#84 LEON TODD | YOUTUBE | RAGDOLL - Chats With Guitar Cats

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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[Music]

(00:30):
oh

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[Music]
[Music]

(01:16):
hello people good afternoon it's usually
a good morning from me and I got my
morning coffee but I've had several
morning coffees and I've got my ragd
doll shirt on because I've got one to
um to pay respect to my guest Mr Leon TI
hey
Leon thanks for having me mate it's a

(01:37):
pleasure to be on as was saying before
it's about time we actually uh got to
have a bit of a chat um I know we've
seen each other's work for a little
while um how's things in
Perth it thankfully over the last two
days has been cooler we had this very
very intense Heat Wave uh which has

(01:58):
coincided with me uh having to basically
play in a giant Tin Shed over the last
month playing a show so yeah it's been
sticky it's been a pretty brutal summer
so far but man the last couple of days
have just you know reminded me that yeah
we don't actually live on the surface of
the Sun all the time here you can can go
outside and get some get some fresh air

(02:20):
and things so that's been a nice relief
cool hey what's what's the show you
playing I've seen you been doing
something yeah so the show is called
Club Cabaret uh it's Bernie de's Club
Cabaret which is so it's like a circus
Cabaret I don't know it's like a I'd
describe it as if I mean if you're
familiar with Circ cir toay that kind of

(02:40):
thing it's a live band it's circus
performers and you know Freaks and
Weirdos and all that kind of thing
happening live so it's like a 2hour
2hour show and yeah it's it's so fun for
me I get to stretch like all the
different musical muscles that i' you
know wouldn't normally do in a typical

(03:02):
rock band setting there's stuff that
we're playing which is you know caked in
like tremolo and spring reverb and very
sort of sultry almost Jazz stuff and
then fullon you know playing as fast as
I can while people are swallowing swords
and setting things on fire so yeah it's
a great awesome it's a great show it it
really is yeah I've been doing it for

(03:23):
about the past year so I've
done element of
it's what I enjoy and I know a lot of
people who I know who have come and seen
the show so they really appreciate where
you know there's a lot of audience
interactions so
the like get up and play the songs that

(03:45):
you're also watching the show and trying
to react to what's happening and you
know uh I I definitely have a new found
appreciation for all the weird
cartoonish noises you can get an
electric guitar to make because I've had
to use a lot of them recently cool cool
cool and were you doing that over in
Sydney recently is that the same show
that I saw you doing yeah so I kind of

(04:06):
jumped on board with them they they'd
been looking for a guitar player for a
while they had a few guys the last time
they so it's Fringe at the moment Fringe
Festival in Perth uh which is normally I
think five or six weeks at during summer
every year yeah so they had a couple of
local guys sort of filling in for them
last year and I jumped on for the last
few shows then I went and did ockland

(04:27):
Arts Festival with them in March last
year that was for three weeks and then
did nine weeks with them in Sydney at
the uh Entertainment Quarter there in
Sydney which was pretty fullon then I
went and did six shows with them in in
Europe as well at a really big Music
Festival so yeah it's been that's
awesome been an induction into that

(04:48):
whole world which is a an interesting
like parallel Branch to the sort of
Music Industry I'm sure we're very
familiar with where you know you're not
only
just expected to sort of show up and
play and do your job but there's the you
know the theatricality of it and there's
also seeing all the behind the scenes

(05:08):
stuff that goes into you know what these
like amazing performers do it's I was
saying to somebody how it's you know it
it makes It's Made Me re-evaluate I'm
not a huge word of that word like Talent
you know in some like oh they're very
talented you know a lot of the time it's
used especially like in in Australia
right is like offhand for like well you

(05:30):
just you got lucky and figured out you
were good at something and you just you
just it's like no it's you
know someone can find that they're
really good at say I don't know like
hand balancing and then figure out all
the different ways you can do that it's
sort of like you know if you figure out
you like rock guitar yeah you know and
you're explaining that to someone or

(05:50):
you're explaining the very specific type
of rock guitar you like and they just
sort of go like how would you okay so
it's it's really fun as someone you know
like probably all of us listening at the
moment where you like really really
borrow into the good stuff and the the
weird niches with music and
guitar but realizing that exists for
like everything out there you know and

(06:11):
that um getting getting able to sit back
and watch like yeah really great
performers every night do their thing
and kind of pick up little tricks of you
know how they how they work a crowd or
how they prepare or how they you know
how how they're able
to pack stuff into a small space it's
like I have a couple of pedals and a

(06:33):
guitar and I stress about it but you
know there's people traveling with you
know
multiple aerial apparatuses and things
like that you're like you fit all this
into like a standard suitcase
and your
secrets that respect as well yeah hey
Leon I'm just gonna give you that the
heads up with I am getting the odd
little glitch um with the internet

(06:55):
connection that's the uh the joy of
doing things live and hanging PT that
the internet's working today so um if
you hear me sort of start talking over
you and say oh we've lost him i' just
giv you the heads up it's been pretty
good there's just been a couple times
it's it's glitched there so um if I do
say to you oh miss that last 10 seconds
or something um mate I usually start

(07:16):
these off by finding out a little bit
about how people got started in this
crazy world of guitar so what sparked
the uh the fire for music for you mate
and I've lost you I've just got a
smiling Leon hopefully he comes
back well there you go right on Q right
on Q I can hear you again I'll try

(07:38):
changing camera at least it stopped on a
smile for you there you're
back we're good oh he's
gone I'll just keep talking
because he just phoned back
in and he's back right right on Q it AB

(08:01):
it was right on Q man that was classic
so yeah I'm going to cross all my
fingers and toes that that doesn't
happen again um yeah let's let's just
I'm glad I gave you the heads up when I
did then just in case that happened but
if that happens man just just log back
in and we'll be good great so in case
you missed it the first time what
sparked the fire for music for you bro
so I I mean my dad plays guitar so I

(08:23):
kind of grew up in a family where that
was just something that was around all
the time
the natural reaction being like a
pre-teen Aussie kid is that well music
why would you want to do that when you
can play sport or you can play you know
you can go skateboarding or play video
games um for you know I was born in 1988

(08:45):
so I like really caught the crest of
that wave with like the first amazing
gaming consoles so yeah I think that was
probably hard to process for my parents
where it's like spending so much time
dedicated to something that has you know
no real world
application uh and then kind of yeah

(09:08):
maybe when I was about 13 or 14 I you
know I was really into skateboarding
because I used to play like the Tony
Hawks Pro Skater games right like so
many people my age you know it was a it
was a it was a way to you know get out
and hang out with your mates and not
have to do like an organized sport or
something like that and through that I
got into a lot of music

(09:29):
you know what buying the VHS video
magazines that would come out and um
yeah just kind of really being into all
the stuff that was on there which of
course was a lot of like punk rock a lot
of rock uh a lot of one thing about a
lot of those skate videos you might hear
like I mean for example I remember I had
one video where one of the songs was
Aussie Osborne I don't know but the live

(09:51):
version you know where he comes out and
just hearing that and being like w What
on earth like not playing not really
being into guitar but just knowing it
was great guitar playing um or hearing
Iron Maiden or hearing uh you know like
there was a bunch of like early like
hearing dead kennedies or the Ramones or
something like that just being like I

(10:12):
didn't know you were allowed to sing
songs like this about just really stupid
stuff yeah so yeah I I feel like that
was kind of the backo way into music for
me and then I had a friend who played a
little bit of guitar and you know we'd
sort of muck around with it I remember
getting that like hang on this is kind
of cool you know I should I should like
spend some more time on this and um my

(10:34):
my younger sister was who's two years
younger than me was like doing you know
a guitar Ensemble or something remember
she had some like sheet music for
stairway to heaven and I was like hey is
this am I doing this right like you know
you put your finger on the Fret and the
number and she was like yeah and so I
kind of like stole her guitar um and

(10:54):
then I think pretty quickly like my my
parents figured figured out that I was
sort of into it so I have a lot of fun
memories my dad kind of like being like
oh you like that listen to you know you
like Iron Maiden Listen to Black Sabbath
you're like Black Sabbath Listen to Deep
Purple so I got and this is we're
talking like 2001 2002 so you know a CD

(11:18):
in Australia was like minimum $30 so if
you're a 13 or 14 year old kid you're
not buying heaps of those every week and
like the whole illegal downloading thing
was happening but you know my family had
only just got a computer and we had dial
up internet so it took you like two days
to download a song yeah so having a dad
with like an awesome CD collection was
like a massive massive Advantage where

(11:41):
it's like I could just hear all this
stuff that I had awesome guitar playing
that I didn't realize not all of my
friends had access
to cool so um what was your first guitar
you
got so the first distinct one I remember
having
it was a Hondo copy of an earne laser so

(12:04):
it's like a headless travel guitar
really and yeah and if anyone's familiar
there's a Johnny Winter album where he's
playing an ear wine laser uh yeah it
looks kind of like a
Steinberger and I distinctly remember
having a mate come over and him being
like Oh you play guitar show or
something and pulling this thing out and
him just being like that's the ugliest

(12:25):
thing I've ever seen like that's not a
guitar and me being like no look it's
got this got a coil tap and um I've
still probably still at my parents place
like I have to pull it out and do a
video with it but yeah it was sort of um
so obviously Dan Irwin who a lot of
people probably know is like the guitar
repair Guru um I think it was one of his
designs and yeah it's I mean you look at

(12:46):
it and just say yeah it looks like a
like a weird Steinberger but it had a
cool thing where you could sit it on
your lap and the guitar would be at like
a good angle you know for playing so
yeah that was that's what I learned to
play guitar on I had that and a zoom 707
the one with the expression pedal and a
set of headphones and that was you know
you just go through like the presets and

(13:07):
there'd be something that said like Van
Halen and you'd be like what's what's a
Van Halen you it's got like a flanger
and Distortion you're like this is cool
and I remember not long after that my my
uncle who's a bass player coming over
and like babysitting us I was probably
like 13 or 14 and you know just like
hanging out and he was always the cool
you know cool Uncle who you know he

