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Welded tuff from Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico

Tuff (from the Italian tufo) is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered tuffaceous.

Volcanic ash[link]

The products of a volcanic eruption are volcanic gases, lava, steam, and tephra. Magma is blown apart when it interacts violently with volcanic gases and steam. Solid material produced and thrown into the air by such volcanic eruptions is called tephra, regardless of composition or fragment size. If the resulting pieces of ejecta are small enough, the material is called volcanic ash, defined as such particles less than 2 mm in diameter, sand-sized or smaller. These particles are small, slaggy pieces of magma and rock that have been tossed into the air by outbursts of steam and other gases; magma may have been torn apart as it became vesicular by the expansion of the gases within it.

Breccias[link]

18.5 million-year-old tuff exposed at Hole In The Wall, Mojave National Preserve, California.

10 by 15 cm sample of tuff containing angular fragments of other rocks (Germany)

Among the loose beds of ash that cover the slopes of many volcanoes, three classes of materials are represented. In addition to true ashes of the kind described above, there are lumps of the old lavas and tuffs forming the walls of the crater, etc., which have been torn away by the violent outbursts of steam, and pieces of sedimentary rocks from the deeper parts of the volcano that were dislodged by the rising lava and are often intensely baked and recrystallized by the heat to which they have been subjected.

In some great volcanic explosions nothing but materials of the second kind were emitted, as at Mount Bandai in Japan in 1888. There have been many eruptions also in which the quantity of broken sedimentary rocks that mingled with the ash is very great; as instances we may cite the volcanoes of the Eifel and the Devonian tuffs, known as "Schalsteins," in Germany. In the Scottish coalfields some old volcanoes are plugged with masses consisting entirely of sedimentary debris: in such a case it is supposed that no lava was ejected, but the cause of the eruption was the sudden liberation and expansion of a large quantity of steam. These accessory or adventitious materials, however, as distinguished from the true ashes, tend to occur in angular fragments; and when they form a large part of the mass the rock is more properly a "volcanic breccia" than a tuff. The ashes vary in size from large blocks twenty feet or more in diameter to the minutest impalpable dust. The large masses are called "volcanic bombs"; they have mostly a rounded, elliptical or pear-shaped form owing to rotation in the air before they solidified. Many of them have ribbed or nodular surfaces, and sometimes they have a crust intersected by many cracks like the surface of a loaf of bread. Any ash in which they are very abundant is called an agglomerate.

In those layers and beds of tuff that have been spread out over considerable tracts of country and which are most frequently encountered among the sedimentary rocks, smaller fragments preponderate greatly and bombs more than a few inches in diameter may be absent altogether. A tuff of recent origin is generally loose and incoherent, but the older tuffs have been, in most cases, cemented together by pressure and the action of infiltrating water, making rocks which, while not very hard, are strong enough to be extensively used for building purposes (e.g. in the neighborhood of Rome). If they have accumulated subaerially, like the ash beds found on Mt. Etna or Vesuvius at the present day, tuffs consist almost wholly of volcanic materials of different degrees of fineness with pieces of wood and vegetable matter, land shells, etc. But many volcanoes stand near the sea, and the ashes cast out by them are mingled with the sediments that are gathering at the bottom of the waters. In this way ashy muds or sands or even in some cases ashy limestones are being formed. As a matter of fact most of the tuffs found in the older formations contain admixtures of clay, sand, and sometimes fossil shells, which prove that they were beds spread out under water.

During some volcanic eruptions a layer of ashes several feet in thickness is deposited over a considerable district, but such beds thin out rapidly as the distance from the crater increases, and ash deposits covering many square miles are usually very thin. The showers of ashes often follow one another after longer or shorter intervals, and hence thick masses of tuff, whether of subaerial or of marine origin, have mostly a stratified character. The coarsest materials or agglomerates show this least distinctly; in the fine beds it is often developed in great perfection.

Igneous rock[link]

Rocks from the Bishop tuff, uncompressed with pumice on left; compressed with fiamme on right.

