These blue-collar storytellers electrify their tales with lunch-pail Les Pauls and trusty Telecasters that hit some British tube beasts and are tastefully spiced with varied stompboxes.
The Menzingers’ albums are storied time capsules. Starting in 2007 with teen angst and rebellion, they’ve refined and reshaped their narratives into self-reflective numbers that continue to balance melody and might. Their most-recent installment—2023’s Some of It Was True—was their eighth chapter that stares down aging with acceptance rather than anger. But don’t get it twisted, these rockers will still charge.
“This record just feels different for us,” Barnett explains. “It’s a really important one in our catalog, and a pivotal moment in our history. We have the liberty of our fans growing with us now, and after writing these lyrical songs about where we are in life, we decided to take other peoples’ stories and make something bigger out of it.” “It brought us back to our energetic side as a band,” May concurs. “We got to let loose, which is what drew us to the energy of being in a band in the first place. This is a live band—why shouldn’t we record live songs? As a result, we’re back to why we started this band in the first place.”
In support of Some of It Was True, the Philly crew toured the States and touched down in Nashville mid-November for a romper at the Marathon Music Works. Before their headlining set in Music City, both singing-guitarists Greg Barnett and Tom May welcomed PG’s Perry Bean onstage to converse about their setups. Barnett explained the pros and cons of being a left-handed player, while May divulged the inspiration for his loved Les Pauls. Both detailed why they prefer a two-amp rig, and each demoed the various sounds set off from their respective pedalboards.
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'57 Knockoff
Cofrontman and guitarist Greg Barnett is a lefty, so his relationship with guitars has been a double-edged sword. On one hand, stores don’t often stock instruments to his picking orientation, however, finding a needle in a haystack has proven more fruitful than a righty’s quest since there’s more of a demand. But when he can’t find something in the secondary market, he’ll go straight to the source as he did when ordering this 2022 1957 Custom Shop Les Paul Goldtop reissue from HQ in Nashville, Tennessee. “This has pretty much become my number one touring guitar,” he says. “It’s all stock and I usually play half the set with it.”
All the guitars used by Barnett and May take Ernie Ball Nickel Wound Custom Gauge strings (.011–.052).
Just For Jawbreaker
Barnett bought this grizzled 1992 Gibson Les Paul Custom while on tour. “We had just played Riot Fest with Jawbreaker the night before and I saw Blake Schwarzenbach playing a White Les Paul Custom and thought, ‘Damn I need one!’ We had the next day off in St. Louis and I saw one for sale. I hit the guy up and we drove the tour bus right to his house. He was so stoked!” Greg dropped in a set of Seymour Duncan Antiquity humbuckers and upgraded its pots.
Take a Bow!
For a band that started in Scranton, Pennsylvania, it makes sense that one of their gear meccas is Russo Music in Philadelphia. And that’s where Barnett scooped this Gibson 1957 Custom Shop Les Paul Junior that’s all stock and was used exclusively during the band’s Nashville encore that included “Tellin’ Lies” and “Casey.”
The Waiting Is the Hardest Part
An Electric Spanish model from Gibson has been on Barnett’s bucket list. It took some time and online sleuthing, but he uncovered his dream ride—this 2015 Gibson Custom Shop 1964 ES-335—during a late-night surf of Reverb. It’s all stock. It can be heard specifically on “Come On Heartache” off of Some of It Was True.
Marshall Matters
Barnett is a two-amp sort of player. The left side is his 100-watt 1985 Marshall JCM800 that was his first “pro” amp. He acquired it off Craigslist over a decade ago and “it’s been the most reliable piece of gear I’ve ever owned.” The right side of the equation is a 2023 Marshall JTM45 that represents the cleaner side of the twin Marshall blend.
Greg Barnett's Pedalboard
A Korg Pitchblack tuner is where the guitar hits the pedalboard. Barnett loves how much the EarthQuaker Devices Hoof Reaper’s Reaper side, that’s based on a 3-knob Bender-style fuzz, cuts through in a mix. It gets introduced for songs “Thick as Thieves” and “Rodent.”
