Day: February 18, 2013

Gretchen Menn Joins Live From Music City!

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Photo: Mark Manion

 

Apart from demolishing her mother’s violin with Pete Townshend-like vehemence at age three, Gretchen’s passion for all things guitar didn’t fully surface until her early teenage years. It was under the tutelage of classical guitarist Phillip de Fremery, a student of Andrés Segovia, that Gretchen began her path on the instrument. Her father, noted writer and former editor-in-chief of Guitar Player Magazine, Don Menn, was quick to point her in the direction of the greats as soon as she expressed interest in guitar.

While earning a degree in music at Smith College, Gretchen’s adventurous approach to her education would foreshadow her approach to the guitar. She convinced a professor to allow her to launch a special studies project on the intricate and unclassifiable music of Frank Zappa. Her analyses of “The Sheik Yerbouti Tango” and “The Girl in the Magnesium Dress” showed a love for epic, melodic, genre-shattering rock and roll composition that would manifest later in her original instrumentals.

After college, Gretchen began heavily incorporating her love of rock guitar into her daily regime, the only hitch being that the music of her rock gods, Steve Morse, Eric Johnson, and Frank Zappa, wasn’t exactly Guitar 101. She also began considering her career path, and how she might prevent a situation she sought to avoid: tainting her love of music with the necessity of paying rent.

The solution? She went directly from college to flight school, and two years later was flying regional jets for the airlines. Yet Gretchen was never without her guitar.

After a year in the jet, with the life of an airline pilot being more than a little incompatible with a career in music, Gretchen relinquished her position with the airlines, knowing that there was a pilot out there somewhere who would appreciate the opportunity. She decided to take a more direct approach to realizing her musical dreams.

Playing with tireless passion and constantly seeking out new challenges, Gretchen’s projects have spanned the genres of jazz, funk, rock, progressive, and metal. In 2003, she donned a schoolboy uniform and joined AC/DShe as “Agnes Young.” In 2005, she joined forces with drummer, Clementine, to form Zepparella, currently with singer Noelle Doughty and bassist Angeline Saris. In 2007, Gretchen formed Sticks and Stones, the high-energy, instrumental “bassless power trio” with guitarist Mickael Tremel and drummer Sam Adato. In 2010, she played in Lapdance Armageddon, an aggressive acoustic duo with Jude Gold. In 2011 she wrote, produced, and recorded her first solo album, Hale Souls, which features bassist Stu Hamm, drummer John Mader, violinist Emily Palen, and guest artists Angeline Saris (bass on “Scrap Metal”), Jude Gold (second acoustic guitar on “Fast Crowd”), and Gretchen’s sister, Kirsten Menn (soprano on “Fading.”) Gretchen’s solo project, a trio with Angeline Saris on bass and Thomas Perry on drums, played their first shows in November of 2011, and will be starting to tour more in 2012.

Discography:

GRETCHEN MENN

Hale Souls (Mach Zero Records, 2011)

LAPDANCE ARMAGEDDON

Lapdance Armageddon (self-released, 2010)

FRANCIS BAKIN

Conversation with Francis Bakin (self-released, 2009)

STICKS AND STONES

Unbreakable Strings (self-released, 2007)

THE HOUSE OF MORE

The House of More (self-released, 2006)

ZEPPARELLA

Live at 19 Broadway (Bonny Boy Records, 2005)

A Pleasing Pounding (What Are Records?, 2008)

www.gretchenmenn.com

Night Ranger/Trans-Siberian Orchestra Guitarist Joel Hoekstra Joins Us On Live From Music City!

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New York guitarist Joel Hoekstra plays for Night Ranger, the Broadway hit ‘Rock of Ages’ and Trans Siberian Orchestra. Most recently, Joel can be heard on Night Ranger’s new release ’24 Strings & a Drummer (live & acoustic), Jack Blades’ new cd ‘Rock ‘n Roll Ride’, Trans Siberian Orchestra’s new cd ‘Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night) and Jeff Scott Soto’s release ‘Damage Control’. In 2011, he had the pleasure of filling in for Mick Jones of Foreigner. Joel’s cd’s ‘undefined’, ‘The Moon is Falling’ and ’13 acoustic songs’ have found a strong cult following and critical acclaim. Keep an eye out for Joel in the Warner Bros. movie ‘Rock of Ages’!