Apart from adventitious material, such as fragments of the older rocks, pieces of trees, etc., the contents of an ash deposit may be described as consisting of more or less crystalline igneous rocks. If the lava within the crater has been at such a temperature that solidification has commenced, crystals are usually present. They may be of considerable size like the grey, rounded leucite crystals found on the sides of Vesuvius. Many of these are very perfect and rich in faces because they grew in a medium that was liquid and not very viscous. Good crystals of augite and olivine are also to be obtained in the ash beds of Vesuvius and of many other volcanoes, ancient and modern. Blocks of these crystalline minerals (anorthite, olivine, augite and hornblende) are common objects in the tuffs of many of the West Indian volcanoes. Where crystals are very abundant the ashes are called "crystal tuffs." In St. Vincent and Martinique in 1902, much of the dust was composed of minute crystals enclosed in thin films of glass because the lava at the moment of eruption had very nearly solidified as a crystalline mass. Some basaltic volcanoes, on the other hand, have ejected great quantities of black glassy scoria, which, after consolidation, weather to a red soft rock known as palagonite; tuffs of this kind occur in Iceland and Sicily. In the Lipari Islands and Hungary there are acid (rhyolitic) tuffs, of pale grey or yellow color, largely composed of lumps and fragments of pumice. Over a large portion of the sea bottom the beds of fine mud contain small, water-worn, rounded pebbles of very spongy volcanic glass; these have been floated from the shore or cast out by submarine volcanoes, and may have travelled for hundreds of miles before sinking; it has been proved by experiment that some kinds of pumice will float on sea-water for more than a year. The deep sea-deposit known as the "red clay" is largely of volcanic origin and might be suitably described as a "submarine tuff-bed."

Welded tuff[link]

Welded tuff at Golden Gate in Yellowstone National Park

Welded tuff is a pyroclastic rock, of any origin, that was sufficiently hot at the time of deposition to weld together. Strictly speaking, if the rock contains scattered pea-sized fragments or fiamme in it, it is called a welded lapilli-tuff. Welded tuffs (and welded lapilli-tuffs) can be of fallout origin, or deposited from pyroclastic density currents, as in the case of ignimbrites. During welding, the glass shards and pumice fragments adhere together (necking at point contacts), deform, and compact together, resulting in a 'eutaxitic fabric' (see image and contrast with the ash shapes in unwelded tuff).

Welded ignimbrites can be highly voluminous, such as the Lava Creek Tuff erupted from Yellowstone Caldera in Wyoming 640,000 years ago. Lava Creek Tuff is known to be at least 1000 times as large as the deposits of the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, and it had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 8—greater than any eruption known in the last 10,000 years. The intensity of welding may decrease towards the upper margin of a deposit, towards areas in which the deposit is thinner and with distance from source. Welded tuff is commonly rhyolitic in composition, but examples of all compositions are known.

Rhyolite tuffs[link]

Light microscope image of tuff as seen in thin section (Long dimension is several mm). The curved shapes of altered glass shards (ash fragments) are well-preserved, although the glass is partly altered. The shapes were formed about bubbles of expanding water-rich gas.

The rhyolitic tuff portal of the "church house" at Colditz Castle, Saxony, designed by Andreas Walther II (1584), is a clear example of the exuberance of "Antwerp Mannerism"

For petrographical purposes, tuff is generally classified according to the nature of the volcanic rock of which it consists; this may be the same as the accompanying lavas if any were emitted during an eruption, and if there is a change in the kind of lava which is poured out, the tuffs also indicate this equally clearly. Rhyolite tuffs contain pumiceous, glassy fragments and small scoriae with quartz, alkali feldspar, biotite, etc. Iceland, Lipari, Hungary, the Basin and Range of the American southwest, and New Zealand are among the areas where such tuffs are prominent. The broken pumice is clear and isotropic, and very small particles commonly have crescentic, sickle-shaped, or biconcave outlines, showing that they are produced by the shattering of a vesicular glass, sometimes described as ash-structure. The tiny glass fragments derived from broken pumice are called shards; the glass shards readily deform and flow when the deposits are sufficiently hot, as shown in the accompanying image of welded tuff.

In the ancient rocks of Wales, Charnwood, the Pentland Hills, etc., similar tuffs are known, but in all cases they are greatly changed by silicification (which has filled them with opal, chalcedony and quartz) and by devitrification. The frequent presence of rounded corroded quartz crystals, such as occur in rhyolitic lavas, helps to demonstrate their real nature.

A example of this tuff Rochlitz Porphyr can be seen in the Mannerist style sculpted portal outside the chapel entrance in Colditz Castle.^[1] The trade name Rochlitz Porphyr is the traditional designation for a dimension stone of Saxony with an architectural history over 1,000 years in Germany. The quarries are located near Rochlitz.^[2]

Trachyte tuffs[link]

Trachyte tuffs contain little or no quartz but much sanidine or anorthoclase and sometimes oligoclase feldspar, with occasional biotite, augite and hornblende. In weathering they often change to soft red or yellow clay-stones, rich in kaolin with secondary quartz. Recent trachyte tuffs are found on the Rhine (at Siebengebirge), in Ischia, near Naples, Hungary, etc.

