EVER DE LA ROSA / POLUX

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Polux: Facebook / Instagram / Spotify / Website

1. Tell me about the stuff in these photos: brands/models, etc. Are you using all this stuff live, or is this for recording too? Is there anything you’re not stoked on that you might be replacing, or adding soon? Anything that will always be a fixture in your rig?

My rig is used for both recording and live playing, except for the Strat that I only use on recordings on certain songs and to jam at home.

Pedalboard:

1. Joyo PXL8 Effects Loop Router
2. Electro Harmonix Superego Synth Engine
3. Two TC Electronic Flashback Delays
4. TC Electronic Ditto Mini Looper
5. Boss TR-2 Tremolo
6. Boss CH-1 Super Chorus
7. Electro Harmonix LPB-1 Booster
8. 1985 made in Japan Boss DS-1 Distortion
9. Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer

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The only thing I want to replace on this pedalboard would be the Ditto Looper; I want to get the newer Ditto Looper X2 that has separate footswitches to stop and play a loop instead of the mini one where you have to click a couple of times to stop and re-record with the same footswitch. Being the only guitar player in Polux, it will make it a lot easier to play with sounds and ambient noise.

I can’t live without the Electro Harmonix Superego Synth Engine, the Boss CH-1 Super Chorus and the Tube Screamer — they are the base of my sound at this moment.

Guitars:

1. Fender Jaguar upgraded with ’62 Pure Vintage American Jaguar pickups and a modified Mustang bridge.

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2. Custom build Strat, painted by me with 1980s American Stratocaster pickups and a custom build neck.

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Amp:

Kustom ’36 Coupe Tube amp, made in USA

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2. Which guitar do you like more? The Strat or the Jaguar? And why???

Currently the Jaguar, the scale length I do find a bonus, and the neck profile is beautiful, love the sustain and the overall sound, I always use the same pickup settings (lead circuit with lead and rhythm on and mid tone cut off) and have taped the switches so I don’t accidentally engage them while playing (hahaha), works awesome.

The Strat I use it to jam at home mostly, to get ideas rolling, it’s the one always resting on the stand ready to be picked up.

I also have an Epiphone Les Paul with upgraded pickups, I put a single coil on the neck and a humbucker on the bridge. The sound is interesting to say the least, but not for what I’m doing now, but who knows, maybe for the next album, I’ll get that sucker out and experiment.

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3. What are a couple of your particular favorite pedals that you can’t do without – and explain why? Are there any pedals you have your eye on?

The Electro Harmonix Superego Synth Engine and the Boss Super Chorus with the Flashback delay (need to add an extra pedal here), I love those 3 combined, love the ambient sound you can get with the Superego — it’s a subtle synth, that goes just a bit long and the Super Chorus gives it that sweet spot, throw in that delay and you have this ethereal sound, still sounding like a guitar but with a dreamy tripping sound, for us as a trio, musically covers a lot of dead spots that sometimes are not needed.

I want to try the Electro-Harmonix Synth9, I think it would go well with our current vibe, also the Thermae by Chase Bliss as well as the Empress Zoia — this last one is getting all my attention right now, can’t wait to get my hands on that one; it’s supposed to be available in the Fall, so we’ll see…

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4. Let’s talk about that Kustom amp: When and where did you get it? Does it give you any issues being an older amp? Have you tried other amps? Why do you like this one the most?

It’s a funny story, I actually owned a Fender Super 112 Red Knob, that has to be the worst amp I ever owned, at least for me. I could never dial in the sound I wanted, so I put it up for sale about three years ago on OfferUp, after a month or so, some dood send me an email asking if I was interested in a trade. I guess he had been looking for the Super 112 for a while (no idea why, lol), he said he had a 2005 Kustom Coupe 36 to exchange. At the time, I was interested in getting a Fender ’65 Twin Reverb 85-watt 2×12″ so I was hesitant, but took the chance and went to see the Kustom amp.

As soon as I started testing the amp, I was blown away by the sound, the sound on this thing is first rate — it ranges from clean through great tube distortion, has an enjoyable, ballsy midrange overdrive sound and respectable fat rhythm/clean tone, all-tube sound, not a hybrid. One of the coolest things about this amp is the reverb has a tone on it! There is a direct out (low Z) with a direct volume as well. And it looks awesome!

No issues whatsoever, this thing is solid.

I am currently looking for a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus to add to my gear, love the clean sound on that amp.

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5. If money was no object and you could buy any piece of gear for one of your bandmates, what would you buy them and why?

I would probably get Albert a Ludwig Breakbeats Series drumset. It’s compact, has a cool punchy sound and we can carry that sucker easily to all the gigs, haha.

I wouldn’t want to leave Luis out, so I would get him a Fender Rumble Stage 800. Has a ton of features, one that I like the most is that you can have presets and you can easily navigate them in between songs. And of course, it’s super easy to carry around.

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6. What’s the worst piece of gear you’ve bought and why did it suck? On the flipside, what’s the raddest piece of gear you’ve bought and why is it so great?

The worst has definitely been a Boss Metal Zone pedal given to me like eight years ago — that’s the worst pedal ever invented (for my taste at least, haha).

The raddest so far has definitely been my Electro Harmonix Superego pedal — that opened a ton of ideas and experimentation for me. To date, I keep playing with settings and I can always get something different.

7. What’s coming up for Polux?

We have a gig this Friday, June 8, at The Merrow; we signed with C&R Music Group for management to start getting gigs in Mexico City and Hispanic gigs in San Diego; and we are also currently recording the last two songs for our album coming out in August, together with our music video for our single “1984.” We are trying to get more into the Latino rock scene as well after pretty much hitting almost every cool spot in San Diego.

 

JOAQUIN TORRES / FUTURE HUMAN

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Future Human: Facebook / Bandcamp

1) Tell me about the stuff in these photos: Are you using all this stuff live, or is this for recording too? Is there anything you might be replacing, or adding soon? Anything that will always be a fixture in your rig?

My main guitar that I’m using is a white Fender Hendrix Stratocaster made in Mexico.  And I run that into a Vox AC30 and run the preamp section into a Marshall 4×12″ cabinet (depending on the size of the show).

