After a string of Northeast solo tour dates last month, I met up with Greg Cartwright in Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights, just down the block from Norton Records’ HQ where he was staying. If there’s such a thing as garage rock royalty, Cartwright is it. He formed The Compulsive Gamblers in Memphis in 1990 with Jack Yarber, and then The Oblivians just a few years later...
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Cleveland’s Christa Ebert is a one-woman choir. As Uno Lady, she’s dazzled, confounded, and delighted audiences since 2007 with loop-based compositions for voice, found sounds, and effects pedals. Her avant-garde pop tunes combine doo-wop harmonies and ethereal soundscapes...
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David Catching’s Rancho De La Luna sits atop hallowed ground. The recording studio (which doubles as Catching’s private residence, so keep out!) is the musical oasis from which flows the sandy lifeblood of Southern California’s thriving desert rock scene, giving rise to albums by the likes of Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, and Eagles of Death Metal. The new sacred texts of rock n’ roll...
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Plan, layout, and assemble your own pedalboard with EQD's own pedalboard mastermind, Joe Golden!
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If you’ve ever been to NAMM, then you know just how overwhelming it can be. This year, one voice rose above the cacophonous din of ten-thousand eighteen-string coffee-table basses slapped in disharmony. That voice belongs to Vanessa Wheeler of Leo*Leo.
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“This is probably my favorite EarthQuaker pedal” says Isaiah Mitchell, pointing to his Dispatch Master.
“I think Daniel Lanois would like it. And I like Daniel Lanois...”
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Every cloud has a silver lining. Cliché? Sure, but it seems to ring true for Los Angeles (by way of Louisiana, Austin, and Brooklyn) based guitarist and composer Sarah Lipstate.
Better known as Noveller, Lipstate has a habit of spinning the straw of her personal tragedies into the golden threads with which she weaves her musical tapestries...
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When Jamie announced that our NAMM release this year was a dark modulated delay, my ears perked up immediately. My internal monologue (in between thoughts about Geddy Lee) would have read something like this...
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"It's like they add ghosts to your machine," says Kid Koala.
We met up with Kid Koala (Deltron 3030, Gorillaz) at the LA Amp Show to twist some knobs and learn more about how he integrates effects pedals into DJ performances. And we got that. But we also got a lot more than that...
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“I think pedals in general helped me find my sound,” says Chelsea Wolfe.
When we visited Chelsea Wolfe at the Sargent House compound in Los Angeles last summer, we were awestruck by the striations of ugliness and beauty in her song “Survive.” And the volume. Lots and lots of volume. Each chord she plays and every note she sings hangs heavy and thick in the dry desert air like a cluster of tiny rainclouds gathering moisture, waiting to release thunder and lightning upon meeting a pocket of warm sky...
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Calling Joe Barresi “Evil” is like calling a big guy “tiny” - it doesn’t fit. Take one listen to his drum sounds though, and it all makes sense. The albums he makes are heavy...
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When we pulled this thing out of the Upside Down back in October, it was hotter than a stack of Eggo waffles, nailing those creepy Stranger Things vibes with its extra resonant, highly modulated filter swept ambience...
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Kurt Ballou's GodCity Studio is the central hub for crushing, oppressively awesome sounding heavy metal records by the likes of High On Fire, Helms Alee, Skeletonwitch, the Dillinger Escape Plan, and Torche. As if that weren't impressive enough, Ballou is also the guitarist in hardcore trailblazers Converge. And he has the greatest business card of all time...
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Austin, TX's the Ghost Wolves take us on a guided tour of their righteous tour van, where they have all the necessities for healthy living on the road - an Ozzy Osbourne poster, a box of Franzia, and a trucker stove...
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Happy Thanksgiving, turkeys!
This month I’m giving thanks and paying respect to my favorite bassists flying under-the-radar. Reference this handy guide at dinner when your drunk uncle starts talking politics so you can drop some bass knowledge and change the subject just long enough to plan your escape...
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Welcome back to the EarthQuaker Devices Studio Series! We caught up with film composer, Late Night With Seth Myers guitarist, and former member of Dischord's Shudder To Think, Nate Larson to chat about his creative process and how he uses EQD pedals on a variety of sources for gigs in movies, television, and rock and roll...
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I was drawn to EarthQuaker Devices' darker offerings...
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I vividly remember the show I finally found my signature sound, because it was the first time anyone pulled me aside afterwards to find out what pedals I was using...
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If you’re reading this blog, chances are that you know a thing or two about the Avalanche Run. You probably already know that it’s the first EarthQuaker Devices delay and reverb to use our new proprietary DSP platform. You might be aware that it’s the first EQD to feature stereo ins and outs, tap tempo, ...
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I'm a lady, a lady who turns her cheek to any pedal that takes a iota of my classic Peavey, hot rod SG tone. I like pedals that are not designed to change things because change is bad; everyone knows that. Think of the empty parking lot you walked through as a short cut becoming 300 fancy condos, WHY CHANGE? FOR WHO??? WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE???
They aren't my people, they aren't classic Peavey people . . . They are, "Look at this $12,000 guitar I play Eagles songs on from the comfort of my recliner," people and that's really fine. Maybe it will make a Trader Joe's open up, then we can all get fat on cookies and instead of being an It city, we can be a Fat city. Either way they won't hear me banging out songs in my practice room at all hours of the day, noodling until something cool happens.. They aren't the noodling kind. Unless it's $15 bowls of Ramnen?? Ramen is best enjoyed sitting on a curb slurped from a gas station Styrofoam cup or crunched in the bag and eaten like granola. 'Cause who can afford granola with all these condos going up?
I like having options. Change? Not so much. But options, yes.
If you think any pedal is gonna give you a signature sound you're sitting in a recliner eating expensive ramen for sure. Given enough options though, things can start to take shape - like rock and roll pentatonic box shape - and now you're cooking with gas Daddy. Don't stop.
If you are full of the good ramen and like taking shortcuts, you are ready to let the guitar play you. You are ready to toss it in the air and see what happens, to slide your hand down the fretboard lawlessly until it sounds like the ground is falling beneath you. That's power, you got a fat wallet and nice car, must be your drug of choice.
Click here to read "Pedal City, pt 2."
Click here to read "Pedal City, pt. 3."
LG is the lead singer and guitar player for the power trio Thelma and The Sleaze. She currently resides in Nashville, drives a 1979 Ford Ranchero and has a brown dog named Waffles
EarthQuaker Devices’ Systems Administrator Josh Kolenc describes his path from teenager tinkerer to Eurorack module designer.
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With three knobs and a three-mode toggle switch, Blumes can add all manner of flavors to your bass sound.
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