Brad Gillis: The Night Ranger Axman Rocks an Impressive Collection
 Even the most casual guitar fan is likely familiar with the playing of Brad Gillis. As one of the two lead guitarists in Night Ranger, which sold 17 million albums during the Eighties, Gillis brought shredding, virtuoso soloing to the masses via a string of hits like "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," "(You Can Still) Rock in America," and "Sister Christian" that were equally embraced by album-oriented FM stations, Top 40 radio, and MTV. Night Ranger's music has also featured prominently in dozens of films, from <em>Sixteen Candles</em> to the chilling, climatic drug-deal-gone-wrong scene of <em>Boogie Nights</em>. Gillis is also well known for quite capably filling the shoes of the recently deceased Randy Rhoads on tour with Ozzy Osbourne in 1982 and his stunning renditions of Black Sabbath classics on Ozzy's live Speak of the Devil album.
But people may actually be even more familiar with Gillis's guitar playing than they realize. Over the past 15 years, he's recorded hundreds of music themes regularly heard on ESPN, Fox Sports, and Fuse TV broadcasts as well as music for two best-selling Tiger Woods video games for EA Sports. While he still tours and records with Night Ranger, his broadcast music gig has become his "regular" job. "I love being at home, firing up my computer, and recording music all day," Gillis explains. "I've been lucky to have the luxury of playing music my entire career."
This new chapter of Gillis's musical career rather fortuitously coincided with his newfound passion for vintage guitars, which he started collecting around the same time during the late Nineties. While Gillis is famous for his hot-rodded guitars, including a heavily modified 1962 Strat featuring the third Floyd Rose tremolo ever made and a black Seventies Les Paul Custom also sporting an early Floyd Rose unit, his growing vintage guitar and amp collection provide him a wider palette of tones to work with.
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