ernie ball

On his solo work, Fertita channels the inspiration he gets from his various projects, from Dead Weather and Queens of the Stone Age, of which he’s a member, to projects with artists such as Karen O and Iggy Pop.

Photo by Andreas Neumann

With the encouragement of his pal Jack White, Queens of the Stone Age and Dead Weather multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita pulls together a decade of material for the psych-pop extravaganza Tropical Gothclub.

For multi-instrumentalist and A-list side musician Dean Fertita, a sophomore solo release has been a long time coming. The anticipated Tropical Gothclub, released in late 2022, is his first record since his 2009 debut, Hello=Fire. Fertita can’t help but nod to the lapse of time between then and now. “The song ‘Double Blind,’ I wrote that for my daughter before her first birthday,” he says about the album’s dreamy, Flaming Lips-like second single. “She just turned 11, and that’s the oldest song of the bunch.”

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This 35th Anniversary edition honors the Ernie Ball Music Man design used by some of the world's most iconic bassists, including Flea, Tony Levin, John Myung, and Phoenix of Linkin Park.

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Polyphia (L to R): Bassist Clay Gober, guitarists Tim Henson and Scott LePage, and drummer Clay Aeschliman.

Photo by Travis Shinn

With its genre-bending twists and breathtakingly shreddy turns, the guest-heavy Remember That You Will Die—which features Steve Vai, Sophia Black, Deftones’ Chino Moreno and more—is the band’s most adventurous release yet.

“I Love Pooping and Texting You About It,” reads Polyphia guitarist Scott LePage’s coffee mug. It’s quite apropos, since in just a few years’ time, Polyphia morphed from being YouTube viral sensations to becoming the shit in the guitar world. Schoolyard jokes aside, Polyphia has a crazy huge following, especially for an instrumental band. The video for their new acoustic shredfest, “Playing God,” is up to 12 million views (as of press time) after only four months, and guitarist Tim Henson’s video for Neural DSP Archetype has almost 6 million views (combined between his channel and Neural’s). Can you think of any gear video that’s come even close?

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