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What's with the cheeky name and graphics on Acorn Amplifiers' F#%k Face? Long story short: In 1989, the Fleer baseball-card company "accidentally" printed a short-lived card featuring Bill Ripken (Hall of Famer Cal Jr.'s less-known brother), hoisting a bat with "Fuck Face" scrawled on its butt. Besides being funny, the tie-in is that F#%k Face is inspired by the famous round 2-knob fuzz favored by Hendrix, Gilmour, and Eric Johnson—only it ups its progenitor's gain ante with three stages of filth courtesy of three 2N3904 silicon transistors.
I tested F#%k Face with a Stratocaster equipped with Fender Custom Shop '69 pickups, a Gibson '57 Classic-loaded Les Paul, a Tele with Curtis Novak single-coils, and an Eastwood Sidejack Baritone with Novak JM-WR pickups. Amps included a 1976 Fender Vibrolux Reverb, a KT66-driven Sound City SC30, a 6973-driven Goodsell Valpreaux 30, and a Fender Rumble 200.
Recorded into an Audient iD44 interface with no EQ-ing, compression, or effects. Clip 1: Curtis Novak Tele-V bridge pickup into F#%k Face (level 4 o'clock, fuzz min) then a Sound City SC30 miked with a Royer R-121. Clip 2: Curtis Novak JM-V neck pickup, then JM-V and Tele-V bridge,, then bridge position, into F#%k Face (level noon, fuzz min) then into a SoundBrut DrVa MkII, a Ground Control Tsukuyomi mid boost, an Anasounds Element reverb, and a Vibrolux Reverb miked with a Royer R-121. Clip 3: Les Paul 57 Classic bridge pickup into F#%k Face (level 4 o'clock, fuzz min) then a Sound City SC30 miked with a Royer R-121. Clip 4: Les Paul 57 Classic bridge pickup into F#%k Face (level moved from 10 o'clock to max, fuzz at max) then a Sound City SC30 miked with a Royer R-121. Clip 5: Custom Shop '69 Strat bridge pickup into F#%k Face (level and fuzz at max) then into a SoundBrut DrVa MkII, a Ground Control Tsukuyomi mid boost, an Anasounds Element reverb, and a Fender Vibrolux Reverb miked with a Royer R-121 and a Fender Rumble 200 miked with an Audix D6. Clip 6: Curtis Novak JM-WR bridge pickup into F#%k Face (level at 11 o'clock, fuzz at max) then into a SoundBrut DrVa MkII, a Ground Control Tsukuyomi mid boost, a Solidgoldfx Electrooman MkII, an Anasounds Element reverb, and a Fender Vibrolux Reverb miked with a Royer R-121 and a Fender Rumble 200 miked with an Audix D6.
Often Fat, Always Nasty
Cutting to the question undoubtedly at the fore of your own face, yes, F#%k Face is nasty. In many respects it reminds me of the vintage-Mosrite-inspired Jordan Fuzztite—a silicon-transistor unit with a switchable high-gain mode that's been my go-to fuzz for years. Both units furnish buzzy, Velcro-y tones that are categorically not for the faint of heart. Put another way: If you're looking for sweetly singing Jimi leads, F#%k Face will do exactly as its name says.
Despite its lack of an EQ control, F#%k Face's tone profile shifts a bit, depending (primarily) on where its level knob is set. Unity gain tends to be anywhere from 10 o'clock to noon, and from there to about 2 o'clock, tones are more mid-dominant, while past 2 it becomes increasingly corpulent and low-mid heavy. In general, lower fuzz-knob settings are thin and spitty (I like the wasp-in-a-tin-can metaphor), while increasing gain past noon simultaneously smooths out the sound, focuses frequencies in the low and low-mid range, and introduces huge, frothing, effortlessly infinite steroidal cello sustain.
If you're looking for sweetly singing Jimi leads, F#%k Face will do exactly as its name says.
At higher gain settings, there were many times when F#%k Face's riotous rotundity felt a little too indistinct and same-y in any pickup position other than the bridge. This might lead one to surmise F#%k Face is for doomy folks. And at extreme settings, many will certainly miss the cushy attack dynamics you typically get from neck or middle pickups. But there's enough interactivity between the pedal's controls, and a decent enough ability to clean things up with guitar-volume tweaks, that you can still get some in-between flavors. A silver lining to this apparent "limitation" is that F#%k Face sounds very consistent from guitar to guitar, regardless of pickup type.
