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Editor’s Note | August 2020

Greetings, Stompbox fans. This has certainly been a weird and challenging summer so far, with good news often in sadly short supply. So hopefully it’ll bring a smile to your face when I inform you that, after years spent scaling Stompbox Mountain, we have finally reached our summit! It’s been a long, hard slog to…

Editor’s Note | May 2020

Greetings, Stompbox fans. The world has changed quite a bit since we last touched base with you, and we hope you’ve all been doing okay through this Covid-19 crisis—staying healthy, staying home (if you can), staying reasonably sane, and maybe even finding a bit of solace, distraction and uplift in some great music.  This unwelcome…

New Recruits | Whitney Petty & Josh Scott

Please welcome our new Stompbox recruits! When you’re involved in a long-term project like this one, you sometimes need a little new blood to push you to the finish line — and we are buzzing harder than a Burns Buzzaround over the addition of two new recruits to the Stompbox cause. One is Whitney Petty, guitarist extraordinaire…

Editor’s Note | December 2019

Greetings, Stompbox fans! The holiday season always conjures up nostalgic feelings and memories, which may be why I suddenly decided to dig my White Sands Orange Sunshine pedal out of storage on a day when I should have been unpacking our Christmas decorations.  Purchased in December 1993 as a Christmas present to myself, the Orange…

Editor’s Note | October 2019

Greetings, Stompbox fans!   October is here, which means it’s time to carve up a pumpkin or two, pull those Halloween decorations out of storage, and — of course — cue up some dark and stormy sounds. Black Sabbath’s self-titled first album always sounds amazing, but it sounds even better at this time of year,…

Editor’s Note | September 2019

Greetings, Stompbox fans! I’ve been pulling out my Funkadelic LPs these past few days, in honor of the passing of artist Pedro Bell. Bell (or “Sir Lleb,” as he was known among the Funkateers) was perhaps the great unsung hero of P-Funk; he never played a note on any of their records, but his retina-searing…

Editor’s Note | August 2019

Greetings, Stompbox fans! Here we are at the beginning of August, and here I am with two songs constantly vying for the top spot in my brain: War’s “Summer,” because this is indeed “my time of year,” and David Bowie’s “Changes,” because change is definitely in the air. The biggest change, at least pertaining to…

Editor’s Note | April 2019

You know you’re having a good week when you have deep discussions with Soundgarden’s Kim Thayil, Steel Panther’s Satchel, Blur’s Graham Coxon,  and the inimitable Jack White all within a couple of days, but that’s exactly what went down in my end of Stompbox Book world in the last week of March. What’s more, our…

Editor’s Note | March 2019

“Yeah, some call me the Fuzz Lord,” laughingly shrugs Rival Sons guitarist Scott Holiday during our rollicking hour-plus interview last week. The California-bred band, who’ve become superstars in Europe and now find themselves hitting the charts in the US with their new Atlantic album Feral Roots, certainly do deliver everything you’d expect from high priests…

Editor’s Note | February 2019

If one needed any further indication of how fast the stompbox industry has grown, one need look no further than this year’s NAMM Show in Anaheim, California in late January. NAMM, for the uninitiated, stands for “National Association of Music Merchants,” or, in laymen’s terms, virtually everyone who manufactures, distributes, markets, sells or deals in…

Welcome Cynthia Schemmer & Anna Blumenthal to the Stompbox team!

We’re delighted to announce that we’ve brought two exceptional new writers into the Stompbox family: meet Philly native Cynthia Schemmer and longtime New Yorker Anna Blumenthal. In addition to her gig as the Managing Editor of ground-breaking magazine She Shreds, Cynthia has been published in the Philadelphia City Paper, Broken Pencil, Mask Magazine, and more;…

Editor’s Note | January 2019

A New Year heralds all kinds of things: for some it’s a workout commitment, for others a vow to write the Great American Novel, for others, a pledge to do more to help others and make the world a better place. Here at the Stompbox Book HQ we pretty much just want to continue writing…