(13:27):
played in bands a lot longer than my dad
did did and I mean my dad's cool but my
dad's my dad as well you never think
that as a as a teenager and I really
distinctly remember him being like oh
you got a guitar cool like what are you
playing through show me like some of the
Sounds in this zoom and getting to Van
Halen and him playing Unchained cool and
just being like Uncle Tony what was that

(13:50):
and he goes oh one second I'll go to my
car and he had fair warning on CD goes
yeah listen to this like you got to
you've never heard Van Halen before and
yeah that was that was like you
know amazing and then also you know just
having stuff that could make one you
could get a really well at the time the

(14:12):
idea that you could have like a really
cool clean sound and a really cool
distorted sound but then like you know
all the zoom effects always had weird
like stepped phases and like sequences
style stuff there's something in there
where I was like oh this sounds like you
know and Aussies will totally get this
it's like this sounds like Savage Garden
like that's cool
you um like that so it was it was cool

(14:34):
having you know the ability to get you
know what I thought sounded like classic
rock recordings but then also like all
the kind of modern style effects out of
it so yeah that was sort of the rig for
a while and I mean those crazy effects
probably the reason I stuck with guitar
because you didn't have to play well you
could just hit a note and it
do everything you wanted it to cool and

(14:57):
did you start getting some lessons
eventually or did did you just keep
teaching
yourself did you hear that have you got
have I lost
you you still there
mate I think I've lost

(15:18):
you no we got a frozen we got a frozen
oh hey he's back he's back so I'm not
sure if you heard me can you hear me now
Leon no he's going to call back in this
is what happens when we do it
live
and boom he's back sorry

(15:41):
mate good how much of that did you
actually get before um I asked you a
question and then it froze but it froze
with you just looking at the camera and
I'm thinking hang on he's thinking he's
thinking really hard about this I think
asked you whether you started getting
lessons uh around that point or whether
you kept with the self- teing route and

(16:02):
it just looked like you were just
looking at me like hello can you hear me
what's a what's lesson no I was again
fortunate having a a dad who plays
guitar and he also taught guitar so what
I would do would just kind of like hang
around you
know while he he was at what he was
showing people and then like Scurry back
and do that a lot of it I

(16:25):
mean my recollection of it probably
isn't very accurate you you always look
back and you're like yeah I was super
self-motivated I did all this kind of
stuff um it was nice always having
someone you could ask a question like if
I had a magazine with some tab in it
that I didn't understand I be like what
does a symbol mean or like hey what do
they why do they keep saying like a
e135 like what are these things and you

(16:47):
know him sort of being like they're
intervals go and figure out what it
means um y so it's kind of cool having
having that and you know just having
having someone you could always bug
where it's just like hey want a jam like
can you show me that song that you
always play and yeah I I
know I know for me like just having
those resources he also had like every

(17:08):
Guitar Player magazine going back to
like 1981 in like mint conditions so
when I discovered that and you know i'
like I've read all of them like I'd sit
there and just go through them in every
interview and you read about you know
you'd be reading some article it's like
oh cool you know there's a thing with
inve mountain but like who's Al de Miola
I got to check this guy out now so yeah

(17:30):
sort of pre-
Internet almost like having a little
internet before the internet was super
fleshed out so yeah I got really lucky
in that regard um but I I do remember
like my little Zoom thing had a tuner on
it and I'd sit there I just one day I
was like oh I wonder what all the notes
are on the guitar you know like hitting
the open e and then the first fret and
then going like oh cool that's there's

(17:52):
only so many notes you know like little
moments I really cherish those moments
where you feel like you discovered
something yourself but also at the same
time yeah I was I was like super
privileged to have access to all those
resources and you know great guitars and
all the other stuff awesome um William D
Sila wants to know what the first song

(18:13):
you learned was
oh very very good question uh Pro
honestly probably like a one finger
version of the intro of sway to Heaven
um
or uh what's the song or that old surf
rock song pipeline was one of those two
sure you know just learning surf Tunes

(18:34):
was like you know such a such a thing I
feel like I still do it I still teach a
lot of my students like hey you're
starting out like go and grab a bunch of
like Ventures and you know stuff like
that from the 60s where it's all single
note guitar Melodies Shadows you can
play with shadows and surf guitar
absolutely yep yeah yep the starting
point exactly I always say Hank Marvin

(18:56):
is maybe the uh most over looked
influential guitar player where you
could sort of maybe argue that he's had
an even bigger impact
than like my hot take would be like he's
more important to the development of
electric guitar than Hendrix because
that entire generation like that British
Blues boom generation Jeff Beck Peter

(19:18):
Frampton Jimmy pige they all wanted to
play electric guitar because of Hank
like he was the OG cool guitar player
playing guitar Melodies with all these
like
crazy sounding effects he had the first
Strat in the UK you know it's like he's
such an
important person in that Evolution and
also you know you know it right you

(19:38):
speak to players of a certain generation
they're like Shadows you just learn
Shadow songs and if you progress past
that then you might learn some chords
and you might like get into your sort of
blues rock and things like that so yeah
it was probably anyway it was probably
yes bit of Jimmy Page or or pipeline
yeah right yeah it's funny um most of my
Guitar Hero's Guitar Hero was Hank

(20:01):
Marvin and yeah when I'm teaching kids
as well you know first few months you
know like you say some surf guitar Tunes
some Hank Marvin now Hank lives in Perth
and you're in he does have you crossed
paths with him have you met him uh not
not directly I've done some there was a
small Guitar Festival here where I was

(20:21):
doing a workshop at the same time he was
doing a workshop but the coolest story
is with it is that my dad made his son
Ben a guitar cool in the early 90s yeah
so through a mutual like a friend of my
dads who's good friends with Hank um
sort of introduced him to him and was
sort of like yeah you know like I'm you

(20:42):
know so he got to got to meet him he got
to play the Strat um and you know like
kind of measured the neck and a few
other things and uh yeah I think built
him a guitar or built him a neck and
there's there was that like guitar thing
in Barcelona in the early 90s with like
you know
everyone who was everyone like Brian May
and there's a there's a thing where you

(21:02):
see I think Ben's jamming with Hank or
something like that and yeah I don't
know the story that well I'd love to
meet him one day and see if he remembers
it but uh yeah he does a like a gypsy
jazz thing now in Perth awesome awesome
I've just started trying to um learn a
bit of D Jango style gypsy jazz myself
actually just with uh as I was telling
you off air I've been going to

(21:23):
University the last couple of years and
actually learning a little bit about
music and there's this assumption that
oh you've got some knowledge now you
must play jazz I don't give a [ __ ] about
jazz but that gypsy jazz [ __ ] with the
dude with the two fingers I'm all over
that show me that so I love

(21:44):
it you you hearing me bro no he's
dropped out again that's okay he will
drop he will come back
in and he's
back question at a time and I just keep
logging in my my apologies it's
definitely the the local internet here
so uh what was I saying Hank Marvin yeah

(22:05):
you will run into him around town um
yeah and he does a gypsy jazz of thing
now sure and I just had a little rant
about how with my new found Knowledge
from uni that um I've started getting
into a bit of gypsy jazz myself rather
than just the standard Jazz that
everybody tries to push you into yeah
hey um at what age were you good enough
to start in a band and start playing

(22:27):
gigs so so I probably I think I was I
did my first gig like gig gig in a pub I
think when I was maybe 19 okay um but I
had been teaching guitar since I was
about 15 so I feel like I progressed
pretty quickly on the guitar you know
from about being 13 14 and like cool

(22:49):
this is something that I want to do and
like a lot of things I tend to do get
very obsessive very quickly and there
was a couple of kids like younger kids
down the road who you know yeah I'd show
them some some surf rock songs or some
Shadows tunes and stuff and make a
little bit of money that way and then
when I was 16 I went to a new high
school that was that CED only to like

(23:09):
year 11 and year 12 it was sort of like
a New Concept that they were doing wa
where it was it was basically a
state-run school but it was an
independent school cool so they had they
had a really good music program they had
a really um uh the music teacher was
like she was in her early 20s super
talented super MO ated um they had a lot

(23:30):
of like we had like a computer and an
audio interface and like stuff like
reason and Cakewalk that we could record
on wow so our like basically our music
project for the whole year was to record
a song like write record produce a song
so that was that was super cool and
through that we we do like performances
in front of our
class and then yeah I really got the bug

(23:52):
big time because I think maybe at the
end of my first year there we did a big
performance for like all the parents and
all the students like an after school
Arts night thing and I just had so much
fun playing live I was like oh my God
this is like better than I could imagine
you know yeah um and yeah so I was
probably 15 or 16 I've got footage

(24:14):
somewhere I feel like I might have
shared a little bit of it on the YouTube
channel a while ago where I think when
I'm 17 you know playing one of these
School concerts because they filmed it
all you know soort like the media
student setup a multicam thing and it
was it was a really cool it was a really
cool environment to be in because sort
of like everyone who was if you were
doing anything Arts related you were

(24:34):
invested and involved in this uh like
School production and yeah watching it I
don't think I was quite you know I could
play some impressive stuff and I could
play guitar like I could play a few
things fast but there's definitely like
some some very basic musical things that
were not fully developed so yeah having

(24:57):
said that once started gigging all those
things kind of tend to take care of
themselves or you're just in an
environment where it's like hey yeah you
have to you have to start and stop at
the same time as everybody else and like
not speed up or slow down and real real
real basic stuff you know that you
realize you don't have a great handle on
until you have to do it consistently so

(25:19):
yeah I've pretty much been gigging
regularly since since then um which
makes it like 16 or 17 years this year
so yeah it's it's still seems like
yesterday did my first gig you know it
was so exciting and I showed up with
like a rack and all this all these
guitars and you know it was so
overblown um but yeah and I'd been at at

(25:40):
that stage I had met uh some friends
through
uni uh and we you know we Jam every
Sunday and they were like really like
really great guys to play with because
they were not only were they into all
the same music I liked they could
actually play it where I was like oh
maybe I'll get to the point I can play
it so uh yeah and I still I mean uh

(26:01):
people familiar with my channel in the
podcast I do Troy naab ban you know that
was him that I met and then ragd doll's
drummer cam um I met those guys in in
2005 2006 I think wow and yeah you know
we like just on Sundays hang out and jam
and I still remember the first Jam I had
with him were like Cam's got six rack
Toms on his drum kit and you know double

