Guitar world holiday 2015

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CON T EN TS
VOL. 37 |

NO. 13 |

HOLIDAY 2015

FEATURES

44

DEAFHEAVEN

With New Bermuda, the darlings of the
American black metal scene continue their
rise to prominence.

50 KEITH RICHARDS
The legendary Rolling Stones guitarist
revisits his musical roots with a new
solo album, Crosseyed Heart, and
documentary film Under the Influence.

60 IRON MAIDEN
In this interview with the triple-ax attack
of Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick
Gers, the men of Maiden discuss the
making of the new Book of Souls double
album and the resilience of singer Bruce
Dickinson after a recent cancer scare.

70 THE BEATLES’

LOVE AFFAIR WITH
THE EPIPHONE CASINO

How John Lennon, Paul McCartney
and George Harrison all fell in love with
the Epiphone Casino and made it their
guitar of choice during the height of
Beatlemania.

80 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Deafheaven’s Kerry McCoy

12

GU I TA R WOR L D • HOL I DAY 2015

COVER PHOTOGRAPH
MARK SELIGER

D E A F H E AV E N : J E R E M Y D A N G E R

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CON T EN TS
VOL. 37 |

NO. 13 |

HOLIDAY 2015
Matt Heafy

DEPARTM ENT S
16 WOODSHED
18 SOUNDING BOARD

Letters, reader art and Defenders of the Faith

21 TUNE-UPS

Kirk Hammett, Doyle, For Today, Dear Guitar
Hero with Richie Kotzen, Devil You Know,
Trivium, SayWeCanFly and more!

89 SOUNDCHECK

89. Boss Waza Craft BD-2W, DM-2W and
SD-1W pedals
91. Jericho Guitars Avenger 7 Pro 26” SevenString
92. Digitech Trio Band Creator pedal
94. Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-45ME Acoustic/
Electric
96. Kiesel V8 Vader Eight-String
98. Seymour Duncan Jason Becker

Humbucker

100 COLUMNS

100. Emmanuel Dexterity
by Tommy Emmanuel
102. Holcomb Mania
by Periphery’s Mark Holcomb
104. String Theory
by Jimmy Brown
106. Shredding with the Alien
by Joe Satriani
108. Acoustic Nation
by Dale Turner
110. In Deep
by Andy Aledort

38
Trivium

146 IT MIGHT GET WEIRD
Nolan Symmonds’ Guitar Boy

“Here Comes the Sun”

“Catch Your Train”

“Silence in the Snow”

“Roll with the Changes”

by the Beatles

by Scorpions

by Trivium

by REO Speedwagon

PAGE

PAGE

PAGE

112
14

GU I TA R WOR L D • HOL I DAY 2015

118

126

PAGE

134

S C OT T U C H I D A

TRANSCRIBED


HEA R MISHA MANSOOR ON
PERIPHERY’S LAT EST RELE ASE ,

JUGGERNAUT ALPHA/OMEGA

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registered trademarks of Jackson/Charvel Manufacturing, Inc. (JCMI). All rights reserved.

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WOODSHED
VOL. 37 |

NO. 13 |

HOLIDAY 2015
EDITORIAL

POETRY IN MOTION
IF YOU’RE READING this, you’re holding something in your hands that is very near and dear to our
hearts: print. Despite the modern day push to turn every
reading experience into a loud, screaming digital one,
there are plenty of us who will always love the printed
page: letting our imaginations fill in the blank spaces as ink smudges our fingers.
However, if there’s a downside to print, it’s that it doesn’t move; it’s static. Stationary.
Maybe that’s why I get so excited about our recent efforts with regard to video,
and I wanted to make sure our beloved print readers are up to speed on what we’re
doing on GuitarWorld.com, our YouTube channel and our Facebook page. Yes, we
love print, but we love moving pictures too.
Currently, the Guitar World YouTube channel has more than 350,000 subscribers—that’s substantial, and it’s no accident. So what’s all the fuss about? If you head
over there, you’ll see for yourself. Artists are coming through our office doors almost daily, and many are being invited into our studio to film exclusive content for
our YouTube channel. Recent visits include Alexi Laiho, who showed us his five favorite riffs from the new Children of Bodom record, I Worship Chaos; Joe Satriani
and Tommy Emmanuel, who performed all the techniques covered in their current
Guitar World magazine columns; and Queensrÿche’s Michael Wilton, who talked
about and demonstrated some of his most classic riffs and licks. We’ve also enjoyed
having so many guitarists come through and do playthrough videos in which they
play guitar to a backing track of one of their songs: recent participants include
Atreyu, Crowbar, Shinedown, For Today and Braden Barrie from SayWeCanFly.
Add to that all the in-depth gear reviews and demos from our editors, and you have

