The Philly punkers balance tranquil with treacherous via a P-90-loaded Reverend ripper, a crucial, cascading ZVEX Double Rock, and a rabid, big-bass Rat clone.
About 10 years ago Mannequin Pussy bubbled up from the percolating Philly rock scene. Formed by guitarist/singer Marisa "Missy" Dabice and drummer Athanasios Paul, their primary calling card was a stinging combination of snippy and sizzling ragers.
The lineup was eventually filled out with Drew Adler (drums) and Colins "Bear" Regisford (bass). (Paul moved to lead guitar in 2013 and Kaleen Reading took over for drums in 2015. Ultimately, Paul left earlier this year after recording Perfect.)
Over the course of three albums and a remarkable brand-new EP, the band's sound has expanded, evolved, and deepened with more engaging melodies, gallant songwriting, and stouter song structures. Through time, gigs, and reps, Mannequin Pussy progressed beyond the linear rage often dished by young punks. The brazen, brash, locomotive charm in Marisa's lyrics and the band's expansive sound has become fully complemented by a refined approach with smoother, swelling dynamics and sharper care of their craft.
Touring in support of late 2019's Patience and the pandemic-produced 2021 EP Perfect (both released on Epitpah Records), Mannequin Pussy's Dabice and Regisford invited PG to Nashville's High Watt for a gear chat before their sold-out show during their first-ever headlining run. Just ahead of soundcheck, Missy gushed about her first P-90 guitar, while "Bear" admits that his Player Precision proves he should've always been a P dude. And they each detonate the boom with their own strategic stomp of stank.
(Sadly, shortly after this Rundown was filmed, on October 23, Mannequin Pussy had their van, gear, and band merch stolen from outside their Akron, Ohio hotel room. BrooklynVegan chronicled the disaster with some MP Instagram posts and a link to their GoFundMe page. Thankfully, the van and some merch have been recovered, however, all their equipment is still missing.)
During the band's last pre-shutdown tour, Missy broke a string on her Strat (more on that one in a minute). She didn't have a backup and the opener let her borrow their Reverend. From the first chord, she was hooked.
"The minute I plugged in this guitar, I looked around and said, 'What the fuck is this thing?!' [laughs] It sounded so good." She started investigating Reverend and quickly decided to treat herself to a brand-new Jetstream 390. While she only had the guitar for about a month when we filmed, she already appreciated how its Rev 9A5 P-90s were much quieter than her Strat single-coils. The band typically plays in standard (they wrote one song in drop A) and the 390 takes Ernie Ball 2215 Nickel Skinny Top/Heavy Bottom strings (.010–.052).
Mean Green
For the first six years of Mannequin Pussy, if you saw Missy, you saw this Strat. Three days before MP's first tour, her house was ransacked including her beloved Jaguar. ("It was the first guitar I spent real money on.")
She rushed down to a local Philly guitar store and scooped this Fender MIM Strat. The last half-dozen years she upgraded all its hardware and pickups, but it was still no match for the Rev Jetstream 390.
Bring It!
While recording 2016's Romantic, Missy plugged into the brother of this head. Loving how it sounded in the room and on tape, she asked the New Jersey homebuilder if he'd do another. The Dark Moon, a sun-yellow head has a circuit based on '70s Traynors. It rocks through a no-name 2x12 cabinet. Besides how good this amp sounds, the best part might be the "on" switch that's labeled "bring it." (The Drkmttr sticker is for a Nashville-based volunteer-run underground arts collective for artists of all kinds.)
Ambiance and Aggression
Mannequin Pussy lives life in the fast lane. Swift, succinct, missile-like songs full their catalog. On the flip side, there's a balance of beauty and buoyancy that counters the rage. The two personalities are encompassed on Missy's board. The anger comes from the ZVEX Double Rock Vexter and EarthQuaker Devices Hoof. The prettier mood breezes on the backs of the Strymon BigSky and Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy. A Boss VE-20 Vocal Performer Effects Processor further animates Missy's singing. And a Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 Plus juice the stomps while the Ernie Ball VPJR Tuner keeps her guitars in check.
