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October 2025
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181 articles
- October 31
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- “He would always put himself down. I'd say, 'How is your latest record, Jeff?' And he'd go, 'Oh, it's a lot of rubbish'”: Ritchie Blackmore says that Jeff Beck was "always reaching for something he couldn't find"
- “I feel a freedom behind the piano that I don’t feel behind the sequencer”: Armin Van Buuren on why he ditched the DAW and released an album of one-take piano recordings
- This free plugin captures the "evocative warmth and warped textures" of half-speed tape recordings
- If you could have €500 worth of Harley Benton gear, what would you choose? Answer in the guitar brand’s Halloween raffle and the question could become more than hypothetical
- "It’s a lot more complicated in many ways than Bohemian Rhapsody": Queen's most celebrated song marks its 50th anniversary today, but Roger Taylor and Brian May say that several songs they released in the years beforehand were arguably even more ambitious
- "Artists have always been resourceful – we've always found ways to survive and create. OnlyFans is just the latest chapter in that story”: Emerging artist Loveday on why she’s releasing an uncensored version of her new video on OnlyFans
- SampleRadar: 196 free spooky samples
- October 30
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- "I make Blood Orange music with the hopes that it will solely be listened to in headphones": Blood Orange teams up with AIAIAI to redesign the Tracks and TMA-2 Wireless headphones
- “Even when I played the whole album for the label, I was like, ‘Guys, this one is kind of stupid’”: Billie Eilish was so embarrassed by one song on her latest album that she almost ditched it, but then it became a huge hit
- You can save literal thousands of dollars off music gear in Sweetwater's amazing Early Access Black Friday sale – here are 10 of the best discounts
- “One of the songs is a cover song but I actually wrote it, so it’s kind of like a cover, kind of like my song”: Are Megadeth set to include a version of Metallica's Ride The Lightning on their final album?
- “When I hear myself sing that line, it sounds like I’m saying ‘hate'. So, that’s not good. I’m sorry, Lindsey. I’m calling him later”: Stevie Nicks seemingly confirms that she and Lindsey Buckingham are back on speaking terms
- “This guitar is simply too iconic and cool not to be released more widely”: Gibson celebrates the 30th anniversary of Oasis’ Wonderwall by releasing the most talked-about electric guitar of 2025 – finally, Noel's Les Paul is now available for all
- “I said, ‘Oh, man, we’re gonna kick some ass on a Pink Floyd record!’ I’m not really a Pink Floyd guy. I never understood why they got so big. I think they were boring most of the time”: The hard-hitting drummer who substituted for Nick Mason in the ’80s
- October 29
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- “The thing I’m most excited about is it comes fully armed with my signature Seymour Duncan Damocles Blackout pickups”: Jackson and Corey Beaulieu ante up with the Trivium guitarist's new über-metal next-gen King V
- Composer John Williams is reportedly coming out of retirement to pick up the baton on Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming 'UFO movie'
- “Somehow all of these songs mean more to people now than they did when they were first released": Britpop becomes the latest genre to get a classical makeover, courtesy of Blur's Alex James
- “I didn’t write any of these chords or anything – this just came straight from a sample”: Bon Iver and Jim-E Stack break down the making of Day One
- “My dad would say the best solos are the ones you can hum and sing. It’s fun to have shreddiness, but at the end of the day the melody has to come first”: Wolfgang Van Halen on the art of soloing – and why he’s still inspired by Smells Like Teen Spirit
- “I actually auditioned with True Colors for America’s Got Talent when I was 13": Chappell Roan to induct Cyndi Lauper into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame in November
- "I had to learn so many songs so quickly, and I don’t think I ever really did learn them properly”: Paul Rodgers opens up about his time fronting Queen, and why he decided to leave
- “People would ask me, ‘What's it like to replace Keith Moon?’ I said, ‘I didn't replace Keith Moon – I replaced Kenney Jones!’”: How a legendary drummer followed in the footsteps of two other legendary drummers in The Who
- “Not only did I get it back, not one thing had been taken out of the car and all my songwriting books were there untouched": Raye has found her lost musical jottings, paving the way for her second album
- "This synth remains one of the rarest and most revered instruments in music history": Korg launches Collection 6 with PS-3300 and Trinity emulations
