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S I G H T L I N E S — L I V E M U S I C Lee’s Liquor Lounge: Cramps Tribute Hopkins 3000, Hot Rod Hearse, Super Goo and Anonymus October 23rd, 2009 by Brad Fors When Cramps frontman Lux Interior died February 4th of this year he left behind quite a legacy. If the Cramps did nothing but write song titles they would have made their mark, but Lux, along with guitar vixen ‘Poison’ Ivy Rorschach wrote the songs to go along with titles like; “I Was a Teenage Werewolf”, “Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?”, “The Creature From the Black Leather Lagoon” and “I Ain't Nuthin' But a Gorehound”. When one-man band Hopkins 3000 took the stage at 10:30 PM, it was already getting frustratingly late. As a result, the sets were all too short. Hot Rod Hearse went on at 11:00 and only played a handful of reverb-drenched songs. Chad ‘Auggie Doggie’ Augustin played the doghouse bass and Colin beat the skins. Trevor Trend handled the singing and guitar playing. He says the band is playing mostly originals in their regular sets and if their brief Cramps set was any indication, a Hot Rod Hearse show promises to be a swingin’ time. 18 ‘round the dial November 2, 2009 Visit their myspace page at: www.myspace.com/hotrodhearse666. When Dave Wolfe and Al Subola team up, as they did for so many years with the Vibro Champs, it’s hard to find a better local one-two punch. Dave and Al need no introduction. On this night they came equipped with the standard upright bass and drums rhythm section. The bass player, named Matt, who Dave called ‘Swingin’ Teens royalty’ because of his time with local stalwarts the Swingin’ Teens, anchored down the band the best he could under the circumstances. 'Anchoring' of course is not always desired on a Cramps… tune. Julia K. Williams, AKA Sushi Tenderbite, pounded out the beat and was a pleasure to watch. Going by the name of “Super Goo”, the band started their short set at about 11:45 and treated the crowd of hipsters to a great set of Cramps… tunes. Wolfe introduced “Muleskinner Blues” as a song written by ‘the Bi-Sexual Brakeman’, Jimmie Rodgers. Rodgers, the father of country music is of course more often referred to as ‘the Singin’ Brakeman’. The Cramps classic “Human Fly” had the crowd Bzzzzzzin’ and The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” (the trashier the better) was gloriously demented. Family Guy, Peter Griffin would have loved it. The Vibro Champs myspace page can be found at http://www.myspace.com/vibrochamps I was able to spend a little time with Dave, Al and Julia after their set. Wolfe has recently relocated to the greener pastures of Austin, Texas. When asked if he would try to create a rockabilly scene there like the one he helped to create in Minneapolis he said that it wasn’t necessary. “Down there, there’s already a scene The late Lux Interior and wife Poison Ivy of The Cramps performing live in Belgium in 2006. for everything”. He has his hands in a number of things including playing bass with Three Bad Jacks. He continues his life as a luthier and along with his partner Bill Phillipp, has created a company called Boothill Musical Instrument Co. Texas. Visit the website at boothill.tv. That IS correct, it’s dot tv. Boothill is the maker of ‘coffin’ instruments, from upright basses to ukuleles. Minneapolis’ former purveyor of all things rockabilly, the forty-two year old Wolfe has remained perpetually twenty-two; forever the teenage rockabilly rebel. In Wolfe’s absence, Al Subola more than ably carries the local rockabilly torch fronting his great little hillbilly outfit, “Al’s Rockabilly Quartet”. Al is a 'true Anonymus 2 and Aonymus 4 of Anonymus Anonymusly close out the evening at Lee’s. cowboy star'. You know it's true because it says so right on his 2004, solo release called “Powderhorn Park’. This CD is highly recommended. Star-Tribune rated it as the 3rd best local CD of 2004. You can keep up with Alan at his myspace page: www.myspace.com/rockabilly_al The last band of the evening was the enigma known as Anonymus (sic). They all wear black suits, white shirts and skinny black ties, topped off by black, goggle-like sunglasses, masking their identity. They go by the names Anonymus 1, 2, 3 and 4. Their abbreviated set was fun but anti-climactic. It’s not their fault. “Super Goo” definitely should have played last. From here to Austin, I Pity the band that has to go on after Dave Wolfe. Mr. Wolfe will be missed in this town. Austin, Texas has a new star. In the meantime, bands like Al’s Rockabilly Quartet, Jack Knife and the Sharps and Hot Rod Hearse capably fill any rockabilly void that was left behind. ‘round the dial November 2, 2009 19