(26:22):
pedal and like all these symbols and it
was like oh my God you know I I actually
distinctly remember having a jam with
them being like man I'm not like I'm
actually not good enough to play with
these guys like I'm sure they won't ask
me to come back and I'm still still
mates with all of them now so um yeah
that was a that was a really cool
experience as well and then yeah
obviously going from jamming in a

(26:44):
bedroom to performing to performing your
own music uh it it it all felt like it
took a long time but looking back I
think it happened fairly quickly yeah so
you started doing the original thing
pretty early writing original
yeah yeah um and that was just something
for me as well you know I all the

(27:04):
artists that I like you know always
talked about how writing was the most
important thing and um yeah being able
once a week to go in with my mates and
like cool we're gonna like try and write
a new song and you know it' be like a
six note riff and a bunch of power
chords but yeah it's kind of fun but
that's how you find your own voice isn't

(27:25):
it like you can't play in a cover band
forever and just be a parrot
got to I mean you can plenty of people
do and I think my the thing the thing
for me is I've realized it's like yeah
some people um actually thrive in that
environment this it's it's weird how if
you've got that bug of like I want to I
want to make my own stuff and you really

(27:46):
invested in your art then that that
process can be really sapping and really
draining as I'm sure you probably
probably know you're like oh I'd love to
just go out and do a gig of my own stuff
um but I know lots of people who you
know being able to go out and play a set
of covers would be like the high
watermark in their musical career yeah

(28:06):
right um that's that's something that a
lot of people work towards so um I think
with time I've really come to appreciate
that where it's like okay cool
actually actually the important thing is
your attitude to what you're doing but
sometimes sometimes being in that
environment where yeah doing the covers
thing grinds you down a bit can be good

(28:29):
because it will push you to pursue you
you know it gives you that like all
right if I'm not ful enjoying this I
have to try the original music thing
otherwise I'm G to die wondering and not
be satisfied yeah y I think I was kind
of lucky I started playing um the guys I
started playing with in my first band
when I was like 14 were all really good

(28:49):
guys all happen to go to high school
together and um we started writing The
Originals pretty early but filling out
the mostly covers at first the odd
original and then until it got to the
point where it was mostly originals and
a little few little covers yeah that's
awesome yeah yeah um ragd doll how long
you said they've been together for quite

(29:10):
a while
huh yeah so like I said I met our
drummer cam around like 2005 2006 it
turns out we went to UNI together we
were both doing like science degrees yep
and uh you know there was only a handful
of be a different thing now cu the
mullet is back in Vogue but you know
when when at that time if you saw

(29:31):
another another guy your age with long
hair you were probably like you're
probably a muso like you know you're
like destined to meet uh so yeah
probably
around 2008 2009 we met um now singer
bass player Ryan and he was doing the
covers thing and at the time you know we
were like 20 21 and he's five years

(29:51):
older than me and uh you know kind of
had his life somewhat together you know
was married you know had a house you
know was about to have a kid we were
kind of
like yeah this isn't going to work
because you know like how are we going
to go on tour with like someone who's
you know like got to life you have to be
a deadbeat loser to be in a band um and

(30:15):
you know as these things kind of tend to
work themselves out anytime we'd go see
him play it would be like oh my God this
guy is so amazing like his voice is just
incredible and um at the time uh we were
a b basically we all got together in a
jam room and at the time we we had
another friend of ours playing bass

(30:35):
really really talented muso like
classical double Bas player great Rock
Bas player as well um and then Ryan was
playing with another guy in like an 80s
cover band so it's the five of us got
together um with um yeah our buddy Luke
who was sort of like the designated
singer front man and you know we were
all really into like de leopard and
scorpions and that so yeah idea was we

(30:58):
were going to do this really retro
throwback 0 original
music cool
uh I've just seen one of the um comments
here who can understand these accents I
didn't think of
that um and I thought he might drop out
again so in the meantime who can

(31:20):
understand these
accents who can understand these
accents yeah I think we're breaking the
internet with the oiness so um where was
I yeah so we were playing we were like
jamming and doing some stuff as a five
piece and eventually the bass player
moved on and so at this time Ryan our
singer was playing guitar and singing

(31:41):
some backing vocals you know he wasn't
that interested in being the main guy it
was just like we all had this thing of
like yeah we like five piece bands and
then our bass player left and Ryan was
kind of like cool I'll play bass you
know you can also he gigged a lot
playing bass um and then yeah for it was
sort of the I think like musically the
three of us just jelled really really

(32:04):
well and it was one of those things as
well where you know we'd do we'd go out
and do Regional gigs where we'd you know
do a little bit of our original music
but we'd mostly go and play a night of
covers you know um and that was a good
good way to earn some money for the band
so we could afford to go and record our
stuff and hopefully one day go on tour
um and yeah sort of anytime Ryan had
take over and sing a song everyone would

(32:25):
just be like oh my God man like this
guy's voice you know it's cool you know
it's amazing so yeah sort of after maybe
like 18 months of doing that uh yeah we
just decided you know let's let's just
make this a threepiece it's it's cheaper
and easier to do it with three guys and
um less personalities to deal with as
well yeah exactly you know it's sort of

(32:47):
and I I think there's there's they're
really seem to be said as well playing
in a rock band with a singer who also
plays an instrument especially
especially if they're playing bass cuz
they they're doing this Jewel thing
where yeah they're because they're
singing then they have to play stuff
that they can also play while they're
scene so it's going to make the sort of

(33:08):
bass Parts tighter but also because
they're having a lock with the drummer
it's going to make all the singing super
tight so yeah and Ryan's just one of
those guys where I think if you ask him
how he does what he does he probably
couldn't explain it to you he's just
always you know that was like a he's
always just played an in and sang as

(33:29):
well it's like the two just go hand in
hand so he's got a lifetime of
practicing that rather than like you
know a guitar player learning to sing
where you're like okay cool I have to
you know delegate these tasks and do
stuff like that so yeah the three I
think the first gig we did as a
threepiece was in 2011 yeah um and

(33:50):
we we recorded a basically a demo that
we like repackage and remix as a four
track EP and a friend of a friend passed
it on to someone who was booking like a
side stage Festival in in the states and
yeah at the start of 2012 we got like
invited to go and play this massive
music festival in Oklahoma called
Rocklahoma wow and uh yeah we that was

(34:13):
the the impetus to get our stuff
together I think we recorded another
five trck EP and uh went over there and
did a little bit of touring and got the
bug in a and sort of went back every
year for the next 5 years no nice nice
now I'm hoping you're still with me you
froze for a bit you are you are still
with me

(34:33):
so you've become very popular
internationally as a YouTuber have has
that um helped with the band
profile uh yeah absolutely it's it's a
nice thing you know I think I mean you
do YouTube I think being a YouTuber is
now a it's a job it's a like a career

(34:55):
pathway I speak to you know my friends
kids and they find out I have a YouTube
channel and they're all across it
they're like how many subscribers do you
have what's your like what's your
retention rate on like your video you
know it's like mate how do you I don't
know what this stuff is most of the time
you know it's like they're really
because I guess it's it's like TV was
for us you know absolutely just you know

(35:17):
this is where you see this is where you
learn about the world and culture and um
yeah I fell into it very incidentally
where you know I bought some some gear
some fractal audio gear to help make
touring easier and just from my own
curiosity I wanted to learn how it
worked and they've got a really good

(35:38):
Wiki Y and so and you know really
thorough manual so I'd like learn things
and sort of be like oh cool I'm just
going to like screen cap This and like
leave a quick little description so that
I can remember how to do it again yep um
and yeah my wife was kind of like oh you
should upload these surely people would
you know be into them I started
uploading them and you know they're like

(35:59):
terrible like the guitars a million decb
and the voice is barely audible but
people watch them that was a thing that
I was like oh this is strange maybe I
should actually like try with these kind
of tutorials and um I've got a good
friend here in Perth uh who'd be who'd
be an interesting person to chat to on
the podcast running a Pedal company
called Anarchy audio cool and I I justly

(36:21):
remember him going hey I've got this new
pedal out um I'll come around I'll film
everything and edit it but I'll just get
you to play through this pedal and tweak
it uh and then you know upload it to
YouTube on your own YouTube channel I
was like oh that's kind of cool you know
I don't
know at the time all I knew was like
Brett Kingman and Pete Thorne they were

(36:41):
like the only two people and like Pro
Guitar Shop that was it that that's
where you went to see a pedal demo and I
was like yeah but you know they're like
legit dudes and obviously I didn't
realize that you could just kind of do
it yourself so he kind of encouraged me
as well to you know invest in in in the
channel and the platform and things like

(37:01):
that so yeah it's been cool and being
able to turn around and go hey also I'm
not just somebody sitting in my like I I
am a bedroom guitarist because I spend a
lot of time in my bedroom just making
noise but being able to turn around and
go hey if you're into this kind of stuff
and you're into what I'm playing and you
like music and youve you know you play
some kind of value on it then you can
also check out the band so yeah it's

(37:23):
been it's been cool seeing the process
where it's it's probably been the last
couple of years where yeah people will
come to our shows because they're like
oh I saw on your YouTube channel that
you're playing a show or you know I
bought the album a while ago and really
like it so yeah that's definitely the
the upside to it yeah well you your
profiles definitely through the roof me

(37:44):
you open for malmstein
recently um I saw you at the Sunshine
Coast Guitar Festival all those kinds of
things and um and I'm guessing that's
because of the profile that you've
gotten through through YouTube uh were
you doing it for a while before people
started to take
notice um I kind of started uploading
regularly I think in about

(38:06):
2017 and the the other hobby you know
because we're all obsessed with gear was
that when I was a lot younger I kind of
discovered you know like a lot of my
favorite players like I'd read all
magazines it's like oh Paul Gilbert
plays an 8A mp1 yep and it's like what's
that

(38:28):
and you dropped out you dropped out for
a second am I still there you're still
back you're back yes seeing stuff like
that I just I justly remember my dad
being like ah I used to own one of those
I think I sold it to your uncle like you
know and then buying it back of him and
then going on this kind of thing like
getting really obsessed with you know
why would I spend $200 on a boss pedal
when I can buy a DigiTech multi effects

