
From left to right: Guitarists Mark Holcomb, Misha Mansoor, and Jake Bowen have signature PRS, Jackson Guitars, and Ibanez guitar models, respectively.
The prog-metal juggernauts’ latest is the product of blood, sweat, tears, and a persistent, fierce commitment to raising the bar for themselves—and for djent—that’s matched every step in their career.
It’s not clear exactly when it was coined, but “djent,” the somewhat facetious, catch-all onomatopoeia name of one of today’s most vital and popular heavy metal subgenres, is here to stay. And, perhaps because they’re so well-known as pioneers in that movement, prog-metal disruptors Periphery are making a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement with the title of their latest record: Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre. Of course, despite that resistance, it’s yet another example of their djent prowess—and they’re pretty sure it’s a level up in their catalog.
Periphery - Wax Wings (Official Audio)
“It felt like, ‘How the fuck did we get away with this?’ When we finished it, we all felt like it was a very special album.” says bandleader, producer, and one of the band’s three guitarists, Misha Mansoor. “We’ve never unanimously felt this way. Usually, it’s more exasperation and a sense of ‘Let’s just get it out,’ and a list of compromises we made. This is the first record where I wasn’t thinking about next time.”
It’s safe to assume the band has high standards, considering that their past releases, with their “lists of compromises,” have won them heaps of critical praise, a Grammy nod, and a deeply loyal fanbase. And as Mansoor’s comments suggest, Periphery V is a continuation of a body of work that consistently makes that grade.
The album’s opening track, “Wildfire,” is a barnstorming thesis statement that begins with some of it’s heaviest guitars, which blend into an absolute earworm of a chorus before somehow segueing into a Squarepusher-esque, electronic-jazz bridge—complete with a burning bebop sax solo by Norwegian metal and experimental musician Jørgen Munkeby. Next is “Atropos,” a track with absolutely crushing layers of extended-scale guitars and a performance from vocalist Spencer Sotelo that oscillates between ’90s-anime-soundtrack-ready hooks and metallic aggression.
On their new album, the band repurposed some motifs from past songs in their catalog in a way that felt like they were having a secret handshake with long-time fans.
“Wax Wings” features an unexpected open tuning (D–F#–A–E–A–C#) that co-guitarist Mark Holcomb nicked from the Japanese band, Toe, and some of the album’s most impressive guitar moments, including an opening lick that boasts all of Holcomb’s signature dramatic slides and pull-offs. When asked what guitar passages on the record he’s most proud of, Holcomb quickly points to the solo at the end of “Wax Wings,” saying, “[It’s] actually in that fucked-up open tuning. That sucked. There was the question of whether or not to write the solo in standard because I’d have to do a guitar change if we play the song live. I chose the route of writing the solo in that tuning, so I had to teach myself some new moves. I challenged myself to write a handful of riffs in that tuning that sound like something else.”
On Periphery V, the band’s mission was to be heavier, catchier, and riskier than on their last release, 2019’s Periphery IV: Hail Stan, and, arguably, that’s what they’ve accomplished. That’s even more impressive given how far they’ve come since their founding in 2005, and the ambition they’ve always brought to their work.
The band’s eponymous debut was released over a decade ago—long before social media was filled with young shredders relentlessly putting their metal chops on display. It was a time when the first generation of Fractal Audio Axe-Fx units were only four years old, and guitar-specific plugins were still in their ugly adolescence. And while Periphery has always worn its influences on its sleeve—particularly the pummeling death-metal churn of Swedish polyrhythm wizards Meshuggah and the soaring prog sensibilities of Dream Theater and Opeth—their unique approach to interpreting those sounds and filtering them into something new has set them apart from their peers. After garnering their aforementioned accolades and building their fanbase, Periphery IV was lauded as their most adventurous release to date.
“When we finished it, we all felt like it was a very special album.”—Misha Mansoor
With layers of hulking, downtuned rhythm guitars that any respectable djent record needs, Periphery IV also embraced the sprawling arrangements, infectious melodies, and electronic textures that the group had always flirted with, in a very big way. For the band, the release felt like a triumph. However, the album’s tour cycle ended abruptly when the pandemic hit and, like the rest of the music industry, Periphery was suddenly left rudderless.
