Refunds & Unsold Merch: Orthodox’s Austin Evans on Pandemic Pandemonium

He’d just moved two states away to join his favorite hardcore band, only to be forced to cancel a sold-out record-release party and bail halfway through a tour.
Straight-edge hardcore outfit Orthodox comes from Nashville, Tennessee, where, despite the city’s reputation as country music’s capital, there’s a thriving underground heavy music scene. More unorthodox, perhaps, is that until recently Orthodox weren’t even an actual band.
Orthodox was founded in 2011 by vocalist Adam Easterling as essentially a solo project, with producer and multi-instrumentalist Daniel Colombo providing the soundtrack to Easterling’s rage via nu-metal-esque grooves, twisted guitar tones, and atonal unease. Screaming out of the gate, Orthodox’s 2017 debut Sounds of Loss—with its unrelenting heaviness and lyrical themes about revenge, loss, and punishment—had many fans believing the band had perfected its delivery. But the outfit’s new release, Let It Take Its Course, pushes the heaviness, missives, and raw voltage to the next level. And much of that is thanks to the addition of Austin Evans on guitar.
Evans joined Orthodox in 2018, though his connection to the band goes back even further. “A few years back, a friend and I drove to Nashville from South Carolina to go to a Hanging Moon show,” he says. “I didn’t know them yet, but Orthodox was also playing the show. And ever since I witnessed that, I was like, ‘Dude, I have got to move here.’”
And move he did—but not before a network of scene connections linked him to Easterling for a fill-in spot on an Orthodox tour. That quickly evolved into full-time membership and the chance to write and record for Let It Take Its Course. The guitarist wears his love of Slipknot’s chaotic power on his sleeve, as revealed by Evans-penned tracks such as “Why Are You Here?”—with its feedback intro and relentless, jackhammer riffs.
From Evans’ and Colombo’s sharp-to-sludgy guitar tones to Easterling’s throat-thrashing bark, Let It Take Its Course refuses to relent. The only reprieve is “Cut,” which begins as a ballad before leaping into mayhem—juxtaposing clean guitar and melodic vocals with some of the album’s most massive, fat-grooved moments. Oh, and in a development that probably few in Orthodox’s crowd expected, Let It Take Its Course features a guest appearance by none other than Billy Ray Cyrus guitarist Chris Condon. (More on that in a bit.)
As with so many other bands, things were going great for Orthodox—what with the new album and a successful tour—until COVID-19. They’ve joined thousands of others around the world on indefinite hiatus. As hard as it’s been on the group, it’s perhaps been hardest on Evans, who had just relocated to a new city and was building a new life around a new band.
“As far as playing shows and stuff, there’s nothing going on,” says Evans. “And because I moved from South Carolina to here, I haven’t been able to get any benefits or anything. But I’m ok. I just don’t know how long this is going to be.”
When we spoke with Evans, we discussed Orthodox’s current situation, what it’s like playing in one of his favorite bands, his expanding role in the group, and why, despite everything, he’s still glad to be playing metal in Nashville.
You’ve only been in Orthodox for a couple of years, but you’ve made a big impact. How did you come to join the band?
I saw Orthodox as a fan back in 2016 at a show in Nashville. I didn’t know anything about them. I loved their whole dynamic. They released Sounds of Loss, and I was super, super into that record. It was one of my favorite records from 2017. But I didn’t think I would ever end up in the band. I knew Mike White, who plays drums for them. So one time when Orthodox came to town he told me they were down a guitarist. I confronted him at a show and said, “Hey man, if you guys need a guitarist, I’m not doing anything. Let me know.” He said he would give the word to Adam.
Following that, Adam DMs me on Instagram. I gave him my number, and he texted me this huge paragraph about, “Hey man, we have this tour coming up in November—a full U.S. tour with Left Behind and Spite. If you want to fill in on guitar, that’d be awesome.” I was actually already in Nashville with a few of my friends, hanging out. I thought, “This is crazy!” I didn’t expect it at all. The offer was set. I accepted it. We all meshed pretty well. Things took off from there.
I did that first tour with Orthodox in November 2018. Same for our bassist, Shiloh Krebs. We found out that the dynamic is pretty sick, and we all mesh pretty well together. Eventually, it came to be, “Hey, do you guys want to play full time?” Then, in 2019, Adam asked me if I wanted to start helping him write the new record.