(38:50):
for like 60 bucks secondhand these were
the good old days yep um I've ruined
that market for everybody and I
apologize about that
um but it happens um yeah well he's gone
again he will be back he will be back
I'm G to stay right here until he comes

(39:11):
back in there he
is at least we got the workflow down
yeah exactly I know I talk up a little
bit and I look over there and plug you
back
in yeah so one something that kind of
when I got into it I was like well I
want teach myself how to do it so I just

(39:31):
literally made it my goal to demo every
piece of gear that I own like every amp
every piece of old weird rat gear um and
it it's almost like a uh that was
inadvertently like market research
because I do a video with a marshall amp
and all these people would come out of
the woodwork and be like yep I've got
that amp try this you know they're like

(39:52):
enthusiasts or doing comparison videos
you know um which is actually funnily
enough how I came across your stuff
originally because it was like you know
ad mp1 versus Marshall jmp1 I was like
oh this guy's in Australia this is cool
oh he's got a hmer guitar what's with
that like I didn't know anyone else
owned these down here right there yep um

(40:15):
so yeah doing a lot of I I kind of I
think the motivation was yeah I wanted
to teach myself how to get like just get
better at doing it by using the stuff I
already had but the sort of flip side
was it was
you get turned onto all these little
kind of Niche communities where it's
like yeah people who La rat
gear is a is a whole thing people who
love boss pedals I mean we all love boss

(40:38):
pedals but there's some people that
really love boss pedals you know so kind
of realizing that there's all these
different people to interact with uh was
really exciting for me so it made me
want to find more gear and demo more
stuff and um I found the I mean could
probably even in real time tell you when

(40:58):
now people probably call them like
Milestones right but it's like I
remember ticking over like 3,000
subscribers and thinking that was insane
yeah um yeah so that was right at the
start probably about seven years ago so
yeah that was like January
2018 W which was really cool um and you

(41:20):
know there's that sort of positive
feedback Network that I don't know like
post YouTube is definitely a different
thing but that was still preco where it
was like yeah you could just start a
channel and talk about like anything
you're super passionate about and people
probably find it um and it wasn't I
didn't set out to be like right I'm

(41:40):
going to do gear demos and make a living
out of it it was just like a
fun fun way to learn something new but
also like I realized the thing that I
really like about playing in a band and
recording music was you get that
satisfaction of like seeing an idea
through the frustrating thing about it

(42:02):
as we all know is like it can take
months and years to like finish a song
you know you you rehearse it you play it
live you Workshop it you rewrite it you
change it you pay all this money to go
into a recording studio you get it mixed
you get it mastered you do all the
revisions you schedule it for release it
comes out no one listens to it um you go

(42:22):
through the phase of never wanting to
listen to about about 3 years later
you're like oh that was actually a
pretty cool idea glad I recorded that um
what I found was if I could sit down and
make a little YouTube video about a
piece of gear or something I have to
like scratch that same creative itch
um but obviously it was far

(42:43):
more it was it could all happen a lot
quicker and I was really the only person
to answer to with it so it's like a
different outlet for my creativity yeah
um which I still find like I still love
making videos it's it's um
it's my process has changed a lot yeah I
was going to ask you your workflow and

(43:04):
how long it took you to find your way
around and make it a comfortable thing
because as I said to you off air when I
first started doing it it would take me
all day just to set up the lights and
everything and then you look back go oh
[ __ ] sake I'm out of focus or Y so
yeah did it did it take a while to find
your flow yeah absolutely my wife's a
photo like you know fantastic photog

(43:27):
photographer and you know she I was
really lucky where yeah she's got like a
Canon really nice Canon camera and she
was like look I'll help you set it up
this is what these things mean you know
sit down on your chair I'll set this
shot up for you and then just go and
then it was sort of like she bought me
some lights kind of go after bugging me
like you should invest in some lighting
you should get better lighting your

(43:47):
videos will look way better if you lit
better and then got me some light like
one of which I still have which is
shining on me at the moment um so I feel
like that was like a big oh crap my
video is actually don't look like I'm
playing in some like cave in Central
Asia you know on the run from the
government it's like you can see
everything and um yeah I mean for now

(44:07):
like I the camera that I use for all my
things is this little Canon M50 which
you can you can find these secondhand
for like 500 bucks now I'm looking at
one right now and there's another one
right there that I swing out for my
guitars yeah yeah I mean I've got two of
them as well and literally one of them
sort of had been Ed for about the last 9

(44:28):
months there's some Auto sensor cleaning
thing there's a bug with it and if that
bug happens you can't start the camera
so I just had it I just had it sitting
in like a cupboard and I pulled it out
the other day and I was like I probably
I'll just check that the batter's still
live I'll see the bug and then the
camera started normally and I was like
oh I'm going to turn the auto sensor

(44:48):
cleaning thing off so uh that's the one
bad thing about it but now I fix that so
yeah are they mark one or Mark twos this
is a
I'm sure it should probably tell me
somewh I think this is a mark one yeah
yeah both M are Mark ones and do you
just do you record to the um to the
actual cards with in them or do you go

(45:09):
out and record into an ISO recorder of
some description yeah it's a I
mean this this such a good example of
like you know once you find your workf
flow
how how little you probably end up
needing to learn about anything I just
record to the SD card and then pull it

(45:29):
out and put it into my computer but um
what are you using like an ATM or
something like that me no I'm using the
software that I'm streaming with right
now um actually allows me to record both
my cameras or a guest you know I if I
was wanted to record this I could do it
um only because and I asked you if you
were using Mark ones or twos because the

(45:50):
mark one doesn't have a clean HDMI out
so you can't go to some of these other
devices that are around
but um ecam live is the software I use
if anyone's interested uh for streaming
but I've now that I'm back into doing
demos I'm recording my cameras direct
into it they're perfectly synced amazing

(46:11):
yeah I was trying to get away that um it
was recording my audio separately as
well that's a little bit glitchy so I
think I'm just going to go back to
recording all my audio into a door as
well yeah that's what I do so I
basically have my camera and I just you
know rather than worrying about having a
mic on it or a lapel or anything you
know I've got my sm7b and a universal

(46:33):
audio interface and I just record the
vocal audio and the guitar audio on
separate tracks yep um and then you know
I I've been I had been using Final Cut
for a long time um but I switched over
to using I had that moment of like right
I've got a few days free at like the
start of the year a few years ago I'm

(46:53):
not doing anything else and I teach
myself resolve because it's free and I'm
just going to like relearn all the key
commands that I need to edit um and it's
my editing process is basically like
drag you know if it's a two I've got two
camera angles drag them both onto the
timeline drag the sort of mixed audio
that I've recorded in my door underneath

(47:14):
and just hit like synchronized Clips
yeah and then then from there I'll do
everything else manually you know so um
I've just found that's easier like in
the door it's I always like when you're
watching a video of like someone demoing
an app that for example when they play
the guitar you don't hear the ambient
string noise in the room you just get

(47:35):
close mic so I just go through in my
door and cut out all of those bits that
are on the vocal
mic um I I know you can use like you
know you can use basically side chain
compressors and stuff like that but but
it's just I'm so used to that workflow
where yeah I can if I if I've got 30
minutes of footage it probably takes me

(47:55):
another 5 to seven minutes to just go
through and you know manually scrub
those bits yeah right and then check the
levels and then export it I was
wondering about that because um yeah I
was going to try and set it up with the
side chain uh so it would do it
automatically um because you're right
you don't want to hear that string noise
but um man you're really you're a really

(48:15):
good talker to the camera as well do you
script any of it do you use bullet
points or do you just free form it and
he's gone again this is where the point
where I just keep talking until my
computer goes dingling there it is and
then I try and find my mouse and I hit
that button and he's

(48:37):
back I wish I could I wish I could side
chain the process of my internet not
dropping out that's okay mate that's
okay um you know when I first started
doing this I had Jennifer baton on and
she had her dog on her lap and um it
decided to jump off mid interview and
took out her laptop it hit the the power

(48:58):
cord and everything and that was the
first time I had something like that go
down live and I just thought wow um okay
hopefully she phones back in and she she
did straight away and I just thought oh
if that ever happens I just keep talking
and I'll be back in in that's amazing
yeah so uh yeah I was asking whether you
um script any of it whether you Ed
bullet points or whether you're just

(49:19):
completely free form it uh I'd say like
90% of the time it's completely free
form which wow definitely makes sense
when I go back and edit things where I'm
like man I've said the same thing six
times I'm just gonna have to uh clip but
yeah a lot of my early videos I didn't
do any editing at all I just start and

(49:40):
do the whole video and leave it you know
and hope I didn't make mistakes and then
y was kind of like oh well if I make a
mistake I can just put like a like a
little clap in there so that I see it
when I go back and edit it and then cut
that bit out but yeah most of the time
it's kind of stream of Consciousness if
I'm demoing a piece of gear I I'll spend

(50:01):
some time with it and you know it's I
feel like I have a pretty good process
now for like you know I'll read the
manual I'll go through and do it and
then it's kind of like okay
cool like most gear demos you want to
focus on the strengths of something as
well so it's like okay cool I want to
get within that first three or four
minutes I want to get to the point where

(50:22):
it sounds like here's the cool thing if
it's a three like if you're demoing like
a Sano amp or something you're like cool
we got to get to that overdrive Channel
as quickly as possible because that's
where all the funds at and once we've
got that then I'll go back and maybe get
a bit more in depth but um if it is
a you know if it's sort of like a really
specific tutorial or something I might

(50:43):
have some dot points just to remind
myself what what to get to yep uh but I
feel like for what I do most of the time
you know it's not like a five wat World
thing where you're basically making a
documentary every time you do a video
where it should probably be fact checked
and things like that I think for most of
what I do it's even if I'm demoing stuff
I still want it to have that like

(51:04):
tutorial kind of feel to it where it's
like you know if you go and buy this amp
or pedal or guitar you can come back and
watch this and not have to read the
manual that's always sort of what I what
I aim for sure um so yeah trying to find
that blend between being you know
spontaneous and genuine but also you

