Interview: The Beths
Having met and worked for New Zealand indie poppers (and personal ABL favourites) The Beths I JUMPED at the chance to interview Jon from the band about his journey as a guitar player and how the band have evolved over the last few years.
You’ve had a very busy couple of years, toured loads and received multiple awards in the process, and with shows like Coachella just being announced, it doesn’t seem like you’re going to stop any time soon. Do you have any particular highlights so far?
Last year we toured with Death Cab For Cutie and The Postal Service, and we were there when they played a packed arena in their hometown of Seattle, on the day of the 20th anniversary of Transatlanticism's release. That was a special moment to be a part of. Our show at Brooklyn Steel, in a huge room with a bunch of our friends in the audience, people who happened to be travelling, or playing for displaced New Zealand friends living abroad generally, that's always special. Just coming off stage some nights and feeling like you nailed it, that's the highlight that you keep doing it for.
Yes that’s some pedals I’ve built on stage at The Hollywood Bowl(!) - photo credit: The Beths Instagram
So… guitar pedals, what are your favourite types and do you remember what your first one was?
My first pedal was a DOD Overdrive 250. First pedals are pretty special, when you only have one you learn everything that pedal can do. I tried to modify my DOD and changed the diodes to LEDs...etc to see what sounds it could make... and then I went one step too far and could never get it working again. I still have the box, I should put some other pedal circuit in there and bring it back. The first really tricky pedal I got was a Timefactor, and that was another pedal I learned inside and out. I learned all its tricks, how to make the Tape mode into a lofi distortion, how to make flangers and filter sweeps out of the mod echo, and use the digital echo to make a stereo send with echo on one side and chorus on the other... etc etc etc. I have an H90 now, I need those algorithms. They still sound great, and I know them so well. I know the difference between 23% wet and 26% wet on the 'Vintage' style (barely audible 'space' in a PA vs palpable 'echo' effect through most PAs).
How do pedals help you with how you go about playing and making music?
They're just part of the instrument, right? It's part of making a sound with my instrument, they're just something that I'm always thinking about, always trying to 'play'. And I keep it pretty traditional too, there are people out there who are way more 'pedal virtuosos' than me, but still, I feel like I'm really playing the pedals with the guitar. I layer up my drives, so I'm always building a little more gain staging, or backing off, and using that colour. And I never really use pedal verbs, because it sounds a bit too fake to me, so I'm using different delays to sink my part more into the mix, or bring them out with a dryer sound. Hiding the delays behind the band using tempo-synced delays, or using freaky ones to jump the effect up to the front. I use two amps now with stereo fx too, which gives our FOH engineer a lot of options.
What gear are you loving just now? What’s on your pedalboard?
I think the Wampler Pantheon is my fav pedal, it's on the board. It's a KOT clone, but with a way more flexible treble/bass tone control than the KOT has, and a few other clipping modes for variety. It rips. I put an EP booster in front of that, and I can turn the knob on that with my foot while playing, so I can set a boost level to push the Wampler into a different place and stomp that on or off.
Do you find yourselves approaching your guitar sound differently when you’re recording vs when playing live?
A little, and I think I'm probably making a mistake in doing so. I have quite a bit of recording experience, so I'm probably not doing myself too much of a disservice, but I have lately been thinking I should really stick to my live rig in the studio, and not mess with other gear, just use the stuff I know so well, and try to get more out of it too. In the studio I usually try to sculpt the sounds a bit more, maybe use some combinations of gear that would be impractical to do live. That's probably the best excuse I can think of for changing what you do in the studio, like to get the “Silence Is Golden” guitar sounds we had to find the perfect combination of gain stages to get power and fuzz with as much note definition as we could. I guess that's a lot of fussing around and you wouldn't have a whole pedal chain just for one song live, so you find something that works and try to play it really cleanly.
What records inspired you as musicians and what records are you listening to at the moment?
I think the required listening when we started the Beths was Alvvays' first record, and More Adventurous by Rilo Kiley. We listened to Weezer too, and some classic NZ indie bands, The Brunettes, The Reduction Agents, and The Swingers. Cloud Nothings were on an early playlist. We're always looking for something freaky and inspiring, but new favourites are rare. I really like Wednesday and MJ Lenderman at the moment. Sidney Gish is always inspiring.
Finally, if I’m allowed to ask, what's on the cards for The Beths in 2024?
Well writing another record. Liz has a lot of words, but not a lot of music yet, so it's an exciting stage and could go in any direction. We have shows with Alvvays in the USA later in the year, and I guess we'll be in the studio after that. A lot to look forward too!