TIDBIT: Guitarist Austin Evans plugged into some heavy horsepower to get his raging tones on Orthodox’ latest: a block-letter Peavey 5150 and a Fortin Meshuggah head.
So you relocated to Nashville, right?
Yes, I moved here in December 2019. But I haven’t really lived here yet, because I moved towards the end of December and worked all of January and February. Then in March I was out on tour with Orthodox. But with this quarantine stuff, I’ve been spending all the time in the world here now. [Laughs.]
What’s it like being a metal musician in Nashville?
I first got into music around 2012 or 2013, in South Carolina. The music scene out there is kind of rough. I mean, you would have maybe 60 or 70 kids come out to a show on a good night. Nobody there ever wanted to tour or take their band to the next level, but this is all I want to do. The first show I went to in Nashville was that Orthodox show in 2016. It was one of the coolest shows I’d ever been to. It was in a house and packed out. Everybody was going ballistic, and everybody’s having fun. I could tell right off the bat that it was a super supportive hardcore scene. Everybody was backing each other up and promoting each other. People take music so seriously in Nashville, and there’s all kinds of music. It’s everywhere. It really is Music City.
Orthodox is known for bringing a nu-metal influence to hardcore. Is nu-metal an influence on your playing, too?
Growing up, I was into all different kinds of metal. I grew up on thrash metal like Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, and Death. Then there was a time where I visited my mom, and she was seeing this guy who had a whole music collection with all types of CDs. There was a Slipknot CD called 9.0: Live, where they played everything off of the first three records. I went upstairs, put it on, and listened to it all the time. I fell in love with Slipknot. I was into that fast, crazy, insane music.
When I listened to Sounds of Loss, I could tell it was in drop-B tuning, like a lot of Slipknot songs. And it had similar super-creepy guitar riffs. That’s all I need in a band. That’s why I fell in love with Sounds of Loss and Orthodox.
When it comes to writing riffs, I always think of crazy Slipknot stuff. It’s got to be fast, it’s got to be punchy, it’s got to be heavy, it’s got to be something crazy. It can’t be too slow. There are some slower songs on the record, but my take on Orthodox is chaotic all the time. That’s how I want it to be.
At a Minneapolis show, Austin Evans kicks out the jams with his Seymour Duncan Black Winter-equipped ESP LTD M Series and trusty Peavey 5150. Photo by Cam Smith
Up until this point Orthodox has been Adam’s project, and yet you contributed to the new album.
Basically, before I joined, Adam would go in with our friend Daniel Colombo, who tracks, mixes, and masters the whole thing. Adam will sing riffs and explain what he wants to Dan. Adam doesn’t play guitar, so Dan would take care of the instruments and bring his ideas to life.I think they got five or six songs into this album before I was introduced. When Adam asked if I wanted to help write the new record, it was a tough question. With me liking Sounds of Loss as much as I did, I now had to live up to the standard of a band that I really looked up to. Now I had to take a crack at it and see what I could do.
The first song I wrote was “I Can Show You God.” Adam was super excited. He said, “This might be my favorite song that we’ve written. I want you to continue to write riffs and help write the new record.” So I also ended up writing “Look at Me,” “Why Are You Here?” and a skeleton of the song “Cut.”
You weren’t the only guitarist on the album. Who else played on it, and what did you record?
I tracked all of the songs I wrote. Dan crushed the other songs. And Chris [Condon, Billy Ray Cyrus guitarist] recorded the very end of “Cut.” For the clean guitar that drifts off into nothing, Chris pulled out some single-coil guitar and threw it on a clean channel with a bunch of reverb. He made it super clean and pretty.
What do you think separates Let It Take Its Course from Sounds of Loss, musically?
The new songs have a lot more structure to them than the old songs. But it’s kind of hard for me to answer that because I don’t really know anybody’s writing process with the first record. All I know is that playing those songs live is a lot of fun. What I could tell is that there are a lot of repeating parts throughout the old songs. And the older songs that repeat themselves a bunch are the most well known. They’re songs like “Panic,” “Second Best,” and “I’m Scared of You.” So if there’s anything that I’d want to work on, it’s to get better at repeating parts and making them interesting.
The guitar sounds really raw throughout the album. How did you and Dan keep it so consistent?
