Before APC's gig at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena, bassist Matt McJunkins (above right) and guitarists James Iha and Billy Howerdel spend some time with PG's Chris Kies cataloging the guitars, basses, amps, and digital gear they require to pull off material from all three of their studio albums and beyond.
As part of the Smashing Pumpkins from the start, James Iha originally was a Fender guy in the Gish-era of the band, but slowly made his way to humbuckers and Gibsons. Here is a 1984 Gibson Les Paul Custom he’s had since the mid-’90s. The only thing he’s done to the guitar was swap in Tom Anderson H3 (bridge) and H1 (neck) humbuckers to match the sound Billy achieved on APC’s recordings. Following suit even further, Iha tunes this LP to C# and uses a custom set of Ernie Ball Slinkys (.056–.044–.032–.020P–.017–.012) that Billy came up with. He prefers to play with Jim Dunlop Tortex .73 mm picks.
This ’80s silverburst Gibson Les Paul has a capo on the first fret and gets put to work for the song “Passive” off of Emotive.
Here is a Yamaha Revstar that uses a capo on the second fret for the cover of Nick Lowe’s “(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding.”
Eschewing any sort of tube amp, Iha relies on the Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II for all his amp simulations and various effects. He goes with in-ear monitors and has monitors or speaker cabs onstage. For his main rhythm setting, he selects a Friedman-style preset.
Back for his second Rig Rundown is bassist Matt McJunkins (check out our Eagles of Death Metal episode where Matt shows off some different gear.) who is still favoring Fender P basses. During his time in EODM, he rolled with a 2010 Fender American Deluxe Precision bass, but he recent upgraded to a new go-to—a 2017 Fender American Elite P. He rocks Ernie Ball Power Slinkys .055–.110 and Jim Dunlop Tortex .88 mm picks.
The core of McJunkins’ APC tone starts with the Mesa/Boogie 400+ that goes into the “Fridge”—an Ampeg 8x10 cab.
For additional tube-tone tweaking, McJunkins incorporates a Demeter Tube Bass Pre-Amplifier and all of his effects patches are coming from the Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II. Onstage, he controls everything with a Voodoo Lab Ground Control.
This is Billy Howerdel’s main squeeze—a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Classic Reissue that is actually two guitars he put together from his days as Trent Reznor’s tech for Nine Inch Nails. The guitar has been upgraded with Tom Anderson H3 (bridge) and H1 (neck) humbuckers, is tuned to C#, and has a custom set of Ernie Ball Slinkys (.056–.044–.032–.020P–.017–.012). All of his guitars, including this beast, has an added cap so when he rolls off the volume he doesn’t lose any of the guitar’s tone. In 2013, Billy spoke with PG about this special guitar, so we’ll let him take it away: “I was the guitar tech on a Nine Inch Nails tour and one of the guitars that lasted the longest—a cinnaburst 1960 reissue Les Paul—is my main guitar now. It got broken all of the time—all the guitars did. They had headstocks off, necks off, just shattered. I fixed this one so many times, and then one day it got thrown into the crowd and somebody in the audience ripped the headstock off. It was sitting headless for a while. I had trunks and trunks of guitars, probably 50 or 60 of them that I traveled with and tried to fix to get ready for a show today, tomorrow, two weeks from now. A similar cinnaburst guitar got broken, and I kept that headstock and tried to marry the two. It got put back on, but at sort of the wrong angle—because, of course, the wood type didn’t match. It’s a little less angled than normal, but it’s the best-sounding and best-playing guitar I’ve ever used. It was a happy accident. I talked with Gibson several years ago about doing a signature model with the same specs. Even if it’s not for mass production, I just want some duplicates in case something ever happens to it.”
Here you can see the break of the original headstock and how the repaired headstock has a minimal break angle.
