QRD What was your first guitar & what happened to it?

Eric One of those cheap Yamaha guitars that comes packaged with the little Peavey amp. It had this cheap sounding, dirty buzzing through multiple delays & cheap distortions. It was actually used for many early Destroyalldreamers shows & on some tracks off our first album A Coeur L�ger Sommeil Sanglant. I loaned it to a girl a couple of years ago, & I dont think Ill ever get it back oh well.

QRD Whats your typical set-up from guitar to effects to amplifier?

Eric Current practice but typical enough ever-changing, ever-evolving set-up:
Fender Jaguar > Baja Tech Custom DaMOAF > Boss Pitchshifter/Delay x2 > Ibanez Delay/Echo > EHX Small Stone > Boss Tremolo/Pan > EHX MMwH > Line6 DL-4 > Digitech PDS 20/20 /� Digitech Jamman > Alesis Microverb / Digitech Digiverb > Behringer Mixer stereo-out > Traynor Bass Mate Amp + Traynor Guitar Mate Amp.
Pedals on the bench, but used, switched around or added to the set-up quite often: Digitech Space Station, EHX POG, Digitech digidelay, DOD Bi-Fet , DOD DFX94, Boss DD-20, Line6 Echopark, Line6 Verbzilla, ProCo RAT, Zoom Ultrafuzz, Digitech Turboflange, Alesis Philtre. Other units have been temporarily shelved.
I usually go straight out to the PA or a combination of Amp + PA for thisquietarmy gigs. For Destroyalldreamers, I used to play through an 80s Roland Jazz Chorus JC-120 but switched to a Traynor Mark III 2x12 tube combo from the late 70s. Other projects have different set-ups but this is long enough.

QRD Whats the most important part of your rig guitar, amplifier, or effects?

Eric Effects. Am I the only one saying this here?

QRD Whats your main amplifier & why?

Eric Traynor Bass Mate, its a 15 tube combo from the 70s, it looks & sounds great, perfect apartment & gig size.

QRD Whats your main guitar & what are the features that make it such?

Eric Japanese Fender Jaguar Special HH (2002), its a darker red than the classic Fender candy apple red, matching headstock, Dragster humbucking pickups, fixed ajusto-matic bridge, chrome knobs. Its sexy & it feels powerful. I like my other guitars as well, but for different & more delicate applications.

QRD If you had a signature guitar, what would it look like & what would some of its features be?

Eric Might be like the same one I have, but with a Jaguar tremolo bar & maybe some kind of sustaining system also with integrated Facebook & Twitter apps so I can update while I play gigs.

QRD If you had a signature pedal, what would it be & what would some of its features be?

Eric I actually like to play with all the parameters of all my pedals separately. Kevin Micka of Animal Hospital re-wired all of his pedals into this one big custom metal box with flip buttons & switches, just like a control board & only he knows what hes doing. That would be a great signature pedal, if my pedalboard was fixed enough.

QRD How many guitars do you own?

Eric Yamaha acoustic guitar, Godin LG, Epiphone Dot, Fender Jaguar Special HH & the one Ill never see again.

QRD How & where do you store your guitars?

Eric On a guitar stand at home, or in their case.

QRD What do you wish guitar cases had that they usually dont?

Eric A GPS to track it when youre flying overseas or when it gets stolen.

QRD What features do you look for when buying a guitar?

Eric Comfort, playability, & good looks.

QRD How much do you think a good guitar should cost?

Eric When you think youre getting a great deal well, that much.

QRD Do you upgrade & customize your guitars or just stick with what you get?

Eric Stick with it.

QRD How thoroughly do you research or test a piece of equipment before buying it?

Eric Thoroughly enough on the internet, message boards, reviews, clips, second opinions. I mostly buy used & discontinued stuff that I cant really try.

QRD Do you change your rig around often?

Eric Yes, for various projects, but mostly because its essential to experiment & to find new different sounds, as my tracks are mostly based around specific sounds creating specific moods.

QRD Are you after one particular guitar tone & locking into it, or do you like to change your tone around a lot?

Eric I change it around a lot.

QRD What are some guitars, amps, & pedals you particularly lust after?

Eric Fender Jazzmaster, Fender Bass VI, Fender Jaguar Baritone, Ampeg & Sunn amps, all those new EHX pedals that keep coming out, some boutique pedals but not really. I like to think Im set for a while (as an attempt not to spend money) Id like to get a Fender Jazz bass though, & maybe another analog synth.

QRD What do you think are some important features to be on a persons first guitar that arent always there?

Eric Good tone, good built.

QRD What have been the best & worst guitar related purchases youve made?

Eric Best: Line6 DL-4 delay/looper, DOD DFX94 delay, Digitech PDS20/20 multi-play & PDS8000 delay. Worst: My first distortion Boss Power Driver, that cheap tone sucking black Russian Big Muff & the Digitech PDS3000 reverb.

QRD What are some effect, amp, & guitar brands you particularly like or dis-like & why?

Eric I like the discontinued Boss pedals, but I hate everything new they put out. I like old & new Digitech delays & looping devices. Most new EHX stuff have very interesting features that might be worth exploring. I like Fender guitars, Traynor, Ampeg, & Sunn amps or any old tube amps. I used to have a Roland JC-120, it was great for a while, but then I sold it because I got sick of it. Never been a fan of Fender amps either.