We used a block-letter [Peavey] 5150 and a Fortin Meshuggah head. I think they only made 50 of them. They’re fucking $4,000 or $5,000, and Dan got one! He said, “Hey, man, do you want to track with this?” I was like, “Fuck yes!”For the left-side guitar, we used the Fortin, and then we used the 5150 for right side. I don’t exactly remember what overdrives we used. Every pedal that was used was all Dan. I don’t know a goddamn thing about his pedalboard. He did it for me. If there’s anything that was used that wasn’t reverb or delay, it was either a phaser or a chorus pedal. Orthodox is super reliant on chorus and phaser to amplify certain sounds and make them sound creepy. If you listen to “The Anticipation,” on the first record, the weird harmonic sound wouldn’t happen unless you crank the fucking chorus pedal all the way. I think it was Adam and Tyler Williams, the old guitarist, who figured that out. Also, in heavy-ass parts of the record, we would hit an octave pedal. You would have the drop B, but then there would also be an undertone of a double drop B. It sounds massive. I do it live too. I’ll use the DigiTech Whammy DT, which has the Drop attached to it. I don’t remember the pedal we used on the record, but it’s practically the same thing.
How about guitars?
I used my ESP LTD M Series, which has Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups. They sound sick. I’m not too big on active pickups. I think passives sound way tighter and way cleaner. So I wanted to use the guitar on the record because I knew it would fit the sound so well.
When you play live, do you try to recreate the sounds on the album, or do you stick to a rig of your own?
My live rig is a block-letter 5150 cranked up to 6 on the gain, 8 on bass, at half on mids, 6 on treble, resonance on 10, and presence on 6 1/2. My pedal setup is that drop-tune Whammy that goes into a [TC Electronic] PolyTune tuner, then into a Maxon OD808—that’s the best overdrive you can have. Then there’s the chorus pedal, which I think is called Wet Dreams by a company called Deadbeat. I actually didn’t buy it. I stole it off my old guitarist from my other band. Sorry about that, Tyler Washington! [Laughs.] And finally, that goes into a [ISP] Decimator II and into an MXR Carbon Copy. I don’t run anything to the effects loop. Another pedal I use for all of our bass drops and samples throughout the set is the Boss RC-3 looper. I run from the RC-3 into a DI box into the PA.
Guitars
ESP LTD M Series with Seymour Duncan Black Winter pickups
Amps
Peavey 5150
Orange PPC412 4x12 with Celestion Vintage 30s
Effects
TC Electronic PolyTune Mini
DigiTech Whammy DT
Maxon OD808
Deadbeat Sound Wet Dreams
MXR Carbon Copy
ISP Decimator II
Strings and Picks
D’Addario NYXLs (.011–.056)
Dunlop Tortex 1.14 mm
Speaking of playing live, the coronavirus has changed everything—especially for bands where touring is vital for survival. How has all this affected Orthodox?
I got back from tour and fucking everything was fucked. We weren’t anticipating it to come to an end as early as it did. We were supposed to go until March 22, but we ended up stopping on the 13th or the 12th. It bummed me out pretty hard because we got the news literally three hours before we were supposed to play. It was, “All right, this is the last show” but we had fucking 10 days left! I got paid out from the tour, and I think, “Things are fine. I’ll hit up my old manager and go back to work.” Then I got a call from him saying, “Well, you’ve been temporarily terminated. We can’t have people in a restaurant at this time.”But I have been using this time to focus on writing and finishing up an EP for my other band. And Adam and I have already been talking about writing new Orthodox stuff. So I am being productive and keeping my train of thought going with music.
That’s a hard hit to take.
Dude, our record-release show was supposed to be at the end of the tour! It was supposed to be March 27, and they had to cancel it. I’m pretty fucking sure we almost sold it out, but we had to give out refunds. We also had restocked on merch before it got shut down, so we were left with a bunch of that. We ended up putting it all online.
Tell us a bit about your other band.
I sing in a band called A Dozen Black Roses. We put out an EP three days before we left for the first Orthodox tour. I wrote the whole thing with my buddy Marcus Wickham, who was my roommate. That band has been my backup band whenever Orthodox isn’t doing anything. I write everything for it. It’s me and Marcus—who plays in another band called Early Humans—and Blake Hardman from Counterparts plays guitar. And James Chatham and Kelly Cook from 30 Nights of Violence play bass and guitar. Adam’s project is Orthodox, and this project is mine. It’s on Apple Music and Spotify.
It sounds like you have a very close-knit musical community. Everyone seems to play in bands with everyone else.