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The effects I use from [left to right; top to bottom]: Stone Deaf Tremotron /// Eventide H9 /// Boss Cp1-x compressor /// Zvex Loop gate /// Boss TU3S Tuner /// Empress Echosystem /// Chase Bliss Brothers /// Black Arts Toneworks Pharoah Supreme /// Dr. Scientist Frazz Dazzler /// Meris Ottobit /// Ibanez De-7 Delay /// Boss ES-8 /// Digitech Freqout.

I’m always trying out new gear and new stuff that comes out. So while this is my board that I’ve used for recording and I’m using live, there’s some stuff that will probably change, yeah. I haven’t really been using the Z-Vex Loop Gate all that much so I might stick something else on there. I’ve been really interested in Rainger Effects’ new reverb or throwing my Deep Space Pulsar pedal on my board and use it for my synths. If there was one fixture on my board I’d probably say it’s the H9 just because it can do multiple effects in one algorithm. I’m pretty happy with it but one day I might just redo everything and not keep anything from this board’s build, I don’t know…

 

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2) Your pedalboard is fucking insanity. What are a couple of your particular favorite pedals that you can’t do without – and explain why? Do ever wish you had a smaller board? Do you think you’ll ever put a smaller, separate board together? 

If I had to pick my favorites at the moment, it would probably be the Empress Echosystem and the Digitech Freqout. The Echosystem is a delay machine. It’s got a bunch of different kinds of delays. It’s probably my go-to pedal when I’m just jamming because it’s one of those pedals that is very easy to use and I’m always finding new sounds that can come out of it. I think it could be nice to have a smaller board. I’ve never been able to actually do it though. I’ve always had about this size of a board. I used to have a board that was just ridiculous! (hahaha!) It was probably 2 1/2 times the size in length and was double-tiered in the back row. But I mean, the shit was ridiculous to gig with as you could probably imagine. If I did go smaller, I would just use my H9, Echosystem, and Chase Bliss Brothers or BAT Pharoah……if I had to.

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3) Talk to me about that H9 pedal — I don’t know much about them except that you can program a bunch of different pedals/sounds into it right? What do you use yours for?

It’s an everything box of effects. It can only run one algorithm at a time, but some of the algorithms contain multiple effects within one algorithm. I mostly use it for big reverbs, big walls of sound, modulation, and pitch shifting. There’s even a song I use it to make my guitar sound like a bass in a part of the song. I definitely will be digging deeper into this guy on our new material we’re writing.

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4) How do you like that Hendrix Strat? I’ve never been able to bond with a Strat (I’m more of a Gibson guy). What drew you to that guitar? 

I bought it slightly used for pretty cheap. No problems with it really. I first learned guitar on a Strat and then went to a Gibson Les Paul, that I still own. I like both, really. Strats are prone to a lot of noise issues and tuning problems but I just like the tone of the guitar especially with the reverse bridge pickup and the feel of the guitar. But like I said, I might want to change it up for a while and rock something else for a bit.

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5) Talk to me about that Organelle? It’s some type of synth or sampler, right? What do you use it for and what do you like most about it?

Yeah, it’s an Organelle. It’s such a deep piece of gear. Technically, it can pretty much do anything if programmed. I’m pretty sure it’s like a Linux computer that runs “pure data,” which is a computer language used to make algorithms for like a synth, a sampler, an effects engine, a lighting controller, whatever you want it to do. I’m not super knowledgeable about how to build pure data patches but there’s a huge community that do that share these patches. Anyways, I love it! I use it as a secondary instrument usually, and that’s why it’s awesome: you’re not limited to one instrument or one specific type of synthesis.

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6) I’ve gotta ask about the Deep Mind: Have you played any of the synths that are similar to it? What are some pros and cons (if any) about it? If you had a bunch of money to blow on a new synth — what would you get?

Not many, no. I still have a lot to learn on this front. Coming from guitar, and the world of effects, and venturing into making electronic music, I became interested in synths and started getting into this type of sound design, even though I wish I was a better player. There’s a lot to like about the Deep Mind honestly.  The price, the voice count, the effects the semi-modular design. To me, it sits really nicely in a dense mix, and isn’t overbearing, especially when Matt, our synth player, has a Korg Minilogue and I think it sounds most similar to vintage Roland synths but it truly is a chameleon. I was surprised at how good you can make the thing sound for the price. I think it is super underrated.  Especially when you consider I’ve gotten tones that sound amazing that emulate vintage synths without even using the effects engine section or modulation matrix at all! If there is one con, I’d say that I wish it was multi-timbral out of the box without having to polychain it to another DeepMind, but that’s what I use the Organelle for usually.
Hmmm…That’s a tough one. There’s so many cool older synths I would love to mess around with and there’s always new stuff coming out.  But if money was no issue and neither was space, I’d love to get my hands on a Waldorf Quantum or Arturia’s Matrixbrute.

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7) What’s the shittiest piece of gear you’ve bought and why did it suck? On the flipside, what’s the raddest piece of gear you’ve bought and why is it so great?

I used to have a Line 6 Uber Metal pedal that was pretty bad. It was just too overbearing and it was really hard to find a place where it didn’t stick out in a bad way.  The most disappointing piece of gear I’ve had was when I was in a guitar-synth phase and I had a Roland GR20 and GR33. I could never get used to the feel of it. As much as I wanted it to sound good — and don’t get me wrong it was cool sometimes — it wouldn’t track very well and it would always happen at the worst times (hahahaha)! Other than that, over the years, there hasn’t been too many pieces of gear that I didn’t like. I’ve usually let go of stuff because they were either too one note, or my musical interests had changed.

8) What’s coming up for Future Human? 

I’m super excited to announce we will be entering the studio very soon to begin work on our debut EP! We also have a rad show coming up at The Merrow on Tuesday, June 5th (get info here) with Blacks Beach Boys and The Gorgeous Boyscouts — big thanks to you and 91X’s Tim Pyles for putting the show together!

TODD ANDERSEN / DAYTRIP

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Daytrip: Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp

1. Tell me about the stuff in your photos: brands/models, etc. Do you run both of those amps in stereo? And what is that weird, old lookin’ one? Looking to add or change anything in the future?