The Verdict
If you're a fuzz deviant like I am, F#%k Face offers a lot to be intrigued by—especially in a stomp category where staid often seems to be the MO. My main wish while playing F#%k Face was that tone shifts were either a little more perceptible or more responsive to volume-knob tweaks at high gain settings. I loved that F#%k Face could make a Les Paul sound like an overloaded arcing Jacob's ladder. But sometimes the gain was so thick it was difficult to predict, rhythmically, how riffs or leads would come out the other end. (Granted, some might view that as a plus.) Interestingly, one of my favorite settings was fuzz at minimum and level at 3 or 4 o'clock, which—with my Tele volume down a tad and my Sound City SC30 dialed to a Vox-y recipe—yielded a responsive, bristlingly dynamic, and hyper-charged Kinks vibe.
I've had the good fortune to play many odd instruments, from hurdy gurdies to Buchla modular synthesizers to giant pipe organs. Only a few, however, were weirder contraptions than the Binson Echorec. The sounds of a Binson may be familiar—if only because it was Pink Floyd's echo of choice through the early to mid-'70s. But musically interacting with one, while observing and hearing the tickings, whirrings, and sometimes clankings of its electromechanical innards, feels like stepping into some parallel-universe, future/past from a pulp-science-fiction paperback. It's no coincidence that the band who wrote "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" made it a centerpiece of their creative process.
Foxgear's China-built T7EBABY delay—which was inspired by the Binson Echorec T7E, an early Echorec version—does a fine job of imitating the unique sonic oddities that were made possible by the original Echorec's spinning-drum, multi-head, record-and-repeat apparatus. And while the Foxgear's approximations may not nail all the mysterious, often unpredictable, ambience of an original Binson all the time—and few, if any, pedals can—there are boatloads of hazy, highly psychedelic tones and textures that bear the quirky sonic hallmarks of an authentic analog original.
Fender Telecaster via Foxgear T7EBABY into black panel Fender Tremolux and Universal Audio OX (with plack panel Deluxe 12-inch cabinet sim) and Universal Audio Apollo Twin and Luna.
Digital Control at the Heart of the Stomp
Though you can operate the T7EBABY intuitively, the controls, as on the original Binson, aren't the equivalent of what you see on a simple compact digital or analog delay. Some are familiar ones with funny names. The "motor adjust" function, for instance, controls delay time. Delay length is extended to a maximum of 880 ms here—more than the approximately 300 ms of delay available on a Binson or the 660 ms available on the Echosex 2 from Foxgear's sister company, Gurus. The "age of damage" control adds woozy pitch modulation that emulates drum wear. Volume effectively controls the echo mix.
Other controls are unique in more than name. The 12-position head combination selector approximates the functionality of the Binson Echorec's 4-playback-head array, enabling the syncopated rhythmic echoes that different head combinations generate. Unlike the Binson, each virtual playback head has a different minimum-to-maximum delay range depending on where you set the motor adjust. Head 1 can range from 86 to 200 ms, head 2 from 172 to 422 ms, head 3 covers a 258 to 625 ms range, and head 4 ranges from 344 to 822ms. The relative spacing of the four settings remains consistent regardless of delay time.
As on the original Binson, the swell function feeds echoes back into the circuit to create additional layers of echo that can self-oscillate or turn into a bed of reverb, depending on where you set the length of swell.
The mode selector has three positions. Echo mode generates a single repeat of the selected head pattern sans feedback. It's great for staccato and slapback patterns, and has a very controlled but strong rhythmic character. The repeats mode brings the swell control into the mix, which effectively manages feedback. As on the original Binson, the swell function feeds echoes back into the circuit to create additional layers of echo that can self-oscillate or turn into a bed of reverb, depending on where you set the length of swell. The swell and tone controls are highly interactive. Lots of tone on top of long swell settings generates self-oscillation. Less tone makes long swell settings sound more like reverb. I loved keeping the tone control and length of swell in a sweet spot, where they created a constant bed of feedback tucked just behind the echoes. It's an incredibly effective and mysteriously evocative effect. It also feels more precise and much easier to tailor and control than most teetering-at-the-edge-of-feedback settings on other delays. With fuzz driving this signal, you can achieve bewilderingly swirling sustain textures and mutant reverb/delay sounds that are fat with ringing overtones.
