(OT) RIP Steve Albini

[StressStrain]

Sad to see this. Big Black was hugely influential on my music listening.

As stated earlier:
Kerosene around. Nothing to do.

[GOTHBROOKS]

god tier prank.

[StressStrain]

Originally Posted by GOTHBROOKS

god tier prank.

that is brilliant

[KJMUNC]

Awesome post by Nirvana.....the original letter from Steve to the band outlining his thoughts on working with him.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84897522981392

[boxhandler]

Originally Posted by KJMUNC

Awesome post by Nirvana.....the original letter from Steve to the band outlining his thoughts on working with him.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84897522981392

Perfect.

[cash05458]

My old band used to play with Big Black all the time and I am friends with those folks. I am sure Bob Weston is gutted as well as those two worked with one another for decades. Steve was a very good guy...did great stuff for folks musically of course. But incredibly intelligent fellow and funny as hell.

If you want a good laugh, give this a listen. Albini calling Evan Dando and pretending to be Madonna's manager...Evan being as vain as he is falls for it hook line and sinker. This is classic Steve stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfviKQYfmJI

[StressStrain]

Originally Posted by cash05458

My old band used to play with Big Black all the time and I am friends with those folks. I am sure Bob Weston is gutted as well as those two worked with one another for decades. Steve was a very good guy...did great stuff for folks musically of course. But incredibly intelligent fellow and funny as hell.

If you want a good laugh, give this a listen. Albini calling Evan Dando and pretending to be Madonna's manager...Evan being as vain as he is falls for it hook line and sinker. This is classic Steve stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfviKQYfmJI

I'm a huge fan of Big Black. Thanks for the links.

What was your band?

[cash05458]

Originally Posted by StressStrain

I'm a huge fan of Big Black. Thanks for the links.

What was your band?

I was in a group called Volcano Suns...when I left Bob Weston replaced me and when they broke up, Bob moved to Chicago to do Shellac and the studio with Steve...

[GonaSovereign]

Originally Posted by cash05458

I was in a group called Volcano Suns...when I left Bob Weston replaced me and when they broke up, Bob moved to Chicago to do Shellac and the studio with Steve...

I listened to plenty of Volcano Suns, on the recommendation of Michael Stipe IIRC.
Very cool.

[don'TreadOnMe]

Originally Posted by cash05458

I was in a group called Volcano Suns...when I left Bob Weston replaced me and when they broke up, Bob moved to Chicago to do Shellac and the studio with Steve...

All-Night Lotus Party was heavily played in my circles back in the day.
Thanks! And I really appreciate you sharing some Albini memories <3

[redir]

As a guitar player myself I remember the first time I heard Big Black I was blown away with his guitar sound. I've never heard anything like it since either. RIP

[StressStrain]

Originally Posted by redir

As a guitar player myself I remember the first time I heard Big Black I was blown away with his guitar sound. I've never heard anything like it since either. RIP

This. Such a unique and abrasive sound. Matched his personality.

I heard Big Black first around 1987 at a church bible school. No, the church was not into noise rock but one of my friends there was and he said 'hey you gotta hear this'. At the time I was into commercial metal like Metallica and Slayer so noise rock and the DIY scene were new to me.

My outlook on music was changed that day. What a band and what a person.

[EB]

Originally Posted by redir

As a guitar player myself I remember the first time I heard Big Black I was blown away with his guitar sound. I've never heard anything like it since either. RIP

Have you ever heard the first Gang of Four album? Steve borrowed very heavily from Andy Gill, something he was the first to acknowledge. Gill was really the pioneer of that dry, scratchy cheap transistor amp tone that Big Black then blew up 10x.

Gill was also a huge influence on The Edge who took that same tone and softened it and drenched it with echo - sort of the yin to Albini’s yang.

Definitely seek out that Gang of Four album if you’ve not heard it.

[redir]

Originally Posted by EB

Have you ever heard the first Gang of Four album? Steve borrowed very heavily from Andy Gill, something he was the first to acknowledge. Gill was really the pioneer of that dry, scratchy cheap transistor amp tone that Big Black then blew up 10x.

Gill was also a huge influence on The Edge who took that same tone and softened it and drenched it with echo - sort of the yin to Albini’s yang.

Definitely seek out that Gang of Four album if you’ve not heard it.

I have not but just checking it out I can totally hear what you mean.

I remember an interview I saw with Albini a long time ago when asked what effects he was using in Big Black and he said it was just his guitar into an amp. I think he said his guitar was unique, not a Strat or Paul, but something different with out of phase wiring or something like that. I don't remember what amp but nonetheless I was like.. What? How?

[cash05458]

I can't remember exactly what Steve used to play in Big Black...tho I think he did have a Fender Lead for some of the stuff...kinda an overlooked guitar via fenders...more interesting than something say than strats or certainly telecasters (which Durango played) depending on what you were trying to get. I say that as well soundwise it worked via those songs via the pickup setup which was fairly quirky on those things...it had a single bridge position 3 way split switch on it...meaning you could split the humbuckers into one being two coiled and jump the other down to a single coil reading and bounce those around in different ways if that makes sense...you could mess with the setup via wiring via that as well to screw with the sound and what you are choosing to run it thru etc... but pretty sure he had an effect pedal or two...no big board of the damn things like you see now but surely some sort of distortion box and I think linked to a chorus pedal for a bit more ringing and such via the distortion sound but to keep it cleaner... which is a way of bypassing using too much reverb for that effect...but it's been a very long time. The amps were always tubes, not solid state of course...tho I can't remember much of which...ampegs pop into my head from visual memory but that could be wrong...soundwise tho I bet Traynor stuff to be honest...one thing I do remember was the damn drum machine, Roland, constantly breaking down in shows...that happened a lot...it was great for the studio but those things used to be incredibly touchy when playing live...I know most of the Shellac stuff is done on one of those Travis Bean alu. models for that shimmering metallic affect...