- "It is not about ticking boxes. It is about rewriting the rules": UK Music launches 'Five Ps' to inspire "cultural shift" towards a more diverse and inclusive music industry
- “When I found out how funky these things can get, with the twang and everything, that made me get into it”: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram introduces his new Delta Day signature Telecaster Deluxe and explains how the Tele won him over in the end
- October 28
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- “The legendary JB tone, now reimagined for Telecasters”: Seymour Duncan might just have dropped this year’s must-have mod for your Fender Telecaster
- “Yes, I know, I have no respect for an instrument. To me, it’s a piece of wood until you make it into a useful tool”: Steve Morse on the time he took power tools to his guitar so he could play a Deep Purple show with a broken wrist
- “The Level Of Concern USB drive carries significant meaning for the band and its history”: Twenty One Pilots are hit by gear theft... again
- “When we wrote the piece, it was a warning. I didn’t, honestly, in my heart, think it would ever happen”: Heaven 17 to release new updated version of (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
- Florian Schneider's Kraftwerk instruments go up for auction – including an EMS Synthi AKS likely used on Autobahn
- “It’s like the Hummingbird only evil”: Kirk Hammett’s new Custom Shop signature Raven dresses up the classic Gibson acoustic for Halloween
- Legendary producer Trevor Horn makes a surprise live appearance as he joins rising star Sophie Grey for a performance of Buggles hit Video Killed The Radio Star, singing lead vocals and playing bass guitar
- Antelope Audio drops free EQ plugin to celebrate the release of individual perpetual licenses for 75+ plugins
- "Michael picked up the music stand and threw it at the wall. He picked up a chair and threw it, too, then angrily pushed over a baffle": New book claims that Michael Jackson "trashed the studio" as he was forced to re-record lines in a 1996 hit single
- October 27
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- Jazz great Jack DeJohnette - drummer for Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and others - dies, aged 83
- “I didn’t think it was the most important album since Sgt Pepper. But I certainly knew saying that brought more attention to it, and more sales to it”: Sananda Maitreya on why he talked up his debut album as Terence Trent D’Arby
- “I fought tooth and nail for it not to be on the record, but Ed was, like, ‘If it’s not, I’m leaving’”: Radiohead on the resurgent OK Computer track that almost split the band
- Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter performs first DJ set in 16 years – and it's a B2B with Fred Again
- October 26
- October 25
- October 24
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- "Next July, I will have the benefit of five days of Oasis concerts in the fantastic venue of Knebworth House”: Oasis Knebworth gigs for 2026 appeared to be leaked... in the House of Lords
- Think you know your... Rush?
- PinkPantheress, Billy Bragg, Jamie Cullum and more to spill hitmaking secrets at Anti Social Camp
- October 23
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- Classic Interview: Soft Cell’s Dave Ball – “To my mind, Kraftwerk are as influential as The Beatles”
- "He will always be loved by fans who loved his music": Dave Ball, founder of Soft Cell and The Grid, has died aged 66
- “A playful and accessible version designed especially for kids”: What has three strings, one pickup and is the colour of strawberry milkshake? It’s the Fender x Loog’s Hello Kitty Stratocaster – and it might be the cutest beginner guitar of all time
- “Set to become the next collectible cult classic”: Fender gives the Squier Hello Kitty Stratocaster a limited edition makeover – and expands its capsule collection with new-look fuzz and accessories
- October 22
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- “Now do it with upstrokes only”: Metallica’s Master Of Puppets has been to the Upside Down but this backwards version might be the Strangest Thing you’ll hear this year
- "People have this idea of how records are made – I think it’s at once hilarious, but probably mostly rooted in misogyny": Jack Antonoff on the misconceptions surrounding his collaborations with female artists
- “It brings studio style compression dynamics to any pedalboard and offers a warm musical response with an exceptionally low noise floor”: Orange’s King Comp is a monster compressor with the feel of an amp
- “I have a cassette of the session, just a rough mix of us playing, and it’s fabulous!” Vernon Reid on D’Angelo’s everlasting impact on popular music, their session together – and the deep roots of the late neo-soul trailblazer's sound
- “I love Oasis. But sometimes it sounds like Liam thinks he’s in The Beatles, too!”: Wolfgang Van Halen names his favourite Oasis album – and reveals how he got the killer tones for his new Mammoth songs
- Is Behringer cancelling synths that have already been announced?
