Drive Like Jehu Technique [Archive]

viper jazz

11.25.03, 3:52 PM

OK, I did my homework, but I can't find any info on how the hell Drive Like Jehu got some of their sounds. It seems like they were going straight into Marshalls, and someone mentioned that they just controlled the drive w/ the volume knobs on the guitars, but some of the high-pitched sounds on Yank Crime are unbelievable.

I've messed around w/ feedback quite a bit, and I've NEVER heard some stuff like the bird calls, blips, and squeaks that these guys can make. Does anyone have ANY suggestions as to what the hell they're doing?

commuter

11.25.03, 4:08 PM

i think that volume is a pretty big part of the tone. have you ever seen pictures of them rehearsing - a couple of them are wearing those headphones that guys who work on airport runways wear.

martiniandbliss

11.25.03, 4:36 PM

The headphones are because the are so loud! John Reis was running two marshall 4x12's side by side. He had the plexi removed from hs marshall head so you could see the tubes inside and he used to press his LP into them to get those feedback sounds. That plus volume! Still in my top 5 of best bands I have ever seen! Super tight.

DRIVELIKEJEHU

11.25.03, 4:50 PM

Headphones and Earplugs! Thats what John's younger brother said. As for the sounds they make... Christ.. i wish i knew.. i still watch my Live DLJ tape and still can't figure it out.

martiniandbliss

11.25.03, 4:59 PM

http://www.nyx.net/~gsherwin/jehu.html

this is the only site that has some rlevant DLJ stuff. I'd like to get a dub of that live tape!

skip tracer

11.25.03, 5:11 PM

Digging the side of the pick into the high strings, picking behind the bridge. I'm thinking specifically of the beginning of "If it Kills You". As for the sounds in Luau, now that's some crazy ****. I don't know about any of that. I haven't listened to Jehu in forever, so a lot of that stuff is not fresh in my mind.

DRIVELIKEJEHU

11.25.03, 5:21 PM

Originally posted by skip tracer
Digging the side of the pick into the high strings, picking behind the bridge. I'm thinking specifically of the beginning of "If it Kills You". As for the sounds in Luau, now that's some crazy ****. I don't know about any of that. I haven't listened to Jehu in forever, so a lot of that stuff is not fresh in my mind.

If It kills You is my jam!

ben murphy

11.25.03, 5:23 PM

if you stand directly in front of a cranked marshall head (i mean within a few inches of it) most guitars will produce a very high pitched squeel. it's a weird feedback loop created between the actual amplifier itself (not the speakers) and your pickups. some guitars work better than others, it really depends on the pickups. in jehu they used tele's and les pauls with emg's in the bridge position. for clean sounds they'd switch to the stock neck pu's with the volume rolled down.

*reis = les paul custom (w/EMG in the bridge) into a 100watt jcm 800 2203 + mesa boogie 4x12

*froberg = fender tele (w/ EMG humbucker in the bridge) into a 100 watt 70's JMP 2203 + marshall cabinet

xavier

11.26.03, 8:04 PM

I can get extremely high frequency squeals from my the cheap single coils on my Yamaha Pacifica if I press the back of the guitar up to my amp. It doesn't work with the humbuckers though :confused: . The effect isn't like normal guitar feedback - it doesn't stop or change pitch when you mute your strings. Mabe it's the single coil hum inducing feedback???

Wayjurn

11.26.03, 9:36 PM

Whoah what the hell!!

I've never heard this band before but I'm gonna check them out now. Mark Trombino is their drummer?! I LOVE that guy.. I have Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity" and Finch's "What It Is To Burn" and Mark did the programming on those albums, and on both albums the programming is just mindblowing (check out JEW's Lucky Denver Mint or Finch's "Project Mayhem"). Wow, that's awesome, I had no idea he was in a band.

DRIVELIKEJEHU

11.26.03, 9:49 PM

Originally posted by Wayjurn
Whoah what the hell!!

I've never heard this band before but I'm gonna check them out now. Mark Trombino is their drummer?! I LOVE that guy.. I have Jimmy Eat World's "Clarity" and Finch's "What It Is To Burn" and Mark did the programming on those albums, and on both albums the programming is just mindblowing (check out JEW's Lucky Denver Mint or Finch's "Project Mayhem"). Wow, that's awesome, I had no idea he was in a band.

Put your seat belt on and get ready for a WILD ride!

BTW, Trombino is Pro Tools King and was a drummer for another great san diego band called Aminiature... I think he was on the "Murk Time Cruiser" album.

Surferosad

11.26.03, 11:53 PM

I can produce some weird high pitch squeals with my effector 13 modified Bos OS-2.

skip tracer

11.27.03, 6:51 PM

Originally posted by DRIVELIKEJEHU
If It kills You is my jam!

Oh yeah, that's gotta be one of my favorite Jehu songs. I love that intro. And the part in the middle where it gets fast...man. All the recent threads about this band have made me want to listen to them, but I can't find my Drive Like Jehu CDs! :(

Wayjurn

11.27.03, 7:10 PM

If It Kills You was the first one I picked up yesterday night on my hunt for DLJ songs.. man, it blew me away :eek:

AWESOMENESS

DRIVELIKEJEHU

11.28.03, 1:58 AM

if you go to john reis's site.... Swami Records (http://www.swamirecords.com)

you can get yank crime with the added bullet train to vegas, and hand over fist tracks.. i tell you.. those two songs right there are just amazing and downright powerful.. do yourself a favor and buy it.. cuz for the longest time.. it was only on 7" and was one of the hardest 7" records to find.. i'm hoping they would re-release the DLJ first album cuz i had mine jacked!

DRIVELIKEJEHU

11.28.03, 2:02 AM

OHH YEAH!!! you can get DRIVE LIKE JEHU t-shirts on that site too!!!!

ItCameFrom...

11.28.03, 3:10 AM

Ohhhh, Drive Like Jehu...

*dribbles*

My girlfriend won't let me listen to them because its just noise, apparently...

ItCameFrom...

11.28.03, 3:48 AM

Just a thought, but I don't suppose anyone knows anything much of the actual technique that they used do they? Things like tunings, etc.

ben murphy

12.02.03, 4:23 PM

standard tuning. techniques? hmmm. the awesome technique.

commuter

12.02.03, 5:04 PM

Originally posted by ben murphy
standard tuning. techniques? hmmm. the awesome technique.

i hear they also used the wicked and amazing techniques from time to time.

you can hear them use wicked right where "human interest" kicks in.

ben murphy

12.02.03, 7:31 PM

the wicked technique, not to be confused with the WIkKiD technique.

ItCameFrom...

12.02.03, 8:13 PM

Originally posted by commuter
i hear they also used the wicked and amazing techniques from time to time.

you can hear them use wicked right where "human interest" kicks in.

I'd suspected as much.

I've arrived back in standard tuning myself. Its just better, isn't it? I love they way Sonic Youth use so many different tunings, but frankly as I operate with just one guitar I'd only get through about 3 songs in half an hour!

I've been struggling to get to grips with the 'Awesome' technique today, although I've mastered 'Tepid' and 'Flaccid' completely. [/self depreciation]

commuter

12.03.03, 11:36 AM

for the past couple of shows we've done i've been using the "oh man, i didn't realize how drunk i was, but now i gotta play" technique. i like the randomness of it.