Joe Satriani

One of the most influential and respected instrumental rock guitarists to emerge in the past three decades, Joe Satriani is that rare “musician’s musician” who’s crossed over into the mainstream with music sublime and complex, appealing to a wide variety of tastes.

A true master of the six-string, Satriani worked as a guitar teacher in his early career, with a number of his students—among them Steve Vai, Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Larry LaLonde, David Bryson (Counting Crows), Charlie Hunter and more—achieving their own considerable successes.

While in considerable demand as a sideman throughout his career—he’s toured with Mick Jagger, Deep Purple and many others—Satriani has pursued his own musical vision over the years through a series of instrumental rock albums (many of them Grammy nominated) which chronicle his evolution as an artist and his eloquence as a guitarist.

A tireless performer who draws strength and inspiration from live shows, Satriani is consistently one of the world’s top concert draws. He is a core member of the rock supergroup Chickenfoot (with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony and Chad Smith) as well as founder of the highly successful G3 tours, each teaming Satriani with a pair of top-flight guitarists with shows often featuring special guest artists and other musical surprises. A nearly annual event, G3 launched in 1996 with Steve Vai and Eric Johnson and has showcased a wide variety of axemen over the years including Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Yngwie Malmsteen, Robert Fripp, John Petrucci, Steve Morse, Neal Schon, Brian May, Billy Gibbons, Steve Lukather and many others. Most recently, the G3 tour played South America in 2012.

Over his career, Joe Satriani has earned 15 Best Rock Instrumental Performance Grammy nominations alongside Platinum (Surfing With The Alien, Flying in a Blue Dream) and Gold (Surfing With The Alien, Flying in a Blue Dream, The Extremist, Time Machine) certifications for his solo recordings. He also racked up Gold and Platinum certifications for the DVD Live in San Francisco and 2 G3 DVDs, G3 Live and Live in Denver.

Peter Frampton

His 2019 album All Blues, was #1 for fifteen weeks on Billboard‘s Blues Chart, his 2020 autobiography Do You Feel Like I Do?: A Memoir debuted on The New York Times Bestsellers list, and in 2021, his new album Frampton Forgets The Words was released to widespread critical acclaim.

Steve Lukather

Steve Lukather already had a loyal following among his peers in the music industry before the public got to know him as one of the original members of the group Toto. A gifted and versatile guitarist, Lukather was one of the busiest session players of the 1980s and ’90s, contributing to albums by Michael Jackson, Stevie Nicks, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Streisand, and many more, while also recording and touring with Toto, where he began to hone his talents as a vocalist and songwriter. Lukather launched his solo career in 1989 with the album Lukather; he showed off his technique in a live setting on 2001’s No Substitutions: Live in Osaka (recorded in tandem with Larry Carlton); he mixed rock, pop, and blues on 2010’s All’s Well That Ends Well, and 2021’s I Found the Sun Again featured him with a band of longtime collaborators who were able to complete each tune in no more than two takes.

Born in Los Angeles, California, on October 21, 1957, Steve Lukather discovered rock music the way just about every American youngster did during the ’60s, via the Beatles. When he was seven years old, his father bought him a guitar and a copy of the album Meet the Beatles, and Lukather immediately began teaching himself to play. He became proficient in guitar, keyboards, and drums on his own, and sought out older friends who could teach him new tricks on his guitar. He started taking lessons from musician and educator Jimmy Wyble, and got to know drummer Jeff Porcaro and keyboardist Steve Porcaro, brothers who attended the same high school as Lukather and were already playing professionally. By the time he was 20, he was already playing sessions, and when the Porcaro brothers announced they were forming a band, they invited him to join the lineup. The band was Toto, and they released their self-titled debut album in 1978. It included the hit single “Hold the Line” and the album rose to the Top Ten — and Lukather officially became a rock star.

While Toto enjoyed almost immediate success, Lukather still found time for session work, and his guitar playing can be heard on albums by Boz Scaggs, the Pointer Sisters, Leo Sayer, Cher, and Alice Cooper. Toto’s next two albums, 1979’s Hydra and 1981’s Turn Back, were only moderately successful, but 1982’s Toto IV became one of their greatest successes, featuring two massive hit singles, “Rosanna” and “Africa.” Lukather began expanding his role in the group, contributing to the songwriting (he wrote or co-wrote four songs on Toto IV), and adding vocals on the sessions. He and most of his Toto bandmates were recruited to back Michael Jackson on the sessions for his 1982 release Thriller, which became a runaway hit and a cultural phenomenon.

