Mike Gantzer
Guitarist for Aqueous
Buffalo, NY
https://aqueousband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/aqueousband/
How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?
Incidentally, when I first started playing music was in the 3rd grade with the standard issue recorder they give out to everyone, and i HATED it. haha I picked up trumpet for awhile, but I recall being sort of turned off with the rigidity of the middle school band scenario (although I loved jazz band, because it introduced me to the concept of improvising), and eventually turned my sights on my Dad’s guitar that was sitting in a closet. I used to just take the thing out and put it on my lap and strum away at the strings with a penny for literally hours; it was fascinating, almost hypnotic or something- I had a breakthrough when I realized that you could press down a fret and have it make a noise- one of those awesome “holy shit” moments. Funny enough, I also thought my dad would be mad at me for playing his nice guitar (probably with greasy pizza/dorito’s covered fingers haha) but when he found out he was super psyched, and for my coming (12th) birthday that year, he got me one of those all in one strat copy box kits with the little amp and all that- from there it was ON, I’ve played nearly every day since. So to answer your question, I’ve been playing guitar for about…twelve years now, wow!
Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?
Interestingly enough, being around that age of 12 or 13, some of my earliest “guitar” based influences were punk and ska bands (Bad Religion, Green Day, Catch 22, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, etc.), which later kind of served my playing in that it set a foundation for me having a stronger right hand, and it pushed me to have concise and more authoritative rhythmic sensibilities once I applied some of those techniques from those genres into funk, rock and roll, etc. The first two years I played guitar, I had no idea that you could even upstroke haha everything was downpicked, even the ska-reggae stuff, so my world burst open when I learned about alternate picking. From there, around 15-16, the biggest and most important musical journey I took was with Pink Floyd. David Gilmour is, to this day, likely my favorite guitarist. So emotional, particular, slow and painful and beautiful. Also, just from a songwriting standpoint, they (PF) taught me to write with honesty, meaning, and conviction, and to try to tap into emotional aspects of life without being too obvious or over the top; a great musical lesson indeed.
From there, some of the other classic stuff, Hendrix‘s albums, The Doors, Zeppelin, Jeff Beck (Blow by Blow / Wired in particular) etc, and then I found out about jambands like Phish, moe., and Umphrey’s McGee. With moe. and Umph, it was a lesson in how to build a dynamic and interesting sound with two guitar players; how to listen, and compliment/contrast what the other was doing, which became critical, as I’ve been playing with the same group since I was about 15 and share my guitar duties with another guitarist (Dave Loss) full time – it’s always been our goal to figure out how to work as a unit and make it sound like one powerful guitar player instead of two really separate ones – I love the teamwork aspect to that, and moe. and Umphrey’s were my first live concerts where I saw that happening in front of my face. As for Phish, Trey Anastasio, (like Gilmour) was one of the first guys I heard that got beautiful sustain out of his guitar, and used it in a musical context, and I was blown away by that. Also, there’s just so much damn theory and musical intellect in their compositions, and I love the freedom that they’ve always had to create with out stylistic or genre-based borders.
After a few years obsessing with the jam scene and taking notes, my focus moved all over the map, I got super into hip-hop (Del the Funkee Homosapien, Jurassic 5, Mos Def/Talib Kweli, Nas, and more recently Kendrick Lamar, Anderson Paak, etc), and just a whole slew of other stuff; Muse, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers (a lot of the funkier rhythmic based Strat players were huge for me), Lettuce, Queens of The Stone Age, Incubus (talk about great/creative pedal use), Rubblebucket, Ween, Snarky Puppy, all kinds of stuff! I think all of that leaks in creatively for me as I get super deep into some of these artists’ albums or catalogs or whatever. I also have a soft spot for a lot of the 90’s alt and pop rock (Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Weezer, Soundgarden, etc.) and also John Mayer. Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of our contemporaries in the jam scene, Rob from Dopapod is one of my favorite guitarists, and I dig Papadosio‘s song writing and creativity. Also, Derek Trucks is huge for me too, I love slide and have been incorporating more and more of it, and he’s of course an incredible influence. There’s probably like 20 other critical ones that I’m spacing on right now haha. AND STEELY DAN, so much! See? I knew i’d forget one of the big ones!