Andesitic tuffs[link]

Andesitic tuffs are exceedingly common. They occur along the whole chain of the Cordilleras and Andes, in the West Indies, New Zealand, Japan, etc. In the Lake district, North Wales, Lorne, the Pentland Hills, the Cheviots and many other districts of Great Britain, ancient rocks of exactly similar nature are abundant. In color they are red or brown; their scoriae fragments are of all sizes from huge blocks down to minute granular dust. The cavities are filled up with many secondary minerals, such as calcite, chlorite, quartz, epidote, chalcedony; but in microscopic sections, the nature of the original lava can nearly always be made out from the shapes and properties of the little crystals which occur in the decomposed glassy base. Even in the smallest details, these ancient tuffs have a complete resemblance to the modern ash beds of Cotopaxi, Krakatoa and Mont Pelé.

Basaltic tuffs[link]

Most of the moais in Easter Island are carved out of tholeiite basalt tuff

Basaltic tuffs are also of wide spread occurrence both in districts where volcanoes are now active and in lands where eruptions have long since ended. They are found in Skye, Mull, Antrim and other places, where there are Paleogene volcanic rocks; in Scotland, Derbyshire and Ireland among the carboniferous strata; and among the still older rocks of the Lake District, southern uplands of Scotland and Wales. They are black, dark green or red in colour; vary greatly in coarseness, some being full of round spongy bombs a foot or more in diameter, and, being often submarine, may contain shale, sandstone, grit and other sedimentary material, and are occasionally fossiliferous. Recent basaltic tuffs are found in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Jan Mayen, Sicily, Sandwich Islands, Samoa, etc. When weathered they are filled with calcite, chlorite, serpentine and, especially where the lavas contain nepheline or leucite, are often rich in zeolites, such as analcite, prehnite, natrolite, scolecite, chabazite, heulandite, etc.

Ultramafic tuffs[link]

Ultramafic tuffs are extremely rare; their characteristic is the abundance of olivine or serpentine and the scarcity or absence of feldspar and quartz. Rare occurrences may include unusual surface deposits of maars of kimberlites of the diamond-fields of southern Africa and other regions. The principal rock of kimberlite is a dark bluish-green serpentine-rich breccia (blue-ground) which when thoroughly oxidized and weathered becomes a friable brown or yellow mass (the "yellow-ground"). These breccias were emplaced as gas–solid mixtures and are typically preserved and mined in diatremes that form intrusive pipe-like structures. At depth, some kimberlite breccias grade into root zones of dikes made of unfragmented rock. At the surface, ultramafic tuffs may occur in maar deposits. Because kimberlites are the most common igneous source of diamonds, the transitions from maar to diatreme to root-zone dikes have been studied in detail. Diatreme-facies kimberlite is more properly called an ultramafic breccia rather than a tuff.

Folding and metamorphism[link]

Remains of the ancient Servian Walls in Rome, made of tuff bricks

In course of time, other changes than weathering may overtake tuff deposits. Sometimes they are involved in folding and become sheared and cleaved. Many of the green slates of the lake district in Cumberland are fine cleaved ashes. In Charnwood Forest also the tuffs are slaty and cleaved. The green color is due to the large development of chlorite. Among the crystalline schists of many regions, green beds or green schists occur, which consist of quartz, hornblende, chlorite or biotite, iron oxides, feldspar, etc., and are probably recrystallized or metamorphosed tuffs. They often accompany masses of epidiorite and hornblende – schists which are the corresponding lavas and sills. Some chlorite-schists also are probably altered beds of volcanic tuff. The "Schalsteins" of Devon and Germany include many cleaved and partly recrystallized ash-beds, some of which still retain their fragmental structure though their lapilli are flattened and drawn out. Their steam cavities are usually filled with calcite, but sometimes with quartz. The more completely altered forms of these rocks are platy, green chloritic schists; in these, however, structures indicating their original volcanic nature only sparingly occur. These are intermediate stages between cleaved tuffs and crystalline schists.

Economic importance[link]

Ahu Tongariki with 15 moai made of tuff from Rano Raraku. The second moai from the right has a Pukao which is made of red Scoria.

