How old were you when you first picked a guitar and what made you choose that instrument?
I was 12 whenI first picked up a guitar seriously with the intent of learning to play it. I have a huge extended family many of my uncles and cousins are musicians and instruments were always around at family events. My uncle has a 60’s fender telecaster I used to play at any chance before my father bought me a shitty strat copy. Choosing the guitar was an obvious choice for songwriting and wanting to start a band.
Did you practiced a lot back then and did you take lessons?
I’ve never had lessons and I’ve never really practiced enough, which is definitely apparent in my playing. Originally I taught myself standard chords and would try playing Dire Straits/U2/The Beatles like my family would before discovering punk rock and power chords.
Name some great players who influenced you and explain what you like about their playing?
I went to the Warped Tour in ’98 age 13 to see Steve Caballero skate and instead was caught up in the crowd watching Blink 182. From that moment I was hooked on punk rock and knew I wanted to be in a band… for that reason obviously Tom Delonge had a huge influence, Robert Smith of the Cure, Bernard Summer of Joy Division, Johnny Marr of The Smiths etc. I’ve always been more fascinated by the songwriting aspect of guitar rather than technicalities and for that reason I’ve been influenced by great guitarist/songwriters rather than great guitarists.
Tell us about the guitars you own, models, pickups, etc, and what you like about them?
I have an off white Orville Les Paul Custom. In the 80’s-early 90’s Gibson were making guitars in Japan under the name Orville by Gibson which were basically a Gibson USA product but made in Japan, better than the Epiphone Japan and Korea range. It has a crack in the neck which sucks. It’s all original hardware. The band collectively has a Gibson SG Studio, a Fender Jag Bass, 2 ESP LTD Deluxe Eclipse and a few more ESP’s on the way through our endorsement.
I was 12 whenI first picked up a guitar seriously with the intent of learning to play it. I have a huge extended family many of my uncles and cousins are musicians and instruments were always around at family events. My uncle has a 60’s fender telecaster I used to play at any chance before my father bought me a shitty strat copy. Choosing the guitar was an obvious choice for songwriting and wanting to start a band.
Did you practiced a lot back then and did you take lessons?
I’ve never had lessons and I’ve never really practiced enough, which is definitely apparent in my playing. Originally I taught myself standard chords and would try playing Dire Straits/U2/The Beatles like my family would before discovering punk rock and power chords.
Name some great players who influenced you and explain what you like about their playing?
I went to the Warped Tour in ’98 age 13 to see Steve Caballero skate and instead was caught up in the crowd watching Blink 182. From that moment I was hooked on punk rock and knew I wanted to be in a band… for that reason obviously Tom Delonge had a huge influence, Robert Smith of the Cure, Bernard Summer of Joy Division, Johnny Marr of The Smiths etc. I’ve always been more fascinated by the songwriting aspect of guitar rather than technicalities and for that reason I’ve been influenced by great guitarist/songwriters rather than great guitarists.
Tell us about the guitars you own, models, pickups, etc, and what you like about them?
I have an off white Orville Les Paul Custom. In the 80’s-early 90’s Gibson were making guitars in Japan under the name Orville by Gibson which were basically a Gibson USA product but made in Japan, better than the Epiphone Japan and Korea range. It has a crack in the neck which sucks. It’s all original hardware. The band collectively has a Gibson SG Studio, a Fender Jag Bass, 2 ESP LTD Deluxe Eclipse and a few more ESP’s on the way through our endorsement.
The guitars on "Isolation" sounds really low and heavy, what's the tuning and what strings do you use?
The tuning for Isolation is Drop B. Super low. We are endorsed by an Australian string company, Deathwish Strings, who are unrelated to our American record label and the strings are 56-13 gauge extra heavy. I think on the record we used Ernie Ball 56-13’s as we recorded in Boston.
What amps and cabs did you record with?
We were lucky enough to borrow amps and cabs from Kurt Ballou (Converge) for the record as well as some of Jay’s personal amps. Most of the rhythm was an ENGL Fireball. We used Kurt’s modded Badcat Lynx 50 for the extra tracks. The cab was a Mesa 4 x 12.
Did you know what sound and tone you wanted on the album, long before you started the recording?
We definitely wanted a darker dirtier tone than anything we had previously recorded and part of recording in Boston and being able to touch base with Jay and Kurt about this was for this reason. We had never heard of BadCat as they aren’t a traditionally heavy toned amp and hadn’t played a ENGL Fireball before so that sound was definitely something introduced to us by those guys. I knew I definitely didn’t want another 5150/Mesa cabinet combination for this record, as great as those amps are.
How did Jay Maas help you find that sound?
Jay’s production idea’s on guitars were definitely something different for us. Recording tracks in a certain order and suggesting we use amp’s he thought would sound good rather than amps we were looking at hiring.
Which riff or parts are you the most proud of on that album?
My favourite riff of the record is the main verse riff of Cursed, Josh actually wrote this and wasn’t that into it… the second I heard it I jumped on it ‘that riff rules, record it now and ill write to it’. Most of the track 70k that I wrote is a little different to the rest of the record and I think stands out sonically and is also pretty chill to play.
Do you use any rackmounts or pedals for shows?
Ill speak on behalf of Josh and Lloyd here as I sing live haha. Josh is using an Orange head through a Hughes and Kettner 4x12 cabinet, Boss Tu-1 Tuner, Boss NS-1 noise suppressor, MXR EQ pedal and a Boss DD3 Digital delay. Lloyd is using my gear which is an original block letter EVH 5150 and Mesa 4 x 12. Pedals kicking in and around of our home studio and touring are Ibanez and Maxon tubescreamers, Boss Chorus, Sansamps etc.
Do you still practice and is there any techniques you'd like to perfect?
I’ve recently started to practice playing ‘real guitar’ more and more, learning scales and classic songs to improve on my guitar playing. I literally youtube’d some scales that seemed relevant and lately I always roll through them whenever I pick up a guitar.
Who makes the best riffs in hardcore right now?
Bean – Blacklisted.
The next piece of gear you'd like to get?
I just bought an ‘84 Marshall JMP 100 watt and get to pick that up in a few weeks on tour. I want an original Sunn Model T amp, I check craigslist and ebay every day to try and it’s a needle in a haystack, being in Australia makes it worse as shipping and power issues make it a nightmare. I also really want an ‘86 Les Paul as it was the year I was born and I’d like to hold on to something like that, hopefully tobacco sunburst in colour.
No comments:
Post a Comment