Joe Satriani is the world’s most commercially successful solo guitar performer, with six gold and platinum discs to his credit (including one more gold award for the debut album by his band Chickenfoot), and sales in excess of 10 million copies. His forthcoming 15th studio album, Shockwave Supernova (due out July 24, 2015), is already being hailed as yet another creative breakthrough – this for a guitarist who has routinely topped guitar magazine polls since the release of his first full-length album, Not Of This Earth, in 1986.

Since September 18, 1970 (the day his idol Jimi Hendrix passed away), Satriani has dedicated himself to the artistry of instrument. While still a teenager in his hometown of Westbury, New York, he taught guitar to another budding six-string hopeful, Steve Vai. A few years later, Satriani moved to San Francisco and played guitar in a popular new wave band, The Squares, and briefly joined The Greg Kihn Band before the release of Not Of This Earth.

Satriani’s reputation was already growing in guitar circles – along with Vai, some of his other students were Metallica’s Kirk Hammett and Testament’s Alex Skolnick – but in 1987, he broke through to the masses with his second studio full-length, Surfing With The Alien, a massive seller (it hit No. 29 on the Billboard 200) that included the radio hits “Satch Boogie” and the title track. The success of that album caught the attention of Mick Jagger, who asked Satriani to be his lead guitarist on his first-ever solo tour, in 1988.

As a live performer, Satriani has toured the world with each new release (his last concert tour for 2013’s Unstoppable Momentum saw the guitarist touch down in 32 countries). In 1993, he joined Deep Purple as a temporary replacement for Ritchie Blackmore during a Japanese tour. In 1996, Satriani founded the multi-guitarist traveling experience called G3, which has seen him share stages with Vai, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Robert Fripp, among others. And starting in 2009, Satriani traversed the globe again as a member of Chickenfoot. The all-star band (which also includes singer Sammy Hagar, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith) has issues two albums, their debut and 2011’s follow-up, Chickenfoot III.

Satriani’s solo discography includes a host of classics, including 1989’s Flying In A Blue Dream, The Extremist from 1992, Is There Love In Space? (2004) and 2010’s Black Swans And Wormhole Wizards. His 15 Grammy nominations have been for songs such as “Always With Me, Always With You,” “The Crush Of Love,” and “Summer Song,” as well as full albums like Surfing With The Alien, The Extremist and Super Colossal. 

Satriani has appeared in motion pictures such as Christopher Guest’s 2006 release, For Your Consideration, and the 2011 Brad Pitt starrer, Moneyball. Through the years, he has designed and endorsed guitars, amplifiers and effects pedals for Ibanez, Marshall and Vox. His JS Series of guitars through Ibanez has been one of the company’s most popular and consistent sellers.

New album 'The Phantom Five' out August 30.

Cigarettes After Sex is a dream pop band led by songwriter Greg Gonzalez & is currently based out of LA.

In a dark kitchen in the middle of a sweaty night in Las Vegas, all 6’4” of Dan Reynolds is hunched over a laptop, slapping beats on the table and crooning lyrics into a tiny microphone. Before long, he and the other three members of indie rock band Imagine Dragons would be playing “It’s Time,” that same laptop-demo-turned-supersized-anthem, from the roof of a parking garage to a wave of thousands of screaming fans. This song title to the single from their 2012 debut KidInaKorner/Interscope release “Continued Silence EP” is an all too apt descriptor of the band’s hard-earned success—but it’s also emblematic of the deep-seated anxiety Reynolds and the rest of the band experienced leaving behind any realistic expectation of a normal job to do the thing they love most.

A third-generation Las Vegas native, Reynolds is no stranger to the adage “the house always wins,” choosing to pave his musical career with a near obsessive work ethic and hundreds of unused demos rather than roll the dice with the first songs that sprung from his mouth. It’s no surprise, then, that he was drawn to guitarist Wayne Sermon, another founding member of Imagine Dragons. Having practically grown up in a recording studio and graduated Berklee College of Music, Wayne had been practicing his guitar through meals and other socially inappropriate situations as long as he could remember; he challenged Dan in a way that was both uncomfortable and exactly what they both needed. When they began writing songs together and recognized something special was happening, Wayne called up his Berklee friend Ben McKee, who promptly dropped out of school with only a few credits left, moving across the country to play bass for the band. This sort of reckless/genius behavior is typical for Ben, who has an uncanny penchant for spicy food and a suitcase full of unbelievable road stories. More recently, the band was joined by drummer Daniel Platzman, another Bostonian schoolmate who seems way too nice to be playing rock and roll until you actually see him in action.

Several tours and three self-released EPs later, Imagine Dragons had made a serious name for itself, particularly in the west coast circuit. Although their songs vary from nearly whimsical and light to brooding and powerful, listeners are drawn to the inherent honesty in the music. The only rule of thumb for the band, it seems, is to write from a true place; the result is songs that literally run the spectrum of human emotion. Attend a concert, and it becomes clear that the live performance of deeply personal songs has a real effect on people. And the band itself is not immune, as demonstrated when Dan literally passed out into the drum set during a finale song, sending cymbals and drum stands crashing while the rest of the band played on until the close.

Great songwriting is bound to be noticed eventually. As proof that the harder you work, the luckier you get, one of those people who noticed was Grammy winning producer Alex da Kid (Eminem, Rihanna). Alex and Dan began collaborating on projects, and soon the band had developed a relationship with Alex and his team. The alchemy resulting from Alex’s hip hop sensibilities and Imagine Dragons’ anthemic rock is nothing short of explosive. The byproduct of this creative collision is “Continued Silence,” a six song in-your-face sonic grenade that breaks musical boundaries and yet is strangely relatable by its improbably diverse audience.

Despite it all, on any given day when they aren’t on the road playing shows, you can still find Imagine Dragons huddled away in a rehearsal room somewhere, banging out song after song in search of the next perfect track. Like most things in Vegas, the band is angled at going big or going bust. For the sake of those who love great music, we hope it’s the former.

STARTED AS A DJ, RECORD PRODUCER AND REMIXER IN MY HOMETOWN, BREDA. ULTIMATELY VOTED THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE DJ ON DJ MAG IN 2013 AND AGAIN IN 2014. NOW A MUSICAL CREATIVE FOLLOWING MY OWN PATH, BACK FOR MORE.

#REBELSNEVERDIE

www.djhardwell.com

Since the release of their gold-certified breakthrough album, 2016’s A/B, Icelandic rock band KALEO—led by frontman/songwriter JJ Julius Son—has taken their music around the world. The album spawned three hit singles – the GRAMMY-nominated “No Good,” the gold-selling “All The Pretty Girls” and the chart-topping, 2x Platinum-certified “Way Down We Go” which was used in over two dozen television shows from Grey’s Anatomy to Riverdale, leading the No. 1 single to top The Hollywood Reporter’s Top TV Songs chart. After amassing over 1 Billion global streams, 39 international certifications, and countless sold-out headline shows spanning from London to Moscow, KALEO has proven to be a worldwide phenomenon. Known for their electrifying live performances, KALEO completely sold out their first U.S. headline tour and was a standout at Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo and recently were hand-picked to open stadium dates for the Rolling Stones. Since KALEO wrapped a nearly non-stop 3-year touring schedule in support of A/B in October 2018, Julius Son has been in the studio working on the highly anticipated follow-up due out in 2020 on Elektra. Lead singles “I Want More” and “Break My Baby” are out now.

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