Voicemail: the pedals

Voicemail is an indie band from New York that is constantly playing in the Long Island, Hudson valley, NYC, and more upstate scenes. Their officially released music on Spotify dates back to 2021, with two Eps and their most recent single “Nobody Chairs.” I wanted to get an insight into Voicemail’s member’s pedal board set-ups to see how they achieve their sound. 

Jackson — First Guitarist

JT: Starting on the left is the Danelectro BIllion Dollar Boost. I bought this pedal in probably the least exciting way imaginable, nevertheless I love repping danelectro whenever possible. Anyone that makes plastic guitars on purpose is a hero in my book. Moving on is the T-Rex Reverb: definitely not much to write home about here, it was just the cheapest reverb pedal I could find. The Boss Chorus CE-3 —which is only on my board for me to step on accidentally at inopportune times—was my favorite pedal growing up. I think I got it on Ebay when I was eleven a few days after my guitar teacher told me that was the pedal they used on “Fire Away” by Dawes. Finally, the Truetone Jekyll & Hyde Overdrive/Distortion was a present from my parents for my 21st birthday. Maybe the liquor store was closed that day. It is the main pedal the Strokes use though, so I’d gladly pass on that celebratory bottle of the good stuff.

Jackson’s Sound Inspirations: The band is definitely heavier in a live setting, and this board helps me get to that place. I am literally always thinking about Built to Spill, specifically the guitars from those two records from the ‘90s (you know the ones). They range from kind of cheap, occasionally pristine sounding clean tones to sounds with a lot more bite, which encompasses most of what we do, especially “Ben Unfolds” and “Communist Song.” Along with drawing inspiration from the entire nation of Canada, I try to channel Alvvays’ jangly sound and their somewhat jumpy guitar parts, mostly on songs that we have not put out yet unfortunately. During the end of “Walking Around,” the one song where we use an acoustic guitar, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel album and its totally blown out distortion is a big reference point for me.

Vito, the second guitar player in the band shares pedals with the other members, but has a unique sound inspiration and addition to the band!

Vito: One of my main sound inspirations is Mitski's guitar player, Patrick Hyland. I think it's really neat how versatile his board is and the sounds he's able to achieve with it in a live setting. I also really enjoy the crunch on Mike Krol's album I Hate Jazz. That kind of distortion is what I go for when I'm playing with voicemail because it's able to push through the mix but not to a point where it overpowers everything.

Tom’s set up: 

First pedal is just a boring boss tuner but very necessary, for obvious reasons. Not much to say but it gets the job done and nice to have a kill switch if your guitars’ insides are not well. Second pedal is a basic overdrive by JHS I got used from a local music store. I don’t know much about it other than it sounds just like a blues driver, which is definitely my go to distortion/ overdrive. I recently found out that apparently it’s a bass distortion but who cares. If it sounds good it is good! Next up is a cheap compression pedal by Behringer cs400 for those who care. A little noisy at times but gets the job done. I don’t use it that much but when I need a buttery clean sound it smooths that tone right up. My delay is also a Behringer VD400 which technically belongs to another band mate (hi Vito) who is kind enough to let me use it on this board. My go to with analog delay would have to be the memory boy by EXH, but I’ve been through three of them and being on my fourth, I don’t wanna split it between two boards. That being said there’s really nothing wrong with this pedal. It sounds so similar if not borderline identical with the self isolation. Last one is called turnip greens, a down south combo between two EHX pedals. The holy grail and the soul food. Both simple but very useful pedals. The holy grail is a basic reverb with a few options like spring, hall, plate, and a reverse which is cool but not practical for my use. The soul food with its treble and drive knobs is pretty versatile, I tend to use it more as a boost though. Although I don't take many leads, It’s helpful when I need it or for gigs when there’s little to no sound person. I kinda just ride the volume and hope for the best.

Tom’s influences: My early influences come from the classic rock school of guitar players such as Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Jeff Beck just to name a few. The older I got the more I branched off into bands like Pink Floyd, the early days of Pink Floyd with Syd to be specific and his solo stuff as well. All that amazing weirdness really opened my eyes to what endless possibilities there are, especially with pedals. A few years later, without a doubt one of my favorite albums of all time, Lonerism by Tame Impala completely changed my life. To find out that that pretty much that entire album is just Kevin Parker blew my mind. Then, I had a year of jazz band in high school and in college I had to take classical guitar. Both experiences completely shaped who I am as a player. Their influences on me come out in other instruments I play as well but at heart I’m a guitar player. Not much more to say but I'll end with a few desert island discs because I really can’t pick any one of them over the other. So they are Blue by Joni Mitchell, Close to the Edge by Yes, Lonerism by Tame Impala as I’ve mentioned, The Soft Bulletin by the Flaming Lips, and Europe ‘72 by the Grateful Dead.