The Players
News and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists
Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson inducted fellow progressive legends Yes into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame last month in a ceremony that also saw Pearl Jam, Journey, ELO, Joan Baez and Tupac Shakur enter the hallowed roster, with Nile Rodgers taking the Award For Musical Excellence. The surviving members of Yes shared the stage for the first time since the Union tour in 1992 and any acrimony was put aside for the night. Could this be the start of a new united era for Yes? Absolutely not, according to Wakeman: “To answer as to whether or not the Hall Of Fame induction will mean a Yes reunion in the future," he tweeted following the ceremony, “I can say 100 per cent it’s never going to happen.”
Guitarist was saddened to hear of the passing of Lonnie Brooks on 1 April, aged 83. He became known for his part in legacy of the Chicago blues, and though he was born in Louisiana, he cut his teeth playing in Port Arthur, Texas before moving to Chicago on the recommendation of touring mate Sam Cooke. He would later invite his guitar-playing sons Ronnie and Wayne to join his band dubbed the Brooks Family Blues Dynasty.
Darrel Higham has been telling us how Robert Plant ended up guesting on his new album, Hells Hotel, with a cover of Bill Allen And The Back Beats’ Please Give Me Something. “We’d often speak on the phone,” Darrel explains. “Robert’s a huge rockabilly fan and he’d ring up and want to talk about Marvin Rainwater and people like that.” After some discussion, they settled on the song and the recording became the easy part. “He came in, and it was a six-hour round trip for him; he only sang it twice. Told us a couple of Zeppelin stories, signed a couple of LPs and then he was on his way, all within the space of an hour. He was absolutely wonderful.”
It’s all change in the Ghost camp. Not only has head honcho, Papa Emeritus, of the Swedish occult metallers relieved everyone else in the band of their duties and replaced them, the new guitarists (who are dubbed Nameless Ghouls with their real identities officially unknown) have switched from playing Gibson to a new, as-yet unnamed Hagstrom model. It looks like their fellow Swedes have cooked up their own black and white magic judging by what we spotted at this year’s Musikmesse show in Frankfurt (pictured). There was a sunburst model on display, too. The band headline Bloodstock festival in Derbyshire on 12 August.