I hereby welcome Sophie Lloyd to the GW cover club! It’s a joy to watch guitarists spring up, basically out of nowhere, to achieve such high levels of acclaim in this, um, interesting modern age of ours.
I joined GW in early 2011, and I’ve witnessed a few bright careers in the making since then, including occasional GW cover stars Billy Strings, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Jake Kiszka, Rob Scallon, and Wolfgang Van Halen (although Wolf did share a GW cover with his dad in 2008…).
OK, back to Sophie: Somewhere in Joe Bosso’s interview in this issue, Lloyd says, “People always say, ‘You haven’t paid your dues,’ but I feel as though I’ve done that in a different way.”
I agree. And what does “paying your dues” even mean in 2023? Isn’t building a massive online following over the course of several years paying your dues? Isn’t somehow shifting from the digital realm onto major brick-and-mortor stages like Madison Square Garden, Wembley Arena and the awesomely named KFC Yum! Center "paying your dues"?
Lloyd’s is definitely a unique story, and although I have very little inside information, I can promise you that her current stint with Machine Gun Kelly is still just the beginning.
Speaking of Lloyd, in this jam-packed issue you will find…
Welcome to the Machine: Lloyd discusses the joys – and the very public pitfalls – of her wild trajectory from popular online creator to Machine Gun Kelly’s arena-rocking secret weapon. (by Joe Bosso)
Exclusive Lesson with (and by!) Sophie: Lloyd breaks down her main riffs and solo in Do or Die and offers some useful playing and practicing tips – with tab and video. (by Sophie Lloyd)
Surfing with the Sophie: Lloyd chooses the 10 albums that changed her life. (by Andrew Daly)
Pop Goes the Shredder: 10 respected rock ’n’ blues guitarists who – for at least a little while, anyway – boarded the pop train. (by Andrew Daly)
This issue (AKA the September 2023 issue of Guitar World) is available right here, right now!