- “He played the role of a bass player very musically. It would be like water, formless, and then crash, and then shape mountains”: Thundercat pays tribute to one of his bass heroes – Sam Rivers
- October 21
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- "We’ve taken what artists love about AutoTune and rebuilt it for a new generation of creators": Antares announces AutoTune 2026 – and discontinues Artist and Access editions
- “I think it would always have niggled at me. Because those performances with Olivia Rodrigo triggered me, in a way”: Lily Allen says that being invited on stage by a Gen-Z star played a big part in her musical comeback
- “When I wake up, am I going to be able move my hand or not? I don’t know”: Steve Morse reveals how he is playing through the pain barrier – and how arthritis is forcing him to change the way he plays guitar
- "The iconic essence of analogue electronic drums in a practical form factor": HexDrums, Erica Synths' "mutant" analogue drum machine, is available for pre-order
- “The vocals are either only in your left ear or only in your right ear. No vocals are straight down the middle - I’m calling this my retro pop vocal production”: Raye breaks down the head-spinning vocal arrangement in her hit single Where Is My Husband!
- “During a high school dance in 1955, a Gibson guitar helped change the course of music history”: Gibson unveils Custom Shop Back To The Future ES-345 Collector’s Edition – and there’s a limited edition Epiphone too
- “This is what it feels like to be hunted by something smarter than you”: Grimes’ new single is sung from the perspective of AI
- With the launch of OneLibrary, DJs can finally use their track collection across different brands' players and software
- October 20
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- “I expected to hear something weird and melodic. What he played me instead, with two fingers… at first I began to laugh”: After 50 years, the Jaws theme remains iconic, but when Steven Spielberg heard it for the first time, he thought it was a joke
- “More flexibility, more accessibility, and more ways to connect with Traktor”: Native Instruments launches entry-level Traktor Play DJ software and bundles it with controllers from AlphaTheta
- “There is no possible way that I would do that”: David Gilmour shuts door on idea of ever performing with Roger Waters again
- “Being able to go into a sacred space like that and start the process was a dream come true”: Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy and Mark Tremonti on recording at the studio that Eddie Van Halen built – and the 5150 amp that gave them their fire-breathing tone
- “Anything I could spit out of my mouth - ‘Try this! Do this!’ – Sam could do it and do it a thousand times better than I could hear it in my head”: Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst hails the "magical" powers of late bassist Sam Rivers
- “People come from all over the world, and everyone is supportive and encouraging. For 60 seconds you’re allowed to be free, silly, the biggest rock star in the world”: The World Air Guitar champion talks about how he won his title
- "Rest in Power": Anthony Jackson, six-string bass ace, dies aged 73
- October 19
- October 18
- October 17
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- “It was just like ‘Oh my God, this is everything I want an album to be,’ and it was unlike anything I’d ever heard before”: When Rick Rubin and Eric Clapton got to hear D’Angelo’s Voodoo album before it was released, they were completely blown away
- “A light, open sound with exceptional stick definition and a gentle, airy wash": Zultan unveil new ALARIS cymbal range
- Meet the AI 'artist' that's earning four times the average wage in the UK
- “He moved from instrument to instrument as quietly as possible and blew my mind with his vocal performance and the beauty of that piece”: Prince’s collaborators on how he embraced The Beatles and recorded one of the most vulnerable ballads of his career
- Teenage Engineering is letting you pay what you want for the OP-XY
- “I hope the fans realised that I’m for real. All the stuff I’ve done was not contrived or remotely premeditated. It was always spontaneous”: Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley inspired a generation of rock stars – including Pantera, Pearl Jam and Tool