Bear’s Goldilocks Bass
Regisford's lone bass on this run was a Fender Player Precision that's all stock except for an upgraded Badass bridge. He rides with Ernie Ball Power Slinkys (.055–.110) on it. Throughout the set Bear will switch between fingerstyle and hammering with a pick. When he gets rocking, he'll strum with a Dunlop Tortex .88 mm greenie.
Tiny but Mighty
After touring with lunky stacks, Colins was on the lookout for an amp that was portable but still blasted. His search ended when he encountered the Orange Terror Bass that belts out 500 watts and is relative of the favored AD200 Bass head. The diminutive dominator runs through a SWR Big Bertha 2x15 cab (covered by Deebo from Friday.)
Don’t Shred on Me, Bruh!
Bear was upfront and honest when going through his pedalboard explaining that the EQD Bit Commander and Afterneath plus the Boss DD-6 Digital Delay are just-for-fun effects. He will randomly kick them on throughout the set when he's feeling it. The key to his tectonic-shifting tone is the Abominable Electronics Don't Shred on Me that is a Rat clone (using the same LM308 chip) with some capacitor changes making it a low-end blanket of dirt and drive. Everything comes to life thanks to the Walrus Audio Aetos.
Hiatus Kaiyote are, from left to right, drummer Perrin Moss, bassist Paul Bender, keyboardist Simon Mavin, and singer-guitarist Nai Palm.
Photo by Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore
The Melbourne-based soul quartet used layered bass tracks, a pointy headstock guitar, old solid-state amps, samples, countermelodies, strange syncopations, and a Brazilian composer to create the complex and colorful Mood Valiant.
According to Paul Bender—bassist for the trippy yet eminently soulful Melbourne-based quartet, Hiatus Kaiyote—the band's live sets often meld into one continuous song. "I never really get a break in the set because we always play all our tunes together for some reason," he says. "I basically never stop playing. I don't have a moment where I am not doing something at any point in the set."
This all-in, throwdown approach is intrinsic to understanding what Hiatus Kaiyote is about. They'll follow an idea, no matter how obscure or complex, wherever it leads, which creates a through-composed structure that gives their music an otherworldly feel. They do have more conventional verse/chorus-type songs as well—"Chivalry Is Not Dead," and "Red Room" off their latest release, Mood Valiant, for example—but even there, the music oozes a loose, what-are-these-amazing-sounds-I'm-hearing energy.
Hiatus Kaiyote - 'Red Room' (Official Video)
Hiatus Kaiyote formed in 2011 and earned Grammy nominations in the R&B category for each of their first two releases before going on what was supposed to be a short hiatus in 2017. But that break seemed to extend indefinitely. During that time, lead singer and guitarist Nai Palm (born Naomi Saalfield) had a terrifying brush with breast cancer (now in remission). Then, with Mood Valiant almost completed, COVID hit and put everything on hold. Although for them, the silver lining was that they were able to isolate together. "We were wrapping it up when that shit went down," Bender says about the final sessions for the album. "We went into the bunker together. It kicked our ass into finishing the record, because there was nothing else to do."
"The biggest part of my attraction to guitars I like is the playability. If it feels good to play, I'm more likely to be motivated to write on it." —Nai Palm
Mood Valiant is the quartet's third full-length and continues their seemingly effortless fusion of jazz-like harmonies, electronic textures and patches, and subtle-yet-funky grooves. Added to the mix are lush string and horn arrangements from Brazilian composer Arthur Verocai (more about him in a minute), and an adventurousness that seems almost prog, as heard on songs such as the whirling and unpredictable "Rose Water," the beautiful piano ballad "Stone or Lavender," and the aforementioned experimental-yet-grounded "Chivalry Is Not Dead."
Bender is a driving force behind the band's groove. He's officially the bassist, but in addition to holding down the low end, he also covers upper-register chordal work—timbres and tones you'd expect from a guitar—as well as more ambient and spacious synth-like textures. He's not the band's only multitasker. Drummer Perrin Moss plays on a mutant kit that resembles a cross between a standard jazz-type setup with a large assortment of acoustic noisemakers, electronics, and keys. Keyboardist Simon Mavin lives in a space that combines vintage gear, samples, and modern pads, and Palm is guitarist and lead singer, although she'll often put the instrument down to focus on her complex and harmonically rich vocals.
