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El Rey Effects

1/29/2014

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I had a chance to jam with a dude named Jimmy Nielsen on a Saturday morning back in October. We didn’t have any specific songs to work with, so we just jammed aimlessly for a bit, but that tone…there was just a monster tone coming out of Jimmy’s amp. It sounded like all of the best stoner/doom records from my collection. I had never heard that sound duplicated before in a live rehearsal setting. What the hell was this guy using to get that tone? It turns out that he was using a pedal of his own creation, the Lucha Fuzz from El Rey Effects. I was blown away by the fact that there was a pedal supplier right here in Cincinnati specializing in monster fuzz. I had to find out more, so I contacted Jimmy to get the full scoop.

How did you get into designing and building effects pedals? 

JN: From being poor...haha! No seriously, we didn't have much money growing up and it was a time when if you wanted something you either had to work to earn money or make it yourself. I did both. I would take the money I earned from odd jobs and hit the swap meets and flea markets looking for gear. This was back in the late 70's early 80's so stuff wasn't really "vintage" back then....it was just old and didn't work. I'd buy the stuff and either fix it by reading tech books or by consulting the local TV repairman. There was this great fuzz wah that I fixed and I have no idea what brand it was. Unfortunately it's been lost with my several moves, I REALLY wish I still had that one. 

So are you basically a self-taught engineer, or do you have any formal training?

JN:
Self-taught to a certain degree in electronics. I do have a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, but electronics was always a very serious hobby for me.

When did you start El Rey Effects?

JN:
Officially we're going right on 2 years. The first year was a slow build as we tweaked our designs, streamlined some procedures and continued to improve the pedals overall. This last year has been an incredible boom that we really didn't expect. It's still a bit surreal.

How have you been able to get so many national artists interested in your products? I mean they sound fucking awesome, but that's a huge score for a relatively new company.

JN:
Ancient Chinese Secret! HA! No seriously, we have a great networking channel. Some have come by word of mouth and others by just reaching out. And when you get a few of the players in bigger name bands to check out your stuff and like it, they tend to tell others about it. Monte Pittman has been a great addition to the El Rey family and he's helping spread the word about us throughout the Metal Blade family of artists.

Along those same lines, what does a mention in Guitar Player magazine mean for a small business such as yours?

JN:
It really helps to legitimize us and shows that we put out a product just as good, if not better, than the larger companies out there. It also shows that it’s not just a bunch of cool images painted on a box, that the sounds back up the looks of our pedals. The fact that they gave us the Editor's Pick was HUGE!

Do you do all of the artwork for pedals yourself? 

JN: We do most. Luckily, I have a large amount of talented friends that have helped in that department as well. Donny Conrad at HC Kustoms has done a lot of the pinstriping and hand painted work for our custom pieces. He's a real talent.

Where does the whole Lucha Libre theme stem from?

JN:
I was actually born in Mexico and grew up loving it from the start. I grew up in Los Angeles and there was still a lot of Lucha Libre wrestling around there as well. In more recent times, I started wearing the mask when I wrote a zine about the local scene. To keep my anonymity, I wore the mask, although my anonymity didn't last and it became a schtick to keep wearing it. When I started the pedal company, it was a no brainer to use it as a logo. 

Can you describe the overall El Rey sound that you’re going for?

JN:
That is a tough one, especially for pedal builders. Tone is such a particular thing that guitarists are always searching for. We all have different styles and what sounds great to one guy is a turd to someone else. When I create a circuit, I'm going for the WOW factor. I want the user to plug the effect in and immediately go, "OH...that's it!" They get that look in their eye and just know it. That's what I'm going for in my sounds.

What’s the craziest pedal that you guys ever built?

JN:
I was messing with some tone modulation stuff once and it really sounded like a flying saucer battle from some 1950's alien movie. I never released it because I just don't see what something like that would be used for musically. It was fun for goofing around, but nothing you would use on a regular basis.

I noticed that you build the Billy Jack pedal specifically for bass. Did that come about from a request, or were you thinking of your 4-string friends all along?

JN:
I actually built that for my bass player when I was in the band Dr. Bombay. He wanted a bass fuzz and I was like, “Okay, let me see what I can come up with that works in the lower range.” What's funny is, I have a lot of guitarists that play in drop tuning that love that pedal. It's just real bassy.


Editor's Note: Huge thanks to Jimmy for shedding some light on the El Rey magic. For those of you interested in checking out some of El Rey's pedals, get in touch via the links below. -JO
El Rey Effects Website
El Rey Effects Facebook
El Rey Effects Twitter
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Winterhymn

1/23/2014

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As someone who only recently discovered the world of folk metal through European bands such as Korpiklaani and Eluveitie, I was stunned to find a similar act operating right here in my own backyard. Winterhymn came roaring out of the frozen hills of northern Kentucky in 2010 and immediately laid siege upon the Tri-State metal scene with a rousing victory in a Battle of the Bands competition, which also happened to be the band’s first show. Comprised of the customary heavy metal attack of guitars (Draug and Varrick), bass (Alvadar), and drums (Valthrun), and adding keyboards (Exura) and violins (Umbriel) to the mix, these youngsters recently landed a spot on the Paganfest America tour and are poised for a huge 2014. I recently had a chance to speak with Winterhymn axemen Draug and Varrick about the band’s formation and future plans.

