Archive for February, 2010

Block Party on Insomnia Radio’s Daily Dose

Posted in General with tags , , , , on February 26, 2010 by Matt

Our song “Block Party” is featured today on Insomnia Radio’s Daily Dose. IR plays a lot of great songs. Other than our own tune (obviously) I recommend yesterday’s Daily Dose “Whaley” by a band called Sentinel. Dreamy stuff!

–Visit Insomnia Radio–

Here’s what Ivan (aka Gator), who wrote the lyrics to “Block Party,” says about the tune:

“Block Party was written in response to some of Serpent’s (aka Bob Geisert) great work – I think it may have been Just a Girl. I decided I wanted to write a sweeter song than the ones I normally do, and, well–the suicidal absinthe mystic won out again. It’s a depressing little number about a terrible fear and the horrible, crippling guilt survivors often feel. You know, a real party song. I remain amazed that the other Lizards picked up on it and felt as strongly about it as me, but I’m glad they did. I think it’s some of our best work yet.”

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Now I know why I had lost that Ibanez MS10

Posted in General with tags , on February 22, 2010 by Matt

Received my vintage mid 80s MS10 from UPS today and just plugged it in, dreaming of those old days and 80s hard rock distortion. The first thing it did was short out… and then the reality of the old days came flooding back. Somehow I had only remembered good things about the Metal Charger and not the bad things: the distortion is very cheesy “80s” and the thing always shorts out. In fact, I can distinctly remember it shorting out during my guitar solo for “Funk This College Life” at the Gallery in Normal, IL, causing Chopper Newt to howl with dismay at me. Surprised he didn’t axe me with his Strat (which never had any effects between it and the amp). I probably got rid of the pedal in 1993 or 94, quite possibly I threw it in the garbage. Strange that I forgot entirely. I’m glad I only spent $25 on ebay to get another one.

Being a little smarter now, I took the pedal over to my work table, unscrewed the screws on the back plate and opened it up. No wonder the damn things shorts out: for some reason Ibanez mounted the jacks right on the circuit board, and they seem to be cheap plastic, too. They also used extremely short wires, so you can’t flip the board over and resolder anything with much ease–when I tried to flip over the PCB I thought I’d pull the wires loose. The difference in workmanship between the MS10 and my old TS9 is remarkable. The TS9 is heavy duty and easy to work on, the MS10 is cheap. It’s just so 1986.

Well, I put it back together, hooked it up, jiggled the output jack and rocked away to that cheap 80s sound… until it shorted out again. Anybody want to buy an MS10? I have one for sale for $40.

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Lizards From Afar Classic Tone Returns?

Posted in General with tags on February 17, 2010 by Matt

What was a defining feature of classic 1992 Lizards From Afar sound? My 1986 Ibanez ms10 “Metal Charger.” Didn’t matter what kind of crappy solid state amplifier I put behind it, this little pedal drove it into British metal mayhem.

I’d been using this thing since 1986–purchased in Crystal Lake for about $30–and it stayed on most of the time during every LFA gig or “rehearsal.” I didn’t always have it on high gain, either. Despite its reputation as a “heavy metal” effect, the strength of the ms10, in my opinion, was the warm tube-like distortion it provided.

Somewhere in the intervening years after 1993 when the Lizards broke up, I lost my ms10. I have no idea what happened to it. It might have been in the back of my old amp when I gave the amp away (yeah, I just gave away my old 30 watt Washburn–I always hated that amp), but I’m not sure. It was just gone. Now, thanks to ebay I just won a new ms10–and with shipping I only paid $5 more than in 1986. These things normally go for $80-$100 on ebay, but I finally got lucky.

So, now my pedal board is back to its original Lizards From Afar set up. I think this calls for a new song… just as soon as the pedal gets here…

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