Online guitar lesson platform Til has revealed they’ve added a trio of artists from the worlds of rock, funk and punk to their roster.

Til, who provide tutors from around the world for group video lessons or one-on-one sessions, have joined forces with Grammy winner Bob Lanzetti of Snarky Puppy, punk pioneer Sara Landeau of Bikini Kill, and rock veteran Ben Mauro, who’s performed with artists including Cher.

The trio join Til’s growing roster of guitarist that includes touring musicians, award winners and university professors who teach you new techniques through interactive masterclasses.

Til founder Matthew Rudin explains: “We're removing the barriers between top-tier musicians and aspiring guitarists.

“Whether you want to master funk fusion with a Grammy winner or learn punk rock from someone who's toured with Bikini Kill, that connection is now just a click away."

Rudin adds: “These aren't your typical one-sized-fits-all tutorials - this is direct access to musicians who've played for millions - and they're here to help you reach your goals.”

Til’s group lessons start at $30 an hour, while one-to-one sessions are from $40. There are lessons aimed at beginners, intermediate players and advanced musicians, covering everything from acoustic and classical styles, to rock, jazz and blues.

For more information, check out Til’s official website and you can also read a review of Til over at our sister site Guitar World.

“The wild shirtless lyrics of Mark Farner, the bong-rattling bass of Mel Schacher; the competent drum work of Don Brewer.” – Homer Simpson.

It’s difficult to believe today that, for a large part of the early 70s, Grand Funk were the biggest band in America; outselling Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. They were Capitol Records’ second-highest-grossing band next to The Beatles, and were the first US act to have 10 consecutive platinum albums. Yet this success didn’t stop them being critically vilified (Rolling Stone called them “simplistic, talentless, one-dimensional, unmusical”), and today they are remembered only by the American blue-collar, middle-aged masses, and an overweight, simple-minded, hepatic-coloured cartoon character.

“Grand Funk were one of the most hardworking and professional Detroit bands,” noted Meat Loaf, a regular at the legendary Grande Ballroom. “All the other bands watched them in awe and respected them for putting Motor City back on the map.”

Coming from the resolutely working-class environs of Flint, Michigan, Grand Funk began life as an above-average bar band called The Pack, fronted by Terry Knight. When Knight left for New York, the band’s career rapidly went down the tubes. So remaining members Mark Farner and Don Brewer reached out to their old lead singer. Knight agreed to help, on condition that he was allowed complete control as “manager, producer, press spokesman and musical mentor”. So began one of the most successful – though fractious and volatile – careers in rock history.

Recruiting bassist Mel Schacher, they went on the road with a show that had the ferocious energy of a James Brown Revue mixed with raw hard rock. A series of shows at the Atlanta Pop Festival in July 1969 made their name. Knight’s marketing genius combined with relentless touring ensured that by the time they released their first album, On Time, in August ’69 they were well on their way to multi-platinum discs and sellout arenas. A chart phenomenon in America only, they played sold-out shows all over the world.

“Journalists couldn’t feel it, but there was a rawness that went right to our audience,” recalls Brewer. Hail Grand Funk Railroad: the original People’s Band.

...and one to avoid

In 1977, as half the planet spiked up its hair and the other half honed its disco moves, Steely Dan decided to redefine the relationship between jazz and rock. They succeeded to the extent that while Aja is usually, for convenience, labelled jazz rock, or even as a key player in launching yacht rock, it remains completely unique.

Its warm, smooth sound and impeccably clean production veil slightly less cynical lyrics than its creators’ usual, but still they seem allergic to sentiment, to emoting. Deacon Blues may romanticise the loner, but as soon as it feigns to admit it with ‘I cried when I wrote this song,’ it swiftly follows that with, ‘Sue me if I play too long.’

Most of the tracks are lengthy (for the era), yet for all their musical prowess they glide and cruise rather than opt for flash. The album’s also an expansive exploration of Californian funk which is so high-brow that you can hear it for years before realising how damn funky it is.

Now remastered for the first time in decades as part of an ongoing vinyl reissue series, it’s another chance to marvel at Fagen and Becker’s obsessive perfectionism and producer Gary Katz’s patience. Audiophiles will swoon.

