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According to certain sources Columbia Records has set 26th March 2008 as release date for The Offspring’s follow-up to there 2003 album “Splinter”. However, the band have yet to confirm this information or announce a release date for this.

The band have been working on the new record for over a year with rock producer legend Bob Rock who recorded Metallica, and while Dexter Holland has been posting studio updates on the Offspring official website, it is unknown how far the recording has come along and what its title is going to be. The album is most likely to include the tracks “Fix You”, “Hammerhead”, “Pass Me By” and “Takes Me Nowhere”. Holland describes them “lots of guitar, energy, lots of energy, and good songs”.

Former Offspring drummer Atom Willard, who left the band last July, was still member of the band during the recording, session musician Josh Freese (The Vandals, A Perfect Circle, Devo, Guns N’ Roses, Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves) recorded the drum tracks. While the band works on the album, former Face to Face and Saves the Day member Pete Parada will be drumming for the tour.

Previously announced, The Offspring will start with a tour of Australia in February and headline Soundwave Festival. This will be the band’s first performance together in three years.

At this time of year we sell a lot of electric guitars to people looking to buy an electric guitar as a christmas present. We think this is a great idea, playing the electric guitar is great fun, promotes creativity and is generally a highly positive thing to get into.

For someone getting their first electric guitar, or buying someone their first electric guitar, we usually recommend going for one of the great guitar packages we have on offer. These include everything you need to get playing the electric guitar in a nice box, great for Christmas.

If you would prefer to put your own package together, or would like to spend a bit more and get a nicer guitar than comes in the packages, we offer an easy solution called the beginners package. Simply add this product to whichever electric guitar you prefer, and you have everything you need to start playing the electric guitar.

Heres a brief rundown of the essential accessories for an electric guitar.

Amplifier
An electric guitar is useless without an amplifier. You can spend anything from around £50 to as much as you want. The smallest cheapest amps are usually 10 Watts. This means that they are only really loud enough for playing at home on your own. If you intend to play in a band, or most importantly, with an acoustic drum kit (which are loud) then we would not recommend getting less than 100 Watts.

Lead
A guitar lead is essential to connect up your electric guitar to your amplifier. We sell a huge range of leads. If you go for the more expensive ones, expect them to last a long time and not degrade in quality. A cheaper lead will save you money, but may not last all that long if used heavily.

Plectrums
Picks or Plectrums are essential tools for strumming and picking the electric guitar. You can play some styles with your fingers, but most electric guitar styles require a plectrum. There are many thicknesses to choose from. We recommend going for the middle thicknesses to start with, and then see what feels right from there.

Tuner
A guitar tuner is really useful for getting and keeping your electric guitar in tune. You can cope without one, but unless you have some other reference to tune against, your guitar will gradually drift out of standard tuning and you will find it hard to sort out. A digital tuner is a cheap and easy option and is highly recommended.

Case or Bag
A case or bag is very useful for keeping the guitar safe whilst not in use and especially whilst in transit. A solid hard case will always be the best option for safety. A lightweight case or bag will generally be easier to carry around, but does compromise on protection.

Gene Simmons, From pop-metal band Kiss, is the latest musician to comment about the music industry that has given him a mass amount of success. When pressed by an Billboard interview about the chances of recording new music, he lashed out saying, according to sources.

“The record industry is in such a mess. I called for what it was when college kids first started download music for free — that they were crooks. I told every record label I spoke with that they just lit the fuse to their own bomb that was going to explode from under them and put them on the street.

“There is nothing in me that wants to go in there and do new music. How are you going to deliver it? How are you going to get paid for it if people can just get it for free?

“The record industry doesn’t have a f*cking clue how to make money. It’s only their fault for letting foxes get into the henhouse and then wondering why there’s no eggs or chickens. Every little college kid, every freshly-scrubbed little kid’s face should have been sued off the face of the earth. They should have taken their houses and cars and nipped it right there in the beginning. Those kids are putting 100,000 to a million people out of work.”

