Djentlemen Jake Bowen, Mark Holcomb, and Misha Mansoor show off their cavalcade of signature gear from Ibanez, PRS, Jackson, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, Bare Knuckle, and Peaveyāand then explain how digital modelers continue shaping and shifting their sound.
Our third Rig Rundown with Peripheryās Jake Bowen, Mark Holcomb, and Misha Mansoorāat Nashvilleās Marathon Music Works on April 2ācaught the band on their final tour stop for a spring run in support of the brand-spankinā-new Periphery V: Djent Is Not a Genre. Our time with the triumvirate of tone reminded us that these fellas never rest their ears. They know gear and how to make it work for them. Thatās why each of them has spent extensive time in several R&D collaborations with some of the biggest, most influential companies in guitardom. This time Bowen, Holcomb, and Mansoor all dish on the evolutions of their signature gear and how everything meshes and molds together for the greater, Transformer-like machine that is Periphery. Whether itās going up to 27 frets, utilizing Alnico 8 magnets, or adding an Evertune bridge to compensate for deeply dropped tunings, this trio of tone hounds will sniff it out. Letās dig in!
Brought to you by DāAddario XPND Pedalboard.
Final Fantasy 27
Jake Bowen busted out this blue belle first because itās his most-recent signatureāan Ibanez JBM9999 that features a basswood body in their RGA shape, a 5-piece maple-walnut neck, a bound-ebony fretboard, a 25.5" scale that crams in 27 frets, Gotoh MG-T locking tuners, and Ibanezās Gibraltar Elite bridge, plus it comes loaded with a fresh set of Bowenās latest signature DiMarzio Mirage humbuckers. The neck model is a custom-voiced, Strat-style, single-coil-sized humbucker that incorporates some finessed tones via the 5-way. Position one and five are standard and individually engage the bridge and neck humbuckers (respectively). Position four puts the neck humbucker into parallel mode. The center slot gets both humbuckers involved, while position two selects the bridge side of the neck humbucker and the neck side of the bridge humbucker. The reason Jake opted for the single-coil-sized humbucker was to inspire fans who want to swap in their favorite single-coil pickups without any extra routing.
Ibanez is known for their wild combinations of letters and numbers for product cataloging, but the 9999s have a significance to Bowen ā¦ beyond sounding like an injury law firmās phone number. Heās a superfan of the Final Fantasy world and 9999 is the max damage you can get in the earlier games, so Bowen requested that gamer Easter egg and they obliged. All his 6-string signatures take Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Heavy 6 strings (.010ā.014ā.019Āā.030ā.042ā.058).
Back in Black
Bowen commissioned this sleek JBM9999 from Ibanezās L.A. Custom Shop. It matches all the previous modelās accoutrements but shakes it up by including an Evertune bridge. That appointment means it comfortably rides in GāGĀĀāCāFāAāD tuning and sees the stage for āReptileā and āZagreus.ā
The Mojo Machine
This JBM9999 has a few different wrinkles than the previous two. It has a roasted-maple neck and fretboard, and while the single-coil-sized neck humbucker looks like another Mirage model, itās actually DiMarzioās The Chopper. That pickup worked as a starting point when Bowen was testing out their rail hum-canceling Strat pickups, and that ultimately led him to the voicing of his signature Mirage version.
Knight in White Satin
Lastly, hereās Jakeās signature Ibanez JBM100 7-string, stocked with his original signature DiMarzio Titan ābuckers, that was shown off in the 2017 Rundown. His first standard sig model was generally done in a matte black finish, but he wanted something special and felt the gold pickup covers would really pop with a white finish. The JBM100s have a mahogany body/maple top configuration.
A $200 Private Stock PRS?!
Back in 2016, Mark Holcomb ordered this 7-string custom from PRSā Private Stock team. Itās based on his 2015 signature model, but with all of Paul Reed Smithās bells and whistles. A few things make this guitar unique to PRSā signature artist roster in that it has a 26.5" scale length, a flat 20" radius on the fretboard, and Holcombās first signature Seymour Duncan Alpha & Omega humbuckers.