As he continued to play sessions and work with Toto, Lukather became increasingly eager to make music of his own. In 1989, he released his first solo album, Lukather, which included contributions from Eddie Van Halen, Steve Stevens, and Richard Marx. 1989 also saw the release of the first album from Los Lobotomys, a Lukather side project that featured David Garfield, Vinnie Colaiuta, and Will Lee. In 1991, after several personnel changes, Lukather found himself as Toto’s lead singer as well as their guitarist; the same year, he guested on The Way In, an album from noted jazz guitarist Jeff Richman. His next solo album, 1994’s Candyman, was actually a Los Lobotomys project, released under the group’s name in the United States and as a Lukather album abroad. 1997’s Luke included two songs co-written by Fee Waybill of the Tubes; he helped write two of the band’s biggest hits, “Talk to Ya Later” and “She’s a Beauty.”

In 1998, Lukather toured Japan with jazz guitarist Larry Carlton, and they brought in an engineer to record one of their performances in Osaka. In 2001, highlights from the show were released on the LP No Substitutions: Live in Osaka, which would earn the guitarists a Grammy award in 2002. 2003’s Santamental found Lukather and his friends (who included Steve Vai, Edgar Winter, and Slash) putting a unique spin on a set of Christmas songs. Touring with Toto and Boz Scaggs, along with studio sessions kept him busy, but he found time to cut his fifth solo album, the introspective Ever Changing Times, which arrived in 2008. All’s Well That Ends Well followed in 2010, just as his schedule got even busier. Joe Satriani and Steve Vai invited him to join their 2012 G3 Tour, and later that year he was tapped to join Ringo Starr for live dates with his All-Starr Band. The following year, he toured with Ringo, Toto, and Peter Frampton as well as headlining dates of his own, and somehow also found time to finish work on his next album, 2013’s Transition. Recording and live work with Toto and frequent touring with Ringo dominated Lukather’s schedule for the next several years, yet in 2018 Los Lobotomys treated fans to their third studio album, fittingly titled 3.0, and he gathered a handful of musical friends (among them Greg Bissonnette, David Paich, and John Pierce) to make 2020’s I Found the Sun Again, which was recorded live in the studio with no number requiring more than two takes to perfect.

Steve Morse

Steve Morse has enjoyed a healthy following particularly among guitar players, he has scored highly in readers’ polls held annually by musicians’ magazines. Although initially inspired by the Beatles as a teen, Morse began to expand his listening to include the Yardbirds, Jimi Hendrix, and Led Zeppelin. Although he played a little piano and some clarinet, he became fascinated with guitar after seeing a concert by classical guitarist Juan Mercadal, who later gave the teenaged Morse some lessons. Deeply influenced by a campus performance by John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra while he was attending the University of Miami, Morse decided to focus on instrumental rock music; in 1974 he put together his first band, the Dixie Dregs (later simply the Dregs), which would go on to become one of the defining groups in the fusion genre. After Morse had fronted the Dregs on some 14 albums, the Steve Morse Band began their recording career in 1984. Soon after, Elektra Records snatched Morse up and he cut two albums for the label, The Introduction in 1984 and Stand Up in 1985, before joining Kansas and appearing on two of the arena prog band’s albums for the MCA label, Power (1986) and In the Spirit of Things (1988).

Morse then signed to MCA as a solo artist, and in the late ’80s and early ’90s his albums for the label included High Tension Wires (1989), Southern Steel (1991), and Coast to Coast (1992). After leaving MCA in 1992, Morse recorded two excellent albums for Windham Hill/BMG Records, Structural Damage (1995) and StressFest (1996), and in 1994 he joined Deep Purple as a replacement for Ritchie Blackmore, appearing on a number of the hard-rocking metallers’ live albums as well as four studio-recorded long-players over the course of nearly a decade: Purpendicular (1996), Abandon (1998), Bananas (2003), and Rapture of the Deep (2005). Meanwhile, in 2003 Morse joined the supergroup Living Loud, also featuring vocalist Jimmy Barnes (INXS, Cold Chisel) and Ozzy Osbourne bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake; the band released its eponymous debut full-length in 2003 and, following the addition of Deep Purple keyboardist Don Airey to the lineup, the CD Live in Sydney 2004 (2005) and companion DVD Debut Live Concert: Sydney Fox Studios, 2004 (2006). The Steve Morse Band’s Out Standing in Their Field arrived in 2009, and the following year saw the release of Angelfire, a collaboration between Morse and singer/songwriter Sarah Spencer.