Nai Palm subverts expectations—and makes a big style statement—by playing "gentle shit" on her Jackson Randy Rhoads V RRT3 Pro Series.
Photo by Stephan De Witt
"When I write songs alone from scratch, it's usually on a guitar," she says. "A big part of the motivation to play or not play depends on how the song feels emotionally, performance-wise. Guitar is super cerebral and focused, which I adore and I find a lot of freedom in, but it can be limiting singing because your brain is essentially doing two separate tasks. It's fun to keep my options open and not just be stuck to one thing."
Given the band's multidimensional spirit, it's no surprise that Bender has deep roots in various disciplines. His earliest experiences as a youngster were playing metal and grunge, but at one point he was halfway around the world, studying jazz at the University of Miami and cutting his teeth on upright bass.
Paul Bender's Gear
Bender's behemoth of a pedalboard.
Bass
Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo 6
Amps
Ampeg SVT heads and cabs
Vintage Coronets
Strings
Ernie Ball Slinky Long Scale 6-String Nickel Wound Electric Bass Strings (.032–.130)
Pedals
3Leaf Audio Octabvre
3Leaf Audio Wonderlove Envelope Filter
3Leaf Audio You're Doom Dynamic Harmonic Device
Chunk Systems Brown Dog Gated Bass Fuzz
DigiTech X-Series Synth Wah Envelope Filter
DigiTech Whammy
Ernie Ball VP JR Volume/Expression Pedal
Mooer Lofi Machine
Mooer Yellow Comp
MXR Bass Octave Deluxe
MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
MXR M109S Six Band EQ
MXR Talk Box
Roland RE-201 Space Echo
TC Electronic PolyTune
ZVex Box of Rock
"I don't really play the upright that much anymore," he says. "But there was a good period of time when that was my whole bag. I was really into playing upright—walking bass, changes, standards, all that stuff. I definitely went down that rabbit hole pretty hard. It's pretty unforgiving when you step away for a while. It is a distinct physical challenge, and there's a particular double bass fitness that you've got to maintain. You can't really put it down for a couple years and then expect to be any good at it again."
He stopped playing jazz around the time he joined Hiatus Kaiyote, although that's only broadened his horizons, as the band's music draws from so many disparate sources. The challenge, however, isn't just weaving those different pieces together. It's also pragmatic: reproducing their multilayered arrangements in a live setting as a four-piece.
"There is something lovely and distinct about the bass having a chordal function." —Paul Bender
"Simon's only got so many fingers that he can use to play different sounds," Bender says about recreating keyboard parts on bass. "Sometimes I'll try to cover a certain countermelody idea or a chordal idea on the bass, as well as provide the bass function. That can definitely inform the parts that I write. Sometimes it happens in the reverse, where we produce a track where I might have played a regular bass part, but then there will be a bunch of overdubs and a bunch of different things happening, and it's got to be filled out a little bit more. That might change how I approach the bass part in a live context. There are times where I like doing a regular kind of bassline, but I also love getting into the chordal thing, especially when you get into 6-string territory. There is something lovely and distinct about the bass having a chordal function. It can be a really awesome flavor."
But sometimes, the challenge is in the basslines themselves, like when the recorded version is a studio creation of multiple parts stitched together.
TIDBIT: The band flew to Brazil to record composer Arthur Verocai's string and horn arrangements for the songs "Get Sun" and "Stone or Lavender."
"I've definitely done stuff where I've done weird hybrid things," he says. "I'll make a bassline that is comprised of multiple basses making up the whole thing, which is fairly elaborate and stupid, but such a fun approach. I did that on the first record, Tawk Tomahawk, on that track 'Mobius Streak.' I had a Gretsch Electromatic on 'Chivalry Is Not Dead,' from the new record, in the verses, and a Kiesel fanned-fret, super-modern bass, because it has that super-aggressive top-end-y modern thing for the slap bass shit. On the recording, I do a lot more honing in on specific things. That's the time to pull out the very specific colors and accents that different basses give me."
