Old Bands Die, New Band Begin.

Funnyman

Senior Member
I was thinking about something, even though today's music seems bad, not all of it is bad. I'm listening to a newer guy named Joe Bonamassa - a blues rock player, it seems like people are saying he put Eric Clapton to rest. Even though Eric is good. I was wondering what do you guys think of newer bands? And the ones who inspired them?
 
No one can put Clapton to rest mate.....save for Clapton himself. His body of work speaks for itself and will be held in high regard long after he's gone. I'm sure Bonamassa has the goods, but it'll be a cold day in hell before he's able to take Claptons career away from him. Time will tell.......give it another 40 odd years and it may be fair to make comparisons then.

As for new bands and the bands that inspired them. We all draw inspiration from somewhere. If I think it's good, then I think it's good.....regardless of new, old, inspired or not.
 
No one can put Clapton to rest mate.....save for Clapton himself. His body of work speaks for itself and will be held in high regard long after he's gone. I'm sure Bonamassa has the goods, but it'll be a cold day in hell before he's able to take Claptons career away from him. Time will tell.......give it another 40 odd years and it may be fair to make comparisons then.

As for new bands and the bands that inspired them. We all draw inspiration from somewhere. If I think it's good, then I think it's good.....regardless of new, old, inspired or not.

Couldn't say it any better. Yet I'm only 17, so I never grew up with "older" bands.
 
One thing I've learned in my 30 years of playing drums is that there's always this prevailing attitude that, "The music these days is crap..." It's always been true that the golden age of good music was x number of years ago. One of those damn things, I guess.

I prefer listening to new music and I go through quite a bit of it looking for diamonds in the rough. Something about listening to older "classic" music is not that appealing to me. There are exceptions, of course, but I'd rather look forward.
 
Time is usually a natural filter of detritus.
 
Dont know if this makes sense being in this thread but 34 years ago I would argue daily with a couple guys 8 years my senior that Kiss was so much better then Led Zepplin (that old band from the 60's) this of course was mid 70's when Kiss alive just come out... you know I still like that album though... just not quite as much as any of Zep's now...
 
I was thinking about something, even though today's music seems bad, not all of it is bad. I'm listening to a newer guy named Joe Bonamassa - a blues rock player, it seems like people are saying he put Eric Clapton to rest. Even though Eric is good. I was wondering what do you guys think of newer bands? And the ones who inspired them?

Bonamassa is not exactly new and doesn't hold a candle to Clapton. Eric Clapton was one of the original innovators of blues rock. Joe B is a poor imitation/amalgamation of the originators based on the album of his I heard. Exactly who is saying he put Clapton to rest?
 
Just remember that Clapton (and every other musician for that matter), was once the new dog inspired by those who came before them.
 
Just remember that Clapton (and every other musician for that matter), was once the new dog inspired by those who came before them.

Yes but Clapton took things to a new place. A new dog with new skills. Broke new ground. Based on the album I heard, Joe B. isn't doing that. New dog maybe but basically the same tricks from from 40 years ago
 
i just saw joe bonamassa play live a few weeks ago and he is indeed very, very good. if you like blues/rock guitar at all you should definitely give him a listen. he did a duo performance with eric clapton at king albert hall in london that i saw on tv a while ago. both guitarists are masters of their instruments, but i would not say either one is "better" than the other.
 
You mean the Royal Albert I hope! National pride at stake...
 
Yes but Clapton took things to a new place. A new dog with new skills. Broke new ground. Based on the album I heard, Joe B. isn't doing that. New dog maybe but basically the same tricks from from 40 years ago

I'm wondering if there any new tricks to be found on guitar or if they've all been found by Les Paul, Hank B Marvin, Eric, Jimi Hendrix, Alan Holdsworth, Adrian Belew, Stanley Jordan, Bob Fripp, Charlie Hunter, Ian Williams, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, the various Captain Beefheart axemen, Brian May, Fred Frith ...
 
Joes got a teriffic drummer too, Bogie Bowles. Joe plays with such passion, it doesn't matter to me that he's not breaking new ground. The old ground still works just fine for me lol.
I don't want to see Blues change that much, but then again I'm not terribly progressive either.

Bogie, Dave Kida, (the drummer for Rod Piazza's band) and Mark Teixeira, (drummer for Duke Robillard's band) are the 3 best contemporary blues drummers out there in my opinion. Which has nothing to do with the OP.

In music, there's room for everybody. Except maybe for those guys who were trying to get through Comfortably Numb.
 