When I started A Dozen Black Roses, I still lived in Charleston. I only knew Marcus. He was the only person I could think of to record drums, and he’s one of my best friends. But he lived in Nashville, so I came her to Nashville and we recorded it. That’s when I went to that house show with Orthodox in 2016. All of my friends that I’m close with and are talented musicians live here. Living in a city where there’s nothing going on, nobody’s a musician, and nobody wants to take music seriously bummed me out. I wanted to be close with a group of people like me. I didn’t realize how big the hardcore and metal scene is here. Everybody is super supportive of each other. It was a refreshing restart.
Austin Evans and the rest of the current Orthodox touring lineup in the official video for the title track from Let It Takes Its Course.
This Japan-made Guyatone brings back memories of hitchin’ rides around the U.S.
This oddball vintage Guyatone has a streak of Jack Kerouac’s adventurous, thumbing spirit.
The other day, I saw something I hadn’t noticed in quite some time. Driving home from work, I saw an interesting-looking fellow hitchhiking. When I was a kid, “hitchers” seemed much more common, but, then again, the world didn’t seem as dangerous as today. Heck, I can remember hitching to my uncle’s cabin in Bradford, Pennsylvania—home of Zippo lighters—and riding almost 200 miles while I sat in a spare tire in the open bed of a pickup truck! Yes, safety wasn’t a big concern for kids back in the day.
So, as I’m prone to do, I started digging around hitchhiking culture and stories. Surprisingly, there are organized groups that embrace the hitching life, but the practice remains on the fringe in the U.S. Back in the 1950s, writer Jack Kerouac wrote the novel On the Road, which celebrated hitchhiking and exposed readers to the thrill of maverick travel. Heck, even Mike Dugan (the guitarist in all my videos) hitched his way to California in the 1960s. But seeing that fellow on the side of the road also sparked another image in my brain: Yep, it always comes back to guitars.
Let me present to you a guitar that’s ready to go hitching: the Guyatone LG-180T, hailing from 1966. The “thumbs-up” headstock and the big “thumb” on the upper bout always made me think of thumbing a ride, and I bought and sold this guitar so long ago that I had forgotten about it, until I saw that hitchhiking dude. Guyatone was an interesting Japanese company because they were primarily an electronics company, and most of their guitars had their wooden parts produced by other factories. In the case of the LG-180T, the bodies were made by Yamaha in Hamamatsu, Japan. At that time, Yamaha was arguably making the finest Japanese guitars, and the wood on this Guyatone model is outstanding. We don’t often see Guyatone-branded guitars here in the U.S., but a lot of players recognize the early ’60s label Kent—a brand name used by an American importer for Guyatone guitars.
With a bit of imagination, the LG-180T’s “thumbs up” headstock seems to be looking for a roadside ride.
Kent guitars were extremely popular from the early ’60s until around 1966. The U.S. importer B&J fed the American need for electric guitars with several nice Kent models, but when the Guyatone contract ended, so did most of the Kent guitars. After that, Guyatone primarily sold guitars in Japan, so this example is a rare model in the U.S.
“Unless you are a master at guitar setups, this would be a difficult player.”
This headstock is either the ugliest or the coolest of the Guyatone designs. I can’t decide which. I will say, no other Japanese guitar company ever put out anything like this. You have to give the Guyatone designers a thumbs up for trying to stand out in the crowd! Guyatone decided to forgo an adjustable truss rod in this model, opting instead for a light alloy non-adjustable core to reinforce the neck. Speaking of the neck, this instrument features the most odd-feeling neck. It’s very thin but has a deep shoulder (if that makes any sense). Totally strange!
Another strange feature is the bridge, which offers very little adjustment because of the three large saddles, which sort of rock back and forth with the tremolo. It’s a shame because these pickups sound great! They’re very crisp and have plenty of zing, but unless you are a master at guitar set-ups, this would be a difficult player.
This could be why the LG-180T only appeared in the 1966 and 1967 catalogs. After that, it disappeared along with all the other Yamaha-made Guyatone electrics. By 1969, Guyatone had gone bankrupt for the first time, and thus ended guitar production for a few decades. At least we were blessed with some wacky guitar designs we can marvel at while remembering the days when you could play in the back end of an explosive 1973 AMC Gremlin while your mom raced around town. Two thumbs up for surviving our childhoods! PG
Building upon the foundation of the beloved Core Collection H-535, this versatile instrument is designed to serve as a masterpiece in tone.
