In terms of musicians I admire I would have to say the following 3 are my all time "supergroup".
Page Hamilton (Helmet)
Rob Trujillo (Suicidal Tendencies, Infectious Grooves, Metallica)
Josh Freese (The Vandals, A Perfect Circle, Mike Ness Band, Avril Lavigne, the Aquabats, Suicidal Tendencies, No Doubt, Alanis Morisette, Bic Runga and a sh*tload more!)
I speak highly of those 3 in particular becase they were never restrainted by the genre of music they played with and in most cases could make it work really well... Page Hamilton is a trained jazz guitarist and you can here it shine through on Helmet's 1994 album Betty....
Same with Trujillo, the guy would have been trained in every bass style under the sun and his playing went well beyond the thrash/metal style that he played with Suicidal Tendencies. Listen to Infectious Grooves The Plague That Make Your Booty Move... and here the slap intro Rob plays on "Punk It Up" and see what I'm talking about.
As for Freese, the guy started out as a studio musician and session drummer. He has played for more than just the folks I listed above. Just having to adapt to all kinds of styles with all these different artists would make anyone as phenomenal drummer as Freese.
And I know I'll come off as biased here cos I'm a huge Living End fan but Chris Cheney is the best gAustralian itarist going around at the moment. I read an interview with him where he talked about when he was studying music at TAFE and he had to write scores for big bands and jazz arrangements and it used to scare the sh*t out of him! Apparently for his final recital/exam he scored a ridiclous 98% or something like that and nobody has beaten it. Again, another example of a clasically trained musician who can bring thosde qualities out in what style he does best (i.e. rock n roll/punk/rockabilly)...