I'm wondering if there any new tricks to be found on guitar or if they've all been found by Les Paul, Hank B Marvin, Eric, Jimi Hendrix, Alan Holdsworth, Adrian Belew, Stanley Jordan, Bob Fripp, Charlie Hunter, Ian Williams, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, the various Captain Beefheart axemen, Brian May, Fred Frith ...

Oh didn't you get the memo? The last trick was uncovered, get this...on the same day that the first trick was discovered, May 13, just last year! How wacky is that? And the guy who uncovered it? The great grandson of the guy who discovered the first trick! (I think it was a guy named Eddie....) Sorry Pol, we'll make sure you get all the memos from now on.
 
I'm wondering if there any new tricks to be found on guitar or if they've all been found by Les Paul, Hank B Marvin, Eric, Jimi Hendrix, Alan Holdsworth, Adrian Belew, Stanley Jordan, Bob Fripp, Charlie Hunter, Ian Williams, Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, the various Captain Beefheart axemen, Brian May, Fred Frith ...

Ad Infinitum... so yes, there are plenty of tricks yet!
 
Oh didn't you get the memo? The last trick was uncovered, get this...on the same day that the first trick was discovered, May 13, just last year! How wacky is that? And the guy who uncovered it? The great grandson of the guy who discovered the first trick! (I think it was a guy named Eddie....) Sorry Pol, we'll make sure you get all the memos from now on.

Glad to hear that you're lifting your game, Larry, but I don't get to read them all. Coincidentally, the last one was on 13 May 1998, which was when I hung up my drum sticks (for good, so thought).

It seems the prevailing mood in the room is out with the old and on with the new, but I'm still catching up on what seems to be a galaxy of old memos ...
 
One thing I've learned in my 30 years of playing drums is that there's always this prevailing attitude that, "The music these days is crap..." It's always been true that the golden age of good music was x number of years ago. One of those damn things, I guess.
.

Pretty much.

People love to talk about the good ole days, and nostalgia. Human nature I guess.

There is plenty of new stuff out there, but these days you have to go looking for it.
 
Bonamassa is what many folks call blooze. Overamped incessant wailing over 12 bar blues forms. Ground beaten to a pulp by Gary Moore and countless Stevie Ray Vaughnabees. I have heard a couple of things of his on occasion that said something to me, but most of it is aural assualt. I saw KWS open the original G3 show at the Concord Pavilion and thought, "when is this stuff going to die", but it never seems to. There was a kid on the west coast who was another "up and coming" blues guitar phenom. I went to a show he played at a local blues venue and everyone was pressed up against the back wall leaning back like those Maxell ads. Folks like Tommy Castro, Michael Burke or Coco Montoya pack that place playing almost as loud, but this kid was hammering everyone so hard the front 3rd of the room was a wasteland. I would describe his playing to folks as resembling a teenager who just discovered sex. Hop on, and pound away as hard as you can until it's over. No journey, no story, no arc, just blasting on 11. It's impressive for the first couple minutes, but like someone shouting in your ear or typing in all caps, it gets old really quick.

But there are new things out there. If you want to hear the future of electric blues guitar, check out Matt Schofield. He blends Albert Collins and Robben Ford into something that is unique and fresh, while still containing the essence of blues.
Jimmy Herring's Lifeboat CD has some tunes together with Derek Trucks that combine world music, blues and jazz in very musical ways.
Then there are blues oriented folks like John Wedemeyer (Vegas sideman but look him up on youtube) who take from all sorts of music and fuze it together into what John calls "loud guitar" music. Probably a tip of the hat to Scofield's Loud Jazz. John will play a traditional blues lick and follow it up with some outside jazz riff followed up by some Jeff Beck like noise stunt and make the whole thing into musical sense. Probably the most impressive thing about John's playing is the ability to take some regular thing (check out the Led Zeppelin medley on youtube which was the inspiration for Buckethead's Zep medley, they are friends from way back) and make it sound special. It's like how Steve Jordan can play a straight 4 on the floor and make it sound better than countless folks Vinnie impersonations. There is something about how a great player can make a single note sound majestic. BB King anyone?

I recently got to see Terry Haggarty playing in a blues context. Terry was playing outside jazz over soul and rock back in the 60's with the Son's of Champlian. Santana has said that if he hadn't heard Terry while coming up, he would be just another blues guitarist. Haggarty is still staying true to his muse and coming up with music that is unique to him. Two other guitarist were on this same bill. Terry Hiatt who fuses country, blues and jazz fusion into something that is uniquely him. And Garth Webber who has played with everyone from Miles to Mose Allison and has mastered the art of telling a story, while making every note (even while shredding notes at a Bonamassa like clip) have it's own personality and meaning.

There's probably much more out there. The great thing about music forums is being turned on to the local heros and various others under the radar that are making awesome music.
 
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