
Goose, from left: Trevor Weeks, Peter Anspach, Rick Mitarotonda, Jeff Arevalo (standing), and Ben Atkind (seated).
With a rep for energetic live improvisations, the jammers explore the potential of the recording studio and lean toward their indie-rock influences on their latest album.
“What I love the most about it is the magic and the lore,” says Rick Mitarotonda, discussing his passion for jamming. “It’s a rabbit hole, and you can go as deep as you want. And you never really reach the end of it. It speaks to that magical dream quality, the way the shows travel to these different places.”
As guitarist and vocalist for Goose, Mitarotonda has spent his time in the improvisational trenches. Founded in 2014 in Norwalk, Connecticut, the band—which also includes guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist Peter Anspach, bassist Trevor Weeks, drummer Ben Atkind, and percussionist Jeff Arevalo—has ascended in the jam-band scene. Like other groups in the genre, the quintet has built their following on their performances, where they dive deep into improvisational jams. In 2019, they got their first taste of widespread success, when the video of their set at the Peach Music Festival in Scranton, Pennsylvania, racked up hundreds of thousands of views.
Goose - Dripfield (Official Music Video)
“The thing about this genre is you don’t bat a thousand, whatsoever,” Mitarotonda continues. “It’s not feasible. You can’t be ‘on’ every night when you’re improvising in a very intense and constant way. But when it’s there, when the magic strikes, there’s nothing like it.”
On their third full-length studio album, Dripfield, Goose channel their vibrant live energy and transforms it into a new iteration of their sound. This time around, they headed into the studio with exploratory ears to collaborate with producer D. James Goodwin, whose influence largely shaped the sonics of the record.
“We wanted to find a producer who was on the same wavelength, but also was going to take our music to a different place sonically.” —Peter Anspach
Dripfield is addictive. The band’s stellar musicianship, infectious enthusiasm, and songwriting, which bursts with funk but is woven together with indie rock threads, form a joyous syzygy that demands repetition. The title track sets a cosmic stage, with an arpeggiated synthesizer backed by a simple, powerful drum pattern, which leads into a sweeping, reverb-laden vocal. “Arrow” shifts seamlessly between a pumping, horn-driven groove and softer, atmospheric passages, while “Moonrise” takes on a more traditional acoustic-ballad format. The album radiates influences from across the more creative ends of rock, including My Morning Jacket, the Grateful Dead, Fleet Foxes, and a bit of Pink Floyd. But mixed with the band’s improvisational language, it becomes a sound all their own.
In the wake of the release of their 2021 studio album, Shenanigans Nite Club, the band was feeling a bit drained. The production process had been long, taking several years to complete. Despite how it captures the band’s live dynamic, there was a lot that went into it behind the scenes to achieve that effect. “Shenanigans is very much a jam-band record,” says Mitarotonda. “But there’s a real irony to that record, in that I spent an absurd amount of hours editing and tinkering with it.”
For Dripfield, Goose called on producer D. James Goodwin to help them approach the studio with fresh ears. “I think he was actively trying to subvert the typical jam-band song,” says Mitarotonda.
Understandably, Goose was ready to find a new approach for their next album. As Anspach shares, they were thinking that collaborating with a producer might be the solution. “I was watching that Taylor Swift documentary [Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions] where she worked on those folkier albums, and you see the collaborations going on in the studio that allowed her to get to that place,” Anspach says. “There’s a lot of interesting parallels there between a lot of our favorite albums. We wanted to find a producer who was on the same wavelength, but also was going to take our music to a different place sonically.”
After talking to a few different producers, Goose connected with D. James Goodwin, whose credits include Bob Weir, Devo, Kaki King, and Murder by Death. Creative trust was established almost immediately. “The first conversation we had with Dan, I was like, ‘Oh, this is the guy,’” says Mitarotonda. “I was very much at a point where I felt like I didn’t have the right ideas to break us out of the box. You establish a box and then you become claustrophobic in it. And he was the right person to basically light the box on fire in the studio.”
Rick Mitarotonda’s Gear
Rick Mitarotonda, seen here with his PRS Hollowbody II Piezo, feels like the band has become the organic rock improvisational ensemble he’s long aspired for them to be. “When the downbeat of a new phrase is approaching,” he says, “I can cue, without looking at anyone, if I want it to resolve or not. It’s fun stuff.”
