Come to the MELBOURNE GUITAR SHOW August, 4&5 Caulfield Racecourse for a chance to WIN MEET & GREET TICKETS to JOE SATRIANI’S MELBOURNE SHOW on November 28!

See, try and buy the latest guitar related gear as well as rarities and collectibles. Plus there’ll be live music happening across 4 stages, demos, talk sessions and more.

There will be some huge guitar names at the show in performance or clinic including: Albert Lee (UK), Jeff Lang, Dave Leslie (Baby Animals), Jack Jones, Diesel, Harts, Fiona Boyes, Daniel Champagne, Phil Manning, Shannon Bourne, Nick Charles and many more.

For a chance for you and a friend to meet Joe Satriani and experience his Melbourne concert, simply fill out the entry form at the competition area of the guitar show.

The world’s most commercially successful solo guitar performer, JOE SATRIANI. The legendary guitarist returns to Australia this November, thirty years after his first tour here in 1988, with Mick Jagger, bringing his latest album and world tour What Happens Next to Australian fans.

Read our pre-tour interview with Joe Satriani HERE

Tickets for all shows go on sale at midday Wednesday August 1. My Live Nation members can secure tickets first during the exclusive pre-sale beginning 10am Monday, 30 July.

For complete tour and ticket information, visit: livenation.com.au.

Joining Joe Satriani on stage for his Australian tour are:
Mike Keneally Keyboards and Guitars (previous tours include Steve Vai and Frank Zappa )
Bryan Beller Bass (Dethklok Aristocrats )
JoeTravers Drums (previous tours include Zappa Plays Zappa /Duran Duran)

JOE SATRIANI
WHERE TO NEXT AUSTRALIA TOUR
ASTOR THEATRE, PERTH SATURDAY NOVEMBER 24
HQ, ADELAIDE MONDAY NOVEMBER 26
FORUM THEATRE, MELBOURNE WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 28
CANBERRA THEATRE FRIDAY NOVEMBER 30
STATE THEATRE, SYDNEY SATURDAY DECEMBER 1
THE TIVOLI, BRISBANE SUNDAY DECEMBER 2

TICKETS ON SALE 12PM, WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1
Live Nation pre-sale begins 10am Monday, July 30 until 10am Wednesday, August 1.

For complete tour and ticket information, visit: satriani.com & livenation.com.au

Story by Greg Phillips. Opal Ocean pic from 2017 Melbourne Guitar Show by Jason Rosewarne.

Ahead of the 4th annual Melbourne Guitar Show, we thought it was timely to address a misconception, fueled last year by some sections of the media who were predicting the end of the global guitar industry. It was based mainly on an article in The Washington Post. The article, titled ‘Why my guitar gently weeps: The slow, secret death of the six-string electric. And why you should care’, based most of its argument on two factors; the downfall of the Gibson guitar brand at the time, plus the lack of guitar music in the mainstream music charts.

Sure, the Gibson brand found themselves in financial trouble, which required a company restructure, that’s no secret. However, the company’s plight had more to do with its diversification into non-guitar related sectors and unsuccessful innovations rather than any decline in interest in the guitar itself. As far as the dearth of guitar music on the radio goes, does anyone remember the synth-laden, prog-rock of the 70s, which eventually gave way to guitar orientated punk rock? Again, in the 80s, synth pop gave way to grunge guitar rock. Music is cyclical. Today electronic music is popular, but music fans move on and historically, in due course they will seek out other forms of music and why shouldn’t that be guitar-related?

Sterling Ball, CEO of Ernie Ball Music Man is one of those to suggest that contemporary music is just going through one of its regular cycles, in which electronic music gear currently has a higher profile than fretted instruments.
“Any time there is three chord music, guitar will be back,” Sterling told us at Winter NAMM in January. “What happens is … it’s a curve and when music gets too complicated, someone comes along with some way of playing three chords that hits you right in the chest or the head.”

In the video below with Sterling Ball, Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse also tells us that the guitar is not going away anytime soon.