Misha Mansoor's Gear
Bandleader and guitarist Misha Mansoor founded Periphery in 2005, after having gained a reputation on online forums for his prog-metal compositions.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
Guitars
- Two Jackson USA Misha Mansoor Signature Juggernaut HT7s
- Jackson USA Misha Mansoor Signature HT7 Juggernaut with EverTune Bridge
- Jackson Pro Series Signature Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT6 with EverTune Bridge and Bare Knuckle Ragnarok pickups
- Jackson Pro Series Signature Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT6
- Jackson Pro Series Signature Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT6 with flame maple top
- Jackson MJ Series Signature Misha Mansoor So-Cal 2 PT “Strat”
- Jackson Custom Shop Juggernaut HT8
- Jackson Custom Shop Juggernaut HT8 with fanned frets
Strings & Picks
- Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Heavy 6 set (.010–.058)
- Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Heavy 7 set (.010–.065)
- Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Bulb 8 set (.0095–.074)
- Dunlop Misha Mansoor Custom Delrin Flow Picks, .65 mm live and .73 mm in studio
As co-guitarist Jake Bowen explains, “Periphery IV felt like our proudest accomplishment. How the hell do you move on from that and put something out that hits in the same way? You get to the point in a career where we’re at, and you have to ask if you’re repeating yourself or if everyone’s getting bored of your band’s shtick. You have to be really hard on yourself to get past those things because they prevent bands from growing at the stage we were at.”
It would take the band four years and a scrapped concept album (intended as a companion to 2015’s fan-favorite Juggernaut: Omega) before Periphery V would see the light of day. The process, part of which involved rewriting about three fourths of the record, nearly broke the band.
“We hit some very low moments that we had never faced before while writing this,” Holcomb says. “We’ve been through struggles as a band before. But the hurdles that came along with [this experience]—the dejection and questioning—I had never really confronted before.”
In the early stages, the material intended for the aborted concept record failed to spark Sotelo’s inspiration, who was weathering a divorce and something of an identity crisis during the forced time off from the road. “We recognized that Spencer was going through a vulnerable time, and we encouraged him to harness it and try to turn it into something personal, make it his, and use it as fuel to push forward with what he was doing,” says Holcomb. “That’s why a lot of the lyrical themes go a bit deeper and are a little bit more relatable than on our previous records.”
“We’ve been through struggles as a band before. But the hurdles that came along with [this experience]—the dejection and questioning—I had never really confronted before.”—Mark Holcomb
Rather than fracturing under the pressure, Periphery persevered and came out the other side more unified than ever, with an album that delivered on the blood, sweat, tears, and risk-taking that went into it. “Despite all that bullshit, when it did come together, it did so in a way that I can only describe as magical,” Mansoor shares.
An unexpected facet of Periphery V are the repurposed motifs from past Periphery songs. For example, “Zagreus” has a couple of sonic references to “Four Lights,” and the chorus on “Wildfire” recalls “The Event,” an interlude from Juggernaut. Bowen brought the latter one into the mix, explaining, “The motif from ‘The Event’ creates intervals that are really tough to jump around, but when you nail it, it really works and it makes for a very unusual chorus. It’s just one of those things where it doesn’t make much sense, but it works.”
Jake Bowen's Gear
Guitarist Jake Bowen expresses that the source of Periphery’s music goes beyond the guitar; his and the other guitarists’ connection with one another is what is truly behind the music they produce.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
Guitars
- Ibanez Jake Bowen Signature JBM9999
- Ibanez LA Custom Shop Jake Bowen Signature JBM9999
Strings & Picks
- Horizon Devices Jake Bowen Signature (.010–.058 for 6-string, .010–.074 for 7-string)
- Dunlop Tortex Flow Picks .60 mm
The sonic Easter eggs peppered throughout the record have resonated with diehard Periphery fans, who, upon its release, quickly caught on and began compiling lists on online forums of the repurposed themes. Despite seeming like a calculated move, the motifs came to the band in a very organic way. Mansoor explains, “I love reharmonizing stuff and hearing things in a different light. My video-gamer brain loves that, because you hear themes get buried, reintroduced, and mangled throughout a lot of RPGs. Nobuo Uematsu [Japanese composer of the soundtracks to the Final Fantasy video game series, and the inspiration for the track ‘Thanks Nobuo,’] is one of my biggest influences, and he does that a lot in really crazy ways.”
