From BB King’s bends to Peter Green’s vibrato, some players just ooze personality. Ryan Lindsey, of Oklahoma garage-rockers Broncho, is no bluesman, but over the course of three records he’s used his “melodic chugging” to create worlds, crafting killer hooks from marching waves of sublime fuzz.
“It’s kind of a mixture of playing lead and rhythm,” reckons Ryan. “I float in that world of chugging forever and then letting it breathe. I like that freedom.”
I like it when you have a multi-personality disorder [in your writing]. You’ve got to get your emotions confused!
Using a Silvertone 1448, a stereo amp set-up of a Kay and Peavey Deuce and a handful of battered, borrowed pedals Ryan’s tone has become a signature sound.
Silvertone surfer
“I’ve created this little vortex that feels really good,” he says. “The thing I like about the Silvertones is that they’re already really beefy, so if I just carve out the bass on the amp, that’s where the magic is.”
2014’s stuttering hit Class Historian is a good starting point, but third album Double Vanity taps into darker territory and evolves the formula further. Songs like Two Step and Soak Up The Sun causing the sort of cathartic hip-shaking reaction in the listener that really shouldn’t work, but does…
“I like it when you have a multi-personality disorder [in your writing],” explains Ryan. “Where you can be talking about something fun in a really dark world, or have something that sounds happy but is about something really dark. You’ve got to get your emotions confused!”
- For fans of: Ty Segall, Velvet Underground
- Hear: Two Step
