The 2nd annual Shred For Your Life Guitar Battle is coming back to Los Angeles for one night on Dec. 14 at Union Night Club. The event was started in New York by musician/artist Marc Razo (Endless Boogie) in 2005 in the back of Max Fish and has been challenging 13 to 54 year olds to shred their best for the past 11 years.
When SFYL debuted in L.A. in 2007, Rhandy Randall from NoAge and Mike Einziger from Incubus were among the contestants, and the judges ultimately crowned Blake Mills the champion. Mills was only 21 at the time, and in addition to forming the band Dawes, he also went on to perform with such acts including Jenny Lewis, Julian Casablancas and the Avett Brothers.
Rhandall will be competing again this year, in addition to Josh Landau from the Shrine, professional skateboarder Justin "Figgy" Figueroa and many more guitarists. With host Wilder Zoby, Shred For Your Life has secured its judges with Matt Sweeney (Guitar Moves, Chavez, Iggy Pop), Don “Nuge” Nguyen (Professional Skateboarder/musician, Arctic, Lords of Dogtown) and Blake Anderson (Workaholics, Community) on the panel. The competitors are backed by the same rhythm section from this year’s NYC contest, John Stanier (Helmet, Battles) and BradTruax (Interpol, Soldiers of Fortune).
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New York City’s 11th Annual SFYL battle took place earlier this Fall and was won by Mrs. Smith, who wowed the audience with not only her shredding skills, but her charming personality as well.
Shred For Your Life aims to be for everyone from the shredder to the music fan. The battle welcomes all styles of playing and appreciates originality as well as a sense of humor. Steadily growing for the past 11 years, Shred For Your Life has a history and has had notable people take part in the event as contestants, judges and rhythm section players including but not limited to Brent Hinds (Mastodon), David Cross, Kirke Douglas (The Roots), Mike Einziger (Incubus), Vernon Reid (Living Colour), Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks), Walter Schreifels (Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand, Vanishing Life), Jaleel Bunton (TV On the Radio), Andrew WK, Rhandy Randall (No Age), Sergio Vega (Deftones) and Blake Mills (Band of Horses).
For more information, visit unionclubla.com.