How did you get into folk metal and what bands influenced you?

Draug:
  One of the first more extreme metal bands I got into was Amon Amarth when I was in high school. Before that I was put off by a lot of the more extreme music, but the Viking/mythological elements, which I've had an interest in since I was a kid, gave the music a whole new light and pulled me in. Then through searching I came across folk metal and got into bands like Finntroll, Turisas, Korpiklaani, Heidevolk, etc. Obviously bands like that were big influences from the beginning. A lot of my friends saw it as a novelty thing or a gimmick but to me it made perfect sense. Folk metal then ended up being my gateway drug to other avenues, and myself and the others have a wide array of other big influences, but the big European folk metal bands were certainly the biggest of the influences from the start and spurred us to create Winterhymn.

How did Winterhymn come together?

Draug:
  I was a freshman in college and during the first semester I met my friend Austin, later Ulfr. After one of our classes we both agreed that something we'd wanted to do was to start a folk metal band, though neither of us had been in real bands before. Taking advantage of the good luck of finding another folk metal enthusiast in northern Kentucky, we began gathering other members, both new and old friends and friends of friends, which proved more of a challenge than it does for your average metal band of course. Finding a violinist was easier than finding a bassist, surprisingly! We took a solid year to write and gather ourselves before playing a show, and the response was immediately overwhelming.

I imagine it would be difficult to recruit for a folk metal band. Was it a matter of finding people who played the right instruments versus people who were already into folk metal?

Draug:
  It was certainly hard. Only three of the 6 of the initial lineup had heard of folk metal before, so having a preexisting knowledge of folk metal was not a requirement from the beginning. It would have been unrealistic at the time. However, we did seek to find people who were as likeminded as possible in other respects, and who were similarly ambitious and didn't just want to "play in a band" but do something worthwhile. Regardless of who was already a folk metal fan, we all saw it as an adventure. It was something completely different from anything we'd done before. Umbriel, our violinist, played in the NKU symphony beforehand, for example. We were also excited to do something that no one else was doing in the area.

When did you decide on the dual vocalist approach?

Draug:
  Immediately. We couldn't bring ourselves to have just clean vocals or just extreme vocals, and as we were writing, both styles ended up being represented naturally. Folk metal inherently has an interesting duality between the traditional metal instruments and strings/woodwinds/etc, and I think furthering that in the vocals is only natural.

At what point did you decide to commence work on Songs for the Slain?

Draug:
  The writing for Songs for the Slain began back in late 2009-early 2010 when we formed and continued through early 2011, with the album being released in November, 2011. Because the writing spanned across our earliest days, there are a lot of things represented and I think you can hear a lot of growth in those 45-or-so minutes.

Yes, "Songs for the Slain" definitely covers all of the bases. What was the recording process like? Was it difficult to get the right guitar/violin mix?

Draug:
  Early on we had won recording time through a battle of the bands type event, so the location and duration of the sessions was easily decided. We booked all of our days consecutively at Moonlight Studios in Fairfield, OH. For most of us it was our first time recording, which made for an exciting week. However, we had no recording experience, which made communicating our sound very difficult. It's not a conventional tracking or mixing setup, and looking back it's safe to say that we've learned a lot from Songs for the Slain and are attempting to utilize those lessons on our new recordings, and fans seem to recognize that.

Has the size of the band limited your venue options locally or regionally? Some of the coolest venues in town don't exactly have the biggest stages, you know?

Draug:
  We certainly know! Hahaha. I suppose in a sense it has limited us. Some of us have other bands that can play dive bars when needed, whereas with Winterhymn that isn't always the case. The size of the stage is a big factor when we're booking, and our stage attire, especially mine, only adds to that. In addition to small stages, with many smaller bar-first, music-second type venues you take a gamble with the sound. And, since we have so many moving parts, that is a big factor for us. These are things we figured out very early and very quickly. But that being said, we've still squeezed into basements and arcades the size of a closet. You just have to be prepared!

On a similar note, have you considered adding any additional folk instruments to the mix?

Draug:
  We've never really toyed with the idea of adding additional full-time members, no. That's not to say we've completely ruled it out, but it's not something we're actively seeking. We're always looking to try new things, such as utilizing our keys to feature different sounds and instruments, while still not adding too many layers. Rather than advancing our arsenal, we've always been more interested in advancing our writing, and working within the realms of violin and keys has always been challenging but rewarding in the end.