Alex Skolnick

Alex Skolnick is both an original member of Bay Area thrashers Testament (which he joined at age sixteen) and a respected New York improviser of multiple styles.

Emerging as one of the original melodic thrash guitarists (alongside Marty Friedman), Alex later moved to New York and earned a BfA in Jazz from The New School, studying with such prestigious artists as George Garzone, Cecil McBee and Reggie Workman.

Now a longtime resident of Brooklyn New York, he has gone on to release several critically acclaimed albums with the Alex Skolnick Trio, described as thus by jazz journalist Bill Milkowski: “Skolnick runs the guitaristic gamut from lush chord melodies to Wes Montgomery-style octaves to screaming Sonny Sharrock-esque skronking” (Downbeat Jan 2017).

In 2005, he reunited with Testament, the impact of which has eclipsed the band’s initial run). When not supporting the likes of Slayer and Megadeth on tour with Testament, Alex can be found headlining The Blue Note in Milan, Agharta in Prague, New York’s Iridium or various elegant venues across the world.

He is also a first call player for jazz/rock projects including the Stu Hamm/Alex Skolnick/Chad Wackerman power trio, Jane Getter Premonition featuring alumni from Pat Metheny Group (Mark Egan) and Miles Davis (Adam Holzman), as well as “Celebrating Allan Holdsworth,” in which Alex is one of several guitarists with the prestigious position of filling in for the late, great innovator at a series of shows with his (Holdsworth’s) touring band.

Alex is also the leader of the critically acclaimed world acoustic project, Planetary Coalition (featuring various international artists from across the globe including Rodrigo Y Gabriela and Horacio “El Negro” Hernandez).

In 2016, Joe Satriani chose Alex (his former pupil), to be a primary guest instructor at his annual G4 Experience, alongside Eric Johnson, Mike Keneally and Steve Vai, followed by by a stint as the sole guitarist on faculty at Warwick Bass Camp, in which he taught and played alongside Alphonso Johnson (Weather Report) and Dennis Chambers (John Scofield/John McLaughlin).

As an an educator and speaker, Alex has been invited to give keynote addresses at academic events such as Dayton University’s Metal and Cultural Impact conference as well as joining various PhDs at the International Society for Metal Studies in Helsinki.

As a writer, Alex is an editor and contributor to UNBUILT, a biannual lifestyle and cultural magazine that includes his friend and fellow “metal intellectual,” D Randall Blythe (vocalist of Lamb of God). He has also written for The Talkhouse, Guitar World, Guitar Player and other publications.

Alex has his own line of ESP signature guitars and is featured on the back cover of ESP’s 2017 catalogue (Metallica’s James Hetfield is on the front). Whether carefully listening and playing alongside the world’s top instrumentalists or loudly shredding with Testament or Metal Allegiance (the Nuclear Blast signed supergroup of which he’s a core writer and producer), it’s safe to say that Skolnick has found his own niche as a guitarist.

“Though he’s pretty much a household name in heavy metal, Alex defies categorization by musical genre.” (Making Music, Jan 2015).

Andy James

Andy James is known as a guitarist with exceptional phrasing and technique. James has played with such revered guitarists as Zakk Wylde, Paul Gilbert and Vinnie Moore. James is an accomplished session player and a YouTube sensation, who has garnered more than a million views. James is part of Wearing Scars,” which toured behind the album, “A Thousand Words.”

Cory Wong

Music motivates at the most primal level.

You instinctually hum a tune in order to get pumped up in the morning, for fuel on the treadmill, to soundtrack your commute, or as the pre-game to a big night out. As much as he treasures his roles as a guitarist, composer, and producer, Cory Wong fashions himself “a hype man,” first and foremost. Living up to this classification, he slings a Stratocaster and hurls “dad jokes” from the stage with the same panache, poise, and power.