When it was built, PRS sent the special instrument via FedEx (signature required), and it was left by the delivery person without Holcombās John Hancock outside his Austin, Texas home. It was swiped by a porch pirate and assumed to be gone forever. Mark rallied his online followers to get the word out and a fan recognized it in a flea market 60 miles south of Austin. The kicker: It was being sold for $200! The fan bought the guitar and returned it to Mark. The best part, Holcomb didnāt let the sloppy bandit deter him from touring with it as he uses it on āRagnarokā and other low-tuned riffers. He laces all his 7-strings with Progressive Tension Heavy 7 (.010ā.014ā.018ā.028ā.039ā.050ā.065).
Holcomb Burst
For any Periphery songs that only require a standard 6-string attack, he shoulders his brand-new 2023 PRS SE Mark Holcomb that is off-the-shelf stock. Ingredients include a mahogany body topped with a quilted maple top that incorporates an elegant violin carve, a satin maple neck with 24 frets, an ebony fretboard with a flat 20" radius, a 25.5" scale length, and this one leaves the factory with Holcombās just-released Seymour Duncan Scarlet & Scourge humbuckers. Controls are just a 3-way pickup selector, master volume, and push/pull tone knob for coil splitting. Holcomb puts Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Heavy 6 strings on all standard guitars.
7th Heaven
This is Holcombās PRS SE SVN signature that is identical to its little brother, but has the added string and a 26.5" scale.
Evertune Eviscerater
For the set opener āReptile,ā Holcomb enlists this PRS SE SVN signature that was modded with an Evertune bridge to accommodate āthe stupid-low G tuningā that Mark stumbled upon while riffing away on vacation in Spain.
Reptilian Rocker
For the bandās rumbling GāGĀĀāCāFāAāD tuning, Misha Mansoor grabs this Jackson USA Misha Mansoor Signature Juggernaut HT6. Its DNA starts with a caramelized basswood body, caramelized quartersawn maple neck and fretboard, 24 jumbo stainless-steel frets, a Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut, a 25.5" scale, Hipshot open-gear locking tuners, and Mishaās signature Bare Knuckle Ragnarok humbuckers. He puts Horizon Devices Progressive Tension Heavy 6 strings on it. And it has a retro-fitted Evertune to keep things tight, prompting Mansoor to commented that āthis tour is the most in-tune āReptileā has ever sounded. Itās been wonderful.ā He notes that he recorded nearly all his parts for Peripheryās last two albums with this silver siren.
Orange You Glad
A few years back, Mansoor listed a bunch of gear on Reverb during an equipment purge. He almost listed this one but had second thoughts and is very glad he didnāt. His tech Vinnie gave it some serious TLC and itās back in the rotation. A cool tidbit about this first-generation Jackson USA Misha Mansoor Signature Juggernaut HT7 is that it has a stunning quilted maple cap sitting over a roasted basswood body. There was a slight blemish on its top, so to salvage the build Misha suggested painting over the quilt, but leaving the edges exposed for a quilted binding effect. It sees work for āRagnarok,ā in their unique variation of drop-A-flat tuning (F#āD#āG#āC#āF#āA#āD#).
Snobs Need Not Apply
Another staple for Mansoor during Peripheryās live set is this import Jackson Pro Series Signature Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 in shimmery blue sky burst. Many of the same appointments are here: a basswood body and a caramelized maple neck and fretboard. The stock models roar with a set of Jackson MM1 humbuckers, but Mansoor opted to upgrade with a set of Bare Knuckle Ragnaroks.
Easy Peasy
āThis thing just shreds, man. Itās just so easy to play and it doesnāt fight me for the little note-y bits in āMarigold.āā The set closer puts this matte Jackson USA Misha Mansoor Signature Juggernaut HT6 into drop-C tuning. Mansoor is a mega car enthusiast and Formula 1 fan, so he had Jackson put this one in matte red to match Ferrari finishes.