What drew you to using pedals initially? Have you been using them throughout your playing career? How have pedals helped to shape your sound, or influence the style that you’ve created?
I think once I heard David Gilmour’s tone with delays, choruses, compressors, etc, that was the first player that made me think “HOW CAN I DO THAT?” How can I make my Strat sustain, sing even, and so I think that was kind of the jump off point for me as far as buying and experimenting with pedals – I think I got a Boss Delay first, and probably a Tubescreamer ’cause I was trying to emulate Trey back then haha. From there, I actually got SUPER into pedals, and always looked at them as more crayons in my crayon box to paint the most creative but tasteful picture when improvising and writing, ya know? I feel like I’m definitely not one of the ‘guitar player guitar players’ so to speak, so I really never felt any qualms about being a pedal guy, so long as I wasn’t known as “the dude with the insert pedal he overuses here guy” haha. For me, much of my guitar experience has also been wrapped around songwriting and composition, and I think once the raw idea of a song is mapped out, the pedals can help to create a more interesting and dynamic thing for people to catch on or pick up, and I like the concept of someone listening and saying “how the fuck did he do that” or “what in the world was that”, which can certainly be achieved in the right context with the right pedal combination. I think the only time I went overboard was when I first got the phase 90 when I was 16, I think I used it for like 80% of what I was playing cause’ it sounded so fucking cool haha. But once I got the concept of being refined with their placement and attempting to be purposeful and artistic with it, effects definitely became a huge foundation of my guitar sound, although not in an overwhelming sense – like Mike Einziger (from Incubus) is specifically known for his pedal use and effects/creativity, whereas I use them often, but it’s not necessarily something people would directly take away from seeing an Aqueous show, maybe some of the guitar folks in the audience would notice more haha.
What’s your current setup look like? Take us through your pedal rig (feel free to include amps and instruments as well if you’d like):
GUITAR: I’m using my number one ol’ reliable: a 2007 Montego Black Deluxe American Stratocaster (HSS). It’s a beautiful guitar, and is sort of a “jack of all trades” machine, but still maintains those classic Strat tones on the neck and middle pickups- it also has that “S1” system to run the pickups in series, so you can get some definitively more humbucker-y tones, but I tend to run it without that most of the time. Everything is stock and has been since I got it about 6-7 years ago, although I’ve been looking at a humbucker alternative, possibly a Lollar Imperial (Jimmy Herring is a big influence recently). I also have some unique designs on the body of the guitar that were done by a local graphic artist named Liz Bierbrauer .
AMP: My amp is a 1984 “Son Of Boogie” Mesa Boogie combo, it’s kind of like a Fender Bassman but with more balls and punch, it’s a little guy but it’s loud and HEAVY haha. She cuts through the mix beautifully, but without biting your head off, it’s all very smooth but authoritative. I run it clean with just a little breakup based on right hand dynamics.
PEDALS: Boss Tuner > Vox Wah > Digitech Whammy > Maxon AF9 Auto Filter > Rothwell Love Squeeze Compressor > Bass Big Muff > MXR Distortion III > Moog Clean Boost > Modded Line 6 MM4 Modulation > TC Electronics H.O.F Mini Reverb > Boss DD-7 Delay.
Also, my pedal board has some cool “Super Mario Bros” based art design from a local Buffalo artist named Paul Squall.
The Maxon Auto Filter I use for both subtle and in your face rhythmic applications, I do a lot of plucking with the thumb and index finger to get almost hip-hoppy sounds a lot, and the filter can accent that technique nicely. That Rothwell Compressor is amazing (especially for a strat)on the clean sounds (I also use it for sustain when i’m going for that all-out lead sound)- it’s really transparent and just helps to give some more clarity and punch without being “squished” so to speak. I stole the Bass Big Muff from our bass player haha, it doesn’t have a crazy midscoop which is nice actually, I do a lot of neck pickup “Queens of The Stone Age” type riffs with it, and can also get that Gilmour lead sound with that and the right analog delay setting/reverb combo on the middle pickup of the Strat. You can definitely get a sort of Hendrix-like sound when you throw a Uni-Vibe and wah on it – although I will say I don’t use the fuzz a TON – mainly when my other guitarist is doing keyboard stuff cause it’s always a little tough to blend two guitars when one of them is fuzz-soaked haha.
