Gregory Adams
Gregory Adams is a Vancouver-based arts reporter. From metal legends to emerging pop icons to the best of the basement circuit, he’s interviewed musicians across countless genres for nearly two decades, most recently with Guitar World, Bass Player, Revolver, and more – as well as through his independent newsletter, Gut Feeling. This all still blows his mind. He’s a guitar player, generally bouncing hardcore riffs off his ’52 Tele reissue and a dinged-up SG.
Latest articles by Gregory Adams
Bernth: "Maybe blowtorching my guitar was a bit dramatic, but it was a statement about all these articles saying 'guitar music is dead!'"
By Gregory Adams published
The Austrian shred whiz takes blazing the fretboard literally on his new six-string spectacular, Elevation
Lou Barlow: "Every time we make a record, I hope to find some magic combination that approximates the growl of what we get live. I don’t know if I’ve done that yet"
By Gregory Adams published
The Dinosaur Jr. bassist and co-founder on the unending quest to capture his live sound on record, and swapping instruments with J Mascis
Kiko Loureiro: "I thought the greatest message would be to have Marty Friedman on Open Source, not only because he was the Megadeth guy, but to show that music is not a competition"
By Gregory Adams published
The Megadeth shredder on taking an open-source approach to making music so that anyone with internet access can remix his new album
Face to Face's Trever Keith: “This album focuses on the best tones and emotions from the records we’ve made throughout our career”
By Gregory Adams published
The long-serving frontman walks us through the gear behind No Way Out But Through, recording guitars in his closet, and why the LP doesn't fit into the traditional punk-rock mould
Wolves in the Throne Room: "We try to skirt the line sonically between brutal and beautiful"
By Gregory Adams published
With their new album Primordial Arcana, guitarists Kody Keyworth and Nathan Weaver deploy a near-endless supply of knockout black-metal hooks from their “master riff sack”
Between the Buried and Me: "We took everything we do, and we notched it up a bit. It’s everything that everyone either loves or hates about BTBAM!"
By Gregory Adams published
Guitarists Paul Waggoner and Dustie Waring talk philosophically doubling down on 2007's Colors with epic, hugely diverse new full-length Colors II
Quicksand's Walter Schreifels: "I love playing expensive things, but I'm also totally down for street-level garbage!"
By Gregory Adams published
The post-hardcore vet on his love of Fender offsets, switching up his playing for new album Distant Populations, and why he named a song after the MXR Phase 90
Ludic's Ayla Tesler-Mabe on classic rock epiphanies, stylistic detours and funk guitar as a “bed of sound“
By Gregory Adams published
With her new band, the former Calpurnia guitarist (and Weezer music video star) heads for understated groove-forward water
AFI’s Jade Puget: "I do a lot of effects in-the-box, because there are infinite things you can do – you can create unique tones that have never been done before"
By Gregory Adams published
The goth-punks' mercurial guitarist on shaping his guitar sound with plugins, writing with Billy Corgan, and how Peter Hook influenced the band's new album, Bodies
Amenra: “We try to limit how much we play. That's the essence of the band: when you’re playing the right notes, your impact is bigger”
By Gregory Adams published
Lennart Bossu and Mathieu Vandekerckhove on the playing and philosophy behind new album De Doorn, and what it's like to perform post-metal at a fire ritual
BIG|BRAVE's Mathieu Ball: “Whenever we play something too musical, I feel it’s almost a cop out. We have to get rid of any traditional guitar playing!”
By Gregory Adams published
Ball talks open tunings, eschewing leads and using a hand-built guitar on Vital, the Montreal trio's biggest and bravest drone-metal offering yet
Voodoo Glow Skulls' Eddie Casillas: “This record is the most ska we've ever been – we've never had clean guitar tones on any of our albums before this”
By Gregory Adams published
Nine years after their last album – and one vocalist later – the Riverside, CA outfit take aim at a host of topical issues with new ska-heavy effort, Livin' the Apocalypse
The Tragically Hip's Rob Baker on how the Canadian rock icons unearthed their long-lost sophomore sessions for surprise new EP, Saskadelphia
By Gregory Adams published
The Hip's guitarist explores the gear that helped create the new archival release, how his playing changed over time, and why you're unlikely to hear the band's Mötley Crüe cover any time soon…
Andrew Watt: “I’m making music with no deadlines – It’s a lot freer. Because of that, cooler choices are being taken”
By Gregory Adams published
A year-plus after his debut GW cover appearance, we find out how the Grammy-winning producer/guitarist goes from working with Ozzy Osbourne to Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber – and back again
Juliana Hatfield: “There’s some biting stuff on this album – the Fender Mini Twin is cute, but it makes really great fuzz sounds”
By Gregory Adams published
The veteran singer-songwriter details the unconventional recording techniques behind her 19th solo album, Blood
Noctule's Serena Cherry: “The leads on this album are a window into my personality – they're euphoric, but also heavy”
By Gregory Adams published
The Svalbard guitarist explains how her love of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim informed her debut solo album Wretched Abyss, and why she's a huge power-metal nerd
BRIDEAR: “The charm of this album is that it's not just heavy – it pushed us to play more melodic solos”
By Gregory Adams published
Rising Japanese power-metallers Misaki and Ayumi on writing in perfect guitarmony and the blitz of shred that forms new album, Bloody Bride
Karate’s Geoff Farina: "I have an ongoing identity crisis – every six months I’m enamored with some other style of guitar playing"
By Gregory Adams published
The mercurial guitarist on rescuing the cult indie-jazz group's catalogue for a new reissue campaign, the evolution of his guitar playing, and building Klon Centaurs with Bill Finnegan
Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Francesco Paoli on pulling a double shift on guitar and drums for the symphonic death-metal masters
By Gregory Adams published
When you have a lead guitar player like Fabio Bartoletti, anything's possible says Paoli
Sanguisugabogg: “A lot of people will call us a caveman band because we don’t have solos or leads. I don’t think we ever will!”
By Gregory Adams published
Cameron Boggs details the direct death-metal brutalism of the band's groove-splattered, drop G-tuned debut, Tortured Whole
NOFX's Aaron “El Hefe” Abeyta on reworking Linoleum with Avenged Sevenfold and why Fat Mike made him ditch the whammy bar
By Gregory Adams published
As the punk-rock legends drop new record Single Album, long-serving guitarist Abeyta reflects on how his six-string role has changed throughout their spirited career
How Brazilian guitarist Prika Amaral rebuilt her Nervosa thrash-metal juggernaut from the ground up
By Gregory Adams published
New blood and aggressive riffs put Amaral back on the path to ‘Perpetual Chaos‘
Gargoyl's Dave Davidson: "I like to have some technicality to my solos, but for me it’s more of a storytelling element now"
By Gregory Adams published
This multifaceted new band’s brooding songcraft has Revocation axeman Dave Davidson re-evaluating shred
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