Traditionally there was always a lineage of guitar heroes, where one era would pass the baton onto another. From Clapton, Beck, and Page to Van Halen, Satriani and Vai to Dimebag, Zakk Wylde and Kerry King. There was always a rock god on the horizon but modern-day guitar music is not so much about slick licks and solos but more about textures and layers. You may be hearing guitar generated music without even knowing it’s guitar. Innovative pedals, multi effects units and loop units are turning guitars into orchestras, which musicians are using to conjure symphonies from the comfort of their own homes. It’s not the popularity of the guitar which is changing, it’s the manner in which it is being used which is different.

Anyone can speculate what is going to happen in the world of music but if you look at the facts, you’ll see that guitar sales are actually on the way up in the US. Leading global industry research company IBISWorld has recently released a significant report which showed that the electric and acoustic guitar manufacturing industry has enjoyed sustained growth over the last 5 years. The report showed that the guitar industry had posted a growth rate of 1.4% from 2012 to 2017, with the trend predicted to continue at least until 2022. According to NAMM (the USA’s National Association of Music Merchants), sales of guitars have grown by 28 percent over the last 10 years.

At a Fender guitars dealer event in Sydney this year, the company’s Senior Vice President of Product, Justin Norvell further backed up those claims of guitar industry growth, suggesting that during a 3 month period from November to December 2017, there had been a 14.7% industry growth in North American sell-through of electric guitars and that Japan had just enjoyed an annual growth in guitar sales of 21 percent.

Australian Musician’s Greg Phillips chats with Fender’s Justin Norvell in this video at the Australian Fender dealer event.

Also adding to the growth of the guitar market is the increase in female players, with around fifty percent of guitars now being purchased by women. The new guitar heroes are artists and bands such as St Vincent, Haim, Courtney Barnett, Warpaint, Japanese Breakfast, Gabriela Quintero, Orianthi, Samantha Fish, Kaki King, Nita Strauss, Courtney Cox, Gretchen Menn and so many more.

Additionally, acoustic guitar sales have been rising steadily each year for the last five years and are now at record levels, buoyed by the popularity of singer songwriters like Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.

The Australian Music Association in its annual market reports, reveals that in 2017 a decade-long decline in the electric guitar was arrested. This Spring in Australia features four different guitar focused events with festivals in Sydney and Adelaide in August and now a Melbourne Festival in September. This augers well for the guitar and its popularity in Australia. If you ever had any doubts about the popularity of the guitar in modern music, pop on down to the Melbourne Guitar Show, August 4&5 Caulfield Racecourse and join the other 5,000 plus guitar devotees who will revel in the 4th annual celebration of fretted instruments.

Melbourne Guitar Show ticket information HERE

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The BIAS MINI GUITAR AMP prize will be drawn at the Melbourne Guitar Show
Bias Mini Guitar courtesy of Positive Grid and Link Audio

BIAS MINI GUITAR
Building on the foundation set by its larger siblings BIAS Head and BIAS Rack, BIAS MINI Guitar squeezes the same advanced component emulation engine, authentic dynamic tube amp feel and wireless connectivity into an even smaller and lighter package. Weighing just over 2.4kgs with a built-in 300-watt power amp, nothing else on the planet comes close to BIAS MINI for small-to-medium sized gigs and recording sessions. Take one look at the front panel of BIAS MINI and you’ll feel right at home, because the knobs do what you expect them to. Call up one of the 16 onboard presets and tweak the Gain, Bass, Mid, Treble, and Master just like you’d expect to on a normal tube head, push the Output button to cycle through controls for the amp, headphone and line outputs, and then get back to playing.

SMALL SIZE, HUGE TONE
In the past good tone was both expensive and heavy, but BIAS MINI turns that notion on its head. With a built-in power amp rated at 300 watts @ 4 ohms, there’s plenty of power on tap for medium-sized gigs and recording sessions, and at just over 2.4kgs in a half-rack enclosure, there’s no longer any excuse not to take your favorite tones on the road with you wherever you go. Add to that a glitchless effects loop for your favorite effects and the ability to take pedals like a champ, and BIAS MINI makes the impossible possible.

