Glasgow-based composer and producer D.R. Webster assembled something genuinely ambitious with “Bionic,” out February 6th as the debut single from his instrumental rock project Spiderweb. The track was built in support of Hungry for Music, a US-based nonprofit that has placed over 20,000 instruments into the hands of children in underserved communities across the US, UK, Kenya, Uganda, and Haiti. To bring the song to life, Webster pulled together a lineup that reads like a prog and hard rock hall of fame: Steve Hackett of Genesis, Kee Marcello of Europe, John Wesley of Porcupine Tree, Marcelo Barbosa of Angra, plus Maria Barbieri, Vanny Tonon, and Gus Barros as guest guitarists.
When I read that this is a 7-minute song with 7 guest guitarists, not counting D.R. Webster, I knew this was gonna be a crazy guitar extravaganza, a song made by musicians for musicians. This isn’t a Joe Satriani track where melody is king; this is like one huge jam session that was recorded with great production quality. Of course, without a great rhythm section – like Tye Zamora and Gordon McNeil locking it down on bass and drums – a jam like this can end up sounding like a Guitar Center on a Sunday morning, but the rhythm section keeps the dynamics interesting the whole way through so that the solos don’t get repetitive.
Seven guitarists taking turns over seven minutes is a lot to ask of any single track, but “Bionic” by Spiderweb earns it. The charity angle is a bonus – the music holds up on its own as a showcase of what happens when you get genuinely world-class players in the same room, even if that room is spread across several continents. And the fact that proceeds go toward putting instruments in the hands of kids who need them makes it easy to recommend without reservation.
