy. Ozzy joined forces with bassist Geezer Butler in 1967. By 1969, the band had recruited guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward, and officially landed on the name Black Sabbath. Their first self-titled album introduced the world to a sound that would form the basis of an entire genre: a driving rhythm section and massive guitar riffs, both underpinning Ozzy’s frantic wail. Sabbath drove hard rock into darker, doomier territory, and there’s a reason that so many huge names from the world of metal came out for Black Sabbath’s farewell show – it’s undeniable that without Ozzy, Geezer, Tony and Bill, metal as we know it would not exist.
Aside from forging an entire genre, Ozzy also had a keen eye for guitar talent. He used his solo material to highlight some incredible guitar talent, from Randy Rhoades and Jake E Lee, to Zakk Wylde and Gus G.
Tributes have begun flooding in from the guitar world, with artists from metal and rock and, indeed, far wider, honouring the Prince of Darkness and his impact on music.
“I just can’t believe it,” writes Ozzy’s Black Sabbath bandmate Tony Iommi. “My dear, dear friend Ozzy has passed away only weeks after our show at Villa Park. It’s just such heartbreaking news that I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother.”
Metallica, who performed at Sabbath’s farewell show at Villa Park, have made no secret over the years that they wouldn’t exist without Black Sabbath. In their tribute post, they share an image of James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Cliff Burton with Ozzy.
“RIP Prince of Darkness,” writes Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Kiki Wong. “Thank you for all you’ve given back to the world. There would be no metal without you.”
Tom Morello, who served as the Musical Director for Back to the Beginning, writes simply: “God bless you Ozzy.”
Ozzy’s influence stretched far and wide, not only inspiring legends like Metallica to play music, but younger acts like Yungblud, too. In his tribute post, he writes: “You were so full of life and your laugh filled up the room…
“I will never forget you – you will be in every single note I sing and with me every single time I walk on stage. Your cross around my neck is the most precious thing I own. You asked me once if there was anything you could do for me and as I said then and as I will say now for all of us the music was enough. You took us on your adventure – an adventure that started it all. I am truly heartbroken. You were the greatest of all time.”
Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready reflects on the time he discovered Black Sabbath in high school. “War Pigs as terrifying and mesmerizing at the same time,” he says.
“It was Ozzy’s voice that took me away to a dark universe. A great escape. Then when The ‘Blizzard of Ozz’ record came out I was instantly a fan. Randy Rhoads was an influence on me to play lead guitar. Luckily I got to play on the song “Immortal” on the last record. Thanks for the music, Ozzy – it makes our journey in life better.”
Jack White’s tribute meanwhile, uses few words, but says it all: “He made it.”
Tributes have also come from the likes of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, blues guitarist Jared James Nichols, Tetrarch’s Diamond Rowe and Sophie Lloyd, who reshares a video of her covering Sabbath classic Paranoid.
This is devastating news,” says Joe Bonamassa. “A one of a kind singer, artist, personality and larger than life performer. I had the privilege of playing a solo on his Undercover album 20 years ago. I will always consider that as one of the great honors of my life.”
Rest in peace Ozzy your music and creativity will be dearly missed,” adds YouTuber Rob Chapman. “Some of my earliest musical memories were from Black Sabbath… even my first vinyl records after I bought Postman Pat were the first four Sabbath albums… Amazing that [his] farewell gig raised so much for charity as well – one incredible family.”
Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has expressed his sorrow at Ozzy’s death, writing on his Instagram story: “Without Ozzy, there is no me. My heart has broken.”
This is a developing story.
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Guitar Center secures three-year debt extension to “provide the time necessary to deliver on its business plan”
As an increasing number of brick and mortar guitar stores are being forced to close down, Guitar Center has announced its latest plan to keep its physical stores up and running.
According to Business Wire, Guitar Center has reached an agreement with investors to extend the payback period on its debts. The three-year debt extension is intended to allow the company more time to “deliver on its business plan”.
The plan is to carry out a Senior Secured Notes Exchange, essentially meaning that it will be reaching new terms and repayment conditions with its investors. While 8.5% of the company’s Senior Secured Notes were originally due for repayment in 2026, 70% of its investors have agreed to renew their terms, moving the repayment deadline to 2029.
The company hopes to have all of the new terms and conditions for its Senior Secured Notes investors finalised by August.
It’s a challenging time for physical music stores. Just last year, Sam Ash shut up shop, and Guitar Center’s CEO Gabe Dalporto also went on record saying that the company needs to “evolve” to survive.
“If you want to experience musical instruments and start off or accelerate your journey as a musician, the world needs Guitar Center,” he told Music Inc last May. “Our customers need us and our vendors need us,” he says. “But in order to earn the right to be here, we need to evolve and execute better.”