His second favorite guitar from the NIN days is this Les Paul Studio he prefers for slide work on “Blue” and half of “Outsider.” It also has been outfitted with Tom Anderson H3 (bridge) and H1 (neck) humbuckers and uses a custom tuning: B#-F#-B-B-B-B. He uses the Jim Dunlop 234 glass slide and always jams with Tortex 1.0 mm picks.
Look at the Studio’s gruesome neck joint!
Billy’s fundamental sound starts with this Dave Friedman-modded 1978 100-watt Marshall Super Lead. Friedman reworked the preamp section to sound and react similarly to a 60-watt Naylor head that Billy loved. To help reduce unwanted noises and annoying buzzing, Billy started using Custom Audio Electronics isolation transformers.
The backside of Billy’s coveted ’78.
Depending on what the song needs, how the rooms sounds, and what is working on any given day, Billy will kick on either one of these Gibson GA-15RV 1x12 Goldtone combos that he also uses for his other band, Ashes Divide. Currently, the one on the bottom is the favored combo, which was actually uses parts and was built in the U.K. whereas the top combo was constructed with American components and assembled in the U.S.
To accomplish all the soundscapes A Perfect Circle implements (and reduces headaches and anxiety), Howerdel leans on a Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II. Thankfully, tech Steven Alexander broke down the complicated signal path… keep up!
Guitar > Whirlwind Selector A/B box > Radial Engineering JDI (as a splitter to record a dry signal) > Axe-FX II rear input 1 (we found the rear to have a better signal for Billy’s rig than the front)
Axe-FX II output 1 > CAE splitter input 1
Axe-FX II output 2 > RJM Music Mini Effects Gizmo input (non-buffered)
Axe-FX II input 2 < CAE splitter send 1
CAE output 2 > Palmer “The Junction” guitar DI box (for FOH and recording)
CAE Send 2 > DigiTech GSP2101 input
DigiTech GSP2101 output > CAE splitter input 2
Billy Howerdel custom amp send > RJM Music Mini Effects Gizmo return 1
Billy Howerdel custom amp return < CAE splitter output 1
Billy Howerdel custom amp input < CAE ISO transformer < RJM Music Mini Effects Gizmo send 1
RJM Music Mini Effects Gizmo send 2 > CAE ISO transformer > Gibson combo input
Gibson combo (modded) output > RJM Music Mini Effects Gizmo return 2
RJM Music Mini Effects Gizmo (click stop) output > CAE splitter input
Out front, Howerdel takes the sonic reins thanks to a pair of Mission Engineering SP1-RJM expression pedals and a RJM Music Mastermind GT controller.
And because he loves to have stage volume and feel the air, everything goes through this Marshall AV 4x12 cabinet loaded with G12 Vintage speakers.
- Troy Van Leeuwen's Metaphysical Guitar - Premier Guitar ›
- Riff Rundown: A Perfect Circle's "Judith" - Premier Guitar ›
- A Perfect Circle: Another Round for Billy Howerdel and James Iha ... ›
- Riff Rundown: A Perfect Circle's "So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish" - Premier Guitar ›
- Riff Rundown: A Perfect Circle's "Judith" - Premier Guitar ›
- Rig Rundown: Eagles of Death Metal - Premier Guitar ›
- Rig Rundown: Eagles of Death Metal - Premier Guitar ›
- Puscifer's Mat Mitchell Rig Rundown Guitar Gear Tour - Premier Guitar ›
- The Smashing Pumpkins Guitar Rig Rundown Video Tour - Premier Guitar ›
Electro-Harmonix Hell Melter Distortion Pedal
With its take on the cult-classic, chainsaw distortion pedal, the EHX Hell Melter takes distortion to its extremes. The Hell Melter features expanded controls and tonal capabilities, allowing the already in-your-face sound of the pedal to broaden by switching to more open clipping options and boosting the internal voltage for increased headroom, less compression, and more attack.
Originally designed as the ultimate in high-gain tone, this world-famous distortion circuit is known for the death metal sounds of Sweden’s Entombed and the shoegaze wash of My Bloody Valentine. It’s even found a home in the rig of David Gilmour!