a YouTube channel worth subscribing to.
If you’re looking for something more down-n-dirty, head over to our Facebook
page and see what the other 1.5 million followers have been enjoying lately. Every
few days we treat our fans to an impromptu “desk jam” featuring one of our talented editors. On any given day you may see gear editor Paul Riario in his cluttered
office laying down the solo to an Eighties metal classic, or online editor Damian
Fanelli showing off his immense skills as a blues guitarist and hopeless Beatles addict, all filmed with nothing more than my own iPhone 6.
At the end of the day it makes me appreciate all of the incredible talent lurking
behind these walls. We’ll always be magazine aficionados, and I hope you enjoy
the issue you hold in your print-loving hands—but there’s plenty more to this operation, and we hope you get as much out of it as we put into it.

EXECUTIVE CONTENT DIRECTOR Jeff Kitts
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Brad Angle
TECH EDITOR Paul Riario
ASSOCIATE EDITORS Andy Aledort, Richard Bienstock,
Alan di Perna, Chris Gill
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Joe Bosso, Ted Drozdowski, Dan
Epstein, Greg Evans, Randy Har ward, Peter Hodgson, Mark
Holcomb, Joe Satriani, Dale Turner, Jon Wiederhorn
SENIOR VIDEO PRODUCER Mark Nuñez

MUSIC
SENIOR MUSIC EDITOR Jimmy Brown
MUSIC TRANSCRIPTIONIST Jeff Perrin
MUSIC ENGRAVER Patricia Corcoran

ART
DESIGN DIRECTOR Stephen Goggi
ASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR Ben Avny
ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR Natalie Skopelja

ONLINE
MANAGING EDITOR Damian Fanelli
EDITORS Brad Angle, Jeff Kitts

PRODUCTION
PRODUCTION MANAGER Nicole Schilling

BUSINESS
VICE PRESIDENT, GENERAL MANAGER Bill Amstutz

GROUP PUBLISHER Bob Ziltz

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR - WEST Jason Perl
646-723-5419, jason@guitar world.com
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR - EAST Scott Sciacca
646-723-5478, scott@guitar world.com
ADVERTISING MANAGER Anna Blumenthal
646-723-5404, anna@guitar world.com
GROUP MARKETING DIRECTOR Christopher Campana
646-723-5423,
SR. MARKETING MANAGER Stacy Thomas
646-723-5416,

CONSUMER MARKETING
CONSUMER MARKETING MANAGER Kara Tzinivis
FULFILLMENT COORDINATOR Ulises Cabrera

NEWBAY MEDIA CORPORATE
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CONTROLLER Jack Liedke
VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCTION & MANUFACTURING Bill Amstutz
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SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE: Guitar World Magazine
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Executive Content Director
GUITAR WORLD (ISSN 1045-6295) is published 13 times a year, monthly plus Holiday issue following December issue, by NewBay Media,
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GU I TA R WOR L D • HOL I DAY 2015

EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING OFFICES
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NEWBAY MEDIA, LLC
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©2015 NewBay Media, LLC. All rights reser ved. No par t of
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permission of NewBay Media, LLC.

I L L U S T R AT I O N BY J O E L K I M M E L

REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS: For article reprints and or e-prints,
please contact our Reprint Coordinator at Wright’s Reprints, 877652-5295, or


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SOUNDI NG BOARD
Got something you want to say? EMAIL US AT:
tentious mope who doesn’t even
bother to experience something
before passing judgment on it. It’s
painfully obvious that you have yet
to actually spin a Ghost album, yet
you apparently know what’s best
for our guitar loving youth. It must
be terribly boring to live in your
world where everything is exactly
as it appears rendering experience
completely unnecessary.
—Kevin Miller

To Be Frank
Reign Man
Thank you for putting Slayer on
the cover of the November issue.
I’ve been a Slayer fan from the

first time I heard Reign in Blood,
and to me they are the best thrash
metal band of all time. Frankly
I don’t think they get the credit
they deserve. Repentless is an
amazing record—a great comeback after the tragic death and
loss of Jeff Hanneman. To me, it’s
the album of the year.
—Travis Zboril

For Christ’s
Sake

I’m a longtime subscriber and
think you guys do a great job with
the transcriptions—would you
mind if I make a few requests? I
would love to see any of these in
Guitar World: Yes’ “I’ve Seen All
Good People (Your Move),” Frank
Zappa’s “Black Napkins” or any of
these from Led Zeppelin’s live The
Song Remains the Same album:
“Whole Lotta Love,” “Since I’ve
Been Loving You,” “The Song
Remains the Same” or “No Quarter.” Thanks for all you do!
—Matt Scoggins