The Verdict
Any Echorec pedal worth its salt is a load of fun. But there aren't a ton of them out there, probably because the programming and number crunching required to authentically approximate the complex nuances of the real thing is a resource-intensive chore. Thanks to its association with Gurus, Foxgear has years of experience chasing Echorec weirdness. The sum of that experience is not just audible, it's also tactile. At many settings—particularly those with high swell settings and those with odd head combinations—you will be compelled to play differently, and it can take you in interesting compositional directions. At $219, it's a more affordable alternative to the more expensive Echosex and is competitively priced with affordable Echorec alternatives with less authentic feature sets.
One of the most inspiring and emotionally charged live performances I've ever experienced happened this past June when Foo Fighters inaugurated a post-COVID return of live music to the fabled Madison Square Garden. Armed with his signature Gibson DG-335 and a quarter-century's worth of anthemic hits and fan favorites, Foos leader Dave Grohl and his cohorts kept 20,000 ecstatic New Yorkers on their feet for two and a half hours with barely a pause. The magnificent engine that drives this iconic band is an obvious but perhaps under-appreciated ingredient to their sound—namely Grohl's propulsive, hook-laden rhythm guitar playing. And much like his drumming during his tenure with legendary grunge pioneers Nirvana, Grohl's rhythm guitar skills are a mighty bedrock to build on. In this lesson, we will explore some of the guitar techniques from the Foo Fighters' catalog of epic fist-in-the-air bangers!
Flyin’ Lessons
Let's start with the two chord grips shown in Ex. 1. Grab a garden-variety open E chord using your 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers. This fingering allows you to move the shape up the neck while leaving your 1st finger free to grab the root note on the 6th string while letting the two highest strings ring out. Like a barre chord, this voicing can be slid up and down the neck. This fretboard strategy was a favorite move of Rush's Alex Lifeson and it's no secret that Dave Grohl is an unabashed Rush fan.
Play through Ex. 2 to get a feel for how Grohl appropriated this cool chordal trick to enliven such Foo tunes as "This Is a Call" and "Learning to Fly." Remember to keep your hand in place and let each chord ring throughout the entire measure's arpeggio.
Ex. 2
Foo Fighters - Learn To Fly (Live At Wembley Stadium, 2008)
Octave-ate
One recurring sonic weapon in the mighty Foo Fighter arsenal is the use of sliding octave shapes which are often played against open 6th- and 5th-string drones. Familiarize yourself with the two octave fingerings in Ex. 3. The first involves a two-fret stretch and the second uses a three-fret stretch. I recommend using your 1st and 4th finger for both.
Once you have these in your muscle memory, have a go at Ex. 4, which pits the shapes against droning open strings, turning what might've been an otherwise pedestrian E to A change into a melodic riff with major 6, major 7, and major 9 color tones. You can use either all downstrokes or alternate strums to help catch the vibe of the pre-choruses to "Everlong," the chorus of "Best of You" and "My Hero" or the main riff of "Learning to Fly."
Ex. 4
Foo Fighters - My Hero (Reading + Leeds 2019)
(Odd) Times Like These
One compositional tactic Grohl seems to have mastered is the use of tension and release. More specifically, the juxtaposition of a disjointed dissonant part against a harmonically/melodically satisfying one. This is often accomplished with a highly syncopated or odd-metered rhythmic attack or the deployment a harmonically ambiguous chord voicing such as the Dm7(no 3rd) in Ex. 5 which can be slid up or down chromatically for added angst.
To hear these techniques in action, listen to the opening chord salvo and 7/4 groove of the soaring intro of "Times Like These," or the brutal rhythm guitar fisticuffs during the verses of "All My Life." Then play through Ex. 6 to see how they can be easily applied. When listening to the recorded example, notice the guitar is silent on beat one of the 7/4 measure leaving the bass to sound the downbeat, creating an evocative "call-and-response" effect.
Ex. 6
Foo Fighters “All My Life” on the Howard Stern Show
Colourful Chord Shapes
The Foo Fighters' 1995 eponymous debut album—which was essentially written and recorded entirely by Grohl—proved that he was more than just an exceptional drummer, but it was 1997's follow-up The Colour and the Shape that solidly established them as one of the great rock bands of their generation. Not surprisingly "Everlong," a song from that release, has gone on to became the band's "de facto" anthem. In order to deconstruct this modern rock masterpiece, you'll need to be in drop-D tuning, which requires lowering your guitar's 6th string down a whole step (making its tuning D–A–D–G–B–E, low to high). Most of the chord shapes during the song's verse are some variation of the standard-issue D5 shown in Ex. 7.