The MXR Distortion III has been my go to for YEARS for a basic OD sound- I never would’ve guessed that’d be the one, but it’s sort of tube screamer-esque with less bass and more chime. It works nicely for all kinds of applications, but I feel like calling it a “distortion pedal” isn’t totally accurate, it’s definitely tamer and sweeter and falls more into the overdrive category. It’s super transparent as well, and cuts nicely without being harsh. I use the Moog Boost for solos or clean leads or to give some extra life to other mod-based effects depending on the scenario. I got the H.O.F mini reverb because my Mesa doesn’t have built in reverb; it has that interesting “tone print” feature where you can “beam” in tones via an app on your phone: I would normally not dig something like that, I like things simple and straight up, and I was looking for just a subtle verb to be on all the time but not be overwhelming, and that app is surprisingly efficient and easy! Reverb is awesome, but in a lot of rooms, if you use too much you don’t cut through the mix the same way, so I always go subtle with it for the most part. Lastly, with the Boss DD-7 (which is incidentally housed in a DD-3 casing haha), I use multiple settings on there for different applications, and ideally will pick up another soon- 80% of the time I use the “analog” setting on there for just a resonant, spacious but not over the top delay sound for leads and occasional tap-tempo rhythmic sections, but there’s also this weird almost Eric Johnson-y delay sound that I use for volume swells and trippy sections. There’s also a nice slap back in there for the maybe FOUR country licks I know haha and there’s some cool reverse and looping options- it’s a rad pedal for sure.
Favorite type of pedal (drive, delay, fuzz, etc. – more than one answer is always acceptable!):
I’d have to say just a quality overdrive sound would be favorite, and it’d be a tie between a phaser (Phase 90 or Uni-Vibe) and delay, that’s a tough one!
You’re stranded on a desert island – which three (3) of the following do you want to have?
Typically my “desert island” is a sit in with another band, and you don’t want to be the guy with the giant pedal board if you can avoid it haha. So often times I’ll go with the Distortion III, the Boss Delay, and that Rothwell compressor – those are the main cornerstones of my tone where pedals are concerned, so I’d take those! And I’ve been in love with my Strat since I got it, so I’d take that and the Mesa for sure.
What’s up next for you/Aqueous?
We’re just getting into festival season now, so i’m really looking forward to playing some of these lineups and getting to hang with some of our musician friends in the circuit; We’ve got a really nice lineup of festivals (Summer Camp Music Festival, Electric Forest, Peach Music Festival, Buffalove, Paradise Music Festival, Mad Tea Party Jam, etc. etc) so that’ll be our focus for the summer, and we’ll jump back into normal club touring in the fall. We’re also looking at booking studio time in the early summer to record a new EP of some of the most recently written tunes- I absolutely love studio work, so i’m psyched to get back in there with the guys and do our thing.
The Klon hype: Love it or Hate it?
Actually, I had the opportunity to play one once, and it was cool for sure, but did I personally hear a two thousand dollar difference between that one and my 80 dollar overdrive pedal? Not reallllllly haha. But more power to the cats that have em and make em sound awesome!
Any last comments, promos or anything you’d like to talk about?
Not really, I’d just encourage and guitarists or people in general reading this to check out our album “Cycles”, and maybe hop onto our YouTube channel and check out some of the new live videos we put out, lots of neat guitar playing sounds, dual leads etc, and that album has a loose concept and flows throughout ’til the end. It’s sort of a prog/rock/groove album and I think there’s something on there for everyone. Thanks guys!
Thanks so much to Mike for taking the time to answer some questions!
Make sure to go check out https://aqueousband.com/, cheers!
GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES, CONTEST INFO, SEE OUR LATEST DEMO VIDEOS AND MORE:
