
Phil Weller
A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He's also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.
Latest articles by Phil Weller

Former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour reveals he’s at work on a new album and offers a timeline for its release
By Phil Weller published
Last year’s ‘Luck and Strange’ had a nine-year gestation. His next album will arrive much quicker

John Lennon said the Beatles wrote better music after the band broke up. Here's why
By Phil Weller published
An interview from 1972 finds him praising his former bandmates and how they’ve “flowered” as solo artists

Brian May says the spirit of Queen’s Freddie Mercury lives on in these modern glam rockers. Now he’s helped them remake their breakthrough hit
By Phil Weller published
The Struts' new version of "Could Have Been Me," featuring May, drops today.

“I couldn't play it because of my accident.” Tony Iommi on the guitar he was fated to abandon
By Phil Weller published
The guitarist had craved one particular model ever since he began playing. He soon realized there was another guitar better suited to him

Mark Knopfler borrowed this 12-string electric for 50 years and played it on some famous songs. Now it could be yours
By Phil Weller published
Loaned to him by a folk-rock guitarist in the mid ’70s, the instrument spent five decades in his care and featured in notable moments of Knopfler's career

John McLaughlin on his “disaster” jam session with Jimi Hendrix
By Phil Weller published
The pair jammed into the small hours, with McLaughlin playing a less-than-ideal guitar for the spot

Pete Townshend on the Who’s farewell tour, and the health issues he had to kick to get back on the road
By Phil Weller published
After a knee operation earlier this year, he fell foul of an issue which “is how rock stars die,” he says

Why former Eagle Don Felder mods his Gibson double-neck guitars – and how Chet Atkins inspired it
By Phil Weller published
The challenge of how to play the song live forced the guitarist to new extremes of modification

Studio legend Glyn Johns on Paul McCartney's shocking request to work on what became the Beatles' final album
By Phil Weller published
The album’s roots live on as 'Let It Be,' but Johns says the rest of the band didn’t get McCartney’s “really interesting” idea

Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page never agreed on which of them composed the song Beck called “the first heavy metal riff ever written"
By Phil Weller published
The tune's 1966 recording session would lead to the formation of Led Zeppelin two years later

From Taylor Swift to Phoebe Bridgers and Wilco's Jeff Tweedy — how indie rockers came to adopt a guitar bridge born from parts in Home Depot's toilet aisle
By Phil Weller published
Rubber-bridge guitars have changed the sound of acoustic guitar over the past 10 years. And it's all down to one man's invention

Recording engineer Glyn Johns on why he never used click tracks when working with the Stones, Beatles, and Led Zeppelin
By Phil Weller published
He’s recorded and mixed seminal records by some of rock’s biggest artists, and click tracks were always left out in the cold

Grace Bowers impresses with flawless “Crazy Train” shred as she pays tribute to Ozzy Osbourne and Randy Rhoads
By Phil Weller published
The guitarist says she only learned the song’s solo days before playing it live, and she’s delivered it with her own flair

Paul McCartney on the ghost of John Lennon and “strange goings-on” that marked the recording of the Beatles’ ‘Anthology’ hits
By Phil Weller published
It was the first time the trio had entered the studio without John Lennon, who McCartney claims made his presence known from beyond the grave

Steve Vai reveals the grueling practice routine that helped him become a virtuoso, and what drove him to do it
By Phil Weller published
The guitarist says he isn’t disciplined, but practicing became an “addiction”

Randy Rhoads proved Ozzy Osbourne wrong with an approach to recording guitar solos that even Eddie Van Halen avoided
By Phil Weller published
The Prince of Darkness had told him it couldn’t be done, but the guitarist had other ideas

Ace Frehley on why he didn’t play Kiss’ final show
By Phil Weller published
The Space Ace has also revealed why he won’t be in Las Vegas for their unmasked show in November

Ritchie Blackmore, Roger Glover and Ian Paice on the creation and legacy of Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water"
By Phil Weller published
“I didn't think it would be a hit," Blackmore says. "It was just something that Ian and I banged out on the spur of the moment.”

“I grossly underestimated what I was getting into.” Noel Gallagher on Oasis and his struggles to play in stadiums
By Phil Weller published
Some of the biggest guitarists on the planet suffer from stage fright, and the Les Paul–toting Mancunian is no exception

Paul McCartney's cryptic Instagram post has fans hoping for a new collection of Beatles outtakes and rarities
By Phil Weller published
Three multimedia Anthology projects were released in the mid ’90s, and a fourth may be following in their wake

John Fogerty on losing Creedence Clearwater Revival’s music and the epiphany he had revisiting one of his greatest tracks
By Phil Weller published
Fogerty, who won a 50-year battle for the ownership of CCR’s music in 2023, celebrates this week with the release of ‘Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival Years’

Steve Vai on accepting his most impossible guitar gig: playing Eddie Van Halen to David Lee Roth
By Phil Weller published
Vai says he approached the opportunity from a place of love and freedom, not to cut down one of the world’s greatest guitar players

Paul McCartney's 1973 TV special is a fascinating moment from his post-Beatles career
By Phil Weller published
While John Lennon and George Harrison established themselves away from the Beatles’ shadow, McCartney struggled to find his feet in a new era

Anthrax’s Scott Ian recalls his favorite memory of Ozzy, and why he was dressed as Gene Simmons at the time
By Phil Weller published
Ozzy and Scott had been friends for 13 years – but one moment stands out most vividly in the guitarist’s memory

How an unreleased John Lennon demo saw three-quarters of the Beatles write a song together, 40 years after Lennon's death
By Phil Weller published
Starr was shocked to hear what Lennon said in the original demo tape, and saw it as a sign to get the Beatles back together in a roundabout way
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