Features archive

February 2026

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56 articles

February 28
- "Boy, do people hate it": 10 of the most divisive products in music tech history, from iLok to the Akai Timbre Wolf
- “All the emotions in the song are real. When I was writing the lyrics, my wounds from it were still fresh”: How a heartbroken bellboy took his revenge with one of the biggest indie anthems of all time
- “I said, ‘Oh, Joni, that’s gonna sound terrible. You need an amp, man! You need some tubes vibrating. You need some air! She goes, ‘Would you just try it?’”: Robben Ford reveals how Joni Mitchell helped him nail his guitar tone on a ’70s classic
- “I wasn’t just unable to write, I started avoiding the studio altogether”: Apparat tells us how he regained his creative demon to make his first album in seven years
February 27
- “We can be in the middle of the worst gig in our lives, but when we go into that song, everything changes. The audience is on its feet, singing every word. It’s like God suddenly walks through the room”: The epic U2 anthem that drove its creators half mad
- “No one was more deserving of a life to himself than he was… We were torn, and sympathetic. At the same time, we felt we had unfinished business”: Geddy Lee on honouring Neil Peart and why he and Alex Lifeson are getting back together as Rush
February 26
- “I got a call from Burt Bacharach: ‘Can you come to the studio right now?’ So my friend has to move his car so that I can get out – and he runs over my dog!”: How a singer’s beloved pet cheated death during the making of a star-studded ’80s No.1
February 25
- “I wasn’t told I shouldn’t listen to the Beatles. At the same time I was exposed to this incredible Motown music, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and all of that”: Living Colour’s Vernon Reid on inspirations, unsung heroes and the emotional power of a sample
- “I didn’t know garage very well, so I made a slightly skewed version of this sound – which is what ended up being my USP”: MJ Cole on the making of UKG classic Sincere
- “Lars and I saw him headbanging at the Whiskey. ‘Let’s get that guitar player… oh, he’s playing bass!’ This skinny dude with bell bottoms, playing a wah solo. ‘Wow, we need him!’”: James Hetfield on the life and death of Metallica legend Cliff Burton
February 24
- “The synths only let you play one note at a time, which was great as we couldn’t play chords anyway”: How Depeche Mode launched their career with one of the most important synth-pop records ever released
- “I don’t think we’ll have to go out into the desert and take peyote and puke like we did in the old days – when we were the hip young LA cowboys”: How Don Henley and Glenn Frey remembered the Eagles’ wild years as they created the band’s swan song
- "There's nothing quite like it": The singular genius of Laurie Spiegel's Music Mouse, with Eventide's Tony Agnello
- Audiomodern's Soundbox is a new kind of instrument ecosystem – and it's free for developers
February 23
- “I can’t go on Instagram - my reel is all hardware and I get sucked in”: Electronic producer and artist James Adrian Brown on how his synth obsession fuelled his debut record
- “We play the machines, and sometimes the machines play us”: Delving into the inner workings of the title track from Kraftwerk’s most influential record
- “It was fantastic to have Paul come in every day, and we hung out with him quite a lot as well. The studio was absolutely crammed with our gear and his”: 10cc's Graham Gouldman on working with Paul McCartney at Strawberry Studios
February 22
- “I’ve got to credit Slipknot because they referenced Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse in interviews. I went out and bought all those records”: How Josh Middleton crushed his inner elitist to unleash a brutal Sylosis album for his teenage self
February 21
- “I read the movie script sitting around poolside at a hotel. Then Frankie and I went to my room and wrote the song on an old Wurlitzer piano”: When Sylvester Stallone wanted another Eye Of The Tiger for his next Rocky movie, he knew who to call
February 20
- How Alan Braxe and Fred Falke made an all-time house classic with just a sampler and a bass guitar: “When we did this 25 years ago, it felt like we had no clue of what we were doing”
- “It was John’s original inspiration, I think my melody, I think my guitar riff. That’s my recollection”: Lennon might have written the lyrics, but as McCartney remembers it, he “wrote the tune” to one of The Beatles’ greatest and most poignant songs
February 19
- “It’s definitely one of those songs that I’m never gonna be ashamed of. Hell, it opened a lot of doors for us!”: Kings Of Leon frontman Caleb Followill laughed when he first sang the words to this song – but it turned into a No.1 hit
- “A metalhead named Ron Quintana had a list of names for his fanzine. Lars saw that list. Ron chose Metal Mania – but Metallica was on there. So Lars ‘borrowed’ it. Forever”: James Hetfield on Metallica’s early days – when they were happy to have five fans
February 17
- “Cruise Ship Designer sounded so weird, I would have been scared if you’d said it would ever become a single”: We speak to Dry Cleaning about the making of the Cate Le Bon-produced Secret Love
- “He was a guy in my neighbourhood who played... I was scared to say it at the time, but he played at the level of John McLaughlin!”: Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid pays tribute to a lost genius
- “It revealed what went on behind the doors of Kling Klang, and for once the truth is almost up there with the fiction”: What we’ve learned about the inner workings of Kraftwerk’s mythical studio via a recent auction
- “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to write a song with just one chord?’ And in the restriction of writing with one chord I found a freedom that I’d never found before”: When Neil Diamond broke new ground with The Band’s Robbie Robertson
February 16
- “It’s one of the earliest heavy metal records made. Paul’s contribution was the way Ringo played the drums”: Did the Beatles really pioneer hard rock as early as 1965? John Lennon certainly thought so