“I want customers to walk into [a store] and have the same experience I had when I was younger and just be hit in the face with, ‘Wow, this is amazing. This is a playground. This is where I belong,’” he added. “And that means having a much more premium assortment that’s more easily accessible where I can get in and grab a guitar and plug it in and try all these pedals and effects and just geek out and have a great time.”
Earlier this year, Dalporto also discussed how the human touch is the key to company maintaining its status as the biggest music store chain in the US. “It really is the premium product where people are going to take that time and care a lot and want to experience it [in person],” he explained on the Know Your Gear podcast. “That’s why it’s important to us. We are leaning into that really high-quality, premium product where experience matters. That’s where we can win against Amazon.”
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“We are basically married, just without any of the fun stuff”: Joanne Shaw Taylor on her friendship with Joe Bonamassa
![[L-R] Joe Bonamassa and Joanne Shaw Taylor](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/JoBo-Joanne-Shaw-Taylor@2000x1500.jpg)
Over the years and through their shared love of the blues, Joe Bonamassa and Joanne Shaw Taylor have struck up quite the friendship.
And in a new interview with Classic Rock, the pair recall how it started at the Notodden Blues Festival in 2008.
“We ran into each other at the hotel check-in,” Bonamassa reveals. “And I offended you. Because you wanted to show me your really nice old Les Paul, and I just said: ‘I don’t like Les Pauls’ and walked off,” Taylor tells him.
After the pair later struck up a friendship, Taylor recalls once having to drive from Maine to Detroit. “Joe would phone and keep me company,” she says. “I didn’t have any money. And you’d say: ‘Okay, I’ve booked you into a nice Marriott, get a good night’s sleep. Don’t pull into some dodgy shithole.’”
On why they clicked in the first place, Bonamassa reflects: “We share a dry, cutting sense of humour. Joanne loves it when I go off, ranting and raving.”
“And I poke the bear,” Taylor adds. “There’s also massive trust between us. That was a real benefit when Joe started producing me. We recorded Fade Away, which is about losing my mum, and he’s one of the few people – because she passed away a long time ago – who’s actually met her.”
“When I met Joanne, my life had just changed,” adds Bonamassa. “I’d played the Albert Hall for the first time. Next thing you know, there’s more people waiting for a meet and greet than were at the shows two years before. Things had got weird. I don’t believe I handled the pressure very well. And Joanne got me through a lot of that.”
When asked whether they are secretly a couple, Joanne Shaw Taylor replies: “We are basically married. Just without any of the fun stuff.
“We live next-door to each other in Nashville. After this interview is done I’m walking to his apartment, because I noticed there’s a dead bird on his patio!”
Joe Bonamassa recently performed three shows in Ireland in tribute to Rory Gallagher. In a reflective post on social media, he called the shows “the biggest honour and greatest challenge of my musical life”.
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Richie Sambora turns to NFL rehab experts to help him play guitar again after “gruesome” hand injury
Richie Sambora has turned to NFL rehab experts to help him play the guitar again after a “gruesome” hand injury he suffered earlier this year.
According to People, the former Bon Jovi guitarist is on the road to recovery after an accident in April that had him needing emergency surgery to rebreak and reset his left hand.
Now, he’s undergoing rehabilitation with top-tier sports medicine experts who typically treat NFL athletes – and he’s healing at double the typical rate, according to a source speaking to the publication. Despite describing the process as “arduous, slow, and painful,” the source says Sambora remains focused on regaining his strength and getting back into shape.
- READ MORE: “You couldn’t be in a rock band unless you looked a certain way”: Why Tim Pierce didn’t join Bon Jovi – despite playing guitar on their first hit
Sambora’s injury happened just a week before his scheduled performance at the Unbridled Eve Derby Gala on 2 May. While playing a casual game of touch football back in his hometown of New Jersey – where he’d been caring for his mother – the guitarist caught a pass and was knocked into a curb, fracturing his hand in two places.
“He caught a ball and some guy gave him a touch right into a curb. He was completely swollen, and fractured his hand in two places,” the source told People. “He’ll undergo surgery next week.”
Sambora, 65 at the time, eventually underwent emergency surgery to rebreak and reset the bones. Incredibly, he still took the stage at the Derby Gala, performing four Bon Jovi hits – Livin’ on a Prayer, It’s My Life, I’ll Be There for You, and Wanted Dead or Alive – all of which he co-wrote.
Richie “rocked the house” despite being in “so much pain,” the source said. “When he told the doctor he was going to the Derby, the doctor said, ‘You’re out of your mind.’ But he said, ‘See ya! I’m going.’ That’s the kind of guy Richie is. He’s a man of his word.”