- October 16
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- “I have a button on my iPhone that goes straight to voice recording because the ideas come fast. My list of voice memos is in the thousands!”: Wolfgang Van Halen discusses his songwriting process for his new Mammoth album
- “Connect microphones wirelessly to PA systems, mixers, or audio interfaces, without complicated setup or risk of interference”: Positive Grid’s Spark LINK XLR offers cable-free and fuss-free connections for live performance
- "It’s the children who suffer the most in so many ways": Over 50 artists to take part in Kate Bush-backed fundraising project for War Child
- “Everything from robust clean tones to incendiary overdrive right at your fingertips”: The Jet takes flight as Gretsch refreshes the singlecut for Streamliner and Electromatic series – and there is a single-pickup rock 'n' roll machine FTW
- Spectrasonics announces Omnisphere 3, the "ultimate virtual instrument" that's been ten years in the making
- “That spark of stumbling on a forgotten gem … gone. Daft Punk were the kings of that. They could turn half a second of groove into a global anthem”: Justice explain why they no longer sample other people’s records and create their own loops instead
- “The natural depth, width and clarity of a real control room - right in the user’s headphones”: IK Multimedia’s ARC ON·EAR promises to bring a pro studio soundstage to any pair of headphones
- “I definitely felt something special in the air that day": How Van Morrison recorded his greatest song
- Roland's big V-Drum 3 and 5 series drop adds 6 kits to its e-drum range, including V71-lite modules and on-trend acoustic-look options
- October 15
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- “The only reason that this guitar is even in existence is because of you guys”: By popular demand, Sean Long of While She Sleeps’ built-for-metal Charvel signature model now comes in Neon Pink
- Apple announces its new M5 chip and puts it in the MacBook Pro 14-inch, iPad Pro and Vision Pro headset, but with the heavy focus on AI, will music makers feel the performance benefits?
- Yamaha's MODX M synth squeezes the power of the Montage M into a more affordable package
- "It felt fitting to broadcast it into the unknown, into dark matter": Brian Eno to beam his new album into space tonight
- "I was molecularly changed from the moment I first heard Voodoo – we all were": Jacob Collier, Beyoncé, Lauryn Hill, Flea and many more pay tribute to D'Angelo – "he changed the course of popular music"
- “I was just with my wife and some people trying to clean them and save stuff, but it’s just too emotional…”: Seth Troxler is offering €10 an hour to anyone willing to help him clean up his vinyl
- “The first pedal emulation that truly captures the mechanical yet wildly organic nature of these oddball machines”: Strymon’s Olivera is a vintage oil can delay without the oil, without the mechanics, and with a lot more control over your tone
- October 14
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- Neo-soul pioneer D’Angelo has died, aged 51
- “The CLF-50E is as much a statement piece as it is a versatile performance tool”: Harley Benton’s new acoustic guitar is a compact parlour with a solid Sitka spruce top, onboard electronics and metallic colour finish – and it is just over $250
- "The rebirth of phase distortion": Behringer releases its Casio CZ-1 clone, the CZ-1 Mini
- “He was like, ‘Ronnie just had dinner with Paul McCartney, and Paul recommended that you be our producer, so what do you think?’": It took an intervention from Paul McCartney for Mick Jagger to offer Andrew Watt a job with the Rolling Stones
- "We've completely reimagined what's possible in a compact controller": Akai unveils MPK Mini IV with pitch and mod wheels, new keybed and full-size MIDI output
- “This series is built for players who demand reliability, versatility and performance at the highest level”: Fender gives its US lineup a retro-modern makeover with the American Professional Classic range
