MusicRadar

Can Joe Bonamassa get any hotter? A Top 20 debut for his newest solo release Black Rock. An upcoming sold-out UK tour. Winner of the Breakthrough award at the recent Classic Rock Awards. And there's more to come... a supergroup!

Image: © Karen Rosetzsky

In celebration of Bonamassa's achievements, MusicRadar is holding one of our coolest competitions yet.

• Five runners-up will receive a copy of Black Rock, signed by Joe!

• One first prize winner will get the complete Joe Bonamassa back catalogue including a Black Rock CD signed by Joe!• One extremely special grand prize winner will bag a Epiphone Les Paul Special II guitar, signed by Joe Bonamassa!

See here for full specs and the end of this article for a picture of the guitar. Please note: the actual colour of the guitar may vary from that shown and MusicRadar cannot guarantee which colour is offered.

Click here to enter the competition. Hurry though. The contest closes on Weds 30 June 2010.

Back to Joe and his new band. Formed last year and consisting of Bonamassa on guitar and vocals, along with former Deep Purple bassist and singer Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham and keyboardist Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater, Yngwie Malmsteen), the band is "designed to rock," says Bonamassa. "This is a flat-out rock thing for me. There's very little blues going here. We're all about rocking, and I've been having a blast."

The group recorded an album back in January with producer Kevin Shirley, but copyright issues with the band's planned name, Black Country, have been holding up its release. MusicRadar checked in with Bonamassa to talk about the group and to see when we might expect to see the newest supergroup on the scene.

So, Joe, you've got a supergroup but you need a super name. Such is life, huh?

"Well, I think we do have a super name. I probably shouldn't say it...Oh, what the hell. We've been trying to call it Black Country, but I don't know if I'll be able to do that. Maybe we'll have to call it 'The Band Formerly Known As Black Country' or something.

"Here's the problem in a nutshell: If you have something that you think is even remotely original and can make money, you can copyright it. People make a living out of copyrighting names, and there's a guy out there who owns the name Black Country, and he's been a bit of a nut bag.Really! He's been leaving me all kinds of threatening Facebook messages telling me the world is going to come to an end if I call the band Black Country. We tried to deal with him, but he's crazy. I really think he's off his rocker."

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