Tuff's primary economic value is as a building material. In the ancient world, tuff's relative softness meant that it was commonly used for construction where it was available. Tuff is common in Italy, and the Romans used it for many buildings and bridges. For example, the whole port of the island of Ventotene (still in use), was carved out from tuff. The Servian Wall, built to defend the city of Rome in the 4th century BC, is also built almost entirely from tuff. The Romans also cut tuff into small rectangular stones that they used to create walls in a pattern known as opus reticulatum.

The Romans thought bees nested in tuff. The substance is mentioned in the Aeneid (Book XII, ln 805).

The peperino, much used at Rome and Naples as a building stone, is a trachyte tuff. Pozzolana also is a decomposed tuff, but of basic character, originally obtained near Naples and used as a cement, but this name is now applied to a number of substances not always of identical character. In the Eifel region of Germany a trachytic, pumiceous tuff called trass has been extensively worked as a hydraulic mortar.

Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, a U.S. Department of Energy terminal storage facility for spent nuclear reactor and other radioactive waste, is in tuff and ignimbrite in the Basin and Range Province in Nevada. In Napa valley and Sonoma valley, California, areas made out of tuff are routinely excavated for storage of wine barrels.

Tuff from Rano Raraku was used by the Rapa Nui people of Easter Island to make the vast majority of their famous moai statues.

Tuff is important in Armenian architecture.^[3]

See also[link]

• Scoria
• Lava
• Sillar
• Lapilli
• Pyroclastic flow
• Eutaxitic texture

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Stephen Pearcy
Background information
Born	(1959-07-03) July 3, 1959 (age 52) San Diego, California
Genres	Heavy metal Hard rock Glam metal Alternative metal Industrial
Occupations	Musician Songwriter Record label owner
Instruments	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1976–present
Associated acts	Ratt, Arcade, Vertex, Vicious Delite
Website	http://www.stephen-pearcy.com

Stephen Erica Pearcy (born July 3, 1959) is the lead singer of the 80's metal band Ratt. He has also been in the bands Arcade, Vicious Delite, Vertex, Nitronic, and Band From Hell. He has also recorded as a solo artist.

Pearcy has also worked as an actor, playing the killer hippie, Timothy Bach, in the horror film "Camp Utopia".^[1]

Early career[link]

In his early teens, Pearcy aspired to be a top fuel race car driver and expressed no desire to pursue a career in music.^[2] He listened to music and occasionally went to concerts in the 1970s, however he had not so much as played a note in his whole life. Fate interfered in the form of a hit-and-run driver who struck Pearcy while he was riding his friends bike one night during the summer of 1974. While he was in the hospital recovering from his bike accident, somebody gave him an acoustic guitar. After fiddling around with the guitar for a short time, Pearcy decided to shift his vocational focus from a race car driver to playing music. He started a band which he named Mickey Ratt, a take on the Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse, in San Diego during the late 1970s. After he and the band moved to Los Angeles in 1980, the band's name was shortened to Ratt and the original lineup was solidified. Playing clubs like The Roxy and The Whisky, Ratt amassed a large local following. After releasing an eponymous six song EP in 1983, Ratt released their breakthrough album Out of the Cellar on Atlantic Records in 1984, and it went multi-platinum. After releasing one gold and four platinum albums, Pearcy left the band in February 1992. Pearcy and former Cinderella drummer Fred Coury formed the band Arcade in 1992. Arcade released a self-titled album in 1993 and another album the following year. In 1996, Pearcy dabbled with an industrial metal band called Vertex (with Megadeth's Al Pitrelli and drummer / electronic producer Hiro Kuretani). Pearcy reunited with Ratt in 1997, only to leave the band for a second time in 2000 on the eve of a tour due to differences over financial allocation amongst band members.

Recent efforts[link]

The year 2000 was a prolific one for Pearcy. He put out a collection of previously released songs called Before and Laughter. He also re-released an independent side project from 1995, called Vicious Delite (VD), in conjunction with the label, Triple X, distributing his own record label Top Fuel Records. Pearcy released Social Intercourse, his first album of new solo material, in 2002.

His May 2005 album, Fueler, features a song called "Drive With Me" that has been featured on ESPN2's weekly program devoted to National Hot Rod Association drag racing. Pearcy also released a compilation of reworked Ratt and Mickey Ratt songs in June 2005 called Rat Attack that included spots from ex-Dokken guitarist George Lynch and former L.A. Guns axeman Tracii Guns. After touring with W.A.S.P. and L.A. Guns earlier in 2005, Pearcy he appeared on VH1 Classic's Metal Mania Stripped tour along with Kip Winger, Jani Lane of Warrant, FireHouse, and Don Dokken. His acoustic version of the Ratt song "Round and Round" appears on the VH1 Classic Metal Mania Stripped Volume 2: The Anthems CD. Top Fuel Records is now associated with the Cleopatra label and continues to release material from Pearcy as well as find new upcoming talent. Top Fuel Entertainment is developing a funny car dragster with driver James Day.

