Instrumental | Music Junkie Press

Bay Area instrumental rock band Wander perform at The Independent

June 21, 2023

Tuesday night in San Francisco had us at The Indendent and it was quite a night of 3 spectacular sets! The Dirty Nil were performing with Daniel Romano’s Outfit. Kicking the night off was local Bay Area instrumental rock band Wander. Being an avid devotee of lyrics and vocalists, I didn’t know what to expect with an instrumental band. What a great surprise Wander turned out to be! These guys can truly rock! They delivered a mesmerizing blend of progressive, heavy shredding rock with streaks of shoegaze and 90’s vibes. Combined it was a winning combination that had me glued to their set. Their stage presence was full of energy and had the crowd cheering after each song. I was hooked and have now added them to some of my favorite newly discovered bands. Check out some photos of their set by our Rockin Ryan: To get a glimpse into the night, you can watch a video here from their San Francisco show: In addition, we picked up some cool merch including a cool [Read More]

Animals As Leaders drop brand new song “Monomyth”

September 3, 2021

Ground breaking, genre defying instrumental trio, Animals As Leaders have dropped brand new track “Monomyth” today, their first in 5 years. The band also announced today that they have signed a new deal with their current label home, world renowned independent powerhouse, Sumerian Records. “Monomyth” comes accompanied by a high-concept music video directed by Telavaya Reynolds and featuring choreography by Tlathui Maza / Nohbords. Speaking on the band’s new release, Tosin Abasi shares: “’Monomyth’ is part fever dream, part ritual. Its imagery represents man’s ceaseless attempts to translate transcendent ideas into movement. The conflation of struggle with meaning. Pain with significance. The ultimate failure of distilling perceived patterns in the world into knowledge”. For more information on the band, follow their social media: https://www.facebook.com/animalsasleaders https://mailchi.mp/kinda/www.animalsasleaders.org https://twitter.com/AnimalsAsLeader https://www.instagram.com/animalsasleaders/

John 5 released video for Making Monsters

March 3, 2016

Guitarist John 5 has just released his video for Making Monsters. The video utilizes stop motion animation giving life to action figure style monsters that form John’s band. Jonny Coffin produced and directed the overall movie while Thomas Yagodinski animated and edited the animation. Matt Zane directed and edited the live footage. releases a teaser for his upcoming new music video Check it out here: The new video is the third release this year for John. His goal is to release a new video on the first of each month for the entire year. The video also helps kick off his Behind the Nut Love tour starting March 4. Tickets for the tour are available now on www.john-5.com. Behind the Nut Love Tour Dates: Mar 04- Westland, MI @ Token Lounge Mar 05- Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue Mar 06- Chicago, IL @ Reggies Mar 08- Nashville, TN @ 12th & Porter Mar 09- Louisville, KY @ The New Vintage Mar 10- Newport, KY @ Southgate House Mar 11- Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Mar 12- Hagerstown, MD @ The [Read More]

Check out a video teaser for John 5 and new tour dates announced!

February 18, 2016

Guitarist John 5 releases a teaser for his upcoming new music video “Making Monsters”. The full video will debut March 1st on Guitar Player and Guitar World’s websites. Check out the video teaser: Also announced are revised dates for his upcoming spring tour John 5’s Behind the Nut Love with the Creatures Tour beginning in March 2016. The tour will start in Westland, MI and conclude in Londonderry, NH with a total of 16 live shows. Tickets are available now on www.john-5.com. Tour dates are listed below: Mar 04- Westland, MI @ Token Lounge Mar 05- Indianapolis, IN @ Vogue Mar 06- Chicago, IL @ Reggies Mar 08- Nashville, TN @ 12th & Porter Mar 09- Louisville, KY @ The New Vintage Mar 10- Newport, KY @ Southgate House Mar 11- Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Mar 12- Hagerstown, MD @ Hard Times Cafe Mar 13- Sellersville, PA @ Sellersville Theatre Mar 14- Pittsburgh, PA @ Hard Rock Mar 15- Falls Church, VA @ The State Theatre Mar 16- New York, NY @ Highline Ballroom Mar [Read More]

Chat with John 5 as he returns to San Francisco for the Mad Monster Tour 2015

November 13, 2015

Earlier this week, John 5 returned to the DNA Lounge as he brought the Mad Monster Tour to San Francisco with Doyle. It was an incredible night for music lovers! The night kicked off with a high energy set by local faves, The Vile Augury. Doyle came out next with a one hour set of new Doyle music and Misfits classics. We will be bringing more from both of those sets later this weekend. We were glad to catch up with John 5 before his set in San Francisco and talk about what is next for him and his busy schedule. Check out our interview here: John 5 and the Creatures hit the stage and the crowd went wild. We were all in awe of John’s extraordinary flawless playing as he demonstated just about every guitar technique you could think of. It was incredible and one of the most amazing instrumental sets I have witnessed! Absolutely epic performance from John 5 & The Creatures. His set which was rich in diversity and included all types [Read More]

Jacky Vincent has left Falling In Reverse to concentrate on solo career

October 30, 2015

It has been announced that Jacy Vincent has left Falling In Reverse to further concentrate on his solo career. The post was made on Falling In Reverse Facebook page referencing an article in Alternative Press. The departure was amicable and we can’t wait wait to see what Jacky has next in store for his very promising future. We featured Jacky a couple years back as one of our 12 Days of Guitarists. Jacky is one of the most awesome shredders out there today. His solo album highlights his amazing guitar playing and his impeccable technique. His solo album Star X Speed Story is amazing and it literally takes you through his high energy, lightning speed shredding. It is one of the top guitar instrumental albums out, right up there with Steve Vai, Jason Becker, Paul Gilbert and my true favorite; Michael Angelo Batio whom Jacky credits a lot of his guitar playing. Some of my personal faves on the album are Without You, Runaway Tryst, Venom Love, Fatal Envy and of course Maybe I am a Wolf. [Read More]

Interview with John 5 and don’t miss him out on the Mad Monster Tour 2015

October 6, 2015

We have been so excited for the upcoming Mad Monster Tour featuring John 5 and DOYLE. This will definitely be one tour you can’t miss! John 5 will be touring in support of his upcoming greatest hits album. The album will include a live DVD featuring footage of John in concert. John has also been nominated for Artist of the Year through Vintage Guitar. We are so excited and have been voting for him. You can also head over and vote here: www.vintageguitar.com/readers-choice. The deadline to vote is November 12, and everyone who votes becomes eligible to win a Magnatone Varsity Reverb combo worth $2,099! We had the chance to chat with John 5 recently as he gears up for his tour. He even donated a pair of tickets to his upcoming concert for our raffle to benefit the victims of the recent Valley Fire at our Valley Fire Benefit Concert. We apprecate John’s generosity and the winners are so excited for the show at the DNA Lounge. Here is our interview with John 5: [Read More]