The EHX Hell Melter’s expanded control set includes Gain and Level controls, and a powerful active EQ featuring with parametric mids for improved versatility. The Dry level control allows for blending your input signal for improved low-end when used with a bass or even blending in other distorted tones.
Boost Footswitch engages an input gain boost and volume boost which is internally adjustable. The Normal/Burn switch toggles between the classic chainsaw sound and the more open clipping option.
For the first time in the band’s history, the Dawes lineup for Oh Brother consisted of just Griffin and Taylor Goldsmith (left and right).
Goldsmith’s lyrics spoke to me the loudest, with lines like “Well, you can judge the whole world on the sparkle that you think it lacks / Yes, you can stare into the abyss, but it’s starin’ right back” (a casual Nietzsche paraphrase); and “Oh, the snowfall this time of year / It’s not what Birmingham is used to / I get the feeling that I brought it here / And now I’m taking it away.” The way his words painted a portrait of the sincere, sentimental man behind them, along with his cozy, unassuming guitar work and the band’s four-part harmonies, had me hooked.
Nothing Is Wrong and Stories Don’t End came next, and I happily gobbled up more folksy fodder in tracks like “If I Wanted,” “Most People,” and “From a Window Seat.” But 2015’s All Your Favorite Bands, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Folk Albumschart, didn’t land with me, and by the time 2016’s We’re All Gonna Die was released, it was clear that Goldsmith had shifted thematically in his writing. A friend drew a thoughtful Warren Zevon comparison to the single, “When the Tequila Runs Out”—a commentary on vapid, conceited, American-socialite party culture—but it still didn’t really do it for me. I fell off the Dawes train a bit, and became somewhat oblivious to their three full-lengths that followed.
Oh Brotheris Goldsmith’s latest addition to the Dawes songbook, and I’m grateful to say that it’s brought me back. After having done some catching up, I’d posit that it’s the second work in the third act, or fall season, of his songwriting—where 2022’s Misadventures of Doomscrollercracked open the door, Oh Brother swings it wide. And it doesn’t have much more than Dawes’ meat and potatoes, per se, in common with acts one or two. Some moodiness has stayed—as well as societal disgruntlement and the arrangement elements that first had me intoxicated. But then there’s the 7/4 section in the middle of “Front Row Seat”; the gently unwinding, quiet, intimate jazz-club feel of “Surprise!”; the experimentally percussive, soft-spoken “Enough Already”; and the unexpected, dare I say, Danny Elfman-esque harmonic twists and turns in the closing track, “Hilarity Ensues.”
The main engine behind Dawes, the Goldsmith brothers are both native “Angelinos,” having been born and raised in the L.A. area. Taylor is still proud to call the city his home.
Photo by Jon Chu
“I have this working hypothesis that who you are as a songwriter through the years is pretty close to who you are in a dinner conversation,” Goldsmith tells me in an interview, as I ask him about that thematic shift. “When I was 23, if I was invited to dinner with grownups [laughs], or just friends or whatever, and they say, ‘How you doin’, Taylor?’ I probably wouldn’t think twice to be like, ‘I’m not that good. There’s this girl, and … I don’t know where things are at—can I share this with you? Is that okay?’ I would just go in in a way that’s fairly indiscreet! And I’m grateful to that version of me, especially as a writer, because that’s what I wanted to hear, so that’s what I was making at the time.
“But then as I got older, it became, ‘Oh, maybe that’s not an appropriate way to answer the question of how I’m doing.’ Or, ‘Maybe I’ve spent enough years thinking about me! What does it feel like to turn the lens around?’” he continues, naming Elvis Costello and Paul Simon as inspirations along the way through that self-evolution. “Also, trying to be mindful of—I had strengths then that I don’t have now, but I have strengths now that I didn’t have then. And now it’s time to celebrate those. Even in just a physical way, like hearing Frank Zappa talking about how his agility as a guitar player was waning as he got older. It’s like, that just means that you showcase different aspects of your skills.
