The Appleseed Cast – Pedalboards and Experience

Yesterday started off as somewhat of a shitty day. Not bad in the sense of anything major. Just one of those days that every task was complicated and difficult. Definitely things weren’t going my way easily. I hate these types of days.

In the afternoon, I noticed a post on Facebook from a local bar/club here in Missoula mentioning that The Appleseed Cast were playing tonight and they included a YouTube clip. I see these, literally, every day, but I usually don’t watch the videos. I either know the band… or frankly, don’t care. But for some reason, I wanted to check this out. I’ve never heard The Appleseed Cast before so I watched the video and was blown away with what I saw. Here is the video:

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I’m really into bands that can capture emotion with their build up and release. To tell a story without spoon feeding me lyrics and going into detail as to what it’s about – “this next song is about my cat that ran away”… yadda yadda. Who gives a crap. But let me develop my own story. My own emotion. A band that invites you to go on a ride with them in a sense. I really liked what I saw and heard on the video, so now I started to research this band… I wanted more. I checked out their web site, bounced around on a few forums, and was super excited to see them brave the icy roads of Montana to play a show here on a Tuesday night.

Normally, a Tuesday night show has a pretty low turn out. I mean, come on, it’s Tuesday night. We all have something to do Wednesday right? Me being lazy (and tired) as I am, I almost talked myself out of going multiple times. It was cold outside, and I was quite comfortable hanging with the wife watching bad TV, but I stuck to the plan and rallied to see the show.

There were four bands in total. Two local (missed the first one), and I was really impressed with the second. The third was a two piece, which included members of the Appleseed Cast called the Hospital Ships. Finally, after a couple of tallboy PBRs, the Appleseed Cast took the stage, and literally blew my mind.

The sonic aspect of the band was extremely strong, but the guitar inner-play between Taylor Holenbeck (also in Hospital Ships) and Chris Crisci was the good stuff for sure. Perfect blend of melody and power but also could guide you softly to the next transition. Nate Whitman on bass plays the bass I so enjoy. Steady and driving. Locking in with the drums (John Momberg) perfectly. Jordan Geiger on keys (also a member of Hospital Ships) laid down the under/over tones, completing the sound scape. Minimal vocals. Maximum feelings and vibe.

I went home with a smile and excitement about a new band. Check out their tour, and if you have a chance to see them live (tour information), you have to do it. For those of you that know them already, you know where I’m coming from.

So I was able to talk with a few of the members briefly and I wanted to post their boards for the fans of The Appleseed Cast!

Chris Crisci’s Board:

Boss TU-2 Tuner
Boss DD-7 Delay (possibly DD-6)
Boss TR-2 Tremolo
Boss RC-20XL Loop Station
Spaceman Aphelion Overdrive
Fulltone Fulldrive2 MOSFET
Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man (older vintage version)

Taylor Holenbeck’s Board:

Boss TU-3 Tuner
Fulltone OCD Overdrive/Distortion
JHS Honey Comb Deluxe Dual Tremolo
Electro-Harmonix Freeze Sustainer
Electro-Harmonix 2880 Stereo Looper
Electro-Harmonix 2880 Foot Controller
Electro-Harmonix POG2
Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Boy
Dunlop Dallas Arbiter Fuzz Face (Germanium – not pictured)

Nate Whitman’s Board:

Tech21 BSDR SansAmp Bass Driver DI
Electro-Harmonix Cathedral Stereo Reverb
Boss ODB-3 Bass Overdrive
Korg Pitchblack Tuner