Hey Sef – it’s been a couple years since we spoke, what have you been up to?
Hi Mike! First of all, I’m happy and grateful to chat with you! Yes, it’s been a while. The last interview we did was in 2017! A lot of things happened since then! My bandmates and I went to Tangier, Morocco to work on Alex (Your Favorite Enemies’ frontman) solo project, we went all across Europe to perform his album “Windows in the Sky”, I started my solo project as well, and among all those amazing adventures, I explored a lot of new crazy gear.
You were playing and touring with Your Favorite Enemies last time we chatted – it seems like you’re involved with more groups now, yes?
Yes! I’m part of Alex’s solo project called Alex Henry Foster & The Long Shadows. When Alex’s father passed away a few years ago, Alex needed time for himself. So, the other band members of Your Favorite Enemies and myself decided to support him without any compromise. He went to Tangier, Morocco by himself for a while to live his own journey and when he invited us to join him, that’s what gave birth to the album “Windows in the Sky”! People need to understand that before being a band we’re like a family, so it was a privilege for us to walk by Alex’s side to translate into music this journey he was going through.
It’s also in Tangier that Alex challenged me to start my solo project, which then became the album Deconstruction. It’s also where I did my first solo performance. For a few years, I had been exploring this passion for electronic music. It brought me to unfold the marvelous world of the synthesizers! The sonic experiences I was living with the pedals, this journey of always drawing new landscapes with sounds, I could translate it as well with synthesizers!!! Dude, you should have seen my bandmates when I told them that I would need extra space on stage for my synths now! Their faces were saying: “Look at your footboard!!!”. It’s with the Mini Nova from Novation that I got expedited to the realm of synths for the first time! When I started to work with its modulation matrix, the idea of choosing a specific source to modulate a destination (as you know, the concept of the modular systems), I realized there were no limits to what I could do! All of this to say that my album Deconstruction is the fruit of this passion for electronic music without putting aside all the organic aspects of the guitar!
You’re doing the 600 TIMES DIGITAL TOUR right now. How’s that been going? I see you’re using some very experimental gear from some great companies – Chase Bliss Audio, Moog, Boss, Death By Audio…how has this gear changed your approach to pedals, or to music in general?
On my footboard, for the gear freaks, I have the Thermae, MOOD, and the Blooper from Chase Bliss Audio! This company comes up with such unique and brilliant concepts that always challenge me to break my sonic comfort! The sounds coming out from those pedals lead me and inspire me to take different directions. For example, the Thermae, as a delay pitch shifting, will create different harmonies that will open a door to alternate the harmonic content of the song I’m working on. The MOOD, as a micro looper, will give life to musical moments that will inspire me to play something that will interact with it. The Blooper, as a looper, can dramatically transform a simple phrase I’m recording giving a new direction I couldn’t expect!
I have the Subharmonicon from Moog. This sound/rhythmic generator is so powerful! It’s a semi-modular system, with two main oscillators, two subharmonic oscillators for each of those main oscillators, two sequencers with four rhythm generators. The subharmonic oscillators are subdivisions of the pitch from the main oscillators and the rhythm generators are subdivisions from the main tempo. All of this to say that it’s creating rich and unique chords moving through different polyrhythmic! I even plugged it into my pedalboard for a performance I did with the 600 Times Digital Tour (October 28, 2020).
The last thing I received from Boss is the SY-1000! It’s a guitar synthesizer that allows you to do everything, I mean everything you want! You have three instruments with the Normal signal in it that you can tweak in every possible way!!! I’ve used it for all the performances I did so far! At the same time, it introduced me to the divided pickup. This digital pickup you’re installing on your guitar will capture the signal individually for each of your strings and transmit the info to the GK 13 pins input of the SY-1000! It means you can apply different modulations independently for each of your guitar or bass strings!!!
Death By Audio has mastered the way to create insane but still beautiful sonic chaos (I have the Reverberation Machine, Total Sonic Annihilation 2, Evil Fuzz, and soon the ROOMS!). EarthQuaker Devices has such a unique way to turn simple effects into something “out of this world” (the pitch shifting from the Rainbow Machine, the reverb from the Afterneath, the Octave up and down from the Organizer)! So I guess it’s my way of saying how those effects are not only inspiring me to create music but there’s an interaction going on with them when I’m playing with my guitar or synth. For me, my pedalboard is an instrument by itself! Oh yeah, I forgot, I’m also using the PEAK synthesizer from Novation!
The name 600 TIMES has roots in what happened to George Floyd in May. How do you feel the racial climate has changed over the last 6 months, in the US and the world? How do you feel about musicians using their status to bring awareness to topics like this, and getting their listeners involved?
The reality in Canada where I’m based is far different from the US. We don’t have the same background, history. We’re not strangers to those realities but what shocked me with what happened with George Floyd was not only about racial issues, but how one can nurture so much hate to go as far as killing a man. Here in Canada, there’s a man that came out on Halloween night, dressed in medieval clothes and a sabre and killed 2 people at random and hurt 5 more. So I kind of feel like the hatred reality we’re being exposed to, whether it comes from racism, sexism, religion etc, is rooting itself very deeply. Also, following the results of our isolation reality, where each and everyone is facing its own self and humanity is slowly being diluted and foggy, leading some into serious distress, this is why I am doing those live moments basically, to gather, to share and build something positive and amazing.
Covid and the pandemic are obviously on everyone’s minds – how has it affected you personally, musically or otherwise? What do you see happening with music in the future? Is there anything positive to be taken away from this whole situation?
This digital tour is a great example. Performing and living all of those different musical moments in front of a camera without any interaction with people is kind of special to say the least. I miss the people. Playing live concerts opened doors to live so many beautiful, defining, sometimes liberating moments with the people. As a band, we didn’t stop any of our operations on our different digital platforms. We broadcasted several live concerts with Alex Henry Foster & the Long Shadows where we played all the songs from the album “Windows in the Sky” as well as new songs we crafted for those special moments. We also shared blogs, new projects we’re crafting ourselves (we’re doing our own merch, cutting our vinyls…), and kept in touch with the people writing to us on a daily basis. We’re living amazing moments with the people daily and I believe, when we’ll meet each other again, it will be the extension of what already took place during this intense and tragic period!
What’s next for you after the digital tour wraps up at the beginning of December? Any recording plans anytime soon?
We’re presently working on new music for Alex Henry Foster & The Long Shadows! The end of the first album has opened something so powerful and determinant that we’re all inspired and eager to unfold the next chapter! And who knows… there might be another solo album with excerpts of what I crafted on the “600 Times Digital Tour”? Who knows?
Thanks so much for talking with me again, looking forward to more upcoming online shows! Anything else you’d like to say to the effects pedal world?
First of all, thanks to you Mike for giving me the privilege to share this passion with you and all the community from Pedal of the Day! If you guys have questions or comments, you’re more than welcome to write to me on my Facebook page. It’s always freakin interesting to know your stories and your discoveries!
Thanks so much to Sef for taking the time to answer some questions! Be sure to read our first interview from a couple years back HERE, and follow him on all the socials!
Don’t miss Episode #6 of the “600 Times Digital Tour”: The Calming Vibrations of an Harmonic Distortion (CVHD), this Saturday morning at 10:00AM ET as well. Cheers!
Other interviews you might enjoy:
Jamie Stillman of EarthQuaker Devices
Joel Korte of Chase Bliss Audio
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