“For me, it’s all about the listener’s experience,” he explains. “I want them to have a visceral response like: ‘I feel better,’ ‘That was really fun,’ or ‘I got to escape for an hour.’ You’ll hear my voice through the guitar, but I’m just a hype man. To uplift audiences with instrumental music that has no singing or lyrics is a fun challenge. I’m trying to solve the riddle. If I can get one person to feel good this way, it’s a success.

Straight out of Minneapolis, Cory positioned himself as music’s answer to motivational speakers like Tony Robbins since emerging in 2011. Head-spinning rhythm guitar wizardry, technical ebullience, laugh-out-loud jokes, and radiance on stage established him as both a sought-after collaborator and celebrated solo artist alike. He lent his talents to television programs such as The Voice at the dawn of his career. After an impromptu meeting at the weekly jam hosted by Prince’s rhythm section (where the Purple One often either performed or watched), he crossed paths with Vulfpeck who welcomed him as a frequent collaborator and member of the band. Solidifying a fruitful partnership, the group named their most popular instrumental track “Cory Wong,” in tribute. Lighting up the stage in the band everywhere from Red Rocks Amphitheatre to Madison Square Garden, he remains a cornerstone of Vulfpeck’s storied gigs.

“I try to feature the guitar, but I don’t force myself into being the star of every song,” he says. “The instrument plays an appropriate role. It’s not all flash. I’m bringing rhythm to the forefront where it’s not so shreddy. I refer to it as ‘Covert chops.’ I’m doing things that are sneakily hard, but they lay in the cut. I allow the song to breathe and present myself as more of a composer rather than a guitar player.”

In the end, Cory transmits joy in its purest form through the guitar.

“The guiding light is to impart a feeling of joy,” he leaves off. “I want people to experience instrumental music in a different way. This is hype. It’s more than just guitar.”

Eric Gales

Growing up in a religious household, his brothers Eugene and Manuel used to blast out Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Muddy Waters, Blue Cheer, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, King’s X and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Whilst their mother was at church and little Eric was aged just 4 , he was soaking it all up and this is where he had his incredible grounding of blues, hard rock and psychedelia. Naturally right handed, Eric learned his distinctive left handed upside down playing from his older brothers Eugene, his ‘mentor’ and Little Jimmy King, who was later adopted as Albert King’s godson.

His talents caught the eye of Elektra Records, who released his debut album The Eric Gales Band in 1991 when he was only 16 years old. The band was made up of Eric, his older brother Eugene and drummer Huwbert Crawford. Picture of a Thousand Faces followed in 1993, then Manuel Gales (aka Little Jimmy King) joined his two brothers for 1995s Left Hand Band as The Gales Brothers. Over the next few years he worked on varioud projects including performing as Lil E with Hip Hop collectives Prophet Posse and Triple 6 Mafia.

In 2001 he returned and released his first album on MCA records ‘That’s What I Am’ before moving to Mike Varney’s legendary shredder label, Shrapnel Records for ‘Crystal Vision’ (2006) and ‘The Psychedelic Underground’ (2007). Four album on Blues Bureau Internation followed; ‘The Story of My Life’ (2008), ‘Layin’ Down The Blues’ (2009), ‘Relentless’ (2010) and ‘Transformation’ (2010).

In 2009 he spent in jail serving at the Shelby County Correction Center in 2009 for possession of drugs and a weapon. Talking about this he says; “While I was in there all the officers and guards were like, ‘bro you know this isn’t where you’re supposed to be. When you get out of here, go take the world by the horns and ride it all the way out.’ It took a couple of years after but, I’m here.” Whilst he was incarcerated he was able to play shows, for the Mayor, the city and festivals, his own version of Johnny Cash Walk the Line.

The all instrumental ‘Ghost Notes’ (Tone Center Records) came in 2013 along with ‘Pinnick Gales Pridgen’ (Magna Carta). The latter was a collaboration with dUg Pinnick (Kings X) and Thomas Pridgen (Mars Volta, Suicidal Tendencies) and the sequal come in 2014 with another fusion of psychedelic blues, hard rock and progressive soul/R&B. He then released ‘Good for Sumthin’ in 2014 (Cleopatra Records)in addition to live album ‘A Night on the Sunset Strip’ (2016).