The EarthQuaker Plumes pedal is engaged for all Barnett’s leads and solos. “I really back EQD for creating such high-quality pedals at an introductory price point,” he attests. “And, no, they didn’t pay me to say that!”
The Klon KTR works as a boost with the gain all the way down, to boost choruses and some heavier intro parts. The Boss DD-3 is from 1988 and has a “long chip.” It sounds incredible and Greg employs it for “Try.” “When we recorded the song, I layered a lot of feedback over the outro. To mimic that, I have the pedal set with the feedback almost all the way up. I let the first note oscillate into infinity and then try to create a bunch of different artifacts over it.”
The remaining three pedals include a MXR Analog Chorus, a Strymon Flint, and a Strymon El Capistan.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Guitar (*But Were Afraid to Ask)
Ever since Tom May saw John Carvalho of A Wilhelm Scream, Sheena Ozzella of Lemuria, and Scott Brigham of the Flatliners rock a walnut Gibson The Paul, he wanted one to join their outsider squad. He scored his 1981 Paul “Woody” from Emerald City Guitars in Seattle.
Finger-Lickin' Good
May’s “Tasty” 1982 Gibson Les Paul Custom was purchased from one of his guitar heroes, the Bouncing Souls’ Pete Steinkopf. Tom said Pete used it on the Souls’ first two albums (The Good, the Bad, and the Argyle and Maniacal Laughter) and it has been featured on the Menzingers’ work starting with 2014’s Rented World. It was nicknamed “Tasty” by May’s friend Kate Hiltz. Ironically enough, Kate and another friend opened a vegan diner in Philadelphia and called it The Tasty.
Monotrapa Uniflora
May’s 2023 Fender American Vintage II 1975 Telecaster Deluxe is named “Ghost Pipe” as it features a sticker of the peculiarly white parasitic plant that grows off nutrients from tree roots. It’s his newest addition and has already proven to be a steady steed that’s “the real one.”
Transatlantic Tones
Tom has plugged into this Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb (or a variation of it) on every record since After the Party and every single tour since 2017. British flavorings come from the handwired Vox AC30HWH that runs into an Orange 4x12. It’s loaded with a pair of stock Celestion Vintage 30s, and May replaced the other V30s with a couple of Celestion G12M Greenbacks.
Tom May's Pedalboard
The J. Rockett Archer was a helpful suggestion from Greg, and it hasn’t left May’s pedalboard since the purchase (and even has two spares). It’s always on and May loves how it can attenuate his signal and highlights his more expressive playing.
He works out the Strymon TimeLine by utilizing nearly 10 settings throughout a set that ranges from a quick 100 ms bit to thicken up leads to a full reverse delay-signal-only mix preset for pad-sounding ambient layers. Even though he’s fine-tuned it to Menzingers’ sets, he’s still discovering new sounds with it.
The Boss RC-5 Loop Station launches a little sample they use: “Incredibly powerful pedal I use for one-trick.”
The 1980s Maxon FL-301 Flanger is close to the one used in the verse guitar parts of “There’s No Place in This World for Me.” “I used one in the studio as a half joke after having a bit of a bout adding flanger to Some of It Was True, but sure enough it made it,” says May. He bought it from a small shop in Paris, Guitar Street on 24 Rue Victor Massé.
And while it made the video, the Fulltone OCD has since been retired from touring duties.
Finally, the 7-channel American Looper allows May to instantly switch between effects combinations with one toe kick.
Shop the Menzingers' Rig
2022 1957 Custom Shop Les Paul Goldtop Reissue
Ernie Ball Nickel Wound Custom Gauge Strings
Seymour Duncan Antiquity Humbuckers
2015 Gibson Custom Shop 1964 ES-335
1985 Marshall JCM800
2023 Marshall JTM45
Korg Pitchblack Tuner
EarthQuaker Devices Hoof Reaper
EarthQuaker Devices Plumes
MXR Analog Chorus
Strymon Flint
Strymon El Capistan
2023 Fender American Vintage II 1975 Telecaster Deluxe
Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb
Orange 4x12
Celestion Vintage 30s
Celestion G12M Greenbacks
J Rockett Archer
Strymon TimeLine
Boss RC-5
Fulltone OCD
Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy take PG through their Alter Bridge road rigs.