On October 6, 2005, Pearcy posted a message on his website denying rumors of a Ratt reunion. Even so, a Los Angeles Daily News article published on October 9, 2005 quoted Ratt drummer Bobby Blotzer saying that the band was "very close" to reuniting with Pearcy. However, Blotzer posted a message later that day on Ratt's website stating the interview was out of date and inaccurate.

On December 1, 2006 the website "Metal Sludge" reported that Pearcy and Juan Croucier might re-unite with Blotzer and Warren DeMartini and will thus, Robbie Crane and stated that John Corabi will most likely stay with the group.^[3] In March 2007 it was announced that Ratt would take part in the "Rocklahoma" summer festival in Pryor, Oklahoma, with original lead singer Stephen Pearcy but without original bassist Juan Croucier, who decided not to participate in the reunion tour.

The three remaining members, Pearcy/De Martini/Blotzer, toured alongside Poison in 2007 for a very promising future. The band has since toured the world in 2008; Japan, Spain, Europe, Australia, and many other countries.

On April 1, 2007, hip-hop artist, KRS-One released the rock-rap single 'We Will Rock You'. Pearcy featured on the single's B-side track 'Round & Round'.

Pearcy collaborated with The Donnas on a remake of the Ratt mega hit "Round and Round", which is included on the U.S. release of Pearcy's third solo album, Under My Skin. July 22, 2008 on Airline Records/Top Fuel Records.

In late 2010 he announced that Ratt won't do anything until at least 2012, with him.

On May 3, 2011, Pearcy announced Suckerpunch as the title of his new solo album. The CD's first single, "Don't Want To Talk About" will be released digitally via iTunes on Tuesday, May 3. Pearcy will hit the road in June 2011 as part of the "Metal In America" tour with his new solo band. The new line up consists drummer Greg D'Angelo (ex-White Lion, Anthrax), guitarist Greg Walls (ex-Anthrax), bassist Mike Duda (W.A.S.P.) and guitarist Erik Ferentinos (Antidivision; signed to Pearcy's Top Fuel Records).^[4]

Personal life[link]

Pearcy married American Model Melissa Pearcy on September 12, 1999 after dating for 4 years. The couple has one daughter, Jewel (born July 25, 1996).^[5] The family currently lives in Los Angeles, California.

Discography[link]

References[link]

1. ^ "STEPHEN PEARCY on IMDB". imdb.com. 2002. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1214578/. 
2. ^ "Behind the Behind the Music: RATT". All Access Magazine. 2006. http://www.allaccessmagazine.com/vol4/issue08/stephen_pearcy.html/. 
3. ^ Metal Sludge-Ratt re-union is Back for More by New Years Eve?
4. ^ "STEPHEN PEARCY: New Solo Album Title Announced". blabbermouth.net. 2011-05-03. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=157577/. 
5. ^ Billboard Magazine:Lifelines. Billboard Magazine. 1996-09-14. http://books.google.com/books?id=wQkEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&dq=Billboard%20Magazine%20Sep%2014%2C%201996&pg=PA80#v=onepage&q&f=false/. 

External links[link]

• Stephen Pearcy at the Internet Movie Database
• Stephen Pearcy's official website
• Stephen Pearcy on Myspace
• Interview with Stephen Pearcy
• Interview with Stephen Pearcy
• Stephen Pearcy In Arcade
• Official RATT Website
• RATT Official Myspace

Jeff Loomis
Jeff Loomis playing with Nevermore in Dinkelsbühl, August 16, 2007
Background information
Born	(1971-09-14) September 14, 1971 (age 40)
Origin	Menasha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Genres	Progressive metal, thrash metal, groove metal, neo-classical metal, death metal, instrumental rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Guitar, bass, keyboard, programming, drums, vocals
Years active	1987 – present
Associated acts	Nevermore, Sanctuary, Fear-Tech, Experiment Fear, System
Website	www.jeffloomis.com [3]
Notable instruments
Schecter Jeff Loomis Signature Series

Jeff Loomis (born September 14, 1971) is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore.