- “In the studio, I’ve had a few moments where men seem to be shocked if I know how to do a certain thing, like, ‘Comping my own vocal - yes, I can do that’”: Sabrina Carpenter songwriter Amy Allen on the challenges faced by women in the music industry
- “She grabbed a mic, I grabbed a bass, and we jammed for like 30 minutes. After she left I built the whole thing out and sent it to her. She was like, ‘Damn, this is amazing!’”: Kid Harpoon on Miley Cyrus' Flowers
- October 13
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- “When we sat down and started playing some of the Rush stuff, I realised how hard it was to play these songs”: Alex Lifeson makes a surprise admission
- “This scheme is the envy of the world”: Irish culture minister hails expansion of a basic income scheme for musicians and creatives
- “He was tired and ready to leave, so he just started hitting anything on the keyboard. I was like: ‘that’s it right there!’ Then I just went in the booth and did the record”: The story of Get Ur Freak On, the bhangra-sampling hit that almost didn’t happen
- “I've spent a lot of time sort of trying to bully AI into being interesting”: Jacob Collier says that the problem with using AI for music making is that “it’s almost too perfect”
- "Stick with it. Focus… You've gotta put the time in”: Lars Ulrich’s advice to young artists
- “He tried it when he came in and he said ‘I can’t do it as good as you, Ronnie. You get back on the drums.’”: When Charlie Watts ceded the drums to Ronnie Wood on a Stones track
- October 11
- October 10
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- “You’d get the chart positions. ‘Oh, we're Number One again!’ It almost got boring after a while”: Brian May and Roger Taylor recall the making of Queen’s masterpiece A Night At The Opera
- Hisong's AirStudio S1 is a pocket-sized all-in-one recording solution for musicians on the move
- Take MusicRadar's quick music survey to win £200/$200 in Amazon Vouchers
- October 9
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- Steinberg rebrands hardware products under Yamaha and shifts focus exclusively to software
- “Mark’s like, ‘I feel something’, and we wrote it so fast. ‘Gonna be, gonna be Golden’ came out super fast. ‘Up, up, up it’s our moment’... that came out fast, too”: EJAE on the making of the KPop Demon Hunters "banger" that's taken over the world
- Allen & Heath's Xone:K3 brings RGB backlighting, improved hardware and USB-C to its portable performance-oriented MIDI controller
- October 8
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- “Everyone using this now as a weapon is only proving how devastatingly divided we all are”: Zach Bryan attempts to calm down the furore over Bad News
- “Taking the mid-gain, tube-amp-driving concept even further”: Warm Audio channels the greatest hits of classic overdrive with the regal Throne Of Tone dual-drive and the 3-in-1 Tone Squealer
- With some astonishing discounts of up to $3,500 off, the Sweetwater Recording Sale is the place to pick up studio gear for less this Prime Day
- “Everything you need at your fingertips”: Native Instruments launches its new generation of Traktor controllers with the MX2
- “There’s so much material at this point – it’s a matter of having the discipline to sit down and get into it”: Slash says a new Guns N’ Roses album is coming
- "OK, let’s put it out”: John Lennon originally wanted to “just throw away” Walls and Bridges and had to be persuaded to release it
- “Wait, wait, wait, wait. What did you say two minutes ago? That second note was better in that. Can we go back? Run it back. What did you say there?”: Taylor Swift explains her "stream of consciousness" songwriting sessions with Max Martin and Shellback
- “It’s a guitar that brings high-end performance within reach for everyone”: PRS announces huge SE lineup update, teaming up with Herman Li to bring top-tier shred to the masses with the Chleo SE
- “A testament to their expansive and much-loved music catalogue that they continue to mean so much to UK audiences to this very day”: Which 20th-century band are the top ‘rock’ act in 21st-century Britain?
- If you own a Korg microKorg 2, you're not going to want to miss this firmware update
- "I just listen to songs": Kylie, Zara Larsson, Kaytranada and Sugababes all lined up for PinkPantheress’s remix album, Fancy Some More?
