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Akira Takasaki
is a Japanese musician. He is best known as the lead guitarist and sole constant member of the heavy metal band Loudness. He is also the guitarist of the band Lazy, with which he first rose to prominence in the 1970s. Career He started his career as a guitarist, winning a TV contest for young music talents at the age of 14. He was rapidly put under contract to be part of the pop-rock band Lazy, of which drummer Munetaka Higuchi was also a member. Lazy produced five successful albums at the end of the 1970s, but Takasaki's musical style, oriented towards hard rock and heavy metal, did not gel with the band and in 1981 he decided to form his own band, Loudness, alongside bandmate Higuchi. The many heavy metal albums produced by Loudness brought him international fame and vast critical acclaim. He is the only member of Loudness that has been in the band since its inception, producing more than 20 studio albums in 25 years. Takasaki has also continued the production of solo wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wacken Open Air
Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a rock music, rock music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all styles and subgenres of hard rock and heavy metal music, metal are represented and hosted. It is now one of the largest heavy metal festivals in the world and one of the largest open-air festivals in Germany. Between 2011–2018, the number of attendees was around 85,000, 75,000 of whom were paying visitors. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were no 2020 and 2021 editions of Wacken Open Air. History Background The idea for Wacken Open Air was conceived in 1989 when Thomas Jensen and Holger Hübner visited a restaurant together. Both lived in Wacken and were friends, Jensen played the electric bass with Rock music, Rock cover band Skyline. From its beginnings until 1992, the band was composed of Ines Jeske from Vaale (vocals), Thomas Jensen from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Gilbert
Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which he has released numerous solo albums, and featured in numerous collaborations and guest appearances on other musicians' albums. Gilbert was voted fourth-best on GuitarOne magazine's 2007 "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time". He was also ranked in ''Guitar World's'' 2008 list, "50 Fastest Guitarists of All Time". Shrapnel Records Gilbert was raised mostly in the small Pittsburgh suburb of Greensburg, Pennsylvania. He began playing music at age six; by age 15, he was touring local clubs with his band (Tau Zero), and had been featured in Guitar Player magazine (alongside fellow up-and-comer Yngwie Malmsteen). Around 1981, Gilbert first contacted Mike Varney (founder of Shrapnel Records), asking for a gig with metal mega-star O ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesa Boogie
Mesa/Boogie (also known as Mesa Engineering) is an American company in Petaluma, California, that manufactures amplifiers and other accessories for guitars and basses. It has been in operation since 1969. Mesa was started by Randall Smith as a small repair shop which modified Fender amplifiers, particularly the diminutive Fender Princeton. Smith's modifications gave the small amps much more input gain, making them much louder as well as creating a high-gain, distorted guitar tone. Prominent early customers included Carlos Santana, and Ron Wood and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones. Exposure from these top players helped to establish Mesa/Boogie's position on the market, and it is frequently referred to as the first manufacturer of boutique amplifiers. History Early life Randall Smith was born into a musical family in Berkeley, California in 1946. His mother and sister played piano and his father was the first-chair clarinet with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra, played tenor s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Loudness (album)
''Loudness'' is the tenth studio album by Japanese band Loudness. It was released in 1992 only in Japan, after the band had terminated the recording contracts with US labels. Original bass player Masayoshi Yamashita was replaced with former X Japan bassist Taiji Sawada and the American vocalist Mike Vescera with former Ezo singer Masaki Yamada. The sound of this album is much more aggressive and the rhythms much faster than the preceding offerings from the band. This fact has been interpreted as a reaction by composer and producer Takasaki to the many compromises he had to accept by US managers and producers to remain in the record market in the United States. Also, the music has a much more traditional heavy metal feel to it overall, whereas their previous output from the late 80's had a very glam-oriented melodic sound to it. The cover art is designed by artist Tadanori Yokoo. The limited edition of the album came with a special booklet and CD case, guitar picks, band name ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshall Amplification
Marshall is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, speaker cabinets, brands personal headphones and earphones, drums and bongos. The company also owns a record label called Marshall Records. It was founded in London by drum shop owner and drummer, Jim Marshall, and is now based in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, England. Marshall's guitar amplifiers are among the most recognised in the world. Their signature sound characterised by sizzling distortion and "crunch" was conceived after guitarists, such as Pete Townshend, visited Marshall's drum shop complaining that the guitar amplifiers then on the market did not have the right sound or enough volume. After gaining publicity, Marshall guitar amplifiers and loudspeaker cabinets were sought by guitarists for this new sound and increased volume. Many of the current and reissue Marshall guitar amplifiers continue to use valves, as is common in this market sector. Marshall also manufactures less expensive solid- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiragana
is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrasted with kanji). Hiragana and katakana are both kana systems. With few exceptions, each mora in the Japanese language is represented by one character (or one digraph) in each system. This may be either a vowel such as ''"a"'' (hiragana あ); a consonant followed by a vowel such as ''"ka"'' (か); or ''"n"'' (ん), a nasal sonorant which, depending on the context, sounds either like English ''m'', ''n'' or ''ng'' () when syllable-final or like the nasal vowels of French, Portuguese or Polish. Because the characters of the kana do not represent single consonants (except in the case of ん "n"), the kana are referred to as syllabic symbols and not alphabetic letters. Hiragana is used to write ''okurigana'' (kana suffixes following a kanji ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ESP Guitars
is a Japanese guitar manufacturer, primarily focused on the production of electric guitars and Bass guitar, basses. They are based in both Tokyo and Los Angeles, with distinct product lines for each market. ESP Company manufactures instruments under several names, including "ESP Standard", "ESP Custom Shop", "LTD Guitars and Basses", "Navigator", "Edwards Guitars and Basses", and "Grassroots". History In 1975, Hisatake Shibuya opened a shop called Electric Sound Products (ESP) in Tokyo, Japan, which provided custom replacement parts for guitars. At this time, ESP also began making guitars under the ESP and Navigator brand in the Japanese market. ESP replacement parts were first introduced into the US in 1983 and began crafting custom instruments for local New York artists between 1984 and 1985. Among these artists were Page Hamilton (Helmet (band), Helmet), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Vinnie Vincent and Bruce Kulick (Kiss (band), KISS), Sid McGinnis of ''Late Night w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hideki Ishima
is a Japanese musician, known primarily for his work with Flower Travellin' Band and for creating the sitarla instrument. A guitarist and sitar player for nearly forty years, he now exclusively plays the sitarla, an instrument he invented in 2000 that combines aspects of a sitar with an electric guitar. Guitarists Akira Takasaki, Rolly, and Mikael Åkerfeldt have cited him as an influence. Career Ishima started playing guitar at 19, at the behest of a friend who wanted to be in a band. His first group was in his native Sapporo shortly after graduating high school. He moved to Tokyo and formed the group sounds band The Beavers in 1966, who had released four albums and one single but had not had major success. Ishima began playing sitar at 24, after researching Gábor Szabó at the suggestion of a woman and learning that the jazz guitarist also played this instrument he had never heard of. He taught himself from Ravi Shankar's 1968 book ''My Music, My Life'', looking up the Jap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the ''Sounds'' newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar, ''Kerrang!'' was initially devoted to the new wave of British heavy metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s, it became the best-selling British music weekly. History ''Kerrang!'' was founded in 1981. The editor of the weekly music magazine ''Sounds'', Alan Lewis, suggested that Geoff Barton edit a one-off special edition focusing on the new wave of British heavy metal phenomenon and on the rise of other hard rock acts. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koto (musical Instrument)
The is a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument, and the national instrument of Japan. It is derived from the Chinese and , and similar to the Mongolian , the Korean and , the Vietnamese , the Sundanese and the Kazakhstan . Koto are roughly in length, and made from Paulownia wood (''Paulownia tomentosa'', known as ). The most common type uses 13 strings strung over movable bridges used for tuning, different pieces possibly requiring different tuning. 17-string koto are also common, and act as bass in ensembles. Koto strings are generally plucked using three fingerpicks (), worn on the first three fingers of the right hand. Names and types The character for ''koto'' is , although is often used. However, (''koto'') is the general term for all string instruments in the Japanese language,(jaKotobank koto/ref> including instruments such as the , , , , , and so on. When read as , it indicates the Chinese instrument . The term is used today in the same way. The term ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ritchie Blackmore
Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was a founding member of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. He is prolific in creating guitar riffs and classically influenced solos. During his solo career, Blackmore established the hard rock band Rainbow, which fused baroque music influences and elements of hard rock. Rainbow steadily moved to catchy pop-style mainstream rock. He later formed the traditional folk rock project Blackmore's Night along with his current wife Candice Night, shifting to vocalist-centred sounds. As a member of Deep Purple, Blackmore was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2016. He is cited by publications such as ''Guitar World'' and ''Rolling Stone'' as one of the greatest and most influential guitar players of all time. Early life Blackmore was born at Allendale Nursing Home in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, as second son to Lewi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock music, but their musical style has changed over the course of its existence. Originally formed as a psychedelic rock, psychedelic and progressive rock band, they shifted to a heavier sound with their 1970 album ''Deep Purple in Rock''. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were listed in the 1975 Guinness World Records, ''Guinness Book of World Records'' as "Loudest band, the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre and have sold over 100 million records worldwide. Deep Purple have had several line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus (1976–1984). The first four line-ups, which constituted the band's original 1968–1976 run, are officially indica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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