Biography[link]

Early days[link]

Loomis got his first instrument at nine or ten years old, but didn't start practicing seriously until around the age of 15.^[1] As a teenager in Wisconsin he played in a handful of cover bands and three death metal bands before joining more established bands.^[2][3] At the age of 16, Loomis won Wisconsin's Guitar Wars contest.^{[citation needed]}

He was auditioned for Megadeth (during the So Far, So Good...So What! era) at the age of 16, after their lead guitarist Jeff Young was fired from the band. After they played a few songs together, Dave Mustaine, the band's frontman and other lead guitarist, thanked Loomis and told him that one day he would become a great guitar player, but because of his age he was not right for the position.^[1] Jeff Loomis saw Cacophony on tour, and told Marty Friedman, who became very interested, about the audition. Marty tried out for the position and joined the band in 1989. In 2005, Loomis would then share the stage with Megadeth, as the lead guitarist for Nevermore as part of Mustaine's Gigantour festival. Jeff began to work on his solo album "Zero Order Phase". At this time Megadeth were having tryouts for a new guitarist once again and invited Jeff to join them. Jeff turned the band down in order to keep working on his solo album. Coincidentally, Loomis' co-guitarist in Nevermore, Chris Broderick, auditioned for Megadeth and was given the part.

Sanctuary (1990-1991)[link]

Not too long after being auditioned for the lead part in Megadeth (which was also auditioned for by Steve Smyth and Chris Broderick, both playing for his later band Nevermore at different points), Loomis was unable to join the band Sanctuary after guitarist Sean Blosl had left. He was able to take his place at this time; however, because of a dispute caused by guitarist Lenny Rutledge wanting to make grunge oriented music, Sanctuary broke up 4 months afterwards.^[1]

Nevermore (1991-2011)[link]

After the break-up, Loomis and former Sanctuary members Warrel Dane (vocalist) and Jim Sheppard (bassist) made plans to form Nevermore, and in late 1994, Loomis became the lead guitarist of Nevermore after the brief period being in Sanctuary. During his time in the band he was the main songwriter of Nevermore, adding to the unique sound that fans are familiar with. His contributions can be found in albums such as The Politics of Ecstasy, Dreaming Neon Black, This Godless Endeavor (including Steve Smyth, who previously featured in the band Testament) and Nevermore's 2010 album, The Obsidian Conspiracy. Loomis played an important role in portraying the sound that Nevermore has today, using 7 string guitars and techniques such as sweep-picking. One of his more important musical showcases is in the critically acclaimed album Dead Heart in a Dead World, in which he wrote most of the songs before Nevermore. On the 21st of April 2011, he along with Van Williams left Nevermore citing personal and musical differences with Warrel Dane.

Solo (2005-present)[link]

In 2005, Jeff reported that he would take some time as a break and then begin recording a solo album. He said, "It's something I've been wanting to do for sometime... It will be like a Jason Becker/Marty Friedman kind of thing." On April 1, 2008, Jeff said that all 10 songs which have been written have had the drumming recorded (which was done by Mark Arrington pretty much overnight) and they will soon begin tracking the rhythm guitar. On 3 July 2008, it was announced that the album would be called Zero Order Phase [4]. It was released 30 September via Century Media Records. During this time Dave Mustaine of Megadeth invited Jeff to join as the lead guitarist, but he declined the offer to work on his solo record. In an interview to Guitar Asylum, Jeff confirmed that a new solo record is in the works, and spoke about the possibility of having guest work by Chris Poland and Rusty Cooley. It is confirmed that guest solos on a second solo album will be done by Marty Friedman, Tony MacAlpine and Chris Poland.

It was announced on January 30, 2012, in a press release that included track listing and cover art, that the name of the new album will be Plains of Oblivion slated for release April 10, 2012 through Century Media Records.^[4]

Other[link]

Loomis had a monthly column^{[citation needed]} in Guitar World magazine entitled "Merchant of Menace" where he explained how to play the riffs and solos of Nevermore. In more recent columns, his former co-guitarist in Nevermore, Steve Smyth has co-written the column, which is dubbed "The Merchants of Menace." He has also been featured in Young Guitar Magazine, showing guitarists how to play, and explain his style and signature guitar in Nevermore.

In 2009 Guitar World released his first instructional video.

Slated for a Winter 2010 release; Jeff has recorded a 2 part instructional DVD series with RockHouseMethod. Recording took place late Fall of 2009.