(51:26):
know there's pieces of gear out there
that are so complex and sophisticated
that yeah I don't think any one person
can just immediately unbox them and be
like cool here's how all of it works
yeah yeah there is yeah an element of
that having to work it out for yourself
do you shoot for a certain amount of
videos a week you think I'm gonna do
three this week I'm gonna do five or I

(51:47):
think I think up until this year I was
basically doing a video a day uh from
the time I started you know really when
I started out I would just upload it
anytime you know drop 10 videos cuz they
were finished I was like oh you can
schedule things that's kind of cool um I
think last year
probably made me reconsider that heavily
because I was away so much Touring that

(52:08):
was kind of the first year postco that I
spent a considerable chunk of time away
from home I
was away from home for nearly four
months between you know doing the club
cabaret thing and we did um we did a
festival in Melbourne with ragd doll and
a bunch of stuff here and also did the M
scene tour so yeah I was just on tour a

(52:29):
lot um but you know the algorithm never
stopped so it was like before every tour
I spent so much time scheduling videos
that would come out while I was
away um and then I'd be away kind of
like being like cool now I've got none
of my stuff and I can't do any work with
all this downtime Y and then I'd be back

(52:51):
home and yeah it was just like not a
very
uh not a very healthy balance I think to
have so at the start of this year I was
like cool I'm going to cut back and
maybe do three or four videos a week yep
um which feels a lot more sustainable
going forward I've been really lucky
where you know I've seen and also I I

(53:12):
made the decision where I was like I
want to do a bunch of guitar lessons
again because that's one thing that I
love about YouTube you can learn stuff
easily on it cool um so I've been doing
this like kind of five minute lick
series and so far they've been really
really well received like they've got
kind of like 5 to 10 times the number of
views they would normally get I don't
know if something's changed on the
platform where they're valuing

(53:33):
educational content more or something
but um that's been nice seeing the I'm
probably getting roughly the same
numbers as I was getting before it's
just like the individual videos are
getting watched more maybe because
they're not competing against all the
other videos I'm putting out sure sure
and is that something you do do you
analyze um when you put stuff out and go

(53:55):
oh that lot of use what did I do there
do that again oh absolutely yeah you
know that's a totally natural thing um
there's there's definitely something to
be said of
that I am very
aware that there's certain types of
content which just perform better um and

(54:19):
I I kind of had this packed with myself
where if I'm going to be doing this and
now it's it's at a stage where yeah it's
actually you know I do I do earn a
considerable part of my living through
YouTube doing you know commission videos
and the ad revenue and then obviously
people are aware of me so they book a
lessons through it or they listen to the

(54:40):
music so um I don't want to be in a
position where I'm doing stuff that I
hate in a public
forum um just to just to have it as
something that makes money um I still
want it to be something that I'm
passionate about that I believe in that
you know hopefully

(55:02):
contributes some way in a non- negative
way on like people's well-being if they
like guitar music so yeah I know that
sounds very high-m minded but it's kind
of like yeah you know I could just make
reaction videos or like I could get on
there and trash stuff or but that's not
what I want to see that's not what I'm
into I I love music technology I love

(55:26):
gear I love you know great playing and
you know I want to do my bit to promote
that um and hopefully encourage people
that like no matter what your
circumstances are you know you can you
can actually enjoy music you can enjoy
the guitar you don't just because I'm
somebody who spends all day making

(55:47):
YouTube videos and playing gigs and
doing this kind of stuff doesn't mean
that like my experience with music or
the instrument it's like that doesn't
really make me see any further than
someone who comes and plays for 30
minutes after work to unwind um it's
taking me a long time to realize that
that it's
like he who has the most fun wins when
it comes to playing music I don't know I

(56:08):
don't know if you've sort of experienced
that because you know you were saying
off a you're back at Uni studying doing
contempt music right so
um is that something do you think you
would have got the same experience out
of it when you were younger than you
would now out of going to UNI
yeah I said to you wish have done it a
lot earlier uh it's a lot easier than I

(56:29):
thought it was going to be um so I was a
bit scared of Music Theory and all that
but now I could feel I could talk to
piano players and um so I play in a
group called absolutely 80s um which is
the lead singers of a whole bunch of 80s
bands for um in Australia here and

(56:52):
Wilbur wild plays saxophone in that and
a see I didn't know this Rick that's
amazing like wild you know hey hey at
Saturday was a bloody institution when I
was a kid Absolut and that guy rip sacks
like every ad break I would just used to
be like man this is like the best thing
ever dude I've got videos um where he'll

(57:13):
Rock up the soundcheck and then after
he's got his bit all done he'll just go
lock himself in a room and just play
until the show and I'll be outside
filming just the closed door and it's
that sound we grew up listening him
just but I can actually have a
conversation musically deep musical
conversation with him now and understand

(57:35):
what the [ __ ] he's talking about when he
starts talking about extended cords and
things and he said to me he's always and
always has been and always will be a
student of Music he still practices
couple of hours a day in the basement of
his Apartments he said man the the car
park downstairs has got the best Reverb
and the neighbors know it's just
me um

(57:56):
but yeah so the I play with the singers
from kids in the kitchen um Uncanny
X-Men the models boom crash Opa shantui
real life
minations few other yeah it's sort of a
bit of a revolving thing um how did I
get on to that um so I'm not playing

(58:18):
that much I'm only in their Queensland
band so when they come up this way I'm
doing that um got burned out playing
the cover band thing you set up in front
of the TV screens and people are abusing
you to get the way out of the way I'm
trying to watch the footy it's like just
doing my job mate um but yeah I really

(58:39):
should have done it years ago
because it's not that hard to understand
music and now I mean it's a it's a you
know it's a descriptive language for
stuff that we already and love right
it's just an overlay on top of you know

(59:01):
if and I say that to so many people I
teach were like I think I want to do
this it's like
well you know get them to play a lot of
them are already quite accomplished
players and you're like dude I'm we're
just going to be attaching a bunch of
labels to things you can already do so
that and you know these are like
universally agreed upon labeling systems
that's really all it is and then you can

(59:23):
go and as you said understand the
keyboard player will understand you or
the sax player will understand you when
you're in a situation where you've got
to work something out it won't just be
like punching in the dark until
something happens so yeah it's um it's
it's really interesting I mean when I
left high school I went to UNI to do a
math degree because that was something

(59:43):
that I was good at at high school and
you know I was still good at it at Uni I
did quite well but I I was like 2021 and
I was like I think the one road I can
see for this is becoming an academic and
all the academics that I know here um
quite frustrated with the system that
they're embedded in like they don't get

(01:00:04):
to actually do what they love a lot it's
more about like they have to go and
teach or they have to get fun you know
they're in this constant cycle of trying
to get funding so what better what
better system to go into than the music
industry I
thought um but yeah it's you know it's
it's it's an interesting thing I if I
describe what I do daily it's like yeah

(01:00:26):
music is a component of it but there's
it's a multimedia thing but that's just
the world we live in now right it's like
my my paternal grandfather was a fitter
and Turner you know he immigrated to
Australia from Europe in the 60s but
like that was just hey are you
reasonably good with your hands here's a

(01:00:47):
career for you you know um and you'll
always be able to find a job in a
factory you'll always be able to find a
job on a building site cuz you can do
stuff you can do like a bunch of the
things you know if you were like a
landscaper you know you have to know
there's kind of a bunch of different
disciplines involved in that um yeah
doing you know certainly playing in a

(01:01:08):
band isn't just about showing up and
playing music right you know it's it's
all the other stuff that happens around
it um same as making YouTube videos it's
like you do have to get kind of
intimately connected to how a bunch of
the backend stuff works and you know
it's it's
I always encourage people it's like the

(01:01:29):
new skills that you develop and that
helps you grow as a person you know
being in that like growth mindset with
everything you do I think is quite
healthy yeah people don't realize what
goes into it huh um thumbnails like that
can make or break a video and people
don't even think of that I can spend
hours just doing a freaking thumbnail

(01:01:51):
you know um and thank you know thank the
Lord for
automating all this stuff I don't is
that what you use canva I use canva but
yeah it's that was just something I fell
into but you know like obviously if
you're proficient with Photoshop or any
of the other ways you can do this to
generate thumbnails super handy but the
person who started Cana is like you know

(01:02:13):
lived about 10 minutes from where I grew
up in Perth and they were like oh why
learn all this like Photoshop specific
stuff when we can just have a drag and
drop version and now they're like a
billionaire so um yeah yeah go go goes
to shows sometimes um but yeah as you
said you know it's not just like film
video mix audio cool profit there there

(01:02:35):
is you know um yeah you you kind of have
to there's this element of because
you're not just competing against like
your other videos or other people doing
similar stuff on YouTube You're
competing against like you know
political news and you know outrage
culture and celebrity gossip you know

(01:02:57):
where like given five videos why is
somebody going to click on my face going
they could click on something about you
know a celebrity sex scandal I know I
would probably click on the celebrity
sex scandal first so sure um I totally
understand it but there's all these like
the thumbnail thing to me is a really
interesting exercise in human psychology

(01:03:17):
because it comes down to basically okay
the human eye is drawn to things that
are in a certain position and there's
like a visual hierarchy I remember
learning this stuff when I was in like
year n in art class when I was like this
is the lamest thing ever why am I
learning this and you know 20 years
later I'm like oh hey I remember yeah if
maybe if the text is yellow and it's got

(01:03:38):
a drop shadow people read it more yeah
is it amazing little things that you
learn in school that you wouldn't think
when am I when am I ever going to use
this
that well you know just simple things
like uh I did journalism in high school
um and just learned basics of
Photography the rule of thirds and

(01:03:59):
things like that and yeah
um also I did film and TV and we had to
learn how to thread a real toore machine
and then I got a job working in radio
and this is back when all the the
backing tracks for all the jingles that
we'd make were all on real to real and I
remember the production manager on the
first day saying and this is how you

(01:04:20):
thread a real and I'm just like that's
cool I got this he's like I thought you
said you never worked in radio how do
you know how to do that showed me in
high school um yep so yeah all these
little things yeah it's amazing how
different life experiences can all come
together and you use them to do YouTube
and yeah I mean it's the same as playing

(01:04:41):
music though right like you know for the
Sha playing at the moment um there's
there's a lot of different musical
styles presented and like I've never
played Jazz right but I'm inherently
have always curious about music and
music theory and you know I've certainly
listened to Jazz and I certainly find