My live rig includes: A white Squier Jaguar (with custom spec Buddha pickups), yellow Prisma Sunset Series guitar, Sovtek Tube Midget amp head with Orange 1×12” cab, and an Otis Amplifiers Trudeau head with 1×12” extension cab. The pedalboard is running a Korg tuner, into a Boss NS-2 Noise Suppressor (used primarily as a splitter), which splits into the Analog Alien Joe Walsh Double Classic overdrive and compressor on one signal path, and into the Stomp Under Foot Violet Menace fuzz and Boss CH-1 Chorus on the other signal path. Haha, it’s a bit confusing — I’ve twisted my mind in knots trying to figure this set-up out – but it serves a very specific purpose. I run both amplifiers at the same time, but not in the classic sense of a stereo set-up — my intention is to have one amp always running cleaner and jangly-er and the other amp running more distorted and powerful. The Double Classic’s signal path goes into the Otis, to get that going with some nice break-up, but with clarity and sparkle. The Violet Menace and Chorus go into the Sovtek – which has the headroom to handle the Violet Menace. So essentially: my “clean” tone is the Otis amp slightly broken up and the Sovtek completely clean; my “dirty” sound is the Otis slightly broken up and the Sovtek pumping out the Violet Menace fuzz. In my mind this set-up allows me, as the only guitar player, to sound bigger, clearer and jangly-er (which is always my ultimate desire a Beatles, Tom Petty and Big Star fan…)!

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The unique looking amp is an Otis Trudeau, made by my friend August Graybosch. He wanted the aesthetic to be similar to a 1940s radio with some midcentury modern vibes … I think he’s been killing it with his amp design and aesthetics! The amp itself is loosely modeled after/inspired by old Valco or Supro amps — it’s 15 watts but surprisingly loud and clean. The amp head actually has a built-in 8-inch speaker, but for playing live it is necessary to use the 1×12” extension cab, which looks awesome as well! It never hurts to have unique and eye-catching gear (that actually sounds GREAT) — I want people to be intrigued by the instruments I’m playing, I think it provides another element of standing apart from the pack.

I’m planning on sticking with this rig for some time, the only change would be if I can find way to purchase a Rickenbacker guitar… that’s been my dream ever since I started playing guitar and following music. I really want a 360 or 370, because those have stereo outputs and that would be an intriguing feature given my amp and effects set-up. I mean George Harrison, Tom Petty, Pete Townsend, Paul Weller, John Fogerty … all played those Ric’s … that’s the sound that lives in my head and my heart … I must attain it!

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2. Talk to me about that Prisma guitar. They’re made out of recycled skateboards or something like that, right? How does it sound vs. your Jag? What kind of pickup is that?

Yeah, they’re made by my friend Nick Pourfard, who I met at NAMM a few years ago. He does indeed make them out of recycled skateboard decks. The Sunset Series was his idea to produce a less expensive version of his guitar that has accents made from skateboard decks, as opposed to the entire instrument. This is one of the early models that only has one pickup and no vibrato. The pickup is a McNelly Stagger Swagger — which he describes essentially as a humbucking P-90 … it sounds fabulous! So, it’s got a different vibe than the Jag — it’s got a chunkier neck and a thicker, more classic rock kind of sound. I really like the simplicity of a one-pickup guitar that just rocks. Plus, it’s fun to play a guitar that your friend built and to be able to talk to random people about it and promote what they’re doing.

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3. I’ve got a soft spot for white Jags. Let’s talk about the old Squier vs. Fender debate. How do you think your Jag holds up compared to the American or Mexican models? If someone was on the fence about checking out a Squier Jag, would you recommend it? Also, got any choice words you’d have for Squier naysayers?

I love the feel of the Jaguar and this Squier Jag in particular: it has a fretboard radius that is bigger than a classic Jag, but it’s still a small and fast neck, which suits my hands and playing style well. Whatever idea you once had about Squier guitars needs to eradicated, they make some super solid guitars for an affordable price, and they are perfect for modding. I added some custom spec Buddha Jag pickups that run a bit hotter than a classic Jag pickup — I found the builder on Reverb — and then had it re-wired with new pots, switches and jacks. It’s also nice having a more or less inexpensive guitar — it feels right to really dig into it and thrash it around; I hate feeling too precious about instruments … they should have scratches and dings and dents and abuse, that means they’ve truly been loved! I’d certainly go for a Fender Jag if one of the versions has the same neck profile as my Squier, but for now I’m thoroughly happy with mine.

4. Talk to me about that Joe Walsh pedal: What is that? Where’d you find it? What do you like about it?

So it’s a dual function pedal: It acts as an amp-like overdrive/mild distortion and as a compressor. You can choose whether the compressor comes before or after the OD, which provides lots of tonal options. I thought I needed a compressor in my set-up but have found that it’s not entirely useful to me in the live context — though I do use that portion while recording. The OD section is always on, pushing the Otis into jangly breakup. I love researching gear and watching demos, so I came across it through those means. It didn’t hurt that Joe Walsh endorsed it — I grew up listening to and loving the Eagles, and his and Don Felder’s guitar tone is ingrained in my musical essence.

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5. I’m always interested in people’s fuzz choices since there’s so many out there. How’d you settle on that particular Stomp Under Foot?

Matt, who runs Stomp Under Foot by himself and builds the pedals, is an expert on the myriad variations of the Big Muff. Last year I got really into Dinosaur Jr. and wanted to have a sound similar to J. Mascis … which means have a Big Muff! J. uses a Stomp Under Foot Muff, so I decided that’s the way I should go. It also further assured me that the Big Muff was the way to go knowing David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd), who is my end-all-be-all favorite guitar player, has used a Big Muff in his rig for decades. I originally bought a special Ram’s Head version Big Muff to use in DAYTRIP. Matt sent me a message though Instagram and said he dug our sound, and that if I ever thought that the Ram’s Head wasn’t cutting it live, that he would send me a Violet Menace — which is similar to a Ram’s Head Muff but with an added mid control. After a couple of subsequent gigs, I determined that my distortion sound was getting lost in the mix and asked if he could send me one. Since then, the Violet Menace has been kicking ass and taking names! The addition of extra mids really lets the Muff cut though the live mix, without being obnoxiously loud. I’m a Stomp Under Foot guy from here on out — thanks Matt!

6. If you had to point someone to a song of yours that showcased your sound/style the best, what would it be and why?

I definitely think our first release, “Coolly (When Hell Freezes Over),” is indicative of my sound — and serves as a kind of mission statement for DAYTRIP. It’s bright and jangly, interspersed with some sonic blasts of distortion – but never does it lose clarity. I want DAYTRIP to aspire to be in the lineage of The Beatles, The Byrds, Big Star, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, The Jam, Buffalo Tom and Teenage Fanclub — all of which exhibit big, bright guitars and catchy riffs and melodies.