Pass the Scalpel, Please
This might look yet another Jackson USA Misha Mansoor Signature Juggernaut HT6 with a basswood core and quilted maple top, but it has a mahogany body and flame maple cap for a darker sound and heftier weight. Mishaās signature Bare Knuckle Juggernauts give this baby a bite. Mansoor says the Ragnaroks are a sledgehammer, whereas the Juggernauts are a precision tool.
All in the Family
Misha and Jake have nearly identical setups and patches when it comes to amps and effects. Both are using Peavey Invective120 headsāa design alliance with Mansoorāthat each run their own Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL+ units through a Peavey Invective 412 and out to FOH. The cabinets are loaded with two pairs of Celestion speakers: Vintage 30s and Creambacks. Mark uses a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL+, but his is juiced by a Seymour Duncan PowerStage 700. He also has a Peavey Invective 412 cabinet onstage. In addition to live stage audio via 4x12s, each guitarist relies on Sennheiser EW IEM G4 Wireless In-Ear Monitor and side fills for a complete sound. And the three amigos plug their shred sticks into Shure ULXD4Q Wireless Units.
Black-metal mensches: Misha Mansoor (left) and Mark Holcomb are the brain trust of Haunted Shores and two-thirds of Peripheryās guitar triumvirate.
The guitar daredevilsāwielding their Jackson and PRS axesābite into the seething darkness of black metal with their soul-searing new album, Void.
As two thirds of the triumvirate of guitarists that provides taste-making progressive metal juggernaut Periphery with its genre-shifting 6-, 7-, and 8-string assault, Misha Mansoor and Mark Holcomb are among the most influential players of their generation.
Mansoorāthe bandās founder, a prolific designer of popular signature gear and software, and a busy producer (including working with the influential Animals as Leaders, who consider him a ghost member)āhas been a powerful shaping force of the polyrhythm obsessed, post-Meshuggah djent sound thatās swept contemporary metal over the last decade. Mansoor and Holcomb, along with Periphery co-guitarist Jake Bowen, possess an uncanny athleticism and downright lethal picking that makes the churning riffs and fleet-fingered runs that characterize their music seem almost easy. But this article isnāt about Periphery.
While Periphery fans anxiously await the bandās seventh full-length studio record, which has spent over 15 months mired in pandemic complications, Mansoor and Holcomb have found the time to reboot Haunted Shores, the primarily instrumental, black-metal-infused-prog studio project that originally brought them together. Before Holcomb was drafted into Peripheryās guit-army, Haunted Shores was his primary focus. When Mansoor was hired to produce Haunted Shoresā debut, the pair quickly realized their writing chemistry was fertile ground for deeper collaboration. As a duo, theyāve written, played, and programmed nearly everything on Haunted Shoresā recordings. That band released a split EP in 2010 and a fan-favorite eponymous LP in 2011, but when Holcomb joined Periphery that same year, the project was effectively iced.
Between the difficulties of getting Peripheryās impending release made and the excess creative energy caused by pandemic downtime, Holcomb and Mansoor saw a revitalized Haunted Shores as a āmuch needed outlet,ā as Holcomb puts it. With their new LP Void, the pair have not just breathed fresh life into their loser, hairier, scarier side project, but finally closed the circle on some of the earliest material they ever penned together.
