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\\u201cSupergroup\\u201d is a tired, overused term in music. However, when musical aces like guitarist Guthrie Govan, bassist Bryan Beller, and drummer Marco Minnemann jam\\u2026 they are an unrivaled force of nature.

Each player has a remarkable resume: Govan has worked with Steven Wilson, Hans Zimmer, and Asia; Beller with Satriani, Vai, Dethklok, and Dweezil Zappa; and Minnemann with the Mute Gods, Trey Gunn, H-Blockx, and Mike Keneally\\u2014among many others.

What makes a supergroup novel is generally the collective\\u2019s previous endeavors and collaborations. The magic with these three cats is that their superpowers combine to become a flashy and fluent highflying act.

Formed unceremoniously for a performance at the 2011 Anaheim NAMM Show, this tremendously talented trio has released nine albums (five studio and four live) in 11 years. The attraction for both the audience and the band is the same: variety. In any given performance, you can hear them shift from Return to Forever to Yes to King Crimson to Vai to Rage to Funkadelic to moments of deranged Zappa.

\\u201cWe\\u2019ve been a pretty strange, eclectic band to begin with, as the music we do tips our hats to a lot of different styles,\\u201d notes Govan. \\u201cAll I\\u2019ve ever done over the years I\\u2019ve been playing guitar is to just listen to everything around me and absorb the aspects of it that I liked. I\\u2019ve never felt an urge to specialize. I\\u2019m happy to keep combining whatever flavorings I like and rolling them all together.\\u201d The result: These three executive chefs put on a spicy clinic that would even please Gordon Ramsay.

The Aristocrats\\u2019 headlining 2022 run landed at Nashville\\u2019s City Winery on July 27. Before the musical throwdown commenced, PG\\u2019s Chris Kies hosted conversations that covered Beller\\u2019s booming setup, including some old favorites and recovered friends (via social-media sleuthing), while Govan focused on detailing the slight-but-crucial changes to his signature Charvel and explaining his live tonal evolution\\u2014modernized with an all-encompassing Fractal Audio unit.

[Brought to you by D\\u2019Addario XPND Pedalboard: https://ddar.io/xpnd.rr]