He continues, “We thought people might say, ‘Sounds like they ran out of riffs,’ but the fans had an entirely different perspective; it felt like we were winking at those of them that have been with us since the early records. In retrospect, I realize we have such a loyal and dedicated fanbase and they tend to be very well-versed in our material, so they caught these things that we thought we’d done very subtly, and it makes them feel like we’re connecting with them directly. It feels very much like a secret handshake, and they really reacted to that. I’ve seen people say things like ‘I cried when I heard this,’ in reference to hearing the ‘You're shining and it shows’ theme in ‘Thanks Nobuo,’ which is a callback to ‘The Way the News Goes…’ from 2016’s Periphery III: Select Difficulty. That makes me really happy, and I didn’t expect that kind of reaction.”
Mark Holcomb's Gear
On “Wax Wings,” guitarist Mark Holcomb used the tuning D–F#–A–E–A–C#, which he borrowed from the Japanese band, Toe.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
Guitars
- Prototype PRS SE Mark Holcomb Signature with Seymour Duncan Scarlet & Scourge pickups (6-string)
- Prototype PRS SE Mark Holcomb Signature with Seymour Duncan Scarlet & Scourge pickups (7-string)
- PRS SE Silver Sky John Mayer Signature
- PRS Mark Holcomb Signature Private Stock (6-string)
- PRS Mark Holcomb Signature Private Stock (7-string)
Strings & Picks
- Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Heavy 6 set (.010–.058)
- Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Heavy 7 set (.010–.065)Dunlop .88 mm custom picks
Periphery Gear
Amps (all)
- Peavey Invective Misha Mansoor Signature
- Omega Granophyre
- Carstens Grace head
- Suhr Reactive Load Box
- Two Notes IR box
- GetGood Drums Studio Cabs: Zilla Edition
Pedals (all)
- Horizon Devices Precision Drive
- DigiTech Whammy
- TC Electronic Sub ’N’ Up Octaver
- Echoplex EP-2T-Rex Replicator
- D’Luxe Analog Tape Delay
- Echo Fix EF-X2
- Echo Fix EF-X3
- TC Electronic 2290
- Dynamic Digital Delay
- Custom Dunwich HM-2-based drive
While the songs on Periphery V may secretly recall themes from past records, the tone production on the album forges all new territory for the band. “This is the first Periphery album where we used a bunch of real amps. Periphery IV was all Axe-Fx, and even Periphery II was technically a 5150, but it was the Axe-Fx through the 5150 power section,” Mansoor says. When doing blind tone tests with plugins and modeling gear, the power of real tube amps mated with IRs had a distinct advantage that the band couldn’t overlook for the album’s particularly aggressive riffs.
As for the tube amps they ended up using, Mansoor says the heavy lifting was handled by a Peavey Invective (his 5150-based signature model) and an Omega Granophyre. A Carstens Grace was also used for some added layers and some pushed clean passages. Mansoor describes the Grace as having “a unique voicing where it’s very hard to compare it to anything. It’s kind of Marshall-ish, but I think that sells it short.”
“Periphery IV felt like our proudest accomplishment. How the hell do you move on from that and put something out that hits in the same way?”—Jake Bowen
All of the reamping was done with a Two Notes unit and a Suhr Reactive Load Box to keep the tube amps happy without real cabs, and the GetGood Drums Studio Cabs: Zilla Edition sim—mostly programmed with the “Swedish Technique” preset with an extra 4x12 cab with a K-100 speaker in it—completed the tone recipe.
Every amp was boosted by the Precision Drive, a pedal made by Mansoor’s company, Horizon Devices. When asked what that pedal brought to the table that makes it so invaluable to Periphery’s sound, Mansoor describes it as “a boost that helps lower-tuned guitars hit the front end of amps in a way that the amps can handle, because they weren’t designed for that and can flub out with palm-muted parts. The Precision Drive lets you control how much low end you cut, so you dial in the ‘attack’ control to really fine-tune that.” Other effects that played a big role in the guitar sounds on Periphery V were a battery of tape delays, which included Mansoor’s beloved vintage Echoplex EP-2, and modern analog tape delays like the T-Rex Replicator D’Luxe, and the Echo Fix EF-X2 and EF-X3 units. An original TC Electronic 2290 rack unit was also used to add some delay to leads. Mansoor loves the way the 2290 makes everything sound “very 3D.”
