Latest News
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Congrats to our dear friends in HOP ALONG
for being named by the Philadelphia City Paper as Artist of the year! Read on HERE
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Deli Magazine Interview
A few months back Joe and I were interviewed for the Deli Music blog here in Philly. We got some really well thought out questions, and I thought I would immortalize the interview here on our humble blog for posterity. Read Here
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I used to play in a band
called Algernon Cadwallader. Although the band has been laid to rest, I still get a decent amount of emails/Facebook messages about the guitar sounds (live and on record). “The sound” im thinking of would be referring to anything post 2nd guitarist (i.e. “Fun” and “Parrot Flies”). But enough about me, let’s talk guitar.
The little know G&L Guitars get their initials from George Fullerton and Leo Fender. Leo Fender youknow as the guy who isn’t Les Paul. 2 companies and 20 years later Leo thought he could make a better version of his own “Telecaster” and he did. Referring to them as “The best instruments I have ever made.” I own 2 of the ASAT Classics, the most noticeable differences between them and the original Fender Teles are the larger (Gibson style) frets and the pickups that use magnetic Field Design pickups as opposed to, the standard Alinco. These pickups have individual magnets for each string, that are adjustable! Producing a very even sound that is great for finger picking. Sonically, they have a power and an airy clarity that some of my tight pants wearing peers would refer to as “Twinkle”. Recently the masses caught into these instruments so G&L released a Legacy series at a cheaper price. I doubt they were part of Leo’s vision and have yet to play one that wouldn’t have made a better surfboard. Now I’m getting preachy. Sorry, let’s move on. Live I use two amps. That originally grew out of an insecurity I had about being the only guitarist and Peter complaining that he couldn’t hear me in little basements or a big empty room.
The Twin reverb is obviously a classic clean loud amp. Now Enter the Vox AC30 Custom Classic, that I feel, is responsible for the majority of the AC guitar tone. I used it once and immediately went out and bought it with money I didn’t have. No need to describe it because it is the only amp used on “Parrot Flies”. It’s Little brother the AC15 was used the the “Fun” ep. The recording signal chain probably looked something like this: One frustrated guitarist playing a G&L ASAT Classic direct into the AC30 with speaker output disconnected and replaced with a Emperor 2 *12 cab, recorded with a Royer 121, a Shure SM57, and U87(somewhere in the room), powered by an API 3124, sent into a Sound Workshop 1280b where the signals were eq’d and bussed to one channel and sent to be lightly kissed by a Distressor EL8 before smashing onto 2″ tape. Live the signal chain might look something like this: 2 G&L ASAT classics in different tunings into a stupid Boss tuner, a Rat, an Ibenez true bypass modded 808 Tubescreamer, into a Lehle P-Split between a mid 70s Twin Reverb and a Vox AC30.
Big thanks to Peter, Tank, and anyone who approached me after a show with kind or inspiring words about my spastic often insecure guitar playing. We are all on the never ending quest for perfect tone. How many times I’ve scene a band and thought holy shit that is the best sounding amp I have ever heard while the guy playing is probably like god I hate this fucking thing. I recently decided that if I stop worrying about gear, I can work less and play the guitar more. Although as a studio owner this tends to be fairly difficult.
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First Video Recording at the Headroom
A few weeks ago, my band Dangerous Ponies, did a live performance in The Headroom as a preview for the record we’re going to work together with Joe on. It was pretty exciting to do a live recording while also videotaping it. It was a lot of work! Not only did we have to set up all of our instruments, and mic them all, but we also had to move lots of shelves, instruments, and furniture out of the way in order to make room for the wonderful lighting provided by friend/big mama’s roomate Matt Hindman and Nick Hatsis who did a wonderful job shooting the video. We did several takes, did some slight edits and came together with a live performance that looks and sounds great! Take a look!
Watch Here!
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Power Animal: Excorcism
While I do enjoy recording with a band in the studio; building their songs from the ground up, helping them realize their own vision for a song, it always keeps things interesting to mix something that was written and recorded in a space, both physically and mentally, that is quite far from confines of the Headroom. Keith Hampson, of Power Animal, writes about his latest EP, “Excorcism”, which you can listen to here.
This album was created over the course of 10 or so months where I was in and out of the hospital with various illnesses. The palette for the production of this album was a result of being too fatigued to get up and play my instruments most of the time. I had a cassette player that could play in reverse into my sampler, and a big box of cassettes that I’d found at thrift stores over the years. So I arranged a good deal of this album while laying in bed with an Sp-404.
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“The Good Times Are Killing Me”
Sings Josh Craft on the new Conversations With Enemies LP. My friend Josh is no stranger to good times, ever since i first worked with him on The Bee Team‘s ”Hot Times USA” back in 2007, I have yet to catch him unprepared for a hi five, without a guitar strap around his neck, or most importantly, without a smile on his face. The name of the bands sophomore release is TBA, but its instant tractor beam of infectious songs are available right here on Bandcamp. I am particularly fond of this record because of how it showcases the bands individual talents without sacrificing simple nature of the songs. Jess’s Ringo-esq drumming, Paul Montgomery’s bass playing became the backbone of these songs (even tho he mostly improved them in the studio! Talent!), Seth and Vince’s horns are the most crucial part of conversation’s signature fanfare of fun sound, and of coarse, Josh’s playful vocal melodies will have you signing along so hard you wont even notice you’ve spilled half you beer on the really nice shoes of the girl next to you. And she’s not even mad!
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Tracking for the new Darlings LP
Sorry for this belated post! In early august, Darlings from NY came down to track their newest LP. It was hard work and lots of fun/We had a whole week to work, which was great, because it gave us just enough time to take time to get the right sounds for everything, as well as be meticulous about what takes we wanted to keep. Peter and I had a few different phone conversations in the months leading up to the session to figure out how much time was needed and how exactly how we were going to record. Here’s what we came up with. We spent the first 2 days tracking drums. Below is a picture of us testing out which kick drum we wanted to build the drum kit around (slingerland, and 2 ludwigs from left to right). Matt, the drummer, wanted a roomy sound, so we put the royer on the other side of the room, and tracked bass along with the drums with the amp out in the garage for separation.
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Back From Tour!
Joe and I are finally back from tour! Its so great to be back in philly! Dangerous Ponies was gone for 2 and a half months and Algernon Cadwallader for 1 and half. Now that we’re back, we have lots planned this summer for the studio! We’re going to build isolation and room treatment, build a new website, and of course record some awesome music. This past weekend I did a quick demo session with Baltimore’s Secret Mountains to help them find some sounds for their upcoming full length sessions, NY’s Darlings on Famous Class Records as well as Philadelphia’s own Conversations with Enemies will be coming this August to record with me and joe, respectively.