As a renowned guitarist he has performed with: Carlos Santana at Woodstock in 1994 and in July 2016, Zakk Wylde who also appeared on 2014s Good For Sumthin’ and Eric Johnson who also appeared on the same album. He also toured as part of the Experience Hendrix tour with legend after legend including Bootsy Collins & Robert Randolph and has also collaborated with Lauryn Hill many times.

During the Experience Hendrix tour he had the opportunity to hold his own against some of the greatest guitarists in the world. “The tours were a great experience, but what ultimately what that done for me is to help me make me get myself together. So, I can go out and pack out those venues myself, that other guitarists on that tour were packing out.”
“I try to push myself as hard as I can, especially live, it’s like an extreme work out for me, it’s like something else takes over. When I hit the stage, some other person is on that stage for some reason, I’m there physically as a witness, but mentally it’s another person.”

In 2017 Provogue/Mascot Label Group released ‘Middle of the Road’ which he describes as his “rebirth” following issues with drink and drugs and had collaborations with Gary Clark Jr., young guitarist Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram, Eugene Gales and Lauryn Hill.

“It’s about being fully focussed and centred in the middle of the road. If you’re on the wrong side and in the gravel you’re not too good and if you’re on the median strip that’s not too good either, so being in the middle of the road is the best place to be.”

‘Middle of the Road’, was released in February 2017 and reached #1 on the iTunes Blues chart and #4 on the Billboard Blues chart. In the UK it made Classic Rock Magazine and Total Guitar albums of the year with the latter saying it was “the album that should define his career.” Classic Rock said “the notes drip from Gales’ fretboard like warm honey”, The Guitar Magazine exclaimed it’s the “the injection of danger and unpredictability that the blues-rock scene desperately needs”, Blues Matters professed “truly the man is blessed”, whilst Powerplay said “the more you listen to it the more the brilliance of Eric Gales becomes apparent.”

Since then he has toured almost non-stop; playing shows with Gary Clark Jr., Beth Hart, Gov’t Mule and called through Australia, Argentina, Chile, US and Europe – including the Rockin’ The Blues run with Gary Hoey, Quinn Sullivan and Lance Lopez. He played his first ever headline tour in the UK and Ireland to sold out crowds, took a starring role as part of Supersonic Blues Machine at the UKs Ramblin’ Man Fair and also found time to play a one off reunion show as The Eric Gales Band. This is not to mention his collaborations with funk royalty Bootsy Collins (‘World Wide Funk’), The Apocalypse Blues Revue (Shannon Larkin/Tony Rombola of Godsmack) and Supersonic Blues Machine (‘Californisoul’).

It’s no wonder why he is the guitarists’ favourite guitarist, counting fans in the likes of Tony Rombola (Godsmack), Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders), Joe Bonamassa and Carlos Santana. Dave Navarro (Jane’s Addiction) said “how Eric Gales isn’t the hugest name in rock guitar is a total mystery” and Mark Tremonti (Alter Bridge) also claimed “this guy could be the best player on Earth.”

Gales proudly tells his story every night before every show, now over two years sober he is creating some of the most breath-taking music he has ever made. Talking about his approach to song writing in this time he reflects. “I guess the songs would answer the question more or less, I definitely don’t have anything clouding my view and it’s definitely a much more pure place its coming from.”

In December 2018, he annouced that he will be releasing his new studio album ‘The Bookends’ (Provogue/Mascot Label Group) on 8th February 2019. The album was recorded with Matt Wallace (Maroon 5, Faith No More, The Replacements) and features collaborations with Beth Hart, Doyle Bramhall II and B. Slade.

