Fuzz battle!

Two Jimis and a Big Muff! Mix well and turn up loud.
I wish I could say that I own all these pedals, but one of the Jimis was just visiting from HotBox Studios. So I thought I'd A/B the fuzzes to see how they fared, with and without the Univibe.

Turned up on full fuzz, the Dunlop Hendrix Tribute Fuzz Face is tight and mean, but it really cleans up well when you back off the volume on your guitar. A really, really handy feature. I tried turning the fuzz control down a little but it just wasn't as much fun for me - leave it on full!
And it absolutely sings with its sibling, the Hendrix Tribute Univibe, as you would expect, since they are part of the same series. (Now I need to get my hands on the Tribute wah and Octavio!)

The Big Muff doesn't clean up so well, but basically it says "why the hell do you want to clean up? I am made to destroy ears!"
This it does very well. It has a massive sweep on the tone control, in fact it reminds me of a wah going through its travel rather than a traditional tone pot. ie. it seems to be a sweepable frequency boost rather than a treble bleed. I don't know if that is true, or even if it makes any sense. I work at TurkbyTone Rekkids, not Electro-Harmonix...
Anyway, I thought the Muff was broken for a while - I couldn't get much volume out of it, and it seemed weak and muffled. Today I realised it was just because I had the Sustain turned down. Doh! It doesn't mean sustain, it means Drive! Suddenly that chainsaw buzz was back, and with heaps of volume and edge.
I'd like it to spit a bit more, I like the way you can dial that in on the Red Witch Fuzz God. But apart from that, I'm very happy with its brutish, antisocial grind.

Both of these pedals play well with the Univibe, always sharing their toys and food. Wait, no, I mean, if you pair them with the Univibe they sound awesome. My two favourite uses are: having the Univibe speed set slow with the Vibe button out, for long, drawn-out, feedbacky chords and notes; or setting it fast with the Vibe button engaged, for very weird, disorientating bursts of single notes.

Here's a badly-recorded video clip of the shootout:

Thanks to Ajax MacDeth for the loan of the Fuzz Face (I'm likely to return it any day now...)

Oh, and here's a clip showing the different tones you can get from the Big Muff:

Happy New Year everybody. Next year you'll get another heaping helping of new Bing Turkby Ensemble songs and maybe even a gig or two - imagine that! Until then, check out the ongoing archival project at http://turkby.bandcamp.com - the latest update is Sick Chutney from the futuristic year 2000.

Fun in the sun

Some keen thumb-dancing competitors were out at the Roslyn REACH community day on Saturday - check out that thumb-dancing action!
They were so good that I gave away TWO rare and fabulous vinyl rekkids because I couldn't decide on just one winner.
Someone got a lovely Englebert Humperdinck best of, and someone else walked away with an enviable Mrs Mills honky-tonk pianner album.

Thanks to Leanna of the local constabulary for getting the day together, and thanks to Fraser and Hugh of Access Manawatu who made sure that the Bing Turkby Ensemble sounded awesome.

We have more outdoorsy gig dates coming up in the new year, one in the Square (Fri March 1st) and one in the Esplanade (Sun Mar 3rd), so practice up your thumb-dancing and you too could be a winner!

One of the songs that got an outing on Saturday was our ode to Palmerston North - Definitely 4th - check it out here. And if you hear someone being rude about Palmy you can sing that at them. That should shut them up.

Outvanned and Outgunned, plus Swampfest photos

They could have parked anywhere, but oh no, they had to prove that their van was bigger than mine!

Anyway, as promised, here are a few photos from the recent SwampFest show, with thanks to Craig Black who I haven't bothered asking if I can use them. Heh heh...

First up, a lesson in accessorising:

If Ken from the Screaming Orgasms is seeing this, see how many of your old effects pedals you can spot on my board! Yep, early 80's Japanese Boss CE-2 and Ibanez compressor. I treasure them, and abuse them wildly.

Secondly,  a hand-raising moment during the show. Probably someone had just yelled out "who wants cake?" MacDeth and Slapskins McBOOOm are too professional to stop for cake mid-song. They have cake waiting offstage because they're more organised than I am.

