Oliver Ackermann plays mad scientist with his band, A Place to Bury Strangers, and his pedal company, Death by Audio.
Brooklyn-based band A Place to Bury Strangers creates gnarly, outlandish, ear-crushing mayhem. Their guitarist, Oliver Ackermann, keeps his volume just north of 11 while engaging in such stage antics as guitar smashing, mid-air instrument collisions, and unnatural string removal. He chains pedals together and generates multiple layers of self-oscillating chaos.
But thereās a method to the madness. Ackermann is chasing a specific aesthetic, one he started cultivating in high school. That sensibility also informs his pedal-building business, Death By Audio. It could be described as controlled anarchy.
Ackermannās backstory reads like an aspiring guitar nerdās dream. He grew up in Fredericksburg, Virginia, listening to his parentsā Beatles and Donovan records. His older brother turned him on to the Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, the Ramones, and the Circle Jerks. He then discovered shoegaze and alternative bands like Sonic Youth, Ministry, My Bloody Valentine, and the Jesus and Mary Chain.
In high school he appropriated his brotherās Gibson SG, learned to play it, and started experimenting with effects. While earning a degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design, he spent much time in the library learning about waveforms and sound production. Through a process of trial and error, Ackermann taught himself the basics of effect building. āIt took me years to teach myself how to solder,ā he says. āI wish someone had explained basic things like, āYou need a decent iron,ā or āDonāt use plumbing solder.āā
Death By Audio opened for business in 2001. He started with one pedalāTotal Sonic Annihilationātook custom orders, and soon offered a line of pedals that featured outlandish sonic options not available elsewhere. The business took off, and now Death By Audio clients include maverick gearheads like Trent Reznor, The Edge, and others.
Ackermann moved to Brooklyn in 2003 and soon after joined A Place to Bury Strangers as guitarist and singer. The bandās eponymous 2007 release received an ā8.4 Best New Musicā rating from Pitchfork, and the group snagged opening gigs with Nine Inch Nails, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Eight years later, their new release, Transfixiation, continues to push the envelope.
Ackermann is thrilled. āTo feel justified in what you do and create as an artist is just the greatest feeling in the world.ā
āSometimes itās just about the thrill of wanting to destroy your guitar.ā Photo by Igor Vidyashev / Atlas Icons.
Premier Guitar spoke with Ackermann about his organic approach to recording and songwriting, developing new pedals, tinkering with circuits, and why the moniker āLoudest Band in New Yorkā isnāt necessarily a compliment.
When did you start messing around with pedals?
Right when I started getting into guitar. A few friends and I were getting into this certain kind of music, and a lot of it was effect-driven. Thatās what drew me to playing guitar. I didnāt really know what to do, but you could plug a guitar into an amp, crank it up, and it sounded crazy. We had a couple of distortion pedals weād run our guitars through, and then we bought a 6-track tape machine with reverb. All of those things just led to that interest: how mysterious sound can be, and how easy it is to make crazy sounds. At least it seemed easy at the time.
Did you practice pedals the way you might practice scales and chords?
I donāt really practice per se. I always feel like Iām searching for new things. Itās not about repeating certain patterns. Itās about being able to adapt to a situation and do something interesting in that moment. I donāt know if I know a single scale on the guitar. I donāt really know how to play cover songs or anything like that. I just try to play with my ear and figure out what sounds interesting at that moment. That mystery about how some of these things come about is still exciting. I want to keep some of those things a mystery to keep that thrill of being a young guitarist alive.
What were you trying to achieve sonically when you started modifying and building effects?
I was a real pedal junky. I would find tons of effects pedals, and a lot of the stuff wasnāt even that expensive. It was back when eBay was new, and you sometimes found things for a dollar. I think I got that first Boss Chorus pedal for a dollar. Another time I won five MXR Flangers for about $10. Eventually I started to understand the science of these things: why different waveforms manipulated in different ways create different sounds. You realize that the way you control effects is what makes them really cool. I wanted to figure out that stuff, and then create something new that Iād never heard before.
Did you start with modifying pedals first?