But Bender's only interested in using a varied assortment of instruments when he's in the studio. Once he hits the highway, he's a minimalist and relies on one axe: a blue Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo 6. "I am not taking eight basses on the road," he says. "I am taking one, because … come on. We're not at that level of touring yet where I've got some guy at the side of the stage waiting to run out to hand me another bass for this song. I am not in Radiohead, which would be fun, but that's the pragmatic reality of it."
"I'll make a bassline that is comprised of multiple basses making up the whole thing, which is fairly elaborate and stupid, but such a fun approach." —Paul Bender
"It was partially due to [singer/songwriter and guitarist] Lianne La Havas, who called me on her birthday, drunk from Costa Rica, while I was looking for a guitar," Palm laughs, explaining how she ended up with her white Jackson V. "I went into the heavy metal guitar section to get some space to hear her, and after the call thought, 'Fuck, I'm going to try the spiky Randy Rhoads guitar.' A big part of the attraction was its playability. The action was great and I loved that you can get both a clean and gritty sound from it. I have super-little hands, and the D'Angelico—although it was a vibe—was super heavy. The biggest part of my attraction to guitars I like is the playability. If it feels good to play, I'm more likely to be motivated to write on it. I also love the juxtaposition of playing gentle shit on it. It pisses off the purist metal heads, but I like to think outside of the box." Palm prefers to pair her pointy Jackson with a Fender Twin Reverb.
When Palm plays guitar, she also only uses one instrument. For most of the last decade, that was a custom semi-hollow D'Angelico EX-SS, although a few years ago she made a radical switch, which, for the music she plays, is seemingly incongruous.
Paul Bender loves to experiment with basses and amps in the studio, but when it comes to playing live, he keeps it simple and relies upon his Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo 6, which he prefers to play through an Ampeg SVT.
Photo by Luke Kellett
For Bender, using different basses and layering parts is just one part of his unique approach to the studio. He also has a fun time with amps. On the road, he's content to rent an SVT—or comparable refrigerator-like unit—but in the studio, his mission is clarity and definition.
"If I've got to pick one amp to run the bass through, I am not going to go for a big amp," he says. "I have been getting into these little Coronet amps. They are quite small, and I am not going to blast the bottom end through it." The point is using the smaller amps—in this case, solid-state models from the '60s and '70s—to focus on details and relying on the direct line for the sub frequencies. "The interesting part of the sound, or the flavor, is more that midrange and presence you get pushing it through a smaller amp like a Coronet. I am trying to hear the distinct detail in what I am playing, and the fingers and the touch and the presence. Smaller amps are great when recording. It's a whole different realm. When I am doing a gig, I might be standing in front of the fridge, but in the studio, sometimes the smaller the amp, the better. It condenses the most interesting parts of the sound to that one little speaker."
Nai Palm's Gear
Photo by Luke Kellett
Guitar
Jackson Randy Rhoads V RRT3 Pro Series
Amp
Fender Twin Reverb
Strings
Ernie Ball Super Slinky (.009–.042)
Ernie Ball Regular Slinky (.010–.046)
Pedals
Electro-Harmonix POG2
Kink Guitar Pedals Straya Drive
Mooer Yellow Comp
MXR Echoplex Delay
MXR Reverb
MXR Sub Octave Bass Fuzz
MXR Uni-Vibe
TC Electronic PolyTune 3
Hiatus Kaiyote don't have many peers when it comes to their aesthetic and overall approach, although they did find a simpatico creative partner in legendary Brazilian composer and arranger Arthur Verocai, who contributed horn and string arrangements for "Get Sun" and "Stone or Lavender" on Mood Valiant. "We're kind of musical loners," Palm says. "If we work with someone creatively, they have to be able to contribute something uniquely themselves. He was the cherry on top of our album, and it really made the record sing."
To work with Verocai, the band flew to Brazil, played a few shows to cover costs, and met up with him. As it was, showing up in the studio in Rio was not only the first time they met, but the first time they heard his arrangements. It was a risk, but they weren't disappointed.
"If we work with someone creatively, they have to be able to contribute something uniquely themselves." —Nai Palm
"He had a really awesome energy," Bender says. "We got to know him during the session and got to see him at work conducting and rehearsing and recording the ensemble. It was great. We had no idea what he was going to write at all. We thought, 'Hopefully it is going to be cool and we're all going to love it, because otherwise it is going to be fucking awkward if we don't.' But he nailed."