Thirdly and final-tastically, here's a shot of MacDeth and McBOOOm performing the National Anthem-a-Tronica intro segment. At this time I was busy wandering around amongst the audience yelling silly crap. You can't quite see McBOOOm's Monotron, but check out the ancient-school Omnichord that MacDeth is fingering!

Thank you for your attention. Now I must go and listen to a Stray Cats album I rediscovered when rearranging my vinyl rekkids recently. Ubangi Stomp drives me Ubangi wild!

SwampFest 2012 debrief

What an epic event at The Stomach last night! I always love playing at The Tum for several reasons, some of which are: you reach a different crowd than at a pub because it's All Ages; the sound system is top-notch; the staff are blimmin' awesome; I get to see new bands; and the shows are generally earlier, so I have time afterwards for a cup of tea and a read before bed. (That's Rock'n'roll Survival Tip #39, yours for free today from TurkbyTone Rekkids!)
I hope to have some photos soon, but in the meantime, you'll just have to picture this in your brainpan.
The BTE open the show (yay!) As usual, I talk quite a lot and forget how my own songs go. My newly-minted cardboard crown won't stay on my head properly so I let people in the audience wear it. Someone wins a damn fine crappy vinyl album with my writing on the front in Vivid marker. MacDeth and McBOOOm rock mightily, like towering mounds of basalt and dinosaur bones.
Because I talk too much crap, we have to cut the last two songs from our setlist, which means I forget to do the now-obligatory lolly scramble.
In the spirit of mentoring the younglings (to steal a phrase from Star Wars), I suggest that the next band, the Impediments, might like to do a lolly scramble with the lollies I had prepared earlier. It puts a warm glow in me cockles to see them gleefully take up the mantle.
Black Chrome, The Impediments and Reclusia all rock hard, and add up to a nicely eclectic evening.
I collect the BTE cardboard merch stand - the night's takings come to a massive $0. I bank this on the way home, filling out receipts for Jim Keltnenhausen to audit in the morning.
Then it's home for a Rooibus tea, a shaz, a little light reading (guitar magazine reviewing gear that I can't afford), and then bed, complete with cat trying to sleep on my neck.

It's the best! It's the best! It's the best! Swampfest!

Until I have some photos, I'll put a clip of the BTE playing at Medusa in Wellington, which was a great gig too, but could have been more sweaty...

Bent Horseshoe talent competition

I think everyone should have a go at making music, and not feel self-conscious about it. That means I hate the idea of making music into a competition, and saying Band X is "better" than Band G. I think there are many things that make a musical experience enjoyable, and it's not always about who's technically the best player.

So why, you ask, am I involved in the music competition at the Bent Horsehoe on Friday the 7th?
Has Bing turned into a complete hypocrite? Has he sold out?
Nope, don't worry, I'm certainly not doing it for money!
And I haven't changed my opinion about music not being a competition. After talking with Steve, the guy who runs the Bent Horseshoe, it became clear that it's purely a vehicle for encouraging young talent to emerge.
He wants to get some younger people out to the venue (which is a fantastic venue, by the way - have a look at http://www.benthorseshoe.co.nz to see where they are located, and join their email list to see the great bands that play there).
The idea is to offer some of the young acts opening slots for more established bands. In short, he wants to grow the local scene, which is something I fully endorse.
Plus, I get to dress up and make stupid comments.
That's got to be worth it.

Also, if I see an act that's a bit ragged, and they aren't afraid to make a complete fool of themselves, then I'll have found a great band for the Bing Turkby Ensemble to do gigs with!
I guess that must be why Steve asked me to help out, it's certainly not because I know 5 different modal scales and can sing harmony...

So if you're free on Friday the 7th of September, come along and you should see the following things: 1) a great venue; 2) some entertaining young acts; 3) an eejit (me) saying silly crap; and 4) if you're early enough, a great view out over Horseshoe Bend (which is also an excellent swimming spot in Summer).