(01:05:02):
all the thing about extended chords and
you know um inside and outside playing
like interesting on like an academic
level yeah I just never felt the need to
want to you know go and perform music
like that but the show I'm doing there's
heaps of stuff where it's like a
performer will be interacting with the
audience and you have to underscore what
they're doing so it's kind of like a

(01:05:24):
walking bass and swing drum kind of
thing and you've got to you know play
stuff that sounds like hey play some
stuff that sounds like it's from the 50s
you know um and having that opportunity
where you're like oh cool I never
thought I would enjoy playing this stuff
but actually there's this like I've read
a lot of things and I've practiced some
stuff so now I actually get to use it in

(01:05:44):
a musical context and now I kind of like
it you know that's that like it's like
trying a new food right if you just look
at it you're like ah dude that looks
nasty but if you go to your friend's
house and then Mom's cooked up some
stuff and you're like oh dude you got to
like try this you know my mom cooked it
or my dad cooked it you're like yeah all
right oh it's actually pretty good what
do you call this stuff then you're in
you know yep y hey when it comes to the

(01:06:07):
Gear demos have you ever had something
come in that you were expecting to be
really good and it just didn't live up
to your expectations and you're expected
to do a really good job of presenting
this thing and you're just like oh this
guitar just won't stay in tune or have
you had many of
those
luckily luckily not but I certainly have

(01:06:29):
had them um you know I like I'm in a
very fortunate position where I've kind
of had the opportunity to work with like
all of my favorite Brands um and it's
almost like the bigger the brand the the
cooler they've been about stuff
including feedback um and it's there's a
really

(01:06:50):
interesting really interesting thing I
think with YouTube gear demos right um
where
a lot of the time you get sent stuff
early because companies have figured out
that if you drop a video on the launch
day it's more likely to be you know it's
advertising right you have all your
ducks in a row um so a lot of the time
you get stuff early and that normally

(01:07:14):
flows one of two ways like cool you get
you get something that might be a
prototype and it might have some issues
with it yeah but you're in a position
where you can turn around and say hey
guys this is stuffed fix it you know um
and most of them want to have a
successful product launch so they do
that um or you've got like one youve got
a sample size of one out of like a

(01:07:37):
production run of like a few right so I
just did a demo um in the middle of last
year with the new Fender player twos um
and I was in Sydney at the time they
asked me to do it and I was able to go
into their offices hang out a little bit
meet them and they were like cool we're
going to go out the back we haven't even
opened any of these yet we're going to

(01:07:58):
pull one we'll pull the box out you know
um and then just pull it out and have a
play on it and then take it away and you
know do your thing yeah so literally I
opened the box I pulled the guitar out
of the box I tuned it and I had the
camera on as well so I was like cool
I'll just play it play it came out of
the box perfectly set up it was like
everything about it was right you know

(01:08:20):
um I went and did a gig with it like two
nights later sounded great worked great
played the guitar a whole bunch
I was like wow this is really impressive
this is kind of straight out of the box
and I was able to capture a little bit
of that um but with popular products you
find what I find is that most people
don't really watch the video and then go
great I'm going to go buy that thing

(01:08:40):
they're going to buy the thing anyway
sure they come back and watch the video
because they want the gratification of
knowing that they spent their money well
yeah you know so there's that sort of
like there's this unspoken relationship
where it's like someone goes and buys
something
and they like it and they see that I
like it they're going to feel pretty
good about it but on the flip side if

(01:09:00):
they buy something expecting to like it
and there's an issue with their
instrument or the amp or something
they're well within their right to turn
around and say hey Leon you didn't
mention this you know my guitar sucks
yeah yeah does your guitar also suck and
you're not being honest with it or did
you did they just give you a good one or
do you just have a good one so yeah
stuff that's mass produced it's really
difficult and there a paradox of like

(01:09:23):
why I say I don't do reviews I do demos
sure you know I get a thing and I play
it and that's basically you can make up
your mind whether you think that's cool
or not um but I would need like if I'm
going to review a strat I need like 30
of them and I need to play all of them
from a production run I need like a

(01:09:43):
representative sample yeah because
quality
control doesn't apply to a single thing
it's it's about the production
run right yep
yeah um would you ever if somebody sent
you something well he's gone again
that's okay he will be back he will be

(01:10:03):
back he'll be back Ling Ling Ling Ling
there he is and he's back yeah yeah so
yeah in summary yeah it's hard to say
anything about quality control when
you've got a sample of one um I have had
a few products
that you know without without naming
names
where the original agreement was that

(01:10:25):
say I would do a demo video of it and
I've run into issues with a like you
know in one case with an acoustic guitar
where it was just kind of like I got it
and I was like okay cool this is this is
cool for a cheap guitar and then I
looked up what the retail price was and
I was like whoa this is actually not a
cheap guitar and you know at that price

(01:10:46):
point there's a lot of issues so I kind
of went back and forth with the
manufacturer where I was like hey I
don't think this is really up to Snuff I
don't know if you've you know sent me a
poor example or they all like this kind
of thing you know um and I've just kind
of basically sent them back and said you
know either either send me another

(01:11:06):
example and if it's still stuffed then
don't worry about it yeah um or I just
again because I'm demoing stuff it's
like there's the implicit relationship
that it's like that it's something I
would actually go and use yep so yeah
there's been there's been I mean a small
percentage in the you know I've done a

(01:11:27):
few thousand videos now um but that's a
lot of videos yeah it's a lot
of it's a lot of my face on the Internet
isn't it um so yeah I've been pretty
fortunate there I have had a few smaller
things like pedals and things like that
that have arrived and been defective y
um and in that case you know the

(01:11:48):
manufacturers would just be like hey
we'll send you another one to demo um
and then I'll try and mention yeah they
sent me one and it either got damage in
shipping or you know keep in mind that
this is like a fragile thing that you
might not want to take on tour or stuff
like that so y yeah it's
um the the the money is never good

(01:12:10):
enough to lie to your audience you know
we were if we were out here demoing
stuff and making like you know tens of
thousands of dollars per video you could
probably argue that there's a good
incentive to so but when it's like you
know two figure numbers that you makeing
ad Revenue if you're lucky yeah I I
really you you're far better off just

(01:12:30):
telling it like it is and I I think
there's a fine line between like telling
it like it is and then overreacting as
well where it's like it is unreasonable
to expect that a $50 pedal that's mass
produced is going to be as good as your
like $900 stman or something sure you
factor that in you know there is a
phrase like you know yeah there's good

(01:12:52):
there's good and there's also good at a
price points so yeah it's
um again if if I I really like you know
a lot of the highend tech channels where
it's like hey you know Nvidia sent me
their latest graphics card and paid us
and we're going to run it through our
entire test studio and try break it
that's super cool but I don't think

(01:13:14):
music gear has there's just not the like
economically it doesn't work it wouldn't
make sense for Fender to send me a
$4,000 guitar and pay me $10 Grand to
make a video where I basically like
drive a car over it I wish we could that
would be so awesome and be so
instructive but um yeah you've got to

(01:13:35):
sort of make do with what you got which
a lot of the time is like hey I'm going
to demo
something but then also if you see me
playing it in six months that's a pretty
good indication that I actually really
really like it because there's so much
you know there is it's a paradox there's
so much good gear but then there's good
gear that I personally use and would
recommend to people um and there's stuff

(01:13:56):
that I don't use that I still recommend
to people where I'm like hey you want to
get into modeling probably get an HX
stomp you know um I don't use one live I
use an fm3 because it's got a bunch of
like advantages to it that I think is
great but the stomp's also considerably
cheaper you can walk into any music
store in the world and buy it there's no
weight list um you know it it's just

(01:14:17):
like kind of as a consu the the
considerations as a consumer versus is
like me making my weird original music
and playing the gigs that I do that
don't necessarily align so yeah yeah
there's a there's a lot that goes into
it isn't there absolutely man I'm aware
that you've got a a time limit you've
got some teaching to do this afternoon
so I'll round it up before too long but

(01:14:40):
just talking about cool guitars I'm very
jealous you've got a Charles CIA guitar
and Charles is my guy man um my charl I
sent to him to do a setup on when I got
it back I was uh doing some guitar tech
work last weekend for Jack Jones and and
had to look after his two Charles sers
guitars and I didn't know action could

(01:15:02):
get that low and still be playable uhhuh
yeah it's it's kind of odd isn't it um
as Aussies were always expected that
it's like you know that we're not well
like Australia is obviously a great
place to live the people are amazing
everyone around the world knows that um
but you never think of Australia as
being like a place that has
state-of-the-art stuff um till you play

(01:15:24):
one a Charles's guitars and you're like
oh okay this is like he's actually in
that like conversation with your like
your John sir and your Tyler and you
know it's perfect like I um I was in the
I'll I'll I'll drop some more names
right I um I was on holiday in the

(01:15:46):
states in September October um saved
with a good friend of mine Michael
torrin who some of you may know is like
got
to c r gear and we went and hung out
with Dave Freeman and Dave basically has
a the twin to my guitar y uh and I was
asking him about it and you know Dave's

(01:16:07):
so amazing at what he does Dave has seen
it all and heard it all and you know I
feel like if you made something and Dave
said it was fine that would be pretty
High Praise uh and his words about the
guitar where it's perfect he was like I
can't fault it it's so well put together
it's everything about it is actually
just perfect like the detail and like

(01:16:28):
the inlays are so tight I've never like
you know I've got some really nice PRS
stuff some really nice hmer stuff like
you know uh yeah the stuff that Charles
is doing is on another level and I was
able to go down to his workshop and like
just an inspiring dude you know um nice
guy huh he's always up for a chat yeah
always up for a chat yeah first time I

(01:16:50):
met Charles funny man I was at the
Melbourne guitar show there years ago
now and i' only sort of just started
doing the YouTube thing and I went to
talk to there was a pedal Booth set up
right beside his um area and I got
looking at it and I sort of said to
these guys hey if you want a demo you
know I've got a just a small scale you

