blue murder // john sykes

[Jeff Hilligan]

It's a given his guitar tone and playing is one of the best. But come on his voice is where it's at! I mean just fricken killer while playing some of the most difficult licks to play and keep killer timing and sing!

Lol i know, it not fair. He cant be a guitar god AND sing like that.

I mean I was floored on the Whitesnake album..but then Blue Murder came out and I remember saying no fuckin way that's him singing. Then I saw BM, Kings X and Billy Squire and was floored! BM and King's X absolutely destroyed BS@!

 

[snowdog]

It's a given his guitar tone and playing is one of the best. But come on his voice is where it's at! I mean just fricken killer while playing some of the most difficult licks to play and keep killer timing and sing!

Lol i know, it not fair. He cant be a guitar god AND sing like that.

I mean I was floored on the Whitesnake album..but then Blue Murder came out and I remember saying no fuckin way that's him singing. Then I saw BM, Kings X and Billy Squire and was floored! BM and King's X absolutely destroyed BS@!

Yeah I really like his singing as well. I remember the GFTPM interview where he said they did audition a few singers but never found one they liked and time was running out and Geffen kept saying they wanted the guy on the demo they made, which was him.

 

[zz666]

2008 interview with Sykes

http://www.metal-rules.com/zine/index.p ... ew&id=1434

I'm pretty sure that he was going to be the original guitarist for what became Black Country Communion...

That would be news to John.

Maybe not BCC, but here's an interesting interview titbit from Glenn Hughes. I remember it was rumored Sykes left Lizzy to form a supergroup

JS: I also heard rumours about another super group also featuring John Sykes.

Hughes: You know what that was, man. Crazy. It was myself, John Sykes, Mathias Jabs and fucking Herman The German on drums. It was like, you know, when Keith Olsen the Whitesnake producer came to me and wanted me to do this, I said – Keith, this is no disrespect, because these are all my friends, but I don’t want to go down that road. It’s very 80s for me. These guys are all great, but I don’t wanna go down that road. Like I said, there’s only so many albums I have left to do this, so I chose this project with BCC to be the right one. Let me tell you this – I could have formed another super-band with three other guys and it would have been really really good, but I believe the ones I’ve chosen on this are probably the right ones.

JS: It seems like John Sykes has disappeared from the face of the earth.

Hughes: Look, I can’t comment too much on John Sykes and his personal life. I can comment on his playing. He’s got a great wide vibrato. I don’t know too much what is going on in John’s head, but remember now, you didn’t know what was going on in my head in the 80s. I’m not suggesting John is out of his mind, but it’s just very bizarre he fell off the face of the planet, so. I don’t know anymore than you do.

 

[Buckeyedog]

So does anyone really know the reason Coverdale got rid of John?? Dumbest move ever in my opinion. Sykes is just stupid good.......tone, playing, vocals.....just ain't fair!!!

 

[zz666]

There are many many rumours, one is that John wanted to replace Coverdale with another singer (There was a very long delay during the recording of 1987, cos Cov had to have surgery on his nodes)

 

[Isaac]

That first Blue Murder album is easily one of my favorite albums ever, and it's probably my favorite 80s metal album. I've played that damn thing SO many times. Sykes rules, I don't think he was writing solos that were as composed once he went solo. Blue Murder was his peak for me, but what a peak it was! How does he play that stuff and sing at the same time? It's unreal.

 

[OUTLAW1969]

ATTN SYKES FANS: Screaming Blue Murder has some of his best tones throughout the whole album, I Highly recommend it if you don't have it.






The CD has been out of print for a long time, but the downloads were added recently.
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Murder-Live- ... 68&sr=8-12

Fantastic album, I just wish that I had waited for the US version to come out. If any of you remember a music store named Turtles Music, I bought the japanese import the day that it came out, from there. Then of course, I was out $35 (alot for me to pay for a CD back then!) and everyone I knew wanted to borrow it, to make their own free copy

 

[Arnold Layne]

+1

One of my favorite guitar players and bands! I will never really understand why David Coverdale got rid of him??? I've always wondered what Whitesnake would have been had Sykes stayed in the band.

No worries, though, BOTH Blue Murder albums way more than made up for this, IMHO! Ptolemy is def one of my favorites!

Whitesnake turned into 3rd rate joke with an idiot like Vivian Campbell on guitar, and a schmaltzy syrup coated radio friendly act with the current line up. Sykes is the king of face melting rock tone, king of phrasing and a damned fine singer too, in short he is 1000% the real deal and complete package. Coverdale was an imbecile in letting the man go.

Long live Sykes

 

[zz666]

Rob: Do you generally like taking that step off the edge with your music?

David Coverdale: That’s what keeps it interesting; working with loose cannons can have its rewards. It’s interesting because we had a lot of success with the LP in 1987 with John Sykes. Unfortunately, John became very antagonistic very quickly. It was a marriage made in hell! Were there ever two fucking guys that wrote 20 million selling records? From the outside we look unbeatable, on the inside it wasn’t fun for him or me.

Everyone knows the history of Townsend-Daltry and Jagar-Richards and what comes out the other end. That’s not remotely interesting to me. My idea of composing is going into the zone. You don’t have to be pushed there. I loathe anger and rage. I think it is a waste of emotional time and it’s an expense that I simply can’t afford. But to come in and fuck with my joy is wrong [Laughing]. I know John and I wrote super songs, but there is no way that chapter would have worked for long. With this band I have the arsenal that I need to launch.

Rob: So you don’t see yourself working with John Sykes anytime soon?

David Coverdale: I don’t see why. It’s like saying would you go back to a former wife, are you kidding me? Do you realize how happy I am? I have blue birds flying out of every orifice! I walk around and oops there’s another blue feather on the floor [Laughing]. It would be interesting to play a charity thing, in front a lot of people, but that’s about it.

 

[Little B]

Blue Murder kicked butt!...but does anyone have an equipment/gear rundown of all he used back in the day?..would love to hear more on this..

 

[university81]

Blue Murder kicked butt!...but does anyone have an equipment/gear rundown of all he used back in the day?..would love to hear more on this..

it's detailed a bit here:

http://www.johnsykes.com/gear.html

For much of the Whitesnake '87 album and first Blue Murder album John used 2 Mesa Boogie Coliseum heads. These amps have a Mark III pre-amp section but use six 6L6 power tubes--giving the amps180 watts each! John also owns several Mesa Boogie Mark IIC+'s, Mark III's and some rack mounted Mesa Dual Recto heads. Other Mesa Boogie equipment includes a Tri-Axis preamp and a Strategy 500 Power Amp.

For speaker cabinets, John uses Marshall 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie metal grill "Half Back" 4x12 cabinets, Mesa Boogie 4x12 Recto cabinets and some custom made 4x12 cabinets.