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Jackson Guitars and Fuller’s Vintage Guitar in Houston are proud to present an in-store signing event this Wednesday (Aug. 19) with Phil Collen and Rick “Sav” Savage from the legendary British band, Def Leppard.
Phil and Sav will appear at Fuller’s Vintage Guitar from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Later that evening, Def Leppard will perform at Houston’s Woodlands Pavilion, as part of their summer tour with Cheap Trick and Poison.
Fuller’s Vintage Guitar is located on 116 North Loop, Houston, TX 77008.
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The third annual Jackson “Riff and Destroy” competition at the Aug. 1-2 Sonisphere Festival in Knebworth, England was a smashing—or shredding success.
This year the competition took place on the Jackson stage at Sonisphere, offering those brave enough to take part in “Riff and Destroy” the opportunity to join in as festival performers.
“Riff and Destroy” entrants got one minute each to show off their riffing ability on a Jackson axe plugged into a cranked EVH 5150III™ all-tube half stack. The grand prize for the top shredder was a signature Jackson guitar of the winner’s choice.
Considering the prize offering, the third annual “Riff and Destroy” competition was a huge attraction, with beginners and accomplished shredders alike busting out their most molten riffs. Three heats took place on Friday, another three on Saturday and one on Sunday. Those whose metal had the most mettle advanced to the final on Sunday afternoon.
All heats were enthusiastically witnessed by hundreds of metal fans, with Sunday’s grand final attracting an even larger crowd. The judges featured Sonisphere performers and some of the Jackson Bloodline’s finest—Machine Head’s Phil Demmel, Bullet For My Valentine’s Matt Tuck, Lamb of God’s John Campbell and Anthrax’s Scott Ian.
After a close race, the judges anointed the fleet-fingered Mikey Goodson as the winner. Mikey was quick to pick his prize, a Jackson Phil Demmel Demmelition™ V signature guitar which he immediately asked Phil to sign.
In addition to the competition, thousands of festival-goers trafficked the Jackson stage to riff and shred away at one of the eight Jackson Guitar stations, with Jackson staff on hand to offer instruction, advice and all-around metallic ambience.
Survey the Sonisphere ’09 destruction yourself as we roll the Jackson clips seen here:
Sunday’s Final Heat
Saturday
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Friday
Heat 1
Heat 2
Heat 3
Written By Chrissy Mauck
Despite the music industry’s ever-changing landscape, Def Leppard remains a rock n’ roll institution, even after more than 30 years.
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| This summer, Collen has about eight guitars out on the road with him, including Dread (shown above). “Dread is a PC1, but it’s different from all of the other Photo credit: Ash Newell Photography
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One of only five rock groups that can claim two separate original 10-million-plus selling albums—Pyromania (1983) and Hysteria (1987)—Def Leppard watched their most recent studio album, Songs from the Sparkle Lounge, debut last year at number five on the Billboard Top 200, proving that some bands are timeless.
In mid-June, a manic sold-out crowd of 80,000 showed up at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England, for the Download Festival, headlined by Def Leppard. The band then immediately traveled to Nashville, Tenn., to perform at the CMT Music Awards with Taylor Swift, before kicking off a summer tour with Poison and Cheap Trick.
Just over halfway through the tour, Phil Collen is leaving a Starbucks in Raleigh, N.C., when Jackson News hooks up with the esteemed lead guitarist for a phone interview.
“It’s a bit noisy in there, so I’m just leaving, actually. But yeah, in North Carolina on tour and so I got a red eye, which is a grande coffee with a shot of espresso in it,” he says of his mid-morning energizer.
Not that he needs much of one. At 51, the vegan and martial arts enthusiast is in excellent shape, his ripped physique apparent to all given his famously shirtless onstage performances.
Thousands have witnessed such this summer, as the two-night stint in North Carolina is part of a 40-city North American tour that kicked off in Camden, N.J., on June 23.
Considered one of the leaders of the ‘80s British heavy metal renaissance, Def Leppard has toured consistently since 1978, playing more than 1,700 shows in that time.
“It’s really cool to be out touring again, but it is a lot different now than it was back in the 80s,” the Jackson signature artist says. “The thing is, you tour to support an album. That’s what you used to do when the industry was a record industry. Now you put an album out to support a tour. It’s less important, being a traveling rock band, to actually have albums out. I do think it’s still essential that you put new music out to keep your growth going, but it’s totally changed from what it used to be.”