Guitars
- PRS Hollowbody II Piezo
- Fender Eric Johnson Stratocaster
Amplifier
- Mesa/Boogie Express 5:50 50-watt 2x12 combo
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL (.010 sets)
- Dawg Mandolin Pick by David Grisman
Effects
TC Helicon Play Electric vocal and guitar effects processor
TC Electronic PolyTune
Dunlop Cry Baby
DigiTech Whammy 5
Mu-Tron Micro-Tron IV
Strymon OB.1 Compressor
Love Pedal Eternity overdrive
MXR Carbon Copy Deluxe
Strymon Deco Tape Saturation & Doubletracker
MXR Analog Chorus
Strymon El Capistan
Strymon TimeLine
Strymon NightSky
Strymon Flint
TC Electronic Ditto X4 Looper
“We went back and forth with him, sending him a bunch of live recordings of the songs,” Anspach elaborates. “As he was going through, he was telling us, ‘I see a way into that song,’ or, ‘I don’t really see a way into this one.’ He was looking at it through the lens of, ‘How can I reconceptualize this song and put it in an interesting style that would take it to a new place.’ He ended up coming back like, ‘This is what the strongest 10 songs are; this should be an album.’”
Once they hit the studio, the band took a new approach to much of that material, experimenting with new arrangements and instrumentation under Goodwin’s guidance. “He had a lot of ideas about just crafting the things and pushing them in different directions,” says Mitarotonda, “which was really exciting for us.”
One song that went through a significant shift is the seven-minute blues-funk jammer “Hot Tea.” “When we play it live, it’s fast, disco funk. And he was like, ‘I can’t listen to that for eight minutes straight. I just can’t do it. We have to slow it down,’” says Anspach, laughing. “But we had an open mind. And as soon as we heard the drum sounds coming through, we were like, ‘Yeah, this is legit.’
Rig Rundown: Goose's Peter Anspach and Rick Mitarotonda
Goose tracked the song, then did a full-band overdub on top “doing different things. At one point he [Goodwin] was like, ‘Everybody play this rhythm,’” Anspach describes, clapping out the idea. “We played it through the whole track on our different instruments, and then he kept the clavichord and a cowbell for various parts and got rid of the rest.”
“I think he was actively trying to subvert the typical jam-band song,” adds Mitarotonda. “If you listen to the way we play ‘Arrow’ live—and we still do play it live that way because it works, it’s fun—it sounds like a jam-band song. And he heard that song for the first time, and I think all he heard was its clothes. He wasn’t interested in it at first, and then he listened to it more, and then I guess heard the song within the clothes and became interested in it. There’s that section in 7/4, and he had the idea of pursuing the Afrobeat, horn-driven thing. Dripfield doesn’t sound like a jam-band record—it’s not like what we do live. But at the same time, there was a lot of improvising in the studio in a different way, which was a lot of fun.”
“You can’t be ‘on’ every night when you’re improvising in a very intense and constant way.” —Rick Mitarotonda
Both guitarists take different approaches to their gear, and particularly how they apply effects. Mitarotonda plays his PRS Hollowbody II Piezo through a Mesa/Boogie Express 5:50 50-watt 2x12 combo and two pedalboards, but says, “Often I don’t have a lot of patience for gear. I see the effects almost as a way to open up new doors improvising, but sometimes it feels like a crutch. Sometimes [during a jam], when I feel like I’m hitting a wall, I’m like, ‘Kick on an effect; maybe that’ll juice things up.’ Then I think, ‘No, figure it out. Keep trying to find something that is unique musically instead of just falling back on effects because you can.
“But that’s not exclusively true,” he acknowledges. “It’s a different means of exploration than just searching for things musically. It makes me think of Radiohead, where so much of what makes up the substance of that band is sonics: searching and discovering strange instruments and sounds and crafting songs around that, as opposed to songs being driven purely by melody and harmony and lyrics. I see them as different pursuits.”
Peter Anspach’s Gear
Goose goes big! Ever since 2019’s Peach Festival, the band has found itself in a much larger spotlight. “It’s something to get used to,” says guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist Peter Anspach.
Photo by Adam Berta
Guitars
- Suhr Mateus Asato Signature Classic
- Fender American Vintage ’62 StratocasterCustom T-style thinline built by Goose percussionist Jeff Arevalo
Amplifiers
- Fender ’64 Custom Deluxe Reverb
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario NYXL (.010 sets)
- D’Addario 1mm (medium/heavy)
Effects
- TC Electronic PolyTune 2
- Dunlop Cry Baby
- Keeley Compressor Plus
- Chase Bliss Mood
- Moog Moogerfooger MF-101
- Electro-Harmonix Small Stone
- Ibanez TS9 w/Analog Man mod
- Analog Man King of Tone
- Chase Bliss Tonal Recall
- Strymon TimeLine
- Strymon Flint
- Chase Bliss Dark World
Anspach, who plays a Suhr Mateus Asato Signature Classic with a humbucker bridge pickup through a Fender ’64 Custom Deluxe Reverb, has a different take on effects. “I try to keep my pedalboard as consolidated as possible. But I think I have 10 or 11 stompboxes,” he explains. “Since I got into Tame Impala early on, I’ve had way more effects on my board in the past than I do now,” he elaborates. “But I love delay. I’ve written songs where delay is part of the main riff. Without the delay there, there is no song. Effects are definitely important to my sound.”
