Thomas McLaughlin (born September 20, 1979), better known by his stage name McRocklin, is an English guitar player, music producer and mastering engineer. He was the guitarist featured in Steve Vai's music video "The Audience is Listening" (1990). He then became the lead guitarist in

Bad4Good Bad4Good was a heavy metal band formed in 1991 by guitarist Steve Vai. The band was a quartet of teenagers, the oldest of whom was 16. The group consisted of guitarist Thomas McRocklin, bassist Zack Young, drummer Brooks Wackerman, and sin ...

, a band produced by Vai in 1991. He is currently the lead guitarist and co-producer of the band McRocklin & Hutch.

Biography

McRocklin started playing the guitar at the age of four. By the time he was seven, he was performing onstage. His first big break came when he opened for

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...

in his hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne, at just eight years old. McRocklin went on to star in Steve Vai's music video "The Audience is Listening" and Vai became a close friend and mentor to him. During this time, McRocklin was gifted the custom-made Ibanez 7-String Universe. Steve Vai used this guitar on his ''

Passion and Warfare ''Passion and Warfare'' is the second studio album by guitarist Steve Vai, released on May 22, 1990 through Relativity and Epic Records. It has been certified Gold by the RIAA. Background ''Passion and Warfare'' was written based on a series ...

'' album. McRocklin also featured in the Warner Bros. documentary ''Legends of the Guitar'' presented by Jeff "Skunk" Baxter, at the age of 11, along with other guitar greats.

Time in the US

As the youngest person to be signed to Interscope Records at the time, the band

(B4G) was formed around him. B4G released an album which was co-written and produced by Steve Vai. During this time McRocklin also joined Zakk Wylde,

Steve Lukather Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a stea ...

, Stuart Hamm and others on stage for the Jason Becker Benefit concert.

Back in the UK

After returning to the UK, he released his own solo album ''91-95''. He also became more involved in production, which led to becoming a mastering engineer. It also fueled his interest in electronic genres of music, which took him away from the guitar. McRocklin reentered the guitar scene almost 20 years later and is now producing new music. He produced a guitar-based EP entitled ''New Beginnings'' and gained a large following on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. McRocklin also formed the Shredwave band McRocklin & Hutch, which is inspired by 1980s rock, cult movies and 21st-century tech. In 2018, McRocklin was invited to write and perform guitars on Gunship's ''The Video Game Champion''. McRocklin & Hutch also joined Dragonforce on the UK leg of their 2019 Extreme Power Metal tour with their album ''Riding Out''. In December 2019, McRocklin launched his own online teaching platform, schoolofmcrock.com.

Equipment

Endorsements

Since returning to playing guitar and producing music, McRocklin has become an artist for brands such as: *

Ibanez is a Japanese guitar brand owned by Hoshino Gakki. Based in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan, Hoshino Gakki were one of the first Japanese musical instrument companies to gain a significant foothold in import guitar sales in the United States and Europe, ...

Kiesel Guitars Kiesel Guitars is an American manufacturer of custom electric guitars and electric bass guitars located in Southern California, with a heritage dating back to 1946. In 2015, Kiesel Guitars split from Carvin Corporation, taking the guitar and bass ...

* Eventide * Fractal Audio * Aston Microphone * D'Addario * Fishman

References

External links

*
School of McRock
*
Interview with bravewords.com

Interview with Adam Roach Podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:McRocklin, Thomas 1979 births English rock guitarists Lead guitarists Living people Musicians from Newcastle upon Tyne