7. What’s the shittiest piece of gear you’ve bought and why did it suck? On the flipside, what’s the raddest piece of gear you’ve bought and why is it so great?

I really don’t think anything has been “shitty,” it’s all served its purpose: if I’ve gotten rid of it, that was more due to the desire to improve my gear or just the fact that I no longer was going in the direction that the gear was meant for. Even gear that I love, I’ve gotten rid of… I’m always scheming a way to get something new and better! The raddest pieces of gear are the Otis amp and the Prisma guitar — nothing is cooler than playing something one of your friends made, and oh by the way, they’re top-of-the-line incredible instruments!

8. What’s coming up for Daytrip? 

We have our debut EP coming out very soon (I think we’re just waiting to get some CDs and general merch made, and then we’ll have an official release show). Otherwise, we’re always writing new songs, trying to build the best live set possible, and we’re digging deeper into the San Diego scene. We want to be consistently playing the top SD venues and playing with killer bands that have a motive and sound similar to ours.

Daytrip performs at The Merrow with Michael McGraw and Retra on Tuesday, April 24, as part of a local-music showcase hosted by 91X Loudspeaker’s Tim Pyles.

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DEAN PRIMICIAS / BE MINE PHANTOM VALENTINE

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Be Mine Phantom Valentine: Facebook / Twitter / SoundCloud

1. Take me through your rig: What do you primarily play during shows? Do you bring all this stuff out or pair it down?

Yes, all the gear is set up for shows — well, except for the baby grand. My brother’s first go-to instrument when he was younger was the piano and he played a lot of classical music like Beethoven and Chopin. Its great for making arrangements. You can create bass, rhythm, and lead and to think that composers created whole symphonies on this. Although its an amazing instrument, it doesn’t make it out to the shows.

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2. Talk to me about your synths! Why do you have those two in particular? Which do you find yourself gravitating toward playing more?

I have been a fan of Korg synths. They are pretty affordable and you get a lot of bang for your buck. They are also small enough to fit in tight places. We are mostly guitar-driven so the idea of having a small synth that can do the trick is appealing. The Microkorg does create a wide variety of sounds and I could see how it gets usage by a lot of popular bands like The Killers and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. You can get pretty big sounds out of this little box with black and white keys and create and store patches easily. Plus, there are some cool presets already. I wouldn’t recommend it if you are going for a good electric piano or piano sound, but we have songs like “Instant Radio” and “Broken Love,” where Wes [BMPV’s other guitarist] plays these really cool wicked organ sounds for parts at a time. The MS-20 Mini is quite different to the Microkorg. It’s a monophonic all-analog synth. I like listening to some of the music that came out of the ‘80s new wave era, where analog synths were widely used. I think the MS-20 Mini does a pretty good job at creating those sounds and can get pretty deep bass. It does seem like there is a resurgence of analog synthesizers and some companies have been reviving old and creating new analog gear. Out of the two synths, I would prefer the Microkorg because you can get a wide variety of sounds and they can be a lotta fun.

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3. Which model Vox is that? And is that a Johnny Marr Jaguar? What do you like most about it? Did anything inspire you to pick those up?

This particular model is the Vox AC30 TB which I believe stands for top boost. I’m not sure if they make these anymore but these have the Blue Celestions, which make a nice warm tone with a healthy mid-range. I have owned Fender tube amps which I really like a lot, you can’t really go wrong with some of the Fender classics or reissues. Wes plays out of a Fender Twin Reverb and it sounds great for recording and live. I just found for me that the AC30 was warmer and could capture some of the lower ranges a little better. Yes, the Jaguar is the Johnny Marr signature model. I spent a lot of time at the guitar shop playing around with different guitars. I found that this guitar felt good and was a good match. It is versatile and, for me, had a creative feel to it which is important when writing music. It has two single-coil pickups but a setting where you can combine them to have a humbucker effect. It also has some boost and treble switches on it, which is really nice. Johnny Marr is one of the pioneers and arguably one of those musicians who started “indie-rock.” I listen to a lot of The Smiths. It was pretty much the album “The Queen is Dead” which made me say, “I have got to learn how to play the guitar.” He created some great music throughout the decades and I’ve kept up with a lot of his music. So in that case, it was hard not to pass up on a guitar that was designed by Johnny Marr.

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4. Very impressive pedalboard! I’ve got an old big box Memory Man too and I’ll never sell it. Do you notice a big difference between the tone/feel of the Boss delay and the DMM? Do you prefer one to the other?

Nice, I agree with you — not for sale. It could be one of those that you regret later. The Memory Man and DD7 are both delay pedals that can do similar things but have their differences. The Memory Man has a warmer and organic sound. The Boss DD7 has a brighter sound to it and seems to respond quicker. I like to use them both but regularly use the Memory Man and then use the DD7 for certain effects for parts of songs for the effects. It can create some psychedelic sounds with the reverse delay too. Although I feel that they combine well together and if I had to choose one, I would probably go with the Memory Man.

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5. If there was one piece of gear you could buy yourself (and money was no issue), what would you get?

Rickenbacker 330, black and white.

6. What does Be Mine Phantom Valentine got going on right now?

We are currently creating new music that we are really excited about! And just started shooting some videos. They should go up soon on our sites. We also finished enough songs to look into recording our music, so definitely stay tuned!

RORY MORISON / THE BAD VIBES

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The Bad Vibes: Facebook / Bandcamp

1.Take me through your pedalboard: What are you using and what are your favorite pedals?

We got the Vox Wah Wah, the MXR Bad Ass Distortion, the Death By Audio Apocalypse, Earthquaker Devices Grand Orbiter, Empress Tremolo, Earthquaker Devices Transmissor, and last but not least, the TC Electronic Flashback Delay. I’m definitely a delay junky so that Flashback gets me a lot of mileage, especially because I can navigate my way through three different settings so quickly with that pedal. However, that being said, more than any specific pedal, I’m more into what certain combinations can get me sonically. It’s taken me a while but I’ve found a balance in the possibilities on this board and most of the time, I have more than one running.

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2. That’s a beauty of a Gretsch: What made you want to play that particular guitar? 