Now 66, Sambora spent his birthday earlier this month (11 July) in Princeville, Hawaii, enjoying a relaxed round of golf with friends as he continues to rest and promote his new single, Born to Rock.
“It’s a fun and happy anthem for those who were born to rock! Plain and simple,” Sambora told People. He also shared the song on Instagram, writing, “My birthday gift to you.”
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“You can learn to do this with your own two hands!”: The stinging rebuke Chet Atkins gave John Fahey over unfounded accusations
Chet Atkins may have been known as the Country Gentleman, but even he wasn’t one to let unfounded claims about his guitar playing slide.
In a recent interview with Guitar World, Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler reflects on his time working with the fingerstyle legend – and recalls the one time he ever saw Atkins genuinely annoyed: when fellow guitarist John Fahey suggested he relied on double-tracking to pull off his intricate playing.
- READ MORE: “I got away with murder!”: Is Mark Knopfler a ‘guitar hero’? He certainly doesn’t think so
“I only remember him being slightly put-out once, when John Fahey said he’d been double-tracking. Chet was not pleased by that,” says Knopfler. “And he wrote to whatever magazine it was and said, ‘You can learn to do this with your own two hands; you don’t need double-tracking.’”
While Atkins wasn’t opposed to multi-tracking in his own recordings, Knopfler notes that the musician only used it when “doing something even more complicated.”
“I mean, Chet liked multi-tracking too, of course, but only if he was doing something even more complicated,” he explains. “But he could play Yankee Doodle and Battle Hymn of the Republic at the same time.”
The two guitarists formed a bond in the late ’80s that eventually led to their Grammy-winning 1990 album Neck and Neck. Their friendship grew with informal jams in Atkins’s office, where the musician’s modest tastes often surprised Knopfler.
“I remember, Chet Atkins gave me a [call]. Because we were both pickers in that sense – but, of course, Chet was otherworldly,” he says. “I used to go round to his office and hang out, and I’ll never forget, we once played and sang the song Kentucky all morning.”
“Chet had such facility and knowledge, and yet what he wanted to do was play Kentucky – which has two chords – all morning long. He’d say to me, ‘You’re pretty good, but you’re no Mark Knopfler.’”
“He always had good jokes,” Knopfler continues. “You know, you’d get to the end of something and he’d go, ‘Very educational.’ And then he’d say, ‘A little below above average.’ Or something like that. Very dry.”
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Meet Rig Advisor, Guitar Center’s new in-store AI shopping assistant: “It’s like having a professional gear consultant in the palm of your hand”
Guitar Center has officially launched Rig Advisor, an “AI-powered shopping assistant” designed to help musicians navigate the often overwhelming world of music gear.
Dubbed the first-ever in-store AI shopping tool in music retail, Rig Advisor promises a smoother and smarter browsing experience by delivering real-time, personalised recommendations based on your local store’s inventory.
As Guitar Center would have you know, Rig Advisor isn’t just another chatbot slapped onto a screen. Rather, it’s a mobile-based tool that “helps customers discover, compare, and explore gear in real time by prioritising products available at that specific store location”.
You can access it by scanning a QR code in-store, where you can then ask questions, compare products, or search for gear inspired by specific songs or artists. Whether you’re chasing John Mayer’s tone or building your first podcasting setup, Rig Advisor provides instant, store-specific suggestions based on what’s available on the shelves.
“Rig Advisor is like having a professional gear consultant in the palm of your hand, delivering lightning-fast answers as you explore our music stores,” says Guitar Center CEO Gabe Dalporto. “It will turn our stores into tech-powered music hubs where creativity, curiosity, and inspiration lead the way.”
Besides its friendly interface, the beauty of Rig Advisor lies in its practicality. Say you’re curious about the difference between a tube amp and a solid-state one – Rig Advisor will break it down in plain English. You can even build full rigs – pedals, amps, mics, the whole deal – based on your current setup or a goal you have in mind.
And because it pulls from your chosen store’s live inventory, whatever it recommends is actually there to try today. No more falling in love with a piece of gear online only to find it out of stock.
The tool is also available in multiple languages, with the AI smart enough to respond in whatever language you use to ask your question.
Now live in locations across the US, Rig Advisor aims to “[enhance] the in-store experience by giving musicians an easy way to navigate options and make more confident decisions, whether they’re browsing solo or working with a store expert.”
In other news, a Guitar Center employee from Ohio was recently found to have used customers’ credit cards for personal purchases after they were rude to him.
Reports claim that management had learned of the purchases after a customer called about a transaction made at the store that was not his. The employee, 18, is also believed to have copied the credit cards of two other customers.
