Rigs of EQD: Ben Vehorn
Bradley Thorla
Ben Vehorn is on the short list of EarthQuaker Devices employees that has been with the company since our days as a fledgling basement operation. He spent many years riding the “Night Train...”
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Tech Talk with Joe Golden: The Diatonic Major Scale
Joe Golden
Most Western music is comprised of 12 tones or notes. I always think of them of as ingredients in a recipe. Each tone responsible for lending its flavor to the dish. To be less hippy-dippy about it, each note has a relationship with the other notes in the scale, and some are tasty when paired...
Read MoreBoard to Death Ep. 3 - Nick Reinhart (Tera Melos, Big Walnuts Yonder)
Aaron Rogers
We met up with Tera Melos / Big Walnuts Yonder guitar wrangler Nick Reinhart at Juan Alderete’s 5 Starr Sound Labs to dig into a few of his favorite settings on the Bit Commander, Transmisser, and Avalanche Run. As if having killer guitar chops weren’t enough, Reinhart has made a name for himself as a tone-tweaker conjuring expressive and bizarre sounds from any pedal he touches. Today is no different...
Read MoreEarthQuaker Session: Obnox - Enter the Hater
Aaron Rogers
When he's not building pedals, EQD's Lamont Thomas is Obnox aka Nox. Watch him rip thru the garage-punk barnburner "Enter the Hater" and be sure to scoop up the seven (!) records he's slated to release this year. His latest LP, "Niggative Approach" is out now on 12XU!
Read MoreBoard To Death Ep. 2: Cold War Kids' Nathan Willet
Aaron Rogers
“In the studio, you just grab whatever sounds good . . . like this reverb, it’s so simple, but so, so great,” says Cold War Kids guitarist Nathan Willet, pointing to his Ghost Echo...
Read MoreCHON: "Koalas Are Just Super Baked All Day"
Aaron Rogers
San Diego’s CHON writes intricate, ultra-linear fusion-inspired math rock, but with a twist. You can dance to it...We caught up with guitarists Mario Camarena and Erick Hansel shortly after tracking had wrapped to discuss the making of the album, and find out how they fared upon entering the Wide World of Effects Pedals for the first time in the band’s eight-year history.
Read MoreEarthQuaker Session: Eternal Summers - "The Roses"
Aaron Rogers
Eternal Summers craft glistening bite-sized nuggets of summery dream-pop like sunshine poking through clouds on a rainy day...
Read MoreEarthQuaker Session: The Kandinsky Effect - "Loops"
Aaron Rogers
The brainchild of saxophonist Warren Walker, the Kandinsky Effect creates dark, groove-oriented, downtempo Jazz soundscapes anchored by the steady pulse of bassist Gael Petrina and drummer Caleb Dolister. The trio blends modern Jazz improvisation with electronic textures and beat-driven composition driven in part by Walker’s pioneering use of effects pedals with the saxophone...
Read MoreRigs of EQD: Aaron Rogers
Bradley Thorla
My name is Aaron Rogers and I play the bass guitar. I do copywriting & PR for EarthQuaker Devices, which means I'm responsible for most of the silliness which takes place on our social media . . .
Read MoreBoard to Death Ep. 1 - Circa Survive's Brendan Ekstrom
Aaron Rogers
We caught up with the Circa Survive guitarist at the legendary Agora Theater in Cleveland, Ohio, where the band celebrated the 10th anniversary of their album On Letting Go to nerd out on gear. And nerd out we did...
Read MoreOn the Fly: Behind the Scenes at Dave Catching's Rancho de la Luna
Bradley Thorla
It is the Monday after the weekend haze of Desert Daze and we are all, justifiably, in slow motion. Jonathan Hischke, our landlord and tour guide for the weekend, makes us coffee and we lounge on his porch watching him toss bird seed out into the desert that surrounds his secluded oasis...
Read MoreAaron's Bass Hole: Why DI?
Aaron Rogers
DIs have one job: they take your bass’ unbalanced high-impedance instrument level output and convert it to the balanced, low-impedance microphone level signal required by the mixing console.
Read MoreEarthQuaker Session: Nick Semrad & TaRon Lockett (Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles)
Aaron Rogers
Nick Semrad is a sonic titan blazing new trails for keyboardists. Whether he’s onstage with Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles or ticklin’ the ivories with Ms. Lauryn Hill, Semrad is an audio explorer, a mad scientist conducting ultra-funky experiments in a laboratory of keyboards and a few well-chosen effects pedals, synthesizing new compounds scientifically proven to enhance your groove...
Read MoreNorth Cackalacky Boy – A Conversation with Greg Cartwright (Reigning Sound, the Oblivians)
Anna Blumenthal
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...
Read MoreEarthQuaker Session: Uno Lady - "Underground"
Aaron Rogers
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...
Read MoreShow Us Your Junk! Ep. 2: David Catching's Rancho De La Luna
Aaron Rogers
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...
Read MoreTech Talk with Joe Golden - Building a Pedalboard the EarthQuaker Way
Joe Golden
Plan, layout, and assemble your own pedalboard with EQD's own pedalboard mastermind, Joe Golden!
Read MoreEQD x She Shreds: Vanessa Wheeler (Leo*Leo) Live at Winter NAMM 2017
Aaron Rogers
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.
Read MoreEarthQuaker Session - Isaiah Mitchell of Earthless
Aaron Rogers
“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...”
Read MoreTrails and Trials: A Conversation with Noveller’s Sarah Lipstate
Aaron Rogers
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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