Matt Pike, guitarist/frontman of Sleep and High on Fire, collaborates with Lace Music on unique humbucker pickups available as a set, neck only, and bridge only.
The third collaboration between Lace and Pike has developed yet another set of distinct metal-tone humbuckers. For the first time, in the Signature Pike humbucker lineup, there is a fourth option of a middle humbucking pickup to join forces with the Firespitters bridge and neck set. Metal guitarists can now blaze away with guitars outfitted with three humbuckers as a Matt Pike optional tone addition.
Firespitters feature the famous Lace patented pickup design featuring barium ferrite magnets. A fine copper gauge wire wound on the Micro Matrix Comb bobbins. Matt Pike specifically designed each of the humbucker size pickups, for the three different positions now available. This new Pike model is only available in chrome and burnt chrome with the Lace method of distressing the finish. A Pike-designed skull with a lyre design is laser etched into the heavy brass pickup covers.
Matt Pike Firespitters pricing starts at $ 142.99 US. For more information, please visit lacemusic.com.
From left to right: bassist Justin Pearson, vocalist Mike Patton, guitarist Michael Crain, and drummer Dave Lombardo.
The thrash-metal band returns with a sophomore release, where the battle-tested musicians deliver face-melting, eviscerating tunes on the heels of guitarist Michael Crainâs recovery from cancer.
Of all genres, thrash metal is one where the term âraw emotionâ takes on a different meaning. Itâs not, for example, raw like the voice of a folk singer baring their heart and soul in a vulnerable ballad, or raw like a live, low-fidelity recording of a blues-guitar legendâs twangs and bends. No, the rawness of thrash metal demands your attention with unflinching aggressionâscreams, growls, blistering guitar lines, and heart-attack-inducing drummingâand few groups in the modern heavy landscape capture that as well as supergroup Dead Cross, which consists of vocalist Mike Patton, bassist Justin Pearson, guitarist/vocalist Michael Crain, and drummer Dave Lombardo.
The bandâs music drips with an incomparable kind of authenticity and visceral intensity. That vitality, you can imagine, may come easily for a band with members that helped weave the very fabric of their genre with Slayer (Lombardo), have pushed the boundaries of experimental metal with the likes of Faith No More (Patton) and Mr. Bungle (Patton, Lombardo), and made grindcore dangerous again with provocateurs like the Locust (Pearson) and Retox (Pearson, Crain).
Dead Crossâ eponymous 2017 debut, produced by Ross Robinson (Slipknot, At the Drive-In, Sepultura), laid out a blueprint of chaotic and frothing metallic hardcore and outsider weirdness. It has an inimitable sound that saw its membersâ distinct musical personalities coalesce into something altogether uniqueâall while sidestepping the classic disappointing-supergroup curse. Now, on their sophomore LP and latest release, II, the band has reunited. Joining forces once again with Robinson, they push their volatile sound to its absolute limits, dosing their hardcore punchbowl with a hearty blast of sonic psychedelics, goth-rock textures, and even more of the twisted sounds one would expect of any Patton project.
IIâssongs have a palpable feeling of urgency and tension that was shaped by a series of life-altering and traumatic experiences, which included the pandemic, but also Crainâs courageous fight with cancer. âI got diagnosed in the summer of 2019 and started treatments in October,â he shares. âThis was my first experience with cancer, and while head and neck cancers are the easiest to survive, they can have the worst treatmentsâand that was certainly my experience.â
Crain, whoâs now in remission, continues, âI thought the treatments were going to kill me. Towards the end, I was so fucking sick, but I felt like, âFuck this! I want to live, and Iâm not going to leave anything unfinished ever again!â So, I got a hold of Greg [Werckman, co-owner] at Ipecac and the guys in the band and said, âLetâs book studio time now.â They were like, âDude, are you sure? Youâre like half dead right now!â I said, âI donât give a fuck. Letâs do this. I need this to live.ââ
Working on a second Dead Cross record and returning to the studio with a real mission was the very thing that kept Crain going during the painful days that followed his last treatment. âI finished my last round of radiation the day before Thanksgiving, and we had studio time set up for early December,â he elaborates. âI was still very sick and in a lot of pain. It was rough to stand up for hours writing and playing, so tracking was especially tough, but that pain worked itself into the music.â
That it did, undeniably. You can feel it in the claustrophobic atmosphere and clang of âAnimal Espionage,â the fuzzy hardcore stomp and acerbic delivery of âStrong and Wrong,â and the absolutely feral-sounding, bad-trip churn of âChristian Missile Crisis.â
Much of the writing and arrangement of IIâs songs happened in the studio. And while Crainâs recent experiences certainly brought a lot of emotional weight to the process, working with a famously feel- and psychology-focused producer like Robinson helped tremendously to coax all of it out and inject it back into the music.