He played as a guest guitar solo in the last Keith Merrow's album Awaken The Stone King, released on January 1, 2011.

As of 2008, he is engaged.

Equipment[link]

This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (February 2008)

Loomis plays various Schecter seven string guitars, including the Jeff Loomis C7 FR Signature Model with EMG 707 pickups and a Floyd Rose tremolo.^[2] He also plays a Schecter C-7 Hellraiser with EMG 707 active humbucker pickups, and the C-7 Blackjack with the Seymour Duncan Blackout pickups. Prior to Schecter he played a wide variety of guitars including Ibanez (Politics of Ecstasy period), Gibson, Jackson (Dreaming Neon Black period), ESP (Dead Heart... period), and Warmoth. In the video for 'Believe In Nothing' he can be seen using an LTD M series (either M400 or M100fm). He also owns a custom ESP Horizon 7. He endorsed Peavey amplifiers and used their XXX head. After that he endorsed Krank amplifiers and could be seen live using the Krankenstein heads and cabs. As of 2008 Jeff endorsed ENGL Amplification and used most of their heads at one time or another, most notably the SE 670, then the Fireball and finally their Savage heads and Engl cabs loaded with Vintage 30s. Early in 2007, Schecter guitars brought out the Jeff Loomis Signature Schecter 7 string, based on the C-7 Hellraiser model. It features the EMG 707 active pickups, ash body in 'vampyre red satin' and three piece maple neck with maple fretboard and Sperzel locking tuners. At NAMM 08 a new signature model was released. It is the same as his other one but it has a fixed bridge instead of a Floyd Rose.^[5] Jeff can also been seen on YouTube playing an electro acoustic LAG Tramontane T100 ASCEBLK.^[6]

Jeff uses Ernie ball strings, gauge 9-46+66 in Bb tuning along with Dunlop Tortex 2 mm Sharp picks. For amplification he is using the Engl Special Edition E570 Rack-mounted Preamp with Engl 100W Stereo Poweramp.

Effects pedals[link]

• Maxon OD808 Overdrive Pedal
• MXR Stereo Chorus
• Way Huge Electronics Green Rhino Mk II

Recording gear[link]

• Engl Amps - Engl Savage 120 head. Also E670
• Digidesign 002 Rack Protools unit
• Korg Padkontrol
• Apple Macbook Pro
• M Audio speakers for monitors (BX8's?)

Discography[link]

Nevermore[link]

• Nevermore (1995)
• In Memory (EP, 1996)
• The Politics of Ecstasy (1996)
• Dreaming Neon Black (1999)
• Dead Heart in a Dead World (2000)
• Enemies of Reality (2003, remixed in 2004)
• This Godless Endeavor (2005)
• The Year of the Voyager (2008)
• The Obsidian Conspiracy (2010)

Solo[link]

• Zero Order Phase (2008)
• Plains of Oblivion (2012)

Guest appearances[link]

• God Forbid - Gone Forever (2004)
• Pamela Moore - Stories from a Blue Room (2006)
• Annihilator - Metal (2007)
• Warrel Dane - Praises to the War Machine (2008)
• Marty Friedman - Future Addict (2008)
• Switchblade - Invictus Infinitum (2009)
• Tim "Ripper" Owens - Play My Game (2009)
• Periphery - Periphery (2010)
• Pale Gray Sky - Everything for Nothing (2010)
• Keith Merrow - Awaken The Stone King (2011)
• Stephan Forté - The Shadows Compendium (2011)
• 7 Horns 7 Eyes - Throes of Absolution (2011)^[7]
• Leander - Szívidomár (2012)^[8]

Instructional DVD[link]

• Super Shred - Guitar World

Extreme Lead Guitar: Dissonant Scales & Arpeggios (The Rock House Method)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jeff Loomis's website
• Disfunct official Nevermore website
• Interview with Jeff Loomis of Nevermore
• Jeff Loomis Interview

John "Ace" Cannon (born 5 May 1934 in Grenada, Mississippi) is an American tenor and alto saxophonist. He played and toured with Hi Records stablemate Bill Black’s Combo, and started a solo career with his record "Tuff" in 1961, using the Black combo as his backing group. "Tuff" hit #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, and the follow-up single "Blues (Stay Away from Me)" hit #36 that same year.^[1] In April 1965, he released Ace Cannon Live (HL 12025); according to the liner notes by Nick Pesce the album was recorded in front of a live audience inside Hi's recording studio, and Pesce claims this was the first time such an album had ever been recorded (as opposed to previous live albums recorded in concert venues).