Learn more at Guitar Center.
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These are Taylor Swift’s six biggest guitar influences
Taylor Swift is unquestionably one of the most popular and successful artists of the 21st century. Her music has been categorized as everything from pop to folk to country to rock, and while it would be a stretch to call her music guitar-centric, she does play guitar and has nonetheless inspired a generation of people to pick up the guitar and start trying to find their own voice. In that sense, it’s worth taking a look at some of the artists who inspired Swift herself to become the musician she is today.
Shania Twain
Few influences are more important than the one who inspired you to pick up a guitar in the first place and for Taylor Swift, she has often claimed that it was Shania Twain. This should come as no surprise, as Shania was very popular during Taylor’s formative years. While Twain is not known for her guitar-playing prowess, she does play guitar, especially in her early career.
For Twain and Swift, the guitar is not used for flashy, impressive solos; it is merely a tool for conveying the songwriting ideas they both have. Nobody is going to put Taylor Swift or Shania Twain on a list of great technical guitar players, but as far as using the guitar as a tool to write hit songs, they are both hugely influential.
Shania Twain provided an essential step in the musical evolution of Taylor Swift, most notably the first step – the inspiration to pick up a guitar and make music with it. That step should never be underestimated. Swift has in kind no doubt inspired millions of young people to pick up a guitar and play music. It’s the wonderful legacy of the guitar as a pop music icon that continues to bear fruit over 70 years after it first appeared.
Matt Slocum
The guitarist of Christian rockers and one-hit wonders Sixpence None The Richer might not be on many guitar playing Mount Rushmores, but they hold a special significance for Taytay. After she had been inspired to pick up a guitar by Shania, Swift has stated in several interviews that the first song she actually learned to play was Kiss Me – and from that moment, the music world would never be the same!
Ronnie Cremer
Every musician has to start somewhere by learning the basics of guitar playing. For Taylor Swift, that came in the form of a guitar instructor named Ronnie Cremer who lived in her hometown of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. Some might imagine formal guitar lessons to be a highly structured, “run through the scales again” sort of affair.
But according to most reports, Cremer was instrumental in teaching Swift the basics – chords, tuning, how to use a capo, etc. From there, they focused on real world applications of those building blocks such as using the guitar as a tool for songwriting – not necessarily technical proficiency. These lessons took place for about two years in 2002-2003 – Swift would have been about 12 years old at the time.
The Chicks
While Taylor Swift may never be known for her technical guitar playing prowess, she will forever be known as an electric performer. At the time of writing this article, she has the highest-grossing tour of all time at over two billion dollars.
According to an interview with ABC Swift claimed that her electric live performances were inspired by The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks), “Early in my life, these three women showed me that female artists can play their own instruments while also putting on a flamboyant spectacle of a live show,” she explained.
The Chicks’ influence is also evident in her daring songwriting that leans into feminist empowerment. Swift continued, “They taught me that creativity, eccentricity, unapologetic boldness and kitsch can all go together authentically… Most importantly, they showed an entire generation of girls that female rage can be a bonding experience between us all the very second we first heard Natalie Maines bellow ‘that Earl had to DIE’.”
Joni Mitchell
It has been said that Taylor Swift’s 2012 album Red was inspired by Joni Mitchell’s 1971 album Blue. Both artists have written deeply personal autobiographical songs with lyrics that could be described as confessional. Swift would no doubt call Joni a trailblazer for the path she is currently treading through the industry. Mitchell’s influence on Swift’s songwriting style is evident to even untrained ears. Swift has also claimed that she learned to play Mitchell’s song A Case of You early on in her career.
Liz Rose
Liz Rose is a songwriter from Nashville who has worked with Swift throughout her career. Her role seems to have been very much that of a mentor who was able to sculpt Swift into the songwriter she is today, perhaps more specifically, her understanding of melody. She was instrumental in encouraging Swift to write songs about her own personal experiences which ended up working out incredibly well for her. Rose co-wrote several hit songs with Swift, such as You Belong With Me, Teardrops on My Guitar, White Horse, and All Too Well.
Taylor Swift has cemented her legacy as one of the greatest pop stars in history, alongside The Beatles and Michael Jackson. But her journey is not over, and it seems like the guitar – and her guitar influences –will always have a place in her music.
