Saw Guthrie Govan and the Aristocrats

CodePoet

Fractal Fanatic
Was a great show. Really enjoyed the songs live even more than the album - great band. It was the first night of this leg of the tour, but they were tight. I've been watching Guthrie online and in magazines for the last 10 years or so and it was a treat to stand 3 feet away from him to watch him play. Great performance by the whole band. He played his Suhr guitar and Badger 30 amp the whole night. Had his foot on the volume pedal most of the time, making small adjustments as he went. Hung around afterwards to meet the guys and got photos - nice guys. If you get a chance to see them, don't miss it.

More photos are here...

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Lucky you man! :D I'd LOVE to see guthrie! :D That guy is just not of this EARTH!

My last name must be govan too, cuz guthrie is definitely m daddeh! LOL!
 
Guthrie Govan, Bryan Beller, and Marco Minneman.

I bet they were going to form a quartet but couldn't find another virtuoso that had the same first and last initials.
 
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Guthrie is a great guy I have talked with him a few times at a few of the NAMM shows always willing to answer questions. Interesting to see him playing through a Suhr amp, thought he was a hard core Cornford user.
 
Guthrie and Bela Fleck need to do a collaboration... It would be fun to hear what the two of them would come up with....
 
They are a great band. I am so looking forward to following them into the future. Y=This may be a dumb question but are you a pro photographer Codepoet? Great photos!
 
Warrior said:
This may be a dumb question but are you a pro photographer Codepoet? Great photos!

I'm flattered, but no, not a professional photographer. I enjoy photography too much to ruin it by trying to make a living on it - that's not much fun. I'm probably a better photographer than a guitarist...but I have fun with both.
 
BTW, they have an album out already. Get it through their site. They let you download a lossless copy for ten bucks. Sure beats MP3's from Amazon for 8.99.

The site is: The Aristocrats

The album, as you might expect, is from outer space.
 
Saw him last year in a small basement studio concert in a music store near Chicago.
He was doing a Suhr promotion gig.

He is amazing player, funny, and a nice guy.
He clearly loves to play.
 
Guthrie Govan and The Aristocrats...

Guthrie already has guitar covered anyway. They could get Jens Johansson on keys.

rickboot,

Good one! But since these guys have a bit of Jazz in their blood, (...well, not sure how much Marco digs Jazz, but he's an amazing drummer nonetheless - LOL!) I might have a better idea for keys: Herbie Hancock! Herbie is LEGENDARY, AND he loves to improvise (obviously!) That could be pretty mindblowing if I do say so myself - LOL!

But seriously, as I watched them here in Boston, MA about 5 weeks ago (at Berklee Performance Center - at Berklee College of Music,) I was thinking about IF they had a 4th-member, who could it be? The ONE guy that I thought could be the perfect utility-guy is: Mike Kenneally! He'd be great because:

a.) He's awesome on Keyboards
b.) He's awesome on Guitar!
c.) He shares that "quirky" sense of humor both personally AND in his music (*which the other three Aristocrats-members TOTALLY have in common - IMO!)


The only downside to having Kenneally in that band that I could think of is that would then make TWO ex-Steve Vai bandmembers (Kenneally and Beller,) which resume/reputation/qualification-wise is GREAT, BUT I think Guthrie is REALLY making an effort to distance himself from being compared to ANY other single guitar-player (I.E. He does NOT want to be known as the guy who can sound like anyone else! He wants to establish himself as the guy who instantly sounds like Guthrie Govan) I think he is succeeding at developing a "singular-voice," but he's SO DAMN VERSATILE, that he CAN play like anyone else, and he clearly enjoys blending his stunning number of influences into HIS style.) For example (speaking of Vai,) I've noticed that when Guthrie is improvising over Lydian-harmony, he just can't help himself but to sound a bit like Steve Vai! I think he so effortlessly channels Vai in those "Lydian-situations" (after all, Steve Vai/Frank Zappa are two of Guthrie's many influences) that it just pours out of him subconsciously! Now I'm NOT saying that Guthrie always sounds like he's channeling another guitarist's style/licks when he plays, I'm just saying that I hear it once in a while, usually over certain accompaniment (as I said earlier the Vai/Lydian reference, sometimes a little Satriani, and (rhythm-wise) I hear some "Hendrixian-noodles" (Guthrie's own description - LOL!) or "chord-embellishments" and Eric Johnson "spread/drop" chord-voicings. Occasionally when he's incorporating some staccato-chromaticism, I hear some Steve Morse. Hell, at other times, I know I'm hearing influences from the likes of: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Allan Holdsworth, Robben Ford, Angus Young, Joe Pass, Yngwie Malmsteen, Shawn Lane, Mike Stern, and Derek Trucks too, all in varying degrees, and some very indirectly! (....and these are just Guitar-influences!) I'm convinced that Guthrie is profoundly influenced by all sorts of other NON-GUITAR music/musicians as well!

I guess at the end of the day, the good news is: At least Guthrie Govan has some awesome influences, and he has SO MANY of them that it adds up to an amalgamation/style/voice that he can call all his own - AND right up my alley - LOL!
 
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