Cannon was inducted into both the Rock and Soul Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in 2000.^[2] In May 2007, his hometown hosted its first annual Ace Cannon Festival, and on December 9, 2008, he was honored with induction into the Mississippi Musicians' Hall Of Fame.

After years of travelling and entertaining fans the world over, he moved back to Calhoun City in the late 1980s and resides there today. He still plays numerous dates each year, and can be found most days working on his golf game at his home course.

• For discography, the following linked; http://www.lpdiscography.com/?page=discography&interpret=64.^[3]

References[link]

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Michael West (born 27 August 1965 in Tottenham, London^[1]), better known as Rebel MC, is an English jungle producer and toaster.^[1] He has also used the aliases Conquering Lion, Congo Natty, Blackstar, Tribe Of Issachar, X Project and Ras Project. "Conquering Lion" is an abbreviation for "The Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah", one of emperor Haile Selassie's many titles.

Biography[link]

In the early 1980s, West formed the group Double Trouble with the now deceased Michael Menson, Karl Brown (more commonly known as the UK garage DJ Karl 'Tuff Enuff' Brown) and Leigh Guest; and released the single "Just Keep Rockin" on the Desire record label in 1989 as Double Trouble and Rebel MC. The single was a UK Top 20 hit, and the follow-up "Street Tuff" (1989) was his biggest success, reaching #3 in the UK Singles Chart.^[2]

Because of the style and content of these releases, West was often dismissed by a British hip hop community, distrustful of pop success and "selling out".^{[citation needed]} His first album was Rebel Music (Desire, 1990) which included the popular dance track "Better World".

His second album. Black Meaning Good (Desire, 1991) was a complete change of style for West, mixing his former pop-rap influences with reggae, hip hop, dance and the emerging jungle styles. The album featured ragga notables like Barrington Levy, Tenor Fly and Dennis Brown singing and toasting on top of reggae-house music rhythms.

Word, Sound and Power (1992) was a further exploration of roots electronica that mashed up techno, house, reggae, ragga and hip hop music.

Forming the Tribal Bass label, Rebel MC released "Tribal Bass" (1992), which was his last significant hit, reaching #20 in the UK charts, and the hip house track Demon Boyz "Dett" (1992) and the Oldschool Jungle track "Jungle-ist" (1993). The X Project label followed shortly with the "Old School Ting" (1993) single. As Conquering Lion, West, with help from DJ Ron and Jumping Jack Frost, released the sound system mash up "Lion of Judah/Innah Sound/Dub Plate Special" (1993). With vocals from Supercat, Conquering Lion's "Code Red/Phenomenon" (1994) caught the attention of 4th & Broadway who re-released the track along with "Rastaman/Word, Sound and Power/Code Black" (1995).

Tribal Bass gradually mutated into Congo Natty, and West himself released some material under this name, before settling on the Conquering Lion name. However, this was not the last the world heard of Rebel MC. Despite his continued success with his new style of music, West released the single "Junglist" (Congo Natty, 2004) under the Rebel MC name, and followed this up with a greatest hits album Born Again (Congo Natty, 2005).

New interest in the Double Trouble & Rebel MC song, "Just Keep Rockin" in December 2007, saw it re-enter the UK Dance Chart at #32.

Music[link]

Rebel MC's sound derives from his focus on blackness from various angles. Rather than solely celebrating Afrocentric motifs, his music hearkens back to the African diaspora. The lyrics embrace a wide range of approaches to blackness and black-pride, bringing a different understanding of tradition by combining the different voices, themes and styles drawn from all kinds of sources of "blackness", creating a "playful, vibrant, postracial utopia".^[3] This amalgamated version of modern thought has allowed for the emergence of a uniquely London version of politically charged hip hop. Paul Gilroy argues that Rebel MC's message prevents the existence of "the trope of race as family." Instead, Gilroy states that the London hip hop culture allows for a healthy competition between African-American and Caribbean sounds to gain exposure.As recently as 2009 Joe Rankin' Rattigan described the song Street Tuff as "the birth of UK grime", a view supported by Dizzee Rascal also.^[3][4][5]

Album discography[link]

• Rebel Music (Desire, 1990)
• Black Meaning Good (Desire, 1991)
• Word Sound and Power (Big Life, 1991)
• Born Again (Congo Natty, 2005)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Discog's Rebel MC page
• Heroes of UK Hip Hop's Rebel MC page
• Rebel MC - MC Directory