If there is one band that can pull me away from The Panic Channel or Joe Bonamassa lately its DramaGods. The latest release from Nuno Bettencourt is sheer brilliance. They have an awesome sound, and manage to sound huge even though they have a pretty "live" live sound on the album with not a huge amount of overdubs. Why these guys have no record deal is beyond me. Have a listen:

And just for the hell of it, here he is with population1 doing one of my favourite Extreme songs "Cupid's Dead". Check this out from about 5 minutes in for some truly amazing playing.

I know, I know. I keep going on about this band and Dave Navarro but I can't help it. See for yourself.

Why had I not heard of this guy before. Truely the benchmark for the latest generation of blues guitarists everywhere.

His playing and technique remind me of someone who grew up on hard rock and metal before embracing the blues as a whole. He is possibly the most technically proficient bluesman I have ever seen, but you wouldn't know it. It only shows up every now and again and always tastefully. Make know mistake this guy can shred but only when it's called for.

I came across this the other day at Guitar Blog. There are three videos of Zakk Wilde playing. While the post there is primarily about Zakk's playing, there was something else I noticed while watching the videos. Another darker, more disturbing theme.

DO NOT PLAY FOR OZZY OSBOURNE.

Seriously. What the fuck happened to Zakk Wilde.

One day he is a scrawney little runt teaching guitar and the next he is totally corrupted by the spirit that is Ozzy and becomes a big burly biker with attitude. The clips on show here highlight just how much he changes during the stages of his life. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan, but I can't help but laugh when I think of what Zakk was like at the start of his career.

Every early interview I read with Zakk, he was a mildly spoken, somewhat shy man who just wanted to play guitar well. These days he has the balls to insult one of the fathers on modern metal (note: who knows what happened really, but this still takes balls).

In the latest issue of Guitar World magazine, OZZY OSBOURNE/BLACK LABEL SOCIETY guitarist Zakk Wylde addressed the Internet rumor that he spat booze in METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield's face when he asked to jam with Wylde.

"No, no. That's ridiculous," Wylde responded when asked if there was any truth to the rumor. "James is the shit. He is a brother and I love the guy. I just didn't think he was doing the right thing by hiring some high-price psychiatrist to work with the band after he got out of rehab.

"Here's what happened: James came on our bus and we were bullshitting. I said, 'Dude, why are you paying a psychiatrist 40 grand a month? He's raping you. Send the money to a children's cancer foundation. If I was in the band, you know what I would tell you?' And he goes 'What?' And I took a swig from my beer and spit it up in the air. And he goes 'Fuck that,' and walks off the bus. I went after him and told him I was just being a dork and that was that. I was just talking to him, being straight, because he's smarter than that. He's James Hetfield, damn it. He knows who he is and doesn't need some yahoo to tell him. It's like when Sharon Osbourne sent me to rehab a few years ago. Fuck that!"

Guitar World: What happened?

Zakk Wylde: "I just stood up and said, 'You know what? This is not for me. This is not BLACK LABEL. You guys are a bunch of losers and scamming fuckers, and I guess I'm in the wrong business. I should start the BLACK LABEL rehab and rape people 35 grand for 28 days.' The place was called Promises rehab, and I went, 'I'll make you a promise right now: I'm either going to kill someone in here or cap myself. Since suicide is not an option, someone else is going to die if I stick around.' And that was it. I jumped the fence, walked to a bar and watched the Nets and Lakers in the NBA finals."

Drink on Zakk, drink on.

Yep.. thats right! I like VWs and now I like them even more. You buy a new series VW, you get a guitar with an in built pre amp that you can plug into the car stereo. Just like this:

More can be found at vdubsrock.com