Unchanged is the fact that Def Leppard can still draw and please the masses, as they’ve done so far this summer, performing their classic cuts with “big riffs and big showmanship.”
“We just played Detroit and Chicago and they were sold out,” says Collen. “It’s really cool. It’s great to be this far into our career and still have that kind of thing going—it’s amazing really.”
Collen attributes the band’s longevity to a variety of factors.
“Actually, (I think it’s) the songs and everything,” he says. “We’ve done these amazing albums that were huge hits, and then, I think it’s the fact that the whole retro thing is going right now. A lot of people are interested in ‘70s and ‘80s rock music again because there were some great bands, great records and all of that stuff. I think it really helps us that there’s a lot of focus, and energy on those things. Also, we’ve branched out. We are still valid, we’re still relevant, we’re still touring, we’re still putting records out, and that’s the reason I’d say.“
In conjunction with the summer tour, Def Leppard released deluxe editions of Pyromania (1983) and Adrenalize (1992), both of which Collen had a heavy stake in.
Pyromania, Def Leppard’s third studio album, led to his 1982 arrival in the band.
 The academy …
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Jackson axe-wielding maniac “Metal” Mike Chlasciak (Rob Halford, Sebastian Bach, Painmuseum) is pleased to announce the launch of his Metal Heroes Music Academy—billed as the world’s first heavy metal institution providing workshops, extended sessions and summer camps for metal players at all levels.
“It’s a heavy metal establishment where players can meet, discuss, take classes and learn metal riffs from each other,” Chlasciak said. “A real brick-and-mortar place where you can get better and jam with other people that have the same interests as you.”
The Metal Heroes Music Academy is located at Aarius Studios in Sayreville, N.J. The program lets players pick workshops and music camps that interest them and fit their playing ability.
Events begin on Aug. 29, 2009, with a Metal Heroes Music Academy open house at Aarius Studios. A Sept. 12 recording workshop (two sessions) will show ten students how to get and record good metal guitar tone, and a Sept. 19 workshop (one session) will show ten students the basics of proper guitar setup and maintenance.
For more information on Metal Mike’s Metal Heroes Music Academy, visit www.metalmusicacademy.com, e-mail info@metalmusicacademy.com or phone 206.736.4702.
| From currently hellish Phoenix comes word that Landmine Marathon and Seattle’s Book of Black Earth are combining their dark Jackson-fueled forces into a highly metallic mid-August jaunt called the Let’s Rage West Coast Summer Tour. Dates, cities and venues are:
7 Long Beach, Calif. The Hickey Underworld |
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| Landmine Marathon bassist Matt Martinez. Photo by Denise Elfenbein |
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| At left, Book of Black Earth guitarist T.J. Cowgill. Photo courtesy www.returntothepit.com |
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| Hirax guitarist Lance Harrison. |
Thrash heroes Hirax will release highly anticipated new studio album El Rostro de la Muerte (The Face of Death) in mid-August 2009. It is the veteran thrash band’s first full-length since 2004’s The New Age of Terror.
El Rostro de la Muerte also contains a bonus track from the Chaos and Brutality EP, previously unavailable in the United States. Muerte combines the production talents of John Haddad and Michael Rozen, both of whom had worked on previous Hirax albums.
“It’s the first time Hirax has ever brought two of our producers together,” said vocalist Katon de Pena. “But it seemed like the logical thing to do since they both have an ear for detail and a certain work ethic, which brings out the best in the band. Musically, it combines everything that Hirax is known for and much, much more—true thrash metal!”
Muerte will be also be released on vinyl and as a limited edition picture disc.
Further, the Hirax back catalog is now being made available for download. Not Dead Yet (a pairing of the band’s two thrash classics Raging Violence and Hate Fear And Power) is now available digitally through iTunes, as are Thrash and Destroy, Assassins of War, The New Age of Terror and Barrage of Noise, with more from the band’s extensive back catalog to follow by the end of 2009.
In other band news, a new line of Hirax shirts can be purchased online through Razamataz.com Ltd. (heavymetalonline.co.uk/acatalog/HIRAX.html), and the Muerte tour will begin in Modesto, Calif., on August 1.