“I am a changing person. It would be weird if I was still writing the same way I was when I was 23. There would probably be some weird implications there as to who I’d be becoming as a human [laughs].”
Taylor Goldsmith considers Oh Brother, the ninth full-length in Dawes’ catalog, to be the beginning of a new phase of Dawes, containing some of his most unfiltered, unedited songwriting.
Since its inception, the engine behind Dawes has been the brothers Goldsmith, with Taylor on guitar and vocals and Griffin on drums and sometimes vocal harmonies. But they’ve always had consistent backup. For the first several years, that was Wylie Gelber on bass and Tay Strathairn on keyboards. On We’re All Gonna Die, Lee Pardini replaced Strathairn and has been with the band since. Oh Brother, however, marks the departure of Gelber and Pardini.
“We were like, ‘Wow, this is an intense time; this is a vulnerable time,’” remarks Goldsmith, who says that their parting was supportive and loving, but still rocked him and Griffin. “You get a glimpse of your vulnerability in a way that you haven’t felt in a long time when things are just up and running. For a second there, we’re like, ‘We’re getting a little rattled—how do we survive this?’”
They decided to pair up with producer Mike Viola, a close family friend, who has also worked with Mandy Moore—Taylor’s spouse—along with Panic! At the Disco, Andrew Bird, and Jenny Lewis. “[We knew that] he understands all of the parameters of that raw state. And, you know, I always show Mike my songs, so he was aware of what we had cookin’,” says Goldsmith.
Griffin stayed behind the kit, but Taylor took over on bass and keys, the latter of which he has more experience with than he’s displayed on past releases. “We’ve made records where it’s very tempting to appeal to your strengths, where it’s like, ‘Oh, I know how to do this, I’m just gonna nail it,’” he says. “Then there’s records that we make where we really push ourselves into territories where we aren’t comfortable. That contributed to [Misadventures of Doomscroller] feeling like a living, breathing thing—very reactive, very urgent, very aware. We were paying very close attention. And I would say the same goes for this.”
That new terrain, says Goldsmith, “forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do. I’m really excited in that sense, because it’s like this is the first album of a new phase.”
“That forced us to react to each other and react to the music in new ways, and all of a sudden, we’re exploring new corners of what we do.”
In proper folk (or even folk-rock) tradition, the music of Dawes isn’t exactly riddled with guitar solos, but that’s not to say that Goldsmith doesn’t show off his chops when the timing is right. Just listen to the languid, fluent lick on “Surprise!”, the shamelessly prog-inspired riff in the bridge of “Front Row Seat,” and the tactful, articulate line that threads through “Enough Already.” Goldsmith has a strong, individual sense of phrasing, where his improvised melodies can be just as biting as his catalog’s occasional lyrical jabs at presumably toxic ex-girlfriends, and just as melancholy as his self-reflective metaphors, all the while without drawing too much attention to himself over the song.
Of course, most of our conversation revolves around songwriting, as that’s the craft that’s the truest and closest to his identity. “There’s an openness, a goofiness—I even struggle to say it now, but—an earnestness that goes along with who I am, not only as a writer but as a person,” Goldsmith elaborates. “And I think it’s important that those two things reflect one another. ’Cause when you meet someone and they don’t, I get a little bit weirded out, like, ‘What have I been listening to? Are you lying to me?’” he says with a smile.
