Inspired by some of the really good music posts going around recently and my own BIAAtG posts, I decided to come up with a twist on an old idea: the supergroup. Music fans throughout time have pondered what would happen if certain musicians got together and put out an album or a live performance. Sometimes we’ve seen our wonderings come to life in hit and miss fashion. For every fantastic success that an Audioslave brought us, there are usually five or six Coverdale/Pages.
What I’d like y’all to do is give it some thought and put together your own supergroup. There are some rules though. You can choose musicians from any era, however, all the musicians have to be/have to have been able to perform together in their lifetime. That is, Charlie Montgomery can’t jam with Slash, David Bowie can’t front any Duke Ellington tunes, and Madonna can’t perform.
To make it even more interesting, the individual musicians you choose cannot be or cannot have been in the same band. So, if you choose Geddy Lee, you can’t choose Neil Pert. If you choose Jeff Beck, you can’t choose Jimmy Page. However, special projects or live performances don’t count, so you could choose Eric Clapton and Brian May even though they played together live a few times.
Put together the best combination you can, explain your reasoning for you matchings and hypothesize about what kind of music they’d put out. If you really feel plucky, name the group, name their album and track listings.
You can assume, even though the musicians have to be from the same era, that they are in their musical prime.
My Group: Overload, Aural Secks, Urine Sampler ... one of those, I can't make up my mind.
Singer: Maynard James Keenan. Currently the frontman for Tool and A Perfect Circle, I believe that Maynard has the best hard rock/metal voice in the industry. He’s powerful, has good range, an amazing capacity to hold notes and can really get harsh when needed. He also writes great lyrics, though that’s not really what I had in mind. I just wanted a powerful, versatile singer. Interestingly, I actually got the idea for this post earlier today when an APC song came on the radio. I thought to myself, “You know, Maynard really does have the best voice in hard rock today. I wonder how much better a band he could get with …”
Guitarist 1: John Petrucci. Guitarist for Dream Theater. JP is my favorite guitarist. He’s not the best, but he is one of them. Although Maynard inspired this post, I never doubted that I would pick JP as lead guitarist. I can think of few musicians out there as versatile and prolific as Petrucci. 
Keyboards/Guitar 2: Tony MacAlpine. MacAlpine produces solo work and plays sessions with many of the best musicians on the planet. A Juliard-trained pianist, MacAlpine picked up the guitar at age 21 and is also one of the best guitarist around today. Every solo album contains at least one classical-inspired piano piece. His skill with both instruments and his potential to blend well with Petrucci is why I choose him.
Bassist: Frank Bello, bass player for Anthrax. I literally had 10 to 12 bass players written down and I had to think about what kind of music I thought these guys would be putting out. One thing I didn’t want was a bassist with too much of a unique voice – that is, the bass isn’t going to drive the melody or the sound of the music. So, someone like Less Claypool was right out. Also, I wanted more solid bass rhythm lines than intricate lines, so Billy Sheehan was out. I debated Stu Hamm, but thought he’d be underutilized, while at the same time I wanted someone who could play whatever was thrown at him. Bello was always on the list and just fit all the criteria to a tee.
Drummer: Nick Menza, former Megadeth drummer. If I hadn’t put in the “can’t be in the same band” rule, I would have chosen Mike Portnoy. I am a real stickler about drums. I can’t stand drummers who pound out simple 4-4 beats and use too many cymbal crashes. I wanted someone who uses odd beat patterns, can play a variety of styles and still just rocks. Nick Menza was one of the best drummers in metal during his heyday.The way I imagine this coming together is that Petrucci and MacAlpine – having met during the latest G3 tour – decide they’d like to do a project together. It involves into them forming this supergroup. While none of the members give up on their primary band, this would be a reoccurring side project for them.
Man, they would rock.
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