First and foremost, I’ve always been a huge Neil Young fan. Always loved loved the brittle rust tone he gets out of the White Falcon. I’ve owned other Gretsch guitars but this one I got out of necessity because my trusty Epiphone Les Paul was on the fritz and I couldn’t get it fixed before some upcoming shows. She’s certainly a beauty with some real bedroom eyes! The feel on the neck and her body are great but her personality is kind of hard to deal with (certainly a reoccurring story in my life). She has that Gretsch twang but bites more than any I’ve ever played. For Bad Vibes, I find myself dialing back the high end on the amp to keep the midrange of my tone while trying not to lose the personality of the guitar. It basically makes me dig in on the action if I want that bite — which isn’t too hard since I lack any finesse as a player.

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3. That pedalboard is seriously impressive: Talk to me about that Death By Audio pedal — what does it do and what do you use it for?

Fuck man, that pedal is fucking nuts — it’s a touchy touchy pedal that has to be readjusted every time it comes out the case. Basically it has five fuzz circuits that you can select from and then a tone knob that shifts the frequency. Live, I mainly use what they call the Gainiac setting at two o’clock for riffs on “Cathedrals” and on call-and-response solos that take place on a new song called “The Tower.”

4. What’s a Bad Vibes song that you think really showcases your gear?

Most definitely “Vultures”: I think I use every single pedal on that song, which seems fitting since it’s our rock opera/war dance.

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5. Talk to me about the new album: What makes it special to you?

This is the band’s first record and we are putting it out on Daniel Cervantes’ (Mrs. Henry, Creature and the Woods) label, Blind Owl. Its special for many reasons but as an individual, I’ve never been able to focus long enough to put a record together, so there’s a sense of accomplishment and fear in that. For the band, we’ve been through a whole lot of struggles, smiles and cries, freedoms and arrests — you know, life — during the making of this album, which is why it gets the title No One’s Safe. This music is the result of that wild ride and it was recorded at Le Chateau de Bad Vibes, a house long
known for hosting parties till 9 a.m. involving fireworks, impromptu jams and what the Latin community would call “convivios.” The songs are embalmed in that energy and remind me of wonderful and horrible times in my life. The songs have changed a lot and continue to do so, but I think we will relish this moment, take a breath and continue on in a new direction.

6. With No One’s Safe dropping on Thursday, Aug. 31, at the Casbah — what’s next for you guys?

We’ve already started work on a new EP being recorded and engineered straight to tape by Jordan Andreen over at Audio Design. We will be playing hometown shows but really trying to get out of town by doing small one-off weekend tours followed by an extensive one in late fall/early winter. We also have plans to begin recording the second album in collaboration with Mr. Andreen and Mr. Cervantes as co-producers. We are also most immediately thankful to you and everyone that has helped us along the way — come take intoxicants with us and dance naked or clothed… please… now… don’t make me ask again.

FRANCIS ROBERTS / OLD MAN WIZARD

Old Man Wizard: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp

Ed. note: Ahead of Old Man Wizard’s two-week West Coast tour to promote their upcoming new 7″ single “Innocent Hands” (out digitally on Aug. 25 / check out the b-side “The Blind Prince” below), the band’s guitarist/vocalist, Francis Roberts, was awesome enough to share some of his fairly unique studio (and live) equipment with Gear and Loathing in San Diego. Enjoy. ~ Dustin

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1. The Wizcaster! My friend Connor (@highspiritguitars on Instagram) built this for me as a gift when he was launching his custom guitar brand. I think it was the first guitar he made for somebody other than himself. I think the design is based on an Epiphone Wilshire, but the neck feels more like a Fender. Really simple electronics, two P-90s. Really tough to beat.

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2. My High Spirit Strat! I helped Connor build a few of his Strat-style guitars, and took one home with me. This is basically exactly like a Strat, but the neck is nearly the width of a classical guitar. Featuring my wallpaper.

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3. The original Old Man Wizard live guitar/bass! These both ended up on the recordings [listen/download the band’s debut album here]. The bass is on both, I think that guitar is only on “Innocent Hands” (I know because took a video of myself recording with it on the LEEM amp). The guitar is a SonicF Z-7. It’s a one-of-a-kind thing that was built by a Seattle-based artist in 2009. He made a bunch of weird things (see for yourself). I tried a bunch of his guitars, and this was the one that was magical to me. It plays and sounds great, but the killswitch broke. I should get that fixed.

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4. Pedals and effects! I never use my live setup to record, and I never use a pedalboard. I do my own guitar tracking, and I go on binges of testing sounds and come back later to choose which takes to keep. I don’t actually know which pedals made it on to the record; I just chose the tracks that I thought sounded best. The only effects I know for a fact ended up on the record are the Univox Super Fuzz, a homemade Rangemaster, and the Echoplex in the photo. The guitar amps were all mic’d up with an SM57, nothing fancy in that realm.

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Here’s the live pedalboard. I’m experimenting with a SoloDallas storm pedal as part of my main live rig. It sounds huge but it only plays well with certain amps, so it’ll depend on the amp I bring along. I plan to bring my Ginormouse electronics delay/clean boost for leads (this was a custom build by a guy named Lewis Davis here in San Diego, and he makes really cool stuff. Worth checking out. He also built a rad phase shift that I use in my other band). I have a Catalinbread Belle Epoch “tape delay” that I pretty much always leave running these days. It seriously sounds almost as good as an Echoplex, but it’s better for live because it requires no maintenance and is nearly indestructible. And then I guess the last piece worth mentioning is the TC Helicon Mic Mechanic. It’s a killer inexpensive delay/reverb with XLR jacks for microphones, and it’s the best thing ever for vocals when you play a small venue that doesn’t have delay or reverb on the soundboard. The first time I used it at a show, I was asked if we had started using backing tracks. Sounds awesome, highly recommended.

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5. Frederick II: This is actually a Gibson Flying V from the early 2000s. I painted over the pickguard and Gibson logo years ago, and added a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. The pickups are stock, but I’m planning to rout out some space to replace one of them with a P90 soon. That’s the Old Man Wizard sigil thing burned into the body. I used a soldering iron to do that.

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Update: And here’s the V with a P90 in it, getting set up and ready for tour. I’ll probably still take the Wizcaster or the Z7 with me just in case it doesn’t feel right after a few nights.

6. What do you got against Fender and Gibson?

I don’t like sporting logos of brands who aren’t giving me anything! [laughs]

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7. The recording amps! I used the LEEM one on “Innocent Hands” as an overlay. It sounds really bad, so if you turn it up all the way, it sounds even worse, which was exactly what I wanted for the black-metal inspired parts in the song. The other amp is my Valco. I used that on every other guitar track on both of these recordings. All the knobs were actually turned up to 10 the whole time.