While each guitarist fills his board with options, neither is overly lavish about their effects, which may help them stay focused on what seems to matter most: being responsive, sensitive collaborators. And over their eight years as a band, Goose have gotten so used to playing with one another that they can communicate through musical cues alone. “One of the coolest parts about this, just from doing it for a bunch of years, is how many things are communicated when we’re improvising without any sort of visual cue at all,” Mitarotonda shares. “The whole tension and release thing is something I’ve wanted for years to figure out. And now it’s really pretty easy: When the downbeat of a new phrase is approaching, I can cue, without looking at anyone, if I want it to resolve or not. It’s fun stuff.”
“I think he was actively trying to subvert the typical jam-band song.” —Rick Mitarotonda
The best jamming, arguably, happens when the performers are taking risks. Inevitably, however, that involves making mistakes—so what do you do when you play a phrase you’re not happy with? “Be like a goldfish,” says Anspach, laughing. “I have been thinking a lot about this recently. If you mess up and you get in your head about it, you end up affecting the rest of your performance. But if people in the crowd are having a great time, and you look out and you realize this is a really special moment for them, you get over [your mistakes] pretty fast.”
Although it’s been a few years since the famous Peach Music Festival video launched Goose into a bigger spotlight, the fame that the guitarists have been experiencing is still fresh, and they agree that it can be existentially jarring. “It’s something to get used to,” says Anspach. “Relationships change with other people in your life, and that’s weird. It’s something I’ve been dealing a lot with recently. It’s incredible and I wouldn’t change it for anything, but life is different. People look at you a different way and you’re a different person to them, but you’re the same person to yourself.”
The band’s close dynamic makes a massive difference in coping with those stresses. As Anspach shares, “It definitely helps everything off-stage, dealing with life and whatever else, when you have this brotherhood of people who are able to get on the same page in a musical way. Everything else in life becomes a little bit easier. I can handle anything at that point.”
Goose - Hot Tea - 11/19/21 Aspen, CO
Seen here in Colorado, Goose perform “Hot Tea” in its upbeat disco-funk live form, which underwent significant arrangement changes for its appearance on Dripfield.
- Rig Rundown: Goose ›
- Pedalboards - Premier Guitar ›
- Jam Band - Premier Guitar ›
- Mateus Asato and Cory Wong Podcast - Premier Guitar ›
- Robbie Robertson—Canadian Father of Americana - Premier Guitar ›
The tiniest TS on Earth has loads of practical upside and sounds that keep pace with esteemed overdrive company.
Solid Tube Screamer tones in a microscopic machine. Light and easy to affix to anything.
Small enough to lose easily! Vulnerable in the presence of heavy steppers?
$99
Olinthus Cicada
olinthus.com
The Olinthus Cicada’s Tube Screamer-on-a-postage-stamp concept is a captivating one. But contemplating the engineering impetus behind it begs questions: How much area does the pedal and mandatory/included TRRS breakout cable actually conserve? Where do you situate it in relation to other pedals so you can actually tap the bypass—which is the pedal enclosure itself! Would my neighbor’s cat eat it? As it turns out, there’s many good reasons for the Cicada to be.
For starters, small size and light weight on this order are a big deal. Flying with gear is stupid expensive. So, for players that don’t relish the antiseptic aspects of modeling, this micro-analog middle path could be a sensible one. Altogether, pedal and cable are about the size of a set of keys. You can stuff it all in a pocket, put clean laundry in your gig bag, and tour for a while, as long as the rain doesn’t soak your shoes.
All this assumes you roll with very small and very few additional effects. But if you can survive on overdrive alone, you can stick a little adhesive to the back—tape, Velcro, bubblegum, etc.—and affix the Cicada to almost anything. It sounds really good, too! A classic TS application—Fender combo and Stratocaster—yields soulful blues smoke. The same Fender amp and an SG means dynamite, raunchy, and rich Mick Taylorisms. It even does the Iommi stomp pretty well at high gain! I’m still not sure if the Cicada is a solution for a less-than-pressing engineering problem. Nevertheless, it opens up real practical possibilities and sounds more than legit in the process.