All three guitarists relied on their signature-model guitars. Holcomb used the Periphery V sessions as an opportunity to test and hone the prototypes of his SE import line PRS signature models, and also used a PRS Silver Sky John Mayer sig for his parts on “Wax Wings.”
Mansoor called on several of his Jackson Juggernaut signature models, including 6-, 7-, and 8-string variants, Custom Shop versions with fanned frets, and even stock import models. He most often found himself reaching for those that were equipped with EverTune bridges because of how much time they save in the studio. According to Mansoor, the real wildcard that unexpectedly saw a lot of use on Periphery V was his signature model MIJ Jackson SoCal Strat, which he describes as “a sleeper dad-rock guitar in daphne blue that looks like a Strat, with a matching headstock, but is such a shredder.” Mansoor continues to gush about the relatively attainable guitar, saying “It’s so aggressive-sounding. As an HSS Strat, it’s great for split-coil stuff or full single-coil stuff. Nothing beats an actual single-coil, so anything where we wanted that sound, that’s what we used.”
For Bowen, his Ibanez JBM27 signature model was the hero on the album, but he also used an Ibanez LA Custom Shop version of that model for writing. He describes the guitar as “aesthetically a little different, but a mojo machine that has a weirdness to it that makes me play differently. The Ibanez LA Custom Shop guitars are always a little funky in some way. They have a handmade feel, and I write differently based on the guitar I’m playing. Something fun and unusual always comes out when I write on them, because of how quirky they are.”
Periphery - Atropos Live in Sacramento HQ Audio Board Mix 2023
Periphery performs “Atropos,” the second track on Periphery V, creating harmonious textures of thrashing djent guitar and both melodic and screaming vocals in an adventurous, experimental arrangement.
While many players in bands with Periphery’s longevity have a tendency to stop growing, it’s extremely apparent that making Periphery V not only pushed the members to grow as songwriters, but also as guitarists. From Holcomb’s perspective, they’ve all started to sound a bit more like each other through the experience: “We basically lived together as if we were in a dorm and played so much guitar. I think it’d be impossible to not learn something from the guy across from you in that scenario. My voice as a player has definitely changed over the years just from adapting qualities from the two other guitar players in my band.”
Bowen says it’s bigger than guitar at this point: “At the risk of sounding incredibly pretentious, it goes beyond music. We get together and write all of this crazy shit mostly because we like hanging out with each other. The way the music takes shape is an extension of that friendship. When you really love people, the creative connection is greater and you produce better stuff as a result. At least, we do.”
As for the band’s influential ringleader, the real success of Periphery’s guitar brotherhood mirrors both sentiments. Mansoor says of his co-guitarists, “We’re each other’s biggest fans. We all love the way each other sounds and they’re always writing stuff that I wish I wrote. That makes me want to step up my game, because if they’re at that level, I need to level up.
“I’m really grateful because this album felt like it was make or break,” he continues. “In a different universe, this album could have killed us, but because it didn’t, it brought us so much closer together.”
- Rig Rundown: Periphery [2023] ›
- Rig Rundown: Periphery [2017] ›
- Jackson Guitars and Misha Mansoor Reveal Signature Models ›
- Haunted Shores’ Misha Mansoor and Mark Holcomb ›
Guitarist William Tyler, a restless sonic explorer: “I would get bored staying in the same place.”
The expansive instrumental guitarist/composer pushes himself out of his comfort zone, beyond the boundaries of his neo-Americana wheelhouse on Time Indefinite.
Mastering an instrument and an artistic style—and then being recognized and rewarded for it—is a daunting enough accomplishment that one might be forgiven for feeling that, once reached, it’s the be-all to end-all. Guitarist William Tyler, for all the praise and opportunity that have come his way over the past decade and a half, isn’t content to plow the same furrow. With his evolutionary new album, Time Indefinite, this son of the South is pushing further afield, not completely forgoing his virtuosic neo-Americana lyricism but incorporating it into static-friendly, otherworldly studio experimentation.