(01:17:11):
know Channel and he's asked me all the
questions oh how many subscribers you
got blah blah blah blah and he just
wasn't interested um and then I hear
this Rick holl I turn around there's
Charles I'd never met him at that point
coming out with his hand outstretched
going dude I watch you on YouTube all
the time love your work and all that I
just turn to these other guys that would
just give me the the cold shoulder and

(01:17:31):
just
like and walked off and he was just yeah
at just I've been friends with Charles
ever since and he's always good for a
chat and I can't wait to get him to
build me a custom
Strat yeah yeah and the thing the thing
is you know some there's Builders who
are really great at what they do their
stylistic Niche he lives in every Niche

(01:17:51):
like his jazz style guitars are amazing
I played one of his acoustic guitars
that's like you know he's It's actually
an acoustic guitar that's interated
across the whole neck um it sounds
incredible as well like his super strats
that he's done you know he's just like a
man a man for all seasons basically so

(01:18:12):
yeah that guitar he came and saw um the
show I'm playing when we were in Sydney
y um well I I got in touch I was like
hey man I'm in Sydney for like nine
weeks you know it' be great to hang out
so I went to the workshop and um he came
in saw the show and um I was chatting to
him and I was like oh like if you got
anything in the showroom like I'll play
it I'll play the guitar during the show
cuz that' be you know I know your

(01:18:33):
stuff's amazing it'd be kind of cool him
and his wife came down you know I'll do
the thing but one of your guitars will
be up there um and I got him to refret
my PRS dgt while I was there and he was
like oh hang on to it hang on to the
Bellar you know until I do your guitar I
was like okay cool massive mistake you
know played at the show it was great and
I was like man this guitar is just

(01:18:55):
like on another level so yeah I sort of
mentioned offand to him when I gave it
back I was like yeah if you ever sell it
just let me know so uh yeah ended up
ended up acquiring it which I've been
super stoked with I've been playing it
so much and yeah he's uh have you had
him on the on the show no um I've been
asking him for a while the last
conversation I had with him he said dude

(01:19:17):
can you help me get set up with lights
and stuff um so because I am getting a
lot of requests and I just don't want it
to be dodgy I want to set up everything
properly and do it properly and I said I
can do that and uh he said I he can be I
can be his first interview in the new
setup but um yeah yeah I'm looking

(01:19:38):
forward to having Charles on um like I
said lovely dude uh I knew his band jerk
back in the day I was playing in another
band that used to uh play around town
with them um yeah hey before I let you
go man because I am keeping an eye on
the clock you said you had to to bail
um strings and
PS strings and pcks good question uh

(01:20:00):
pcks are these I've been using these DL
what are they 1.35 the white tortex oh
yeah hopefully everyone can see that uh
for I don't know I've been a jazz 3 guy
for a long time I started when I started
playing I had the dun loock big stubbies
um and then yeah I tried like every Jazz
3 but I find they get slippery um

(01:20:20):
playing live whereas these tortex ones
they're like they don't they don't slip
as much I drop them the least which is
probably why I'm drawn to them uh and
then pick strings been using elixers for
a long time the like 10 to 52 nanowebs
but I've been using string Joy the last
like six months or so which i' really

(01:20:40):
been into they um they make a coded
string but just their standard you know
their regular
like steel string set um are amazing
yeah so just 10 to 52 they have like a
slightly heavier b and a slightly
lighter a string so it's more of a
balance set Y and yeah I literally use

(01:21:01):
the same gauge on like all my guitars
and all tuning so I'm not not that fussy
about it but they they're like I don't
know they seem to you know when you put
a set of strings on they take ages to
like settle um they seem to settle
pretty quickly which I like cool cool
yeah I've had that experience I I used
to play in a queen tribute show um Queen

(01:21:23):
uh that was fun Turing the globe dressed
as Brian May but I was using the the
gold strings that he uses um and I found
a long time to settle in like I'd be
stretching them before gigs and stuff
but um that was the only drawback with
those once they did stretched they were
great yeah man I wish I had more time to

(01:21:44):
talk to you as I said really quick toing
this I'm happy to stretch it for another
10 if you'll if you'll have
me I've just scanning my way through
some of the comments here to see make
sure I haven't missed any questions from
anyone I've tried to drop a few in as
we're going first song you learned yeah
we talked about that your first guitar
first Guitar Hero who was your first

(01:22:05):
Guitar Hero oh first Guitar Hero was
probably oh
man probably Scott Goram and Scott Goram
from Thin Lizzy and Gary Moore because
when I I was really into the Thin Lizzy
live and Dangerous album as a kid um and
the cover and you know who's this like

(01:22:27):
you know long-haired guy with a Sunburst
Les Paul um and then yeah I learned Gary
also had played with Fin lizy and really
got into his solo stuff and um yeah
probably probably those two and maybe
probably Richie Blackmore as well they'd
be like the first three cool cool uh
just getting through some of the the
comments and stuff here Brad's guitar

(01:22:48):
garage now Brad I don't know Brad but
Brad came up recently
um I sold
something um I'll have to check it out
uh I sold something to somebody on beh
of a friend through Facebook and it was
an attenuator and it blew up and I
thought oh [ __ ] on the man in the middle

(01:23:09):
here we you probably going to say no it
worked when it left here um and the guy
said I'm gonna take it down to Brad's
guitar garage um and get it fixed and we
ended up giving most of the money back
to the guy and he was really happy with
the resolution but aw um
yeah and it's funny to see Brad's guitar
garage there because he just popped up
in conversation um yeah would recommend

(01:23:31):
I feel like he'd be a cool dude to hang
out with just like watching the videos
that I've seen it's like very similar
like just seems like he's someone with
an actual sense of humor and also a mad
skill set cool yeah he has dropped a
couple of uh funny comments in there uh
Stuart Eddie says that Leon demoing

(01:23:53):
Aussie garar has always been a great
thing and I I
agree
um that's also part of the also part of
the mission on the channel as well is
like we're talking about Charles but you
know um like Jason head first stamps
making he was watching just before I'm
not sure if he's still there but y y um
Anarchy audio here in Perth um electron

(01:24:15):
Brothers I just did some demo stuff for
like Bondi effects you know there's all
these all these people who are re uh
pirate midi those guys are Aussie as
well they're doing Inc stuff so yeah
there's a pretty pretty
cool you know niche market here in
Australia that I think you know the rest

(01:24:35):
of the world should definitely know
about yeah absolutely so uh friend of
mine do Dominic Simeone is asking uh
Leon what do you use more often and what
do you prefer when playing live your ax
effects or tubeamps oh definitely my Axe
effects I haven't done a gig with a true
bamp
for well 12 months I had to use a deluxe

(01:24:56):
Reverb for a gig but I still ran my fm9
into it um but yeah it's for for for
what I do um the consistency and the
control that I can get out of like a
fractal is really
really something I just don't think I
can live without um you know as much as
I miss the sheer Terror you can inflict

(01:25:19):
on an audience with like a Marshall Half
Stack um the the tradeoff like I said
the consistency in the control is just
like yeah un unmatched and you know
being able to put like an fm3 in a
backpack and fly with it is um like when
we did the M scene tour you know we
didn't have a sound check we were we
were allowed to line check for like two

(01:25:40):
minutes before they opened the doors and
it was like literally play a couple of
chords so in in that kind of context um
literal Lifesaver and then the show I'm
playing at the moment you know it's I I
would need a lot I would need a lot of
gear to be able to do what I'm doing
with a single fm9 you know going from
like a
20c Reverb with volume swell straight

(01:26:03):
into like a Van Halen style Jewel delay
Jewel Dune Rhythm thing straight into
like a spring reverb and tremolo like
spaghetti western sound um I Ed one
preset for it so uh yeah it's um it's a
it's an amazing time to be alive not
that not that and this is the best thing
right one is no longer better than the

(01:26:25):
other it's like if you can't live
without your true just take it to the
gig if it's too loud get an attenuator
or something you know then it'll still
sound sick um or use your modeler
because it still sounds sick yeah yeah
yeah uh it's funny I went to Red Hot
Summer tour last weekend and awesome oh
yeah I spent most of the time right down

(01:26:45):
the front um there was no shade anywhere
though so there was a couple of bands I
was like not so years time to take a
break from the Sun but um I was going to
ask you what it was like to
play opening for inve in front of a
whole bunch of people standing there
with their arms crossed and the reason I

(01:27:05):
brought up red hot summer is I've known
Dave Leslie uh very well for quite a few
years and um whenever he sees me in the
crowd he always brings up oh there's
this tall guy standing there with his
arms folded watching every everything I
was playing
um how was it playing for inve knowing
that everybody there was a guitar player
watching it going I could do that well I

(01:27:27):
mean what watching me play I'm sure they
could play the licks I don't know if
they could do the licks and the aerobics
um that's that's that's that's why you
come and see rag doll um but I actually
it was very funny you mentioned Dave
because at the Melbourne show we
finished up and you know we were doing
merch and stuff like that and he comes
up he's like oh okay Le on Dave and I

(01:27:48):
was like oh my God Dave Lesley like the
Dave Lesley like holy crap and he was
like mate that was awesome you know um
so nice to finally get to see you guys
to playing I was like what the [ __ ] like
what what what parallel universe am I
living in where um Dave Leslie is at a m
scene show telling me I did you know
okay um honestly probably the easiest

(01:28:12):
support
thing I've done from the perspective of
it's like you
know it's it's because it's like okay
it's like going in like a big dick
competition with the world's the man
with the world's biggest dick like you
just know you're not winning that
competition so you also have nothing to

(01:28:32):
lose because M's gonna come out and do
mste and it's gonna be mste you know and
I'm sure half the crowd was there
because they love him and half the crowd
was there probably because they
absolutely despise him so much that they
just had to buy tickets and go see him
and he like intimately understands that
so well he wouldn't have had the career
he's had without it um so yeah

(01:28:52):
surprisingly I felt like
the least pressure I felt for any gig
because I just had to go out and play
songs that I have been playing for 15
years that I love playing you know
and most people probably went in the
went into that to see M they didn't come
to see us but if one person walked out

(01:29:15):
of there and went oh gee they were
pretty cool songs and those guys
certainly have a lot of fun on stage you
know um it was more I I think the way I
approach it which is the way I approach
every gig is like I am going to be the
one having the best time you know that's
that's just the little marker that I'm
going to lay down no matter what I don't
care if everyone else has a [ __ ] time

