5. Andy Latimer
“Andy is probably the most tasteful player of them all, I think.
"He’s never worried about showcasing his skills – he’s nowhere near as restless as all those metal players like Yngwie. Instead, his phrasing is very strong. He’s got a big jazz influence but can play great blues guitar as well. His solos are the kind that you can sing along to…
“We’ve emailed a couple of times. And even before then, I even wrote him a few letters… he actually replied! He said, ‘Thank you very much for your kind words and good luck with your band, then in brackets, Opeth.’ I always have to mention him as one of my biggest influences. He’s very underrated, most people don’t even know who the fuck he is.”
![Justin Hawkins [left] of the Darkness plays an open G on his offset electric and closes his eyes as he performs onstage; soul-reggae icon Johnny Nash [right] frets a chord on his acoustic and wears a patched denim jacket.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/hWzCjD9ZWQiPPjMtTWiFfa-840-80.jpg.webp)
“It was probably the first time I’d ever sort of listened to one and gone, ‘What is that? I want to learn how to do that!’”: How a soul and reggae legend introduced the Darkness' Justin Hawkins to diminished chords
“When I got the call to record with Michael, I was thinking, oh, there’s going to be an entourage, and the monkey’s going to be jumping around…”: How guitarist Steve Stevens recorded Dirty Diana with Michael Jackson
