Description
The Aristocrats โ instrumental rock/fusionโs rowdy new power trio featuring guitarist Guthrie Govan (Asia/GPS, Dizzie Rascal), bassist Bryan Beller (Steve Vai, Dethklok, Mike Keneally), and drummer Marco Minnemann (Adrian Belew, UKZ, Necrophagist) โrelease their eponymous debut album The Aristocrats worldwide on October 25, 2011. The album showcases a uniquely explosive band chemistry, featuring three compositions from each band member, translating each individualโs well-known virtuosity into an aggressive, melodic, and sometimes even cheeky group dynamicโฆin which anything goes.
The band was formed practically by demand after a wildly enthusiastic response to a single performance at The Anaheim Bass Bash during the Winter NAMM show in January. With just one rehearsal the night before the gig, the trio unexpectedly floored the audience โ and themselves โ with near-telepathic interplay and boundless musical energy, leaving heads shaking in disbelief that it was their very first gig. โThe chemistry was so great,โ recalls Govan, who was just featured on the cover of Guitar Player, โthat when we came offstage, we all said to each other, โThis is working. We should record this.โโ
Not content simply to rush together a remote recording, each far-flung band member left their homes (outside London; Nashville, TN; southern California) to meet in a Chicago studio and track the record in person, which took just under two weeks. The music became a melting pot of their respective influences, ranging from โ70s fusion (Return To Forever) to prog (King Crimson, UK) to instrumental rock (Vai, Satriani) to groove metal (Rage Against The Machine) to just plain absurdity (Frank Zappa). Says bassist Beller, โWe ended up using our different influences to write for each other. I wrote โSweaty Knockersโ specifically for Guthrie to have fun with, while Guthrie wrote โI Want A Parrotโ with bass leads in mind. As for Marcoโs material, weโre just lucky to be able to keep up with it!โ
The ever-mischievous Minnemannโs song titles โ such as โBoing!…Iโm In The Backโ (borne from a publicly indescribable incident in Russia) and โBlues Fuckersโ (in which a typical blues form is violated in every way imaginable) โ along with Bellerโs shameless pole-dance rocker โSweaty Knockers,โ prompted Govan to wonder if the band shouldnโt be named The Aristocrats, after the infamous dirty joke and movie of the same name. It stuck, and The Aristocrats were born. โWeโre going to have a raucous rock vibe and a sense of humor about the music,โ says Govan, โwhich you might not expect to find in other muso projects in which people are flung together to make an album in a hurry.โ