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“The spectre of being sent to the jungle and getting killed – getting relief from that was a big deal. So after my discharge, I ran in my house and picked up my guitar”: John Fogerty on the origins of Creedence Clearwater Revival mega-hit Proud Mary
![[L-R] Doug Clifford and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival perform in 1970](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CCR-hero@2000x1500.jpg)
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on a river… Whether you’re thinking of the original Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 roots rock classic, or the Grammy-winning 1971 Tina Turner cover, Proud Mary is an undeniable classic. But it wouldn’t have been written if John Fogerty hadn’t had a six month stint in the army…
In a new interview with Classic Rock, the CCR frontman reflects on his time in the army in 1967. While it isn’t an experience he looks on fondly, his eventual honourable discharge encouraged him knuckle down on his creativity. “There’s nothing like having something taken away to make you appreciate it,” he reflects.
“In the army, you’re not free, you’re not self-determining. And so, when you get back home and you now have time to decide your own schedule, you also decide to be a little more careful what you spend your energy on.”
For Fogerty, his priority was channelling his energy into his music. “I decided, for one, ‘Wow I gotta get more organised about my songwriting,’ because I’d always kinda done it haphazard – not really a specific approach,” he explains.
“So, I went and got a little notebook… I guess the idea in my mind was simply, ‘Well, you’ve got to have a place where you write every down so it’s all in one place’… and that was a big change in my life.”
With the help of his new notebook and creative determination, Fogerty would help piece together Proud Mary. It’s his own musical ode to freedom. “It’s a strange story behind the song that not many have as their motivation, I suppose,” he says. “But, for me, the hype of the Vietnam war and the spectre of being sent to the jungle and possibly getting maimed or dying, getting relief from that was a very big deal.”
“So, getting my honourable discharge, I ran right in the house and picked up my guitar, and the first line of Proud Mary is, ‘Left a good job in the city/Working for the man every night and day’. I mean, that’s exactly it. I felt relieved and elevated that I was finally free.”
Last year, Fogerty reflected on the importance of Proud Mary, noting it as a pivotal moment in his musical career. In fact, it was the first time he had ever fully finished a song. “When I finished Proud Mary, that was such an amazing experience — almost like being abducted by a flying saucer,” he told Guitar Player. “I had never really written a great song before, even though I had tried many times.”
“When I finished, I was holding that piece of paper in my hand, almost 90 percent of it was on the page there, and I had a title and a chorus,” he continued. “And I could just hear it… and I realised I had just written what you’d call a classic. I was awestruck.”
“I was excited, trembling. I was almost scared of it! It was almost as if you’d walked into a room and discovered some amazing treasure and secret. And at that first moment, I was terrified that this might be it, that I would never get to do this again.”
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“People think, ‘Oh, you’re a rich rock star.’ No. I sell shirts outta my f**king closet”: Gary Holt on the reality of being a metal guitarist in 2025
With the rising cost of touring and infamously low streaming revenue, even rockstars can struggle to make ends meet. In fact, Exodus and Slayer guitarist Gary Holt has spoken out about how he even sends out his own merch to earn more money.
In a recent chat with German outlet Medal.de, Holt explains that everything on his Holt Awaits webstore is packaged and delivered by him. “People think, ‘Oh, you’re a rich rock star’… No!” he admits. “I sell shirts, and I sell them outta my fucking closet. Pack this one up, label it, send it off.”
While it doesn’t cover all of his living costs, selling merch is something that “helps” Holt get by. “It doesn’t pay the bills,” he says. “[But] it helps… It helped a lot in the pandemic.”
Considering his work in thrash metal hasn’t set him up for life, Holt jokes that his retirement plans might have to centre around some illegal activity. “[I might] turn to a life of crime, maybe,” he says. “I don’t know. I haven’t found a way to make money being charming, so I don’t know what I’m gonna do.”
If Holt doesn’t fall into a life of crime, he thinks he’ll stick within the realms of metal. “If I honestly retired, I’d probably do more producing,” he muses. “I’d stay in music. But sometimes I daydream about not leaving the house.”
Of course, a full retirement is still a few years away. Slayer pulled off a killer performance at Black Sabbath’s final farewell show, and Exodus just rounded off a European Summer tour, with a pair of shows set for September. “I’m not full of energy – I’m fucking tired,” Holt notes. “But we’re gonna do this as hard as we can, as heavy as we can until we can’t.”
“That’s why we recorded so much music [for Exodus’ next record]. We figured, do it now while we are still able to. Who knows? I’ve had elbow problems, hand problems, and shoulder problems now. Maybe in five years, age will catch up, and the arthritis will get bad, and I can’t do it. I don’t know.”
In a recent chat with Serbian journalist Jadranka Janković Nešić, Holt also discussed Exodus’s follow up to 2021’s Persona Non Grata. “It’s going to be released as two totally separate records,” he revealed. “We had so much material that we just [thought], let’s work extra hard.”
