| While the irony of MuchMusic Power Hour reruns can be enjoyed by many, guitar enthusiasts themselves are probably laughing the loudest. It’s likely that many fans of old metal are reminded of a time when they were teenagers, drooling over Teresa Roncon and admiring the high kicks of the permed-and-hairsprayed musicians vamping it up in music videos. One of these fans is thirtysomething Craig Squires.
In tribute to the better guitarists who came out of the ’80s, Squires created a Web site and dedicated it to the musicians and their fans alike. (Note: To further cement his destiny, Squires shares the same birthday as guitar god Randy Rhoads.) Squires christened his site Guitar from the Green Goo (http://pages.zdnet.com/ccjhsquires/guitarfromthegreengoo) and launched it 18 months ago. Some of his favourite musicians are in the spotlight – George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), Michael Schenker (Scorpions) and Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath).
"They’re innovative – all of them in their own way," says Squires. "You can instantly tell that it’s them, they have a very unique style. Outside of that, they also have a connection with their instrument and that’s the thing that always got me. With guitar players like Randy Rhoads, Jimi Hendrix, the connection with their instrument – how they conveyed their personalities through their instrument – was what always attracted me to a musician."
Squires says it’s nice if a guitarist has good technique and good timing, but the main thing is that they connect with their instrument and with their audience.
"That’s why I had to have an outlet – I had to have an outlet to reach out to some people. I used the Internet to do that."
Green Goo was inspired the George Lynch Web site message board. It was there that Squires met other musicians who shared an interest in the former Dokken guitarist, then they started chatting about all things guitar. Currently, he and these e-pals from across Canada, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. are working on a George Lynch tribute CD, which will be released by Warner Music U.K.
"For me now, I don’t do much gigging," says family man Squires, as his daughters play in the background. "I work in the oilfield and it creates a situation where I’m out of town and it makes it difficult for me to do any gigging locally. So because I like playing the guitar so much, I had to have an outlet of some sort and I just decided to create the site and get out there and see who I could meet. It’s been great, I’ve met lots of nice people." |
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