PG’s John Bohlinger hung with Alter Bridge’s two-man guitar army, Mark Tremonti and Myles Kennedy, before their sold-out show at The Orpheum Theater in Memphis. Tremonti and Kennedy showcased some beautiful signature Paul Reed Smith guitars, as well as a not-yet-released PRS signature amp.
Thanks to techs Dave Pate and Scott Davis for their help with the details.
Brought to you by D’Addario Strings.
Brown Sound
Not surprisingly, Tremonti exclusively plays his Paul Reed Smith Mark Tremonti Signature.
The first is an early model from around 2002, sporting a signature brown burst with a tremolo bar. All guitars have D’Addario strings, though gauges vary by tuning. This one is tuned to Eb with 49–38– 28–17–13–10. Tremonti uses Dunlop Tortex 1.3 mm picks.
Spare Some Change?
This is Dime—short for Dimebag—Tremonti’s second PRS single-cut with a whammy bar.
Don't Call Me Daughter
This is Stella, named after Tremonti’s two-year old daughter. Tremonti and Paul Reed Smith came up with the body design together. PRS isn’t set up to mass-produce this shape, so there won’t be a wide-scale production.
Bearded Beauty
This “Fenton” graphic guitar is one of 20 produced. This was a 20th anniversary model with original art painted by Joe Fenton.
Outlaw Style
H.A. (Hell’s Angels) was the second prototype Tremonti signature made by PRS. The pickups are early prototypes.
Mark Tremonti's Pedalboard
Tremonti’s signal starts with an Evidence Audio ‘The Reveal’ cable from his guitar to his pedals, and Mogami W2319 and Square Plug SP5 plugs for patch cables. Pedals include a Morley “Mark Tremonti” Signature Wah, Ibanez TS808HW, Boss TU-3, Boss OC-5, Digitech The Drop, MXR Smart Gate, Mark Tremonti prototype signature chorus/vibrato, and a Lehle Little Lehle III true bypass loop pedal. There’s also a G-Lab SD-1 running into the amp’s effects loop.
The Big Reveal
The PRS MT 100 Mark Tremonti Signature 100-watt three-channel head has not been officially released yet, but Tremonti has been touring with it for a while, as a shake-down cruise.
Crushin' Cabs
He runs this tube-driven beast into two oversized Mesa 4x12 cabs, loaded with Celestion British V30s wired at 8 ohms. The amp uses a Kikusui PCR1000M voltage regulator/power conditioner, plus there’s a Lehle P-Split for splitting signals to main and backup heads.
The Four Horsemen
Kennedy tours with four of his new PRS Signature guitars. The ones finished in natural and white are both tuned to Eb or Eb with a dropped C#, depending on the song. The signature is a bolt neck, T-style guitar with 10” radius, and Narrowfield pickups. All guitars are strung with D’Addario Light Top/Heavy Bottom Strings (.010-.052).
Dr. Hoo
Kennedy reveres owls for their wisdom and adaptability. PRS has a long-standing tradition of using bird silhouettes for inlay markers, so it only made sense that Kennedy and PRS would incorporate their collective avis admiration in the signature model.
Green Machine
Kennedy’s green Signature is tuned to A#–G#–C#–F#–A–#D#, and G–#G–#C#–F#–A#–D#, depending on the song.
Back(up) In Black
Kennedy’s black Signature is strictly a backup in case there are problems with any of the others.
Diezel Power
Kennedy runs two Diezel heads: a Diezel VH4 and a Diezel Herbert. The amps run into two Diezel 4x12 cabs loaded with green Tone Tubby Hempcone 40/40 Ceramic speakers.