Musicians from saxophonist Wayne Shorter to guitarist Lee Ritenour understand the assignment, and while the much-sampled Peg and Josie (‘She’s the raw flame, the live wire’) share some DNA with the grooves which guide The Royal Scam and Gaucho, the title song sets a new benchmark for sophistication. Its shifts, in context, are somehow both subtle and seismic.

It’s easy to understand why the band to this day leave some music fans cold, as on the surface Aja is polished so slickly it denies the friction which draws your ears in. Once that fine film of funk is discerned, however, it can’t be undiscerned. Aja sold by the truckload, and its reputation as a rare masterpiece is now indestructible. Pristine yet quietly perverse, this reissue quasi-rocks.

The remastered Aja is available now via UMC / Polydor.

Joe Bonamassa has hooked up with Los Angeles funk band Scary Pockets for a cover of AC/DC's Back In Black, and it's nothing like the original. The Gibson SG msay be in place, but gone is Malcolm and Young's razor-edged riff, gone is Phil Rudd's monster backbeat, and instead it's all very smooth. Very tasteful. Very restrained. And undeniably funky. 

For the uninitiated, Scary Pockets are a group of players who regularly record covers of well-known songs. In the past they've come up with funkified versions of Coldplay's Clocks, Iris by Goo Goo Dolls, and an unlikely, stripped-bank canter through Radiohead's Creep. 

With an ever-revolving membership (more than 200 musicians have performed with the band) the Scary Pockets line-up for this latest adventure includes Bonamassa alongside singer Joanna Jones, guitarist Ryan Lerman, drummer Dan Bailey, bassist Calvin Turner – who's currently on tour with Bonamassa – and keyboardist Jack Conte, who also happens to be the CEO of arts subscription platform Patreon.  

Back In Black was recorded at EastWest Studios in Los Angeles, CA.

Joe Bonamassa is currently on tour in Europe, and will spend the summer criss-crossing the Atlantic and he completes festival shows on both sides of the Atlantic, before kicking off Fall US tour in October. Full dates below. 

Joe Bonamassa tour 2023

May 01: Zurich Hallenstadion, Switzerland
May 03: Prague Forum Karlin, Czechia
May 05: Manheim Sap Arena, Germany
May 06: Baden Baden Festspielhaus, Germany
May 07: Luxembourg Rockhal, Luxembourg
May 09: Bournemouth International Centre, UK
May 10: Blackpool Opera House, UK
May 12: Leeds First Direct Arena, UK
May 13: Newcastle Utilita Arena, UK
May 14: Birmingham Utilita Arena, UK

May 26: Yakima Capitol Theatre, WA
May 27: Bend Hayden Homes Amphitheatre, OR*
May 28: Woodinville Chateau Ste Michelle Winery, WA*

Jul 09: Weert Bospop, Netherlands
Jul 10: Isère The Jazz À Vienne Festival, France
Jul 13: Munich Tollwood Festival, Germany
Jul 16: Perugia Arena Santa Giuliana, Italy
Jul 18: Carcassonne Festival De Carcassonne, France
Jul 20: Saint-Julien-En-Genevois Guitare En Scène, France
Jul 22: Occitania Jazz In Marciac Marciac, France

Aug 02: Paso Robles Vina Robles Amphitheatre, CA
Aug 04: Las Vegas The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, NV
Aug 05: Salt Lake City Eccles Theater, UT
Aug 06: Morrison Red Rocks Amphitheatre, CO
Aug 09: Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl, CA^
Aug 12: Wantagh Jones Beach Theater, NY**
Aug 13: Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, NY**