John 5

A respected and inventive guitar player with an eclectic visual style rooted in horror-pop culture, John 5 (born John William Lowery) started his career as a session player before making a name for himself as the axe man for hard rock heavyweights like David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson, and Rob Zombie. In 2004 he launched a solo career with the release of Vertigo, one of several innovative instrumental albums (Devil Knows My Name [2007], God Told Me Too [2012], Sinner [2021]) that showcased his virtuosic guitar slinging. In addition to his own work, Lowery has written for and collaborated with a slew of diverse artists including Avril Lavigne, Rob Halford, Garbage, Meat Loaf, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne, Slash, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan and picking up a guitar at the tender age of seven, John Lowery was given the nickname John 5 the day he joined Marilyn Manson’s band. A versatile session guitarist known for his speed as well as his keen goth fashion sense, after moving to L.A. at 18 he scored high-profile gigs touring with Lita Ford and k.d. lang based on his work scoring soundtracks and commercials with producer Bob Marlette. Studio work continued, as he contributed to ex-Judas Priest frontman Rob Halford’s industrial metal group Two and ex-Van Halen singer David Lee Roth’s The DLR Band album.

Initially rejected in his first audition to play guitar with Manson, John was asked to join Manson on the Rock Is Dead tour, following guitarist Zim Zum’s departure. Two albums were completed with Manson, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death) and The Golden Age of Grotesque, before John 5 left to pursue a solo career. His debut record, Vertigo, was released in 2004, and that year he founded Loser, a more radio-friendly band, with vocalist Joe Grah of Jibe. His second album, Songs for Sanity, followed in 2005, just as he paired up with White Zombie’s Rob Zombie for Ozzfest. John contributed to the majority of songs on Zombie’s 2006 release, Educated Horses, and decided to disband Loser to tour with Zombie for the next year. His third outing, Devil Knows My Name, gained recognition from a guitarworld’s reader’s poll, awarding him with Best Shred Album of the Year.

With albums by Rob Zombie, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Filter in the works, June of 2008 marked his fourth release, Requiem, which was promoted with a West Coast tour of the Guitar Center retail music chain. After recording Hellbilly Deluxe 2 with Zombie, Lowery returned to writing instrumentals, and The Art of Malice followed in May of 2010. He returned in 2012 with God Told Me So, which featured both acoustic and electric songs, as well as a cover of the Michael Jackson hit “Beat It,” and in 2014 he issued Careful with That Axe, his seventh solo long-player. Two years later he rejoined the Zombie band for The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser, with a new solo instrumental effort, Season of Witch, appearing in 2017. Following the release of the 2018 concert LP It’s Alive and an appearance on ex-Journey vocalist Steve Perry’s Traces LP, Lowery issued Invasion, which he followed up with another live outing, Live Invasion. 2021 proved to be another busy year with the arrival of Rob Zombie’s The Lunar Injection Kool Aid Eclipse Conspiracy and the solo effort Sinner.

Mateus Asato

In 2013 he attended the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, California. His career began when industry professionals discovered him through his Instagram account. He then toured with Tori Kelly and Jessie J. Asato also began to do guitar clinics in South Korea and in Singapore. In 2019 Guitar Magazine named him one of the 50 most exciting young guitarists in the world. He has also played some shows in Las Vegas along with Bruno Mars. American musician John Mayer has said that Asato “is one of the best guitar players around.”

Nili Brosh

Born in Israel, raised in Massachusetts, and educated at Berklee College of Music, virtuoso guitarist Nili Brosh has established herself as both a solo artist and hired gun.

Aside from performances with Cirque du Soleil, Dethklok, Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert, Andy Timmons, Guthrie Govan/The Aristocrats, Stu Hamm, Jennifer Batten, Gretchen Menn, Alphonso Johnson, Jeff Loomis, and The Iron Maidens, Nili has released three solo albums (Through The Looking Glass, 2010, A Matter of Perception, 2014, and Spectrum, 2019), and still found time to perform her original music and give Ibanez-sponsored clinics.

Additionally, Nili has also written a lesson column for Premier Guitar magazine, released several courses with JTC Guitar, and guested on records such as Bryan Beller’s Scenes From The Flood alongside John Petrucci. In 2020 she joined Danny Elfman’s band, collaborating on his 2021 release “Big Mess” as well as 2022 Coachella performances.

