Hank & Cupcakes

I think it’s fun discovering new music (for me anyway). And having this blog, I do get exposed to some great stuff. Friends of the site, musicians, etc.. always contact me with questions or wanting to let me know about a band that I might want to write about. A few days ago, John, contacted me through Facebook and told me about Hank & Cupcakes. He mentioned that the bass player had an impressive pedal set up and that I might be interested.

Hank & Cupcakes? Ok.. I’ll bite. Within seconds.. I was super interested. This is a 2-piece (bass / drums) band, with some catchy and complex sound. This band sounds WAY bigger than 2 piece. I had to learn more.

Let’s start off with this live vid:

So I sent a message to the band and Ariel “Hank” Scherbacovsky wrote back. He was super into the idea of letting me know what was happening on his board. He was kind enough to send the following photos of his set up:

and

So here is the breakdown of what’s happening. Lots going on!

Board 1

Visual Sound Time Bandit Tap Tempo Click Track Sync
Seymour Duncan Shape Shifter Tap Tremolo
Electro-Harmonix Freeze
MXR Phase 90
ColorSound Tone Bender Fuzz
Boss DD-20 GigaDelay
Electro-Harmonix POG2
DigiTech Limited Edition 20th Anniversary Chrome Whammy
Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress Flanger

Board 2

Electro-Harmonix Micro Synthesizer (Vintage)
Electro-Harmonix Bass Balls (Vintage)
Moog EP-3 Expression Pedal
Moog Moogerfooger MF-101 Low Pass Filter
Eventide Pitchfactor
Mark Bass Super Synth
Custom Patch Box

Boss RC-50 Loop Station

On the Amp Rack

Zvex Octane fuzz
Electro-Harmonix POG2
Boss CS-3 Compressor

I asked Ariel about the patch and this is what he had to say about that:

On the top right of the right board I have a patch that I built so that I can easily connect the whole system.It basically receives audio from the splitter sends it into the pedal board and returns it to the amps. It also allows me to on/off some of the splits that I send to other pedals / amps in the amp rack. There are actually also a Zvex Octane fuzz and an additional POG and Boss Compressor for low octaves on the amp rack

Pretty cool! Let me know what you think by commenting below. Please check out Hank & Cupcakes. They’re currently on tour, so see if they’re playing near you! And John (if you’re reading this) thanks for letting me know about these guys!!!!