Slide it up to the 9th position while extending your first finger for a partial barre of the bottom two strings to sound the Bm(sus2), then slide it down another whole step to the 7th position while lifting your third finger to grab the A5.
Once you've mastered these three basic variations, use them in several positions to play through Ex. 8. Although not a note-for-note transcription, playing this example with downstrokes should put you in the ballpark for sleuthing out the inimitably iconic intro to "Everlong."
Ex. 8
Stacked and (Un-Stacked) 6-Strings
Although the Foo Fighters are a quintessential rock band in many respects, something you won't really find in their music is gratuitous guitar solos. Instead of fretboard gymnastics, Grohl's 6-string co-conspirators ( Chris Shifflett since 1999, and Pat Smear since 2010 who rejoined after touring with the band during their earliest incarnation) generally focus on adding complementary melodic lines voiced on the high strings. This less-is-more approach is demonstrated in Ex. 8—a single-note melody articulated against an open-high-E drone.
While this melodic phrase may sound pleasant enough on its own, it really springs to life when layered on top. You can hear this juxtaposition on the repeat of the audio example or you can check out the general technique in action on Foo Fighter essentials like "Everlong" Monkey Wrench," "My Hero," and "Walk."
Foo Fighters - Everlong (Live At Wembley Stadium, 2008)
Grace Notes
After being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past year, the Foo Fighters can rightfully take their place alongside the great hard rock bands of all time. And like many of the all- time greats, The Foos are equally adept rocking out on acoustic steel-strings as they are when cranked through high-gain stacks. One particularly poignant acoustic moment from the album Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace is the instrumental "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners" which was inspired by two miners in Australia who requested an iPod loaded with Foo Fighters songs be sent down to them during the rescue mission after the mine they were in collapsed. (They were eventually freed unharmed, and met up with a visibly moved Grohl who played the song for them personally.) This full-throttle fingerstyle excursion revolves around rapid open-string hammer-ons and pull-offs like those in Ex. 9, and was originally recorded as a duet with guitar virtuoso Kaki King.
Ex. 9
Foo Fighters Sydney 2018 - Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners
When it comes to great songwriting, Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters are arguably the standard-bearers of modern rock. Hopefully this deep dive into some of their compositional techniques will not only give you a greater appreciation for the band, it'll inspire you to incorporate new ideas into your own writing and playing.
Need to wrangle a pile of pedals? These 10 options can put an end to your tap dancing.
Gone are the days of expensive custom controllers. It's never been easier to harness the power of MIDI to get the most out of your pedalboard.
Jet Pedals MCX
If space is a consideration, this compact 3-button setup could be the answer. It's designed around eight banks, each with a unique identifier that gives up to five presets per bank. It can be powered via USB or a standard 9V power supply.
Express yourself with this full-featured controller that houses a pair of built-in expression pedals along with 10 assignable control pedals. It can send five program-change commands simultaneously.
Inside this modestly sized box sits a powerful MIDI control station that offers 30 banks of 12 preset slots, two omniports with TRS MIDI out, and a robust online editor.
With three different modes (bank, instant, and controller), this slender MIDI controller allows multiple program changes on different channels. The fully editable setup can arrange presets in a setlist order, change settings on the fly, and send phantom power via MIDI.
This rugged MIDI controller can store up to 768 presets via 16 different pages that can be totally customized. Each of the seven buttons have a multi-color LED, plus it offers support for expression pedals.
This 4-button controller is a compact way to handle a smaller stash of pedals. The accompanying online editor allows for deeper programming and the unit is expandable up to seven buttons.
A sleek unit made of anodized aluminum that features customizable labels for each of the six buttons. You can have 10 active pages per preset and it works directly with Beat Buddy and Aeros Loop Studio.
You can easily end the tap dancing by utilizing one of the unit's three modes: scene, setlist, or panel. It can also control DAWs, virtual instruments, or plugins via the USB/MIDI interface.
