When Blame Sally took the stage at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall on April 29 and 30, the quartet showcased tunes from Speeding Ticket and a Valentine, the Bay Area band’s fifth album. As has often been noted about Blame Sally, this all-female outfit boasts not only strong compositional and vocal skills, but serious instrumental chops as well. “I don’t think there are that many well-known women singer-songwriters who are that good on their instruments,” says Monica Pasqual (piano, accordion and vocals, second from right above). “Ani DiFranco, Bonnie Raitt or Tori Amos, yeah, but they’re often backed up by men. So people do get surprised when they see four women playing really well. It crosses a lot of gender and age stereotypes, too; people who are just into music all really relate to that.”

Seymour Duncan stompboxes were in full force both on stage and on the new album. According to Jeri Jones, the band’s multi-instrumentalist guitarist (far left above), “I used the Shape Shifter tap tremolo on “Bird in Hand” and a couple others. I’m using the Déjà Vu delay at the end of “Throw Me a Bone” in live performance to emulate the reverse guitar on the record. I’m also featuring the Twin Tube Blue on a number of live songs. I use it for a gain and bass boost on almost everything I play slide on live and then to kick up the lead sound on “Bone,” “Severland,” and a couple others. Our guest keyboardist, Julie Wolf (Indigo Girls, Dar Williams, Bruce Cockburn) heard it yesterday in rehearsal and flipped out over the tone.”

Again, Monica Pasqual points out. “If we were coming out and our music sucked, or it was not vital-sounding, I don’t think that people would be like, ‘Oh, cool, they’re in their forties,’ or whatever.” “But they’re digging what we’re doing, and they’re seeing that it’s fresh and that it has life and originality.”
Life and originality: who could ask more out of music?

Building on the success of the recent Winter NAMM show and Frankfurt Musikmesse, A&T Trade, Seymour Duncan’s Russian distributor, put on a trade convention in Budapest, Hungary in April. More than 120 music professional met for over five days during which the attendees discussed sales and marketing strategies. Seymour Duncan was a main topic of conversation. Na zdrovyeh dudes!

Jon Paris, an active Seymour Duncan user, has toured with many artists including Robert Gordon and Link Wray, Bo Diddley, Johnny Winter, Chris Spedding, Johnnie Johnson, and former Rolling Stone Mick Taylor, just to name a few. Here is a few words he would like to say about his Seymour Duncan Pickups:
“It’s always been a struggle trying to find the right bridge pick-up for the Fender Stratocaster®. Single coil, great for twang, but sometimes too thin. Humbucker, nice and fat, but not enough high end. With Seymour Duncan’s new P-Rails you can get a classic single-coil Strat®, a bright/fat P-90,  AND a big/full humbucker.
It’s really three pick-ups in one. Very cool… thank you, Seymour !”
If you would like to know more about Jon be sure to check out his website at www.jonparis.com

Not every great guitarist has the name recognition of Slash or Yngwie. All around the world, there are undiscovered or soon-to-be discovered guitarists blowing away audiences nightly on small, smoky stages in clubs and roadhouses. This is the story of one such international player who came to our attention at the recent Frankfurt Musikmesse.

Paul Rose is without doubt one of the most unique and talented guitarists in the world. Fundamentally a rock guitarist, his extraordinary playing style touches on blues, country, jazz and folk, blended together into a style that is entirely his own. And the tone comes from Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pickups for Strat® guitars and Five-Two pickups for Tele®. Says Paul, “I love the grain the Alnico Pro II’s give to my tone. I feel more connected to the wood of the guitar through these pickups.”

Born in Newcastle, England, Paul’s natural gift shone through at an early age. By age 16, he was hailed as one of the best guitarists in the region playing regularly on the Newcastle live scene with the most popular local bands of the day. Rory Gallagher awarded Paul a Fender® ’62 Reissue Strat® with a Vox® AC30 in a Fender-sponsored competition that invited guitarists from all over the UK to appear in local music shops. Out of 1,000 guitarists, Rory selected Paul as the winner and described him as “a hot player with a hot future.” He also won “Guitarist of the Year” in Guitarist magazine a couple of years later.

Since then, Paul has recorded 10 solo albums including a just-released “Best Of” CD. This remarkable album comes straight from the heart of this highly talented and experienced artist. Coupled with his stunning live shows built on 25 years of tough performing experience, Paul is now gaining the worldwide recognition he deserves.

Thanks to his awe-inspiring playing at the Frankfurt Musikmesse, Paul has now broken into the German market and is playing custom made Framus guitars loaded up with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and Alnico II and Cool Rails pickups in the middle and neck. Check out Paul’s website for biography, merchandise, mp3s, video and contact details. If you want to sample of Paul’s soulful playing on a slow blues tune, click here.

Our very own Seymour Duncan is keeping busy! Seymour and other members of the team will be featured in a segment incorporated in the Cox 8 Santa Barbara BackBeat show. It will be a 10 minute segment describing the process of making pickups  and the unique working atmosphere at Seymour Duncan. The show will be broadcast on Cox 8 sometime in May. Stay tuned for the air dates. Cox 8 Santa Barbara BackBeat is on every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at  8:30pm.

The undisputed king of shred, Yngwie Malmsteen will be appearing on VH1 Classic’s That Metal Show, Saturday April 9th at 11pm/10 C.

Continue reading “Shred King Yngwie Malmsteen on VH1 Classic”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (March 29, 2011) – Jackson is proud to honor a longtime friend and one of the most dexterous shredders in metal with a new signature Soloist guitar model. Debuting in spring 2011 is the Scott Ian T-1000 Soloist.

Continue reading “New Jackson Signature Soloist Model for Anthrax’s Ian”

On March 29, Cavalera Conspiracy is set to release Blunt Force Trauma, the follow-up to their critically acclaimed debut, Inflikted, one of the most spun platters on Sirus’ Liquid Metal/Hard Attack channel of 2008.
The debut album was a momentous occasion in the heavy metal universe, as it reunited brothers Max and Iggor Cavalera, co-founders of defining Brazilian metal band Sepultura, after Max left the band 1996.
The duo are back for round two with Cavalera Conspiracy and are heavily armed with Seymour Duncan pickups. Max’s custom shop ESP guitar can be seen sporting a Seymour Duncan Distortion pickup. While Johny is well know for outfitting his ESP Vintage-4 with a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound SPB-3. Chow will also be joining Seymour Duncan at this years’ Musik Messe in Frankfurt Germany, Europe’s largest musical instrument trade show.

Upon moving to LA in the late 80’s Bobby Schneck found himself in The Buddaheads, a full bore blues-rock band that released one album in the US on RCA and five records in Japan. A sold out Roxy show in 1992 is where he met Slash for the first time which led to an ongoing friendship that led to two years with Slash’s Blues Ball from ’96 to ’98. This led to numerous studio sessions and road gigs with Eddie Money, Green Day, Weezer, and now with Slash’s touring band.

Continue reading “Bobby Schneck & His Arsenal of Seymour Duncans”

When most guitar players are asked to describe their sound, it can be a terrifying question. Not for veteran guitarist Ed Skero. His Seymour Duncan pickup selection has made him more sure of himself than ever.

“I have Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups in my main Gibson Les Paul. When I bought a second Les Paul, I wanted to try something slightly different so I could cover a wider tonal area between the two guitars,” says heavy metal guitarist Ed Skero of Icarus Witch. The band is best known as Paul Di’Anno’s backing band for the US and Canada.

Continue reading “Ed Skero: More Moore”