I was trying to. I was also trying to build my own guitars. I was trying to push the envelope with what you could do with the electronics, using passive filters, inductors, and capacitors, and also trying to modify pedalsāand just kind of failing. The first pedal I modified successfully was an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress. I changed the range of the speed and how it interacted with the positive and negative forms of the slope, and also created forced feedback within itself to oscillate and create noises. What really gave me a lot of knowledge was starting the effects pedal company. I used to take custom orders for anything, and that forced me to figure out how to build some projects that Iād agreed to do.
People gave you orders, and you just agreed, whether you knew how to do it or not?
Totally. Iād say, āSure, I can do that. Itās going to take me a month.ā Then it would take three months, and they would be pissed off. They gave me like $200 for three months of labor. But I got to learn something in the meantime.
What was the first pedal you built from scratch?
It was a multi-booster. I figured out how to use a transistor as an amplifier and switch between different capacitors.
āOur philosophy is to stay an actual bandājust guitar, bass, and drumsāand not wimp out,ā Ackermann says. āI donāt know if thatās a silly concept, but itās to not ever get soft as an artist.ā Photo by Igor Vidyashev / Atlas Icons.
Letās talk about your band. Does A Place to Bury Strangers have a musical philosophy?
I think so. Itās a way to stay true to what I thought was cool and honorable when I was a kid. Our philosophy is to stay an actual bandājust guitar, bass, and drumsāand not wimp out. I donāt know if thatās a silly concept, but itās to not ever get soft as an artist. Create all these sounds with real instruments, and donāt turn into a band that isnāt trying hard and isnāt creating fast and crazy music.
What is your songwriting process? Do you compose by yourself, teach songs to the band, and then create soundscapes on top of that? Or is it more of a group collaboration?
This record has a lot of group collaboration, but there are songs that I wrote from scratch to finish. I really wanted all of us working together as much as possible. If someone writes their own parts, itās something they connect with emotionally. I think thatās stronger than writing a part and telling them, āThis is how it goes.ā You lose a little bit in translation. We spent tons of time thinking of ideas, trying to work on them, even sitting in practice spaces just making noises, and sometimes they were adapted into songs. We wrote tons and tons of stuff and then waded through it, figuring out what worked.
Oliver Ackermann's Gear
Guitars
Assorted Fender Jaguars and Jazzmasters
Magnatone Typhoon
Amps
Markbass Little Mark III (500-watt head)
Effects
Death By Audio Armageddon (Apocalypse prototype)
Homemade wah (based on a simple three-transistor inductor wah circuit)
Homemade preamp with cascaded reverb and delay chips
Strings and Picks
DR Strings (any gauge)
Sometimes the pedal dictates how youāre going to play. Do you just set up gear, press a few buttons, and see what happens? Or are you more methodical?
Itās not totally random. I have ideas and sounds in my head related to whatās going on with different equipment. But still, Iām searching for something surprising to jump out. Iāve been recording music since 1995 or so. I have ideas that I know might work, and then I have those branches of ideas that I really want to try and get excited about. Sometimes you try something and it happens to surprise you with a really cool sound. I donāt like to stick with one particular methodāitās constantly searching, exploring, and having fun with your friends.
Do you show up to the studio well rehearsed, or do you improvise?
We had the luxury of rehearsing and recording at our own studio, which we built. This album ended up being about finding that moment when something really exciting happens. Some of those times when we were trying to write and record a song, and it sounded better right at the beginning than we could ever capture it again.
Were some of these songs recorded in Europe?
Two songs were recorded in Norway: āWeāve Come So Farā and āDeeper.ā Both have multiple guitar tracks. Our friend Emil Nikolaisen from Serena-Maneesh was playing with us, and he helped us record those songs. He co-produced them, as well as others that arenāt on the record. We recorded the song live first, where we would all play guitar and Dion [Lunadon] would play bass. Then we ran through the song a few more times, playing guitars and trying different things, like miking pianos to capture the reverb off a guitarās strings.
Are there lots of overdubs, or was it more about capturing the band as is?
Both. Some songs have maybe 30 guitar parts, and some songs have only one. Sometimes the song is a lot of different guitar parts, composed around each other and precisely placed and played to produce weird, interacting counter-harmonies. Sometimes itās just about the thrill of wanting to destroy your guitar.
Whatās a song with 30 guitar parts?