This 10-button controller can run up to 40 hours via a pair of AAA batteries. It's compatible with a wide range of MIDI units and houses two power modes. Includes six host modes to work directly with JamUp, Bias FX, Kemper, and more.
Recalling the days of Bradshaw-designed rigs, this expansive, roadworthy controller offers 12 switches for patches, can process up to eight devices, and gives you stompbox-style control over your rig.
Bill Dess was working as a cashier in a Harlem bodega in 2016, making songs in his apartment. Then he uploaded one to SoundCloud, and well … sometimes dreams do come true.
Bill Dess, who makes music under the name Two Feet, became a sensation virtually overnight. The 28-year-old's musical career blasted off in 2016 with his breakout song, "Go Fuck Yourself," when he unassumingly uploaded it to SoundCloud in the middle of the night from his rodent-infested apartment in New York City. The next day, he awoke to millions of streams and several major labels courting him. His next hit, "I Feel Like Drowning," reached No. 1 on the Billboard Alternative charts in 2018. In the span of a few years, he went from working as a cashier to traveling the world while opening arena gigs with Panic! at the Disco.
Two Feet's success is an example of what can happen when a guitarist with a vision embraces technology. Dess was making complete songs with just his Strat, a janky microphone, and Ableton. His recipe—impeccably phrased, soulful guitar solos over heavy 808 drumbeats, and breathy vocals—sounds simple enough. Yet, it's unique for an accomplished guitarist who was accepted to Berklee College of Music on scholarship to fuse bluesy guitar lines with thumping electronic beats made with drum pads. For Dess, that was mostly out of necessity: He couldn't jam with a bassist and a drummer in his apartment.
The phrase "electronic music" can be polarizing. It's a bunch of different things with infinite subgenres, but the first type of artist called to mind might not be a multi-instrumentalist who started playing guitar around age 7, spending his teen years playing in jazz and blues ensembles. The musical touchstones and influences Dess cites—Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Clapton, Hendrix—reflect a burgeoning blues hound, but also a 6-stringer who spent a fair amount of time chasing the tone dragon. Dess also plays piano, bass, and produced all of his early EPs, as well as his first two LPs: A 20 Something Fuck (2018) and Pink (2020). He largely made this year's release, Max Maco Is Dead Right?, on his own, but the new Two Feet album, coming in late 2021 or early 2022, will have production assistance from Geoffrey Hufford, aka Huff, who is the keyboardist/drummer in Two Feet's live band.
Two Feet - You? (Live)
At the end of high school, Dess got serious about his future in music. "I just thought of going to college, and then what would I do after college? I had some weird sort of break with reality for a second, where I was like, the only thing I really want to do is try to make music," he says. "So, I ended up focusing on that. Obviously, I'd played since I was a little kid, but I didn't ever really think this was what I'd end up doing, because everyone would always say it's impossible, you know, it's all luck or whatever, so it kind of turns you off from trying."
He decided Berklee was where he wanted to go. "My dad was like, 'We can't really afford that,'" Dess recalls. "So, I thought, I'll try to get a scholarship. I saw this video of this guitarist—Jon Gomm, 'Passionflower'—where he does this tapping, crazy guitar thing and I was like, 'I'm going to learn that.' I didn't even really play acoustic guitar. So, I went out and got an acoustic guitar, I fitted mics inside it, and I practiced, practiced, practiced." Dess ended up getting a scholarship but dropped out a few months into the first semester. "I got there and hated how regimented it was. It felt like they were trying to teach everyone there to become teachers rather than musicians. I realized I didn't need to be there to do what I wanted to do. It felt like a waste of time."
"I was obsessed. It's all I played—B.B. King, Wes Montgomery, or Buddy Guy and stuff like that. I didn't ever practice anything else but blues."
It's clear now that all Two Feet needed to craft songs was his Strat and a computer. His roots are as a blues-guitar player, although he was reluctant to say that's exactly where he lands today. "It's sort of a big mix. It also has a lot of rock in it, so it's not purely blues," he says. "I think when I was younger, I would've said that. I was obsessed. It's all I played—B.B. King, Wes Montgomery, or Buddy Guy and stuff like that. I didn't ever practice anything else but blues."
