By Danny Gold 

Photo by Jammi York

Ah, the beauty of the guitar solo, which lets even an awkward 15-year-old shyly step on stage and capture the hearts and souls of an audience. It was the sixth annual Shred For Your Life guitar solo competition at Webster Hall Saturday night, and that meant head-to-head, balls-to-the-wall guitar shredding as 12 contestants competed for the crown. After starting out in the back room of Max Fish, the contest had been so well received that now it was being judged by rock royalty like Andrew WK, TV on the Radio’s Jaleel Bunton and Les Savy Fav’s Seth Jabour. The contestants could be split into two categories: those who weren’t old enough to drink, and those who looked like they had spent a lifetime drinking way too much. Chris Johnson fell into the latter. The guitarist of Total Social Suicide, he played his set barefoot, spray paint covering up the areas of his body that weren’t tattooed. He spilled his beer on the judges’ table in the first round and quickly became a crowd favorite. I tried to get a good quote out of him, but he mumbled something about being too fucked up the night before and jumping in a river that morning to recuperate, then told me he would explode if he lost. But the night truly belonged to two adolescents. Rusty Goldbaum of Brooklyn, an awkward bespectacled 15-year-old, looking more the computer-programmer type and clad in the decidedly non-rock attire of dad jeans and New Balances, quickly became the Cinderella story, receiving ovations and catcalls from tattooed metal chicks after releasing a torrent of awesomeness. “You put out some dark shit,” said Jabour after Goldbaum’s first solo round. Dylan Brenner, also 15, who took second place last year and opened the show with his kick-ass teen metal band BYS, shined brighter than the lights hitting his braces as he grimaced through his second solo round. “That was one of the greatest guitar solos I ever heard,” WK said in awe. In the end, guitar teacher and prog-rocker Lily Maase took home the huge guitar pick trophy after beating Brenner in a controversial final decision that saw the judges showered with boos. “I’m preparing to get beat by a 12-year-old,” Maase told me before the final round. After the competition, semi-finalist Damien Paris didn’t seem perturbed by the 15-year-olds who beat him. “I’m trying to figure how to get backstage,” he said. “To get a free beer.”

via NY PRESS

By ANDY GENSLER Photos By Cheryl Dunn

Photo by Cheryl Dunn

This past Saturday at Webster Hall’s grand ballroom, it all came down to two very different but equally impressive New York City “shredders”: Dylan Brenner, a 15-year old Les Paul-wielding prodigy from Long Island, and Lily Maase, a 27-year old guitarist who splits her time between Bushwick, Brooklyn, and Spanish Harlem. Both had out-rocked opponents in three previous rounds and were now facing off in the finals. Following two blistering 90-second solos, the judges were at an impasse and the audience was in an uproar.

Welcome to the sixth annual Shred for Your Life guitar competition. Part “Gong Show” (the M.C. wore a turban and a grand marshal’s uniform), part “Spinal Tap” (hair farming, turning it to 11, and face contorting are de rigueur), part “American Idol” (the judges, Jaleel Bunton of TV on the Radio, the meta-rocker Andrew W.K., and Seth Jabour of Les Savy Fav channeled smarter and more hilarious versions of Paula, Randy and Simon), the light-hearted evening featured a dozen real-life Guitar Heroes putting on rousing displays of virtuosity and showmanship.

Lilly Maase rocks out blindfolded.

Shred for Your Life was founded by the musician/artist Marc Razo in 2005 and was originally held around the pool table at Max Fish, the wonderfully divey and arty Lower East Side boîte. Cheryl Dunn, a visual artist who has followed and chronicled the event since its second year, says it “feels like being in a high school gymnasium but with the best talent ever.” (Dunn’s photos and video are featured here). Past winners include members of the bands No Age, Incubus and Skeleton Key. This year was the biggest Shred yet, with sponsorship from Dickies, roughly a thousand people in attendance and fierce competition.

via T MAGAZINE

Dylan Brenner gets his shred on.

This past Saturday the sixth annual Shred For Your Life competition took place at Webster Hall.  Twelve brave guitar heroes stepped up to the footplate and performed in a knock-out contest to find the best guitar soloist. After an intro from the event’s MC and an electric guitar interpretation of the national anthem, it was game on. 

The battles were fierce:  the first and second rounds consisted of head-to-head 60-second performances (either solo or backed by a house band) of strumming,shredding, fretting and a few crazy amazing techniques that might not even have names yet.  The winner of each battle was decided by the judging trio—Jaleel Bunton of TV On the Radio, Les Savy Fav’s Seth Jabour and hard-partier Andrew WK.

The first two rounds halved the field to six and then to three with some memorable performances from Chris Johnston (who played barefoot, covered in paint) and Brooklyn’s “manthesizer” Josh Anzano.  Next was a surprise wildcard round—audience cheers decided which of the eliminated guitarists got a second chance. The fans chose sentimental favorite Rusty Goldbaum, whose single-minded heavy metal style shredding put him back in the race.

 Contestants were critiqued by Andrew W.K., Jaleel Bunton of TV on the Radio and Les Savy Fav’s Seth Jabour. The field varied wildly from adolescent to old(er), from death metal to jazz and from ordinary to downright strange. After a series of brutal face-offs that included 20 second speed rounds and blindfolds, Lily Masse, the event’s only female competitor, was declared winner over last year’s runner-up Dylan Brenner.

Lily Masse was named this year’s champion after a multi-round shred-off with the 2009 runner-up Dylan Brenner. (photo by Chris Owyoung).

Dylan Brenner competes in the 2010 Shred for Your Life competition at Webster Hall, NYC. (photo by Chris Owyoung).

Joshua Anzano performs at the 2010 Shred for Your Life competition (photo by Chris Owyoung).

http://www.onelouderphoto.com/2010/04/19/photos-shred-for-your-life-2010/

Shred For Your Life from All Day Everyday on Vimeo.

More press for the event from the good people at PaperMag and Frank 151. Thanks guys!

Theme Magazine is just as stoked as we are! Check out the post they made HERE.

BEGINS AT 8 instead of 8:30. Snooze you lose. See ya there!