Always the drummer, Grohl thinks of the Foos’ approach to guitar parts as different limbs. Shiflett handles the 8th-note movement, Grohl pounds on the backbeats, and Smear simply crushes the downbeat. The result has shaped stadium rock for decades.
For the first time, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Chris Shiflett discuss their shared 6-string history, breakdown some Foos riffs, and give insight on 30 years of rock and roll.
Over the past 30 years, Foo Fighters have become one of the most influential and important bands in rock and roll. Through countless gigs from clubs and theaters to arenas and stadiums, the trio of Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Chris Shiflett have developed a vocabulary that at this point comes together naturally. It’s a shared language that is always present but rarely (if ever) discussed. Until now.
Back in February, the trio convened in Studio 607 for a sitdown that is destined to be an instant classic among Shred with Shiftydiehards. Below are a few excerpts from the conversation—edited for clarity—that hit on what first inspired Dave and Pat to pick up a guitar, why there was so much feedback at Germs gigs, and that one time they ran into Joe Bonamassa at Guitar Center. You can watch the full episode on YouTube, where they break down “Hey, Johnny Park!,” “La Dee Da,” “Rope,” and so much more. — Jason Shadrick
Chris Shiflett: Alrighty, fellas, let's jump into it. You're in the hot seat now.
Dave Grohl: Oh God. Here we go.
Shiflett: Let's start off easy. What are you playing today?
Grohl: This is my signature DG-335 Epiphone and it's fucking rad. Love it. Been playing it on tour.
Pat Smear: It's not even out.
Dave: Is it not out yet?
Smear: No. Only rumors.
Shiflett: For the sake of this interview, it might be out by the time this airs, so we could be in a time machine. Pat, how did you go from being a guy who famously borrowed guitars at Germs gigs, didn't own one of your own, to the man we see here today with a barn full of guitars?
Smear: That's why, because I didn't even have my own guitar, so I'm like, well, now I need two.
Shiflett: … hundred … thousand. [laughs]. What are you playing today?
Smear: I am playing prototype number one, made by Mike McGuire from the Gibson Custom Shop. It's a Mini Barney Kessel Triburst prototype from 2011. May 11th, 2011.
Shiflett: Do you also have a baritone back there?
Smear: I do. My Hagstrom baritones are on tour, so that's my SG baritone. It's a funny guitar. I'm told that it was originally going to be a Buckethead model, his new model, and he just disappeared. So, they put it out as a baritone.
Grohl: He flew the coop?
Shiflett: When you first came back to the Foos, why did you land on a baritone so much of the time? Had you played much baritone prior to that?
Smear: I played one a little bit. I played one on The Color and the Shape album. That sounded great, but I never played it live. But then, what am I going to do? There are already two guitar players. When we were doing Wasting Light, I'm like, “What am I going to fit in here? Well, nobody's playing baritone. I'll pull that out.”
Grohl: And that’s the story of the Foo Fighters. [laughs]
Shiflett: What made you guys want to be guitar players in the first place? Because probably a lot of people don't know that the guitar actually came before drums, right?
Grohl: Yeah. My father was a classically trained flautist, and my mother bought him a nylon-string, which I don't think he ever played, but it sat in the corner of the room like a piece of furniture, and by the time I got to it I was maybe like eight or nine years old and it maybe had two or three strings on it. I picked it up and played “Smoke on the Water” or something like that. I understood where to put my hands on the frets, and then I was like, “wow, this is cool.”
Shiflett: Did you ever take lessons?
Grohl: I took a few lessons when I first started playing, and I was disappointed because I wanted to learn how to play chords so I could play along to things. I could hear the songs and sort of figure them out, but I was stuck with just getting my little-kid stuff together. And then the teacher started to try to teach me classical. I remember he taught me this thing. [plays short classical piece].
Smear: It worked! It's still there.
Grohl: I was like, fuck that shit.
“I don't even know what a good guitar sound is, but I do know when I play an old Trini through the Tone Master, I really have control over what I'm doing.” — Dave Grohl
Shiflett: What about you, Pat? What made you want to be a guitar player?
Smear: It was my sister Ingrid, who is a couple of years older. She had a nylon-string acoustic guitar in the house. I had those forced piano lessons when I was a kid, and I would cry through the whole thing. I hated it so much, and then I picked up the guitar and I'm like, “Oh, well, that's my thing.” But it was really [Alice Cooper’s] Love it to Death. That picture on the back cover. I'm like, I want to do this. I want to play that.
Shiflett: It's funny how that still informs your guitar choices. Who would you consider your primary guitar influences?