Leading Ladies

We’re thrilled to announce the addition of two more badass women lined up and confirmed – Whitney Petty and Kaki King! There’s no secret the pedal world has been a  boys club, but we’re recognizing and highlighting the women who are challenging that by breaking stereotypes, an inspirational feat. Stay tuned for our upcoming blog…

Editor’s Note | December 2018

Um, someone pinch me, please—I just finished interviewing perhaps the first electric guitar player who ever captured my imagination, inspired me to play, and changed my life. Mr. Peter Frampton, whose legendary use of the Heil Talk Box, made famous on his classic live blockbuster Frampton Comes Alive, will be featured in Stompbox: A Visual…

Editor’s Note | November 2018

It’s now been a couple of months since I answered the call from our fearless leader Eilon Paz to take on the gig as Editorial Director of Stompbox: A Visual History of the Guitar Pedal, and while it’s been an immense amount of work to get this ambitious project off the ground, I’m happy to…

Legacies and Luminaries

Stoked to announce we’re adding Mike Molenda’s experience and expertise to our ever expanding talented team of writers. Mike was the voice of Guitar Player, serving as editor-in-chief for 21 years (1997-2018). You can see the full range of all the cool and interesting things he’s been a part of on his website. Also check out his…

We Got Psychocandy

Dan interviews William Reid of Scottish rock band The Jesus and Mary Chain. Reid is an awesome contribution to our confirmed artists – the band was always drenched in feedback and it will be cool to hear Epstein and Reid talk effects. Last year, The Jesus and Mary Chain came out with their first album Damage…

New Buzz

Two great new things we’re buzzing about! We have a kickass new writer on board, welcome Dan Epstein! Catch his writing about music, baseball, and other witty cultural pieces in Rolling Stone among many other outlets. He wrote this cool book about baseball called Big Hair and Plastic Grass, and an insightful piece about Springsteen’s…

Friends of Friends of Friends

Barry Cleveland pulls through with another recruit…Nick Reinhart of Tera Melos! He has worked with many amazing musicians notably through the Big Walnuts Yonder supergroup. The story of how they got together in Dublin is a nice intro to their project. Check out some of Reinhart’s #pedaltalk on this great Earthquaker Devices piece with nice…

Bill in the House

It’s not every day you have a great musician come to your home and grace your presence. Bill Frisell offered to come to my place to shoot his pedal which was a really cool gesture. Not the norm but it made for a great day of hanging with Bill and talking to him about the…

Uber Excited for John Scofield

Not alluding to the car service, but the great album überjam by the John Scofield Band… Scofield is in! Michael Ross is set to interview him. John Scofield is a personal favorite for me. Growing up in Israel I discovered his music as a teenager spending significant time playing his albums. It’s a great honor…

The Stompbox Family Grows

Our all-star team of writers and editors is growing by the day and coming together. We’ve had many people with us since the beginning and it’s always exciting to welcome fresh faces and talent to our roster of contributing writers. We also focus on getting a good balance between US-based and UK-based writers. Working with…

Meet our intern

Mira Kaplan, a recent graduate living in Boston found Dust & Grooves serendipitously by researching her favorite music supervisor Zach Cowie who we interviewed with DG. She reached out to me and we got to talking. She is involved with the americana scene in the Boston area and works at folk institution Club Passim where…

The Roto. We have an Editorial Director!

Let’s introduce you to Roto. A powerhouse that does it all. Both guitarist and author, Roto currently plays with 70’s legends Humble Pie and has been a touring member of Air, Mr. Bungle, and The Grassy Knoll. He is no rookie in the writing field, as he worked for both Guitar Player and Guitar World…

Bill Frisell and Sarah Lipstate are in!

Two more artists are added to the incredible roster. Bill Frisell. A humble living legend, a leading figure in jazz guitar playing and has collaborated with endless amazing artists like fellow Stompbox participator Vernon Reid. Their collaboration is awesome, the two came out with an album Smash and Scatteration back in ‘86. Sarah Lipstate is…

We Got Jack

Another great day for us! Jack White Confirms! I don’t believe he needs an introduction, so here’s a fun fact: Aside from The White Stripes, his huge success with his solo albums and with his band The Dead Weather, White is a music preservation buff. He has contributed to and is a board member of the Library of…

Bring in the flame, Professor Drozd!

