This week’s Pick of the Week is for LA Stryker,  a Dutch rock-band founded in 2008. Their songs are honest and real, deep down from the soul! When you listen to their heavy stuff, the rhythm section really holds the pocket. Together with the sharp vocal-lines and killerhooks on guitar, it certainly turns the time around! The band has also a few more poppy-songs in their repertoire. The latest studio-recordings are from last December so these tunes will be available online soon before spring 2012! LA Stryker has been rocking the stages all over Holland for 3 years now and in 2012 they are planning to cross the channel for a short UK-tour. To find out more about the band, visit http://www.lastryker.com/. LA Stryker’s picks were made on our acetal material, which worked really well with their full bleed design. To design and order your own custom guitar picks, visit www.claytoncustom.com today!

Hey Clayton customers! Check out these cool designs that are being submitted by some of our other customers! Both of these picks were designed for weddings, and we love how creative they are! Both are two-sided designs. The top pick design was made on our white pearl material, with full bleed art that almost covers the entirety of the pick, so it gives the appearance of being golden on one side and pink on the other. Of course, both sets of picks display the couple’s name and the wedding date. The second pick design is on our white delrin material, which really makes the red color of the tree pop. Both pick sets will be great as wedding favors that can tie into the wedding theme and impress guests with originality. Are you planning a 2012 wedding? Start designing your custom wedding guitar picks today at www.claytoncustom.com. Looking for inspiration? Check out our website designated specifically for wedding picks that shows what customers have created before to help you come up with some ideas: www.customweddingpicks.com.

This week’s Pick of the Week is for a band called Lover Under Cover. The new guitarist, Tor Erik, comes from Norway, from a band called JORN and they are about to start up some recordings in January. The singer is a very busy guy and sings in 3 different bands. Secret Service  (pop band) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdxllyTNrDY&feature=related Last Autumns Dream  (AOR) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3GFLLIVPSs Salute (Hard Rock)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N28Mc8Reqvg. Here is the Lover Under Cover biography, taken from their site at: http://www.myspace.com/loverundercovertheband. GREETINGS to all you wild childs out there and welcome to a reborn and stunning melodic metal act. Featuring one of Swedens absolute most powerfull voices…
MIKAEL ERLANDSSON, together with one of his best friends from early school years, MIKAEL CARLSSON.
You will find out that these talented guys realy will blow your mind out with metal as good as it can be. Screaming guitars, strong melodies and a vocal performance beyond devine. Ladies and gentlemen… I give you…
LOVER UNDER COVER !!! The first embryo of LUC goes back in time as far as 1982 when Mr E and Mr C were members in the southern rock act “Rain” together with one of Sweden’s most famous ZZ-Top lookalikes, Bengt Lundh. Setteled in the beautiful arcipelago outside Kungsbacka in the west of Sweden we all remember those crazy nights with Rock n roll ( and a couple of beers ) during endless Swedish summer nights. After that Mr E and Mr C were separated for a couple of years. Mr E working with his amazing and successful solo career and Mr C turned out to be semi professional musician and doing a lots of cover gigs at the pubs in the west of Sweden.
They bumped into each other a couple of times during the years and allways said that “we should realy do something togeather” Mr E started up Last Autumns Dream wich not need any further presentation i guess, and Mr C started up the first version of Lover Under Cover around 1992 with Daniel Boscovic as a lead singer.
Mr C and Mr B recorded about 30 songs during 4-5 years before they decided to go separate ways, and now…. 15 years later then finally Mr C and Mr E got the time and opportunity to take of in the project they always wanted to do. A new colorful, harder than ever version of LUC.  And the Saga continues……..’); The LUC picks were created on our black celluloid guitar pick material, which was perfect for their logo which has a black background. To create and order your own custom guitar picks, visit www.claytoncustom.com today!