- Klon Centaur inventor Bill Finnegan’s lawsuit against Behringer over its $69 Klon clone has been dismissed
- "These people didn't know how involved Dom was in Ozzy's life. They don't know the story of it”: Jack Osbourne backs Yungblud over Darkness criticism of VMAs performance
- October 7
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- “This is your chance to own the sound that defined heavy metal. Don’t wait, once they’re gone, they’re gone”: Ashdown and Reverb are selling Geezer Butler’s Head Of Doom bass amps, signed by the man himself
- "It's an orchestra-in-a-box, multi-timbral wall of sound, and Swiss army synth rolled into one": Cherry Audio's Trident Mk III continues the legacy of an underrated Korg classic
- “You can make the best album ever with a laptop and plugins. You don’t need anything else”: Jim-E Stack reveals his production secrets and talks working with Lorde and Bon Iver
- “Given the fact that this is all-mahogany with an ebony fingerboard and a Bigsby, it’s a little more hi-fi… but it will rock, it will roll”: Epiphone raids Joe Bonamassa’s Nerdville archive for another reproduction of a vintage unicorn
- "There were times recording Rosanna – and Africa, too – where we literally had one spare track. Just the one!”: Toto’s Steve Porcaro on the perils of recording live to analogue tape, and what happened if you were the one who messed up the crucial take
- “Sounds like four lads trying to get out of Manchester”: The Stone Roses’ debut single to be reissued for charity
- “She said, ‘Looks like you found it on a beach. But then it also looks like it came from outer space’”: Ken Parker, visionary luthier behind the Parker Fly, has died, aged 73
- Alesis's new 9-piece Nitro Ultimate electronic drum kit is its new flagship, and the hi-hat is the star
- Amazon Prime Day is a bust for music makers, but don't worry, the Musician's Friend Rocktober sale is here to save the day with up to 40% off big-name brands
- Ed Sheeran announces Adolescence-style single-shot Netflix special
- "Something that matches every moment” or Robot Rock? Spotify teams up with ChatGPT to make personal recommendations
- Who needs Prime Day when you can indulge in Guitar Center's epic Guitar-A-Thon sale? Save up to $900 on Taylor and up to $500 on Gibson models
- “Sometimes it’s best not to meet your idols. I took on the project because I was a fan of the band, but I was not naive about what would happen”: Todd Rundgren’s Top 5 favourite album productions that aren't Bat Out Of Hell
- “It reminds me of Batman and the Joker. It’s just so cool”: Korn’s Brian ‘Head’ Welch and James ‘Munky’ Schaffer on their Yin and Yang signature Ibanez 7-strings – and how it all comes back to Steve Vai
- October 6
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- "Alex and I have done some serious soul searching and come to the decision that we miss it": Geddy Lee confirms that Rush are going back on the road with Anika Nilles joining them on drums
- With plugins starting from just $24 the Universal Audio Rocktober deal is the best place to power up your productions ahead of Prime Day
- “It sounded great, but I don’t know if it felt like history was happening”: Richard Branson says he happened to be in the studio when Phil Collins was recording what "might be the most famous drum solo of all time"
- Minimal Audio promises to "go beyond the vocoder" with "hypermodern" vocal resynthesis plugin Evoke
- The one where Courteney Cox plays Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit on the drums and goes viral
- “I didn't recognise him, because he had really short hair. I just thought he was some friend of Pete's. I found out later this was Dave Gilmour!”: Drummer Simon Phillips recalls the chaos of his favourite recorded performance – on a Pete Townshend song
- “Lola has always been authentic in her songwriting process”: Lola Young is taking legal action against Messy co-producer Carter Lang, who claims he should have writing credits on four of her songs
- Novation launches Play, a free plugin for Launchkey Mk4 owners
- October 5
- October 4
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- “If the labels don’t start taking care of songwriters, there won’t be any anymore... I’m very, very scared for this next generation of writers”: Justin Tranter fires warning shot over the plight of songwriters
- “Every time I would play it for somebody, they’d be like ‘Wow.’ It’s one of his classics”: Mariah Carey is miffed that her Michael Jackson duet is still unreleased
- “Along with Journey, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner, we’d been lumped-in with the whole Corporate Rawk thing. We weren’t ‘cool’": Steve Porcaro on the rise, fall and resurgence of Toto, working with Michael Jackson and his new solo album
- October 3
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- With the TR-1000 Roland has finally given analogue purists what they want – so can we move on from 808 and 909 clones now?