Michael Crainâs Gear
Crainâs main guitars are a â77 and â78 Gibson SG, classic choices which he uses to deliver blazing riffage.
Photo by Raz Azraai
Guitars
- 1977 Gibson SG Standard (with HomeWrecker pickups)
- 1978 Gibson SG Standard (with HomeWrecker pickups)
- 1970s Gibson ES-335
Amps
- Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet
- Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet 4x12 Cab
- Peavey 5150 Head
- 1970s Marshall 4x12 Cab
Effects
- EarthQuaker Devices Organizer
- DOD Rubberneck Analog Delay
- MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay
- Ibanez Tube Screamer
- DigiTech Whammy
- Mu-Tron Octave Divider
- EHX Holy Grail Reverb
- EHX Small Stone Phase Shifter
- EHX Electric Mistress
- Boss BF-3 Flanger
- Vintage EHX Big Muff Pi
- Pro Co RAT
Strings & Picks
- Dunlop Electric Nickel (.010â.046)
- Dunlop Tortex .73 mm
Crain, who describes Robinson as the bandâs fifth member, says, âHeâs all about the performance and emotion.â One prime example of the producerâs uncanny ability to pull the best out of the musicians he works with is âAnimal Espionage,â Crainâs favorite track on the record. Most of the song (other than the core riff and pre-chorus) was written on the spot in the studio, with Robinson coaching and pushing Crain to grasp different parts of the arrangement from places of deep emotion. âRoss is the kind of guy that asks you to think about what painful childhood memory triggered the riff for a song,â Crain shares. âHe wants you to think about what emotion is actually guiding your right hand and can tell if youâre not feeling it, or if you donât mean what youâre playing. I learned a lot about structures and arrangements, crafting parts, crescendos, and setting up moments within a song from Ross.â
That emotional attunement drives more than just their songwriting. Though Crain is Dead Crossâ sole guitarist, their music often feels like that of a band with a two-guitar assaultâthanks to the interplay and synergy he has with long-term musical partner, Pearson. The two have known each other since Crain was 16, and they played together in Retox. Pearsonâs performance style mirrors and dances around Crainâs in a way thatâs both tight and loose at the same time, and only comes with years of mutual experience. âJustin and I have just the right combination, where we donât share the exact same taste in music, and thereâs enough difference in where we come from as musicians that it creates something unique when we work together,â Crain comments.
âI was so fucking sick, but I felt like, âFuck this! I want to live, and Iâm not going to leave anything unfinished ever again!ââ
As for working with Lombardo, easily one of the most important heavy metal drummers of his generation, Crain has been training for the gig most of his life. âSlayer changed my fucking life, and those are totallydrum records,â he says. âEven though Iâm a guitarist, I grew up around drummers; my dad plays drums, and my earliest memories were of band settings with my dad. He imparted the advice, âIf you want to get good at an instrument, start playing with other people,â upon me at an early age. He was 100 percent right. So, having listened to Slayer my whole adult life, when I finally started jamming with Dave, I locked in with him very quickly; I knew his playing and it felt natural.â
Lombardoâs breakneck-yet-lyrical playing certainly adds to the recordâs thrash authenticity, and Crainâs love of the style is heard loud and clear on II. The dexterous riffing on âReign of Errorâ is evidence of a player thatâs studied the golden era of thrash deeply, and Crain confirms the influence that music has had on him in his formative years.âI really learned to play guitar when I was 16, which was during my Metallica years,â he shares. âThat was when I really understood Metallicaâs songcraft and their incredible abilities as players, particularly the âŠAnd Justice for All period and James Hetfieldâs playing. That record was really what got me into metal playing and informed my rhythm style.â
While recovering from painful cancer treatments, Crain got himself back in the studio for the writing and tracking of II.