I Love Lamp

sible to overcome it. Thank you for
putting out such a great magazine.
—Jason Gottstein

White Magic

I have been reading Guitar World
for 26 years and have never written in until now. I have watched
the band Decapitated mature
from album to album and was
hoping you guys could transcribe
anything from their latest record,
Blood Mantra. I think Vogg (guitar) has a Dimebag type of energy,
sort of like a death metal groove.
I am tired of rewinding licks on
cassette and would pay anything
for real tabs, especially for the
rhythmic masterpiece “Blindness” or the solo work in “Veins.”
—Larry Franco

The November 2015 cover proclaims Slayer as having the
“Metal Record of the Year.”
Tough to argue that, because
Repentless is a great album…but
personally I will go with Meliora
by Ghost. The depth of the songwriting, musicianship and production are astounding on
Meliora; it is a masterpiece. Many
theatrical bands, like Slipknot,
Kiss, Alice Cooper and Marilyn
Manson, were initially written off

by critics as being all style over
substance, but then the music
proved that narrative wrong. The
Nameless Ghouls in Ghost give
insightful and entertaining interviews and the tab for Cirice in the
November issue showcased their
nuanced arrangement skills and
powerful, tasteful playing. Please
continue to feature them.
—Brian Balash

Head Case

Ink Spot

First ’Mate

I’m writing in regard to the
comment about Ghost made by
James Harris in the September
issue. I am a follower of Christ
and enjoy living in a free nation,
and as far as GW covering Ghost,
that is a freedom I treasure
dearly. I am in contact with people overseas who are persecuted
for their beliefs—thrown in jail
just for giving someone a bible.
Let’s keep things free in the USA.
—Jim Chumley
Thanks for the amusing diatribe

James Harris. The only thing
more pathetic than the sour mope
who fails to get the joke is the pre-

yard lamp. It was inspired by my
friend who painted his trash can in
the VH style. I told him he puts his
trash can in the garage whereas
my Van Halen lamp is on proud
display year round.
—Eddie Sackss

After seeing the recent Van
Halen–inspired garage door, cornhole boards and mailbox submitted by other readers in the Sounding Board, I decided to share my

I’ve been playing guitar for about
10 years, and am currently serving a sentence in the PA D.O.C.
Life in here is tough, and you have
a lot of time to fill with whatever
rec you can get. I’ve also been an
avid reader of Guitar World my
entire time here. I love the articles and especially the columns.
Every month I learn something
new and I figure out how to add it
to my playing style. The last few
issues—especially the cover stories
on Slayer and Lamb of God—hit a
nerve in me because it was great to
read how some of my heroes have
overcome bad situations. The stories gave me a sense that, no matter how tough shit can get, it’s pos-

This is my holy trinity of rock and
roll guitarists: Chuck Berry, Keith
Richards, and Johnny Thunders.
That’s Keef’s 1953 Fender Telecaster
and Johnny Thunders’ Gibson Les
Paul TV, which was a 1958, 1959 or
1960 depending on who you believe.
—Jon Dameron
GOT A TATTOO of your
favorite band or guitarist you
want to share with us? Send a
photo of your ink to and
maybe we’ll print it or post it on
our Facebook page!

SEND LETTERS TO: The Sounding Board, Guitar World, 28 East 28th Street, 12th Floor, New York, NY 10016, or email us at
All subscription queries must be emailed to Please do not email the Sounding Board with subscription matters.

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GU I TA R WOR L D • HOL I DAY 2015


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READER
ART

OF THE MONTH

If you created a
drawing, painting
or sketch of your
favorite guitarist
and would like
to see it in an
upcoming issue of
Guitar World, email
soundingboard@
guitarworld.com
with a scan of
the image!

