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 32nd video in that format.
Touché Amoré formed in 2007 and have been a perennial post-hardcore player that’s thrived on taking risk.
2009’s …To The Beat of a Dead Horse and 2011’s Parting the Sea Brightness and Me proved they’re running on pure, high-octane gasoline. Even though both releases feature no songs over 160 seconds, they still had room for shifting dynamics, a screamed-over piano ballad, and cloaked themselves in At-The-Drive-In catchiness. 2013’s Is Survived By adds more air, space, and time (with four songs over three minutes). Lighter moments include “Anyone / Anything” and “Non Fiction” that ultimately intensify the inevitable crash. 2016’s Stage Four saw singer Jeremy Bolm lyrically work through his mother’s lost battle to breast cancer. The anger and despair are on 10, but the antithesis plays off that rage with dreamier melodies and chiming, modulated guitar tones (including a cameo with reverb mistress Julien Baker on “Skyscraper”). And 2020’s Lament rewrites the post-hardcore playbook working with super producer Ross Robinson who helped flourish their sound by incorporating 12-string guitars, both lap steel and pedal steel, and additional keyboard layers. Those types of hues shouldn’t coexist in a backdrop for slam dancing, but it does … really well.
Cofounding guitarist Clayton Stevens virtually welcomed PG’s Perry Bean into his L.A.-based gear lair. In this Rig Rundown, he opens up about how Mono and Godspeed You! Black Emperor informed his single-coil stank, details an unknown Telecaster that’s amalgamation of American models, and explains how beneficial it was to use touring as an extended R&D trip for the band’s pedal collaboration with Electronic Audio Experiments.
“Originally, I think I gravitated towards Fender single-coils and Fender amps because I was chasing what Mono and Godspeed You! Black Emperor were doing,” says Clayton Stevens. “I wanted our band to have that jangly, in-your-face, Fender single-coil aggression. Plus, a lot of our post-hardcore contemporaries played Les Pauls into 5150s—which are cool in their own right—so it allowed us to stand out a little bit more.”
The last few years, onstage or in the studio, Stevens’ No. 1 guitar is this Nash S63 that features an alder body, rosewood neck, and a period-correct 3-ply pickguard. According to Lollar’s website, the stock setup for S63 pickup configurations using his pickups: “Consists of the Lollar Vintage Blonde series in the neck and middle positions, and the Lollar “Nash” strat in the bridge. The Nash style strat bridge is a very slight variation of the Lollar Special S series.”
Meet “Old Reliable” an American-made Fender Telecaster that has questionable origins. Stevens bought this guitar used in 2010 or ’11 and has since asked a few Fullerton employees what exact model this is, and no one can nail down its lineage. The current consensus is that it’s a mash-up of Fender American runs as both the body and neck are from U.S.-made products, but don’t necessarily connect for a cookie-cutter production Telecaster. Another head-scratching wrinkle are the Fender Noiseless Telecaster pickups. Regardless, this heavy T has been a total road dog and faithful ally in battle.
The backside of the mysterious Telecaster shows a heartfelt message for a friend who passed on a few years back.
Touring requires a bit more oomph for Touché Amoré than studio work, so Stevens has been relying on this ’90s Fender ’65 Twin Reverb reissue beefed up with Celestion Vintage 30s.
Clayton Stevens’ pedal paradise looks pretty typical, but in the bottom left corner you see a nondescript pedal that is actually a prototype for the collaboration he and fellow TA guitarist Nick Steinhardt worked on with Electronic Audio Experiments head honcho John Synder. The Limelight is a dual-channel od/boost that is the result of several conversations and decoding what circuits and functionality the guitarists wanted on a pedal. The unique circuit is loosely based on favorite elements from the Tube Screamer and Bluesbreaker. The band toured extensively in 2019 and the guitar duo used the prototypes as R&D.
The rest of the playground includes an Electronic Audio Experiments Longsword, an Ibanez Analog Delay Mini, a Mr. Black Eterna, a TC Electronic Flashback Mini, and a Mr. Black Mini Vintage Chorus. A Strymon Zuma powers everything, a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner keeps Stevens’ guitars in line, a Saturnworks Buffer (top right) fortifies his signal, and a Saturnworks switcher simplifies his different pedal combos.
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Perry Bean cut his teeth touring and playing in punk rock and hardcore bands, before he got his start in film. He worked his way up from lowly production assistant to become a producer, art director, and most recently, a music video director nominated for ACM, CMT, and CMA awards. Being Premier Guitar's Chief Videographer was a perfect fit for him, combining his two favorite things—guitars and cameras. Perry doesn't have free time, but his massive dog Beef pays his rent by being Perry's intern.
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