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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Steve stevens | History Defined

“It was the most coveted guitar chair in rock. I adored Edward’s playing, so I understood that people would be skeptical”: How Steve Vai lived his ultimate guitar rockstar fantasy on David Lee Roth’s Eat ’Em and Smile

Working with David Lee Roth was like "being strapped to a rocket made of charisma and fueled by tequila” – and the music was pretty fun, too

Guitar World

“It didn’t sound like a big guitar song, so I wound up playing keyboards. Eddie Van Halen played keyboards on Jump, so I figured I could too”: How Billy Idol seized upon the success of Rebel Yell – and Linn Drums – to take his sound to new frontiers

Steve Stevens remembers the early days of true international stardom, when he and Billy Idol utilized their creative freedom and exciting new tech to make a very different kind of record

Guitar World

Billy Idol Should Be Dead: New documentary "digs deep" into star's "emergence as a prototypical punk rocker" and transformation into an MTV superstar

Plus, Idol to perform acoustic sets at LA and New York premieres

MusicRadar

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“He was across the hall and I mentioned my tone troubles to him…” How Steve Stevens saved Steve Vai on his David Lee Roth debut

Vai was a novice at “big rock guitar tones” at the time – but Stevens came to his rescue

Guitar World

“Playing with Vince Neil, opening for Van Halen, it got to be total rock ’n’ roll excess. I had to reassess why I was even playing guitar”: Steve Stevens on resisting shred, how Paco de Lucia made him go nylon, and Billy Idol’s eternal appeal

Billy Idol’s collaborator of 40-plus years transcends the punk-rock guitarist mold, taking in flamenco, jazz‑fusion, prog and classical styles – and he is as excited aboutguitar today as he was when he first picked one up

Guitar World

“I had to reassess why I was even playing. I stopped playing electric guitar for a year”: Steve Stevens says going on tour with Van Halen made him rethink his relationship with the guitar – and it gave way to one of his most experimental albums

After weeks of rock 'n' roll overstimulation, Stevens pivoted and spent a year traveling with a nylon-string

Guitar World

“I moved over to Fender for a couple of years, learning a lot of history there – but also how I didn’t want to make aguitar”: How John Suhr built one of guitar’s hottest boutique brands

John Suhr knows a thing or two about tone. Hey, the guy oversaw repairs at Rudy’s Music in NYC, modded amps with Bob Bradshaw, became a Senior Master Builder and launched his own brand

Guitar World

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“I was affected as much as anybody hearing that first Van Halen record. I think the other guitar players in LA went, ‘Oh, my God, I’ve got to compete with that’”: Steve Stevens on why he never felt the need to compete with Eddie Van Halen

Both Van Halen and Stevens worked with Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, but the Billy Idol guitar slinger never felt the need to compete with Van Halen

Guitar World

“Working on Jimmy Page’s guitar was bucket list stuff for me”: Bare Knuckle’s Tim Mills on how he built the biggest indie pickup brand in the world – and why Page’s ‘Number One’ Les Paul sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan’s Strat

The guitarist behind the beloved U.K.-based artisan pickup brand, explains how he got started in the biz, the attention to detail that makes Bare Knuckle so good – and what's coming next

Guitar World

“He loved that I was playing Peavey… when we ended up touring with them, I saw why”: BRONCHO’s Ryan Lindsey has built a career on unique melodic chug, and won fans in Josh Homme and Jack White. But he still owes Steve Stevens an apology

The singular indie-rocker uses a battered Silvertone and budget amps, and chases the demo to the nth degree. He explains how he developed a truly individual tone – and why he’s still traumatized after a run-in with the Billy Idol guitarist’s pedalboard

Guitar World

“I spilled my beer on Steve Stevens’ pedalboard. I quickly wiped it up and didn’t tell anybody”: BRONCHO’s Ryan Lindsey on the time he toured with Billy Idol – and spilled booze on a guitar hero’s pedalboard

Lindsey has many fond memories from watching Stevens play every night on tour in the US – but one incident involving beer and a pedalboard isn’t one of them

Guitar World

“Rule number one: When you’re notusing a pedal, your guitar must sound like your original guitar sound”: Steve Stevens on the pedalbord the guru Dave Friedman made him, his favorite Klon klone and why he can't use chorus anymore