Ned Evett

Phil X

Hailing from Toronto, Canada where it all began, Phil X started out like a lot of teenagers with a guitar in their hands and dreams of the big time. Since the age of 14, he left every concert knowing that someday he would be the one on that stage.
Well… although it took a REALLY REALLY long time, it happened. On April 14, 2011 Jon Bon Jovi contacted Phil to prepare for the possibility of standing in for Richie Sambora for the BON JOVI tour in progress. Even Phil didn’t think this was possible but it happened. TWICE. After the second time filling in for Sambora in 2013, Phil stayed on and has been the guitar player for BON JOVI ever since. After over 200+ shows, Phil claims he still gets goosebumps kicking into Livin’ On A Prayer calling it not only an important song of his youth, but one of the best Rock songs ever written.
Let’s go back. In 1987, Phil was “discovered” at the Gasworks in Toronto by award winning producer/ songwriter Arnold Lanni and brought in to record and tour with Frozen Ghost. The introduction into the music industry made Phil a recognized and sought after talent. 1990, Aldo Nova released Blood On The Bricks and recruited Phil to be in the touring band. 1992, Triumph still hadn’t found a replacement for Rik Emmett and asked Phil to fill the position recording/releasing Edge of Excess.
During this time, Phil met his first wife, Ninette Terhart, and they honed in on their collective craft until they wrote material they truly believed in and took the plunge relocating to Los Angeles. Formaldehyde Ride turned into Rhino Party, turned into POWDER which became a staple in the Hollywood Club Scene selling out the larger venues listed in the LA Weekly. Ninette started incorporating Cirque Du Soleil type acrobatics into the already visually stimulating show while singing the bands anthemic songs (yes, about 2 years before P!NK).
THE DRILLS!!! Even with the regional success of POWDER, Phil grew stagnant and felt another project with himself being the sole creator would be more artistically gratifying. THE DRILLS became Phil’s therapy. He wrote like a maniac, at one point writing 11 songs in 11 days which all eventually surfaced over 3 EPs and 1 full length album.
When the guitar demo videos Phil was co-creating with director Dustin Jack for Fretted Americana on YouTube, Phil was exposed to a wider audience and continues to be recognized for those incredible performances. It was at this point that THE DRILLS became PHIL X & THE DRILLS.
Aside from pioneering the “guitar influencer” phenomenon, Phil had become one of the top session players in LA with his background in songwriting and freakish knack for coming up with unimaginable overdub parts on the spot. It all started with Tommy Lee’s Methods of Mayhem in 1999 to Rob Zombie to Rob telling Alice Cooper “You gotta use this guy on your new record” leading to Phil’s notorious “crazy guitars” on Brutal Planet produced by Bob Marlett.
Phil went on to record with Avril Lavigne, Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Chis Cornell, Halestorm, Apocolyptica… not to mention (still name dropping) Stewart Copeland, Perry Ferrel, Edgar Winter, a Smokey Robinson/Steven Tyler duet…. and many many more.
“It all boils down to this…One day, you’re playing Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love with a cover band in a dive bar somewhere in southern Ontario and then years later, you’re looking across a stage in Hollywood jamming Whole Lotta Love with Sammy Hagar, Michael Anthony, Billy Gibbons, Steve Lukather, Steve Stevens, Dean Deleo and Matt Sorum while raising money for music programs in schools. Oh…and playing for 82,000 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium with BON JOVI.” – Phil X

Jordan Rudess

Voted “Best Keyboardist of All Time” by Music Radar Magazine, Jordan Rudess is best known as the keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire for platinum-selling Grammy- nominated prog rock band, Dream Theater.

At nine, he entered the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division for classical piano training, but by his late teens he had grown increasingly interested in synthesizers and progressive rock music. Against the counsel of his parents and tutors, he turned away from classical piano and tried his hand as a solo progressive rock keyboardist.

After performing in various projects during the 1980s, he gained international attention in 1994 when he was voted “Best New Talent” in the Keyboard Magazine readers’ poll after the release of his Listen solo album. Two of the bands that took notice of Rudess were The Dixie Dregs and Dream Theater, both of whom invited him to join. Rudess chose the Dregs, primarily as being a part-time member of the band would have less of an impact on his young family.

During his time with the Dregs, Rudess formed a “power duo” with drummer Rod Morgenstein. The genesis of this pairing occurred when a power outage caused all of the Dregs’ instruments to fail except Rudess’, so he and Morgenstein improvised with each other until power was restored and the concert could continue. The chemistry between the two was so strong during this jam that they decided to perform together on a regular basis (under the name Rudess/Morgenstein Project or later RMP) and have released a studio and a live record. RMP did a short U.S. tour in November, 2013.

