You could certainly gig with this thing, and although it only has a 1×8″ Vox Bulldog speaker in it, you can plug in an external cabinet if you want, with STELLAR results. For 15 watts, this thing gets plenty loud. It’s overdrive/boost is the best I’ve ever had in a solid state amp.

If you’re looking for an inexpensive first amp, or a small practice amp, don’t waste your money on a Peavey or a Crate or any of that garbage. Get the Vox Pathfinder 15R. You won’t regret it, and you won’t grow out of it fast. (Unless you’re a metal dude, in which case you’re on your own, because this certainly isn’t a metal amp.)

How many bands can you say have had two of the most genius guitarists ever in their respective styles? Sure, the Yardbirds had Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, but they weren’t doing anything spectacular when they were in that band. Fleetwood Mac had Peter Green, who like Syd went nuts on LSD and left the band, but they didn’t replace him with anyone fabulous. I suppose that Metallica had Dave Mustaine in it for a while, but that’s REALLY stretching the point.

Syd Barret

With Pink Floyd, you start with Syd Barret. There is none better than Syd at just pure guitar-as-noise-box psychedelia. (A close second would be his friend and replacement David Gilmour, not coincidentally.) Sure, Hendrix did some crazy stuff, but that’s not what he built his reputation on. Just listen to this recording of Interstellar Overdrive from 1966 or 1967, released as music for a short film in 1968. This was pre-Piper at the Gates of Dawn, and it’s a real gem.

David Gilmour

In 1968, Syd was totally out of it mentally, having fried his noggin’ on too much LSD, so the band hired his friend David Gilmour to be in the band to be the “second” guitarist, covering Syd’s detuning-strings-till-they-fall-off-while-staring-at-the-audience style of “guitar”. It’s really quite interesting, as he basically had to mimic Syd for over a year, using the exact same guitars, amps, effects and style that Syd had been using.

It took a while for Gilmour to really release himself from being Syd II, but when he did, he did it awesome. You want guitar noise? The song Echoes is as good as anything that Barret ever did, but in a totally different bluesy style. Fast forward to 1972/73, and you have David Gilmour playing slow, bluesy, soaring lead guitar. Gone was most of the psychedelic noise making, replaced instead with what is considered some of the best solo guitar playing in the history of rock.

If you have any doubts as to that claim, listen to this version of Time from a February 20, 1972, concert just before they recorded of Dark Side of the Moon:

I think I just peed a little!

Listen to that chainsaw fuzz! That exact solo might just make me go out and get a silicon transistor Dallas-Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Colorsound Booster, it’s so intense and awe inspiring.

Anyway, this post was mainly to share these two Floyd vids that I found. I have the complete bootleg of the ’72 DSOTM Rainbow concert if anyone is interested.

Cheers!

Watch it:

First of all, if you’re not intimately acquainted with Radiohead’s OK Computer, you need to drop everything you’re doing and go hide in a closet. Because I’m going to come kick you. Second, download this disc, because it’s pretty good. It’s not Radiohead, but it’s good. (Probably because Radiohead wrote the songs, duh.) The arrangements aren’t too shabby, and the interpretations aren’t annoying at all, which is something of a crap-shoot when it comes to tribute albums.

Download it here: OKX: A Tribute to OK Computer

No Surprises by Marissa Nadler Feat. Black Hole Infinity  
Download now or listen on posterous

10 No Surprises 2.mp3 (6248 KB)

The Pioneers of Prime Time TV and Courtney Marie Andrews were on their west coast tour, dubbed the “Famous Toxic Cancelled Tour” by Thomas, and they were supposed to roll into town here and we’d get our jam on.

My poster for the canceled January 12, 2010 Empyrean Coffee House show

I have a couple of new songs up my sleeve, and I’d probably have had Thomas and Jon accompany me a bit, since they’re awesome like that. Thomas and I go way back, and he’s like 1000% better than I am, so he could play what I was going to play probably better than I could, even without hearing it. And Thomas says that Jon is 1000% better than him, so who am I to argue.

But, as these things happen, the Empyrean couldn’t get its new location opened in time to play there as scheduled. (The irony is that they’re set to open the day after, on Wednesday.)

Given the long drive, they decided to find another gig in Seattle instead of driving across to Spokane, which leaves me out of the loop.

Oh, poo.

Anyway, here is a taste of what they would have sounded like:

p.s.
Look at that weirdness: Jefferson Elliot painting on stage with the Pioneers. Way to go Jefferson!

Anyway, the I love the Cure’s early era the best, and so I went on a path of discovery to find out other bands that had that sound. There were a few that I found, like Siouxsie & The Banshees and Joy Division/early New Order being very close matches, Bauhaus being ok, and a few other more obscure bands like And Also the Trees.

What is painfully obvious to me in hindsight, however, is that I missed one of the biggest bands to come out of that same scene. I totally missed out on the Cocteau Twins. Their sound, before their bassist Will Heggie left the band in 1983, was very similar to what the Cure were doing. The heavy repetetive bass guitar, the shimmery effects laden guitar, and the off-the-charts singing were all very much in the same genre.

The Cocteau Twin's "Garland" album cover

What sets the Cocteau Twins apart from the other bands, actually the main thing that separates them all apart, is the singing. (Now that I think about it, if you were to remove Robert Smith, Siouxsie Sioux, or Ian Curtis from their respective bands, would anyone be able to tell them apart?)

Elizabeth Fraser has undoubtedly one of the most unique vocals in the history of rock and roll. You can say this for sure, ain’t no one else sing like her. About the closest comparison anyone could make would be to Siouxsie Sioux, and even then Siouxsie would sound like Siouxsie Sioux, not Elizabeth Fraser.

Just like the rest of the bands, I can only handle about an hour of their music before I want to go jump off a bridge, but it is certainly an interesting hour.

A quick peek through the live video archives on YouTube provides you with an abundance of material to listen to and watch. You’ll notice that the live stuff is much more raw than their ethereal dream pop of some of their recordings. You’ll also notice the drummer… gotcha. NO DRUMMER! Ha! I can’t bring to mind even one rock band of any era that routinely played without a live drummer. It leads me to wonder who it was that played for their sample loops.

It’s interesting stuff. I highly recommend that you check them out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Ac7IB-khI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFN6BaulEX8