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Connect via built-in Bluetooth or USB, and open up a world of component options previously only available with a soldering iron: choose between different preamp and power amp circuits, change the tubes and transformers, add clipping diodes and try out different rectifiers – all completely authentic and all in real time. It’s like having a boutique amplifier workshop at your fingertips.

CONNECT TO THE CLOUD
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BIAS AMP software features the ability to Amp Match®, analyzing a source guitar tone and applying the necessary corrective processing to make a custom amp more closely match the original. Even if you don’t plan on matching amps yourself, you can still take advantage of the Tone Match feature by downloading custom amps other guitarists have matched from the ToneCloud®.

http://linkaudio.com.au/

As we draw closer to the 2018 Melbourne Guitar Show (August 4&5 Caulfield Racecourse), exhibitors are beginning to announce their on-stand talent and finalise their clinic sessions and some of the names which have been added to the show are huge.

Since the second artist announcement a month or more ago, names that have been added to the 2018 Melbourne Guitar Show include: Diesel, Harts, Bec Sandridge, Slowly Slowly, Jack Jones (aka Irwin Thomas), Kirk Lorange, Damnations Day, The Omnific, Malcura and Michael Paynter… and they’re just the ones we know about!

Where can you see these artists?

Ahead of his ‘Diesel 30’ Greatest hits album release and national tour, Diesel will be launching his Fender Signature Stratocaster on Sunday August 5th in the Winners Circle Workshop room on Level 1

Also appearing for Fender on stands 60-63 will be:
Bec Sandridge – 11am Saturday 4th
Harts – 3:30pm Saturday 4th
Slowly Slowly – 1:30pm Sunday 5th

As well as performing on the Acoustic stage at 11am on the Saturday, singer songwriter Abbey Stone will also be appearing at 12.30 on the Fender stand and 1.30 and 3.30 on the Link Audio stand (33A)

Jack Jones (aka Irwin Thomas) is back in Australia for a short while after an extensive stay in New York and will be joining the Triple M jam, along with Brett Garsed, James Ryan, Shannon Bourne and young Charlie Bedford on Sunday at 2.15 at the AON Whammy Bar on level 2.

Veteran guitar legend Kirk Lorange will be hanging out on the Washburn guitar stand (A12 on mezzanine level)

Pumping out contagious rhythms on the CMC Music stand (33&35) will be Jimi Baruta and Kyle Borg, Damnations Day and The Omnific (who blew audiences away last year with their amazing bass skills)

Heavy flamenco trio Malcura have been added to the Winners Circle Workshop Room on Saturday August 4th at 4.30pm, where they will be showcasing the range of Katoh guitars

Line 6 will present writer, producer, performer Michael Paynter (Icehouse, The Veronicas) at 1.30 pm on Sunday August 5th in the Winners Circle Workshop Room

Full list of artists HERE

Full list of exhibitors HERE

Melbourne Guitar Show August 4&5 Caulfield Racecourse
Sat 10am – 6pm
Sun 10am-4pm

Tickets: https://australianmusician.com.au/melbourne-guitar-show/tickets/

Download program pdf HERE

St Paul and the Broken Bones. Pic by Jason Rosewarne

The very special 30th anniversary of Bluesfest has called on many old friends to return to Byron Bay to help celebrate the milestone.

Leading the first announcement: an *Exclusive* Bluesfest ONLY show by Hawaiian singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, Bluesfest’s prodigal son. Jack Johnson is making a long-awaited return to Bluesfest; having first played in 2001 – and most recently at their 25th birthday bash back in 2014.

Ben Harper. Pic by Jason Rosewarne

There’ll also be *Exclusive* Bluesfest-only shows from Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals and St. Paul & The Broken Bones.

Ray Lamontagne, Kurt Vile & The Violators, Greensky Bluegrass and the folk supergroup I’m With Her are Bluesfest newbies – while Bluesfest favourite Kasey Chambers will celebrate the 20th Anniversary of her ground-breaking album ‘The Captain’, with a very special first-time performance of her debut album, track by track, alongside a celebration of songs from the Kasey Chambers greatest hits songbook.