Steven Drozd of The Flaming Lips is in! He’ll be interviewed by our man Barry Cleveland. Drozd was actually a drummer in The Flaming Lips before guitarist. His other projects are with bands Electric Würms and STEVENSTEVEN. Drozd started “A Real Life School of Rock” at the University of Central Oklahoma’s Academy of Contemporary Music,…

Book dummy is here!

The book dummy is ready! Our printers iOcolor in Seattle who also printed the Dust & Grooves book are with us again. As you can tell, it’s been great to keep working with the awesome DG collaborators. We’ve got a great team going in Seattle, Brazil, NYC…the love is widespread. It’s important to experience the…

RIP Allan Holdsworth

We’re so sad to hear about the loss of legend Allan Holdsworth. Holdsworth was a genius guitar player and composer. A prodigy. He was known for his great work in jazz fusion leaving his mastery of improvisation behind as his legacy. Story has it that he originally wanted to play the saxophone, but couldn’t afford…

Sonic Dinosaur | A Dynamic Duo

YES! We’ve got J Mascis on board!! J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. is known for his raucous guitar playing and intense sound. We don’t always see his acoustic softer side but in Mascis’ Tiny Desk Concert on NPR music, he has an acoustic guitar in hand and a smile on his face. We ask Lee…

Vintage Feel, Modern Touch

A few page layouts and samples just arrived today. As the creative director of this book, I try to give our design team as much freedom as possible. I communicate a simple idea and let them do their thing. At this point, we choose different grids for the book layout and a font family that…

Adding some Colour

Vernon Reid is in! Reid is the Leading power of Living Colour and also has a few solo albums out there like Mistaken Identity, released in ‘96. Although Living Colour’s heydays were in the late 80s/early 90s, they reunited in 2000 and have remained relevant. Here’s a great clip of a Reid solo with a…

What’s up LA??

We head to LA to photograph and interview John Frusciante, Tom Morello, Dean DeLeo, Allan Holdsworth and G.E. Stinson. Dean Deleo is the first, he is super cool and easygoing. We won’t give away too much yet…stay tuned for our future “behind the scenes” post coming soon. I will say that all photoshoots went flawlessly.…

Sonic Youth City

Shiran and I spend half a day with Lee at the Sonic Youth studio. We don’t venture far but we do cross the river to get to Jersey City where the studio is. We get to see Lee & Thurston’s pedal room and are blown away, impressive! More to come on the blog…  SaveSave

Triple Treat

We got three more rock stars on board today… John Frusciante, Tom Morello, and Dean Deleo! Hell yeah!!! ???? John Frusciante was the guitarist for Red Hot Chilli Peppers from 1988-1992 and again from 1998-2009, recording five studio albums with the band. Frusciante has also been an active solo artist with 11 solo albums and…

Brand identity samples

The beginning of the design process is always fun. I love my team’s creativity and it’s cool to see an idea come to life through strong images, text, and graphics. Take a look at some samples of what the beginnings of our brand identity will look like. So many good options there, really hard to…

First Steps…Lee Ranaldo

Lee Ranaldo is best known for being the co-founder of Sonic Youth. Aside from the Sonic Youth main project and after the band dissipated in 2011, he actively records, performs, and collaborates with other artists. His main side projects are these awesome multimedia installations like “Drift,” an installation piece with improvised music, in collaboration with…

A Visual Book About Guitar Pedals??

Hi, I’m Eilon Paz, I made that cool book about record collectors. I’m also a motorcyclist, photographer, and director of another project coming your way, a book about stompboxes. Stompboxes, or guitar pedals, come in many shapes, forms, and colors, with hilarious names like Granny Puker, Fuzz Munchkin, Bag of Dicks, Erogenous Moan and the…


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