The new model features striking aesthetic updates and refined tonal enhancements. Crafted at the iconic 225 Parsons Street factory, home to other world-famous models like the H-150, H-157, and H-575 - the H-555 continues to exemplify the very best of American craftsmanship.
The Core Collection H-555 features a set of Custom Shop 225 Hot Classic Humbuckers, meticulously wound in-house with carefully selected components, and voiced to deliver added punch and richness while preserving exceptional dynamics and touch sensitivity. Seamlessly complementing the H-555’s semi-hollow construction, they blend warmth and woodiness with refined, articulate clarity.
The Core Collection H-555’s aesthetic has been elevated with multi-ply binding on the body, headstock, and pickguard. Its neck, sculpted in a classic ’50s profile, delivers effortless comfort and is adorned with elegant block inlays, seamlessly blending style with playability. Gold hardware complements the aesthetic, exuding elegance while presenting the H-555 as a truly premium and versatile instrument for the discerning player.
Available in Ebony and Trans Cherry, each Core Collection H-555 is beautifully finished with a nitrocellulose vintage gloss that features a subtle shine and gracefully ages over time. An Artisan Aged option is also available for those seeking an authentically well-loved look and feel, achieved through a meticulous, entirely hand-finished aging process. The new Core Collection continues Heritage’s tradition of world-class craftsmanship, offering a true masterpiece in tone and design for discerning players. Each guitar is shipped in a premium Heritage Custom Shop hard case.
Key Features
- Finest Tonewoods: Laminated highly figured Curly Maple (Top & Back) with solid Curly Maple sides
- Heritage Custom Shop 225 Hot Classic Humbuckers: Designed and wound in-house
- Headstock: Multi-ply bound headstock, featuring a Kite inlay, 3×3 tuners laser-etched with Heritage graphics
- Neck Profile: Comfortable ’50s C-shape for a vintage feel
- Bridge: Tune-O-Matic with aluminum stopbar tailpiece for enhanced sustain
- Made in the USA: Crafted at 225 Parsons Street
For more information, please visit heritageguitars.com.
Ariel Posen and the Heritage Custom Shop Core Collection H-555 - YouTube
Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.Fifteen watts that sits in a unique tone space and offers modern signal routing options.
A distinct alternative to the most popular 1x10 combos. Muscular and thick for a 1x10 at many settings. Pairs easily with single-coils and humbuckers. Cool looks.
Tone stack could be more rangeful.
$999
Supro Montauk
supro.com
When you imagine an ideal creative space, what do you see? A loft? A barn? A cabin far from distraction? Reveling in such visions is inspiration and a beautiful escape. Reality for most of us, though, is different. We’re lucky to have a corner in the kitchen or a converted closet to make music in. Still, there’s a romance and sense of possibility in these modest spaces, and the 15-watt, 1x10, all-tubeSupro Montauk is an amplifier well suited to this kind of place. It enlivens cramped corners with its classy, colorful appearance. It’s compact. It’s also potent enough to sound and respond like a bigger amp in a small room.
The Montauk works in tight quarters for reasons other than size, though—with three pre-power-section outputs that can route dry signal, all-wet signal from the amp’s spring reverb, or a mixture of both to a DAW or power amplifier.
Different Stripes and Spacious Places
Vintage Supro amps are modestly lovely things. The China-made Montauk doesn’t adhere toold Supro style motifs in the strictest sense. Its white skunk stripe is more commonly seen on black Supro combos from the late 1950s, while the blue “rhino hide” vinyl evokes Supros from the following decade. But the Montauk’s handsome looks make a cramped corner look a lot less dour. It looks pretty cool on a stage, too, but the Montauk attribute most likely to please performing guitarists is the small size (17.75" x 16.5" x 7.5") and light weight (29 pounds), which, if you tote your guitar in a gig bag and keep your other stuff to a minimum, facilitates magical one-trip load ins.
Keen-eyed Supro-spotters noting the Montauk’s weight and dimensions might spy the similarities to another 1x10 Supro combo,the Amulet. A casual comparison of the two amps might suggest that the Montauk is, more-or-less, an Amulet without tremolo and power scaling. They share the same tube complement, including a relatively uncommon 1x6L6 power section. But while the Montauk lacks the Amulet’s tremolo, the Montauk’s spring reverb features level and dwell controls rather than the Amulet’s single reverb-level knob.
“High reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on top—leaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones.”