“I wish we had 20 songs done instead of 18, because then we would have the next album done! Then I could go on vacation or something. I’ve never had one.”
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The time Robert Fripp claimed Jimi Hendrix “wasn’t a guitarist” and that Eric Clapton was “mostly quite banal”
King Crimson’s Robert Fripp certainly has a way with words, and while these days his lack of filter often gives himself and wife Toyah Willcox the giggles, it seems back in the day he wasn’t one to hold back on his musical opinions either.
Among the era of the band’s Red album, as well as Starless And Bible Black, Fripp sat down for a chat with Guitar Player. In the 1974 interview, which has been newly shared on the publication’s website, Fripp had some incredibly bold opinions on the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, and guitar in general.
“I’ve never really listened to guitarists, because they’ve never really interested me,” he told the magazine. “I think the guitar is a pretty feeble instrument. Virtually nothing interests me about the guitar.”
He went on to add, “I haven’t been influenced by Hendrix and Clapton in the way that most people would say it. I don’t think Hendrix was a guitarist. I very much doubt if he was interested in guitar playing as such. He was just a person who had something to say and got on and said it.
“Clapton I think is mostly quite banal, although he did some exciting things earlier in his life with Mayall. I saw Cream live once and I thought they were quite awful. Clapton’s work since, I think, has been excessively tedious.”
As scathing as some of these hot takes are, there was one guitarist who Fripp let off the hook – Jeff Beck, whose playing he said he could “appreciate as good fun”.
Despite Fripp’s old and bold remarks, he’s since had a lot of fun covering both Hendrix and Cream classics for his Sunday Lunch covers series on YouTube alongside Willcox, which you can watch below.
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Guitar Center employee admits to using rude customers’ credit cards to steal over $5,000
A Guitar Center employee from Ohio used customers’ credit cards for personal purchases after they were rude to him, reports claim.
Management allegedly learned of the purchases after a customer called about a transaction made at the store that was not his. The employee, 18, is also believed to have copied the credit cards of two other customers.
The report comes from news outlet Cleveland.com, which says a further investigation revealed that the employee had charged $5,087 to the other two credit cards. It claims the man chose customers as “victims” who were “rude to him, used foul language and made situations bad for him”.
The report does not clarify the outcome of the investigation, or what has happened to the employee since these thefts occurred. Guitar.com has reached out to Guitar Center for further information.
In other Guitar Center news, the company’s CEO, Gabe Dalporto, said he wasn’t afraid of competition from large brands like Gibson and Fender in a recent interview. His comments arrive among rising competition as more brands continue to sell directly to their customers thanks to online shopping.
“This is a competitive market. It always has been,” he told Guitar World in June. “We welcome it. I think if we give an amazing experience, we win.”
He added, “Nike tried to go direct and tried to pull back from retailers, and Nike got crushed. It’s important, if you are a brand, to have those relationships with your vendors, but bring the competition on. I just think we have a much larger, more integrated experience. You can experience all the products, not just one.”
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“They just happened to sound like someone else, but that’s not their fault. So, stop it”: Tobias Forge defends Greta Van Fleet – and says the future of rock is bright
![Tobias Forge, Greta Van Fleet's Josh and Jake Kiszka [inset]](https://guitar.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Tobias-Forge-GVF@2000x1500.jpg)
Is rock ‘n’ roll dead? Well, despite some – including Kiss‘s Gene Simmons, thinking it is – Ghost frontman Tobias Forge believes the future of rock music is bright.
In a new interview with Consequence, Forge insists that the next big rock ‘n’ roll act is just waiting in the wings.
“I think it was Gene Simmons that said it most times, but a lot of people have said that rock ‘n’ roll is dead and there will be no new headliners,” he says. “I understand that it’s been sparse, but I think that with the unfortunate disappearance of a lot of [legacy] bands… I do believe that with time I think that there will be more [headlining rock] bands.”
With genre veterans like Kiss breaking up after 50 years, it’s certainly time for new blood to enter into the rock world. Forge points to the likes of Sleep Token, Måneskin and Greta Van Fleet as those bearing this flag.
“They are all new bands. I think they prove that you can absolutely go places. You can form a band tomorrow and theoretically become a big band within a few years. I think you do so by trying to want to create something.”
In Forge’s eyes, there’s somewhat of a prejudice towards new bands. “I think that there’s this strange time phenomenon that happened somewhere in the 2000s where everything that was sort of old was ‘old’, and everything that came after was ‘new’,” Forge explains.
It’s something Forge chalks up to age. Older music fans often abide by the rock and metal “hierarchy”, Forge notes. “There’s this idea in large swaths of metal community that the hierarchy is based on age,” he says. “[Post-2000s bands] just keep on being labelled as new, especially by people who at the time were in their 20s or 30s or 40s and now are in their 40s, 50s, 60s.”