Kasey heads up a strong Australian contingent in this announcement including Bluesfest faves Colin Hay, Tommy Emmanuel, Russell Morris, Richard Clapton, Tex Perkins and The Black Sorrows all returning to help with the celebrations.

Other returnees and total crowd pleasers and favourites, Keb’ Mo’, Vintage Trouble, Snarky Puppy, Elephant Sessions, Irish Mythen and The California Honeydrops will all be back and so will the powerful and conscious Nahko and Medicine For The People and Trevor Hall.

A note of poignancy this year. George Clinton will retire from live performance in May 2019 so this is the VERY LAST TIME the “awe-funk-some” groove of GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC will play Bluesfest.

And, finally, it’s a welcome back to ROCKWIZ LIVE. It’s been 5 years, but the rock n roll quiz is as hilarious as ever and Brian Nankervis, Julia Zemiro and the Rockwiz Orkestra will bring their mayhem of mirth to the Jambalaya stage on Easter Saturday and Sunday. Who knows who they will bring and who they will entice on to their stage this year. The only way to find out is, of course, to be front and centre!

Music lovers from across Australia will visit the beautiful Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, just outside Byron Bay over the Easter long weekend (Thursday 18th April to Monday 22nd of April 2019) for the 30th Annual Bluesfest. During the Festival they will enjoy up to 12 hours of music each day on multiple stages, incredible food and market stalls and on-site camping in a range of accommodation options.

“Our 30th Anniversary Bluesfest will be a MAJOR event in a long line of great festivals. We will only turn 30 once,” said director Peter Noble, and we intend to make this edition truly memorable!”

Of course this is only the first line-up and as music fans would know, the big names keep coming with each new announcement, so standby for plenty more.

Here’s the line up so far:

*Exclusive* JACK JOHNSON *Exclusive*
*Exclusive* BEN HARPER & THE INNOCENT CRIMINALS *Exclusive*
RAY LAMONTAGNE
*FINAL SHOWS* GEORGE CLINTON & PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC *FINAL SHOWS*
SNARKY PUPPY
KASEY CHAMBERS
*Exclusive* ST PAUL & THE BROKEN BONES   *Exclusive*
NAHKO AND MEDICINE FOR THE PEOPLE
TOMMY EMMANUEL
COLIN HAY
ARLO GUTHRIE
KEB’ MO’
TEX PERKINS
ALLEN STONE
RICHARD CLAPTON
RUSSELL MORRIS
KURT VILE & THE VIOLATORS
VINTAGE TROUBLE
THE BLACK SORROWS
THE CALIFORNIA HONEYDROPS
TREVOR HALL
I’M WITH HER
LARKIN POE
IRISH MYTHEN
ELEPHANT SESSIONS
GREENSKY BLUEGRASS
ROCKWIZ LIVE

THE 2019 ARTIST DAILY PLAYING SCHEDULE IS AVAILABLE ON WWW.BLUESFEST.COM.AU

Festival and Camping tickets are now on sale through bluesfest.com.au or by phoning the Bluesfest office on 02 6639 9800

Our photographer extraordinaire Jason Rosewarne made the trek up the Hume Highway on the weekend for the Echuca Winter Blues Festival. Captured here by Jason: Joshua Batten, Aaron Gillett from Catfish Voodoo playing with Joshua, Neil Hawker, Electric Blues Collective, Z-Star Trinity and Creek.

Creek

Z-Star Trinity

Electric Blues Collective

Mike Elrington

Neil Hawker

Aaron Gillett from Catfish Voodoo

Joshua Batten

Australia’s most iconic guitar manufacturer is set to create jobs and boost its business thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Andrews Labor Government’s Future Industries Manufacturing Program. Minister for Industry and Employment Ben Carroll today visited the Maton Guitar factory in Box Hill where some of the world’s finest acoustic and electric guitars are crafted from specialty timbers.

