Today's Object Worship is a chit-chat among hosts about pedals that do "the thing." Andy has a new song he's obsessed with, there's a bit of recent pedal news discussed, but mostly they take voicemails and ponder the question: what is the thing?

Today Object Worship is joined by Angelo Mazzocco and Terry Burton of Meris! Many a Meris pedal has come up in conversation on the cast, so the hosts were glad to welcome two of the company's founders to talk about their music gear journeys. We begin with Terry's Marshall 6100 amp, then discuss Angelo's Ibanez RG570 guitar, and trace various parallels of their development as musicians, tinkerers, and now engineers at the forefront of guitar pedals.

Today our hosts are joined again by Andy Pitcher! Longtime listeners may remember his first appearance discussing the DL-4, and today he returns to discuss his second place object: The Mutt (How To Skateboard And Not Kill Yourself) by Rodney Mullen and Sean Mortimer. They talk about its influence in Andy's adolescence and the new lessons it holds in adult life, many of which manifest in his recent debut solo album, Dot. A number of topics both musical and personal appear along the way, both very heavy and very light - much like the album itself.

Object Worship is BACK! After an unplanned hiatus (make your own pun about being delayed), your hosts return to report on the new Black Fountain Oil Can Delay, which we also call Black Fountain V4, Black Fountain Stereo, or The Final Black Fountain. We're joined again by Brady Smith, cofounder of Old Blood Noise Endeavors, to give some more insight into the delay pedal that even people who don't like delay pedals like. We take some questions, we make some noises, and we just get back into the swing of things.

Your hosts with the most return from a trip to California where many discussions were had about Old Blood's future plans, lunch was had with Wes Borland, and all ended in the Effector Market Anaheim popup. So, they wanted to catch you up and also catch up with you: this one's full of listener voicemails and all about the year ahead.

We return from our holiday break with Tyler Gilmore, who you may know as BlankFor.ms! Tyler is most known as an electronic artist, using tape loops, pedals, synths, and other textural elements to create evocative slow-moving songs. It may surprise the listener, then, that his object is the trumpet! It's the instrument that started it all for him, and we all learn about his journey with it, then away from it, and perhaps back to it? Only time will tell. In the meantime, we talk about the bodily experience of instruments, some different things our listeners bought over the holidays, Andy's rabbithole of servicemen strats, and a lot of other things along the way. Enough reading start listening!

Today we're joined by Sean Mackowski of Tallon Electric. Before the episode, we thought his object was going to be an amp, but as we get into it, we realize it's all about The Noise, his new pedal collaboration with the band Alpha Wolf. We talk about pedal usage in modern medal and heavy music in general, and various approaches to gain, octaves, and momentary bursts of sound. This one's inspired by the new wave of players using pedals as instrumental elements of the heaviest riffs around. Also, Andy and I are taken aback when we find out what band Sean used to be in. It's a fun one, so dive in!

Today’s all about Dark Star! After many cagey teasers, we reveal all about the new pedal and what it means for Old Blood. We take your voicemails, we tell tales of what it took to make the thing, and we get consistently distracted. Hope you like your hosts as much as you like our latest lofi reverb instrument!

Today we're joined by Chris Benson of Benson Amps. We're catching up with him after a busy year of releases and Benson Fest, and talking with him about the Bogen Challenger PA that became the first Monarch. This one's a casual conversation, where we take roughly an hour before we get to the object, distracted along the way by discussion of how we interact with the internet, breaking assumptions about the sound of any given component, taking time to play the devices we've created, hot soldering, and getting some absolute gems of wisdom from Chris. It's a great time with our favorite amp builder, now dive on in!

Today we're joined by Chris Benson of Benson Amps. We're catching up with him after a busy year of releases and Benson Fest, and talking with him about the Bogen Challenger PA that became the first Monarch. This one's a casual conversation, where we take roughly an hour before we get to the object, distracted along the way by discussion of how we interact with the internet, breaking assumptions about the sound of any given component, taking time to play the devices we've created, hot soldering, and getting some absolute gems of wisdom from Chris. It's a great time with our favorite amp builder, now dive on in!

Ok wow, what an episode for you here. Hope you're not easily spooked!! Anyway, Dan is in Europe, so in lieu of the normal format we will be listening to voice messages dispatched from Dan himself during his travels to Guitar Summit in Germany. A few very special guests are featured! Andy is joined by our first returning guest, Jeremy SH Griffith. Jeremy talked about a TEAC reel-to-reel on a previous episode, but he's learned some new things about it since then. Jeremy has such good stories. God I hate writing these, Dan please come back.

