Formed during the pandemic, L.S. Dunes is the answer to every early-2000s emo kid’s prayers. Spearheaded by Circa Survive and Saosin frontman Anthony Green, the band was announced to the world in 2022, and their debut record, Past Lives, arrived in November of that year. Along with members of Coheed and Cambria and Thursday, My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero joined the supergroup, and they’re not wasting any time: Following an EP in November 2023, their second full-length record is due out January 31.
Even though L.S. Dunes covers some similar ground to each member’s previous projects, it’s certainly its own beast, and Iero notes that his rig with the band is totally different from his setup with My Chemical Romance. Ahead of Dunes’ performance at Nashville’s Marathon Music Works, PG’s Chris Kies met up with Iero to see which “favorite kids” get brought out on tour.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Ray
Iero loves this Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay RS for its stellar trem system and rock-solid tuning. He can reef on the whammy bar as hard as he wants, and it stays on pitch. (He even thought he broke it one night after hearing a loud “pop,” but his tech couldn’t find any issues.) It’s always in standard tuning, with Ernie Ball Burly Slinky strings.
FrankenFender
This Fender “Jazzmaster” was a special order made by Dennis Galuszka in Fender’s custom shop. Frank’s friend (and occasional PG contributor) Mike Adams (the “Obi-Wan of offsets”) scooped up a ’60s Jazzmaster from the corner of a flooded-out basement somewhere, and after some fix-ups, nicknamed it “Pancake” for its flat, playable neck. Iero was obsessed with it, and asked his friend if he’d loan “Pancake” to Galuszka to scan and recreate the neck. The first result of that collaboration goes on tour with My Chemical Romance, while this second one comes out with L.S. Dunes. It’s got a 25.5′′ scale length—Iero calls it his “Jag and a half”—and comes out for the last three songs of the set. It rocks blacked-out goldfoil pickups in the neck and middle positions, and a P-90 in the bridge. There’s a built-in killswitch on the upper bout, too.
Twin for the Win
Iero’s perfect pedal platform is the Fender Twin Reverb, which he runs into a Marshall 4x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.
Frank Iero's Pedalboards
Iero’s main board, which stays at his feet, is controlled by a Carl Martin Octa-Switch II system. It’s got a Jackson Audio 1484 Twin Twelve Pedal, Boss TR-2, EHX POG, Amplified Nation Bigger Bloom, Temple Devices Reel Dealuxe, EHX Holy Grail Nano, Boss DM-2W, Boss CH-1, EHX Synth9, Boss GE-7, SNK Pedals VHD, Fulltone Fat-Boost, and EQD Ghost Echo. All those toys are kept in line by his Ernie Ball volume pedal and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3.
Iero’s second, always-on board stays safe behind his amp. It has a 29 Pedals OAMP, Bowman Audio Endeavors Bowman Overdrive, and 29 Pedals EUNA, which form the basis of his tone.
Oklahoma City sludge rockers Chat Pile have had a busy few years. Their 2022 LP, God’s Country, broke them internationally, and their critically acclaimed 2024 follow-up, Cool World, solidified them as one of the most exciting heavy bands of the moment. We spoke with bassist Stin and guitarist Luther Manhole about the record for our November 2024 issue.
Now, we bring you the band’s first official Rig Rundown, filmed ahead of their show at The End in Nashville last fall. Tune in to see how Stin and Luther conjure the band’s brutal soundstorms on the road.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Bari Blast
Manhole’s main machine is this baritone 6-string, an Ernie Ball Music Man BFR Axis Super Sport, finished in “starry night.” Luther took a tip from tourmate and Agriculture guitarist Richard Chowenhill and slapped some tape over his neck pickup near the first string to prevent it from catching on the edge of the humbucker. It’s tuned to drop A, with Ernie Ball Mammoth Slinky strings.
Quite the Quilter
Back at home, Luther and Stin lean on big vintage amps, but on the road, Luther brings out this Quilter Tone Block 202, which is plugged into an Ampeg VT-40 combo amp that’s been gutted to run just as a 4x10 cabinet. Luther digs the icier, cutting tone from the 10″ speakers.
Luther Manhole's Board
Manhole’s board is minimalist: All he needs is a TC Electronic PolyTune, a Suhr Riot for dirt, an Electro-Harmonix Memory Boy (which is set for a wobbly chorus effect), and a TC Electronic Hall of Fame for reverb—pedals he’s used for over a decade. An Acoustic PBIS08 supplies the quartet with power.
Peavey Power
Around 2007, Stin went on a hunt around Oklahoma music shops for a Peavey T-40. He finally found one—in a total “Wayne’s World moment”—that belonged to a country singer who had passed away. Since the band’s formation, this “hot and clangy” white T-40 has been Stin’s tool for crafting Chat Pile’s elephantine, bottom-heavy sound. He uses the 5-string Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalts (.060–.125), omitting the .040 string, and plucks with orange Ernie Ball Everlast .73 mm picks for strong, percussive attack.