Oct 23: Memphis The Cannon Center , TN                                                  
Oct 25: Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, LA
Oct 27: San Antonio Majestic Theatre, TX                                          
Oct 28: Sugar Land Smart Financial Centre At Sugar Land, TX
Oct 29: Austin ACL Live, TX
Nov 01: Fayetteville Walton Arts Center, AR                                                  
Nov 03: Little Rock Robinson Performance Hall, AR                               
Nov 04: Grand Prairie Texas Trust CU Theatre, TX
Nov 05: Oklahoma City Civic Center Music Hall, OK
Nov 08: Tulsa Tulsa Theater, OK
Nov 10: Kansas City The Midland Theatre, OK
Nov 11: St. Louis The Fabulous Fox, MO
Nov 12: Cedar Rapids Paramount Theatre, IA
Nov 14: Rochester Mayo Civic Center, MN                                                       
Nov 15: Rockford Coronado Performing Arts Center, IL
Nov 17: Fort Wayne Embassy Theatre, IN
Nov 18: Detroit Fox Theatre, MI
Nov 19: Columbus Palace Theatre, OH
Nov 21: Reading The Santander Performing Arts Center, PA
Nov 22: Providence Performance Arts Center, RI
Nov 24: Springfield Symphony Hall, MA
Nov 25: Baltimore The Lyric, MD
Nov 28: Savannah Johnny Mercer Theatre, GA
Nov 30: Sarasota Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, FL
Dec 01: Estero Hertz Arena, FL`
Dec 02: Hollywood Hard Rock Live, FL`

* Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa
** Keeping the Blues Alive presents: Joe Bonamassa & Friends: Styx and Don Felder
^ Joe Bonamassa with Orchestra

Tickets are on sale now. 

When Lionel Richie gave a shout out to Rob Zombie on this weekend's edition of American Idol, and hailed the musician-turned-movie director as "one of my dearest friends", fellow judge Katy Perry appeared shell-shocked, and mildly disgusted.

"What?" Perry spluttered. "Rob Zombie and Lionel Richie hang out?"

As Perry was only nine-years-old in 2003 when Richie and Zombie collaborated on a cover of The Commodores' 1977 single Brickhouse - described by Entertainment Weekly as a "paean to pneumatic hotties" - we shall forgive her incredulity. But yes, the unlikely Richie-Zombie bromance goes way back, which is why the pair joined forces for one of the musical highlights of the soundtrack to Zombie's House Of 1,000 Corpses horror film. 

Richie spoke about the collaboration to Rolling Stone in 2003. 

"When Rob called me on the phone he was so nervous," Richie told Rolling Stone (as subsequently reported by Blabbermouth). "I said, 'Rob, why do you seem nervous?' He said, 'Just come over.' And he played this track for me, and it blew me away. He Zombarized it. Under no circumstances was he thinking The Commodores.

"And I said, 'Give me a microphone man . . . you can't have 'Brick House' without some howse in it. You're not saying howwwse right.' Well he fell out laughing. The next thing we knew, we were slapping hands. And he said, 'Man, this is gonna scare people to death.'"

"When he first came by the house," Richie continued, "my housekeeper answered the door and said, 'Mr. Richie, there's a Mr. Zombie at the front door.' He showed up, this long hair, dark glasses, dark beard, blue jacket, ripped pants, red-toed combat boots, and I love the question my housekeeper asked . . . 'Where would you like me to put him?' I said, 'Let him in the living room'."

Richie's vocals were not his only contribution to the collaboration, for it was the soul/R&B legend who suggested to Zombie that the new version of the track could benefit from some divine female energy, and a little modern-day smut.

"We knew we needed someone who was mean and nasty and dirty," Zombie told Entertainment Weekly. "And that’s where Trina came in."

Miami-born rapper Trina, self-identifying on the track as "the baddest bitch", doesn't hold back, claiming that she keeps gentlemen "hotter than a missile, when I'm doing my thizzle", before the interlude er, climaxes, with a series of orgasmic "harder... harder..." porno moans from another young lady.

"There’s a freak-show element to it," Zombie explained to Entertainment Weekly. "It is so ridiculous, and Lionel knows it too. It’s so wrong that it ends up being so right."

Watch Zombie, Richie and Trina perform a slightly less-NSFW version of the track on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on April 1, 2003 below.

Rob Zombie seems to have been rather chuffed with his American Idol shout-out from his pal, as evidenced by the Instagram post below. "So wild" indeed.

Neil Fallon was unlucky as a boy. His bandmate, Clutch drummer Jean-Paul Gaster, was able to escape after dark to Go-Go concerts in the city but Fallon’s evenings were a little more sedate.

“I did see the Junkyard Band at the 9.30 Club once or twice, and at barbeques,” says Fallon. “But convincing your suburban parents that you wanted to go to downtown DC at 10pm on a Saturday night was always a non-starter for me.”

Still, the intense, hours-long performances from Chuck Brown, Big Tony and Rare Essence created an unbroken groove that Clutch have carried forward to the present day.

