On March 23rd, I launched pedalblog.com in hopes to understand how artists approach their tone. I was unemployed at the time, so I could afford to spend eight to ten hours (sometimes much more) per article – finding talent, interviewing, writing and publishing things about tone which I found interesting. Two months later, I found [...]
May 13, 2011
Greg Humphreys of Hobex & Dillon Fence
Greg Humphreys is a true North Carolina musical treasure – from fronting HOBEX, a famously “Alt.Soul” band fusing southern rock-n-roll spirit with the funky soul grooves of Memphis, New Orleans, and Motown, to leading 90′s power-pop and Mammoth/Atlantic Records Dillon Fence (a key band in the Chapel-Hill NC music scene that spawned Ben Folds, Ryan [...]
May 11, 2011
JM-4 by Line 6
Editor’s Note: I’m very happy to have our first guest-blogger (and brother) Mike Garrigan submit an informative article on his experiences loading a Line 6 JM-4 with recorded sound-samples from his recording studio. Not all of us have the luxury of having a full live-band, and what better way to flesh-out your live sound than [...]
May 10, 2011
Neil Hunter of Transmission Fields
Neil Hunter is the secret weapon in Transmission Fields, an atmospheric, futuristic pop band that sounds as rustic as Wilco yet as spacey as Radiohead at the same time. I got to know Neil fairly well when I played synthesizers for his band. I was amazed at both the technique of his playing, and the [...]
April 27, 2011
Chris Garges of Bunky Moon
Chris Garges is best known as one of the region’s premier recording studio engineers, and as an in-demand, rock and jazz drummer in the southeastern US. His client list spans hundreds of established artists, and includes this blog’s author as a repeat customer. On the live front, you can see Chris regularly drumming for rock [...]
April 27, 2011
Pedal Blog is One Month Old and Kicking Ass!
Wow! This blog is a little over a month old and is already wildly successful with hits in the thousands. I can’t thank you all enough for both your readership and encouragement. I’ve learned a lot over the past month – not just about pedals and tone, but about publishing. I have not mastered the art of always [...]
April 14, 2011
Angry Sparrow by Flickinger Tone Boxes
I was lucky enough to get my hands on an Angry Sparrow by Flickinger Tone Boxes, and also talk to Rich Flickinger about the Angry Sparrow and several of his other creations. In a recent interview with Brian Haran of Filthybird, we learned that he used several pieces of gear made by Flickinger Tone Boxes, [...]
April 10, 2011
Michael Pepe of Side by Side
Twin brothers Michael and Joseph Pepe met Joelle Kittrell thereby creating “Side by Side”, an atmospheric pop band that will bring you back to your fondest memories of both shoegazing and bands like Curve and Ride. Like a soft whirlwind that comes at you in happy day-dreams and cradles you from harm, the tones guitarist Michael Pepe [...]
April 7, 2011
John Thomsen of Grown Up Avenger Stuff
Grown Up Avenger Stuff, a quirky alt-rock-indie outfit which I think can be described if you took 80s iconic Pylon and transported their formative years into listening to stuff like Garbage, Silverfish, and perhaps nu-metal like Incubus, you would have what we affectionately know as Charlotte super-heroes & rock group Grown Up Avenger Stuff, aka [...]
April 5, 2011
Mark Kano of Athenaeum
Mark Kano is currently a singer, songwriter, & producer based in Greensboro, NC, and is also known as the lead singer of Athenaeum, who in 1996 signed to Atlantic Records. They released their major label debut, Radiance, in 1998. The first single, “What I Didn’t Know,” charted to number 9 on the the Billboard Modern Rock radio charts. [...]
April 4, 2011
Brian Stephen Haran of Filthybird
I met Brian Stephen Haran of Filthybird through my brother Joe Garrigan, A.K.A. the unofficial mayor of Greensboro, NC. We played a “Garrigan Bros” show with Filthybird at Snug Harbor in Charlotte, NC. While I’ll admit Garrigan Bros were too loud (and new) for our own good, I was struck by the touching sound-scape and [...]
