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Metallica

 

PR AGENCY CONTACT:
Robert Clyne
Clyne Media, Inc.
Tel: 615.662.1616
www.clynemedia.com

COMPANY PRESS CONTACT:
Rick Plushner
Guitar Center Professional
Tel: (818) 735-8800 x2238
www.gcpro.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


GUITAR CENTER PROFESSIONAL AND METALLICA MARK TEN YEARS

— San Francisco-based GC Pro Account Manager Vince Bedford has supplied Metallica’s pro audio needs for a decade now, creating a long-term professional relationship —

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA, August 11, 2009 — Guitar Center Professional (GC Pro), the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users, has become renowned for its ability to form long-term relationships with its customers. This year marks the 10th year that GC Pro Account Manager Vince Bedford, operating out of GC Pro’s San Francisco location, has worked closely with the members of 9-time GRAMMY® Award-winning heavy metal band Metallica. Not only has every band member turned to GC Pro during that time for professional audio equipment and specialty musical gear, but also so have members of the band’s crew, their friends and even family members.

“I have been with Metallica since 1999,” notes Vince Bedford. “It’s anything and everything, for recording and live work, from microphones to monitors to FOH snakes to consoles – I actually sold an SSL console to a member of the pyrotechnical company that works for the band,” he says. “It’s not like it’s one big item every now and then – it’s consistent sales of everything, big and small, throughout the years, because they know that whatever they need, I can find it for them.”

Zach Harmon, Metallica Equipment Manager, stated, “Vince Bedford has always been outstanding sorting out the band members’ equipment needs, and as Metallica’s equipment manager, I depend on Guitar Center Professional’s San Francisco location and Vince’s ability with musical purchases, whether it be Pro Tools, guitars, recording studio gear or hard-to-get items demanded by the band’s hectic touring and recording schedule.”

Bedford recalls the time he was able to find a reissue 1959 Gibson Les Paul for Metallica guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield and was able to ship it to him overnight to catch up with the band at a tour stop in Tennessee. Bedford points out that this kind of enduring relationship between GC Pro and its customers is not unusual. “You see it all the time at all of our locations,” he says. “A bond develops between bands and recording artists and GC Pro employees — a bond based on their trust in us that we’ll always advise them on the right products for their needs and that we’ll always be there for them. Metallica is a well-oiled machine that deserves people who can keep up with them. And that’s what we do, for them and all of our customers.”

For more information, please visit www.gcpro.com.

Photo File: GCPro_Live_Metallica.JPG

About Guitar Center Professional/Guitar Center
Guitar Center Professional is the outside sales division of Guitar Center that focuses on the needs of professional users. Its clientele includes recording studios, audio engineers, producers, recording and touring musicians, live sound venues, post production facilities and more. Emphasizing extraordinary individualized service via local account managers, GC Pro offers expert consultation and a comprehensive selection of the world’s finest equipment for music and audio professionals. More information on GC Pro can be found by visiting www.gcpro.com.

Guitar Center is the leading United States retailer of guitars, amplifiers, percussion instruments, keyboards and pro-audio and recording equipment. Our retail store subsidiary presently operates more than 200 Guitar Center stores across the U.S. In addition, our Music & Arts division operates more than 100 stores specializing in band instruments for sale and rental, serving teachers, band directors, college professors and students. We are also the largest direct response retailer of musical instruments in the United States through our wholly owned subsidiary, Musician’s Friend, Inc., and its catalog and Web site, www.musiciansfriend.com. More information on Guitar Center can be found by visiting the Company’s Web site at www.guitarcenter.com.

The Guitar Center logo is a registered trademark of Guitar Center, Inc. Other brand or product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.

MEDIA CONTACT: Robert Clyne, Clyne Media, Inc. at (615) 662-1616

 


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