For the guitars and amps used to create IIâsgnarly, dynamic guitar sounds, Crain kept it to a few favorites: a pair of vintage Gibson SG Standardsâa â77 and a â78âand his â70s Gibson ES-335. The guitars were all unmodified, aside from their custom-wound pickups, made by HomeWrecker Pickupsâ Joshua Hernandez. Crain describes them as âsuper high-gain, but very classy and articulate.â His trusty Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet and matching 4x12 cab did the heavy lifting on the album, though Robinsonâs early Peavey 5150 head and â70s Marshall 4x12 cab rounded out the guitar sounds and provided some contrast to the Bogner.
Building on these essentials is Crainâs love of heavy guitar effects. His adventurous use of pedals twists metal and punk tropes into something less recognizable on II. Almost every guitar track on the record has some sauce on it, whether itâs a bit of percussive slapback delay in an unexpected place, spacey atmospherics as a brief respite from the violence, or warped, pitch-shifted leads that jut in and out of songs.
âThe heavy flange on âAnimal Espionageâ is one sound that inspired the riff,â the guitarist points out, and says he plugged in a Boss BF-3 for the sound. âWe knew that verse was screaming for some swirl action.â He then calls out the song âImposter Syndromeâ for its âheavy [hardcore guitarist] Rikk Agnew-influenced flange setting.â Some of the albumâs standout guitar moments feature Crain shifting quickly between octaves with a DigiTech Whammy, which can be heard on album opener âLove Without Loveâ and the solo on âChristian Missile Crisis.â Crain says he only uses the whammy pedal in the one-octave up or down position, and credits it for helping him to write many of what he considers his heaviest riffs. Also on his board for the sessions were an Ibanez Tube Screamer, an EarthQuaker Devices Organizer, a DOD Rubberneck Analog Delay, and the venerable MXR Carbon Copy, which he describes as his âSwiss-Army-knife delay.â
With countless tattoos and wearing a gas mask, Crainâs image bears a grisly, striking edge that falls perfectly in line with Dead Crossâ sound.
Photo by Becky DiGiglio
âIt was rough to stand up for hours writing and playing, so tracking was especially tough, but that pain worked itself into the music.â
While Crain says he was too sick during his cancer treatments to listen to much music leading up to the writing and recording of II, his guitar influences from the goth-rock world proved to be major touchstones for his guitar sounds and compositional ideasâespecially those that Agnew used on Christian Deathâs records, as well as Daniel Ash of goth-rock architects Bauhausâ sense of economy.
âEverything both these guys did was in the service of the song, and Iâm a huge proponent of that,â shares Crain. âI'm not here to show off, so I always ask, âIs this serving the song? Is this helping the main idea? Is this supporting the thesis?â Thatâs whatâs important. Sure, some guitar tones or lines or players are the focal point of the song, and every song is different, but itâs about the song for me.â
Dead Cross - Church of the Motherfuckers (Live @ PBR Halftime Show)
In this live performance, Crain backs up Patton with melodic vocals and rapid-fire picking on his SG, catalyzing the furious energy that serves the Dead Cross sound.
With another Dead Cross release out in the world and cancer treatment in the rear view, Crain looks back on the process and on how the band approaches making music. While the writing and recording process was an undoubtedly painful, cathartic, and intense experience, he came away from it with more than just a new record, but an affirmation of his artistic philosophy.
âHaving listened to Slayer my whole adult life, when I finally started jamming with Dave [Lombardo], I locked in with him very quickly; I knew his playing and it felt natural.â
âThere should be no fucking rules. There are no rules! The one place where I don't want there to be rules or laws is fucking art,â he enthuses. âLet it be free! I love trying crazy things, and thankfully, so does Ross and my bandmates. We all love trying crazy, wild shit. Making this record is what helped me heal.â
Now the worldâs best-known 6-string duo, Gabriela Quintero and Rodrigo SĂĄnchez have long-reaching roots that extend from metal to Irish folk music and distill into their unique take on nylon-string-acoustic-guitar music.
On their new album, In Between Thoughts⊠A New World, the acoustic duo goes half-electric, plumbs programmed beats, adds slide guitar, and explores nondualismâfollowing a creative path that opened due to the Covid shutdown.
Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuosi Rodrigo y Gabriela started recording what would become their latest album, In Between Thoughts⊠A New World, in February 2021. At the time, crafting a new album wasnât the catalyst for making new music. They really just wanted to write, jam, and record without an agenda while locked down during the pandemic.