April 2, 2011
Adam Middleton of The Spiveys
For the first time, PedalBlog.com is interviewing two guitarists from the same band, The Spiveys. I thought long and hard about how to compare both Adam Middleton and Jesse Reaves, but I think for now “simpler is best”, and I’ll let you the reader link back and forth between the two interviews. Heck, we’re less [...]
April 2, 2011
Jesse Reaves of The Spiveys
Jesse Reaves stormed onto the Charlotte music scene rather quickly, and people like myself took note of his guitar playing prowess and electrified performances which always left many locals saying, “this is a dude to watch”. He soon teamed up with Adam Middleton (also being interviewed for pedal blog) and they formed The Spiveys. While [...]
April 1, 2011
John Harrison of North Elementary
John Harrison is someone steeped in art weather it be visual or sonic… or both. I’ve been a fan of his music for a while now, and I’m happy that he’s let us view how he approaches some of the incredible tones he produces. While he admits he doesn’t think about “this stuff”, it’s apparent [...]
March 31, 2011
Lee Neitzel of Transmission Fields
Sometimes, the right people are already in your life – you admire each other’s music and become friends outside the music scene, but the same people who enter your life may not be in your band. I was lucky enough to have been a part of Transmission Fields story, and be a personal friend of [...]
March 30, 2011
Philip Hamrick
Philip Hamrick has performed through the Southeast in bands like Miles Apart and Not A Sparrow. I thought both of these bands were spectacular, and I’m very happy to see that Phillip’s songwriting maturing and being channeled through the creation of his first solo album entitled “The Ceiling”. You can read more about the new [...]
March 23, 2011
Building a Dream
For some reason I “woke up” this past Sunday evening with an incredible idea – I love guitar pedals and I often find myself trying to figure out how guitarists and bands find their sound and tone. I also love blogging – so why not connect the two? Some guitarists like George Harrison and perhaps [...]
March 23, 2011
Mike Garrigan
With over ten releases under his belt, both on major labels and his own, Mike Garrigan is Greensboro, NC’s prolific songwriting genius and guitarist extraordinaire. Besides being part of the musical Garrigan family, he is best known as the former frontman of the rock band Collapsis, which, in 2000, reached the #28 slot on the [...]
March 23, 2011
Mossrite Fuzzrite
I found my MossRite FUZZrite at a guitar show in Charlotte, NC several years ago. It was more of an impulse buy than anything else, and little did I know what a Fuzz gem this pedal turned out to be. According to the Mossrite website, “During the 60′s The Mosrite FUZZrite was the creme de [...]
March 22, 2011
Jay Garrigan of Garrigan
After several months of unemployment and unsuccessful job searches, I found myself gravitating more toward activities I enjoyed. These were activities such as writing songs, playing in Garrigan the rock band or performing solo, reading about and listening to mp3 clips about guitar gear (mostly pedals) on the Internet, and undercharging clients for building websites. [...]
-
Pedal Blog Update
-
Greg Humphreys of Hobex & Dillon Fence
-
JM-4 by Line 6
-
Neil Hunter of Transmission Fields
-
Chris Garges of Bunky Moon
-
Philip Hamrick
-
Building a Dream
-
Mossrite Fuzzrite
-
Jay Garrigan of Garrigan
-
Neil Hunter of Transmission Fields
-
Drew: Always been a fan of the limited set up myself. Th...
-
musicnewbie: Wow, definitely a very interesting interview. I li...
- Secret Weapon » My Blog: [...] http://pedalblog.com/2011/05/10/neil-hunter-...
-
Jeff O'Kelley: Nice article. Who knew a drummer could know so muc...
-
Pedal Blog: Thanks Rob! I have three different Fuzz pedals, an...
Follow @pedalblog on Twitter
January 31, 2012
0 Comments