This is despite the decline of Go-Go as a regional force – urban development and gentrification left fewer places for larger shows, and the core sound was sampled to the point of simplification by hip-hop producers.

“DC has been gentrified unbelievably,” says the frontman. “There are neighbourhoods I drive through and I’ll see a young mother in her yoga pants with a baby stroller and I’ll have to double-take, thinking, ‘You need to get out of here!’ Then I take a look around and it’s all condos.

“On the one hand that’s great because it’s giving jobs, but at the same time it’s the story that happens in countless cities across the world: what made it cool to begin with gets taken away.”

Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers

Neil: “Go-Go started in the 70s, and the man considered the creator is Chuck Brown. He passed away a couple of years ago. We use Chuck Brown’s Money for our intro every night. We’ve been doing that for at least five years – for so long that the crowd expects it. We covered it, too. The Go-Go concerts would last three or four hours and the bands would never stop playing, because they didn’t want people to leave. They got played on the radio quite a bit when we were teenagers, and high school marching bands would always play Go-Go beats. It was all-pervasive.”

The Junkyard Band

“Probably the best example of a proper Go-Go set would be Junkyard Band – Live at Safari Club. It’s either three or four CDs, because the set is three or four hours long, but it’s only got parts 1, 2, 3 and 4, which are 45 minutes each. You hear the crowd, there’s a lot of call and response, and little cues that developed almost as part of a local tradition – when you hear this riff, you know this is gonna happen. Go-Go is kinda funk and R&B, but with Afro-Cuban beats on top of it. John Paul had a Go-Go metal band which put Go-Go beats on top of metal riffs, which is something Clutch still does.”

Rare Essence

“Rare Essence was another huge band, and I think they play every once in a while. They had huge hits. Cat In The Hat was the big one. I never really saw a proper show, but when John Paul was in high school he would go down to them. The best Go-Go records aren’t the studio records, they’re PA tapes, which were traded like currency. ‘Here’s Rare Essence at this club, or Chuck Brown at this club.’ There used to be a place called PA Palace, which I believe is now just a website, and now it’s digital and CDs. It used to be just cassettes.”

Trouble Funk

“They still play today. Trouble Funk is primarily a guy named Big Tony. Dave Grohl’s Sonic Highways, on the DC episode they interview him. There’s a Clutch song named DC Sound Attack, which takes its name from the compilation Washington Go-Go Sound Attack where Trouble Funk appear. We were playing Go-Go beats in John Paul’s basement, and I looked up at that record at the right moment and thought ‘That would be the perfect song title’. Our song is more about Washington DC and geopolitics and warmongering, but it had also the DC Go-Go beats. That seemed like a very happy accident. There’s a line which says, ‘Drop the bomb’. What Trouble Funk would do, their keyboard player would make the classic cartoon sound of a bomb falling. It’s one of those moments that became trademarked by them – and we shamelessly ripped it off!”

• The A-Z Of Clutch
• In Clutch's world, it's either go hard or go home
• My top 10 books, by Neil Fallon from Clutch
• The top 10 best Clutch songs

Proper Utensils

“Another great band from Washington. Go-Go came out of primarily southeast Washington DC, in Anacostia and Prince George’s County, Maryland, which is just on the other side of the river. When people think of Washington DC they think of these white marble displays of power. It’s very polished, but all you have to do is walk a couple of blocks in one direction to realize that there are people living in dire conditions, and these are people which have lived there for generations and generations. Most of the world’s best music comes from places with very difficult circumstances, and Go-Go still exists in DC’s roughest neighbourhoods.”

Experience Unlimited

“The one time Go-Go got out of DC with a national hit was with EU and Da Butt. It had an associated dance, and I think Salt-N-Pepa did a crossover with them in 1988. A lot of hip-hop acts around that time started sampling Go-Go beats, but it was never labeled as such. It was just a rhythm that some kid in Seattle might hear without realizing that it was a regionally-specific thing. You still hear Go-Go on the streets. Young kids with plastic five-gallon drums, or maybe a drum kit. And for whatever reason it only really lives in Washington, DC – you don’t really hear it in Richmond, or Philadelphia – which are only 90 miles north and south.”

Psychic Warfare by Clutch is out now.

Clutch's Introduction To The Blues