Myles Kennedy's Pedalboard
Kennedy runs his MXR Carbon Copy and an EarthQuaker Devices Dispatch Master in the VH4’s clean loop. Over on his pedalboard, there’s a Dunlop MC404 CAE Wah, Boss TU-2 tuner, Electro-Harmonix’s Nano POG, Lizard Queen, and Freeze, a Ceriatone Centura, Strymon Deco, Line 6 MM4, and a Boss RV-6.
Shop Alter Bridge's Rig
PRS Mark Tremonti Signature
PRS SE Mark Tremonti Signature
Taylor 514CE Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Lehle Little Lehle
DigiTech Drop
MXR Smart Gate
Ibanez TS808HW Tube Screamer
Boss TU-3 Chromatic Tuner
Radial Big Shot ABY
Electro-Harmonix Freeze
Strymon Deco
EHX Micro POG
EHX Lizard Queen
PRS Myles Kennedy Hunter Green Signature
PRS Myles Kennedy Natural Signature
PRS Myles Kennedy Tri-Color Sunburst Signature
The guitarist and meticulous gear nerd has played with the Black Eyed Peas since 1998. With his alt-rock duo Cairo Knife Fight, his years of tinkering have helped him forge a new sound.
George Pajon Jr. is pedal-obsessed. For him, time off means hiding out in his studio, working his way through every setting on every pedal he owns—and he owns a lot of pedals—logging each tone he thinks he may be able to use, and making careful notes in order to recall the sound later when needed. When he’s working in the studio or in a rehearsal, he scrolls through his files, pulls up options to share with his many A-list collaborators, and looks for the tone that often makes the difference between a good-sounding track and a hit. He does know the difference, by the way, since he has a regular gig as the touring guitarist with the Black Eyed Peas, and also plays on their albums.
That obsession is also a big part of his writing process with Cairo Knife Fight, his duo with New Zealand-based drummer, vocalist, keyboardist, and kindred-tonal-spirit Nick Gaffaney. “When Nick and I decided we were going to start writing, I started stockpiling sounds,” Pajon says. “I am lucky enough to own my own studio, so I hired an engineer to mic my whole rig and then literally nailed down those mics into the floor so they wouldn’t be touched.” As he experiments with pedals, he runs Pro Tools. “If I stumble on something I like, I scream in the mics, ‘This sounds like a chorus,’ or ‘This sounds like a bridge.’ I mark the session, put it into a notepad on my phone, write the number, and then describe what the sound says to me. There are 72 hours of that.”
Once he has ideas and the skeleton of a Cairo Knife Fight song, he goes back to the cave and starts programming, which takes about one week per tune. He also does everything—each nuance, layer, or quirk—with the understanding that he has to be able to duplicate it onstage, and that also informs the design of his ever-evolving and ever-growing rig.
Cairo Knife Fight has been around since 2004, with two full-length albums and a handful of singles to their name. Since Pajon joined in 2015, they’ve released “Churn,” a single which came out earlier this year. “The first songs we wrote, we will release in the coming years,” he says. “We have 22 finished songs.” On “Churn,” Pajon’s guitar burns with intermittent bursts of djent, thrashing rhythm parts, and incisive melodic lines, while decorated with impressively exact, pop-infused vocals by Gaffaney. His playing, at its most torqued, sounds like sonic flashcards quickly overturned in series—disparate tones tail one another, and yet each somehow seems to fit the tune at hand with surprising logic.
Pajon joined the Black Eyed Peas in 1998. It’s his Dick Dale-style riffing and tone sculpting you hear on the pop outfit’s hit, “Pump It.”
Photo by Sterling Hampton
With Cairo Knife Fight, Pajon approaches arranging like a classical composer. His songs do often have verses and choruses that repeat themselves, but he always makes some kind of variation—be that a tonal shift, an additional riff, a harmony, or taking something out—in order to challenge the listener and keep the song moving. “When you listen to ‘Churn’ from beginning to end, the parts never repeat themselves,” he says. “If you really listen to what the guitars are doing, there’s no cut-and-paste on that song. When I record the guitar parts, it’s a full take. When I double the parts, it’s a full take. I believe that when you listen to a song it should be a ride. The beginning should take you to a different place by the time you get to the end. There’s constant movement in the way I approach writing. That’s why I have all those tools.”