The disorienting opener of Time Indefinite, “Cabin Six,” begins with a loop of hovering blare that, lasting nearly a minute, might lead listeners to think something is amiss with their turntable stylus; this gradually dissipates into an eddy of railroad-like whine from which a chiming 6-string hook emerges only to finally sink into a murky, detuned drone. The simple, lovely “Anima Motel” and almost naïve “Concern” are eminently approachable, and “Howling at the Second Moon,” with its alternate, Joni Mitchell-inspired tuning, feels like something that could have appeared on one of Tyler’s previous albums (even if it was recorded on his iPhone then texturized via a bump to a cassette recorder and dosed with added effects). But the distressed sonic sculptures of “The Hardest Land to Harvest” and “Electric Lake” or the sampled, distorted church choir laced through “Star of Hope” have a ghostly resonance unlike anything the guitarist has done before.
SoundStream
“I think it’s important for artists to push themselves into new ways of working,” Tyler says. “Most of my favorites, artists I follow over the long trajectory of their careers, have done that, whether it’s in music, film, visual art, novels. Of course, some people have a method or style that they stick to, and it serves them. And I wouldn’t want to put anything out into the world that I wouldn’t myself, as a consumer, enjoy spending time with and taking seriously. That said, I would get bored staying in the same place. The new record is about making something that was a little less chained to certain kinds of guitar music, where I felt like I might be running up against my creative limitations or enthusiasms in that area. I wanted to reinvent myself for myself, to explore fresh possibilities, even with the guitar as my primary tool.”
Tyler, whose parents were hitmaking Nashville songwriters, made his name early on as a young guitar phenom playing in such alternative-minded, country-influenced bands as Lambchop and Silver Jews, before appearing on the fourth volume of the influential Tompkins Square “Imaginational Anthem” series of new-era American Primitive guitar and then making his full-length debut as a solo artist with the 2010 album Behold the Spirit. As a player and composer, he was recognized for subsuming the early influence of John Fahey and the Takoma style into something vibrantly his own.
Tyler keeps his tools simple and his ears open.
Photo by Angelina Castillo
William Tyler’s Gear
Guitars
- Mid-1950s Martin D-18
- 1974 Gibson SG
Pedals
- Hologram Electronics Microcosm
- Strymon El Capistan
- Line 6 DL4 Mark II
Once Tyler signed to the stalwart indie-rock label Merge, the guitarist released a string of warmly received electro-acoustic albums: Impossible Truth (2013), Deseret Canyon (2015) and Modern Country (2016). There was also a marvel of a solo performance at Nashville’s Third Man Records released as an LP in the “Live at Third Man” series. A few years later came the album Goes West, its title alluding to a pre-pandemic move to Los Angeles, and its arrangements flecked with atmospheric swirls and sunny, almost pop-like touches. Tyler also created an aptly rustic score for First Cow, director Kelly Reichardt’s 2019 art house Western, and the guitarist capped his Merge run in 2023 with Secret Stratosphere, a live album of soaring full-band versions of numbers from his back catalog, credited to William Tyler’s Impossible Truth.
“I wanted to reinvent myself for myself, to explore fresh possibilities, even with the guitar as my primary tool.”
Tyler has released covers of such disparate artists as Alex Chilton, Michael Chapman, Fleetwood Mac, Yo La Tengo and Neu!/Harmonia’s Michael Rother, not to mention classical composers Handel and Dvorák. The broad listening palette suggested by these choices always pointed toward a more intrepid path. But the album that most presaged the spirit of Time Indefinite is New Vanitas, a small masterpiece of pandemic creation that found him threading beautiful, involved guitar melodies through hypnagogic soundscapes, often haunted by lo-fi snatches of radio broadcasts and sotto-voce dialogue, as on the evocatively titled “Slow Night’s Static.” New Vanitas even includes a woozy track called “Time Indefinite,” the foreshadowing title a favorite that he borrowed from a film by documentarian Ross McElwee.
On Time Indefinite, Tyler says, “I was drawn to more ambient music, including by guitarists like Christian Fennesz and Norman Westberg, but also groups like Stars of the Lid and Boards of Canada.”