âIt was just something to kill time,â admits Gabriela Quintero, one half of the Mexican guitar duo. âJust to be in the moment and not to think too much about it, even though here in Zihuatanejo it was more like the tropical version of the apocalypse [laughs].â
The other half of the duo, Rodrigo SĂĄnchez, concurs that the pandemic presented a unique set of circumstances that allowed them to be creative without the added pressure of making a record, going on tour, or meeting a deadline. âMusically speaking, it was a very unusual process for us,â he says. âWe werenât really thinking about recording a new Rod and Gab record, and we didnât really know what was going to happen. It was a really detailed process we never had done before, because we never had this amount of time to record an album.â
Rodrigo y Gabriela - True Nature (Official Audio)
"True Nature" is off Rodrigo y Gabriela's first album in 4 years. The album 'In Between Thoughts...A New Worldâ is available now on limited edition vinyl, CD...Guided by spiritual practices like Buddhism and nondualism, Rodrigo y Gabrielaâs presence-of-mind approach to the guitar has led them on a fantastic, fulfilling journey from their humble heavy metal beginnings in Mexico City, to busking on the streets of Ireland, to performing in front of tens of thousands of people on the worldâs biggest stages, opening for Muse and others.
Formed in 1998 out of the ashes of their heavy metal band, Tierra Ăcida, Rodrigo y Gabriela left their hometown of Mexico City to pursue their musical ambitions in Dublin, Ireland, where they first began busking with their acoustic guitars on tourist-heavy Grafton Street, mixing elements of flamenco, rock, and heavy metal. In 2002, they released re-Foc, showcasing their virtuosity on guitar and their unique fusion of musical stylesâeven incorporating elements of the Irish folk music they had immersed themselves in while living abroad. In 2006, the duo released Rodrigo y Gabriela, a mix of original compositions and covers of classic songs by early influences Led Zeppelin and Metallica. The album was a commercial success, reaching the top of the Irish album charts and earning them a nomination for the Mercury Prize, awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. In 2008, they released 11:11, which featured 11 original compositionsâeach dedicated to a different musician who had influenced their music. In January 2020, Mettavolution, their fifth album, won Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at the Grammy Awards, cementing Rodrigo y Gabrielaâs status as one of the most innovative and exciting guitar duos in the world.
âGab has seven piezos inside her guitar, and everything is very tight. And I have five piezos.ââRodrigo SĂĄnchez
Gabriela Quinteroâs Gear
Lead guitar provides the flash, but Gabriela Quinteroâs right hand is what keeps the party jumping, with a driving, uncommon approach drawn more from traditional Irish music than flamenco.
âPhoto by Jim Bennett
Guitars
- Yamaha NCX5 Signature Model
Effects
- Boss FV-500L Volume Pedal
- Boss OC-3 Super Octave
- Boss TU-3S Chromatic Tuner
- Dunlop Cry Baby Standard Wah
- Dunlop DVP4 Volume (X) Mini Pedal
- Lehle P-Split III Box
Strings
- DâAddario Pro-ArtĂ© EJ45 Normal Tension
Self-produced by Rodrigo y Gabriela at their studio in the resort city of Ixtapa, Mexico, In Between Thoughts⊠A New World reasserts their seemingly innate ability for cultivating a musical repertoire that captures the zeitgeist. And while it may have begun without intention, that doesnât mean In Between Thoughts lacks direction. Like its predecessors, thereâs a familiar and explosive display of virtuosic guitar craft, including all of the hallmarks one would expect from Rodrigo y Gabriela. The powerful, percussive playing of Quintero and the deft melodicism of SĂĄnchez remain the duoâs calling cards. But new, unexpected sonic elements abound as well, including the reverb-drenched slide guitar on âEgoland,â the energetic percussion on âDescending to Nowhere,â the kinetic electronic beats on âThe Ride of the Mind,â the passionately chanted vocals of âBroken Rage,â and the dreamy mystique of the robotic vocal effects embedded within âFinding Myself Leads Me to You.â
In fall 2020, while recovering from Covid, SĂĄnchez stumbled upon an online video on nondualismâthe notion that there is a âsingle, infinite, and indivisible reality, whose nature is pure consciousness, from which all objects and selves derive their apparently independent existence,â as defined by author/teacher Rupert Spira. âAdvaita Vedanta, or nonduality, is often called the direct pathâaccepting what is,â explains SĂĄnchez. âWeâre not saying that everything in this structure of the body/mind we live in is right. It is just what is, and we cannot really argue with that.â
âThe beauty about music is that itâs always expanding.ââGabriela Quintero
During the early stages of the pandemic, Rodrigo y Gabriela did what many other artists did: They turned to social media, posting short anecdotal performances from their studio. But when they finally got bored of that, they started to write music based on the concept of nondualism without really thinking it would become their new album. âIt was just a project,â emphasizes SĂĄnchez. âWe were just here in the studio doing things that we would never dofor Rod and Gab. I started to work with electronics, I left my acoustic guitar [at home] and just took my electric guitars [into the studio]. We started writing the music at the same time as we were writing a story based on this philosophy that we were so much attracted to. If we had known that it was going to become the Rod and Gab album, we probably wouldâve limited ourselves in terms of not using electronics, or not using too much electric guitar. But we didnât really think that way. Thatâs how the album came about.â
Their new album began as a pandemic songwriting and recording project, and took shape almost by accident as they accumulated tracks and tunes.
