Behold, the loudest photo of the year.
In September, having just released their punishing sophomore platter Atonement – “packs a lot of ‘tone,'” opined the Chronicle in a lead review by yours truly (see “PL-ATX List,” Music, Oct. 16) – dynamic punk trio Exhalants amassed in their North Austin practice space and maxed out their amplifiers. With one blaring note, a clamp light rattled off a shelf and every body, bone, and cell shook. Amidst the punishing volume, we took in a few delivery system details.
“We haven’t owned a tube amp that we didn’t blow up in a week or two,” bassist/engineer Bill Indelicato explains of Exhalants’ devotion to solid state amplification. Guitarist/throat Steve Pike derives wattage from two trusty Sunn Concert Lead heads as well as a Sunn Coliseum 880. Indelicato, meanwhile, plugs into a Traynor TS-140 with additional juice from a power amp.
In place of a traditional crash cymbal, Tommy Rabon uses a 20-inch ride, then another extra large 24-incher for rhythms. “Two rides is a darker wash with heavier sustain, especially for the parts that are noisy and shoegaze-y,” he says. Too, his hi-hats switch out for 16-inch crash cymbals, giving the drums an even deeper sound. The cutting snare sound? Pearl Forum Series tuned extra high.
Pike runs two Marshall JCM 900 1960A cabinets, which he deems “cheap and loud.” “If you blow one you can find one anywhere for $200, which is the philosophy behind everything we use,” adds Indelicato, who plays through an Ampeg 8×10. Pike, meanwhile, handcrafted his bottom cabs, a sturdier take on Marshall 1960Bs, with Austin speaker hellions Worshiper Cabinets: “They’re loud and mean, and they sound good.”
Indelicato’s trebly, clanky, aggressive sound fires from a Seventies Travis Bean TB2000. He values its durability, with an aluminum neck running through the body like a beam.
Pike’s wrathful guitar work emanates out of a dismembered Fender Jazzmaster he outfitted with P-90 pickups and an aluminum neck made by Robot Graves Industries.
To carry the same sonic toolbox, Pike and Indelicato amalgamated their pedalboards. Among the dual-threats: a Strymon El Capistan digital tape echo – heard all over Atonement‘s spacier parts – and a BlueBeard Fuzz by Sanford & Sonny, which Pike calls, “One of the best fuzz pedals I’ve ever played on. It’s basically a Big Muff on steroids.”
This article appears in November 6 • 2020.