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HISTORICAL FACTS: Yardbirds - Caught on Camera

“There were two camps. I came out of the Yardbirds camp – the Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck kind of things”: Why Todd Rundgren chose to play Gibsons over Fenders

Rundgren initially aligned himself with the Yardbirds guitar heroes, though would branch out in later years

Guitar World

“Those Fender Jazz basses sounded fantastic, but they scared the hell out of me”: Why bassist Paul Samwell-Smith chose a short-scale Epiphone for his “rave-ups” with the Yardbirds

The blues-rock opener from the band’s 1966 debut album showcases a standout example of Samwell-Smith’s fluid, freewheeling bass work

Guitar World

“It was fantastic to have Paul come in every day, and we hung out with him quite a lot as well. The studio was absolutely crammed with our gear and his”: 10cc's Graham Gouldman on working with Paul McCartney at Strawberry Studios

We catch up with Gouldman as he prepares for the upcoming 10cc tour to talk about the craft of songwriting, his studio gear, AI in music, and the legacy of Strawberry Studios

MusicRadar

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"Sweat was dripping off the walls!" Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood looks back on the '60s, shares memories of The Yardbirds, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple's Jon Lord

Ronnie Wood hasn't lost his enthusiasm for rock 'n' roll

Louder

“Clapton chose pure blues, and he hated it when the volume went up. He actually said to Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, ‘You’re too loud!’ Because he’s a purist”: ’60s icon Donovan salutes a golden generation of guitar heroes

He also claims that Page "begged" John Paul Jones to join Led Zeppelin

MusicRadar

He hung out with Hendrix, got shock treatment with Ronnie Wood, shared girlfriends with Keith Moon, and was friends and rivals with Clapton and Page: Jeff Beck’s wild times

Sharing the stage with Page, giving Hendrix a slide, being mistaken for Jagger – these were some of Jeff Beck’s most memorable friendships

Louder

“I guess like John Lennon and Brian Jones, we’re not up front, but we keep it all sticking together”: Chris Dreja turned down Led Zeppelin, but he will be remembered as the Yardbirds’ unsung bass hero in a band of guitar superstars

Co-founder of the Yardbirds, Chris Dreja – who supported Clapton, Beck and Page on rhythm or bass guitar, then went on to become a photographer – has died, aged 79

Guitar World

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“She had scratches on the side of her face. I said, ‘What happened?’She said, ‘Oh nothing, Keith threw the cat at me’”: Bill Wyman on Jimi Hendrix’s brilliance, Keith Moon’s madness and Mick Jagger’s brutal reaction to him leaving the Rolling Stones

The Beatles, The Who, Jimi Hendrix – ex-Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman has known them all

Louder

“I think he took the blues up as his personal crusade”: Why Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds and joined the Bluesbreakers, according to his former bandmate

Jim McCarty says one particular factor forced Clapton’s hand

Guitar World

“I hadn’t seen him in a while, and I wish I had”: Jimmy Page pays tribute to original Yardbirds guitarist Chris Dreja, who has died aged 79

Dreja played alongside Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page before turning down a chance to join Led Zeppelin to pursue a career in photography

Guitar World

Tributes pour in for late Yardbirds co-founder Chris Dreja

Chris Dreja passed away in September after battling health issues for many years.

BANG Premier

Chris Dreja death: Yardbirds co-founder and guitarist dies aged 79

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer died ‘after years of health problems,’ his sister-in-law said

The Independent UK

Founding Yardbirds guitarist Chris Dreja dead at 79

Chris Dreja played in The Yardbirds alongside Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page

Louder

Annie Haslam to team up with Renaissance founder Jim McCarty for US live shows

Annie Haslam and JimMcCarty will present The History Of Renaissance live shows in the US in November

Louder

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The Guardian - UK

Terry Reid, British musician championed by the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page and more, dies aged 75

Known as ‘Superlungs’, Reid turned down the role of frontman in Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple to focus on solo career

Guitar World

Jimmy Page settles decades-long Dazed and Confused lawsuit with original songwriter

The Yardbirds, and later Led Zeppelin, reworked Jake Holmes’ 1968 song for their own ends, and Holmes believes he wasn’t properly credited

Guitar World

The ‘metal Yardbirds’ assemble at Back to the Beginning – as Billy Corgan, Adam Jones and Tom Morello put on a supergroup set that’s been years in the making

K.K. Downing, Rudy Sarzo and Danny Carey joined the trio to perform Judas Priest and Black Sabbath cuts

Guitar World

“What led to the end of my time with Steppenwolf? Egos and drugs”: Michael Monarch was just 18 when he tracked one of the most iconic riffs of the ’60s –next came Janis Joplin, Jimmy Page and Free’s Andy Fraser

Fan of slide-based tuning recalls not being credited for his work with Janis Joplin, why he left Andy Fraser’s band, waiting to work with Roger Glover, and why Led Zeppelin couldn’t save Detective, his band with Michael Des Barres

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Guitar World

“That was the infamous moment of my life when Dazed and Confused fell into the loving arms and hands of Jimmy Page”: Original Dazed and Confused songwriter revives copyright lawsuit against Jimmy Page

Jake Holmes had previously sued Page over the iconic song in 2010 – but the case was “dismissed with prejudice” in 2012 after an out-of-court settlement

Louder

Jimmy Page is being sued again by the man who wrote Dazed and Confused – a track made famous by The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin

Jake Holmes' Dazed and Confused was covered by the Yardbirds before Led Zeppelin reworked it and made it a stone cold classic

Guitar World

“I suppose I felt that I deserved it for the amount of seriousness that I’d put into it. My head was huge!” “Clapton is God” graffiti made him a guitar legend when he was barely 20 – he says he was far from uncomfortable with the adulation at the time

Speaking to Guitar World in 1994, Eric Clapton said that at the time – though he would grow more humble over the decades – he was “unbearably arrogant”

Louder

“Many names are familiar; a lot of material isn’t. An evening in with the lava lamp beckons”: Middle Earth: The Soundtrack Of London’s Legendary Psychedelic Club 1967–1969

Middle Earth: The Soundtrack Of London’s Legendary Psychedelic Club features David Bowie, Family Brian Auger, Denny Laine, Yardbirds, Deviants, The Who and more

Guitar World

“Jimmy was still playing the Telecasters that he played in the Yardbirds. I laid it on him and said, ‘Try this out.’ I gave him a good deal, about 1,200 bucks”: How one of rock's most storied Les Pauls changed hands from one guitar hero to another

Page had known Joe Walsh, then a budding guitar hero with the James Gang, since his pre-Zeppelin days with the Yardbirds. And Walsh had a proposition for him

Louder

“A 10cc reunion? It’s a hard no to that, I’m afraid”: Why Graham Gouldman is one of Britain’s greatest songwriters – even if people don’t know it

The former 10cc man has written for The Yardbirds, The Hollies and more – and now he’s taking his songs on the road

Guitar World

“Somebody will get mad at me, but it’s the closest thing to Beck, Clapton and Page. What was in the water we were all drinking?” Billy Corgan names himself and two other ’90s guitar gods as the ‘metal Yardbirds’

The Smashing Pumpkins frontman shared near-identical early experiences with two other players close to his local area, but they all ended up going down different avenues – not unlike the Yardbird legends

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