As for Quintero, she took a slightly more pragmatic approach to the endeavor, particularly regarding nondualism. âI think me and Rod, we share a lot of things that we like, and we feel attracted to, but we process differently,â she explains. âThatâs where the nondualism becomes dual [laughs]. I discovered these teachings through a book called The Power of Now [byEckhart Tolle]. To me, that book was incredibly insightful and practical, and such a âno rulesâ type of thing. I tried to meditate but there was too much discipline with some of the spiritual teachings. I remember when Rod was into Buddhism, and he was meditating a lot of hours a day and learning some mantras that were very strict. And for me, it was too much of a discipline. When I discovered The Power of Now, it was like, âOh great, you donât have to basically do anything [laughs].â And then, when the pandemic came in and Rod discovered these videos about nondualism, the way he presented them to me sounded super confusing and too much like nihilism. So, we were constantly having friendly debates here in the studio. And I was going, âThis is too crazy.â It felt to me that it was denying this existence. But then we discovered these are the same teachings as The Power of Now, but in different words, in a different way. Then we stopped the debates.â
Quintero, very late into their writing and recording process, asked SĂĄnchez if they were, in fact, writing their next record. âAnd then she asked, âWhen are we going to record it?ââ says SĂĄnchez. âWeâd been recording [what we were writing] from day one with quality, and so I went back to the studio that afternoon and I checked all the recordings and all the levels, and we had produced the album already. We had the record.â
âWe love flamenco. My best friend in that scene, Vicente Amigo, is one of the best. But no, we never play flamenco.ââRodrigo SĂĄnchez
As for how they record, SĂĄnchez says it happens all sorts of waysâsometimes tracking together, sometimes individually. SĂĄnchez says the acoustic guitars get picked up by German-made Schoeps MK 4 mics, recommended to him by his close friend, Spanish guitar maestro Vicente Amigo. They also adopted some of what he calls his âold-school metal techniquesâ for recording. âKnowing that we were going to have orchestra and electronics and all that, I used room mics for Gabsâand instead of just copying her track, I have her record two guitars exactly the same,â he explains, noting he did not use the copy/paste shortcut many musicians use nowadays. âShe would do one guitar rhythm and then she would double that to make it sound bigger. Overdubbing the same rhythms and the same parts actually give her much more presence on top of the electronics. And sheâs so good at it.â
Due in large part to Quinteroâs right-hand technique, which SĂĄnchez recorded so well on In Between Thoughts, âheavy metal flamencoâ is a label often applied to the duo. âAh, the âFâ word,â laughs SĂĄnchez. âWe love flamenco. My best friend in that scene, Vicente Amigo, is one of the best. But no, we never play flamenco. I understand some people are confused because of Gabâs rasgueado[gesture to invoke her right-hand technique], but actually sheâs not doing the flamenco technique at all. She learned most of these techniques from an Irish bodhrĂĄn player, Robbie Harris.â
Rodrigo SĂĄnchezâs Gear
Rodrigo SĂĄnchez wears his musical roots on his chest,
in a t-shirt proclaiming his fan status for the Bay Area metal band Testament.