Haunted Shores - Hellfire (Official Audio)
āFunctionally, Haunted Shores works in every way that Periphery doesnāt, and we get things done super quickly,ā Holcomb explains. āItās a breeze to do, and a fun, easy outlet. Not that Peripheryās not fun, but there are many more checks and balances involved. Haunted Shores is this crazy free-for-all for Misha and I. Thereās this band called Archspire, and they play ultra-fast but super tasty and ultra-technical death-metal. Whenever I hear that band, I start laughing because Iām like āJesus Christ! How do they pull this off?!ā Thatās the feeling youāre supposed to get when writing Haunted Shoresā music. So as long as it satisfies those criteria, weāll keep an idea. Thatās not to say we donāt consider the process precious, but itās a nice release from the long game of Periphery, where things tend to take quite a while.ā
From Mansoorās perspective, Haunted Shores provides a space to āscratch all the itches that we canāt within the confines of Peripheryās sound.ā And while he admits that āPeriphery has quite a bit of breadth stylistically,ā what he loves about working in Haunted Shores is that āthereās a sense that we have no responsibility to play any of this stuff live, which allows us to approach things from a purely compositional standpoint and go over-the-top and write things that canāt necessarily be played live.ā
The songs on Void put Haunted Shoresā black metal influence front-and-center, though itās still got a combat boot firmly in prog territory. The duo revels in blackened, trem-picked guitars and turbulent salvos of note-y leads, and album opener āHellfireā is a blast-beat-driven prog-metal maelstrom thatās colored with frosty-sounding minor chord grips. Mansoor produced the record and programmed all of the drums, and while itās easy to contextualize this band as just the side project of a mega-influential prog band, it would be a mistake to think of Voidās songs as discarded Periphery riffs with corpse paint on. This record has its own unique personality and compositions, and black metal played a major role in Holcombās musical upbringing.
āHaunted Shores is this crazy free-for-all for Misha and I.ā āMark Holcomb
āI sucked at the guitar,ā he says, explaining his black metal roots. āIt was ā97, and I picked up In the Nightside Eclipse by Emperor, and I didnāt even have to hear the music. All I had to do was see the pictures of them in the forest, and I thought it was the coolest thing! I was 16 years old, and I was like, āThis is what I want to do! I want to be that, and I want to move to Norway. I want to get a club and put nails in it and pose for pictures with it in the woods.ā It still makes me giddy, and it never lost that for me.ā
Beyond the striking visuals of the Norwegian bands that first turned Holcomb onto black metal, the accomplished shredder says he appreciated the punk-rock quality of the music as a fledgling player. āI always liked that you didnāt have to be textbook good at your instrument to play it. The barrier of entry for black metal is not very high, so itās the same as when people fall in love with the Sex Pistols or the Ramones, in that sense. Black metal had this edge and danger to it that bands like Morbid Angel and Cannibal Corpse also had ā¦ but you had to be really fucking good at your instrument to play that stuff. My favorites in that realm are bands who have evolvedāespecially Satyricon and Emperor, and Ihsahn [Emperorās lead guitarist/songwriter], who still have black metal aspects to their music but have grown into prolific prog juggernauts with a lot more to say. I wanted this record to be a love letter to that style of music.ā
For Mansoor, black metal came into his life via his Haunted Shores counterpart. However, the same cartoonish visuals that enchanted a young Holcomb have always turned Mansoor off. āThereās a lot about more extreme metal and black metal aesthetically that Iām not a huge fan of,ā he says, āso my interpretation is a cleaner, more polished version of it. I love a lot of the playing aestheticsālike trem-picked guitars and blast beatsābut Iām trying to tame it in a way and put it in a context that my ears want to hear. So, itās not pure in any sense, but Mark and I are very happy to meet in the middle because it ends up being its own thing there. Mark showing me Ihsahn and Emperor was what really perked my ears up. When I heard Emperor, I thought āOh wow! This is progressive. This is a guy whoās clearly been raised in the black metal scene but has aspirations of progressive music and is trying to fuse those into something.ā Iām coming at it from the other end, where Iām from the progressive music world but want to infuse it with a blackened thing. Having Mark as a vessel of inspiration and someone that can set a benchmark of whatās appropriate for black metal is nice. It means that the riffs are always flowing when weāre working together.ā
Mark Holcombās Gear
Mark Holcomb plays one of his PRS SE signature models onstage. Note the guitarās simple but effective control set: a volume and a push/pull tone dial plus a 3-way blade switch, which bridles a set of Seymour Duncan Alpha and Omega pickups.