Building Blocks
Stin’s signal runs to this Quilter Bass Block 802, which blasts through a Trace Elliot 4x10 redline cab with horns—the cab that’s been used on every Chat Pile recording to date.
Stin's Board
Stin probably thinks Manhole’s board is excessive. He packs just his Boss TU-3 and a Tronographic Rusty Box, each with their own individual power supply plugged into a power bar that’s fixed to the board.
There are plenty of mighty American rock bands, but relatively few have had as profound an impact on the international musical landscape as X. Along with other select members of punk’s original Class of 1977, including Patti Smith, Richard Hell, and Talking Heads, the Los Angeles-based outfit proved that rock ’n’ roll could be stripped to its bones and still be as literate and allusive as the best work of the songwriters who emerged during the previous decade and were swept up in the corporate-rock tidal wave that punk rebelled against. X’s first three albums–Los Angles, Wild Gift, and Under the Big Black Sun-were a beautiful and provocative foundation, and rocked like Mt. Rushmore.
Last year, X released a new album, Smoke & Fiction, and, after declaring it would be their last, embarked on what was billed as a goodbye tour, seemingly putting a bow on 47 years of their creative journey. But when PG caught up with X at Memphis’s Minglewood Hall in late fall, vocalist and bassist John Doe let us in on a secret: They are going to continue playing select dates and the occasional mini-tour, and will be part of the Sick New World festival in Las Vegas in April 12.
Not-so-secret is that they still rock like Mt. Rushmore, and that the work of all four of the founders–bassist, singer, and songwriter Doe, vocalist and songwriter Exene Cervenka, guitarist Billy Zoom, and drummer D.J. Bonebreak–remains inspired.
Onstage at Minglewood Hall, Doe talked a bit about his lead role in the film-festival-award-winning 2022 remake of the film noir classic D.O.A. But most important, he and Zoom let us in on their minimalist sonic secrets.Brought to you by D’Addario.
Gretsch A Sketch
Since X’s earliest days, Billy Zoom has played Gretsches. In the beginning, it was a Silver Jet, but in recent years he’s preferred the hollowbody G6122T-59 Vintage Select Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. This example roars a little more thanks to the Kent Armstrong P-90 in the neck and a Seymour Duncan DeArmond-style pickup in the bridge. Zoom, who is an electronics wiz, also did some custom wiring and has locking tuners on the guitar.
More DeArmond
Zoom’s sole effect is this vintage DeArmond 602 volume pedal. It helps him reign in the feedback that occasionally comes soaring in, since he stations himself right in front of his amp during shows.
It's a Zoom!
Zoom’s experience with electronics began as a kid, when he began building items from the famed Heath Kit series and made his own CB radio. And since he’s a guitarist, building amps seemed inevitable. This 1x12 was crafted at the request of G&L Guitars, but never came to market. It is switchable between 10 and 30 watts and sports a single Celestion Vintage 30.
Tube Time!
The tube array includes two EL84, 12AX7s in the preamp stage, and a single 12AT7. The rightmost input is for a reverb/tremolo footswitch.
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Big Black Sun
Besides 3-band EQ, reverb, and tremolo, Zoom’s custom wiring allows for a mid-boost that pumps up to 14 dB. Not content with 11, it starts there and goes to 20.
Baby Blue
This amp is also a Zoom creation, with just a tone and volume control (the latter with a low boost). It also relies on 12AX7s and EL84s.
Big Bottom
Here is John Doe’s rig in full: Ampeg and Fender basses, with his simple stack between them. The red head atop his cabs is a rare bird: an Amber Light Walter Woods from the 1970s. These amps are legendary among bass players for their full tone, and especially good for upright bass and eccentric instruments like Doe’s scroll-head Ampeg. “I think they were the first small, solid-state bass amps ever,” Doe offers. They have channels designated for electric and upright basses (Doe says he uses the upright channel, for a mid-dier tone), plus volume, treble, bass, and master volume controls. One of the switches puts the signal out of phase, but he’s not sure what the others do. Then, there’s a Genzler cab with two 12" speakers and four horns, and an Ampeg 4x10.
Scared Scroll
Here’s the headstock of that Ampeg scroll bass, an artifact of the ’60s with a microphone pickup. Doe seems to have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this instrument, which has open tuners and through-body f-style holes on its right and left sides. “The interesting thing,” he says, “is that you cannot have any treble on the pickup. If you do, it sounds like shit. With a pick, you can sort of get away with it.” So he mostly rolls off all the treble to shake the earth.
Jazz Bass II
This is the second Fender Jazz Bass that Doe has owned. He bought his first from a friend in Baltimore for $150, and used it to write and record most of X’s early albums. That one no longer leaves home. But this touring instrument came from the Guitar Castle in Salem, Oregon, and was painted to recreate the vintage vibe of Doe’s historic bass.