You guys mentioned your stage attire earlier. Do you have a go-to source for that stuff, or do you just kind of piece it together as you go?

Varrik:  I wouldn't say we have a 'go-to' Pagan-attire guy, but there are a few sites that sell a lot of generic costume pieces we use for our outfits. Alvadar, our bass player, got his entire outfit custom made for him by a friend but most of us pick up what we can as we see it in stores or track down smaller manufacturers on sites like Etsy. Most of us are constantly making adjustments and improvements on what we wear on stage, so we all keep a close eye on what tried and tested manufacturers are doing as well as discovering new makers.

What are you most looking forward to on the Paganfest America tour later this year?

Varrik:
 I think I can speak for everyone when I say one of the most exciting things is getting to branch out to completely fresh audiences in cities we've never played before, particularly the western states and Canada. There will also be a lot of new material that is making its live debut on this tour so it's very exciting to see how the new material and our progressing sound translates to fans and people who are hearing Winterhymn for the first time. From a personal standpoint, I am very interested to see how the crowds in the U.S. and touring in the U.S. differ from my experiences touring with old bands back in England.

Do you have any other tour plans this year, or are you ready to get back in the studio after Paganfest?


Varrik:  After Paganfest is all wrapped up, the ongoing plan is to keep writing in preparation for our next full-length record, which should hopefully begin production towards the end of the year. We do plan on recording some new material before the tour so that everyone has a chance to hear new material and get a feel for the band in its present form. There are no plans to remain silent on the live front either, so there should definitely be some more shows being confirmed in the near future.

Editor's Notes: Big thanks to Draug and Varrik for their time and effort. Be sure to check out Winterhymn this year on Paganfest America (dates coming soon) and locally at Powerfest 2014, Saturday 3/15 at The Thompson House in Newport, KY. For more information on Winterhymn, click on the links below. - JO
Winterhymn Website
Winterhymn Twitter
Winterhymn Facebook
Paganfest America

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Mangrenade

1/21/2014

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With a high energy live show and two excellent EPs under their belt, Mangrenade have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Southwestern Ohio. On the heels of 2013’s double EP releases More Than a Handful and Lions in the Parking Lot, Mangrenade have begun work on yet another record in early 2014. We caught up with guitarist and co-vocalist Nick Thieme to discuss the band’s formation and the progress of the new material.

How did Mangrenade come together?

NT: Mangrenade started after (bassist) Ben (Morgan) and myself decided to call it quits with our previous band, Church of the Week.  We were looking to start something new, something fresh, so Mangrenade was born.  I played drums in Church of the Week, but really wanted to play guitar and sing, so I decided to take up more of a lead role alongside Ben.  We hooked up with Erik Olsen soon after and the rest is history.

So I guess that explains the dual frontman thing you've got going on in Mangrenade.  That's an interesting choice, but I think it works really well for you guys.  When you're writing new material, how do you decide which part is a Ben part and which part is a Nick part?


NT: It really depends on the song and what mood we're in when we write it. If there's a part that one of us really wants to sing, then we'll call dibs. We're trying more on this new record to split each song down the middle. In the past there were Ben songs and Nick songs and some that had us both. We're focusing more on working together to complement each other better.

What bands influenced you, either as a band or in general?


NT: When we started out, we were really big into old Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Fu Manchu, stuff like that. We come from a hardcore/metal background as well, so blend that up with that and you get what we sound like. As we progressed, we've been getting back to our heavier roots. The shows were getting progressively heavier as we went, more in line with bands like Avenged Sevenfold and Poison The Well than the desert rock sound we originally went for. I guess you just play what you play.

How is the new record coming along? Is this another EP or are you working on a full length this time around?


NT: We're still writing for the new one. We're still undecided on whether to do a full length or a 2 part EP. We kind of have a working title, "Severed". It's definitely a stylistic change for us. It's way heavier first off. Also, with losing Erik, our founding drummer, it's going to shift quite a bit percussively. Second, the lyrics are deeper than anything we've done in the past, which should add a new dynamic.

So are you handling drums on the new material?

NT: The drums are still kind of up in the air. We've been talking to a few people and have it narrowed down to a few guys.

Do you have a release date in mind?  When are you planning to get back out on stage?

NT: We are probably going to be releasing in late spring, depending on a few different things. We already have shows booked for April, including dates with Bad People out of Lexington and Bearer of Bad News out of Dayton. We're working on setting up a series of shows with Truth & Triumph Tattoo in Dayton that will cross-promote us as well as the tattoo studio. Stay tuned for that.


Editor's Note: Huge thanks to Nick for taking some time out of his day to give us a great interview. Stay tuned to The Blog of Doom for news on the new record's release date and Mangrenade's upcoming show schedule. Check out Mangrenade on Facebook & Twitter for more details and to order merchandise. -JO
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