Facing a mandatory shelter-in-place ordinance to limit the spread of COVID-19, PG enacted a hybrid approach to filming and producing Rig Rundowns. This is the 16th video in that format, and we stand behind the final product.
In Oakland, California, during the late ’90s, Antonio Aguilar teamed up with then-partner-and-now-wife and bassist Meg Castellanos to form Totimoshi. The band thrived on the kind of metallic, abrasive, ’90s-era Touch and Go-label commotion pioneered by Shellac and the Jesus Lizard. Totimoshi’s development (stitched with flamenco flavors, tidal dynamics from whisper to a wallop, and poetic lyrics posing the struggle of love and hate) crested with 2008’s concept album Milagrosa, produced by Helmet’s Page Hamilton and Toshi Kasai (Tool, Melvins, Foo Fighters). The indie group put out their final and fifth album, Avenger, in 2011.
Then Meg and Antonio did a 180 and embraced their Mexican/Cuban heritage (in the vein of Chavela Vargas) with the project Alma Sangre, where he played classical flamenco guitar while she performed traditional flamenco dance. (The group had a third member, Silas Hite, who earned an Emmy award for his score for 2014’s Homeward Bound—a short film that spotlighted the growing homelessness crisis in America.)
In 2015, the duo wanted to rock again. They had made the move to East L.A. and serendipitously reconnected with friends who were now in town: drummer Tony Tornay and guitarist Erik Trammell. The bluster and bravado Totimoshi exerted at its most primal is still felt in All Souls, but melody, depth, and restraint actually make the sonorous sting more biting more venomous. In 2018 they released their eponymous debut, with nine explosive tracks.
Before releasing their sophomore album, Songs For the End of the World, guitarist/vocalist Antonio Aguilar virtually welcomed PG’s Chris Kies into his own East L.A.-based space, Eastside Rehearsal. The upbeat musician explains chasing various Strat colors with a bag full of loaded pickguards, reducing his amp power from 100W Boogies to lower-wattage faux-Marshall Fenders, and recently incorporating a pedal to emulate the chime and chorusing of a 12-string guitar.
Like many Strat fans, Antonio’s attraction to the instrument can be traced to discovering Jimi Hendrix. And he’s always appreciated how similar the feel of a Strat’s neck is to his flamenco guitars.
So, while he spent most of his time in Totimoshi on a Les Paul (look for it in a couple slides), with All Souls he’s been primarily a Strat guy. Above is his 2019 Fender American Ultra Stratocaster, and it’s become a favorite because of the Ultra Noiseless Vintage single-coils with the added S1 switch. He enjoys how their tone complements Erik Trammell’s humbucker-loaded SGs.
For All Souls, he tunes to D standard (D-G-C-F-A-D), uses Ernie Ball Slinky .009–.042 strings, and strums with Dunlop Herco Flex 50 Medium picks.
Another reason Antonio loves the Strat is the ease and speed with which pickguards can be swapped out for a fresh tonal perspective. The top two photos show ’guards with Lace hot humbuckers (Nitro Hemis), while the bottom two are loaded with Fender HSS and single-coils (a Fender Pure Vintage ’59 Strat set). During rehearsals or studio time, Aguilar will carry pre-loaded pickguards in a messenger bag for quick swapping.
Antonio’s first guitar was this 1983 Gibson Challenger I, bought brand new by his dad. He played it almost exclusively through Totimoshi’s five albums starting with 1999’s S/T and ending with 2011’s Avenger. The simple, student-minded, bolt-on-neck guitar came with tinny-sounding ceramic pickups, so he fixed that by slipping in some super-hot passive Lace Drop & Gains (13.5k in neck; 24k in bridge) designed for dropped tunings, because all Totimoshi songs used E-B-E-B-E-B.
Here is Antonio’s 2006 Fender American Deluxe that he used occasionally during the tail end of Totimoshi and still uses with All Souls because of its HSS setup.
Here is the second Strat he bought: a 2008 Fender American Deluxe that was originally an HSS model, but he’s since swapped out the pickguard (of course) and put in three Tim Shaw V-Mod single-coils.
While in Totimoshi, Aguilar would rumble rooms with a 100W Mesa/Boogie Stiletto, but has found the lower-wattage Fender Bassbreaker 45 clears a sonic path just as well without inducing tinnitus.
The settings Aguilar’s Bassbreaker 45 during our filming of the Rundown.
His pedal playground starts on the bottom row with a two pairs of stomps—delays and distortions—that give Jekyll and Hyde functions. The simple slap sounds are handled by the MXR Carbon Copy, while the DigiTech DigiDelay handles, deeper, richer, weirder sounds. As for filth, the Tomsline AGR-3 Greenizer gooses the amp with a predictable TS touch, but the MXR Distortion+ wallops alongside for thick saturation and sustain. The top row is home to staples like the MXR Custom Comp and BOSS FRV-1 Fender Reverb, but at the top-right corner sits the DigiTech Mosaic, which acts as a 12-string emulator, providing Antonio a cheaper solution than buying a Rick for shimmering and jangling open chords. Finally, a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner keeps his guitars in check.
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Chris Kies has degrees in Journalism and History from the University of Iowa and has been with PG dating back to his days as an intern in 2007. He's now the multimedia manager maintaining the website and social media accounts, coordinating Rig Rundown shoots (also hosting and/or filming them) and occasionally writing an artist feature. Other than that, he spends time with his pitbull and enjoys non-guitar-related hobbies. Follow him on Instagram & Twitter.
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