Photo by Randy Edwards
Guitars
- 2014 PRS Private Stock Custom 24
- PRS SE Mark Holcomb
Strings & Picks
- DāAddario NYXL (.011ā.056)
- Horizon Devices strings (various gauges)
- Dunlop .88 mm
- Dunlop Jazz III (for lead tracking)
Amps
- Misha Mansoor Peavey Invective 120
- Omega Ampworks Granophyre
- Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Revision F
- Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Revision G
- Mesa/Boogie Badlander
- Peavey 6505 (modded Invective prototype)
- PRS Archon
- GetGood Drums Zilla cab sims
Effects (shared)
- T-Rex Replicator Tape Echo (on āNullā)
- Horizon Devices Precision Drive
The riffs have indeed flowed since the duo first connected. In fact, the incendiary Void songs āWhen In Osloā and āImmaterialā are reimagined versions of demos of the first two songs Holcomb and Mansoor ever worked on as a team, but which, curiously, never made it to an official release. The guitarists directly credit this pair of tracks with forging their remarkable chemistry.
āThose are very important songs as far as establishing Misha and Iās creative relationship, and set the table for me joining Periphery,ā says Holcomb. āThe first time I ever sat down with Misha to write music was 2007, and we wrote āWhen In Oslo.ā The lead lines on that song were something Misha jammed out on-the-spot, over a chord progression that Iād brought him with these wider, darker-sounding minor chords that shifted around. I remember Misha was just dancing around the chords in a way that I thought was so clever, and not something I wouldāve done. I didnāt really know Misha yet, but at that point it was like, āI think this guy is my musical sibling now.ā That song was this Tinder āswipe rightā moment.ā
āThereās a sense that we have no responsibility to play any of this stuff live, which allows us to approach things from a purely compositional standpoint and go over-the-top and write things that canāt necessarily be played live.ā āMisha Mansoor
āThereās just this electricity that happens between us, and I really look forward to it,ā says Mansoor. āItās one of my favorite things to experience when Iām writingāthis flow state where the ideas are coming out and it just feels like everyoneās bouncing off each other and you get momentum going. Itās impossible to replicate unless youāre working with people you have good writing chemistry with.ā
The melodic but vicious leads on āWhen In Osloā recall some of Opethās heavier workādriven home by the decidedly Opeth-esque drum feel. Thatās a band Holcomb says is āa big-time touchstone.ā So much so that the song āNocturnal Hoursā is named after a lyric in the Opeth number āThe Drapery Falls.ā However, Mansoor was channeling a much more unexpected energy into the leads on āWhen In Oslo.ā
Misha Mansoor and Mark Holcomb kept their eyes on their highly charged creative partnership during the creation of Haunted Shoresā new album, Void.
āTwo words: Final Fantasy,ā Mansoor says, name-checking the video game with music by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu. āPeople are always like, āYou sound like you love Meshuggah,ā and I do. Theyāre like my favorite band, but the person I rip off the mostāthat I totally get away withāis Nobuo Uematsu. Iām always lifting his vibe because I adore it.ā
Holcomb and Mansoor found the creative growth theyāve experienced during the pandemic has less to do with guitar-playing fundamentals (though Holcomb did āforceā Snarky Puppyās Mark Lettieri to give him a guitar lesson via Skype) and more to do with expanding their respective processes as songwriters.
āI want to move to Norway. I want to get a club and put nails in it and pose for pictures with it in the woods.ā āMark Holcomb
Holcomb focused his efforts on getting serious about fleshing out fully formed demos at home. āComposing with a computer in front of me is an approach Iād never done before,ā he explains. āIāve always been able to record myself in a very cursory way, but when Iād write, Iād sit in front of an amp and noodle until something comes out. A lot of my output in Periphery is wordy, with a lot of notes being played, and I think that has to do with it being written without anything else in mind except guitar. When I started to compose in front of the computer, I started to write in sections. It became a very slow, deliberate, methodical process done a few notes at a time. I got proficient at it and thatās how a lot of the crazier stuff on the Haunted Shores record was written. The crazy, run-on-sentence riffs on āPerpetual Windburn,ā āOnlyFangs,ā and āHellfireā were written a bar at a time. I donāt think I couldāve done that before I dug in and opened myself up to that different way of writing.ā
Misha Mansoorās Gear
Playing live, or even playing guitar, isnāt as big a priority to Misha Mansoor as his songwriting, production, and search for a creative āflow state.ā Here, heās deploying one of his Jackson 7-string Juggernaut models, with a 26 1/2" scale neck and MM1 humbuckers.