- “I would never have played bass without him, and without him I would never have been in a rock band. He taught me so much”: Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea remembers the band’s original guitarist Hillel Slovak
February 14
- “They needed something slow for the romantic scenes with Tom Cruise and Kelly McGillis… The components are the five-note motif, the melody and the distinctive bass sound with a key change in the middle”: The genius of Giorgio Moroder in an ’80s classic
- “It says on the record: ‘No synthesizers’. That’s so cool. And I love Ogre Battle – danga-danga, ‘Waaaaah!’”: Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith names his favourite Queen album
February 13
- “It’s quite funny when people ask us what it means. We had no clue that it would connect with so many people”: How Wet Leg's breakout hit was created in “teenage sleepover mode” and written in a single day
- “I was so surprised Rihanna didn't take it, because I thought it was the greatest song in the world at the time”: How Sia went from songwriter to superstar with one of the 2010s' biggest tracks
February 10
- “There were probably 20 people at that first Rush gig. I don’t recall whether those 20 people were impressed or not. I’m guessing that they weren’t!”: Alex Lifeson recalls the humble beginnings of his legendary band
- “This whole song came from a mistake”: The fateful circumstances that led to Coldplay’s biggest ever song
- “They imbue the essence of their unique design philosophy into every note”: The latest additions to Roland’s Kiyola piano range blend ultra-accurate digital modelling with some world-class aesthetics
- “I walked in… and Joni Mitchell was in baby blue pyjamas. She said, ‘Have a seat.’ And we talked about music. I wrote You Get What You Give the same day”: How a weird dream inspired the New Radicals’ classic ’90s hit
- “Prince told me, ‘You sound so great, man. Keep doing your thing – because when I hear it, it’s such a sound!’”: Cory Wong recalls his encounters with The Purple One – and names the Prince album that every funk guitarist should listen to
February 9
- “When approached thoughtfully, electronic music can act as a kind of scaffolding for the nervous system”: Mastery Studio, Djrum and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith on electronic music, sound healing and its potential for positive minds
- “I didn't even mean to release it - I was working on another song and came up with the riff and then I just started freestyling”: A decade on, we analyse the inner workings of one of Beck’s most potent bangers
February 8
- “It’s crazy, ambitious and so out of the box. It’s like nothing you’d ever heard before.”: Zakk Wylde picks his favourite Randy Rhoads guitar solo – and explains why Rhoads and Ozzy Osbourne were perfect for each other
- “We took a demo tape to A&M Records, who didn’t even know we were signed to them – even though we’d done two albums for them!”: How Roger Hodgson and Supertramp fought their way to the top – and how the multi-million-selling band imploded
February 7
- “There was a time I was collecting synths and using as much hardware as possible – maybe it’s a bit weird to downgrade from that”: Ikonika on discovering their voice and going back-to-basics for Sad
February 5
- “I had no idea that song would become what it became. There was nothing on the radio like that. And the recording is so raw, it’s ridiculous!”: The hard-rocking Lenny Kravitz hit that’s full of surprises
- “I’d have to smoke a big joint to be able to listen to all of it, and I haven’t done that in a long, long time!”: Why Fleetwood Mac legend Lindsey Buckingham would prefer to forget some of his own albums
February 4
- “Eddie was always experimenting. Keyboards entered the mix, but it didn’t sound like a keyboard because Eddie played this cheap little Wurlitzer blazing through Marshalls”: Van Halen's Michael Anthony on the band’s cult classic Women And Children First
- “No other industry would tolerate this level of loss of life and neither should we”: Science indicates that musicians do actually die younger - but why?
- “I was at school supposedly trying to get an education and all I could think about was that album. Black Sabbath are the gods, man!”: How Pantera singer Phil Anselmo fell under Sabbath’s evil spell
February 3
- “Bonzo’s birthday cake was a wedding cake and George Harrison lifted the top layer straight into Bonzo’s face. Bonzo picked Harrison up and launched him into the swimming pool”: When Led Zeppelin broke a Beatles record and celebrated in style
- “I heard a few of those things he did with Johnny Cash and I was impressed. So that was one of the reasons I was interested in working with him”: Neil Diamond scored his first US No.1 album at the age of 67 – with help from producer Rick Rubin
- “I put a pitch-shifter on the master bus!”: In the era of lo-fi beats and bedroom recording, does sound quality even matter anymore?
February 2
- “I remember Lars was unwrapping all these Styx and REO Speedwagon records and I’m going, ‘What are you buying this crap for?’”: Why James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich didn’t always see eye to eye in Metallica’s early days
- “Festivals generate 25,800 tonnes of waste, 22,876 tonnes of CO2 and use 185 million litres of water annually”: How Massive Attack set a new benchmark for the future of sustainable live music events
- “One day I got up and the sun was shining, all the mountains were lit up, and I came up with Mr. Blue Sky”: How Jeff Lynne created his masterpiece with ELO’s Out Of The Blue
February 1
- “I turned to him and said, ‘Where did you come up with that amazing bass line?’ He turned to me and said, ‘Oh, you like that?’ Like he didn't know”: The influential Chic classic that spawned one of the most recognisable basslines of all time
- “The solo is his interpretation of war – all this screaming. It’s such a brilliant piece of artistry, such a pure form of expression”: The explosive Hendrix classic hailed as the greatest guitar track of all time by Guns N’ Roses legend Slash