Vince's Blog

I saw Lucinda Williams at the Hard Rock the other night - what a great show! They're pretty much the perfect band. And her guitarist, Doug Pettibone, is always a joy to watch. I've been getting swamped at work lately (and will be for the next few months), so it was great to be inspirted as a songwriter and musician. Her show definitely focused my mind back to writing great songs.

I'm working on my second song of the month, actually. Sometimes after it's been a while since I've written anything, I have a lot of ideas pent up in my head (and heart) that need to get out, so I have an easy time putting it on paper. It's a tough thing to force, but when they're there just waiting for me to grab out of thin air, I'm happy to oblige. It's been slow going getting songs CD-ready, fixing the drums parts, rerecording things, etc. But I'm still working on. Slow progress is better than no progress!

I've also been doing some work on my instruments. I put a Duncan STK_SH2 hot stack in the neck of my '57 reissue. It's a quite, slighly beefier single coil sound. It's not quite as edgy as I expected, but it has a great sound, and I love playing through it. It complements the guitar better than what was in there before. The stock pups were awfully noisy, so it's a definite upgrade in my opinion. I haven't soldered anything in a long time, so I'm glad to say I didn't burn any holes in my guitar - or my hands! I also completely retubed my Dr Z amp. The high pitched whine coming through the 'verb is gone, and the whole amp sounds louder and punchier. It was definitely time.

A bit of history. When we recorded Zeyer, Uptown Recording had a FullDrive overdrive pedal which I immediately fell in love with. It provided the tone for my solos in songs like Walk Right Out The Door and Ain't Got Wings. So after many years of messing around with other pedals, I finally broke down and ebayed myself one. It was great for a day or two, then it died. I sent it back to FullTone, and they fixed it - in a week! It's now back on my pedal board and really kicking butt. All their pedals are fantastic, but the FullDrive 2 I have has become indispensable. Plus I was extremely pleased with their fast repair turnaround (t was only ten bucks). I thought they deserved a post.

And since I'm posting anyways, other guitarists out there might be interested in my gear.

Guitars:
'72 Tele Custom with Hot Rails pup in the bridge. My favorite go-to guitar, really thick, dark tone.
'96 57 Reissue Strat - I love the smooth, buttery neck and classic strat tone.
'96 SRV Strat - this was my "open G" guitar for a long time, and used it on Fire. A bit more grit than the 57, due to the Texas Specials.
90s Jackson Dinky Reverse - this is my "shred" guitar - I use it for studio stuff like the EvAv podcast theme. It has a super thin neck and very flat fretboard radius, which makes it easier to do the fast stuff.

Amps:
Dr Z Maz 38 Studio Deluxe - this has been my workhorse for years. Nice thick, springy clean tone, not brittle at all. It can also get nasty when turned up (and it gets LOUD for 38 watts).
I also have a Fender Super Reverb, which I used on Just Hold On, but to be honest, I love the Z so much I rarely use it these days.

Pedals:
The FullDrive 2 - my overdrive. Really the only pedal that sees constant use
Budda Phatman overdrive - my "backup" overdrive. It's not as smooth as the FullDrive, so now that my baby's back, it probably won't see much action. It has an H.R. Geiger type of sound, if that makes sense.
Boss Digital Delay- heh, I actually bought this for Stephanie for Xmas for her violin, but somehow it ended up in my pedalboard. He he he. I don't use it all that much, but it's nice to have a little delay from time to time.
Morely Bad Horise Wah- again, it's in the chain, but rarely used. In fact, I don't even think
Voodoo Labs MicroVibe- this has been on the fritz all year and I have yet to get it repaired. I absolutely love this thing (it was used on the main rhythm part of Ain't Got Wings), although it's definitely not something you'd use on every song. Great pedal, though, I need to get it fixed pretty soon.

There you have it - that's my electric sound. 90% of the time it's Strat/Tele -> FullDrive 2 -> Dr Z Maz 38.

The video-gaming website www.EvilAvatar.com started up a podcast a few months ago, and had a contest to find a great theme song for their show. I'm pleased to say that my hard rock instrumental "Cupcake Wants Dinner" was chosen. Take a listen at www.EvilAvatarRadio.com. If you're a video game fan, Evil Avatar is the best site on the web for news, and their podcast is fun, informative and worth checking out. Enjoy!

Hi everyone! This is the first entry in my little corner of Zeyerband.com. This is where you can find out about everything I've been up to. I'll be posting links to music I'm working on, lyrics, songs, anything and everything I'm doing in the musical world.