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8. That’s the back of my little Valco amp with the snakes painted on top.

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9. The keyboards! We don’t have a keyboard player for shows (and we don’t run backing tracks), but I’m a huge fan of layering keyboards on parts of songs to get a little bit of extra energy in a studio recording. From the top left, that’s a ‘70s ARP Quartet, a modern reissue ARP Odyssey (the small version), and they’re sitting on top of a chopped Hammond M-3, which is sitting on top of a two-speed Leslie cabinet.

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If you’re in one of the cities listed below (or know someone in these cities), be sure to catch Old Man Wizard when they come through. “Innocent Hands” will be out digitally on Aug. 25th — before then, pick up the limited 7″ from them at these shows.

Aug. 11: Tijuana, BC – Mi Pueblito
Aug. 13: San Francisco, CA – Hemlock
Aug. 15: San Jose, CA – The Caravan
Aug. 18: Seattle, WA – The Victory Lounge
Aug. 19: Anacortes, WA – Kenelly Keys
Aug. 20: Tacoma, WA – The Valley
Aug. 22: Los Angeles, CA – The Lexington
Aug. 23: San Diego, CA – Soda Bar

JOZETTE VINEYARD / THE OXEN

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The Oxen: Facebook / Instagram / Soundcloud

1. Take me through your rig: That Danelectro is so rad — is that new or old? Does it go out of tune a lot? I had one once and could never get the dang thing to stay in tune! How have you settled on the gear you’re currently using?

John [Vineyard, husband and bandmate in The Oxen] got me the Danelectro for Christmas. I have an Epiphone Les Paul, but I have back problems and it is so heavy. The G string on the Danelectro does go out of tune more than I would like, but I am going to have it looked at. I think a new nut might fix the issue.

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2. I dig the pedalboard: Take me to school on that Visual Sounds Jekyll and Hyde. I’ve never played one but you’re like the third musician I’ve seen recently that is playing one. What do you like about it?

I like that I can get 3 different overdrive/distortion sounds out of the Jekyll and Hyde depending on whether you have one or both switches pressed, and it’s really solid. John used that pedal and the Big Muff for years, but he gave them to me so he would have an excuse to buy new pedals for himself.

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3. I know absolutely nothing about that Ampeg amp! What is it? Where’d you get it? How old is it? What does it sound like?

I didn’t really know much about it either when I got it at Mark’s Guitar Exchange in Point Loma about 12 years ago. It’s a 1968 Ampeg Gemini II. It was $500, which was as much as I could afford, and it turned out to be a great deal. It’s loud and has a great built-in reverb and tremolo.

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4. Talk to me about that microphone! What on God’s green earth is that? Do you use it in the studio or live, or what?

That is a Placid Audio Copperphone. When John lived in Dallas, his friend Mark Pirro (bass player for Tripping Daisy and The Polyphonic Spree) was starting the company and sleeping on John’s couch while looking for a new place to live. He gave John that microphone as a “thank you” for his hospitality, and it’s one of the first Copperphones ever made. Mark has gone on to grow his company and has created a whole line of unique, hand-built microphones that have been used by everybody from Snoop Dogg to Rush. The Copperphone sounds like a telephone (or some say an AM radio), and we have used it live some. We use it all the time when recording – especially on vocals and guitars.

5. If money was no object — what’s the one piece of equipment you’d get next and why?

If money AND space were no object, I would love to have a grand piano. We live in a small apartment, so maybe I would just get an Orange amp instead.

6. What’s next for The Oxen?

We are doing a lot of DIY recording in our rehearsal space right now, and it’s turning out pretty good. We would love to finish up a full-length and release it early next year, but in the meantime, we are working on a split 7” with our friends, The Gift Machine. We are sending it out to get mastered and pressed in the next week, so hopefully it will be available in a few months. We took a break from shows because we had to find a new bass player, but we found a great one named Kevin Shumway! We just booked a couple of shows: Aug. 5 at The Stag and Lion in Carlsbad, Aug. 16 at the Belly Up with Creature Canyon, and at Soda Bar on Aug. 20 opening for Warbly Jets and the Schizophonics.

VINCENT GABUZZI / THE ANODYNES

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The Anodynes: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter

1. Take us through your rig: Do you have a main guitar or use both equally? Do you use this stuff in the studio too?

I play a Fender American Deluxe Tele and a souped-up Fender Starcaster with P-rails. I can’t say one is my main guitar because I love them both and they are two completely different beauties. However, on the most recent batch of songs I’ve been writing, I tend to use my Starcaster. I love the full, warm tone I get out of its semi-hollow body and the P-rails are so versatile; the tones are endless. Both the neck and bridge pickups have a 3-way toggle switch, which in position 1 activates a single coil rail, position 3 activates the P-90, and position 2 activates both — creating a humbucker-style pickup. Then things get real crazy when you combine the neck and bridge pickups, I wasn’t kidding…endless!

Now, getting in to pedals…as a kid, I grew up listening to a lot of Incubus, The Mars Volta, RHCP, Deftones and Rx Bandits, so I’ve always been intrigued by psychedelic sounds. I’ve been using delay, flanger, and modulation pedals since I was a kid and they just always seemed to feel right. As I have grown older, I’ve really gotten into the classics — Hendrix, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, etc. which has influenced me to use more wah, fuzz and other classic effects. But I also do appreciate something as simple as overdrive for the fact that it’s so pure, there’s no technicality with it and there is nothing to hide behind. Nothing like a hot overdrive pushing your guitar through the roof! What draws me to effects is the emotions and colors each one brings when I play and feel them. Yes, I used every pedal on my board throughout the making of The Anodynes EP, with the exception of my Xotic EP booster. Alright I gotta leave it at that because I could go on forever…

2. I used to play a Twin but stopped ’cause it was so loud and so heavy to haul around — what are your thoughts on it?

I really dig the way my guitars/pedals work with the Twin Reverb, especially my Tele, it’s such a classic combo and I think that’s what keeps it in my lineup. Using multiple effects can really mud up your tone, but the clean/punchy Twin seems to keep clarity despite multiple effects. However, Twin Reverbs are super heavy and loud as you mentioned, so I’ve been contemplating down-sizing to a Deluxe. Though they are still very loud, I like that they tend to break up at a quieter volume. I’m also considering something with a dirty channel — only time will tell.