Kiss Were an American Rock band who farmed in New York. With their trademark face paints and crazy outfits. Sucess became very big in the mid 70’s with many tours and and intense live preformance ranging from breathing fire, blood spitting and pyrotechnics, Kiss got awarded 24 gold albums to date and in total have sold 95 million albums worldwide.

Related Blogs
www.meltcomics.com
Kiss Returns to Comics

www.fortheretarded.com
Kiss meets phantom of the park

www.garbage-house.com
Claim: Blood from KISS band members was mixed with the red ink used to print the first KISS comic book.

A Lothian primary school has introduced African drums in lessons - that has been a resounding success with staff and pupils alike.

The school, Lasswade Primaryin Bonnyrigg, bought 15 instruments from the Ivory Coast totalling a whopping £13000!

The drums included original & traditional Djembe, Caxini, Doum Doum drums, and Ghana bells.

Headteacher Julie Fox said: “At first they were just used by P5 pupils during music but now we use them across the curriculum.

“In maths the pupils find it easier to get the times table into their heads if it’s accompanied by a drumbeat.”Children in P2 managed to learn the names of the Greek gods by sounding them out with the drums.

“It makes learning memorable and fun and particularly motivating.”

Jim Muirhead, Midlothian’s education leader, added: “The initial drumming programme in primary schools across Midlothian was a great success and this ‘Drumming for Excellence’ project has obviously taken this much further.”

We would just like to add that if you do fancy some percussion for your kids - or yourself, it definitely will NOT cost you £866 a pop!

Check out our great range of percussion and drums at PlayRecord.

Related Blogs
blog.drumcrazy.co.uk
Drum Crazy Blog :: Buying Djembes for use in schools

How about Drumming (Southon style!) ?

uclartsandhealing.net
Elementary school literacy coach responds to drumming experience

If you are looking to buy a present for a musician then here are some great music christmas stocking fillers that we highly recommend:

For the Guitarist

Check out the Guitar Accessories - Click Here department for a huge range of guitar accessories to choose from.

Guitar Tuners - Click Here

Guitar tuners are an excellent present if the person does not already have one. A tuner makes life loads easier as tuning up becomes a breeze so you can get on with playing. This is an especially ideal present for someone who is getting their first guitar. It will really help them out!

Guitar Stands - Click Here
Often ignored, a decent sturdy guitar stand is an essential item for any guitarist. Its a pain to always have to get the case or bag out and then get the guitar out of that. When using a guitar stand, it looks great, takes up hardly any floor space and means that they can pick up and start playing their guitar within seconds. It also prevents nasty accidents involving guitars breaking after being lent against walls, chairs etc. A guitar is a delicate instrument and will easily break if not looked after. We definitely recommend a guitar stand.

Plectrums - Click Here

Plectrums, or Picks as they are sometime called, are an essential part of any guitarists equipment. However they are damn easy to lose, which means that we are always needing more! A big bag of plectrums would be an excellent present and definitely appreciated.

Pick/Plectrum Holder - Click Here
As mentioned above, us guitarists are forever losing our plectrums. These plectrum holders are a great way to stop that happening so much, and also ensure that we have more on hand when we inevitably do lose them. Also - these are great for on stage when you inadvertanly drop your plectrum onto a dark and grubby stage mid song… within seconds you can have another plectrum in your fingers - genius!

Planet Waves Gear - Click Here
Like the stella, its expensive, but it is definitely tops for quality. They also make some ingenious tools and gadgets for guitarists which make excellent stocking fillers. Highly recommended!

For the Drummer

Check out the Drum Accessories - Click Here department for a huge range of great drum related stocking fillers.

Drum Sticks - Click Here
A drummer can never have too many pairs of drum sticks. They are forever breaking them and losing them. You are guaranteed to be appreciated if you present your drumming loved one with a fistful of drum sticks.