The Labor Government’s support will help expand the company’s timber machining capability and significantly improve production and the tone consistency of its high-quality instruments. Maton hopes to increase annual production to 10,000 guitars in the next three to five years – with 50 per cent earmarked for export. Maton currently exports 35 per cent of its guitars to Asia, North America and Europe.

“Maton Guitars are an iconic Melbourne company – its guitars are played by some of the world’s most famous musicians, “ said Mr Carroll. “They’re a great example of a Victorian manufacturer going from strength-to-strength.”

The company have manufactured guitars in Melbourne for over 70 years and the family-owned business will create 10 jobs thanks to the Labor Government’s support – adding to its existing workforce of 60.

Maton provides a pathway for Northern College of Arts & Technology (NCAT) Certificate IV graduates, employing over 25 in the last eight years, and plans to employ 10 to 12 new students in the next 18 months.

Played by renowned artists including Keith Urban, Vance Joy, Paul Kelly and Tommy Emmanuel, Maton guitars have also been used by Elvis Presley, George Harrison and Keith Richards in live concerts and recording sessions – including the opening riff for The Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter.

FIMP grants support job creation by assisting Victorian companies to implement new manufacturing technologies, improve productivity and target new export opportunities.

Come on down to the Melbourne Guitar Show this weekend at Caulfield Racecourse, visit the Maton booth on Acoustic level 1 and check out their fine craftsmanship.

https://maton.com.au/

A short message on Facebook this week announcing that respected Australian music legend Chris Wilson had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer began a huge outpouring of love and emotion for the great man.
“Management sadly advises that Chris has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. With respect to the family’s privacy at this time, please feel free to send messages of support via this Facebook page. Messages will be forwarded to Chris,” it read.

A benefit concert for Chris was quickly organised at the Corner Hotel on August 24, which sold out within days. It will feature: Steve Lucas, Kerri Simpson, Jerome Smith, Barb Waters, Barry Palmer, Tim Rogers, Matt Dwyer, Shane O’Mara, Dave Hogan, Jo Jo Smith, Harem Scarem, Chris Russell’s Chicken Walk, DJ Max Crawdaddy and more. Sadly Chris is unable to perform.

For those who couldn’t make it to the benefit or wanted to help some more, a GoFundMe campaign was launched, initially with the target of $10,000. Response was so overwhelming that higher targets were set and at time of writing, almost $85,000 has been raised to assist the family during this difficult time. Chris’ wife Sarah Carroll will be stopping work to care for him.

As leader of Crown of Thorns, Harem Scarem, a member of X, contributor to recordings and performances for the likes of Paul Kelly and The Saints’ Chris Bailey, Chris Wilson’s powerful voice and harmonica playing always tapped at the heart strings. As a solo performer, the ARIA nominated artist could hold an audience in the palm of his hand. Chris’s Live At The Continental album, recorded at Prahran’s Continental Hotel is widely acclaimed as an Australian classic. His more recent performances in the improvisational rock outfit Skronkadoodledoo, featuring Shannon Bourne on guitar and Chris’s son Fenn on drums were stuff of legend. Chris Wilson is the heart and soul of the Melbourne music scene and a bonafide Australian music legend.

Tonight at 9pm on Facebook, there will be a special viewing of “Chris Wilson’s Live at the Continenatl -23 years On”, a documentary made by film maker Chris Franklin. Here’s the link. After viewing the doco, you’re encouarged to visit the GoFundme page and donate if you can

Chris Wilson graced the front cover of Australian Musician back in 1998. The interview inside was conducted by Rob Walker. Chris told me once that he was proud of being on the cover of our magazine, however his favourite issue was always the one guest-edited by The Drones. Chris ended his Australian Musician interview with Rob back then with the following words about the benefits of playing music and of never giving up. “It’s a great source of adventure. If your life is hard, it certainly helps you. For those people who are playing and finding it difficult, don’t quit. There are some really talented people who gave up. When you are getting somewhere towards where you want to go, the endurance is the important part,” said one Australia’s most enduring artists. We wish Chris and family all the love in the world in the biggest fight of their life.