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3. The Starcaster is a little-known Fender gem — how did you come to pick that up and what do you like about it that other guitars don’t offer?

I was in Walmart, uhh, I mean Guitar Center and there she was, staring straight at me. I walked up, picked her up and introduced myself. She felt good and looked even better. I was drawn to her offset body and bitchin’ headstock. I was in the market for a new babe, so I pulled the trigger. What she had to offer that stood out to me was the affordable price, good feel, and the unique offset semi-hollow body.

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4. I’ve always wanted an EHX Electric Mistress — sell me on it.

The Electric Mistress is a rad pedal that offers classic flange as well as chorus. It’s also got some trickery: When you pull back the rate knob below noon, you can control the rate yourself twisting the knob or you can stop where you want in the middle of a tasty swirl and play in that frequency…as featured in my main tone on “Pretty Little Baby.”

5. What do The Anodynes got coming up?

We have our FIRST show this Thursday, June 15th at The Merrow in Hillcrest and we are all super pumped to play for anyone and everyone. Come watch me tap dance on my pedalboard and let Queen Be win you over with her unique style and soulful voice. Also, we just released our first music video on our Facebook and YouTube — it’s a cover of a tune by Valerie June called “Workin’ Woman Blues” with our own hot sauce. Our good friend, and fellow musician/captain/sheriff Blake Dean of Mrs. Henry, shot and edited the video. He really did a great job and we couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out, thanks Blake! For now, you can listen to The Anodynes EP on Spotify/Soundcloud/iTunes. Follow us on our Facebook/Instagram for other updates on new music and upcoming shows.

ADAM HAKES / STRAY MONROE

Stray Monroe: Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube

1. Take me through your rig: What are we looking at?

The amp is a Hot Rod Deluxe III and it is just an absolute workhorse. This is the updated version of the amp and has a much tighter overdrive than the originals. A big complaint about the Hot Rod Deluxe is the massive volume gain it gets from putting the volume above a 2. If you can’t push the amp’s volume to at least past 5, you can’t get the natural tube drive that guitarists strive to capture. That’s why I’ve modified the preamp tubes and switched out one of the 12AX7 with a 12AT7. This gives it a much smoother volume control, lets me push the amp volume further, and drops the gain a bit so I can control the level with my pedals more.

The Les Paul is a great guitar but at the end of the day, I am a staunch SG man. I originally needed two guitars for the live shows so I had to pick up another guitar. I own two SGs but I didn’t want to use both in one show. I just wanted a cheap backup guitar that I could keep in a E-flat for a couple of songs live, namely “Tiny Islands”. When combined with my Big Muff, it gives me a great raw, break-up sound that is massive. When I walked into Guitar Center to look for a guitar, I fell in love with the sound and playability of the Les Paul. Bought it out the door for $200. The SG is definitely my main live guitar but the Les Paul still holds up at the end of the day. My main guitar is a 2007 Gibson SG ’61 Reissue. The past few years, Gibson made the SGs have thick necks which does not work for me since I have smaller hands. I much prefer the thin, fast necks that let me get around the fretboard quickly.

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2. I dig the pedalboard — very utilitarian. Do you find yourself using the compressor much?

I am really proud of the pedalboard itself, I actually made it from scratch with my Dad out of a wooden pallet I found in the garbage. My favorite pedals on here are hands-down my TS-9 Tubescreamer and my Big Muff. I love making huge sounds with those and they compliment each other extremely well. It is part of the reason we (Blake and myself) go together so well: We like to center our tone around the Tubescreamer and go in different directions from there. Blake adds a lot of the brightness in the band and I provide the warmth in my tone. I use the Dunlop Cry Baby Wah just on a couple songs like “Take It Fake It” because I don’t want it to be too gimmicky but it is great to change some of the feedback I get when making noise in the live set. The DD-3 Boss Digital Delay is a pretty standard delay, I pretty much use it for all of my solos to get a nice spacey sound. One of my guitar heroes, Noel Gallagher, got his solo sound from a Tubescreamer and a digital delay; he always gets such a great tone that adds so much to the song. My main reason for using the CS-3 is to level out the dynamics of my sound. Most of my tone is crafted out of my various drive settings I use between the amp’s settings, the TS-9, and the Big Muff. Between all of those settings, it can be difficult to keep a consistent volume. The CS-3 helps to level out the volume when I want to use the different drives for their tone. When I turn it off, my drive pedals turn into my lead boost. I am also a big fan of using arpeggios in songs. The compressor helps each note ring out and not get lost in the mix of the song. A great example of this is the bridge on our song “Muddy Soles” where I go through multiple arpeggiated chords.

3. If money was no object — what’s the one piece of equipment you’d get next and why?

I would get a classic 1962 Fender Stratocaster. Blake and I were considering buying a new Fender Stratocaster to keep as a studio guitar but I think we would both rather have an awesome vintage guitar. A big influence on my guitar playing is John Frusciante, formerly of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and he owns a beautiful sunburst 1962 Strat. I would love to get my hands on a similar guitar and I think the band would like it if I got a guitar different than another SG for a change. I own a lot of guitars with humbucker pickups and only one with single-coil pickups so it would be nice to have a solid guitar with single-coil pickups for a different sound.

4. I noticed you guys changed your name rather recently — what went into that decision? Has it been difficult to re-brand?

We played a show at The Merrow for Mike Halloran (former 91X DJ) and he advised us to do this in order to avoid long-term legal repercussions. Before we were Stray Monroe, we were The Hype. Unfortunately there are a lot of projects with that name or variations of that name. We decided on the band name, Stray Monroe, after about a month of throwing names around. Brett (our bass player) came up with the name, “Stray Arrows” which we thought was cool, but it didn’t really click. We were at our producer’s house and we were yet again throwing names around again and we liked the word “stray” but needed a better noun. Our producer has this huge picture of Marilyn Monroe hung up by his desk and Blake just blurted out “Stray Monroe”. Even then, it didn’t immediately click right away because we were all still attached to The Hype but eventually we all came to love it.

