2020 IN TONES
DEFTONES
No 2020 round-up on tones would be complete with a mention of Sacramento’s finest, whose ninth full-length arrived back in September. In the video for its title track, Ohms, guitarist Stephen Carpenter was spotted playing a new 9-string ESP guitar fitted with some Fishman Fluence custom pickups – having signed up with the company for his own signature set back in2016. On his Instagram page, he’s also been teasing a new pink ESP 8-string, a Peavey 6505 MH Mini tube guitar amp, and some Synergy Guitar Preamp Modules – namely the Soldano SLO, a Friedman HBE, and a Fryette Ultra Lead.
BIFFY CLYRO A CELEBRATION OF ENDINGS
Modern-age guitar heroes don’t come any finer than Simon Neil. Not only does he front one of the biggest British rock bands of an entire generation, he also knows how to make a Strat sound mean. And on their eighth full-length,
A Celebration Of Endings, there was no shortage of gargantuan sounds – Neil using his Michael Landau reissue Strat (“That thing is just perfection”), an Earthquaker Sunn O))) drone pedal (“Honestly one of the best things I’ve ever bought”), as well as an ES-335, a Black Volt amp and more.
CODE ORANGE
Underneath, the fourth record from Code Orange, arrived back in March and was every bit as devastatingly heavy as fans had hoped. In her TG feature around the release, guitarist Reba Meyers explained she’d used an ESP Custom Shop Viper in Cherry Red for the majority of her parts, and the occasional Gibson to thicken out the choruses. That was then either fed into a 100-Watt EVH 5150III 100S (“It’s perfectly cutting and smooth with no need for pedals in front of it”) or the Universal Audio Engl plug-in in tandem with pedals like Earthquaker’s Afterneath and Abominable Electronics’ Hellmouth overdrive.
SYSTEM OFADOWN
15 years is a long time to keep fans waiting for new music. But the two new SOAD tracks, released to raise money for the Armenia Fund following conflict over the Artsakh region, proved it had been worth the wait. Comeback single Protect The Land had all the head-caving detuned heaviness and heavenly harmonies that made the alt.metallers such a brilliant prospect in the first place. For the recordings, Daron Malakian used his prized 1962 LP/SG Standard mixed with his early 80s Gibson Korina Flying V into a Marshall and a 100-Watt Friedman that’s tonally “very close to a Marshall JMP”.
KIRK FLETCHER
Anyone that’s seen Joe Bonamassa’s Live At
The Greek Theatre set will remember the rhythm guitarist holding down the fort during some of those soaring lead breaks. Kirk Fletcher, who also appeared with Bonamassa on the middle night of his 2019 Royal Albert Hall residency, released his sixth solo album back in September, titled My Blues Pathway. It was recorded only using Fender Stratocasters through a vintage 1965 Blackface Deluxe Reverb, save for a few overdubs on a 1955 Bassman and Morgan PR12 recorded at Josh Smith’s studio. Despite the wealth of jaw-dropping tones across the album, the only pedal involved was a Vemuram/ibanez Tube Screamer “for a little extra grit in places”.
FENDER ENJOY RECORD YEAR
It’s been an incredibly tough year for the music industry at large. Even Fender CEO Andy Mooney admitted he was terrified of the year ahead at the end of the first quarter. By October, however, things had changed quite drastically – the Big F were experiencing a record year as online tuition site Fender Play continued tapping into new streams of revenue and long-term growth for the industry as a whole. “It’s always much better to be swimming with the tide than swimming against it,” reflected Mooney, heading into the year’s final quarter. “You want to be in a growth industry... When I joined Fender, there was a lot of skepticism about it being a growth industry. I think we’ve demonstrated it can be.”
THE LOSSES
Eddie Van Halen’s passing on October 6th was an incredibly sad day for the guitar community. Few players had the ability to touch people’s hearts in the way Eddie did, from the infectious anthems that imprinted themselves into the mind on first listen, to the lead guitar acrobatics that left an entire world stunned. Then, of course, there were his contributions to the gear we use and play today – from helping popularise and to some level develop the Floyd Rose locking vibrato system, that unmistakable “brown sound” coloured by the whoosh of an MXR Phase 90 and, of course, the various EVH amps that have come out over the years. He will forever remain in a class of his own.
Other notable losses through the year included Fleetwood Mac legend
Peter Green, who passed away in July, early rock’n’roll pioneer Little Richard, classic metal producer Martin Birch [Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden], Toots Hibbert from Toots And The Maytals, Rush drummer Neil Peart, Jorge Santana, Riley Gale of Power Trip, Pete Way of UFO, Spencer Davis, Bill Withers and early Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Jack Sherman.
THE NEW NORMAL
If there ever was a silver lining in the cloud of lockdown, it’s that many musicians found new ways of keeping active – from streaming live performances in empty venues to collaboration covers. Architects, for example, came up with the idea of bringing their futuristic noise to the Royal Albert Hall in November and with great success. Other memorable livestreams included Joe Bonamassa taking over Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, giving fans the chance to hear Royal Tea in full ahead of release. Puscifer, on the other hand, launched their new album Existential Reckoning from what looked like a spaceship, providing a perfect escape into the brilliantly bizarre at a time when it was truly needed.
As for the collaboration covers, seeing William Duvall from Alice In Chains join ranks with Bill Kelliher and Charlie Benante to cover Soundgarden’s Rusty Cage was certainly one of the bigger highlights. Then there was Phil Demmel teaming up with ex-machine Head bandmate Dave Mcclain, Lzzy Hale, Richie Faulkner and Mike Inez for a storming cover of Thin Lizzy classic Bad Reputation. Bearing in mind it could be a while until it’s safe enough for any of their bands to tour again, for many it was the next best thing.