Thank you for making it this far, reader.
When I met my friend and bandmate Daniel Canales (Lead guitar, Polar Knights) on the quad lawn during uni (2008), he introduced me to a world beyond acoustic instruments. Prior to meeting this beautiful specimen of a mang I’d never plugged more than one lead into anything. I had no real concept of effects in my noggin’ (I had danced with effects in my teens with a Zoom 606 Multi FX pedal), or that you could purchase individual “stomp boxes” for your guitar. The union of Daniel’s ideas and my own saw the beginning of what I like many other musicians refer to as G.A.S (gear acquisition syndrome). My first real stomp box was a Boss SD-1 Overdrive pedal. It also happened to be my first international ebay purchase…the Aussie dollar at that time was at the mercy of the mighty States. (think it was 53c or something brutal like that)
When I acquired my first full time job, my G.A.S went out of control. When the end of the month rolled by I would annihilate my earnings with a merciless effects pedal ebay binge. I also exclusively searched for used gear so I was under the illusion that it was all good cause it was all frugal spending (it technically was saving me many dollaz). As a junior graphic designer this was a devastating blow to any chance of financial stability. I’m not exactly sure why I’m giving you lot a rundown of my gear acquisition problem(s) but I think this might lead to the fact that I’ll be spending the next month and a bit abroad, trying to make music without my 19-strong pedalboard, slew of processor units (like my beloved Boss Dm-100 analog delay unit/intergalactic communication device) and studio monitors.
Below is what I’ll be simplifying to:
I’m bringing a 15″ Macbook Pro / Apogee Duet 2 / Behringer UMA-25S / Audio Technica At4050 / Leadz. I’ll be monitoring with a pair of Shure SRH440‘s. It all fits in my Jansport “Super Computer” backpack which is handy……damn all these links to products makes this look like some sort of sponsorship trip. Bummer. On a kind of important sidenote, all of the recordings I make abroad will be posted to my personal Soundcloud page, which can be found here:
I went on a half-arsed rampage uploading demos and scratchings I recently found on an ancient USB to my personal Soundcloud. I was as shocked as you may be at how acoustically inclined I was. I don’t really know what an acoustic guitar feels like these days. Below are just a few examples……….
So that’s that. I’m heading off tomorrow. Maybe I should write about where I’ll actually be going. I’ll do up maps and that.
-Chumpy x