Given Pajon’s passion and dedication to those tools, it’s fortunate that he’s also close with amp legend and tonal wizard Dave Friedman. “I sit with Dave and brainstorm,” Pajon says. “I am really a tech nerd, so I create a PowerPoint spreadsheet with the pedals laid out and how I want the signal flow to be. Dave then tells me, ‘There’s no way we can do this, so we’re going to have to invent something to create what you’re trying to do.’”
Pajon’s rig—the one he uses with Cairo Knife Fight—is already in its 17th iteration, and that doesn’t include the refrigerator-sized unit he has that’s loaded with more than 60 pedals (Friedman wired that up, too). For his work with the Black Eyed Peas, he uses a Fractal Axe-Fx amp modeler and effects processor, which he never stops tinkering with. Pajon is the son of Cuban immigrants and came of age as a guitarist in late-’80s Los Angeles. He hung out on the Sunset Strip when hair metal was the rage, and made the shift in the early ’90s when hair abruptly became grunge. His first loves were Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, but he discovered a broad range of artists and styles thanks to an open-minded uncle who turned him onto the great guitar-centric acts from the ’60s and ’70s, as well as artists like Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and many others.
With Kiwi drummer Nick Gaffaney, Pajon writes guitar and bass parts that he can perform live, loop, and trigger. The duo doesn’t play to backing tracks—everything is done in the moment.
Photo by Michell Shiers
That deep listening exploration came in handy when he first met the Black Eyed Peas. He was with them in the studio for a one-off session, but that quickly morphed into what’s now a 25-years-and-counting relationship.
“I first joined the Black Eyed Peas in October 1998,” Pajon says. “Will [William James Adams, Jr., better known as will.i.am] asked me to come in and play guitar on a song. He was sampling a rock record, and I said ‘Why are you sampling that?’ He said, ‘It’s cool, why not?’ I said, ‘But you’re going to give away all the publishing to that other band. Let me come up with a part that’s similar to that.’ He said, ‘You can play stuff like this?’ I essentially mimicked that style, and he threw away the sample. Then he was like, ‘Do that again,’ and he would give me directions, ‘Change it here, change that chord there.’ That was our relationship.”
That versatility, as not just a player but a master of feels and tones, played a big part in creating “Pump It,” one of the band’s biggest hits. “We were in Japan on tour,” Pajon says. “Will bought a bunch of CDs and he was listening to Dick Dale’s ‘Misirlou.’ I was one of the first guys in the band who had a mobile recording studio—I had the first [Avid] MBOX. At the time I was signed to EMI as a writer, and I would write with different people all over the world. Will knew I had the studio with me, and we were on the bullet train, and he said, ‘George! I need to use the Pro Tools.’ I gave it to him. He samples that Dick Dale song and creates the song ‘Pump It.’
“Fast forward, and we’re finishing that record, Monkey Business, and during that time, it was common for the label to sync one of the songs with a movie or a TV show or a commercial as promotion for the new album. One of the songs they picked was ‘Pump It.’ They had to get clearance from Dick Dale, and he said ‘no.’ Will calls me and says, ‘We have to rerecord Dick Dale’s part.’ I was like, ‘You want me to recreate that?’ I told him, ‘Call Lon Cohen [of Lon Cohen Backline in L.A.], get the same guitar Dick played and the same amp from that time. I’ll do the research.’ We rented those amps and that guitar and I replayed the whole thing. It’s not a sample. It came out so good. Will’s ears are really fine-tuned and he got the EQ just right. But when you listen to that, it’s me. It’s not Dick Dale. We redid those parts for that commercial. In the end, what got released has all the parts that I created for the commercial.”
Cairo Knife Fight sounds nothing like the Black Eyed Peas. It’s heavy and layered, and sits somewhere between progressive metal and grunge. For Pajon, who tells tales of watching the Mars Volta every night with Fergie and members of Metallica while touring with them in Australia in the early 2000s, it’s the perfect sound.
