My Band
Machines. Yep, my rhythm section is a machine but this isn't your run-of-the-mill, Molly-throb EDM trance box. This is a re-purposed, re-imagined, studio recording tool that I've been able to program specifically for live performance. [*note* It's a Boss DR-880, for you gearheads out there] Yeah, I know all about how critical a great bass player and drummer are to an authentic vintage blues, and hell, if this return home ever evolves into something worthwhile and long lasting, I'll be sure to invite a couple pros into this adventure, but for the time being, this rig will suit me just fine. Its sound is full, deep, and solid. Best of all, it offers me all kinds of in-the-moment flexibility for extended solos and even complete arrangement readjustments without getting up my ass over tossing out curveballs in the middle of a set.
The amp [a Vox Tonelab modelling amp] is just as unexpected; breaking all the hard and fast rules with just as much carefree disregard, but to be honest, after years of Fenders and Marshalls, and more classic blues configurations than necessary, losing all that pretense has been a liberation that I should've embraced long ago. The response and grind of this little bitch is a real delight and it's too bad that this original design is no longer available as a new product. Check out the clips on the front page to hear just how good this thing can sound.
Vocals are important. Even when you're a hard-core, three-piece, fireball blues guitarist, if you can't deliver at the mic with authority and that priceless drama when it's called for, you might just as well go find yourself a corner of someone else's stage to brighten up with your razzle-dazzle.
For this act, Digitech's VL-4 vocal processor gives me the tonal and processor control I need to bring the drama and intensity to each moment that calls for it. Beyond even that, at the click of a foot switch, I've got a really dependable back-up singer; one who's always in tune and isn't ever threatening to walk over not getting a showcase.
Foot switches all over the place. Yeah, it looks complicated but believe me, once I got this whole thing down . . . once the mechanics of it became second nature . . . the freedom it gave me - just to go ahead and write and perform exactly what I feel deep inside without any compromises or conflict over any of it - was and still is exhilarating, at the very least.
I love the 21st century. Maybe that's some sort of blues heresy, but hell, I've sinned a lot worse against what the old man handed me so many years ago. Compared to that, working with machines is like . . . I don't know . . . mowing his lawn on Sunday instead of Saturday. I've definitely done worse.
All acknowledgements of violating the purist code aside, there are some standards that I just can't find it in myself to violate. Fender Strats and Teles are the guitars that define me, and those floor pedals have been with me since the earliest years. I bought that black Frankenstrat new in 1976 when I was in Biloxi Mississippi, as soon as I got to Keesler Air Force base; fresh out of basic training. So, it's not as if I have no sense of historical propriety whatsoever, although that black finish is likely car paint [if I'm remembering what happened there correctly].
I bought that Pro Co Rat pedal new in 1982 to replace an old MXR Distortion + that got stolen when my car was broken into in Utica NY. I've had it ever since and it's even better than the classic gear legends claim. Same with that mid-90s Uni-Vibe. Just a classic, vintage piece that isn't for sale new anymore, and these gems seem happy to work with all the digital trappings I've littered this act with. The old and the new, in cheerful harmony together. Again, check out the audio clips on the front page. This whole thing probably sounds better than you might expect it to.