The only difficulty about the name change was from the band. We had been playing as The Hype for nearly a year so it was hard for us at first. As far as the scene was concerned, we had barely started, there wasn’t much to re-brand in the first place. The name change really helped us to get a fresh start into crafting an image of what we wanted the band to be. We wanted to incorporate “stray” as in we stray away from the norm of San Diego bands with our unique sound. We bring this big British guitar sound that we took from one of our favorite bands Oasis, that I don’t think you hear in other San Diego bands. Monroe was also kind of a risk taker in her time and definitely stood out, which is what we set out to do as well.

5. What’s next for Stray Monroe?

We just dropped our debut EP, The Stray Monroe Show, on the 21st of March. Right now we are in full steam in promoting the EP. We are booking shows for April, playing a show at the Casbah on April 25th, Public Square on May 6th, and Summfest at the The Irenic on August 19th. The band plans to get back in the studio around summer time. I want to keep the momentum going for the music and believe that putting together a follow-up to the EP is critical to that. Blake and I have a bunch of new songs that we are working on for the next record that we are excited to put out.

GARRETT PRANGE / EXASPERATION

Exasperation: Bandcamp / Instagram / Facebook

1. Tell me about your gear: What do you use the most and why? Are you playing both bass and guitar in Exasperation? Or just one?

The guitar I play most at this point is the early 2000s MIJ Jazzmaster, I just bought it a couple months ago so I’m really still just breaking it in. The Fender Bullet has become the back-up these days, but I have a lot of love for that guitar and it may one day reclaim its place. As far as the basses go, I am first and foremost a bass player and have played bass in pretty much every band I have been in in the past, but in Exasperation, I’m relinquishing those duties, although I will still have fingerprints on the recording of the bass, or how it will be recorded.

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2. That Traynor is pretty damn spiffy. When did you get it and how it is different than other amps?

Let me preface this question by stating that I love unusual gear, and obviously the sonic quality/character is very important, but I will almost always be drawn to something for how it looks before I investigate how it plays or sounds. I think the Traynor is a perfect example of that; it’s a 1973 YBA-4 Bassmate combo amp — its pretty much the Canadian answer to the Marshall Plexi; super clean and chimey, although a bit darker tone-wise than the Marshall, and fucking loud as hell. The amp has no overdrive channel and no reverb, which I actually really like because it allows you to have a really dialed-in clean tone that you can spice up with your pedal setup.

As you know, back in that time period, the line between what was a guitar or bass amp was pretty blurry. Being able to play both guitar and bass through it, and also having it be in a smaller combo format (easier for dragging around to gigs) checked off all the boxes for me. As of now, it’s not a really expensive vintage amp, and it is really easy for an amp tech to work on apparently.

Another huge factor for me was that I love the band Women; they are a huge influence on my songwriting and playing style and their guitar tones and song structures are just the perfect and hauntingly beautiful marriage between melody and noise. I saw that their guitarist Christopher Reimer (RIP) played through a Traynor combo amp, and that made me very interested in finding one for myself.

The thing about old amps though…they tend to break down. The first show I played through it, I was playing bass and I blew the power tubes out on the second to last song, the amp just shut off and the ominous smell of burning electronics had me cursing under my breath, haha. That was an easy fix, but then I blew out the speaker recording the guitars for our two-song EP a couple of months later. I replaced the speaker with a Weber California Ceramic 15″ speaker, and since then, no problems. *knock on wood*

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3. What the hell is that weird Fender guitar? I have no idea what model that even is! Give me the backstory!

That is a Fender Bullet! It’s a student model guitar that was meant to replace the Mustang after production was phased out in the late 70s. I like to think of it as the weird love child between a Tele and a Strat. It has a metal pickguard that the bridge saddles are actually attached to, so in a sense the pickguard is actually a part of the bridge; super weird. I believe mine is from ’80 or ’81. They changed the body shape to look like a Strat in later productions of it, and I think nowadays if they even still make them, they are all Squiers. It sounds and plays great and I love how beat up it is. I usually play completely on the neck pickup cause it has a little more oomph, but if I want to do my best Gang of Four impression with a real harsh ‘shards of glass’-like tone, the bridge pickup definitely does the trick.

4. Between the P-bass and the Rick, which do you like playing more and why?

The Rick plays more like a guitar than a bass; super fast/low action and a skinny neck with a much more mid-rangy tone. I absolutely love the sound and look of it, but it’s from 1976, which means I’d be super nervous to take it out on the road with me. I have had the P-bass for longer, and in that sense I am more used to playing it. It has a really wide maple neck that makes it super punchy and it is heavier overall then the Rick, which factors into playability over long stretches. I love the simplicity of only having one pickup in it as well. It’s a hard choice and some might consider it blasphemy but I’m gonna have to go with the P-bass.

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5. That pedalboard is sick. I’ve always wanted an EDQ Sea Machine – does it do like a subtle chorus as well as really warbly stuff?

Thanks Dude! I’m not really what you would call a “Pedal Guy,” but there are certain tones I like that I try my best to either emulate or make my own through what I have. The Sea Machine is rad, I really love chorus-y tones and this pedal is definitely an integral part to my overall guitar sound. I use it in a pretty understated way, but with six different controls on the pedal, you can really dial in a lot of warbly weirdness with it. Dave (Mead, our drummer) likes to call my guitar tone ‘Evil Andy Summers,’ which in a lot of ways is the coolest compliment anyone could give you.

6. Which Exasperation song are you most stoked to play live and why?

This may be a bit of a cop-out answer, but since everything is so new, I’m gonna say all of them! Although I really do like playing the two songs we have recorded: “Not Feeling Great” and “Million Points of Light.” You can check ‘em out on our Bandcamp page.

7. If you could get one piece of gear for Dave and money was no object, what would you get and why?

I would buy Dave an OG clear Ludwig Vistalite kit — not in those huge John Bonham-esque sizes though. Perfect balance of volume and tone, and they look cool as hell.

8. What’s next for Exasperation?

Impose Magazine just debuted our two-song EP, Points of Light, (check it out here) and we are in the thick of recording a proper full length completely ourselves, which has its benefits and drawbacks. I love recording/producing and overall it has been a super fun process so far. We are shooting for 10-12 songs and are about halfway through basic tracking at this point. We also have a few shows coming up, the soonest being on March 29th at Soda bar with Methyl Ethel (tickets available here), followed by April 22nd at Bar Pink with our local buds Dream Burglar, and then way off in the distance we are playing at the Hideout (I guess its gonna be called SPACE now?) on June 9th with Merchandise and B-Boys.