Joel has worked on/with the following….

ARTISTS/MUSICANS (LIVE & RECORDING):

Night Ranger

Trans Siberian Orchestra

Foreigner

The Turtles

Big Brother and the Holding Company

Scrap Metal

Dee Snider

Jeff Scott Soto

Eric Martin (Mr Big)

Alan Parsons

Rik Emmett (Triumph)

Tommy Shaw (Styx)

Robin Zander (Cheap Trick)

Wyclef Jean

John Waite

Emily Saliers (Indigo Girls)

Beth Hart

Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow, Deep Purple)

Ted Nugent

Sebastian Bach

Donnie & Johnny Van Zant

Don Barnes (38 Special)

Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon)

Gunnar and Matthew Nelson (Nelson)

Mike Reno (Loverboy)

Jimi Jamison (Survivor)

David Pack (Ambrosia)

Martha Davis (The Motels)

Mickey Thomas (Starship)

Constantine Maroulis (American Idol)

Dave Bickler (Survivor)

Mark Slaughter (Slaughter)

Hugh Jackman

Nuno Bettencourt

Chan Marshall (Kat Power)

Henry Paul (The Outlaws, Blackhawk)

Ray Parker Jr.

Debbie Gibson

Jim Peterik (Ides of March, Survivor)

Tom Keifer (Cinderella)

Kip Winger

THEATRE:

Rock of Ages (Broadway, off-Broadway)

Love, Janis (New York, San Francisco, Phoenix, Cleveland, Louisville, Cincinnati, Tucson, Sag Harbor)

The Boy From Oz (Broadway)

Tarzan (Broadway)

La Cage Aux Folles (Broadway)

It Ain’t Nothin But the Blues (Tucson, Phoenix, Kansas City, Seattle, Chicago*)

A Chorus Line (Broadway Cast Recording 2006)

Lovely Day (off-Broadway)

* nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award for ‘Best Musical Direction’

TV

The Tonight Show starring Jay Leno

America’s Got Talent

Celebrity Apprentice

Late Night with Conan O’Brien

Bachelor Pad

Last Call with Carson Daly

Live with Regis and Kelly

Tony Awards (2009)

Visa Signature Tony Preview Concert

The Sandra Bernhard Experience (A&E)

M3 Festival (HDNet)

Imus in the Morning (Fox Business)

20/20 (ABC)

Nick Cannon (Nickolodeon)

Rock Star Kitchen (Comcast/NBC)

FOX Morning news (New York, Chicago, Tucson, Kansas City, Atlanta, Louisville, Cincinnati)

WGN Morning News (Chicago)

ABC’s View From the Bay (San Francisco)

The Loose Leaf Report (LA)

WB Morning News (New York)

The New York Today Show

ABC’s New Years Eve Countdown (Chicago)

NBC “Good Company” (Cleveland)

UPN: Live at the Taste (Chicago)

I-90 North (Chicago)

NBC Morning News (Louisville)

Barry Z Show (New York)

Guitar Talk (Chicago)

NBC’s ‘The Bay Area Today’ (San Francisco)

NBC’s ‘Arizona Midday’

NY1

FILM:

Rock of Ages (the movie)

Resurrection Mary

The Last Winter

May the Best Man Win

OTHER:

Played the national anthem for a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden

Guitar Player magazine feature (May ’09 issue)

Guitar World magazine feature (30th anniversary issue-Fall ’09)

Guitar Player magazine article (May ’11 issue)

Guitar World Playlist article (November ’11 issue)

Jeff Scott Soto video – Look Inside You Heart

Dee Snider video – Mack the Knife

ENDORSEMENTS:

Gibson guitars

Suhr amps & guitars

EVH amps

Taylor acoustic guitars

DBZ guitars

Atomic guitars

Nady wireless systems

Ernie Ball strings

Monster Cable

Big Bends Nut Sauce

Seymour Duncan pick-ups

Schecter guitars

Star Access picks

Fernandes Sustainers

Mono Cases

Fractal Audio Systems

Head straps

Morpheus Drop Tune pedal

Tech 21 midi pedals

G7 Capos

www.joelhoekstra.com