Photo by Ekaterina Gorbacheva
Guitars
- Jackson Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT6
- Jackson Pro Series Juggernaut (6-string with EverTune bridge)
- Jackson Juggernaut HT7 7-string
- Jackson MJ Series Misha Mansoor So-Cal 2PT
- Jackson Custom Shop SoCal
Strings & Picks
- Horizon Devices Progressive Tension (.010ā.058)
- Dunlop .73 mm
- Misha Mansoor signature Custom Delrin Flow Pick
Amps & Effects
- (see Mark Holcombās Gear sidebar)
Mansoor, despite being considered a bona fide guitar hero by many, says he āfeels less and less like a guitar player these days and more like a composer and producer.ā He breaks his headspace down: āThe guitar is just the instrument Iām very familiar with, so itās easy to get ideas out of it. I donāt play guitar quite as much as I used to, and I almost see it as a means to an end and a tool these days ā¦ which I know isnāt the most romantic thing. Iām sure these things ebb and flow.ā
However, Mansoorās guitar work is kept fresh thanks in part to the demo obligations he has for his gear companies: Horizon Devices and GetGood Drums. In fact, Mansoor says he realized through the pandemic that recording demo clips of new products for social media is where some of his favorite recent musical ideas have been born: āI always have to write demo clips for new products, and generally these clips are written with some sort of spec in mind, like a minute long for Instagram or in a specific style to promo a specific product. I donāt put the same sort of weight on those things as I would a Periphery or Haunted Shores song, but those demo clips have generated some really cool ideas. Itās this interesting thought experiment where if Iām not feeling the stress of writing a song, it allows the creativity to flow in a cool way. What Iāve discovered by accident is that afterwards Iām usually like, āHey! This idea is actually pretty cool!ā Thatās been my pandemic experience, because Iāve had to do a lot of work for the companies, and thatās been a little bit of a treat, to be honest.
āThe interesting thing and the beautiful irony of all of this is that some of these clip ideas have generated Periphery songs,ā he continues. āI donāt even care about guitar that much at this point. Itās really about the ideas in your head getting out into the real world somehow, whatever that somehow is. As long as it sounds good and yields a good result. Thatās where my headās at. Iām not that good a guitarist. Iām not even the best guitarist in my band, but I really, really like to write and Iām pretty good at songwriting and Iām pretty good at producing and directing these things. And I really enjoy that work, and a lot of my friends who are very, very good at their instruments need someone like that, so we have this relationship that works very well. Now that Iām a little bit older and more established, I donāt feel like I need to prove myself or show everyone how great I am at guitar.ā
āThat song was this Tinder āswipe rightā moment.ā āMark Holcomb
Mansoor and Holcomb are some of the highest-profile extended-scale players in the metal world, and both have their own signature 7- and 8-string models (Mansoor with Jackson and Holcomb with PRS). However, even for the drop-tuned chug of songs like āHellfireāāwhich uses a drop-G tuning Holcomb discovered when writing the 17-minute Periphery riff fest āReptileāāthe pair opted for 6-strings for the lionās share of Void.