Grohl: I really liked Ace Frehley. I mean, I had a Beatles chord book, and that's where I was learning to play chords and stuff, but I never saw footage of the Beatles playing when I was eight or nine. I just thought Ace was so fucking cool looking, and I loved the way he stood, and I loved his Les Paul, and I thought that I could be a guitarist and look like him without all the fucking heels and the makeup and shit.
Smear: I don't know that I had one. I had a bunch. I had all the usual ones, but I thought Mick Ronson was the coolest, but as far as the playing, it was the Alice Cooper guys.
It wasn’t until the band started recording Wasting Light, that Pat Smear dived into the baritone guitar. “What am I going to fit in here?” thought Smear. “Well, nobody's playing baritone. I'll pull that out.”
Shiflett: When did you figure out that you needed a certain kind of gear to make it sound like the record?
Dave: It's funny. My mother bought me a Silvertone, like an old one from Sears with an amp in the case and everything, and it was cool. But then I found out about a distortion pedal. I don't know how, but I think I was in a music store and I saw one, and I said to my mom, I was like, “oh my God, mom, can I get it?” It was 30 bucks. It was an MXR. And I was like, “This is going to make it sound so much better.” And she's like, “Oh, good.” And we buy it and bring it home. After I plugged it in, she was like, “I thought you said it was going to make it sound good!”
Shiflett: It's distorting the sound. [Laughs]
Dave: Yeah, it doesn't sound good.
Shiflett: I had a little solid-state practice amp, and I'd go home and I'd try to play whatever I learned in my lesson and it wouldn't grit up at all. And you'd just kind of be confused. Why doesn't this sound like the Ozzy record? It doesn’t sound right!
Smear: I know! I never knew anything about that part of it.
Grohl: Well, you didn't even have any fucking gear. [Laughs]
Smear: I didn't even have gear. I didn't have a guitar. I didn't have an amp.
Shiflett: What was the time that you showed up at a Germs show and had to borrow somebody else's gear?
Smear: Well, that happened all the time, but the worst one was we were playing with X and I broke my guitar in the first song, and so I'm like, “I need Billy Zoom's guitar!” And, dude, I found out he was hiding in some closet with his guitar saying, “Keep him away from my fucking guitar.” I'm all drunk. I think somebody just taped it back together and we were okay.
Grohl: Is this why there was always so much fucking feedback at Germs gigs? You had no pedals, you would just crank the amp?
Smear: Well, if there was a pedal, I would just step on it and leave it there. And my favorite when I hear old tapes is tuning full volume with the pedal on.
Shiflett: Well, let's talk a little bit about your live rigs that you've gotten nowadays and how that's kind of changed over the years.
Smear: Yeah, Dave, talk about your live rig. [Laughs]
Grohl: Okay, just a disclaimer. I don't know a fucking thing. At first I was playing a Marshall, it was like a JCM 900 or something like that. For the first [Foo Fighters] album, that's what I was playing.
Shiflett: Pedals? No pedals?
Grohl: I really think I only had a RAT pedal and a fucking tuner. I don't think I had any delays or phasers or anything yet. I think I just had a RAT. Then eventually the Mesa/Boogies came along and it was like Dual Rectifiers and 4x12s and that kind of stuff. And then eventually I found one of those [Fender] Tone Masters at Norman’s [Rare Guitars]. And he was like, “These are great, man. This is what Aerosmith used on all of their cool shit.” I've stuck with them ever since. And the thing is that, I mean, I don't even know what a good guitar sound is, but I do know when I play an old Trini through that, I really have control over what I'm doing. I don't have any volume pedals or anything like that. I've got four channels of clean to dirty.
Shiflett: You do have a pretty straightforward live set up. Not a ton of pedals, just phaser and delay and a couple of things.
Grohl: And I can roll [the volume knob] a lot. I mean, that's the thing with the Trini is that they're kind of reactive. They're dynamic and you can make them do …
Shiflett: It leaves a lot in your hands.
Grohl: It does. And especially when you're running around the stage and I don't have 20 seconds to get back to a pedalboard, then I could just roll up and down and just do it in the hands.
“But it was really [Alice Cooper’s] Love it to Death. That picture on the back cover. I'm like, I want to do this. I want to play that.” — Pat Smear
Shiflett: It's interesting. When I joined the band I was playing through a Dual Rectifier and I think you were playing through a Dual Rectifier live, but I was surprised to learn that for Nothing Left to Lose you had used the Trini and old vintage AC-30s and Memory Man, and Hiwatts, so your studio thing and your live thing were very different.
Grohl: I remember having that conversation with my guitar tech at the time, and the justification was basically, if one of those things goes down while we're on the road, we're kind of screwed. And so the Rectifiers were really consistent and you didn't have a lot of problems with them, and if you needed to find another one, they were easy to find.