Blackbox 13 was formed September of 2011, members include Joe Nassar, vocals, Joe Wiehl, lead guitar, Todd Turgeon, drums, and Cory Kay, bass. All players currently  live in Las Vegas, Nv. In a short amount of time we have been able to accomplish a three song demo and a video for the fisrt song “Silent Wall.” Each member has brought to the table an amazing assortment of accomplishments . Cory Kay of Zombie Shaker Box, Joe Nassar of Light the Black Sky, Joe Wiehl, and Todd Turgeon, formally of 13 years, joined forces to create a raw crunchy straight ahead rock sound. With such a diverse array of musical influences each member is truly schooled in their craft. Cory was the member of Blackbox13 who decided to order some custom picks from Steve Clayton, Inc.
Cory’s accomplishments over the years have been playing in sold out shows around the Las Vegas, also setting attendances records in Utah. He has had the honor of winning several awards at the “LA Music Awards” for “Best Rock Album of the Year“, also winning “Best Metal Band” in Las Vegas, Nevada for “Las Vegas Rocks Magazine“ and winning a “Battle of the Bands”… all in 2010. Thru his musical journey he has also been able to be the opening act in large venues for such acts as Godsmack, Hellyeah, Slash and Joan Jett. Cory has some information to share about his custom guitar picks from Clayton, Inc: “I put a lot of thought into each pic design. Not only do I play with them, I also throw them out into the audience during my shows, something I’ve been doing for years. Clayton has given me the opportunity to promote all the bands I have played in over the years. I am looking forward to an amazing journey with Blackbox13, going into the studio in 2012 and hitting such states as California, Arizona, Utah and, of course, Nevada.” To find out more about Blackbox13, visit their sites:
http://www.youtube.com/BlackBox13Band
http://www.reverbnation.com/BlackBox13
http://www.BlackBox13Band.com

Cory ordered his guitar picks on our acetal pick material, in the rounded triangle shape. To created and order your own custom picks, visit www.claytoncustom.com today!

We are excited and pleased to start 2012 off with the first Pick of the Week, made for the band SOURMASH! SOURMASH is an accomplished group of musicians hailing from Pennsylvania assembled to pay tribute to the guitar-driven music of the south.  Labeled as ‘100 Proof Southern Rock’, this band performs like the whiskey from which its name is derived – smooth with a strong finishing kick.  The band’s high-energy performances have become legendary in its brief existence.  Formed in 2010, the band has been a consistent headliner for motorcycle rallies, festivals, and clubs.  In addition, the band has opened for national acts, such as Blackberry Smoke.
The powerful SOURMASH performances showcase the band’s many talents.  Strong and clear vocals; a grinding three-guitar attack; lush harmonies of both voice and guitar; and the thunderous panache of bass and drums combine to define the SOURMASH sound.   The musicians also display their abilities playing keyboards, harp, mandolin and fiddle to increase the aural excitement.  The highlight of the show, however, is the participation of the crowd.  Whether the audience is dancing, singing along, or shouting “Hell Yeah!” – it is that energy that keeps SOURMASH alive.
Take a shot!
SOURMASH is:
Craig Harnish – Vocals
Tim Henry – Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals
Nick Farine – Guitar
Chuck Carner – Bass, Harp, Vocals
Ken Harnish – Keyboards, Guitar, Vocals
Matt Knapp  – Drums, Fiddle
To find out more about SOURMASH, visit https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sour-Mash/146397668710547 or https://www.sourmash-rock.com. We loved the design made for the SOURMASH pick, because it has a high amount of detail an intricacy, and it came out really well on our acetal material picks. To create and order your own custom picks, visit www.claytoncustom.com today!

This week’s pick of the week was created by Danny Jones for the Danny Jones Band (DJB). “Danny is a versatile guitarist from in Northern California. Danny started playing guitar at the age of 12 after seeing childhood friend Larry Lalonde of Primus play Ted Nugent’s Cat Scratch Fever and Van Halen’s Ain’t Talking About Love. Danny became obsessed with the guitar; he began taking lessons with George Cole. George was a huge influence on Danny in his younger years, getting Danny interested in playing jazz standards, classical and country guitar. In Danny’s late teens, he began to study with Joe Satriani. Joe had a major impact on Danny’s style and songwriting. In the 90′s, Danny won the Best of the Bay contest two years in a row and received airplay on FM 97.3. Danny has also appeared in Guitar World, Guitar for the Practicing Musician & Guitar Player Magazine. Danny recently has had songs used in the commercial field for Krank Amps radio trailers as well as instructional dvd’s for Cesar Gracie & Gracie Fighter. Danny’s Band has opened shows for Ronnie Montrose, The Eric Martin Band, Telsa Guitarist/Frank Hannon, Bass Legend Stu Hamm and Uli Jon Roth. In 2009 Danny was one of the 10 Finalists chosen by Guitar Player Magazine for their Superstar Competition. You can catch Danny gigging in the SF Bay Area with his instrumental trio DJB, in which you will find players like former Whitesnake bassist Uriah Duffy trading licks with Danny!!” To find out more about DJB, visit http://www.dannyjones.net/ or  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Danny-JonesMusicianGuitarist/237045499667619. Danny’s picks were made on our acetal material, which is the best for supporting designs with a variety of shading like the DJB logo. You can created and order your own custom guitar picks from Clayton at www.claytoncustom.com!