āWeāve Come So Far.ā Itās got tons and tons of tracks, and there are different keys of feedback playing together. It was fun to experiment and find those sorts of things.
What do you look for in a guitar?
Iām basically looking for something that wonāt break too easily and that I can buy replacement parts for as need be. It also has to have a tremolo in that [Fender Jaguar/Jazzmaster] style. Iād prefer to play a Magnatone Typhoon, but ensuring that I can get another one if the neck breaks is very hard to do. Iāll use any string gauge, but I only use DR Strings. We throw our guitars around and purposefully try to rip the strings off all the time. DR strings just donāt break. Maybe I strum harder than people should, but a lot of other strings just break apart.
YouTube It
Hear Oliver Ackermann and āthe loudest band in New Yorkā make some noise at Austinās 2014 Psych Fest. Fast-forward to 5:45 to see Ackermann smash his guitar around.
Your road guitars take a lot of abuse. Do have nice gear back home?
Definitely. I have a 1965 Jazzmaster that I donāt throw around, though I used to at one time. I also have a Magnatone Typhoon and a Gibson ES-135.
Do you have a pedalboard on tour?
I do. I used to be really anti-pedalboard, but then I realized that your pedals and cords work way better when they donāt have beer all over them from constantly being plugged in and out. It made more sense to have them plugged in all the time.
Do you ever mess around with non-guitar noise generators?
Totally! A while ago we made drum kits out of sounds like drills, throwing stuff on the ground, and slamming washing machine doors. Dion played bass with a drill. Iāve used things like strobe lightsāor any sort of electrical interferenceāto make sounds. If it seems industrial enough or crazy enough, weāll go for it.
A Place to Bury Strangers is often called the āLoudest Band in New York.ā How do you feel about that?
I guess that sounds cool and dangerous if youāre impressed by loudness. But itās not really our focus to be the loudest band anywhere. But we do like to play loud, so Iām not going to fight it. Itās just a little silly.
Total Sonic Annihilation
Total Sonic Annihilation is the pedal that launched Oliver Ackermannās company, Death By Audio. āI had this idea that I needed to make $3,000 in one month to go on a trip to Europe,ā Ackermann says. āI sold enough Total Sonic Annihilation pedals to make $3,000. When I came back from my trip, people were still interested. I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to use the things Iād learned to help other people who were searching to create sounds.ā
Total Sonic Annihilation is simple pedal: Just an effect loop and a knob. It loops connected effects back into themselves, creating wild oscillation and noise. TSAās single knob determines how many times the effects feed back.
The concept works with most standard effects, though it could break an older effect or a power amp. āIāve never had any effects break, and Iāve never heard stories of them breaking,ā insists Ackermann
Death By Audio stopped building new Total Sonic Annihilation pedals last year, but old ones have fallen into some big hands. āI know Jeff Tweedy from Wilco used one for a while,ā says Ackermann. āThe Edge bought one, too, though I donāt know if he uses it. I know that Lou Reed suggested that someone get that pedal, though I donāt know if he used it. I canāt really verify any of that information.ā
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Adding to the companyās line of premium guitar strapsand accessories, Fairfield Guitar Co. has introduced a new deluxe leather strapdesigned in collaboration with Angela Petrilli.
Based in Los Angeles, Petrilli is well-known to guitar enthusiasts around the world for her online videos. She is one of the video hosts at Normanās Rare Guitars and has her own YouTube lesson series, the Riff Rundown. She also writes, records and performs with her original band, Angela Petrilli & The Players, and has worked with Gibson, Fender, Martin Guitars, Universal Audio, Guitar Center and Fishman Transducers.
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The Fairfield Guitar Co. Angela Petrilli signature strap is available for $150 online at fairfieldguitarco.com.
Tube Amp Doctor has reissued one of the companyās mostsought-after products: the TAD 6L6WGC-STR Blackplate⢠small bottle power tube is back inproduction after a 5-year absence.
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In challenging times, sometimes elemental music, like the late Jessie Mae Hemphillās raucous Mississippi hill country blues, is the best salve. It reminds us of whatās truly essentialāāmusically, culturally, and emotionally. And provides a restorative and safe place, where we can open up, listen, and experience without judgement. And smile.