Another signpost on Tyler’s new road was a collaboration with Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden that yielded the folktronica single “Darkness, Darkness.” Then last year brought the standalone track “Flight Final,” Tyler’s first release for the artist-led imprint Psychic Hotline, and a slice of musique concrète that brings to mind Brian Eno’s association with German “kosmische” pioneers Harmonia and Cluster. That recording, the first fruit of an association with collaborator and co-producer Jake Davis, set the stage for their work together on Time Indefinite. Most of the pieces on this album, whether blown-out lullabies or spectral hymns or folk-art abstractions, feel like memories refracted in a dream diary.
“The process of working on this album helped me get better at tempo, just feeling more comfortable playing slower.”
“The new album started out as a series of experiments, without necessarily thinking that they were going to make for a whole record—though, eventually, Jake and I heard a thematic coherence to what we were coming up with,” Tyler explains. “It took a long while to come together, but the roots of the music are in the Covid lockdown. The emotional landscape of that time changed the things I was listening to as well as the music that was coming out of me. I was drawn to more ambient music, including by guitarists like Christian Fennesz and Norman Westberg, but also groups like Stars of the Lid and Boards of Canada. I had gone back to Nashville and was dealing with a problematic mental state. Among other issues, I can tend to approach things too fast, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Beyond using different recording techniques and learning new ways of creating a piece of music, the process of working on this album helped me get better at tempo, just feeling more comfortable playing slower.”
The guitars Tyler used in the studio for Time Indefinite were his “family heirloom” Martin D-18 and a beloved Gibson SG, both of which are his main live instruments. For effects pedals, he favored a Hologram Electronics Microcosm (“for low-pass filter looping and really weird granular stuff”) and a Strymon El Capistan (“for delays kind of like the old Electro-Harmonix Memory Man”), though Davis also did a lot of processing with an array of his own. One serendipitous piece of gear was a 1959 Webcor Regent reel-to-reel machine deck that Tyler liberated, still new in the box, while helping to clear out his grandfather’s storage space in Mississippi. Davis was inspired to make old-school tape loops with it, including that startling sound that opens the album. Tyler would play arrhythmic, asymmetrical parts that Davis would record and chop up for the loops.
Tyler at this year’s Big Ears Festival with Jake Davis and Cecilia Stair.
Photo by Ross Bustin
Tyler’s recent spate of collaborations, from Davis and Four Tet to pedal-steel guitarist Luke Schneider, “has kept me on my toes, challenged me and recharged me,” he says. “The insularity of being a solo instrumentalist and writing everything by yourself can be freeing at first. And it can be motivating, as when I first started learning how to play fingerstyle guitar, with all the practicing. But I don’t like the isolation of it now. These days, I prefer working with other people. It pushes you into other genres, those different modes of communication.”
Another recent colleague, Marisa Anderson, has credited Tyler for his open, venturesome spirit as a studio partner, with his default attitude of “yes” when they were making their absorbing duo album, Lost Futures. “That was something I really enjoyed about playing with William—he was up for everything,” she said. “I was like, ‘There’s the diving board,’ and he’d say, ‘Let’s go.’”
“These days, I prefer working with other people. It pushes you into other genres, those different modes of communication.”
Tyler is quick to credit artists and albums that have inspired him. Along with the aforementioned players, he namechecks a vast range of others, from Jimmy Page to Jeff Parker, Bill Frisell to Fred Frith, Bruce Langhorne to Nels Cline, William Ackerman to Sandy Bull. Tyler muses about how some of his Nashville session heroes should “have gotten weirder…. I wish Chet Atkins had dropped acid, listened to a Sonny Sharrock LP, and made his own noise record, you know?” Regarding his touchstones for sonic left turns, he points to Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, as well as Talk Talk’s emotive, avant-minded swansongs Spirit of Eden and Laughingstock.
“Those two Talk Talk albums are beyond masterpieces, with some great guitar playing,” Tyler says. “They were in essence made by an artist, Mark Hollis, who did not care about being commercial anymore and certainly not about being able to replicate the stuff live. When Jake and I were recording ‘Howling at the Second Moon,’ that sort of attitude was a reference point, kind of like, ‘Well, instead of trying to get away from the lo-fi weirdness of my original iPhone demo, why don’t we lean into it?’”
