signal2noise: 2 Guys with a GuitarCross and drums
Thurs. May 8
 
by Jim Sullivan, JimSullivanInk.com

Here, we submit, is one strange - albeit rewarding in some weird way - musical life: Guitarist Douglas Blair lives in Newburyport and splits his time between the local duo, signal2noise, and the L.A. naughty boy/metal band, W.A.S.P., led by Blackie Lawless. We asked Blair, whose s2n outfit plays Church Thursday May 8, what this was all about. He told us: "signal2noise sounds like Zeppelin, Rage Against the Machine, Rush or King's X musically, with the limitations of two musicians/singers--thankfully preventing the ongoing trend of blending twenty-nine styles together into a big hodge-podge! Our primary goal is to reach a level of unpredictability and variety that having only two players facilitates(ex: Dresden Dolls), but in a very musical manner."

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signal2noise: 2 Guys with a GuitarCross and drums
Thursday, 08 May 2008

"Playing with W.A.S.P. has been an amazing and ongoing learning/adjustment process, not only because of the differences/similarities to my musical work with s2n, but also due to the constant social/cultural exposure to a complete other side of things. Starting with my East Coast perspective versus the rest of the group's LA-resident attitudes(sigh), our collective American veiwpoint versus all of the European, and other cultures, within which the group still flourishes - in a most rock-star manner as well... to the practical flip-flopping of playing lead guitar, as opposed to playing my GuitarCross(more on this later), and the by now taken-for-granted international perspective of working as a musician, as opposed to the local/regional reality of my own group... which I've always been a part of. Starting in CT, then seeing New England and Boston as the great frontier, and now seeing Australia or the Far East as the real great frontier, I've been very fortunate to experience the world getting smaller as I play guitar, albiet in someone else's group, but also to appreciate home and the Boston scene. So, playing '80's-style hard rock to large audiences is great, but my heart lies in forging something really fresh and new in these modern times."

Now, what is a GuitarCross? A creation of Blair's. It's an instrument he built with 4 separate pickups and two separate preamps, allowing him to play both bass and guitar. It has 3 bass strings paired with the lowest of 5 guitar strings - a bass with octave strings or a guitair with bass strings to supplement. Or neither. With Jaded, an all-girl glam group, and Bipolarcoaster. Starts around 9. Tickets: $14.

69 Kilmarnock St., 617-236-7600 www.churchofboston.com