Now, his influences run the gamut. The day of our interview, he was finishing up a mix for the artist Grandson. Throughout the pandemic, he's been listening to Sam Fender, Fred again.., Harry Styles, and the Strokes. The title track to his second album, "Pink," is an homage to Pink Floyd. "I love David Gilmour, and that song has a Pink Floyd tone to it," Dess says. "That's why I named it that." Two Feet's early EPs include songs that are basically accompanied guitar interludes, such as "Quick Musical Doodles," and "Felt Like Playing Guitar and Not Singing."
Two Feet's Gear
Bill Dess, aka Two Feet, shows his support for Britney Spears while channeling a Strat solo at the 2019 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.
Photo by Josh Brasted
Guitars
Fender American Professional Stratocaster customized by Paul Nieto with 1950s-era single-coils, Seymour Duncan humbucker in middle position (olive green)
Fender American Stratocaster (Olympic white)
1980s Fender Strat (red)
Martin D-42
Amps
Fender Twin Reverb
Effects
Boss HM-2W Waza Craft Heavy Metal Distortion
Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer
Hotone Skyline Eko Digital/Analog Delay
Dunlop Cry Baby Classic Wah
MXR M300 Digital Reverb
Strings and Picks
Elixir Strings with NANOWEB Coating, Light (.010–.046)
Dunlop Tortex Picks 1.14 mm
The shifting dynamics and contrast between the guitar melodies and dropping bass beats is part of what draws you into a Two Feet song: The high/low elements he blends work extremely well together. Or as Dess put it, it's like "a mini genre within a genre." Dess is an alternative-rock artist who builds around electronic music. There was already a community of likeminded musicians building this genre on SoundCloud when Dess came on the scene in 2016.
"At the time, none of it really had blues guitar. It was sort of MGMT-ish, or trap beats with alt singing on it. My bandmate Huff always makes fun of it. He says in a joking, insulting way: 'You created blues-trap music.' I guess that's what I would call it. There was no one who sounded like that before "Go Fuck Yourself" came out. There was no blues guitar with the saw bass pad and the 808 drums. There was no one doing that."
"Sometimes it's easier to rip your shirt and look weird and pretend like a different person so you can get out of your own head and so you can get up there with a lot of confidence, like you're acting."
His latest album, Max Maco Is Dead Right? is an evolution in songwriting for Dess. The concept album was born out of finding ways to cope with fame and anxiety and was inspired by Dess' own inner struggles.
"Max Maco is this character I would get into when I would get nervous," says Dess. "We really, really quickly went from 200-cap rooms to playing in front of 30 thousand people in Mexico. You're standing on the side stage. You see this massive crowd of people, you hear the cheering, and you're freaking out because you're really nervous.
Two Feet on playing guitar: "Most of the time I have to close my eyes and hear and feel, and it just creeps its way up through me. Not even thinking really. It's hard to describe but at the same time it's the simplest thing in the world."
"Sometimes it's easier to rip your shirt and look weird and pretend like a different person so you can get out of your own head and so you can get up there with a lot of confidence, like you're acting. I created characters in my head for myself before we went onstage. It was part of the entertainment and I think the fans catch onto that, that you're doing something in that moment."
Dess created his Max Maco alter ego during Two Feet's opening spot on Panic! at the Disco's "Pray for the Wicked Tour." The transition from unknown opening act to finding a groove on the road was rocky, Dess admits, but he recalls a moment when everything changed.
TIDBIT: Two Feet's latest release, Max Maco Is Dead Right?, is a concept album based on a character that Bill Dess created and would pretend to be in order to calm his nerves before going onstage in front of big crowds.
"The first few shows were really tough since the music is so unrelated. Why would Panic! at the Disco fans like my music? Then we get to Montreal. We were having a hard time, and it was really cold—so cold we couldn't even go outside. We meandered onto the stage, like 'Oh god, another one of these, everyone's going to be sitting and confused as to what this Brooklyn-heavy sort of sound is.'
"We started playing and the crowd started getting more energetic and more energetic, and I started feeling it in my chest. Then we started playing 'I Feel Like I'm Drowning.' For the first time in my life, 20 thousand people turned on their phone lights and lighters and were swaying. When you're onstage and it's pitch dark in an arena and everyone's swaying their lights, it looks like outer space—it's the most insane thing from the stage, and you're also playing and singing. That happened and it turned the whole tour around. That was one of my favorite memories from my career so far."
At home, Dess is constantly working on new material. He currently has about 30 unreleased songs and is working on a film project, in addition to collaborations and mixes for other artists. "I can't go a day without sitting and writing music," he says. "I'm a total workaholic."
