Chatting to Zach Stephenson from Hockey Dad about working in Seattle with renowned producer John Goodmanson and the secret behind his blistering guitar tones.
Back in 2014, the band have gone from strength to strength, amassing a loyal fan base, touring the world, and releasing a world-class debut LP with 2016’s
Opting to take flight from their comfortable existence in the their hometown of Windang, NSW, Hockey Dad landed in Seattle to work on the album alongside John Goodmanson (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Cloud Nothings, Death Cab for Cutie) at Robert Lang Studios (the studio where Nirvana recorded their last track, You Know You’re Right).
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Veering from the salt-crusted, sun-drenched formula of their earlier releases, Blend Inn is cavernous, urgent, and a little less care-free. There’s more vulnerability there, but it by no means damages the songwriting: every track the album is expertly crafted, with so many hooks peppered throughout it’ll be hard to decide which song you like best.
Being a two-piece, the guitars drive the record in a big way, so we reached out to guitarist Zach Stephenson to chat working at Robert Lang with Goodmason, mixing up amps, and his secret weapon for wielding those fuzz-jangle guitar tones (which, sadly, he couldn’t divulge).
ZACH: Thanks very much! I’m feeling pretty good right now. Just excited to finally get the record out there so people can hear it and we can start touring again!
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ENMORE AUDIO: The guitars are so strong throughout the record. Can you tell us a bit about some of the gear you used?
ZACH: Mostly for guitars I used a 1960’s SG that belonged to our producer John (Goodmanson). It just had the exact sound that I wanted for guitars on the record. I also used a couple of Jazzmasters, a 90’s Les Paul and a few other weirdos.
The main amp was a weird Marshall 4×10 combo. You can see it on John’s website actually. It had a good mix of a Super Reverb sound, which is what I usually use, and a driving Marshall sound.
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ENMORE AUDIO: Did you have much of your own stuff in the States or were you purely relying on the studio’s gear?
ZACH: That place was insane! The whole studio had a crazy aura that was a little creepy to be honest. It’s such a big labyrinth you can get lost in. Robert was such a legend too and really looked after us. He showed us some really historic gear and told us some crazy stories.
ZACH: Yeah last trip I bought a Supro guitar with sparkles on it. It’s the coolest looking guitar I’ve ever seen and sounds so awesome. I’ll definitely be playing it on the next HD tour.
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ENMORE AUDIO: Your use of distortion has always been really interesting. So many guitarists in two-piece bands just go for a Muff-style distortion to fill out their sound, but you opt for raspier, janglier tones. How do you approach driving your sound?
ZACH: I always wanted to be able to hear exactly what I was playing. So thick Muff sounds never really interested me when I looked for drive. The drive pedal I’ve used since the beginning of the band is still on my board and is still my main and only drive pedal. I can’t tell you what it is but I can tell you they don’t make them anymore (I’m such a tone snob hipster wanker). I also use a SansAmp pedal that goes through the bass amp which gives the bass signal a bit more drive and body as well. The only pedal you ever need for bass, period.
ENMORE AUDIO: I’ve seen you play a bunch of different guitars over the years, like you said – Jazzmasters, SGs and that T Guitars custom guy – what influences your choices?
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ZACH: Seeing other people play cool guitars is definitely an influence on what I play. Price is also a major influence of course haha. I think Jazzmasters will probably always be my favourite guitars. I think everybody goes through phases of liking and hating particular guitars and I do that too. The T Guitars is probably the most solid road guitar I have, which is a real bonus. It just plays great every night and can survive everything, except maybe a disgruntled Virgin employee.
ZACH: Most of the time if I have a choice I’ll use a Super or Twin Reverb. For bass amps I like SVT’s or even old Peaveys. I really like having bass fridges too cause it’s always better to feel the sound on your back rather than through monitors.
ZACH: I run my guitar signal through a guitar and bass amp together. With a few octave tricks it seems to do the job well enough.
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ZACH: My signal chain is pretty standard I think. Octave and compressor pedals first, then drives and delays after. I don’t really use many modulation effects live so it’s pretty straightforward. Sometimes I’ll put something weird in a random place for a show or two and just kick it on and see how it sounds. Especially when I’m buying pedals on the road. What better way to test them out than to throw them in the deep end and go for it.
ZACH: John was such a pleasure and honour to work with. For the new record I wanted to incorporate more standalone guitar parts instead of just chords behind a melody. He helped me get the right sounds I was looking for and really helped me play what the song needed whether it be
ENMORE AUDIO: I noticed you made use of a couple of effects on the album that we haven’t really heard on any Hockey Dad records before. Do you feel like effects play a big part in the Hockey Dad sound?
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ZACH: They definitely played a bigger part in this record more than the last because I wrote most of this record at home just demo’ing straight into the computer. So I probably wrote the songs with those ideas in mind. Other than that I’m pretty sure I could do a whole show without anything except the one drive pedal I have and an octave pedal.Some of this article's listed sources may not be reliable. Please help this article by looking for better, more reliable sources. Unreliable citations may be challged or deleted. (August 2020 ) (Learn how and wh to remove this template message)
Hockey Dad is an Australian surf rock band from Windang, New South Wales, Australia. The band consists of two members, drummer Billy Fleming and vocalist and guitarist Zach Stephson.
The band was founded in 2013, although the members claim to have played together before being an official band with a third member Bailey Carson. The duo cites a band called Abstract Classic as an earlier project that fizzled out before they became Hockey Dad.
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Fleming and Stephson were both born and raised in Windang, New South Wales, and lived two doors down from each other on Boronia Avue in New South Wales, where they still reside. The members met in 1999 at the ages of three and four wh they were playing a neighbourhood game of football on the street.
Continuing to reside in the same town, the duo spds their time surfing at the beach and skating at the local park.
Hockey Dad is currtly associated with two record labels. Firstly, they are signed with the Australian indepdt label Farmer & the Owl/Inertia Music since 2014 for all dealings within Australia and the remainder of the world with exception of North America.
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Hockey Dad credits the era of 1960s garage as their main influce. The duo also credits their musical inspiration to bands such as Bass Drum of Death, Sparkadia and Band of Horses. Growing up, Fleming quotes that listing to his brother's collection of '90s punk music helped develop his musical style.
Zach Stephson was born on 15 November 1994 in Windang, Australia. For Hockey Dad, he plays the guitar as well as provides the main vocals for all their songs. Along with this, Stephson can play bass and drums and is learning behind the sces to record and produce music.
Billy Fleming was born on 7 July 1996 in Windang, Australia, and plays the drums for Hockey Dad's records. Fleming can also play guitar and bass and is learning recording and production with Stephson. Additionally, he is learning mastering in audio post-production.
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The APRA Awards are several award ceremonies run in Australia by the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) to recognise composing and song writing skills, sales and airplay performance by its members annually.
The J Awards are an annual series of Australian music awards that were established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-focused radio station Triple J. They commced in 2005.
The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live sce. The awards commced in 2016.
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The Rolling Stone Australia Awards are awarded annually in January or February by the Australian edition of Rolling Stone magazine for outstanding contributions to popular culture in the previous year.
In May 2016, Hockey Dad announced their UK/Europe tour
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