I’m a touring musician who daylights as a Product Merchandiser and Copywriter for all things guitar at zZounds. When I’m not working in Chicago or riding around in a van, you can find me tinkering with gear, hanging out with my dog, or retreating to the woods of my native Michigan.
Chelsea Wolfe – Abyss
Synth-heavy bass chords, each ending abruptly and eerily, open Chelsea Wolfe’s 2015 album Abyss. You’d almost think you were listening to some resurfaced soundtrack for 1997’s cult sci-fi epic Event Horizon if it weren’t for the eventual build-up of industrial doom metal and Wolfe’s haunting voice crooning like some kind of space siren. Maybe this […]
Perfect Pairings: Reverend Descent & Orange Rockerverb 100 MKIII
September’s Perfect Pairing: Reverend Descent H90 Baritone & Orange Rockerverb 100 MkIII Head This month, we’re plugging the Reverend Descent H90 baritone guitar into the Orange Rockerverb MkIII for 100 watts of earth-shaking low end. The Reverend Descent H90 Baritone features a 26 3/4″ scale neck, which means it’s long enough to accommodate baritone tuning, […]
Get the Tone: Post-Rock
Employing electric guitars to build minimalist, single-note movements into towering walls of sound, post-rock musicians are no strangers to using their instruments and effects as a focal point in a genre often devoid of vocals. Pioneered by bands such as Tortoise and Slint, post-rock has been thrust into the mainstream in recent years by acts […]
mewithoutYou – Pale Horses
mewithoutYou has been a favorite band of mine for the better part of the past 15 years. The guitar tones on their sophomore LP, “Catch for Us the Foxes” were seminal to the development of my own guitar playing style, and the “quiet/loud” songwriting tactics they introduced in their debut, “A→B Life” have had untold […]
Atsuko Chiba’s Guitar and Bass Rigs
Meet Atsuko Chiba. Not only is this 5-piece from Montreal, QC one of the most talented, hard-working bands I’ve ever come across, but they’re also serious gearheads (I had to stop counting their pedals when I got to 40 because my head hurt). If you ever find yourself at an Atsuko Chiba show, you’ll also find […]
City of Ships – Ultraluminal
Ultraluminal is the new LP from Austin, TX / Brooklyn, NY based post-rock outfit City of Ships. I was lucky enough to jump on a portion of their 2012 summer tour and I thought they were on-point back then, but they’ve done nothing but grow in the past three years. In the album’s first single, “Alarm,” […]
