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The Latest Breaking News from Lee Kiernan

“I don’t want a guitar that, the moment I play it, sounds like the blues. Sometimes I want a guitar to sound truly horrendous!” For IDLES’ Lee Kiernan, modding guitars is a gateway to sonic chaos – and Fenders make the perfect platforms

The post-punk trailblazer is one of the faces of Fender’s new Player II Modified series. He explains why he’s not interested in perfection while making music – to the point of not wanting a guitar to sound like a guitar at all

Guitar World

“It’s about delivering the most in-demand mods straight from the factory”: Fender hot-rods itself as the Player II Modified Series rolls out the upgrades –and it got IDLES to demo them

The Player II Modified range is a refresh of the familiar favourites, with Noiseless pickups, locking tuners, treble bleed circuits and of course there is an HSS Strat with a Floyd Rose

MusicRadar

“If your taste in fuzz leans toward the extreme, Gary has the personality to remain your lifelong best friend”: EarthQuaker Devices Gary review

Lee Kiernan of IDLES' signature pedal is a Jekyll and Mr Hyde drive/fuzz twofer inspired by EQD's legendary Gray Channel

Guitar World

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“A domineering and interactive fuzz and natural overdrive with a dark side”: IDLES' Lee Kiernan encourages EarthQuaker Devices to revive its Gray Channel overdrive and fuzz pedal for his signature stompbox, Gary

The two-sided pedal brings back a stompbox loved by many, and ensures it comes back with an evil streak

Guitar World

“With proper playing dynamics, this creates a very cool effect that can sound like an exploding amp coming in and out of life”: EarthQuaker Devices and Lee Kiernan of IDLES introduce Gary, a drive/fuzz wildcard for maverick tone-seekers

There are two sides to Gary's personality, one is a wide-ranging drive. The other?Well, it's an "Automatic Pulse Width Modulation Fuzz" and it's not for the faint-hearted

MusicRadar

“I keep blowing things up. I need things that are very dependable and findable”: IDLES’ agents of chaos Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan unleashed sonic anarchy on their new record – and coined the indie-rock equivalent of 'djent' in the process

Tankg is a another tour de force of electric guitar provocations with Idles' dynamic duo finding wilder ways to take their sound to the edge of disaster then hold it there, just for kicks

Guitar World

“People use them for fashion and shock factor. Your guitar is your workhorse, but on stage, it’s also your prop”: Phoebe Bridgers is playing B.C. Rich. Willow and Pete Townshend are picking up Jacksons. Have metal guitars gone mainstream?

When indie stars are grabbing pointy six-strings while metal musicians are eyeing up offsets, you know there’s something afoot in the guitar world. We explore the trend inverting the industry and why it’s good to shred outside the box

Guitar World

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“We didn’t really tune our guitars. We’d tune to the track. He’s like, ‘No, listen to what you’re playing’”: IDLES explain why Radiohead’s producer banned them from using guitar tuners

IDLES enlisted Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich to push their sonic palette via tape loops and not tuning their guitars

Guitar World

“We’re trying to avoid sounding like a conventional guitar band… Our goal has always been to expand what guitars can do”: Idles’ radical guitar duo dissect their “violent, dark tones” and explain why modeling is “wack”

Savage, socially charged and allergic to cliché, Idles are less categorisable than ever on fifth album, Tangk, and its dynamic guitar partnership Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan are holding nothing back

Guitar World

“I hate modeling, I think it’s wack. You can hear it right away”: IDLES explain why recording with an amp modeler risks messing with your tone, your head – and probably your dog

UK post-punk heroes Mark Bowen and Lee Kiernan reckon modelers are best consigned to the role of live backups – and you shouldn’t let them near your recordings

Guitar World

“It just has this resonance to it that I saw someone describe as an angry piano”: Watch Idles’ Mark Bowen give a guided tour of his top three electric guitars

Featuring an acrylic super heavyweight with an metal neck, and the “twangy” baritone Strat that just rocked The Tonight Show and is all over Idles' forthcoming studio LP, Tangk

MusicRadar

Billie Eilish, Sam Fender and chest hair bras: Friday at Glastonbury – in pictures

From stars such as TLC and Sleaford Mods to eccentric festival punters in their underpants, we give a glimpse into Glastonbury’s first big day

The Guardian - UK

Portishead's first live show for eight years was only 27 minutes long but left a memorable impression

The five-hour Help concert at 02 Academy was streamed live around the world and raised over £100,000 for children in Ukraine

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