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Anaheim, CA-It was great to be back at the NAMM EXPO and even though some stuff was the same as last year, it was a thrill to be in Anaheim and take part of the year’s biggest music exposition! Also what was different for Glammetal, is that we were able to be part of the media/press forum. So we were already on to bigger and better things for 2008!
My main concern this year was coming back with at least three major interviews, which I was successful in doing (you have to stay tuned in the upcoming weeks to see what will be posted.) We were also hoping to grab Michael Anthony but due to time constraints, we were unable to do so. We are hoping something can happen with him shortly so you want to stay tuned for that as well!
First thing first, there were many great exhibits and so many to list so I will mention these two that left an impression on me: a silver sculpture of Joe Satriani’s CD “Surfing with the Alien” and a Nicko McBrain’s drum kit with each Eddie album cover art work on a different drum. I took pictures of these, but you had to see both of them to really appreciate them!
It was great to run into some old friends and supporters of the site and some new ones as well. A very cool and upcoming band Black Stone Cherry were very gracious with their fans and were more than happy to pose with our shirt!
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The artists are a major part of NAMM and even though I was there in “media mode,” I did stand in a couple of lines to get some pictures signed. Paul Stanley, Slash, and Dave Mustaine of Megadeth were the three I stood in line for and was happy to get pictures signed to me from these icons. Again, mostly I was there to do interviews and a show reviews so on we go!! It was great to see Stevie D. of Buckcherry who is a fan of the site and wanted to tell everybody that they are hard at work on a new CD and stay tuned for that! Besides Paul Stanley and Slash, it seemed the longest lines were for Nikki Sixx and DJ Ashba of SIXX AM. While heading upstairs, we ran into Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer and bassist Rudy Sarzo chatting it up a bit. Tommy said that he hasn’t been to NAMM in at least 5 years so it was cool to see the current Kiss axeman to stop by and say hello to all!
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I was able to swing by a couple of booths and get pictures of Tim “Ripper” Owens, Vinnie Paul, and Joe Satriani. So many events and so little time to cover everything!
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Along with seeing the latest equipment, meeting your favorite musicians, is being able to get a hold of tickets to exclusive concerts that are playing during NAMM. We at GlamMetal.com, were able to get tickets for three very exclusive events (Extreme, Black Stone Cherry, and Heart). The Extreme reunion show took place on Friday upstairs in a room at the Hilton. I don’t recall ever seeing them back in the 1990’s but I was VERY IMPRESSED to say the least. Even though Gary Cherone sounded great and moved around like a frantic frontman, I was really impressed by the overall musicianship of Nuno Bettencourt! The whole band in general was great and all their hits were played “Hole Hearted,” More Than Words,” “Rest in Peace,” “Kid Ego.” The band will be going out on tour in 2008 and will be doing a new CD to go along with the tour. Stay tuned for GlamMetal.com for details on that. Unfortunately due to the length of the Extreme show, I missed almost all of Living Colour (except the last two songs) who opened up for Black Stone Cherry. The crowd were definitely into B.S.C. and they played a very long set that went on even after I left (which was around 1:30am.) A very cool band to see live. It looks like these kids have a long future ahead of them! The next night was the very exclusive Heart show. They played inside the Pulse Lounge which may hold 200-300 people tops. As always, Heart sounded great and drummer Ben Smith who is also a longtime fan of the site, told me to say “Hello” and to look for Heart on tour in 2008!
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I did not stay around for Sunday as it is typically a very slow day. There are minimal musicians, no shows, and is a lot less crowded (what I learned from last year!) A great experience overall and we have a lot of thanks to give for our extra badges for our associates (Halo Guitars and Seymour Duncan pickups) and pr people (Jessica from Rogers and Cowan and Jodi from Washburn Guitars) who gave us tickets for the exclusive concert events. We also want to welcome new contributor Jim Smit, who is our video and audio engineer.
Please check out these sites for amazing products!
www.haloguitars.com
www.seymourduncan.com
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