Iāve been prowling the backroads, juke joints, urban canyons, and VFW halls for more than 40 years, in search of the rawest, most powerful and authentic American music. And among the many things Iāve learned is that whatās more interesting than the music itself is the people who make it.
One of the most interesting people Iāve met is the late Jessie Mae Hemphill. By the time my wife, Laurie Hoffma, and I met Jessie Mae, on a visit to her trailer in Senatobia, Mississippi, sheād had a stroke and retired from performing, but weād been fortunate to see her years before at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival, where she brought a blues style that was like quiet thunder, rumbling with portent and joy and ache, and all the other stuff that makes us human, sung to her own droning, rocking accompaniment on an old Gibson ES-120T.
To say she was from a musical family is an understatement. Her grandfather, Sid, was twice recorded by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. While Sid played fiddle, banjo, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, and more, he was best known as the leader of a fife-and-drum band that made music that spilled directly from Africaās main artery. Sid was Jessie Maeās teacher, and she learned well. In fact, you can see her leading her own fife-and-drum group in Robert Muggeās wonderful documentary Deep Blues(with the late musician and journalist Robert Palmer as on-screen narrator), where she also performs a mournful-but-hypnotic song about betrayalāsolo, on guitarāin Junior Kimbroughās juke joint.
That movie, a 1982 episode of Mr. Rogersā Neighborhood (on YouTube) where she appears as part of Othar Turnerās Gravel Springs fife-and-drum band, and worldwide festival appearances are as close as Jessie Mae ever got to fame, although that was enough to make her important and influential to Bonnie Raitt, Cat Power, and others. And she made two exceptional albums during her lifetime: 1981ās She-Wolf and 1990ās Feelinā Good. If youāre unfamiliar with North Mississippi blues, their sound will be a revelation. The style, as Jessie Mae essayed it, is a droning, hypnotic joy that bumps along like a freight train full of happily rattling box cars populated by carefree hobos. Often the songs ride on one chord, but that chord is the only one thatās needed to put the musicās joy and conviction across. Feelinā Good, in particular, is essential Jessie Mae. Even the songs about heartbreak, like āGo Back To Your Used To Beā and āShame on You,ā have a propulsion dappled with little bends and other 6-string inflections that wrap the listener in a hypnotic web. Listening to Feelinā Good, itās easy to disappear in the music and to have all your troubles vanish as wellāfor at least as long as its 14 songs last.āShe made it clear that she had a gunāa .44 with a pearl handle that took up the entire length of her handbag.ā
The challenge Iāve long issued to people unfamiliar with Jessie Maeās music is: āListen to Feelinā Good and then tell me if youāre not feeling happier, more cheerful, and relaxed.ā It truly does, as the old clichĆ© would have it, make your backbone slip and your troubles along with it. Especially uptempo songs like the scrappy title track and the charging āStreamline Train.ā Thereās also an appealing live 1984 performance of the latter on YouTube, with Jessie Mae decked out in leopard-print pants and vest, playing a tambourine wedged onto her left high-heel shoeāāone of her stylish signatures.
Jessie Mae was a complex person, caught between the old-school dilemma of playing āthe Devilās musicā and yearning for a spiritual life, sweet as pecan pie with extra molasses but quick to turn mean at any perceived slight. She also spent much of her later years in poverty, in a small trailer with a hole in the floor where mice and other critters got in. And she was as mistrustful of strangers as she was warm once she accepted you into her heart. But watch your step before she did. On our first visit to her home, she made it clear that she had a gunāa .44 with a pearl handle that took up the entire length of her handbag and would make Dirty Harry envious.
Happily, she took us into her heart and we took her into ours, helping as much as we could and talking often. She was inspiring, and I wrote a song about her, and even got to perform it for her in her trailer, which was just a little terrifying, since I knew she would not hold back her criticism if she didn't like it. Instead, she giggled like a kid and blushed, and asked if Iād write one more verse about the artifacts sheād gathered while touring around the world.
Jessie Mae died in 2006, at age 82, and, as happens when every great folk artist dies, we lost many songs and stories, and the wisdom of her experience. But you can still get a whiff of all thatāāif you listen to Feelinā Good.