Tone Report Weekly 176 | Page 33

Rage Against the Machine Evil Empire “When this album came out in ‘96, I was still soaking up musical influences in high school. My first band often covered ‘Freedom’ and ‘Know Your Enemy,’ so I was already enamored with Tom Morello’s unique approach to guitar. The production of this album sounded fatter and dryer with less ‘90s polish. There are so many great riffs on this album and for some reason, I always gravitated towards the basslines. So, I learned the parts and would play along to this album from the bass player’s perspective. I still like to do that when I’m learning a song, it helps me feel like I’ve mastered the tune.” Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti “Beside The Song Remains the Same, which deserves its own article, this is my favorite Zeppelin album. At the time I was discovering Zeppelin, you could still see these bands like Warrant and Great White on MTV. I remember watching these dudes thinking, ‘It’s 20 years later and these reverb soaked drums don’t even touch Bonham!’ That’s when I really decided to look to the past for ‘new’ music. I love the big, natural room sounds on tunes like ‘Kashmir’ (phased drums), ‘Wanton Song’ (Leslie guitar) and the masterful multi-tracking in ‘Ten Years Gone.’” ToneReport.com 33