Around 60 lucky people got holed up for a few hours with Machine Head‘s guitarist – Phil Demmel – at the GAK store in Brighton; to talk gear, influences, and hear him play through some tracks. Before everyone arrived, I had a quick promo shoot with Phil – above is a teaser. Chris Cannella – the product specialist for Jackson (and Vocalist/Guitarist for the band Autumn’s End) gave a great introduction into the history of Jackson as a brand and the longest running custom guitar shop in the world, which was really engaging even if you didn’t know too much about guitars. His upbeat American attitude made everyone in the room feel involved from the get -go and shouting ‘FUCK YEAH!’ at any given opportunity. Which was a lot! Phil took to the stage and explained the workings of his own custom guitar, along with some humorous stories about his journey so far – with early beginnings listening to AC/DC, Ted Nugent and KISS, to starting out on the guitar with Randy Rhoads as a major influence. Then being involved in the Bay Area thrash scene, as guitarist in band Vio-Lence, through to joining Machine Head. He played through all […]