Alexander Pedals' Matthew Farrow is the subject of this week's edition of the Hi-Fives. Read on to get his take on our series of random top 5 questions.
Top 5 things about running your own company
Bad things:
1. Working all the time
2. Dealing with taxes / payroll / suppliers
Good things:
3. Building pedals for a living
4. Taking the guys out for tacos every Tuesday
5. Meeting cool customers / artists
Top 5 people named Matthew
1. Matthew the Apostle
2. Matthew Bellamy (Muse)
3. Matthew Broderick (Bueller? Bueller?)
4. Matthew Perry (Could he BE any funnier?)
5. Matthew Frewer (Max Headroom!)
Top 5 favorite circuits of all time
1. Don Bonham's frequency vibrato (Magnatone amps)
2. Apple Disk II Controller card (a miracle of economy)
3. Heathkit TA-28 fuzz (built one with my dad as a kid)
4. Alesis MIDIVerb (Keith Barr RIP.)
5. Pearl PH44 Phaser (OTA phaser using discrete components, very clever and sounds great.)
Top 5 dream g̶u̶i̶t̶a̶r̶s̶ basses.
1. '58-60 Fender Precision Bass (gotta have that maple board!)
2. '76-77 Music Man Stingray
3. '64 Rickenbacker 4001S
4. '64 Gibson Thunderbird IV
5. '80s Steinberger Q4DB
Top 5 foods to avoid
1. Hard boiled eggs.
2. Cooked spinach (raw is great.)
3. Warm desserts.
4. Black olives.
5. Boiled peanuts.
Top 5 bands we’ve never heard of (but should)
If I tell you, then you'll know about them and I won't have any secrets any more. Honestly I am out of touch so how about I just tell you what I've been listening to lately?
1. Cymbals Eat Guitars are great. Brian from smallsound/bigsound plays keys.
2. The Both. Aimee Mann teams up with Ted Leo. Literacy ensues.
3. Steven Wilson. Both "The Raven Who Refused To Sing" and "Hand Cannot Erase" have been on the playlist for weeks.
4. Queensrÿche, specifically "Operation: Mindcrime" although "Rage For Order" is pretty amazing as well.
5. TRON: Legacy soundtrack by Daft Punk is spectacular. We play it at the shop as chill out music some days.
Top 5 g̶u̶i̶t̶a̶r̶ bass tones on record
1. "Dancing In The Moonlight" by Thin Lizzy / Phil Lynott. Great tune, great vocals, and the phaser on the bass got me into the swirly stuff. It's all pick playing on a P-Bass, really thumpy in a good way.
2. "Red" by King Crimson / John Wetton. My favorite crunchy bass tone, Robert Fripp referred to the Wetton / Bruford rhythm section as a "flying brick wall."
3. "Fascination Street" by The Cure / Simon Gallup. Wow. Super amazing bass line that drives the whole song.
4. "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division / Peter Hook. I don't play much like Peter but I'd sure like to. Bass in a melodic context here but still very much a part of the rhythm section.
5. ...And just about anything Tony Levin plays on a Peter Gabriel record. So many to choose and all so different. Probably the fuzz bass breakdown in "On The Air," from Peter's second solo album. The part starts around 3:32.
Top 5 websites to visit
My browser is telling me that it's the bank, PayPal, and the Alexander site, haha. But in terms of sites I really like to visit?
1. The Gear Page
2. I Love Fuzz
3. Talkbass
4. Geofex (I'm still learning from RG Keen!)
5. Youtube
Top 5 riffs for pedal testing
1. Chromatic scales
2. Ten Years Gone by Led Zeppelin
3. Watching the Detectives by Elvis Costello
4. Black by Pearl Jam
5. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by the Beatles
Top 5 things that confuse you
1. Is this love, baby, or is it a, just confusion?
2. Ball of confusion. Oh yeah, that's what the world is today.
3. You cause me confusion, you told me you cared
4. Been dazed and confused, for so long it's not true.
5. Lost in the wheels of confusion. Running through furnace of tears