There is a limit to how far Hiatus Kaiyote are willing to push the envelope. Sure, they'll obsess over tones, allow their songs to take them on intricate musical journeys, partner sight-unseen with Brazilian composers, and fly across oceans to collaborate. But they're still an Australian-based band, and there's only so much stuff they're willing to take on the road.
"Fuck flying from Australia with a bass amp," Bender says. "That's a horrible idea. Although if we were Iron Maiden and we had our own plane, that would be a whole different jam."
Hiatus Kaiyote: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
Hiatus Kaiyote enlist an eclectic—and, in some cases, furry—crew of friends and collaborators for this colorful Tiny Desk (Home) Concert, featuring music from Mood Valiant.
See how these bad hombres bridge Texas boogie and mystic Birmingham vibes with stylish, striking 6-strings—including a signature Reverend goldtop—and boisterous British behemoths.
There's no doubt ZZ Top trademarked Texas boogie. And over 30 years later, the Sword furthered the Lonestar shuffle's legacy by darkening it.
The Austin outfit's 2006 debut Age of Winters combined the rhythmic bounce of Tres Hombres with the power and might of Master of Reality. The cross-pollination of Gibbons and Iommi continued in 2008's Gods of the Earth, with heavier right-hand picking and tempos shading towards thrash-y Priest and Thin Lizzy's "Emerald." Traces of proggy psychedelia, like 2112 Rush and late-'70s Genesis, turned 2010's concept album Warped Riders into a swirling voyage of sci-fi conquest and space exploration, with the music matching the otherworldly narrative. And 2012's Apocryphon saw the band settle into themselves, collectively cherry-picking all the things that worked on the previous three albums. Songs like "Cloak of Feathers" and the title track show their musical certainty. High Country, from three years later, showcases a once-singular-sounding band finding a home between Houston and Birmingham that could be best classified as classic mid-'70s hard rock. And 2018's Used Future—as its cover depicts—shows the band comfortably, calmly, confidently pressing the accelerator of their Bombshell Betty 1952 Buick Super Riviera and racing towards their own horizon.
This fall 2021 run had the Sword members—J.D. Cronise (guitar/vocals), Kyle Shutt (guitars), Bryan Richie (bass/keyboards), and Santiago "Jimmy" Vela III (drums)—handling double duty, with a headline tour woven around opening shows for Primus.
Before their top-of-the-bill show at Nashville's Mercy Lounge, Shutt, Cronise, and Richie showed PG how consolidating gear (and volume) has helped them sharpen their blade.
Since our last encounter, in 2014, the Sword guitarist Kyle Shutt has been honored with his very own Reverend Signature KS-1 model. The latest iteration is this eye-catching golden axe that comes with Rev's typical formula—korina body (with a maple cap), 3-piece korina neck, and their bass contour control. (The asymmetrical center block is 1" wider on the bass side than Reverend's similar Manta Ray.)
Standing it apart from other Rev doublecuts and offering some of Kyle's tonal thumbprint is the additional master volume (for stutter effects) and the inclusion of his signature Railhammer humbuckers. The bridge model has similar output and clarity to their Hyper Vintage 'bucker, but aims to add in smoother highs and a thicker tone overall. The neck Humcutter is voiced to mimic a hot P-90, but Kyle wanted it beefed up to match the output of his bridge pickup, so he didn't have to adjust settings. (In the Rundown, he mentions Tom Scholz's DiMarzio Super Distortions and 1968 Gibson Les Paul goldtop as reference points for this collaboration with Reverend.)
Kyle plugs into his Laney with a Ray Raydecker custom cable, strings it up with Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottom Slinkys (.010–.052), and is tuned to C standard.
Heads Up!
Other hallmarks of Shutt's sig is that the headstock was the first Reverend to feature an abalone inlay logo, and his John Hancock is etched into the truss rod cover. (All the previous models had the logo painted on, and most of their sig models don't have a truss rod cover.)
Burst Me, Bro!
Here's a Shutt signature Rev that backs up the Venetian gold model—finished with a metallic alpine burst.