The effervescent Billy Idol guitarist reveals the secrets of his pedalboard

Guitar World

“He was bedrock to the Yes sound; an incredibly creative player who has inspired so many. It’s unlikely that we’ll see his like again”: Chris Squire’s greatest musical moments, by bandmates, friends and fans

Members of Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant, and later-generation musicians are among 30 artists who choose their favourite performances to mark a decade since the bass powerhouse’s death

Louder

“Imagine flying with a truly professional, high-quality guitar and not having to worry about an airline damaging it”: Steve Stevens’ new Ciari signature guitar is flight-friendly electric that folds up and can be stored under your seat

It's a high-end electric with Bare Knuckle pickups, coil-splits, locking tuners, and it has a hinge that allows you to fold it in half and carry it onto planes, trains, and presumably automobiles too

MusicRadar

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“We wanted the listeners to know that the pirates are on their way!”: How guitarist Steve Stevens kickstarted Billy Idol’s classic hits White Wedding and Rebel Yell

"Our producer said, ‘You need a flag at the top'"

Louder

"I was doing a ton of crack. And I took pills to try and calm down": The growing pains and artistic rebirth of Billy Idol

Twenty years on from Rebel Yell and 10 years after overdosing on crack, Billy came back in 2005 with a trademark sneer and an album that did what he does best

MusicRadar

“I remember saying, ‘Come on, you’re gonna edit it down to, what, four bars?’ Harold goes, ‘No, we’re gonna keep everything.’ And they did!”: How a guitar hero's epic 64-bar solo lit up a classic movie theme

"We got the whole thing done in three hours"

MusicRadar

"With her on it, it got three times better": Watch Billy Idol and Avril Lavigne perform their new single, 77

It’s multi-generational punk-pop nostalgia, with added Steve Stevens

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MusicRadar

“The last thing Billy and I wanted to do was retread and say, ‘Hey, let’s do another Rebel Yell.’ We’ve already done that”: Guitar hero Steve Stevens lifts the lid on the new Billy Idol album

"I’m always looking to embellish the melody of the vocal," the guitarist says

Guitar World

“It holds its own purely as a playable guitar. It’s really cool for the traveling musician – you can bring it on a flight and it fits beneath the seat”: Why Steve Stevens put his name to a foldable guitar

Billy Idol’s right-hand man was so converted to the Ciari Ascender concept, he’s used it on stage and in recording sessions on the road

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘Wow, Jeff Beck has really taken it to the next level.’ But then I realised, ‘Wait a minute - this isn’t Jeff Beck!’”: Steve Stevens reveals his two all-time favourite guitar solos

Billy Idol's sidekick pays tribute to Page and Holdsworth

MusicRadar

“When I got the call to record with Michael, I was thinking, oh, there’s going to be an entourage, and the monkey’s going to be jumping around…”: How guitarist Steve Stevens recorded Dirty Diana with Michael Jackson

Guitar World

“When I met Billy, I didn’t really have an amazing guitar. He said, ‘Oh, you gotta have a Les Paul, mate’”: Steve Stevens on why the ’80s were Hamer time for the Billy Idol guitarist – and it was all thanks to Paul Stanley

Steve Stevens turns the clock back to May 1986 to tell us all about the Hamer SS1 he is holding on the cover of GW, and what became of all those other Hamers

Guitar World

“Paul Reed Smith and I grew up on the same street. He knew I was finishing guitars and one day asked for help. Eventually we needed somebody to head up the factory. He said, 'You’re it’”: How Joe Knaggs became one of America’s most respected guitar makers

Having cut his teeth working at the PRS factory, rising from finishing assistant to production manager and head of Private Stock, Knaggs built his brand from the ground up. Here’s his story…

Guitar World

“Modeling is just not fun. It doesn’t give you any sort of feeling. You gotta shake the pant legs and feel that air”: Dave Friedman, who’s built amps for Jerry Cantrell, Steve Stevens, and Chris Shiflett, is not ready to hop off the tube train

The amp guru looks back on a career of modding Marshalls, building rigs for Eddie Van Halen, and developing his most simple product ever – and looks forward to the future of NAMM and boutique tech

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