JOHNNY MARR BY H EC TO R LOZ A N O

DEFENDERS

DAVE MATTHE WS B Y D I A N A PA S I KO V

of the Faith

Brent Fettkether

Katina St. Onge

Trailer Park Vampire

AGE 18
HOMETOWN Dunkerton, IA
GUITARS Jackson JS32T King V, ESP/

AGE 15
HOMETOWN Montreal, Quebec, Canada
GUITARS Black Fender American Stan-

AGE 150
HOMETOWN Tupelo, MS
GUITARS Homemade Super Strats,

LTD EX-50

SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Metallica

“Am I Evil?” and “Of Wolf and Man,”
Megadeth “In My Darkest Hour,” Ozzy
Osbourne “Crazy Train”
GEAR I MOST WANT USA-made Jackson
Kelly KE2, Dean “Angel of Deth” Dave
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dard Strat, Tobacco Sunburst Fender
Squire, Cream Wood Fender Tele, 1972
Fender acoustic
SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Bryan
Adams “Summer of ’69,” Kiss “Shock Me”

GEAR I MOST WANT Cherry Sunburst
Gibson Les Paul

1979 Gibson Les Paul Custom
SONGS I’VE BEEN PLAYING Weezer
“Hash Pipe,” Ghost “Mummy Dust,”
Trailer Park Vampire “Rocking Vampire”
GEAR I MOST WANT Friedman Brown
Eye 100-watt amp

Are you a Defender of the Faith? Send a photo, along with your answers to the questions above,
to And pray!
guitarworld.com

19


PORTRAITS

IN TONE
Not just another version of the Fly Rig 5® simply
bearing his name, the Richie Kotzen RK5 Signature
Fly Rig was a close, year-long collaborative effort.
Meticulous about every facet of his playing, singing,
songwriting and tone, Richie’s attention to the details
of this pedal was nothing less.
What distinguishes the RK5 from the Fly Rig 5 is Richie’s
Signature OMG overdrive. Tuned specifically to Richie’s
ear, the OMG section brings in the organic Class A-style
distortion, but with a tighter, snappier response. It is designed

to articulate every nuance of Richie’s dizzying playing style
for all modes and moods, from clean to aggressive and from
rhythmic chords to infinite sustain when it’s solo time.
The RK5 offers the same other essential features as the Fly Rig 5:
the all-analog SansAmp™, reverb, delay with tap tempo, and a
powerful boost. For fly gigs across the globe, jamming at the local
hang, and running off to last minute sessions, just pop your RK5 into
your guitar case and head for the door.

photo by greg vorobiov

Actual size: 11.5”l x 2.5”w x 1.25”h • Weight: 18.6 oz.

The Richie Kotzen OMG Signature
Overdrive is also available as a
stand-alone pedal.

DESIGNED AND MANUFACTURED IN THE U.S.A.
WWW.TECH21NYC.COM


TUNE-UPS
24
GRAVEYARD

22

FOR TODAY

DOYLE

26

RICHIE
KOTZEN

DEVIL
YOU KNOW

28 32

TRIVIUM

34

SAYWECANFLY

40

WHITESNAKE

42

tktktktkt

Pedal
Pusher
KIRK HAMMETT PUTS HIS
BEST FOOT FORWARD WITH
AN EXCITING NEW LINE OF

EFFECT PEDALS.
By Richard Bienstock

T I M T R O N C KO E

KIRK HAMMETT HAS
always been, as he puts it, a
“pedal junkie.” At the San Rafael,
California, building that Metallica
calls its headquarters, the guitarist
affirms that he has “shelves and
shelves full of effects—hundreds of
them, for sure,” he says.
Now, rather than merely collecting pedals, Hammett is making
his own. The guitarist has paired
up with industry vet David Karon,
with whom he collaborated on his
signature Randall amplifiers some
years back, to form a new boutique
pedal company, KHDK Electronics.
The concept, Karon says, is to build
high-quality, USA-made products
that are “a little bit special and
slightly different from what everyone else is doing.”
To that end, among the first pedals that KHDK has released is the
Kirk Hammett Ghoul Screamer,
which, the guitarist says, “is like
a Tube Screamer on steroids. It’s
something I’ve been wanting to do
for years.” The Ghoul Screamer

boasts three control knobs (drive,
tone and volume), as well as five
P H O T O S B Y J AY B L A K E S B U R G

guitarworld.com

21


NEWS + NOTES

PLAYLIST

JOAKIM NILSSON
OF GRAVEYARD

1
“Tensions”
Charles Mingus
“Really cool psychotic wind instrument
in this tune, which makes me doubt my
own musical skills…and that’s a good
thing if you want to keep your feet on
the ground!”