Vater - Click Here
Vater are a premium drum brand, specialising in drum sticks. They make signature pairs endorsed buy the drummers from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Korn to name a few. Very highly regarded by our drumming experts, Vater also offer a nice range of other drumming related accessories.

Drum Stick Bag - Click Here
Drum stick bags are a great way for drummers to keep all of their sticks safe in one handy place. They also attach to the drum kit giving your drumming loved on easy access to his stick stash whilst practicing or playing live, meaning a broken stick can be replaced within moments (often preceded by a broken stick being thrown to a star struck crowd fighting for the glory of the broken stick!)

Drum StickHolder - Click Here
This great product simply clips onto any stand on the kit and will hold two pairs of drum sticks for easy retrieval. An excellent addition to a stick bag. As we have said - a drummer can never have too many drum sticks!

Practice Pads - Click Here
Practice pads are a way for your drumming loved one to play his/her drums to their hearts content without maintaining a three figure decibel level. Maybe this is more a present for yourself? Anyway a great idea that benefits everyone and a definitely recommended christmas present for a drummer.

Christmas Related Blogs
theconnexion.net

realchristmas.com - fat nappy headed santas!

Santas Breakfast

legalit.itproportal.com - Christmas Music Pollution

Christmas Audio (lots of it)

This time of year we find that we are definitely selling more guitars to people who are buying for someone else than buying for themselves. We think that buying a guitar for someone else as a surprise Christmas present is a brilliant idea, but to get the best effect, you need to make sure you are buying the right kind of guitar.

The two things you need to decide when buying a guitar as a christmas present are:

1. What type of guitar?
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Classical Guitar or Bass Guitar. There are some other kinds of guitar including Electro Acoustic Guitars, which is really an acoustic guitar with some electronics added and Semi Acoustic Guitars which are effectively an electric guitar with a hollow body, making it a bit like an Acoustic Guitar.

For someone who already has a guitar, it makes sense to get a different kind of guitar so that they will enjoy a different guitar playing experience. So if the person you are buying a guitar for currently has an electric guitar, we would recommend getting an acoustic guitar and vice versa.

If you are buying someone their first guitar, then we recommend going for one of the great guitar packages available.

2. What kind of budget do you want to spend?
This really is up to you. We recommend getting an idea of budget though before you start trying to make your choice of guitar as it is a great way of cutting down the options so that you are not overwhelmed with choice. Generally anything over £100 will get a nice playing guitar these days. However if you think they are worth it, spending more will definitely mean a much nicer guitar.

Once you have decided which type of guitar and what kind of budget you want to spend, the final decision simply involves having a look through our range of guitars and picking out right one, based on the colour and style that you think they will appreciate the most.

If you need any help at all at any step of the way, our team of professional guitar salespeople will happily give you some pointers. Simply give us a call on 0844 8844 765 or email us using our contact form with your queries and we will get back to you as quickly as possible with our recommendations. It would help us out if you could have some idea of the budget and type of guitar you are looking for first, so that we can narrow down the options for you and get straight to the right guitar Christmas present for the person you are buying for.

Blogs about Christmas Guitar
blog.musicnotes.com
Musicnotes.com Blog: One More Christmas Guitar Guru Song

headrush.typepad.com
Creating Passionate Users: What I want for Christmas

www.guitarist.co.uk
Guitarist

Born on the 30th of March, 1945, Eric Patrick Clapton was the son of 16 year old Patricia Molly Clapton and Edward Walter Fryer, a 24 year old Canadian soldier stationed in England during the second world war. Before Eric was born, Fryer returned to Canada and his wife.

Eric’s grandmother played piano and his uncle and mother both enjoyed listening to the sounds of the big bands. His father had been a gifted musician, playing piano in several dance bands in the Surrey area.

For his thirteenth birthday, Erica as for a guitar. He found his first one difficult to play and put it aside. Then when he was sixteen he went to the Kingston College of Art. He was expelled after a year for lack of progress due to the fact the he spent his time playing guitar and listening to the blues.