Taylor Goldsmith's Gear
Pictured here performing live in 2014, Taylor Goldsmith has been the primary songwriter for all of Dawes' records, beginning with 2009’s North Hills.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/Tinnitus Photography
Guitars
- Fender Telecaster
- Gibson ES-345
- Radocaster (made by Wylie Gelber)
Amps
- ’64 Fender Deluxe
- Matchless Laurel Canyon
Effects
- 29 Pedals EUNA
- Jackson Audio Bloom
- Ibanez Tube Screamer with Keeley mod
- Vintage Boss Chorus
- Vintage Boss VB-2 Vibrato
- Strymon Flint
- Strymon El Capistan
Strings
- Ernie Ball .010s
In Goldsmith’s songwriting process, he explains that he’s learned to lean away from the inclination towards perfectionism. Paraphrasing something he heard Father John Misty share about Leonard Cohen, he says, “People think you’re cultivating these songs, or, ‘I wouldn’t deign to write something that’s beneath me,’ but the reality is, ‘I’m a rat, and I’ll take whatever I can possibly get, and then I’ll just try to get the best of it.’
“Ever since Misadventures of Doomscroller,” he adds, “I’ve enjoyed this quality of, rather than try to be a minimalist, I want to be a maximalist. I want to see how much a song can handle.” For the songs on Oh Brother, that meant that he decided to continue adding “more observations within the universe” of “Surprise!”, ultimately writing six verses. A similar approach to “King of the Never-Wills,” a ballad about a character suffering from alcoholism, resulted in four verses.
“The economy of songwriting that we’re all taught would buck that,” says Goldsmith. “It would insist that I only keep the very best and shed something that isn’t as good. But I’m not going to think economically. I’m not going to think, ‘Is this self-indulgent?’
Goldsmith’s songwriting has shifted thematically over the years, from more personal, introspective expression to more social commentary and, at times, even satire, in songs like We’re All Gonna Die’s “When the Tequila Runs Out.”
Photo by Mike White
“I don’t abide that term being applied to music. Because if there’s a concern about self-indulgence, then you’d have to dismiss all of jazz. All of it. You’d have to dismiss so many of my most favorite songs. Because in a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.” (He elaborates that, if Bob Dylan had trimmed back any of the verses on “Desolation Row,” it would have deprived him of the unique experience it creates for him when he listens to it.)
One of the joys of speaking with Goldsmith is just listening to his thought processes. When I ask him a question, he seems compelled to share every backstory to every detail that’s going through his head, in an effort to both do his insights justice and to generously provide me with the most complete answer. That makes him a bit verbose, but not in a bad way, because he never rambles. There is an endpoint to his thoughts. When he’s done, however, it takes me a second to realize that it’s then my turn to speak.
To his point on artistic self-indulgence, I offer that there’s no need for artists to feel “icky” about self-promotion—that to promote your art is to celebrate it, and to create a shared experience with your audience.
“I hear what you’re saying loud and clear; I couldn’t agree more,” Goldsmith replies. “But I also try to be mindful of this when I’m writing, like if I’m going to drag you through the mud of, ‘She left today, she’s not coming back, I’m a piece of shit, what’s wrong with me, the end’.... That might be relatable, that might evoke a response, but I don’t know if that’s necessarily helpful … other than dragging someone else through the shit with me.
“In a weird way, I feel like that’s the whole point—self-indulgence. And then obviously relating to someone else, to another human being.”
“So, if I’m going to share, I want there to be something to offer, something that feels like: ‘Here’s a path that’s helped me through this, or here’s an observation that has changed how I see this particular experience.’ It’s so hard to delineate between the two, but I feel like there is a difference.”
Naming the opening track “Mister Los Angeles,” “King of the Never-Wills,” and even the title track to his 2015 chart-topper, “All Your Favorite Bands,” he remarks, “I wouldn’t call these songs ‘cool.’ Like, when I hear what cool music is, I wouldn’t put those songs next to them [laughs]. But maybe this record was my strongest dose of just letting me be me, and recognizing what that essence is rather than trying to force out certain aspects of who I am, and force in certain aspects of what I’m not. I think a big part of writing these songs was just self-acceptance,” he concludes, laughing, “and just a whole lot of fishing.”
YouTube It
Led by Goldsmith, Dawes infuses more rock power into their folk sound live at the Los Angeles Ace Hotel in 2023.