Before joining Dream Theater in January 1999, Jordan connected with John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy of Dream Theater, bassist Tony Levin of King Crimson and Peter Gabriel notoriety, and recorded two albums with “Liquid Tension Experiment.”

Rudess has been the full-time keyboardist with Dream Theater, since the recording of 1999’s Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. He has recorded seven other studio albums with the group: 2002’s Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, 2003’s Train of Thought, 2005’s Octavarium, 2007’s Systematic Chaos, 2009’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings , A Dramatic Turn of Events, the self titled Dream Theater, as well as their newest album, The Astonishing, a Rock Opera. The story was written by John Petrucci with music written by John Petrucci and and Jordan Rudess. After touring in three continents around the world with The Astonishing, Dream Theater is preparing to embark on a tour in 2017 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of “Images & Words which will see the groundbreaking album performed in it’s entirety along with selections spanning the bands history.

In addition, he has appeared on the live albums and DVDs Live Scenes From New York, Live at Budokan, Score, Chaos in Motion, Live at Luna Park, and Breaking The Fourth Wall which went to #1 on the Billboard charts.

In addition to working with Dream Theater he occasionally records and performs in other contexts, such as a 2001 one-off duo performance with Petrucci (released as the CD An Evening With John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess), as well as backing up Blackfield on their first short US tour in 2005 and playing a solo opening slot for them on their second in 2007. He also contributed to Steven Wilson’s 2011 album, Grace for Drowning. In 2013, Rudess joined with bassist, Tony Levin, and drummer, Marco Minneman, to create a new supergroup, LMR. In 2015, LMR released their second disc From The Law Offices Of Levin Minnemann Rudess.

In 2010, Rudess composed “Explorations for Keyboard and Orchestra,” his first classical composition. It was premiered in Venezuela on November 19, 2010 by the Chacao Youth Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor Eren Başbuğ. Rudess played all of the keyboard and synthesizer parts. A full symphonic recording of Explorations was released in December 2014 played by Poland’s Sinfonia Consonus.

In 2013 he released “All That Is Now“, a solo acoustic piano recording which works interactively with his app, “Jordan Rudess Explores” and his orchestral album, “Explorations” which features a 50 piece orchestra. In 2015, he released “The Unforgotten Path” which was a collection of original tracks as well as a collection of acoustic piano covers of songs that have inspired his musical life.

Jordan’s interest in state of the art keyboard controllers is another area of his career in which he has achieved success. Jordan owns the successful App development company Wizdom Music, which has developed award-winning apps including: MorphWiz, SampleWiz, Geo Synthesizer, SpaceWiz, SketchWiz, Tachyon, Explores, EarWiz, JordanTron, HarmonyWiz, and GeoShred. MorphWiz won the first ever Billboard award for Best Music Creation App. Wizdom Music has also built apps for Intel, Microsoft and RIM.

He is Chief Music Officer at CME Music, creators of the acclaimed XKey mobile keyboard, as well as the Director of Music Experience for the London-based technology company, Roli Labs, creators of the Seaboard. Jordan has had the honor of being the keynote speaker at MacWorld, Microsoft Build Developer Convention and Project BBQ. In addition, he is the author of 2 keyboard technique books including his latest, “Total Keyboard Wizardry: A Technique and Improvisation Workbook”. Musicians all over the world subscribe to Rudess’ Online Music Conservatory, which offers a full range of courses in everything from harmony and rhythm to improvisation, ear training and technique.

Teresa Topaz

Teresa Topaz is an award-winning Southern Rock musical artist and a certified guitar technician who owns and operates Topaz Guitar Repair, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Teresa Topaz is the officially certified guitar tech and the only Nevada official warranty service center for Martin, Taylor, Santa Cruz, Huss & Dalton, Furch, Guild, Cordoba, ESP, LTD & Takamine Guitars. She recently became Lowden Guitar’s new certified technician and is 1 of 3 repair shops in the United States and the only female-owned and operated shop. Teresa is also a certified technician for Fender, Fender Custom Shop, Charvel, Jackson, Gretsch, EVH & Squire guitars. Topaz Guitar Repair was also awarded “Best Repair Shop” in Nevada by the prestige Awards for 2021/2022.