In celebration of the unveiling of the newly revamped 30,000-square-foot flagship Hollywood store located on historic Sunset Boulevard, Guitar Center has been hosting a full week of workshops, clinics and live performances. On Monday there was a special event with Rob Chapman, frontman and guitarist for Dorje and the founder/owner of Chapman Guitars. GC has partnered with Chapman and recently engaged input/crowdsourcing from customers, who voted on the design specifications of the new Chapman ML3 Pro Traditional Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar, an instrument that is being sold exclusively through Guitar Center.
Yesterday Guitar Center continued the celebration, and the day’s events kicked off with Christian James Hand, a British musician, music producer, radio personality and voice-over artist, who did a track breakdown of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” to a completely packed house in Guitar Center’s new Vintage Room. Following Hand’s session, the focus shifted to Electronic Music, with multiple performances/sessions beginning with Spaceprodigi (Mack Bartsch), a young and upcoming electronic music artist from Houston, Texas. When she was 16 years old, she released her debut EP "Launch" in 2017, and it quickly charted high on the Beatport Top 100 Releases charts within the first week.
Spaceprodigi performs at Guitar Center Hollywood on October 30, 2018.
Next up was an evening of live performances presented by Elektron, the Gothenburg, Sweden-based company known for their innovative synthesizers, drum machines, samplers and more, who brought three of their artists to the Hollywood store’s live performance stage. First up was Ulises Lozano, a solo artist and music producer (and member of the acclaimed Monterrey, Mexico-based band Kinky), who performed a 45-min set using a selection of Elektron products. “What I like to do is incorporate sounds from Mexico and from Latin America in general and try and incorporate them with modern instruments, like Elektron, which are really interesting to use to create new sounds,” stated Lozano. Next up was Vienna-born, Los Angeles-raised electronic composer John Tejada, who credits his influences as artists like Marley Marl, Kraftwerk, Art of Noise and more. The evening’s final performance featured Baseck, who performed using Elecktron’s Digitone and Digitakt. When asked his reaction to the new revamped store, Baseck stated, “I used to go to this store a lot because I was all around Hollywood, and I think it looks really good. I walked in and I was really amazed. Especially since what I'm into is drum machines and synthesizers, so seeing it is all laid out right now and just such a nice way is really inviting.” The live performances began at 7pm and went straight through to closing time at 9pm. The performances were attended by visitors to the store from all genres of music, including internationally renowned vocal artist / beatboxer / musician / comedian, Reggie Watts.
Ulises Lozano, a solo artist and music producer (and member of the acclaimed Monterrey, Mexico-based band Kinky), performed a 45-min set using a selection of Elektron products at Guitar Center Hollywood on October 30, 2018.
Elektron USA CEO Daniel Tronberg was on hand for the evening’s events and stated, “We think that Guitar Center is a great companion in our journey, and obviously with the spread of stores in this country, we think it's also a very important partner. And with this event here tonight with the three artists, we want to show that through the different musical styles that they were performing, across the board, it shows our gear isn't just for one type of music. It was a great event tonight.”
Featured image: Christian James Hand, a British musician, music producer, radio personality and voice-over artist, did a track breakdown of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” to a completely packed house in the new Vintage Room at Guitar Center Hollywood on October 30, 2018.