Ever thoughtful and candid in conversation, Tyler has been exceptionally transparent about coping with personal loss and midlife crises, as well as going to rehab for the over-indulgence of alcohol. Knowing that, one can hear grief and anxiety in the whorls of Time Indefinite, with the passages of guileless 6-string representing a nostalgia for less complicated times. “It’s a mental landscape record for sure,” he says. “For fans of my previous albums, it might not hit the same way, I realize. But I hope this record says to people that it’s all right to take chances with how you express yourself, with how naked and raw that can be. It has a purposeful arc and is meant to prompt things that aren’t super fashionable in today’s ephemeral, constant-content culture, like deep listening, emotional ambiguity, self-reflection, you know?”YouTube It
This three-song set from last year showcases the expansive cosmic country sound of Tyler and his Impossible Truth band, which includes a Kraftwerk cover.
PG contributor Tom Butwin profiles three versatile - and affordable - acoustic guitars from Cort, Epiphone, and Gold Tone. These classic designs and appointments offer pro-level sound for an accessible price.
Cort Essence Series ES-GA4 Grand Auditorium Cutaway Acoustic Electric Guitar, Natural Semi Gloss (GA4NSG)
Epiphone Slash J-45 Acoustic Guitar - November Burst
The classic J-45 has been the choice of legendary musicians ever since it was first introduced in 1942. Known as The Workhorse, it is Gibson's most famous and most popular acoustic guitar model. Now Epiphone has released a new Inspired by Gibson"' J-45"' with all of the features players want, including all solid wood construction, a comfortable rounded C neck profile, 20 medium jumbo frets, the 60s style Kalamazoo headstock shape and a gorgeous Aged Vintage Sunburst finish. The Fishman® Sonicore under-saddle pickup and Sonitone preamp make this Workhorse stage-ready too. Optional hardshell or Epilite"' case available separately. A battery is not included. To power your pickup, you will need a 9-volt battery.
Gold Tone The Bell Acoustic-electric Guitar - Natural
Gold Tone’s Festival Series: The Bell stands out by blending classic craftsmanship with stage-ready versatility. Its all-solid wood construction—featuring a Sitka spruce top and mahogany back and sides—produces a rich, balanced tone that shines in any setting. The slope-shoulder design offers both comfort and clarity, perfect for fingerstyle or strumming. With a slim "D" neck, Fishman electronics, Grover tuners, and D’Addario strings, The Bell is crafted for players who demand tone, playability, and reliable performance—on stage or in the studio.
Tom Bedell in the Relic Music acoustic room, holding a custom Seed to Song Parlor with a stunning ocean sinker redwood top and milagro Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
As head of Breedlove and Bedell Guitars, he’s championed sustainability and environmental causes—and he wants to tell you about it.
As the owner of the Breedlove and Bedell guitar companies, Tom Bedell has been a passionate advocate for sustainable practices in acoustic guitar manufacturing. Listening to him talk, it’s clear that the preservation of the Earth’s forests are just as important to Bedell as the sound of his guitars. You’ll know just how big of a statement that is if you’ve ever had the opportunity to spend time with one of his excellently crafted high-end acoustics, which are among the finest you’ll find. Over the course of his career, Bedell has championed the use of alternative tonewoods and traveled the world to get a firsthand look at his wood sources and their harvesting practices. When you buy a Bedell, you can rest assured that no clear-cut woods were used.
A born storyteller, Bedell doesn’t keep his passion to himself. On Friday, May 12, at New Jersey boutique guitar outpost Relic Music, Bedell shared some of the stories he’s collected during his life and travels as part of a three-city clinic trip. At Relic—and stops at Crossroads Guitar and Art in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania, and Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center in Wheaton, Maryland—he discussed his guitars and what makes them so special, why sustainability is such an important cause, and how he’s putting it into practice.
Before his talk, we sat in Relic’s cozy, plush acoustic room, surrounded by a host of high-end instruments. We took a look at a few of the store’s house-spec’d Bedell parlors while we chatted.
