| SCHOOL OF ROCK
There is nothing remotely rock 'n' roll about 9 a.m. Nine a.m. is for Starbucks lines and traffic reports and math class; it's not usually a good hour for those who favor late nights and loud music and guitar rigs. But here it is, a few minutes before 9 on a summer morning, and a few dozen rockers are trickling into a school building in north Dallas. They have on baggy shorts and ripped jeans and their favorite rock 'n' roll T-shirts: The Ramones. Nirvana. Fall Out Boy. Guns N' Roses. They're loaded down with guitars and amps, basses and drumsticks. They are trying very hard to act like they didn't just climb out of their parents' Camrys and Explorers and minivans. Yep, these early-morning rockers are all under the age of 16. Some of them are accomplished musicians; others just wanna be.
Disposable Nation
In my teenage years, I was pretty handy with cars. Being decidedly working-class, we Jowerses favored used cars, somewhere between two and 10 years old. I did my own tune-ups, replaced my own rusted-out exhaust systems, stripped wrecked cars for parts and put those parts on my own cars. On any given day, I could fix just about any given car problem and get to where I wanted to go. But I felt the winds of change one day when my daddy, Jabo Jowers, pulled into the driveway with a lightly used 1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire. Jabo opened the hood like men did in those days when they wanted to show off a car. “Look here, boy," he said. “They tell me this thing's got a turbocharger." I looked into the cramped little engine compartment, which had tubes and wires crammed together so tight that there was no room for human hands or Craftsman wrenches.
SNAMM06: We Will Rock You Say Digitech
DigiTech have been demonstrating it at the show and have announced that they are now shipping the Brian May Red Special Artist Series Pedal. Created using the original master recordings of legendary guitarist and Queen founding member Brian May, as well as his collection of vintage instruments, effects and amps used in the studio and onstage live, the long anticipated pedal delivers the signature tones of one of rock's pioneering guitar icons, say Digitech.
The man himself, Brian May, had this to say, “This piece of gear is — in my opinion — a work of genius. An amazing DigiTech team led by legend Eddie Kramer has created a device that captures 14 of the most memorable tones I've achieved for Queen over the years. From the searing harmonically rich solo sound of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody', to the churning saturated thickness of the climax of ‘We Will Rock You', to the hitherto inimitable ‘Deacy' amp tones, which I've used for years to create ‘orchestras' of guitars on record, this device will shock you! Our hope, is that you, the guitarist of the future, will use this machine as an aid to creating your own new tones and inspire you to greater heights."
The extensive selection of tones is modeled from Brian's exclusive original set-ups, including his one-of-a-kind Deacy amp and Red Special handmade guitar.
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