Smear: And they'd send them like that. [snaps fingers]
Grohl: Yeah, they'd be really quick. And we were just doing that because we were blazing through gigs so much.
Shiflett: I don't remember which tour cycle it was, but there was just a point where when you got that Tone Master and I came in with a Friedman and a something else or an AC, I forget what it was, all of a sudden it went from that to this completely other tone thing live.
Smear: We all had the Mesas.
Grohl: I think we had gotten to the point where we all had sort of three different sounds and three different duties in the band, and so we all started to focus more on that.
Both Grohl and Shiflett are armed with their respective signature guitars. Grohl’s recently released Epiphone DG-335 has been long requested by fans, while Shiflett’s Tele Deluxe will soon get a refresh.
Shiflett: I never had any effect pedals until I joined the band. Can you believe that?
Grohl: Wow.
Shiflett: Never, never played with a delay pedal or a flanger or any of that stuff in my life. And when we first started doing those rehearsals and there were songs like “Aurora” and “Generator” and stuff that had some color, that was when I had to first learn how to do that.
Grohl: I think that a lot of what we do comes from the studio. When we go in to record songs, the basic idea is usually pretty simple and we'll pull that together and then we start to color it with different things, different sections of the song, different effects, different tones, and things like that. And also the arrangement or composition of the three of us doing what we do since we don't want to just do the same thing all the time. I think it took 15 or 20 years for us to figure out the recipe or combination of what we do.
Shiflett: I wanted to talk to you about, “Hey, Johnny Park!” I remember when I bought that record, putting that song on and the big drums came in and then the guitars kicked in, it's like a guitar solo and there wasn't a lot of that in your music, and there really wasn't a lot of that even in alternative rock at that time. I was listening to the recorded version last night and it sounds like maybe it's like a Big Muff or something in that part? Do you remember what guitars you were playing? What amps, pedals, all that sort of stuff?
Grohl: I'm sure on that I was playing through a combination of amps. I think one was old Marshall. I think another might've been a Hiwatt. I don't remember what we had in there.
Smear: The only amp I remember was when you used that smokey cigarette amp. I don't even remember what song it was. But you used that on something.
Shiflett: What was your main go-to guitar back then?
Grohl: I was using the Trini a lot.
Shiflett: Oh, you had it even back then?
Grohl: Yeah, I got the Trini before Foo Fighters. I got it at this place called Southworth Guitars in Bethesda, Maryland, and there was a row of 335s and they're all red. They all kind of looked the same. And then there was this one with this different headstock and it had these diamond f-holes. I knew nothing about it. I didn't know anything about Trini Lopez. And it turned out great. It's the same one that I've used on fucking everything.
Shiflett: How many Trinis do you have? Vintage old ones?
Grohl: Maybe like five or six of them.
Shiflett: I didn't know if you were the Joe Bonamassa of Trinis.
Grohl: No, I’m not the Joe Bonamassa of anything.
Shiflett: I bet Joe Bonamassa is probably the Joe Bonamassa of Trinis. [Laughs.] That reminds me. My favorite guitar shopping moment with Pat was when we were making the last album and we were sitting there and we ran over to the rock and roll Guitar Center, and we went into the vintage room and we're looking at guitars.
Smear: Was Bonamassa there taking apart a Strat?
Shiflett: Yes, but the part that always sticks in my head is there was a 1997 Les Paul and they called it “vintage.” I was like, what? Really? God, how fucking vintage are we? [Laughs.]
Grohl: I just think we’re “used.”Limited edition Squier Stratocaster features iconic Hello Kitty design, high-quality craftsmanship, and versatile tones.
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“As a cultural ambassador, Hello Kitty has been influencing a variety of industries, including music for 50 years,” said Craig Takiguchi, Chief Operating Officer of Sanrio, Inc. “In today’s dynamic landscape, where music and entertainment are constantly merging and inspiring each other, Fender’s legacy, and deep connection to pop culture uniquely positions them to become an even bigger part of our fans’ lives. We’re excited to partner with Fender to give our community new, creative ways to express themselves through these iconic quality instruments and supercute accessories, continuing to bring our vision of ‘One World, Connecting Smiles’ to life on a global scale.
The Fender x Hello Kitty 50th Anniversary Collection includes a Limited Edition Squier Stratocaster guitar and a Fuzz Pedal, alongside eye-catching accessories such as an electric pink instrument cable, gig bag, and a collection of unisex clothing. From Hello Kitty-themed straps to pick tins, hoodies, tees and trucker hats, these items celebrate the spirit of creativity, inclusion and fun that defines both brands.