Photo by Dan Locke/Frank White Photo Agency
Guitars
- Yamaha NTX5 Signature Model
- Fender Jaguar
Amps
- Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II XL+
- Marshall JCM900 4100 Hi Gain Dual Reverb
Effects
- Boss DD-3 Digital Delay
- Boss FV-500L Volume Pedal
- Boss OC-3 Super Octave
- Ibanez WH10 V3 Wah Pedal
- Lehle P-Split III DI Box
- MXR M133 Micro Amp
- MXR M234 Analog Chorus
- One Control Minimal Series AB Box
- TC Electronic Ditto X2 Looper
- Truetone 1 Spot Pro CS7 Power Supply
- TWA WR-03 Wah Rocker
Strings & Picks
- DâAddario EXL115 (.011â.049
- DâAddario Pro-ArtĂ© EJ46 Hard Tension
- Jim Dunlop Jazz III Black Stiffo
The bodhrĂĄn is a frame drum used in traditional Irish music that Quintero learned about when they moved to Ireland. âAt the time, I was trying to imagine how flamenco players played their rhythms,â she explains. âI couldnât figure it out, because back then there was not YouTubeâthere was nothing. Nowadays, you can go and say, âHow to play rasgueado flamenco, how to play rhumba,â and youâll find something, but not back then. And I always got it wrong. And then I discovered the bodhrĂĄn.â
In the old days, the bodhrĂĄn was played with hands, not with a stick, as is often seen presently, and she says the Irish kept telling her she actually exhibited the movements of a bodhrĂĄn player, but on guitar. âThey encouraged me to do certain rhythms. So, just watching them, it was easy to emulate a lot of the movementsâit just came organically. The beauty about music is that itâs always expanding.â
âIf I came back to a solo bit or something, there was not that beatâpeople were not jumping anymore, and it was like, âAh, weâre losing the audience,â so I tried to become more the drummer of the band.ââGabriela Quintero
After weaning his guitar craft on West Coast thrash metal bands Testament, Megadeth, and Slayer, and New Yorkers Anthrax, SĂĄnchezâs nylon-string style was originally grounded in a lot of the palm-muting he carried over from that style of electric playing. âFirst of all, I had to translate my palm muting [from electric to nylon string],â he explains. âThen, I used a little bit more of Al Di Meolaâs technique, but he was playing steel-strings, right? So, I was like, âOkay, how can I translate this into nylon?â And then I started to listen to Strunz & Farah, and they are incredible. I listened to the way they played, especially Jorge Strunz, who is so clean and so fast. And I started to learn some of his licks here and there, so I was in that zone already.â
They want a whole lotta folk! Rodrigo y Gabriela get down on the Newport Folk Festivalâs Harbor Stage in 2014.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
Itâs worth noting that the nylon-string guitars Rodrigo y Gabriela play live are the result of years of practical research and application in collaboration with Yamaha and are not models or designs your average nylon-string player would use, nor are they commercially available. âItâs not like any nylon-string guitar can just go and play in the middle of a festival of 40,000 people,â explains SĂĄnchez. Originally, they were using guitars made by Irish luthier Frank Tate, which they still use at home and in the studio. But the guitars they now use live were specially designed over a 14-year period by Yamahaâs Japan-based Custom Shop for arena-concert environments. âThese guitars have a very special system for us to sound the way they sound live,â he says. âGab has seven piezos inside her guitar, and everything is very tight. And I have five piezos, which is really important for those kinds of shows.â
Within the duo, both players are very melodic and very rhythmical, but Quintero did gravitate to doing more of the beats, simply out of necessity, once they started playing bigger shows. âAt the beginning when we used to play together, we swapped all the timeâsolos, arpeggios, and all of this,â she explains. âEventually, when we started playing rock festivals, because I was the one who played the chords and the beat, if I came back to a solo bit or something, there was not that beatâpeople were not jumping anymore, and it was like, âAh, weâre losing the audience,â so I tried to become more the drummer of the band.â
Jumping from a metal band in Mexico City to an acoustic guitar duo busking the streets of Ireland seems quite serendipitous and grounded in the kind of ideology they eventually discovered via nondualism. Circling back to Quinteroâs The Power of Now-influenced, pragmatic approach, she jokes that the decision was really quite simple. âEventually, we were so internationally non-famous and miserable, we decided weâre going to quit the band,â she chuckles. âBut weâre not going to quit music. We wanted to travel the world. So, our new goal was to travel and play guitar.â
YouTube It
While this live performance doesnât capture the duoâs current blend of acoustic and electric sounds, it does afford a close-up look at their playing technique. In particular, check out Gabrielaâs right-hand approach, which is based on the traditional Irish instrument called the bodhrĂĄn.