Longtime Laney Love
Shutt states that he fired up this Laney AOR Series Pro-Tube Lead head for 2006's Age of Winters, 2008's Gods of the Earth, 2010's Warp Riders, and 2012's Apocryphon, but admits it's not his amp. It belongs to Sword bassist Bryan Richie.
Hey Cabby!
Shutt runs Richie's AOR Series Pro-Tube Lead head into a (beautifully) stripped Marshall 1960B straight 4x12 loaded with a quad of Celestion G12H Creamback 75W 12" speakers.
Shutt up and Stomp!
Kyle's pedal playland keeps it classic with just a Dunlop Cry Baby 95Q Wah, a signature Idiotbox Effects Wild Kyle distortion, and an EarthQuaker Devices Levitation reverb. A Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner keeps his Reverends in check.
JD-V
Cofounding frontman and the Sword's main lyric scribe J.D. Cronise has always been attracted to outliers. This mid-2000s Gibson 1967 Flying V reissue caught his eye while on tour in support of Apocryphon. (He believes the V was built in either 2005 or 2007.)
He's upgraded the hardware, pickguard, and adopted a set of DiMarzios (originally a Super Distortion and a Super 2, and now a pair of PAF 36th Anniversary humbuckers). Like Kyle, he rides in C standard all night and laces on Ernie Ball Mondo Slinkys (.0105–.052).
Billy-Bo for Texas
When the once-all-Texas band boogie on ZZ Top's "Cheap Sunglasses" each night (a cover included on 2012's Apocryphon), Cronise struts with this Gretsch G6199TW Limited Edition Round Up Billy-Bo Jupiter Thunderbird that was an exclusive run for Fuller's Guitars in Houston. (Very fitting, since the original tres hombres started rocking H-town in the late '60s.) It still has stock TV Jones Power'Tron pickups and carries enough swag to be a museum piece or swing all Saturday night at Billy Bob's Texas. He tunes it to Eb standard, but uses a DigiTech Drop pedal to morph it to C. For the tighter tuning, he wraps on Ernie Ball Primo Slinkys (.0095 –.044).
Decked Out
Check out some of the intricate, cowboy-and-Western-themed inlays.
And Ready to Dance
The Billy-Bo's classy golden knobs radiate in the orange finish and you can see a few of its bronze, circular rivets on its side.
Last time he was hauling a pair of Orange cabs (4x12 and 2x12), but this time Cronise opted to bring his 1990s Marshall JCM 900 Lead Series 1960A slant 4x12 that has a quartet of Celestion G12H Creamback 75W 12" speakers.
Packed Pedal Playground
JD maximizes his flight-friendly board by filling nearly every square inch with an effect. His guitar hits the TC Electronic PolyTune 3 before reaching a pair of necessary oddballs—the aforementioned DigiTech Drop and an Electro-Harmonix Freeze. The bottom row contains the basic food groups for most rockers: Way Huge Conspiracy Theory (drive), EarthQuaker Devices Tone Job (EQ), MXR Phase 90 (modulation), MXR Carbon Copy (delay), and EHX Holy Grail (reverb). The Rocktron HUSH pedal helps control any unwanted noises and buzzing.
Friends at First Sight
When bassist Bryan Richie joined the Sword in 2004, he brought this 1994 Fender MIM Jazz bass. (He was 14 at the time.) Richie's made just two improvements to his first ride: He dropped in some Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound Jazz Bass pickups and screwed in a Leo Quan Badass II Bass bridge. The thin neck and lightweight body are a pair of reasons he continues to grab it, despite a bounty of options. And he plays with Ernie Ball Power Slinky Bass strings (.055–.110).
Ample Amp
Reducing from a SVT stack and 300W Verellen Meat Smoke, Richie now travels with this Ampeg V-4B. For years Richie, would hit the road with a fridge-sized 8x10, but now he matches his V-4B with an Ampeg 4x10 cabinet.
Warp Riders on the Taurus
"Producer Matt Bayles put a bunch of keyboard shit on the record [Warp Riders], and afterwards we wondered 'who was gonna play that?'" Bryan Richie raised his hand and put his feet to work on this Moog Taurus III.
More Moog
Bryan really only has one pedal—a Moog MF Drive. The other stomps are a Peterson StroboStomp and a Radial J48 1-channel Active 48V Direct Box.