Available globally, the Squier Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster builds on the success of the original, blending substance with style. First introduced 20 years ago, this exciting update to the now iconic Hello Kitty Squier features a supercute glossy finish in pink or white with signature Hello Kitty graphics on the pickguard, headstock and body. The Fender Designed™ humbucking bridge pickup delivers powerful lead lines and smooth rhythm tones. With an ergonomic “C”-shaped neck and contoured body, this guitar ensures comfort and playability for musicians of all skill levels, making it a future cult classic for collectors and players alike. A deluxe padded gig bag with Hello Kitty stitching is also included.
The limited-edition Made in Japan Stratocaster boasts a striking Pearl White finish with Hello Kitty’s trademark ribbon, a "C"-shaped maple neck, 9.5” radius fingerboard, and 22 narrow-tall frets. The guitar is equipped with high-gain Hybrid II Custom Voiced Single Coil pickups, providing versatile tones perfect for clean or overdriven play. Comes with a white hardshell case and certificate of authenticity, celebrating Hello Kitty's cultural influence.
"This collaboration with Hello Kitty is a perfect blend of music and pop culture," said Justin Norvell EVP Fender Product. "The limited-edition Squier Stratocaster merges Hello Kitty’s playful design with Fender’s craftsmanship, offering a high-performing instrument that's as fun as it is functional. Our Made-in-Japan exclusives bring an extra level of artistry and attention to detail, making them standouts for both collectors and players. From the guitars to accessories like straps and fuzz pedals, this collection sparks creativity and celebrates individuality, while staying true to Fender’s legacy of quality and innovation."
The highly anticipated collaboration has returned! Celebrate Hello Kitty's 50th Anniversary with the Fender x Hello Kitty Collection, featuring the beloved Stratocaster. This special edition includes a “C”-shaped neck, a 9.5" maple fingerboard, 21 narrow tall frets, and red dot inlays.
Collection includes:
- Squier Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster ($499.99) blending substance with style featuring a supercute glossy pink finish with signature Hello Kitty graphics on the pickguard, headstock and body. Available globally.
- Made in Japan Fender Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster (¥330,000 JPY) available solely at Fender’s Japan Flagship Store in Tokyo, The Made in Japan Limited Hello Kitty Stratocaster is a guitar filled with the bold and vibrant charm of Sanrio’s signature character, Hello Kitty—a leading figure in global Kawaii culture. It features a Pearl White body with her iconic ribbon, a "C"-shaped maple neck, and Hybrid II Custom Voiced pickups for rich Fender tones. Includes a Hello Kitty-engraved neckplate, hardshell case, and certificate of authenticity.
- Hello Kitty Fuzz ($99.99) A fun-loving fuzz like no other – the Fender x Hello Kitty Fuzz introduces a pop of color and charm to one of the pedal world’s most formative effects. Sporting an op amp based circuit with three simple controls, this pink-clad pedal kicks your guitar into wooly, splattering gain tones with unmistakable character. Added style points come in the form of a stand-out pink finish, white Fender witch hat knobs, Japanese translated labels, and, of course, Hello Kitty herself on the front panel. Available globally.
- Additionally, a selection of Made-in-Japan exclusive items, including the Fender Made in Japan Limited Edition Hello Kitty Stratocaster, cleaning cloth, strap blocks, home accessories, custom apparel, tote bag and more, will be available solely at Fender’s Japan Flagship Store in Tokyo. These unique collectibles, featuring adorable designs of Sanrio’s signature character, Hello Kitty, a global pop culture influencer, were created to celebrate her 50th anniversary—an icon that transcends generations and reinforces Hello Kitty and Fender’s deep global cultural presence.
This limited-edition Fender x Hello Kitty collection is a celebration of creativity, inclusivity, and self-expression through music. By blending iconic design with Fender's renowned craftsmanship, this collection invites players of all levels to embrace their individuality and make bold musical statements.
For more information, please visit fender.com.
The Meteora’s upscale second outing has a lot more in common with its offset siblings than its sleek modern looks imply—and that’s a wonderful thing.
Excellent array of tones, from heavy to bluesy, indie, and funky. Great playability.
Pricey. Knobs feel somewhat rough. On-the-fly contour adjustments take some getting used to.
$2,249
Fender American II Meteora
fender.com
When Fender debuted the Meteora body shape in 2018 (as the Parallel Universe Meteora), I was among those who immediately thought it looked like a pretty worthy addition to the company’s venerated line of “offset” guitars. Taken in hand, though, the guitar may have struck some as having a bit of an identity crisis—which may account for the changes we see in the third iteration, the new American Ultra II.