QRD Whats the first thing you play when you pick up a guitar?

Eric Open chord, maybe an E or Am if Im in standard.

QRD How old were you when you started playing guitar?

Eric 22.

QRD At what age do you think you leveled up to your best guitar playing?

Eric 99.

QRD Why do you think a guitar fits you more so than other instruments?

Eric Something about strumming to make strings & waves vibrate rather than pounding rhythmically, pressing keys or blowing into something just seems right & feels better.

QRD Do you think guitar should be peoples first instrument as often as it is?

Eric Its a good instrument that you can learn on your own & not get too bored or frustrated with, I think.

QRD Do you see your guitar as your ally or adversary in making music?

Eric Both, constantly.

QRD Who are the guitarists that most influenced your playing & sound?

Eric Neil Halstead of Slowdive, Scott Cortez of lovesliescrushing, those guitar players in Mogwai &/or Godspeed.

QRD Do you think people anthropomorphizing their guitars is natural or silly?

Eric Silly.

QRD Whats the most physical damage youve done to a guitar & how did you do it?

Eric Dropped it by accident. Scratches & dings.

QRD What do you do to practice other than simply playing?

Eric I run an infinite loop through my pedals, & then I play with my pedals instead.

QRD How many hours a week do you play guitar & how many hours would you like to?

Eric Sometimes I dont play for weeks. Whenever I feel like it.

QRD What type of pick do you use & why?

Eric Jim Dunlop .88mm or 1.00mm. It works.

QRD What gauge strings do you use & why?

Eric DAddario 11-49.

QRD How often do you change strings?

Eric When I feel like my playing & my sound is shit, & then I realize they dont feel nor sound as good as they used to.

QRD How often do you break strings?

Eric Not often. Except when we played that song The Sky Was Glorious For a Moment (by Destroyalldreamers) --- theyd break one out of two, & would involve bleeding fingers.

QRD Which do you feel is more proficient, your strumming hand or fretting hand & how does that effect your style?

Eric Strumming. It affects my style in the sense that I play slow anyway which is fine because I like to sustain notes & chords through my pedals.

QRD Do you set-up your guitar yourself or send it to a guitar tech (or not set it up at all) & why?

Eric Guitar tech, because I dont really know much about setting up or if Im doing it right.

QRD What tunings do you use & why?

Eric Standard & Open C or some derivative of it Not sure. Starts with CGC anyway.

QRD Do you prefer tablature, sheet music, or some other notation system for writing down your own ideas?

Eric I dont write my ideas down, I record them. Then I re-listen & if I cant play them again, I give up & dub the recording as an improv. If I can play them, I practice until I remember it enough so that I wont forget for a while, until its been too long & I have to figure it out again.

QRD How high do you hold your guitar when playing (strap length)?

Eric Low-Average. It should probably be higher because its bad for my posture & I have no more money to go to the chiropractor.

QRD Whats a bad habit in your playing you wish you could break?

Eric When trying to be creative going back to playing the same kind of riffs, sounds, structures, & time signatures not being able to break a certain pattern.

QRD Playing what other instrument do you think can most help someones guitar playing?

Eric Drums. Rhythm helps a lot. Playing in a band is a great way to improve.

QRD Whats a type of guitar playing do you wish you could do that you cant?

Eric I dont know. Shredding?� Finger-picking. Or anything slightly complicated.

QRD Whats a guitar goal youve never accomplished?

Eric Play two guitars at the same time? No, wait I sort of do already.

QRD Whats the last guitar trick you learned?

Eric Trick people into believing that I actually know how to play guitar.

QRD Whats a guitar technique youd like to master, but havent?

Eric Play someone elses song.

QRD Whats your favorite guitar gadget (ebow, capo, slide, string cutter, etc)?

Eric Ebow!

QRD Did you ever take guitar lessons & if so, what did you learn from them?

Eric Nope.

QRD What would you teach someone in a guitar lesson that you dont think they would generally get from a guitar teacher?

Eric Ive never had a guitar teacher, how should I know? I could teach about effect pedals.

QRD Whats something someone would have to do to emulate your style?

Eric Something in the lines of playing loads of drone-y textures through a first looping device feeding into other parallel looping devices, & then finding the intrinsic melodies throughout that thick, noisy wall of sounds.

QRD Whats your take on tremolo systems?

Eric Kevin Shields loves it. Nuff said. I havent spent enough time with one actually.

QRD How often do you adjust your tone knob?

Eric Always maxed.

QRD What do you see as the difference between lead guitar & rhythm guitar players?

Eric One has long black curly hair & a funny top hat, the other usually just looks plain regular because I cant remember what he looks like.

QRD If a band has good guitar work, can you ignore the rest of the band not being good?

Eric No. However, you could just get rid of the rest of the band & play solo.

QRD What famous musicians guitar would you like to own & why?

Eric Dont care enough about other peoples guitars, really.

QRD Who do you think is currently the most innovative guitar player & why?

Eric That guy over there!

QRD Where can people hear your best guitar work?

Eric Each album is always an exploration in sounds, themes, textures & feelings. So its pretty subjective. But this is an interview & if its not going to be used to promote any new releases, itd be a shame. So, get the latest thisquietarmy album! Its called Aftermath.

QRD Anything else?

Eric Yes, but 58 questions is long enough! Thx.
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