George Pajon Jr's Gear
Pajon has developed a sophisticated system for testing and cataloging new tones and sounds. He spends his days off playing his pedals on every setting possible, then makes a note of how each setting could be used in the future.
Photo by Michell Shiers
Guitars
- Grosh Retro Classic with Evertune Bridge
- Grosh Retro Classic Vintage TKnaggs Severn X with Floyd Rose
- Fender Custom Shop Lush Closet Classic Telecaster with Evertune Bridge
- PRS SC245 with Evertune Bridge
Amps
- Friedman Dirty Shirley Mini
- Friedman BE-100 Deluxe
- Two Rock Custom Reverb Signature V3
- 3 Monkeys Orangutan
- Custom Morgan GP 70R
- Ronin Audio Research K7 GT4-P88
- Form Factor Audio Bi 1000Di
- Form Factor Audio 1B15L-8 cabinet
Pedalboard 1
- Pigtronix Infinity 3
- Devi Ever FX Ruiner
- HexeFX reVOLVER DX
- RJM Mastermind PBC/10 loop switcher
- HexeFX VarioFree The Tone PA-1QB
- Strymon TimeLine
- G-Lab PB-1 power supply
- Midiman Thru 1x4
Pedalboard 2
- Strymon BigSky
- Strymon Mobius
- Pigtronix Infinity 3
- Friedman Buxom Boost
- Friedman Buffer Bay
- Dirty Boy Pedals Fuzzy Boy
- Red Panda Tensor
- HexeFX reVOLVER IV
- EarthQuaker Devices Arpanoid
- ZVEX Fuzz Factory Vexter
- Beetronics Swarm
- Friedman Fuzz Fiend
- CostaLab Booster Plus
- Malekko Downer
- Fortin Mini Zuul
- EarthQuaker Devices Bit Commander
- RJM Music Mini Effect Gizmo X
- Strymon Zuma
- Strymon Ojai
Bass Amps Pedalboard
- JHS Little Black Amp Box
- Voodoo Lab Control Switcher
- Boss BB-1X Bass Driver
- Electro-Harmonix B9
- Disaster Area Designs DMC.micro
- Chase Bliss Blooper
- Darkglass Alpha Omega Ultra
- Source Audio C4 Synth
- RJM Music Mini Effect Gizmo X
- Strymon Zuma
Strings & Picks
- D’Addario, various gauges
- V-Picks Nexus
Since the band is just a duo, loopers are essential when playing live. “On my current pedalboard, I have 10 loopers, if you count all the pedals that actually have a looping function. But I am only looping with three of them,” he says.
Pajon also has a wall of amps, and a guitar tuned to A–D–G–C–E–A to cover the bass parts, which are run through a separate bass amp and pedalboard. “When I am writing a part, it has to be a layer that I can trigger later,” explains Pajon. “It can’t be a 10-bar layer or a long layer that plays through the whole song. It has to be something that only happens for a bar because I need to be able to trigger it live. We don’t do anything to playback. Everything is done live. When we record, I do minimal overdubs to create more of a sonic landscape, but when I do those overdubs I am very conscious that I have to recreate that sound live, whether it’s putting it in a looper or me actually playing it.”
Pajon’s attention to detail, dedication to finding the correct sound, and innate compositional sense—regardless of the genre or project he’s working on—help explain his longevity in the industry and his ongoing working relationships with a variety of artists. His Grammy wins and other awards testify to those qualities.
“I am not a side guy with the band,” he says about his longtime association with the Black Eyed Peas. “Those are my parts. The reason I’ve been in the band so long is I’ve been playing my parts this whole time, that I wrote, that I played on those records. I was in the studio with them creating this music. And that all started from my knowledge, from my uncle turning me on to a whole new flavor of styles.”The Violence of Action Live at Kingsize Soundlabs
At this live studio session with Cairo Knife Fight, watch Pajon’s right foot as he almost constantly loops and triggers parts.