- "That's how the band took Ric's demos and turned them into Cars songs": The Cars are working on a new album using Ric Ocasek’s old recordings
- "Right away, I heard the Justice influence, the Franz Ferdinand coolness, The Cure’s vulnerability and softness. We were just an instant match": Lady Gaga on why she quickly gelled with "incredibly gifted" Mayhem collaborator, Cirkut
- “I realised the only way to go about it and get in was to take Bruce Springsteen out of it”: Jeremy Allen White on the challenge of becoming The Boss in Deliver Me From Nowhere
- "I got kicked out of the Grammys one time, when Herbie Hancock beat Kanye for Album of the Year... I was pretty drugged up back then": Mike Dean on being ejected from the Grammy Awards – and why next year could be his year
- “It started off sounding a bit like Prince. I wanted to hear something in my mix so I cut the snare and it changed the whole mood of the track": How George Michael accidentally created the ‘80s smash that inspired Taylor Swift on The Life of a Showgirl
- October 2
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- “I was sitting outside playing guitar very badly to myself and he said: ‘Let me show you some shapes.’ I said: ‘Wow, you’re good!’”: When Jeff Beck gave Imogen Heap an impromptu guitar lesson she had no idea who he was
- “Most pop music is just rubbish now, but we can get back to the way records were made back in the day, which have dynamics, and are pleasurable listens”: Legendary drummer Simon Phillips on his role as producer for progressive rock supergroup DarWin
- “This is the amp that defined the sound of surf and early rock ’n’ roll”: Universal Audio is giving away its new UAD Showtime '64 Tube Amp plugin worth $149 for free
- “So, Dave, how do I slash the amp?”: Dave Davies picks up a razor and slashes a speaker on camera to demonstrate how he got the Kinks’ iconic proto-fuzz guitar tone
- “I had this ridiculous fantasy of being like Slash with the top hat, no shirt, on stage shredding a Les Paul, but that wasn’t supposed to be me”: Mark Ronson says that he had to come to terms with the fact that he would never be a great guitar player
- “For the first time, we’re moving beyond samples”: Splice unveils free plugin and virtual instrument platform with hundreds of free presets
- “I didn’t think that Oasis were very good songwriters. This obsession with Britishness just didn’t really compute with us”: Placebo on drugs, Bowie and standing out from Britpop ‘like a sore thumb’
- “Lars has a thing that every time they’ve done an album, he comes and plays it to me, and hopes that I nod and say, ‘That’s a good lad’. I said, ’You forgot the bass!’“: Flemming Rasmussen is still confused by Metallica’s bassless ...And Justice For All
- “I wanted to sculpt something off-kilter, a shape that’s equal parts eye-candy and ‘what the hell is that?’”: KHDK has made killer pedals for Scott Ian, Chino Moreno, Gary Holt and more – now it is making electric guitars, with artist collabs coming
- “It’s shocking, it’s disheartening, it’s insulting – most importantly – it’s a wake up call”: Cardiff band decry the fact AI ‘band’ trained on their music overtakes them on Spotify
- October 1
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- “It possesses the horsepower to remain clean, even at the loudest volumes, and handles – and delivers – the highest dynamic content from your picking hand”: Mesa/Boogie reissues a cult classic that takes the amp brand back to the beginning
- "Legendary analogue sound for the whole band": Universal Audio launches Volt 876 USB Recording Studio, the first rackmount interface in the Volt series
- “I drove everyone crazy with it because I was the only one who noticed at first, but once I pointed it out we all heard it and wanted it gone”: The curious case of The Weeknd’s mic distortion, and how his live sound team fixed it
- “Our guitars, bass guitar, cymbals, snare, and my pedal board were stolen last night”: Indie rockers The Beths appeal for leads
- “You can turn an Epiphone into the Tommy Bolin Burst!”: Seymour Duncan expands Joe Bonamassa signature pickup range with a humbucker set based on the PAFs from his 1960 ‘Bolin Burst’ Les Paul Standard
- "It means a lot to me because the greatest feeling in my life, truly, is playing new music for people and seeing their reactions": David Guetta is the World’s Number One DJ – again
- “I was just rebelling… I always regretted not putting it out”: Which '90s pop princess recorded a grunge album that was never released?
- “I remember when I first heard it. Big deal for me – I loved it immediately. It’s all over Rosanna, all over Africa”: Toto’s Steve Porcaro names his Top 5 synths
- “Is this the best guitar I’ve ever played? Including the ones in your museum? I believe so”: Mikael Åkerfeldt has played Kurt Cobain’s 1953 D-18 ‘Grandpa’ and 19th-century holy grail acoustics but says his Martin OM signature beats the lot of them
- Tame Impala's synth company announces worldwide release date for Orchid and unveils companion plugin
- “The first Roland drum machine in over 40 years with true analogue voices”: The TR-1000 combines analogue 808 and 909 recreations with the best parts of the TR-8S and more