This week’s pick of the week was created for the band In The Fold. “The band started with four members in about 2000/1 with Jim Beardow: guitar, Joe Ng: guitar & keyboards, Brendan Streeter: drums and (Jason Slater): bass. They did a short demo CD with three songs recorded but no vocals as they were experimenting with sounds. Jim was then offered a job in the big old USA and has since married, had child and stayed settled over there. Jim now plays with a band called Shwa in America on guitar. The rest of them drifted apart until a couple of years ago. They started writing music again as a three piece band and recorded three songs in October last year and are due to go back in the studio in January where they have even more songs. They are all based in the south east of England (Sussex and Kent). They are yet to gig with their new line up, but once the next recording has been completed, They hope to get out there. Links to the band are; http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/In-The-Fold/10150094620730403 and http://www.reverbnation.com/inthefold. The design that was used on In The Fold’s custom guitar picks is taken from what has become their kind-of signature picture for the band until they get some more photos etc. done. It was one of about 5 photos taken for them by a local photographer friend. It is actually of an abandoned mental asylam in East Sussex which has since been demolished. The design was printed on our acetal picks, which are the best material to support full color photo designs. To create your own custom guitar picks, visit www.claytoncustom.com today!

This week’s Pick of the Week was created for a unique band known as the Warrior Spirit Band. “They are the first all wounded warrior band in the US. Their mission is to bring awareness to various disabilities our veterans and soldiers face once they come home after war. They use music as a healing tool and a way to tell their stories of the experiences they had during combat and the struggles they have faced since coming home. Their goal is to make sure that every veteran that has a disability knows that there is help….and giving up is never an option! The Warrior Spirit band has the potential to do so much for our men and women of the armed forces that have sacrificed their ability to lead a normal life after being wounded or disabled in a combat zone. Warrior Spirit will help bring selected veterans outreach programs into the spotlight and will raise awareness of the struggles that our service men and women go through upon returning home and re-acclimating to a normal life.” Find out more about this amazing group at http://www.warriorspiritband.com/ Warrior Spirit Band’s picks were made on our white pearl material, which gives their logo an awesome 3-D effect and makes the gradient in the text really pop. Order your own custom guitar picks today at www.claytoncustom.com. And, if you are ordering custom picks as a holiday gift, hurry up!! Time is running out!!

This week’s Pick of the Week was made for the band A Fable for the Curious. “Formed in 2008, A Fable For The Curious are a hard hitting, killer-riff-ridden four piece hailing from Teesside, North East England. Drawing influence from Metallica’s Black Album era and splicing in the attitude of Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for destruction combined with echoes of Biffy Clyro and Foo Fighters, creating fist in the air choruses and heart twisting melodies. Having played shows and festivals alongside the biggest up and coming bands supporting the likes of Young Guns, The Blackout, My Passion, Lower Than Atlantis, Wheatus and Transfer, AFFTC released their debut single in May 2011 Don’t Say Goodbye mixed and mastered by famous Matty O’Grady (You Me At Six/Bring Me The Horizon producer) to whet the appetite of their fans for the forthcoming debut album.
The debut album, titled Ruled, will be released at Xmas 2011 and will be available at all online stores worldwide. Recorded at White Wolf Studios with Ian Thompson, mixed and mastered by James Stephenson Stymphalian Productions and produced by Mark O’Hare (AFFTC Vocalist) Ruled is set tomake waves in the world of rock.” Find out more about the band at http://www.myspace.com/afableforthecurious. Their custom guitar picks were made on our white delrin guitar pick material, which looks great with their eye-catching black logo. To create and order your own custom picks, visit www.claytoncustom.com today!