Tickets for legendary multi-GRAMMY® Award-winning guitarist Andy Summers performing live at the GRAMMY Museum® on Thursday, March 23, 2017, are officially sold out, but fans around the world can be part of the evening by tuning in to the Roland / BOSS Facebook Live stream here. The event, presented by Roland and BOSS, will feature an intimate solo performance, conversation, and multimedia presentation by the legendary guitarist from The Police, who is also an award-winning songwriter, composer, and noted photographer.
GRAMMY Foundation Vice President Scott Goldman will host a conversation with Summers and the audience about Summers’ illustrious career and new album, Triboluminescence (set for release by Flickering Shadow Productions on March 24). Summers will perform selections from the new album in addition to a presentation of original photography by Summers, who will also provide a live, improvised solo guitar “soundtrack” that will accompany the presentation. Viewers of the Facebook Live stream will be able to contribute their questions as part of the comment section.
Triboluminescence is Summers’ 14th solo album, and is a collection of nine new tracks reflecting the style that he has evocatively dubbed “New Exotic.” It reflects Summers’ penchant for endless layers, rich tone, sound loops, and his love of jazz. The tracks showcase his abilities not only as a guitarist, but as a drummer and percussionist as well.
Summers, who was recently presented with the Roland and BOSS Lifetime Achievement award, reflected on the gear he used to record his new album and some that will shape his sound during his upcoming performance, noting, “Most of the drum tracks [on the new album] are on the Roland TD-20 drum kit. The beauty of it is that you can try different snare drums, different kits, you can move around, you can sort of mix it up.” For the guitar sounds, he shared, “On ‘Elephant Bird,’ we used the distortion in the Roland VG-99. It’s just a superb lead guitar sound, and I’ve used it for quite a while now. We just never seem to be able to beat it; it’s a very nice, slight overdrive sustain; it’s got elegance to it. The first track, ‘If Anything,’ for instance, has got this soaring guitar like a soprano singer. Whenever I want to play that kind of liquid lead style, that’s the sound I almost always go for.” A longtime BOSS pedal user, he says, “I used a classic one from the ‘80s called VB-2 [Vibrato], a CS-1 Compressor Sustainer, and I have the new Waza Craft CE-2W Chorus.”
About Andy Summers
Multi GRAMMY® Award-winning artist ANDY SUMMERS rose to fame in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the guitarist of the legendary award-winning, multi-million-selling rock band The Police, recognized as the most successful and critically acclaimed group of the era. SUMMERS’ innovative guitar sound was a key element of the band’s popularity, creating a new paradigm for guitarists that has been widely imitated in the decades since.
Not one to ever rest on his laurels, SUMMERS launched a prolific solo career that continues to this day, positioning him on the cutting edge of musical innovation – all the while following his passion for music as he keeps diligently busy writing, touring and recording in the studio.
His awards and honors include induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Guitar Player Hall of Fame, multiple GRAMMY® Awards, the Prog Guiding Light award in 2016, the Roland & BOSS Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017, the Key to New York City, an honorary doctorate from Bournemouth University, the Chevalier De L’Ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres by the government of France, and dozens of other accolades. For more information, visit AndySummers.Com
