A taste of the San Francisco Bay Area came to Brighton last
night, as Phil Demmel, lead guitarist from modern thrash metal band Machine
Head, gave a Jackson guitars clinic at the GAK music shop.
Along with a brief history of Jackson Guitars from the
company representative who has been touring Europe alongside Phil Demmel, the
modern thrash legend gave a brief talk about his guitar playing history, his
influences (announcing his love of KISS), and the players who have inspired him
to play- Angus Young and Randy Rhoads being the most stand out figures. The talk
also traced his relationships with various guitars and members of his bands.
Of course, whilst there, a few Machine Head songs were
played from the extensive back catalogue of tracks that he has worked on, along
with a jam with Chris Cannella from the Jackson guitars workshop. Between these
two players and plenty of choruses of “F**k yeah!” from the audience (complete
with the horns \m/), the spirit of metal was certainly in residence, as huge
riffs and crazy shred guitar solos were in abundance. In that small room of barely 50 people, there
was much more of an intimate atmosphere which helped bring Phil Demmel over as
a really down to earth person who just happens to be in one of the planet’s
biggest metal bands, touring the world. Although weeks on the road seemed to be
taking their toll as my own question to him about musical influences outside
the world of metal (i.e. Would one ever catch him listening to Beethoven or
Miles Davis etc.) spawned a statement of solidarity with Lamb of God’s Randy
Blythe in his manslaughter trial (a worthy cause in itself, but not quite what
I was after as an answer).
After the talk Phil took the time for signings and photos
with all the fans in the building and seemed genuinely willing to take the time
to chat, despite his road-weariness.
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