TIDBIT: Bill Dess has several answers about where his Two Feet moniker came from. One is about hearing this quote on Jerry Maguire: "There is an insidious disgusting monster that walks around the earth on two feet and it's a human."
His go-to tool is an olive green Fender Strat, which he plays unplugged at home when writing music. But his favorite guitar is one of the first guitars he ever got—an early 1980s red Fender American Stratocaster, which he's now retired from the road. On the advice of his tech, Paul Nieto, Dess replaces his Strat pickups with vintage standard single-coils from the 1950s, because "the newer ones are wound really tight and buzz too much," he says. "I replaced the center pickup with a [Seymour Duncan] humbucker so I can have that more sustained rock tone for it."
Dess has dozens of pedals, but his live pedalboard stays about five stomps deep. "One of my favorites is a Boss Heavy Metal Distortion pedal," he shares. "It's amazing for when I want to go into a David Gilmour–type thing. I usually use it in conjunction with my classic Tube Screamer. And then I have this tiny little mini delay pedal [Hotone Skyline Eko]. It's the size of an apricot, almost, and it has the most simple settings ever but it just sounds so good. I find a lot of delays sound computer-y and too digital-sounding, and this one has this great natural sound. I've used that for years; I have like 30 of them."
Starting out, Dess toured with a big Marshall stack, but when he started playing bigger shows, he switched to a Fender Twin Reverb. "You hook up to PA system, so it doesn't matter how big the amp is, unless you want it for looks or something," Dess says. "The Fender Twin sounds great with my guitar, it's easy to take onstage, easy to set up, and it's not too complicated, so that's what I use on tour."
One development Dess didn't anticipate is that his music would gain a carnal reputation. He says one of his most "mainstream moments" came when Chart Data released a Top 10 list of artists people have on their "Sex Playlists," which included household names like Drake, the Weeknd, and Ariana Grande. "I was number 9 above Party Next Door," he says.
Two Feet's live band performs as a trio, which includes Bill Dess on guitar and vocals, Geoffrey Hufford on keyboards and drum pads, and Matt Swain behind the drum kit.
The interesting part about that is, Two Feet's lyrics are not literally suggestive, though many of his songs document the pain of relationships, heartbreak, betrayal, and making mistakes.
"If you use pure statistics, I must be making sexy R&B music [laughs]," he says. "I never looked at it like that. I just tried to make stuff I thought sounded cool and I guess it comes off that way.
"I was analyzing myself the other day. I cover in a lot of songs: the passage of time, existential stuff, and large amounts of relationships and personal stories, lyrically. I don't think a lot of them are the sexiest lyrics. There's not too much of that in the lyrics. I think when people are talking about the 'sexiness,' it's more just the way everything sounds—smoky and dark and bluesy guitar."
His sound is also resonating with the jam-band scene, likely owing to his skilled phrasing, bendy solos, crystalline Strat tone, and a knack for writing melodic hooks on the guitar.
"I can't go a day without sitting and writing music. I'm a workaholic." —Bill Dess
Photo by Shervin Lainez
The ups and downs of becoming a person people recognize on the street, paired with the stress of touring and being a sensitive human, contributed to a difficult time a few years back when Dess took a break to tend to his mental health. But in 2021, he's more ready than ever to get back on the road. With three full albums, and a fourth on the way, Dess has plenty of material to draw from as he readies his live show. He's dipping into more stripped-down performances with just an acoustic guitar, which is a newer approach for him, and writing more traditionally on an acoustic.
"This new album is way more guitar heavy than Max Maco was," he says. "I change what I want to do all the time."
So, is Max Maco dead now? "I don't want to give too much away but he might be around again," Dess offers.
And with a little more experience under his belt, what does it feel like being onstage now?
"All I know is time passes very differently. An hour set sometimes feels like 20 minutes. Most of the time, I have to close my eyes and hear and feel and it just creeps its way up through me and that's how I start improvising and not even thinking. It's hard to describe but at the same time it's the simplest thing in the world."
Two Feet - Digital Mirage (Official Full Set)
Two Feet (Bill Dess) performs a socially distanced streaming concert with his live band in 2020. Two Feet's guitar approach is crafting melodies and soloing on his Strat while the beats drop around him. Check out a tasty example at 4:20.