āMy tuning of choice for a 6-string is the āHellfireā tuning,ā says Holcomb, āwhere I take a guitar in C standard and drop the 6th string all the way down to a G, so you get an octave relationship between the 6th string and the 5th string. You can hang your thumb over the 6th and 5th strings to get this really heavy droning octave sound. āHellfireā was the first song written for the record and one of the things I was most proud of with that song is those chords in the beginning, where you have these wide, minor black metal chords with the thumb handling those octaves. The rest of the album was kind of based off the spirit captured in that song.ā
Mansoorās done more than his fair share to help popularize extended scale guitars, but he maintains that heās always considered 6-, 7-, and 8-stringed guitars to be āalmost completely different instruments. If you have a basic musical idea to start with, that same idea would probably yield completely different songs if you worked it out on a 6-string, verses a 7- or 8-string. Every idea is sort of a reaction, so itās about finding a tuning that generates riffs for us, and that āHellfireā tuning seems to be one of them.ā
Rig Rundown - Periphery [2017]
See how Misha and Mark's setups differ between Haunted Shores and their "day job" with Periphery.
Being that Void was tracked at Mansoor and Holcombās respective home studio spaces, the gear used was largely their signature stuff. For guitars, Holcomb relied heavily on the original PRS Private Stock Custom 24 that inspired his signature model, as well as an SE signature model with an EverTune bridge. When the duo tracked at Mansoorās space, it was his signature Jacksons they reached for. Mansoor chiefly used a blue USA Juggernaut model he calls his workhorse, as well as a Pro Series Juggernaut that was modified with an EverTune bridge, which Mansoor says saves an incredible amount of time in the studio thanks to its precise intonation. Mansoor also used his most recent signature Jackson, an MJ Series So-Cal, on āa shocking amount of the album.ā Itās a Strat-style guitar with a HSS arrangement of Bare Knuckle pickups, stainless steel frets, and a 20" radius. āIt looks like a dad rock guitar,ā he says, ābut the thing shreds! And the versatility is there. You get the fourth position and second position Strat sounds very authentically. That guitar is the one that I instinctively reach for a lot because itās the everything guitar and I love the fact that it looks the way that it does.ā
The amps that handled the heavy lifting on Void were Mansoorās signature Peavey Invective 120 and Omega Ampworks Granophyre head. Mansoor says that pairing sat in the mix inexplicably well and anything else they used was just for color and variety.
āItās really about the ideas in your head getting out into the real world somehow, whatever that somehow is.ā āMisha Mansoor
With a new Haunted Shores record under their belt and the final stretch on Peripheryās next release underway, Holcomb and Mansoor are excited to continue pushing the envelope. āAt the end of the day, I would keep music a hobby if I started to feel like something was expected of me,ā Holcomb says. āI donāt want to speak for the rest of the band, but I love artists like Ihsahn and Devin Townsend and Mike Patton and Opethāwho just do whatever the hell they want and hope their fanbase is along for the ride. Luckily, progressive rock or metal fans tend to be open. I hope that never goes away. Theyāre down to hear bands try something else out. I love that we have the ability in our careers to just try whatever we want. I want to be one of those guys at the end of it all who can look back and be like, āYeah, that was a hell of a journey and we went to some wild places musically and werenāt afraid to go there.ā
Mansoor finds himself in a similarly philosophical place and confesses heās just chasing flow states in all of his creative pursuits: āDo you like to drive? Have you ever gotten into that flow state when itās almost like watching yourself drive? Itās those moments that I chase and thatās how I feel when Iām in the zone writing and thereās good chemistry and it feels like ideas are flowing back-and-forth. I feel like I'm watching this song get assembled in front of me. It almost feels like I can enjoy watching the process as much as Iām directing it. It doesnāt feel conscious. Thatās a really beautiful thing. Thatās what I get out of making music. Iām at the point now where Iāll only really accept gigs that I would do for free anyways. I still have to charge and make sure my time is worth something, but itās a philosophical thing, where if I wouldnāt be cool with doing it for free, I wonāt do it anymore because what Iām trying to get out of it on some level is very selfish. I just want that experience of flow state creativity.ā
Haunted Shores - OnlyFangs (Misha & Mark Guitar Playthrough)
Misha Mansoor and Mark Holcomb play through the finger-busting āOnlyFangs,ā from Haunted Shoresā new album, Void. Shredding? Heavy rhythms? You got it!