He goes on to defend Greta Van Fleet, who Rolling Stone labelled ‘expert forgers’ in 2018 for sounding like Led Zeppelin. The band have been labelled as ‘derivative’ since they first hit the rock scene. “I don’t wanna hear anything about Greta Van Fleet now, because I think that their intentions are true,” he insists. “They just happened to sound like someone else, but that’s not their fault! So, stop it.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Forge harks back to Avenged Sevenfold’s Download Festival headline debut in 2014. Much like with Greta Van Fleet, it felt like another form of older fans rejecting anything they consider to be ‘new’, regardless of a band’s quality.
Forge has found that younger rockers feel less prejudice towards ‘new’ bands, as they grow up with them. “If you ask a lot of our fans who are 15 years old now, just the fact that our band has been around for 15 years, do you think that they think that we are a new band?” he says. “No! And that’s how it should be.”
Of course, Forge is aware that certain acts – including Ghost – receive flack for being inspired by the ‘old’ bands. But, in his eyes, plenty of up-and-coming acts take their inspiration as a springboard, forging something entirely new.
“I understand that we’re just a Mercyful Fate/Blue Öyster Cult/Alice Cooper wannabe band,” he jokes. “But you need to do something new. Don’t look at your one idol and say, ‘I wanna be like him. I want to be like her. I want my band to sound exactly like that band.’ That’s most likely not gonna get you anywhere.”
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EQD Chelsea Low-End Fuzz Driver review: bass-friendly big muff
$179/£189.99, earthquakerdevices.com
While it might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of dance-punk legends LCD Soundsystem, a fuzzed-out bass guitar has still underpinned some of the band’s best tracks. The pedal producing that fuzz happens to be a V6 transistor Big Muff, one purchased by bandleader James Murphy all the way back in 1989. This unit has now found a second life as the Chelsea, a signature recreation of the pedal from EarthQuaker Devices, named after the guitar shop it was purchased in all those years ago.
Image: Adam Gasson
What is the EQD Chelsea?
The Chelsea is effectively James Murphy’s version of the Hizumitas. Like with Wata’s own Elk Sustainer, Murphy’s pedal has been toured to almost death and is currently held together with duct tape – and thanks to some drifting 1980s components, it’s also developed a character all of its own. The Chelsea aims to capture it in sonic amber – without the risk of it falling apart or drifting any more.
The V6 transistor Big Muff is one of the variants that featured a tone-bypass switch by default, which EQD has kept here. This allows you to take the dual-filter tone stack out of the circuit completely, meaning a much more midrange-forward sound rather than the classic Big Muff scoop.
As with many of EQD’s recent pedals, the Chelsea features a soft-touch momentary switch for relay true-bypass, and a quick peek inside reveals very little of the actual circuit, thanks to a large daughterboard for the power and audio jacks. The build quality is all correct and proper, with crisp artwork – even if the design itself isn’t too fancy. The pink limited-edition variant is pretty cool, however!
Image: Adam Gasson
The sounds
The Chelsea sounds, well, like a Big Muff – specifically, like a slightly lower-gain vintage one. It’s definitely in the territory of “fuzz” rather than “overdrive” but there’s also not the sort of extreme saturation and razor-sharp mids-scoop that you might expect from pedals like the modern NYC Muff.
The controls function as you’d expect – it is still a Big Muff variant, and so there are not going to be too many surprises. One thing that does stand out is the rather modest output level – at full whack, it only pushes things a touch beyond unity gain. This isn’t totally unheard of for Big Muffs, of course, but if you’re the kind of player that likes your fuzz pedals to completely annihilate your preamp section, you’re going to need a boost too.
Having played and built a good deal of Big Muff circuits over the years, I’ve personally found that lower-gain versions of the circuits tend to be better at letting bass through – the Sovtek Green Russian variant, for example, is a surprisingly low-gain circuit for something that has a rep as a doom monster. But it’s the lower gain that allows for some clarity with basses and down-tuned guitars.
There are other factors, of course, but the principle stays generally true here. Both in terms of the low-end and the pick attack, the Chelsea rumbles with the best of them. Obviously, LCD Soundsystem’s bass fuzz sound never really veers into extremely saturated low-end drones, and so the percussive-yet-gritty thing the Chelsea achieves makes total sense.
Bypassing the tone gives a growling, midrange-forward sound which I tend towards when playing the Chelsea on a six-string. On bass, the midrange scoop I get when leaving the tone stack engaged is great for adding clank in the high-end and thickening up the low end even further. The sweep of the tone control, as you might expect, is as subtle as a brick, ranging from entirely smoothed-off to entirely fizzy.