All Metoras feature an intriguing blend of classic Fender elements (Strat-style headstock, Jazzmaster/Jaguar-esque outline) and in the case of the Player Plus Meteora HH and the American Ultra II, more Gibson-like appointments (humbuckers and 3-way selector). But whereas the Telecaster-like Parallel Universe model and Player Plus HH leaned a little more retro, the American Ultra II both tilts more modern and fine-tunes some of the original’s tonal quirks and limitations.
Diverging Contours
Available in three finishes (here we’ve got Texas Tea), the latest Meteora has Fender’s new Haymaker humbuckers, with exposed coils and matching pickup rings, that alongside the anodized aluminum pickguard and knurled metal knobs, lend a more hard rock/metal aesthetic than the original Meteora’s WideRange-styled pickups and brighter finish options. (The new avalanche and ultraburst finishes in particular, with their white and crème pickups, respectively, are reminiscent of ’70s and ’80s DiMarzio-outfitted rock machines.) Having demoed the Player Plus Meteora HH inPG’s First Look video, I’ll admit I prefer that series’ looks. But there’s no arguing that both fundamental tones and the myriad permutations proffered by the American Ultra II’s unusual tone-control array feel much more useful and well thought out this time around.
Wait, “unusual?” If you’ve googled this guitar, chances are you’ve seen the same conflicting information I found. Some sites say it has two tone controls, others (including the manufacturer’s at publication time) list a master volume, a master tone, and a bass-contour knob. Upon plugging in and twiddling knobs, though, I was immediately confused and, honestly, initially not very impressed. So I looked through the case, found the manual, and finally came to the truth: The Meteora is actually devoid of traditional tone controls, using instead a master volume, a bass-contour knob (nearest the output jack), anda treble-contour knob (middle). This setup was a first for me. Also, unlike the Jaguar, the alder-bodied Meteora has a standard Fender-scale 25.5" maple neck, with an ebony fretboard and employs the company’s “modern D” profile. There’s a Graph Tech TUSQ nut, too, and sealed locking tuners.More Offset Than Meets the Eye
I tested the American Ultra II with an EL34-powered Jaguar HC50 (with a ceramic-magnet Weber Gray Wolf), a ’76 Fender Vibrolux Reverb (with alnico Celestion G10 Golds), a KT66-driven Sound City SC30, and a bunch of drive, fuzz, delay, and reverb pedals. Through the two latter amps combined, the Meteora II’s contour controls proved most powerful, yielding a pretty astonishing array of sounds—particularly with fuzz pedals. With the traditional control scheme on my favorite offset (and main band guitar, a Jaguar with Curtis Novak JAG-V pickups), I primarily use the lead circuit’s tone knob (or the rhythm circuit) to tame fuzz pedals—and I find that setup more versatile than a lot of other guitars. But the Meteora’s contour knobs take things much further, letting you effectively revoice filth pedals in ways otherwise only possible with an adjacent EQ pedal.
With both contours full up, the Haymaker pickups still lean brighter than some dual-’bucker fans might prefer—but not as strident as the Player Plus units. And the bass contour is especially helpful for warming/toughing up the bridge unit, as well as cleaning up low-mid clutter you might encounter with the neck pickup soloed and dimed. With a clean-ish tone and both pickups engaged, dialing volume and both contours back a bit yields wiry, muscular funk tones. Boost the volume back up a bit and hit the S-1 coil tap, and you get leaner funk tones very much in the Strat realm. In all, the variety of sounds possible with this control scheme is almost revelatory. So much so that it’s a wonder more guitars don’t go this route—because you’re no longer limited to just darkening or lightening a pickup with a single knob. The crossover EQ points between the two controls are well-tuned to complement each other and open up possibilities you simply couldn’t get with standard tone controls. And the treble-bleed circuit assures that volume adjustments don’t muddy things up.
The Verdict
Whether the tweaks to the American Ultra II Meteora alleviate its somewhat vague positioning is up for debate. Fender offset fans tend to fall in either the traditionalist/vintage camp or the more modern “I like the shape but not the weird switches and hardware” camp. And, to most eyes, the Ultra II probably looks pretty modern despite the vintage neck and headstock tint. But tonally, even though the control scheme looks straightforward, the array of available tones is far more akin to the versatility afforded by Jaguar and Jazzmaster circuits than, say, a modern rock guitar. It is a bit of a bummer that the Ultra costs twice as much as the Player Plus HH (albeit with hardshell case) but has no vibrato option. Considering its sheer tonal quality and versatility, the latest Meteora absolutely has the edge over its predecessor—but I’d love to see future versions fully embrace their offset-ness with a vibrato system befitting the Meteora’s sonic forebears.