Luke Miller
Denver, CO
Lotus www.lotusvibes.com
Luke The Knife (DJ/Produce/Remix) soundcloud.com/luketheknife
Photo by Mike Ryan
How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?
I’ve been a professional musician for 12 years. I’ve been a musician for about 20 years. I took piano lessons as a kid, but I consider my true origin as a musician when I started teaching myself guitar freshman year of high school. That’s when my passion for music really took off and I began writing original material.
Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?
My first band in high school was a ska band. I wrote songs and did horn arrangements for the group. We were influenced by mainly 2nd and 3rd wave ska: groups like The Skatalites, The Specials, Voodoo Glow Skulls, New York Ska Jazz Ensemble, and some of the swing revival bands of the time.
Then, in college, I got heavily into jambands like Phish, Medeski Martin & Wood, The Slip and electronic music mostly coming out of the UK, groups like Underworld, The Orb, St. Germain, and Boards of Canada.
Presently I’m intrigued by the masterminds of the hook, melodies/rhythms/etc. that get stuck in your head. People that fall into that box for me are Max Martin, Pharrell, Dr. Luke, Kevin Parker. Maybe not the sound of their songs exactly, but the tools they use to make the songs sticky.
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?
Initially I was drawn to pedals to try to emulate the electronic sounds I was hearing on records of the above mentioned artists. And before I started playing keyboards with Lotus I would also try to sound like an organ with the Tube Rotosphere. The wah-pedal was also crucial to the Lotus sound. I remember at one point we had 3 wah’s going simultaneously on 2 guitars and the bass. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was definitely too much of a good thing.
With Lotus being mainly an instrumental band we use pedals to give each song a slightly different timbre. And being a band that improvises we use pedals to help open up different tonal options during jams. Going from a jazzy sound to a fuzzy post-rock rocker, or going from airy chords to a prickly low sound with the Prunes and Custard.
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):
I go into an EHX Hum Debugger first because I hot-rodded the pickups on my Gibson ES-135. That cleans it up a little, especially if I’m on the neck or bridge pickup. The signal passes through an Analog Man Bi-compressor before going into the pedal switcher. That feeds out to a Clyde McCoy wah, Modded Tube Screamer, Crowther Audio Prunes and Custard, VooDoo Lab SuperFuzz, Fuchs Plush Reverb, EHX Deluxe Memory Man, Diamond Memory Lane Jr Delay, and VooDoo Lab Tremolo. Finally it goes to an Ernie Ball Volume pedal and out through an EHX Holy Grail Neo Reverb. The Holy Grail is always on as the default Reverb and I use the Fuchs Reverb for a big hall sound.
My main amp is a custom built 30 watt tube amp. It doesn’t have any reverb or tremolo built in, so I do that all on the pedal board.
Favorite type of pedal (drive, delay, fuzz, etc. – more than one answer is always acceptable!):
The wah pedal is my favorite. I love playing rhythm guitar and using a wah can really bring out those in-between articulations in the rhythm. And the kinetic aspect of moving your foot while moving your fingers and hands is great.
You’re stranded on a desert island – which three (3) of the following do you want to have?
Instruments: I’d have my classical guitar. I majored in classical guitar in college, and if I’m playing by myself nothing beats the sound and feel of the nylon strings.
Amps: Pignose, so I could rock out until the batteries died.
Pedals: Probably a heavy pedal like the Volume Pedal that I could use to bash open coconuts.
What’s up next for you/your band(s)?
Lotus is touring in support of our new album “Eat the Light”. Then in the Winter we’ll be touring the whole country. Luke the Knife has some upcoming gigs in Colorado.
The Klon hype: Love it or Hate it?
I’ve never gotten a chance to play through one. But if Nels Cline swears by it then I’d say Love. He’s brought me close to tears with his sound at a couple different Wilco shows.
Thanks so much to Luke for taking the time to answer some questions! Make sure to go check out www.lotusvibes.com, and check the tour page to see when Lotus is headed to a town near you! Cheers!
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