Unlike a lot of bass-focused fuzzes, there’s no clean blend here; however, I don’t find this to be too much of an issue. The specific circuit being recreated here is clearly more than up to the task of retaining that low-end by itself.
Image: Adam Gasson
Should I buy a Chelsea?
For some bassists, the lack of a clean blend may mean that the Chelsea will never be an always-on proposition, but if you’re the kind of player who wants to add a Big Muff to your bass sound, practicality may not be a priority. The level of clarity that will be offered will also of course depend on the rest of your rig – some bass amps take fuzz better than others!
In any case, though, the Chelsea is a cool circuit variation, and that tone-bypass switch does help it stand out from EHX reissues. However, it is still a chunk of change for a circuit which already has countless variations on the market. Would I recommend it in a vacuum? Absolutely – but it’s worth shopping around unless you really know your Big Muffs!
Chelsea alternatives
I don’t think there’s space on the entire internet to list every Big Muff variant you can buy here, but here are some interesting ones that will scratch the same itch. The Evil Eye FX Warg ($149) is another boutique recreation of a Muff variant that comes with an option for some more midrange. The EHX range of reissues, including the Green Russian, Triangle and Ram’s Head variants, will give you a similar vintage sound with a little more midrange than the modern NYC variant. EQD’s own Hoof V2 ($179/£199) is a cool variant with a lot of grit and bass. And for a final leap down this particular rabbit hole check out Wren And Cuff’s entire lineup.
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Dave Navarro and the rest of Jane’s Addiction sue singer Perry Farrell over on-stage bust-up, claiming they lost $10 million as a result
Dave Navarro and the other members of Jane’s Addiction have filed a lawsuit against Perry Farrell following an on-stage altercation that caused them to cancel their remaining tour dates. The frontman has also launched his own lawsuit against his bandmates.
The much-publicised incident that spurred this situation ocurred in September 2024, when Farrell shoved and seemingly punched guitarist Navarro during their gig at the Leader Bank Pavilion in Boston. The show then ended abruptly, and the rest of their tour was also cancelled.
- READ MORE: Jane’s Addiction reunion? “No chance,” says Dave Navarro, following onstage fight last year
The band filed their lawsuit on Wednesday (16 July), with Farrell filing a separate legal complaint (not a countersuit) against them just a matter of hours later. As reported by Variety, Navarro, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins’s lawsuit alleges that they lost $10 million due to the tour cancellation and suspension of all other band activities following the on stage scrap.
There are also claims of a backstage altercation between the two, with both giving a different version of events. Due to this alleged incident, and their highly publicised on-stage fight, Navarro is also suing for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract.
Farrell, however, alleges that the trio orchestrated a year-long campaign of bullying and harassment against him, and claims he had no say in the cancellation of their tour and the break up of the band.
A statement from Farrell’s team shared exclusively by Variety reads, “As a founding member and creative force behind Jane’s Addiction, Perry Farrell has always prioritised the band’s legacy and its supporters, which is why the events of September 13th, 2024 in Boston and the resulting fallout was so devastating.
“Without warning or consultation and using Perry as a scapegoat, Dave Navarro and the other band members took it upon themselves to abruptly cancel the remaining tour dates – violating contracts and disregarding all professional obligations…”
It continues, “Dave Navarro then intentionally and publicly blamed Perry for the cancelled tour dates, effectively destroying Perry’s reputation and causing him irreparable harm. Despite this continued bullying perpetuated by Navarro, Perry’s dedication to Jane’s Addiction and the preservation of its positive impact on the music industry remains unshaken.”
Christopher Frost, attorney for the three JA bandmates, comments, “Persuaded by Perry Farrell to revive the legendary configuration of the band, Dave Navarro, Eric Avery, and Stephen Perkins had high hopes that they could capture the pure spirit of the band’s early days and build on it. Initially they did, in the studio and onstage. But, as our lawsuit explains, they did so with a fourth bandmate who was by turns unwilling or unable to perform to a reasonable standard and who repeatedly threatened to derail the tour.
“Ultimately, with the attack on Dave Navarro seen around the world, Perry Farrell abruptly and unilaterally ended all the plans for a Jane’s Addiction revival. He also left his bandmates holding the bag for an unfulfilled tour and record deal, as our lawsuit explains in detail. Dave, Eric, and Stephen never wanted it to come to this.”
In regards to the claims of violence between the two away from the public eye, Navarro alleges he was punched by Farrell backstage, whereas Farrell denies this and claims it was Navarro who “aggressively assaulted” both himself and his wife Etty Lau.
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