Swampfest fever

Wow, it's going to be a bigger, madder, more music-y Swampfest than ever before, come September this year in good ol' Palmy North, New Zealand!
The Bing Turkby Ensemble has been invited by the King of Palmy to do a special performance, so Jim K is racking his pea-sized brains for something amazing for us to do that will make everyone go 'hey!" or at least "oh... yeah..."
It may or may not involve some new toys Bing has been buying, including things that go "wee--ooo-wooop' and 'cling, clang, garooo' and stuff like that. Can't give you too many more details sorry.
But maybe he'll also this thing in the picture below, which goes 'wop-a-wow-wow-wakka':

What else has the Ensemble been up to? Just percolating a few ideas (translation: not much, thanks.)

We're in discussion with a pretty fancy company about getting a video made for the song No Indication, which would be rather cool. I won't mention any names yet, in case they decide it would do their brand irreparable damage to be associated with Bing Turkby. But the video concept has already been presented at a T-Tone Rekkids board meeting and everyone's stoked!
By the way, the album "Summon Forth the Mangonel" is still free to download at turkby.bandcamp.com. It's actually listed as 'pay what you want', so you can just type in zero if you like, or if you feel like paying fifty bucks, that's cool too.

Bing has been helping to organise a monthly 'Tuesday Bluesday' at Roslyn Library, and the last performance was by Harry Lilley and Rob Thorne - check their stuff out at http://thechildrenofmaui.bandcamp.com It's psychedelic dolphin music!

The Backless Special strikes again

Following a successful exhibition of the TurkbyTone Mach III Custom Backless Special guitar at the Palmerston North City Library during May (Kiwi Music Month), this precious instrument is now back under lock and key. No, wait, it's just under lock actually. It would be stupid to leave the key right next to the lock, wouldn't it?
Potential upcoming exhibitions may or may not include a brief showing at Medusa Bar in Wellington tonight (Friday June 1st) when the Bing Turkby Ensemble play at the Carnival Of Sin!
There's a stonkingly eclectic lineup of bands for this one, it should be a blast.
So Jim Keltnenhausen has hauled on his managerial robes and suggested that the Backless Special make an appearance, completely ignoring the fact that it can't stay in tune and is horrible to play.
When I pointed this out to Jim he gave one of his trademark smirks (TM) and said "who's gonna notice any difference?", which I understood to be a remark about the paucity of my guitaring chops, skills and technique.
If anyone would like to prove their powerful prowess on the Backless Special, as you can see from the photo above, you can still buy a tribute model from the Rockshop for a mere $1699.
Or if you have an old broken guitar, you could make one yourself for free!

Details for the Carnival of sin here.

Momentum

Einstein once said "energy is neither created nor destroyed, it's just, like, you know, around the place, and stuff." So true, right?

We at TurkbyTone Rekkids HQ have just emerged from a lengthy period of not doing much at all, and are discovering that once you get the band together, that ol' energy is still there!

So we've asked Jim K to suss out some gigs for us, so that we can get out and share that energy with people.

Until we get to your house, have a listen to this: Definitely 4th (YouTube clip)

In unrelated news, I have designed a new TurkbyTone Mach IV multi-angle guitar speaker cabinet. I just need to employ a couple of mad scientists to make it a reality. It's going to be freakin' amazing! It'll have one speaker pointing forward so that the audience can hear my precise, soulful and slightly cliched guitar runs, and another speaker pointing up at my earhole so I can hear that stuff too. It will possibly be made out of cardboard - a lightweight but acoustically sound material - and the speakers will be of carbosiliconundunum or some other space-age substance.

Bam! It's out there. Welcome to the future, acolytes of Turkbyism!

Worst album ever? - you be the judge!

"Summon Forth the Mangonel" by the Bing Turkby Ensemble just had a review from NZ Musician, and it took a beating!

Apart from a couple of mistakes ("Slapskins" has become "Slapsticks"), the review is well-written – the guy has some good lines.

So, the reviewer sure didn't like it very much, but is it the worst album you've ever heard?

We've made it free to download, so you can judge for yourself.

Read the review here:

http://www.nzmusician.co.nz/index.php/pi_pageid/10/pi_albumid/1875

Download or listen to the album here:

http://turkby.bandcamp.com/album/summon-forth-the-mangonel

Donate money to the SPCA here (they do good work)

http://rnzspca.org.nz/rnzspca-shop/make-a-donation