2

22

GU I TA R WOR L D • HOL I DAY 2015

—KIRK HAMMETT
products, including an octave fuzz and a
wah. “And you know how I am about wah
pedals,” Hammett says. “I’m addicted to
them. So we’re going to take the wah pedal,
throw it on the ground, break it open and
see where we can go with all the individual
components to make something new.”
“Kirk’s strength is his tone knowledge,”
Karon says. “He comes to us with an idea,
we create the rough draft, and he comes
in and perfects it. He has a great ear for
these things.”
As for whether or not Hammett will be
using his new pedals with Metallica, the
guitarist says, “I’ve been messing around
with the Ghoul Screamer a lot at home and
in rehearsal, and I’ll definitely have it in my
back pocket when I go in to start recording
leads in a few weeks.”
When asked if that means a new Metallica album is imminent, Hammett laughs.
“All I can say is that if I’m recording leads,
then that means all the backing tracks to
whatever batch of songs we’re working on
are done. So it’s a pretty good indication
that we’re pretty deep into things.”

3
“On Battleship Hill”

PJ Harvey
“I almost never get blown away by music
anymore, but PJ never lets me down. She
and her music are as beautiful as ever
and also truly amazing live, and that is
extremely rare in my book.”

4
“Raging River of Fear”
Captain Beyond
“Extremely talented musicians, and one
of the most underrated bands in history.
Great vocals from Rod Evans, who was
an original member of Deep Purple. He
influenced me a lot when I was younger.”

5
“With You There to Help Me”
Jethro Tull
“Ian Anderson is a genius at making
melodies. And it doesn’t hurt that he
plays the flute standing on one leg—it’s
how it should be played!”
GRAVEYARD'S NEW RECORD
INNOCENCE & DECADENCE IS OUT NOW.

P E D A L : M A R T I N KO VÁ L ; G R AV E YA R D : JJ KO C Z A N

extra switches—bass, high, body, and two
for compression—that greatly expand the

tonal options. “So you have more ability to
shape and mold the sound,” Hammett says.
“The most important part for me in that
regard is the two compression switches. I
like to mess around with compression, and
that was always a major thing I felt was
missing on a Tube Screamer—to be able
to have control over how much compression you want. So that’s one of my favorite
components on this pedal.”
Adds Karon, “We wanted to take a circuit that everybody knows and loves, and
that Kirk has been using since the beginning of Metallica, and create a pedal that
offers a little something different than all
the other products that are out there.”
Along with the Ghoul Screamer, KHDK
has issued two additional pedals, the No. 1
Overdrive and the No. 2 Clean Boost, both
of which, Karon says, “are original circuits
that we created with our lead engineer, Antonin Salva [owner of Salvation Mods]. So
the line is going to be a mix of pedals that
boast completely new circuits, and ones
that pay homage to already existing ones.”
Adds Hammett, “We’re going to take
ideas and morph them, mutate them,
expand on them and see where we wind
up.” To that end, the company is currently
in the midst of developing roughly 15 new

“It's like a
Tube Screamer
on steroids!”

“Roscoe”
Midlake
“Nice song to just lie down, close your
eyes and listen to. Bonus that it sounds
like the theme to M*A*S*H in the beginning.”



NEWS + NOTES

“I slammed my guitar so hard
that it broke into three pieces.”
brother got it for me for
eighth-grade graduation.
What was the first song
you learned? 
“Smoke on the Water.”
[laughs]
What do you recall about
playing your first gig?
It was at Irving Plaza in New
York City. Technically, our first
gig was, like, a TV show out
on the coast. But Irving Plaza,
you had to have a pass to get
in. I thought I was at the top.
It was totally cool.
Ever had an embarrassing moment onstage, or a
nightmare gig?

Not really, no.
No fights, equipment failures, falling off the stage…
That shit happens every
day—all of that has happened
to me. The most recent thing
that happened, I was playing
at Golden Gods 2013 and, on
the last song, I slammed my
guitar so hard that it broke
into three pieces.
Your last album was
Abominator in 2013. Are
you working on a new one?
Yeah, we just gotta mix it,
master it and title it. We’re
kickin’ some shit around;
we don’t know what we’re
calling it yet.

INQUIRER
DOYLE

What influenced you to
you pick up a guitar?
Well, I always loved music.
My mom was a Fifties kid
and when we were little, we
used listen to all her 45s.

24

And that transpired into, you
know, heavier stuff—Alice
Cooper, David Bowie and
Led Zeppelin and all that
shit back in the Seventies.
And when I realized I wasn’t

GU I TA R WOR L D • HOL I DAY 2015

gonna play in the NFL, I
picked up a guitar.
What was your first
guitar? 
It was a 1955 Les Paul. My

Do you have any advice
for young players?
Don’t spend your life in your
room learning all those arpeggios and G clefs and all that
bullshit. Learn how to write
good songs and get a good
singer. —RANDY HARWARD

MANDI MARTINI

What is your favorite
guitar or piece of gear?
Gorilla Snot. It’s this glue that
holds the pick in your hand.