“The story of this guitar is the story of the world,” Bedell explained to me, holding a Seed to Song Parlor. He painted a picture of a milagro tree growing on a hillside in northeastern Brazil some 500 years ago, deprived of water and growing in stressful conditions during its early life. That tree was eventually harvested, and in the 1950s, it was shipped to Spain by a company that specialized in church ornaments. They recognized this unique specimen and set it aside until it was imported to the U.S. and reached Oregon. Now, it makes the back and sides of this unique guitar.
A Bedell Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides.
As for the ocean sinker redwood top, “I’m gonna make up the story,” Bedell said, as he approximated the life cycle of the tree, which floated in the ocean, soaking up minerals for years and years, and washed ashore on northern Oregon’s Manzanita Beach. The two woods were paired and built into a small run of exquisitely outfitted guitars using the Bedell/Breedlove Sound Optimization process—in which the building team fine-tunes each instrument’s voice by hand-shaping individual braces to target resonant frequencies using acoustic analysis—and Bedell and his team fell in love.
Playing it while we spoke, I was smitten by this guitar’s warm, responsive tone and even articulation and attack across the fretboard; it strikes a perfect tonal balance between a tight low-end and bright top, with a wide dynamic range that made it sympathetic to anything I offered. And as I swapped guitars, whether picking up a Fireside Parlor with a buckskin redwood top and cocobolo back and sides or one with an Adirondack spruce top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides, the character and the elements of each instrument changed, but that perfect balance remained. Each of these acoustics—and of any Bedell I’ve had the pleasure to play—delivers their own experiential thumbprint.
Rosette and inlay detail on an Adirondack spruce top.
Ultimately, that’s what brought Bedell out to the East Coast on this short tour. “We have a totally different philosophy about how we approach guitar-building,” Bedell effused. “There are a lot of individuals who build maybe 12 guitars a year, who do some of the things that we do, but there’s nobody on a production level.” And he wants to spread that gospel.
“We want to reach people who really want something special,” he continued, pointing out that for the Bedell line, the company specifically wants to work with shops like Relic and the other stores he’s visited, “who have a clientele that says I want the best guitar I can possibly have, and they carry enough variety that we can give them that.”
A Fireside Parlor with a Western red cedar top and Brazilian rosewood back and sides.
A beautifully realized mashup of two iconic guitars.
Reader: Ward Powell
Hometown: Ontario, Canada
Guitar: ES-339 Junior
I’ve always liked unusual guitars. I think it started when I got my first guitar way back in 1976. I bought a '73 Telecaster Deluxe for $200 with money I saved from delivering newspapers.
I really got serious about playing in 1978, the same year the first Van Halen album was released. Eddie Van Halen was a huge influence on me, including how he built and modded guitars. Inspired by Eddie, I basically butchered that Tele. But keep in mind, there was once a time when every vintage guitar was just a used guitar—I still have that Tele, by the way.
I never lost that spirit of wanting guitars that were unique, and have built and modded a few dozen guitars since. When I started G.A.S.-ing simultaneously for a Les Paul Junior and a Casino, I came up with this concept. I found an Epiphone ES-339 locally at a great price. It already had upgraded CTS pots, Kluson tuners, and the frets had been PLEK’d. It even came with a hardshell case. It was cheap because it was a right-handed guitar that had been converted to left handed and all the controls had been moved to the opposite side, so it had five additional holes in the top.
Fortunately, I found a Duesenberg wraparound bridge that used the same post spacing as a Tune-o-matic. I used plug cutters to cut plugs out of baltic birch plywood to fill the 12 holes in the laminated top. I also reshaped the old-style Epiphone headstock. Then, I sanded off the original finish, taped the fretboard, and sprayed the finish using cans of nitro lacquer from Oxford Guitar Supply. Lots of wet sanding and buffing later, the finish was done.
I installed threaded insert bushings for the bridge, so it will never pull out. The pickup is a Mojotone Quiet Coil P-90 and I fabricated a shim from a DIY mold and tinted epoxy to raise the P-90 up closer to the strings. The shim also covers the original humbucker opening. I cut a pickguard out of a blank and heated it slightly to bend it to follow the curvature of the top.
All in all, I'm pretty happy how it turned out! It plays great and sounds even better. And I have something that is unique: an ES-339 Junior.