UK 30 Shows in 30 Days: Days 17,18 – Geeking Out

From NME.com.

When we started this band, we tried not to get too excited about guitar effects and gadgetry lest we became one of those groups with huge, unwieldy pedal boards. We bought Velcro, electrical tape, power strips, and slabs of wood from our local hardware stores and constructed our own, homemade boards, a couple of pedals for each member—just enough to get by. Eventually, they began to fall apart, so we broke down and bought proper ones a few months ago.

For the most part, we’ve stuck to the same, basic philosophy of staying slim, though we’ve made additions and grown particularly proud of Anna’s viola rig, which now includes a POG, or a Polyphonic Octave Generator. It basically lets her sound like she’s playing eight violas at once.

In this installment of our blog, we talk about guitar and viola effects for those who might not know much about them. They’re fun to use. We’ll probably acquire more and end up with huge, unwieldy pedal boards.

Days 17 and 18 were our Oxford and London gigs, respectively. Oxford was charming and cute; we had dinner in a converted church called Freud.

The following night was the third week of our Dublin Castle residency. We shared the bill with an impressive band from Brooklyn called Chairlift, and the place was sold out, amazingly. This one was more unhinged than the last. We’re happy to report that we’ve begun to feel very much at home at the Castle.