Today we're joined by one of the founders of Old Blood Noise Endeavors: Brady Smith! You may know his history with Keeley, Walrus, and Old Blood, but today we're here to talk about his history with a particular amp you may know as Marsnall: the Marshall JMP that's been his mainstay for decades. We start with a lot of discussion of the Eastside Music Supply 10 Year Anniversary party and the fun people and gear we encountered there, then take some voicemails aimed specifically at Brady, then finally get into his object and how it's informed not only his playing but his ear as a pedal designer, through both its presence and its absence. This is a fun one folks!

Today's all about the Old Blood Noise Endeavors Pardner! Well, mostly at least. We begin with the very exciting conclusion of Andy's Wes Borland saga and give confirmation that sometimes you should meet your heroes. Then we throw it to the hogs for questions about the latest pedal from Old Blood Noise Endeavors: an oddball fuzz with an overdriven effects loop referred to as PARDNER. From there we talk about some of our favorite uses of the pedal, naturally meander a bit, and end with some chatter about the upcoming Dark Star.

Today we're joined by Michael Nicosia of Relic Music. We talk about running a brick and mortar shop, curating gear and experiences, and the magic of a good loud tube amp. We start with some of our most disappointing pedal purchases, talk about dream collaborations and the new EHX POG3, then get to Mike's object: the Hiwatt DR103. We talk about his journey toward finding a vintage example and pairing it with various cabs and speakers, and how it's been a central part of his sound for the last two decades. This one's about good gear and good people - get into it!

Today we're joined by Matt Kidd of Slow Meadow, longtime friend of Andy's, ambient composer, and solo artist whose journey from guitar through piano eventually leads us to a very modern instrument, the Expressive E Osmose. We talk a lot about physical interaction between player and instrument, the magic of squishy keys, and the variety of elements that give us control over sonic textures. Also we get into Andy's Big Day, wherein he goes viral and gets a message from none other than Wes Borland.

The suspense is killing you: will they have a guest this week? Finally, we can confidently say, no! But at the same time, kind of, yes? Here's the deal folks. This is an episode of Andy and Dan catching up and answering some questions from the hogline. We talk about recent and upcoming pedal shows, the new Old Blood Noise Expression Ramper, the etiquette of pinging someone on Discord, folk-punk, and of course we check in with Clint, who we will see in December.

How low can, and should, you go? Today we're joined by Nick Diener of Oneder Effects and Oneder Guitars to talk about notes below the standard six string. We start with the early magic of a Strat in E flat and follow it through baritone guitars and his recently acquired seven string, learning about his influences and creative processes with projects like The Swellers and The Apology Tour along the way. There's a lot of 90s music talk and a lot of modern pedal talk. At this point, if we don't mention nu metal and parallel routing, is it even Object Worship? Anyway quit readin and get to listenin!

It's Outer Wilds round two as we're joined by composer Andrew Prahlow. We start with some of our favorite video game soundtracks, then get into Andrew's object, a Fender Dual Professional. We go deep on how using an amp in a room can help create memories of music-making, what it means to access the history of a piece of musical equipment while creating your own history with it, and how non-traditional compositions like Jon Brion's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind inspired Andrew's approach to emotion in a soundtrack.

Today we're joined by singer and multi-instrumentalist Courtney Swain, to talk about her first pedal: the Chase Bliss Blooper. We start with some voicemails about musical flubs because silly old Andy goofed the prompt in Discord, then move into the beginnings of Courtney's pedal journey and how it opened up her creative practice. We talk about processing voice through pedals, the magic of parallel blending, the different ways Courtney and Andy use Blooper and other Chase Bliss pedals, how the aesthetic of a pedal designer can inform the aesthetic of a performer, and how creativity isn't a well to dry up but a self-sustaining ecosystem. It's a big one, get into it!

It's hogs all the way down this week as we're joined by Alex Paul, guitarist in Girih and design and manufacturing brain behind Robot Graves Industries. You might think we talk about aluminum guitar necks, but we get too busy asking the hogline about their favorite Electro Harmonix pedals, then dive deep on Alex's favorite: the HOG Harmonic Octave Generator V1. We talk about the utility of six footswitches vs a suite of MIDI functionality, and the je ne sais quoi of sound quality across pedal versions. We also talk a lot about what it means to perform music, and the way technology can both help and hinder the interaction between artist and audience.