(01:29:35):
I'm going to go out and have a great
time cool and I find that attitude
generally most people especially
Aussie's are into as well because
they're like ah he's not taking it
seriously we don't have to so yeah it
was um I mean you know inve does in's
thing and I totally like I I love his
playing um and absolutely respect that

(01:29:57):
you know he lives in his little bubble
and does his thing so it was um it was
just a like nothing to lose situation
because one I got to see one of my
favorite artists up close and two I got
to go and play guitar music for a bunch
of guitar players and most of us are
that person you know with the arms
folded yeah but also most of us are like
hey man like you know good on you for

(01:30:19):
getting up there and doing it that's the
that's the the funny thing about
Australia you know we cut people down
but not too much yeah yeah I just got to
add um I said uh my friend Dom's
watching um when I was at Red Hot
Summer Dave does uh a version of
Hendrick's fire in the baby animal set
and there's a bit where Jimmy Hendrick

(01:30:40):
says move over Rover uh let Jimmy take
over and I was there with my girlfriend
right down the front and Dave goes over
the mic move over Rover and let Ricky
Hollis take over name drops me and my
girl just looked me like what the [ __ ]
it's like yeah no for a while and my
friend Dom happened to film that from up
the back and I posted on Facebook it was

(01:31:02):
just like cool moment there hey man
that's the cool thing about Aussies as
well is like you know like
fundamentally fundamentally most of us
get in like any situation like that and
we're like how can how can I find a way
to just like you know like do a bit with
one of my mates you know it's always
just like never take things too ser

(01:31:23):
seriously yeah yeah I thought that was
awesome when he did that and I texted
him afterward thanks so much that that
made my day with that he I had to there
yeah hey uh two more questions here um
one from Michael torren now you
mentioned Michael before didn't you hey
the good man Michael torren yeah yeah he
would be someone very interesting to

(01:31:44):
have on your on your show if you like
here well he's saying that you are an
inspiring dude but then he also says
filtertrons or P90s
oh now here we go I reckon in a year you
could ask me the same question I have a
different different answer but I've

(01:32:06):
absolutely been on this like semih
hollow body kick that Michael knows well
about and he kind of inducted me into
the into the filtertron thing uh when I
was hanging out with him so still I
would still probably reach for a guitar
with p9s to do what I want to do
most over filr but I'm in one of those

(01:32:28):
like I'm curious about them what you can
do like you know just listening to lots
of the cult recently as well and like
the sounds Billy Duffy gets out of like
you know his Gretch guitars are like oh
it's a thing right and it's a thing that
I don't really have in in the lineup at
the moment um you know it's like the
other
other part

(01:32:50):
of guitar sounds where yeah so many I
mean also Malcolm Young right like to me
like the greatest rock guitar sounds are
you know are Gretch and a Gibson you
know lock together so yeah at the moment
p9s I've got a lespol custom with P90s
that I actually took out and did a gig

(01:33:11):
with for like the first time in 10 years
and it sounded so good just a little bit
noisy but um yeah I need to get
something with
trons question that I can think of for
myself is when you're using your ax
effects is there particular model that
you gravitate
towards yeah so I think kind of the way
I I treat the Axe effects isn't as a

(01:33:32):
like every like you know every possible
other guitar player sound under the sun
which it can do it's more like a thing
where it it actually for me it feels
like an extension of what I like in
terms of just um you know guitar sounds
so for a long time I was using one of
the mark series amps in there oh yeah
big fan of that sound and I a real markv

(01:33:54):
but I've been using so they have models
of like all the 5150 variations right
yep um and the first year I went to the
states I bought like a little 6505 1x12
combo because it was cheap and you know
I was like playing a Sano a lot at the
time and I was like Yeah Eddie had a
Sano and then designed the 5150 with
James Brown so same diff love that

(01:34:16):
little amp did so many shows with it so
there's a model of the 5153 stealth amp
in the fractal now but then there's also
like a they have like one of their
custom variations where it's like you
know an idealized version of it I think
there's some probably some funky values
in the real amp that you know probably
make it a bit noisy and give it way more

(01:34:37):
gain so they've tweaked those I Ed that
like fractal stealth model in there and
it's cool that it's not a real world amp
right but you know for me the recipe's
always like High Gain amp with not much
gain on the amp pre-boost cutting some
low end and boosting a bit of mids and
then you know crank up like the depth
and presence controls so you get that

(01:34:59):
big Scoopy thing um I use one of my own
custom IRS of a cab that I used to gig
with that anyone can download um for use
on any device and and um yeah it's like
a little bit of Reverb a little bit of
pitch dtune and then like a stereo delay
for leads and a w you know it's um it's

(01:35:19):
what again it's it's kind of what I was
using before I went digital
but just I've got the flexibility to
like oh if I want a stereo delay i'
click one button and now it's stereo
sick once you go stereo there's no going
back huh oh exactly man exactly you know
how it is yeah yeah I've been playing
stereo since the 90s when I had an ADA

(01:35:41):
and a quadraverb and a Cara Cara stereo
power amp two Marshall Val valve State
quads and I got to remember um it's only
Australia that says quad box and I
always have to
you know that right people abely 4
by 4 by no quadbox quadbox sounds way

(01:36:03):
cooler this needs to be it does it does
yeah it was when I had Thomas Blu gone
that he said oh this's this crazy word
that you guys say for a 4 by 12 I mean
like like a quad box because yeah that
word oh I should do a video about Aussie
gear slang because there's a few other
things right there is yeah Mesa not
Messa we say fold back the rest of world

(01:36:23):
says
monitor um what is punters gets dropped
a lot um do this one for the punters
everyone's like who what yeah few things
like that yeah I I someone left a
comment today this morning I was reading
through and um I was talking about a
jewel delay you know and this person
thought I was saying Jewel like a like a

(01:36:44):
j w l he's like where do I find this
Jewel delay it's not on the list I was
like no d l you know sorry you know half
of one side of my family were you know
Irish immigrants who moved here 150
years ago probably probably stuck in the
in the in the blood somewhere so well

(01:37:07):
yeah neither of us are the the typical
loie that that talks like this you know
you get the guys that really talk like
this and then the other people would
really have a hard time trying to
understand us oh yeah so my wife who's
American um was
um we were staying with a
friend actually saying at his folks

(01:37:28):
Place who are both Irish and like her
you know my sorry my friend's dad has a
very thick Irish accent so she was stuck
between the two of us with Aussie
accents and him with a very thick Irish
accent she was like it's the only time
I've lived here where my brain actually
melted and I really couldn't understand
what either of you were saying I just
couldn't like it was bouncing around so

(01:37:50):
much so yeah it's um and also like wa is
funny where
um you know I get it a lot from my mates
on the East Coast like you guys sound So
Posh I was like no we don't we sound
rough as guts you
know say yeah there is a I think it's
just a Cadence thing and also you know

(01:38:11):
there's I I feel like the last census it
was like there's a majority like the
highest percentage of you know if you
look at where people's parents are from
yep that it's like actually the UK it's
only like 25 or 26% of people who live
in wa their parents were born in the UK
versus and that's higher than any other

(01:38:32):
including both parents being born in
Australia which is a very good
indication I think of like the Paradox
of being in Aussie where yeah you know
so so much of like Australian identity
is actually rooted in you know it's it's
like mish mash of every other culture
over the
world absolutely so you're talking about

(01:38:53):
the Posh thing is Michael Hutchins from
Perth he was wasn't he I yeah I think so
yeah because there's a poshness about
the way he talks the only other place
that I can pick an accent is South
Australia and it's just one particular
thing they say instead of shower and
hour they say sh and a just is one they
say they say they say they say Q instead

(01:39:15):
of cool oh I haven't notic that one I'll
to yeah okay yeah it's the one other
place that I can pick someone straight
oh you're from per so you're from
Adelaide how do you know you're okay so
so Michael Hutchins in fact was um he
was born
in Sydney um English parents well

(01:39:37):
English grandparents but then moved to
Brisbane
um then let wow but this is crazy I
didn't know any of this about um Michael
Hutchins lived in Hong Kong for a short
time yeah so got sort of got got all
around but I I swear nxs had something
to do with Perth right I thought nxs
were a Perth band yeah yeah um

(01:40:01):
maybe uh yeah maybe it's like
a then again I mean if you wanted to
fall off the map you know any time
before the 90s you just moved to Perth
right I gotta say I've been over there a
couple of times touring with the queen
show when I was in it and I loved the
city I thought it was a really nice city
yeah yeah it perth's got a lot going

(01:40:23):
going for it man when's the last time
you were
here oh man I I quit that band probably
about 10 years ago now so yeah right
about 10 years yeah it has it it has
actually changed a lot in maybe the last
like yeah seven or eight years like
they've changed you know the the city
center as well and also the suburbs have
just kind of boomed you know so um to

(01:40:46):
answer your question the parents of the
ferris boys were um the the ferres grew
up in Earth sure so whenever I've done
the Perth run uh we've always done you
know like three or four nights uh I
forget the name of all the different
places that they can do the run there
but the Charles Hotel oh yeah that's a

(01:41:07):
kick-ass Rock venue um isn't it just
like something out of the
70s time time stopped you know yeah um
yeah had some awesome shows there man
yeah man it always goes off we've played
there a few times um Ryan as sing it
ases A Credence tribute band and they
play the Char like a couple of times a
year and it's always like wall toall

(01:41:27):
people crammed in there you know hot and
sweaty and great sounding room just that
like yeah it is so it's still the old
school Aussie Pub experience right
absolutely it's a great one yeah dude
I'm just seeing the time I know you got
some teaching to do so I better let you
go been awesome chatting you bro um I'm

(01:41:48):
sure we'll bump into each other along
the
way guitar shows or something um so
don't be a stranger mate come and say
hello if we do see you absolutely
likewise mate thanks for having me and
to everybody who tuned into to the to
the live stream this was a pleasure just
a great got I've got my audience over
here and they're all very appreciative
as well so than Le and uh looking at my

(01:42:10):
controller which is the button I hit to
close all this this one right here
thanks people CIA
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#84 LEON TODD | YOUTUBE | RAGDOLL

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