Hi, my name is Brian Moss.
I play guitar and sing in Spafford.
We are based out of Phoenix, Az and our website is www.spafford.net.
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How long have you been a musician? How did you get into it in the first place?
I have been a musician as long as I can remember. I grew up in northern New Jersey. My older brother and I, naturally, grew up competitive. He was bigger, faster and stronger at me at all of the sports we played together. So when we started playing instruments, I was determined to try to get better than him at the guitar and I stuck with it. I found it was less painful than a one on one hockey game with him. He kept playing too and is still the one of the best musicians I know; we were in a band together for a short while. Spafford even plays a few songs he has written and were excited to get the chance to play more!
Also, I moved a few times within the same town when I was younger. After one of my moves I met a neighbor, Eric who played drums, and him and I started our first band in 1995. I was only ten and Eric was probably 8. We came home right after school everyday for the next 7 years and jammed before our moms would come home from work. It’s all we did: Jam. Wrote a ton of songs. We recorded 3-4 albums in that time, too. One day they will resurface, haha. I’ve got tons of 4 track tapes as well, and my original Tascam MKII to play them! I remember just spending every chance I could get listening back to every session we recorded on my walkman and those old fuzzy headphones. I’m so glad we were able to capture those times. I was hooked on the process then and never looked back since.
Who have been some of your major musical influences, past or present?
All music has its role of being a major influence to me. I enjoy every style of music, sometimes I have to dig a little further to find the right artist for it though. I’ve had many music phases growing up: Silverchair, Less than Jake, Pennywise, Guns N’ Roses, KISS, Bob Marley, Allman Brothers, Frank Zappa, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Phish, Grateful Dead, Disco Biscuits, The New Deal, Josh Rouse, Jeff Buckley, Al Di Meola, Steve Kimock, Pat Metheny, Wes Montgomery. I think my close friends would agree that makes up my influence soup.
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 feel playing the electric guitar is a different instrument than acoustic guitar. Playing electric with some fuzz and delay is a different instrument than clean with some phase. It’s not a different “sound” as much as a completely different instrument for me to express myself. I can hit a different sound sometimes and my vision of the guitar will either expand or contract, leading me to either do more with less, or less with more. That’s why I enjoy playing improvisation so much. I live in the moment on stage, and sometimes my big feet hit a random set of effects or a setting not previously ever used, and I’ll just roll with it. I play TO the sound, not through it. I listen to what each effect wants to say and let it say it. Some effects really do suck, though, so beware!
How did Spafford come to be a band? Did you start off using a bunch of effects, or has that come to shape the band’s sound gradually?
I started off with primarily what I use today. Some overdrives, compression, delays, and wahs. Only later did I start to get into other pedals because Jordan (bass in Spafford) would gift me the ones he didn’t like anymore. So I would try a flanger, or an octave, or he even bought me the envelope pedal I still used today because he thought I needed it. Boy was he right! So over time I kept trying to find the ones that suited me best and thats pretty much where I’ve landed today. Ironically I’m really not a huge pedal guy rather than trying to find elements of my rig that give me the purest tone of my guitar.
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):
Currently my guitar is a custom Thomas Milana called “The Raven”. I usually play it through a Twin powering 2 EV 12Ls. I like no breakup at the amp. My pedalboard is two separate boards all connected to a Gigrig G2 switcher right at my feet. I use D’addario Micro connectors and cables for patching, D’addario 10-46 XL strings and Dunlop 1.5mm picks.
Favorite type of pedal (drive, delay, fuzz, etc. – more than one answer is always acceptable!):
My fave pedal is a tube screamer. Since I prefer no breakup at the amp, I use my Ts9 in my solos to get that little bit of crunch before I move on to stacking more overdrives. Just my guitar, the Ts9 and amp reverb sounds pretty to me.
You’re stranded on a desert island – which three (3) of the following do you want to have?
Instruments: The Raven, my Takamine P3MC, and my banjo
Amps: Mesa/Boogie Mark IV with 1 EV 12L. My 1969 Plush head with its two EV open back cab, and a Fender Pro Reverb
Pedals: Wampler Ego Compressor, Ts9 and Boss DD-6
What’s up next for you and Spafford?
Well, we just released our 2019 Winter tour dates. Until then, we are home spending quality time with our families and loved ones for the holidays. NYE, then Jam Cruise, then tour!
The Klon hype: Love it or Hate it?
What’s that?
Thanks so much to Brian for taking the time to answer some questions! Make sure to go check out www.spafford.net, and check their tour page to see when they’re headed to a town near you! Cheers!
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