In early 1963, 17 year-old Eric joined his first band, The Roosters. Following the band’s demise in August 1963, he spent one month in the pop-oriented Casey Jones and The Engineers. Before turning to music as a full-time career, he supported himself as a laborer at building sites, working alongside his grandfather, a master bricklayer and plasterer.

In October 1963, Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith recruited him to become a member of The Yardbirds because Clapton was the most talked about guitar player on the R&B pub circuit. During his 18-month tenure with The Yardbirds, he earned his nickname, Slowhand, and recorded his first albums: Five Live Yardbirds and Sonny Boy Williamson and The Yardbirds.

In April 1965, John Mayall invited Eric to join his band, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. With this group, Clapton established his reputation as a guitarist and earned his second nickname: “God”. It came from an admirer’s graffiti on the wall of London’s Islington Tube Station that boldly proclaimed “Clapton is God.”

Eric’s time with the band was turbulent and he left for a while to tour Greece with friends. Upon his return from Greece, Eric rejoined the Bluesbreakers. It was during this time that the now classic Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton was recorded. While with the Bluesbreakers, Eric also recorded a one-off four-track session with a band dubbed “The Powerhouse”. This studio band included John Paul Jones, Steve Winwood and Jack Bruce.

After leaving the Bluesbreakers for a second and final time in July 1966, Eric teamed up with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker to form Cream.

Following Cream’s break-up, Clapton founded Blind Faith - rock’s first “supergroup” - with Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech. Disbanding after one album and a disastrous American tour, Eric tried to hide from his growing fame by touring as a sideman with Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. While with this outfit, Eric was encouraged to sing by Delaney Bramlett. He also began composing more. A live album from the Delaney & Bonnie tour was released in 1970. Clapton’s self-titled debut was released that same year.

Eric went through further musical transformations, survived a three year heroin addicition and came back to win a Grammy in 1992 for the single “Tears in Heaven”.

One of Eric’s biggest influences is Robert Johnson. In his book “Discovering Robert Johnson”, Eric wrote “Robert Johnson to me is the most important blues musician who ever lived. He was true, absolutely, to his own vision, and as deep as I have gotten into the music over the last 30 years, I have never found anything more deeply soulful than Robert Johnson. His music remains the most powerful cry than I think you can find in the human voice, really. … it seemed to echo something I had always felt.”.

Blogs about Eric Clapton:

flash.popphoto.com
PopPhoto Flash: Money Can’t Buy Everything

revolution30.blogsome.com
Ken Leebow’s Business Card for the 21st Century :: CBS Sunday Morning News Interviews Eric Clapton :: November :: 2006

www.consolatio.com
Sedulia on Grief: Eric Clapton: The terrible numbness that I lived in

www.mediafuturist.com
MediaFuturist: Is this REALLY Eric Clapton playing (stretching the boundaries of fair use)

mavrixonline.com
mavrixonline.com: John Mayer Plays with Blues Legend Eric Clapton

playguitar.blogsome.com
Play Guitar :: DVD Review: Eric Clapton - Live At Montreux 1986 :: September :: 2006

Jimmy Page, guitarist of iconic band Led Zeppelin is cursing the fractured finger that has forced their long awaited reunion concert to be postponed. Apparently he tripped over a stone in the garden and came down a bit too hard and the pinky took some damage.

Led Zeppelin were due to have their first concert in 19 years after their split in 1980 at London\’s 02 Arena on the 26th of November. This has now been pushed back to December.

Jimmy Page said:

\”I didn\’t just come down on my hand, I came down on other parts of my body as well. But of course it was the hand that had a bit of an injury to it,\”

\”It\’s got a fracture in the little finger of the left hand, which is a nuisance because it\’s really needed. It\’s just going to take a little while for it to heal, that\’s all.\”

\”It\’s not permanent damage. I\’ve broken fingers before, a lot worse than this.\”

However Page is totally confident that they will manage to do the December gig:

\”We\’ll make the gig all right and we\’ll do