Guitar Town — Tech Talk By Gary Vogel Pigtronix philosopher’s tone stompbox compressor Iam a compressor junkie. There are very few pedal compressors I do not own, fewer I have never owned, and still fewer I have never tried. This baby from the wonderful Pigtronix company is my newest favorite. While most compressors are capable of getting that country “cluck” tone or the “jazz squash,” they usually suffer from two things: noise and tone suck. By its very nature, compression will bring up any extraneous noise from your guitar or cords, or anything in front of them. That’s why most players put them early in their signal chain. But some of the common designs, such as the MXR DynaComp Ross, and their ilk suffer from self generated noise, too. Given that we all hate hiss, why would you want a pedal that makes more noise than it has to? Another problem with most pedal comps is the inability to mix the squashed tone with the original signal, which is a very useful thing to do in many instances, as it will increase your sustain and still allow the natural transients to spike through. I especially like to do this with acoustic guitar or 12-string. Still another problem is the way most compressors dull your tone. Not so bad when you are using a Tele, Strat, or other single-coil pickup guitar. But try to run a humbucker like a Les Paul thru most squashers and you really can mud up your tone, when all you want is some more sustain. This can happen at even mild settings, The Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone addresses each of these issues. It is the size of the standard jem/MXR box, but it has five knobs: Grit, sustain, blend, treble boost, and output level. The housing features a studly true-bypass mechanical footswitch, and a very bright blue LED indicator shines real purty when you switch it on. One niggle: you must use an external power source, as this baby runs on 12-18 volts DC (with center negative, thankfully). Not really a problem, since it comes with a nice 15V “1-Spot”-looking switching supply wall wart, with a decent long power cord. The extra voltage really lets this pedal perform better than other compressors, but if you lose the included supply, it might be difficult to find a replacement in East Overshoe, New Mexico, so be forewarned. The standard controls of output level and compression/sustain amount are familiar, and even with the sustain set to zero, this baby can pummel an input of a lowgain amp nicely when the output is dimed. The blend control works beautifully from no added compression at fully counter-clockwise, to no uncompressed signal at 20 ‘round the dial November 2, 2009 fully clockwise settings. In between, there are many mixtures that will suit myriad tone scenarios. Like I mentioned, I really liked the 50/50 blend when I ran my Fishman Rare Earth acoustic pickup into it, and also less-compressor blends will give you good sustain when placed before some dirt source such as a fuzz box, without taking away all of your punch. This unit is great in front of my ZVex Wooley Mammoth (a really nasty low sustain fuzz) or my vintage Dan Armstrong Green Ringer. The low noise of the Pigtronix box is most appreciated in this situation. The treble boost control is the best part of this box. It adds a sweetly-musical high-end boost that sounds great on humbuckers. And if you like really maximum-sparkly single-coil clean tones, maxing this control with a Strat or Tele is just the ticket. Damn fine chime! Voiced perfectly, the treble is never harsh or spikey, just shimmering. Boffo! Also included is a simple “grit” control, which can dial in a mild diodetype distortion. Even at the highest settings, its not a raging stack tone, nor a fuzzface style buzz. Actually, the dirt reminds me of that which one can get by using the distortion control on a Roland JC- 120. Not a natural tubelike response, but it can be useful in situations where you want a glassy fizz (with the treble boosted), or a subtle patina (treble turned down) that follows the attack, blooming as as the note sustains. Personally, I could do without this feature, but I know some folks will dig it. Did I mention this thing is quiet? Damn, I don’t know how they do it, but this is by far the quietest stompbox squash that I have encountered. Some unique circuit design must be the reason, and the underside of the unit warns, “Warranty void if opened.” I’m sure that is just more enticement for some cloners to open this baby up to see what’s going on inside, and Pigtronix explains on their website that the Philosopher’s Tone is unlike most other compressors in that it is NOT based on a CA3080 chip. I don’t really care, I just love the sound. In the past 10 years, the Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone is not based on a CA3080 chip. This baby beats my Demeter Compulator, and my Analog Man BiCompRosser, so it is now a permanent part of my stage arsenal. Those other two are damn fine units, but more expensive than the Philosopher’s Tone. Not common on the local store scene, but it is easily available online for usually around 170 bucks, versus 220 for the Demeter and 3 bills for the BIComprossor. I have seen Pigtronix stuff at Twin Town Guitars, and if you check around, I am sure some other places have it —just don’t expect to find it at Guitar Center or Best Buy. In a comparison to this unit, the Demeter is more subtle, and the BiComprossor is capable of obscene squash and the Trey Anastasio-type compression sound (he runs two Ross Units in series-- hello noise floor!). But the Pigtronix is by far the most versatile, lowest noise unit, with very fine build-quality, and includes a power adapter. It’s small size and bright blue LED indicator are perfect for crowded pedalboards. Plus it is cheaper than the others. What more could you want? — Gary Vogel website link: www.pigtronix.com/products08/philosopherstone.html ‘round the dial November 2, 2009 21
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Page 13 and 14: 11. “Mersey Paradise” (Demo) 12
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