If you use reverb a lot and in varying levels of intensity, you’ll appreciate the extra flexibility. High reverb levels and low dwell settings evoke a small, reflective room with metallic overtones from the spring sprinkled on top—leaving ghostly ambience in the wake of strong, defined transient tones. There are many shades of this subtle texture to explore, and it’s a great sound and solution for those who find the spring reverbs in Fender amps (which feature no dwell control) an all-or-nothing proposition. For those who like to get deep in the pipeline, though, the dwell offers room to roam. Mixing high level and dwell settings blunts the amp’s touch sensitivity a bit, and at 15 watts you trade headroom for natural compression, compounding the fogginess of these aggressive settings. A Twin Reverb it ain’t. But there is texture aplenty to play with.
A Long, Wide Strand
Admirably, the Montauk speaks in many voices when paired with a guitar alone. The EQ sits most naturally and alive with treble and bass in the noon-to-2-o’clock region, and a slight midrange lean adds welcome punch. Even the amp’s trebliest realms afford you a lot of expressive headroom if you have enough range and sensitivity in your guitar volume and tone pots. Interactions between the gain and master output controls yield scads of different tone color, too. Generally, I preferred high gain settings, which add a firecracker edge to maximum guitar volume settings and preserve touch and pick response at attenuated guitar volume and tone levels.
If working with the Montauk in this fashion feels natural, you’ll need very few pedals. But it’s a good fit for many effects. A Fuzz Face sounded nasty without collapsing into spitty junk, and the Klon-ish Electro-Harmonix Soul Food added muscle and character in its clean-boost guise and at grittier gain levels. There’s plenty of headroom for exploring nuance and complexity in delays and modulations. It also pairs happily with a wide range of guitars and pickups: Every time I thought a Telecaster was a perfect fit, I’d plug in an SG with PAFs and drift away in Mick Taylor/Stones bliss.
The Verdict
Because the gain, master, tone, and reverb controls are fairly interactive, it took me a minute to suss out the Montauk’s best and sweetest tones. But by the time I was through with this review, I found many sweet spots that fill the spaces between Vox and Fender templates. There’s also raunch in abundance when you turn it up. It’s tempting to view the Montauk as a competitor to the Fender Princeton and Vox AC15. At a thousand bucks, it’s $400 dollars less than the Mexico-made Princeton ’68 Custom and $170 more than the AC15, also made in China. In purely tone terms, though, it represents a real alternative to those stalwarts. I’d be more than happy to see one in a backline, provided I wasn’t trying to rise above a Geezer Butler/Bill Ward rhythm section. And with its capacity for routing to other amps and recording consoles in many intriguing configurations, it succeeds in being a genuinely interesting combination of vintage style and sound and home-studio utility—all without adding a single digital or solid-state component to the mix.
Watch the official video documenting the sold-out event at House of Blues in Anaheim. Join Paul Reed Smith and special guests as they toast to quality and excellence in guitar craftsmanship.
PRS Guitars today released the official video documenting the full night of performances at their 40th Anniversary celebration, held January 24th in conjunction with the 2025 NAMM (The National Association of Music Merchants) Show. The sold-out, private event took place at House of Blues in Anaheim, California and featured performances by PRS artists Randy Bowland, Curt Chambers, David Grissom, Jon Jourdan, Howard Leese, Mark Lettieri Group, Herman Li, John Mayer, Orianthi, Tim Pierce, Noah Robertson, Shantaia, Philip Sayce, and Dany Villarreal, along with Paul Reed Smith and his Eightlock band.
“What a night! Big thanks to everyone who came out to support us: retailers, distributors, vendors, content creators, industry friends, and especially the artists. I loved every second. We are so pleased to share the whole night now on this video,” said Paul Reed Smith, Founder & Managing General Partner of PRS Guitars. “I couldn’t be more proud to still be here 40 years later.”
With nearly 1,400 of the who’s who in the musical instrument industry in attendance, the night ended with a thoughtful toast from PRS Signature Artist John Mayer, who reflected on 40 years of PRS Guitars and the quality that sets the brand apart. “The guitars are great. You can’t last 40 years if the guitars aren’t great,” said Mayer. “Many of you started hearing about PRS the same way I did, which is you would talk about PRS and someone would say ‘They’re too nice.’ What’s too nice for a guitar? What, you want that special vibe that only tuning every song can give you on stage? You want that grit just like your heroes … bad intonation? The product is incredible.”