The Neighbors will return!

As many of you know, The Neighbors have been on hiatus from the live concert scene as of late; the main reason being that our drummer has been vacationing in China, and he was in Florida before that, but he laid down some nice drum tracks before he left. We've been spending a lot of time in the studio working on the demo and writing new songs. Once we get the new demo totally polished, we'll be playing out and touring some more around Columbus, hopefully even beyond.





Also in recent news, Jim and I just got some new geetars!

I am now the proud owner of a Takamine 530SSC dreadnought acoustic/electric guitar. She sure is a beaut, and it's very inspiring to have a nice new guitar to play. The dreadnought body gives it a nice loud, but very bright sound.

Jim bought a Floyd Rose Stratocaster. Let me tell you, it plays like a dream and has a really sweet tone. It's the same sort of custom Strat that David Gilmour of Pink Floyd played, that's why they're called Floyd Rose.

We've been gettin into some real nice jams with our new equipment, and coming up with new material. I'm learning how to play the mandolin for the Yellowstone song, and I think we should have a big jam party when JD gets back.

Also, Check out the new lyrics posted on the live Amused and Code for Love videos, as well as the Deaf Generation Music video.

In even further news, Jim and I just recorded a bunch of the songs on the grand piano at Hughes Hall, and I filmed the session, so look out for those new vids.

Instrumentation - Drums

Jim Dickson sure loves drums. He's got a bunch of them.

This is his E-Drum Kit. It's a Yamaha DTXPress II Electronic Drumkit. I talked a little bit about it in the Friday Practice session post, but this drums post would complete the instrumentation section. (Until Jim learns how to play his accordion).



The DTXPress II has 48 preset drum kits, but you can mix and match all of the different instrument effects which include electro-drums, steel drums, gongs, and even birds and screams and crazy stuff like that. It also has preset drum loops like Jim sneakily uses at the end of the Shenanigans Jam.



He also has an acoustic drumset which he is very fond of. It's supposed to be really nice or something. Its a TAMA star classic performer series drumset in Aztec red fade with Sabian cymbals and a couple of Zyldian cymbals too. It's made out of 5-ply birch wood and the drums are all really large so it really kicks.



Partial Drumkit setup from the parking lot jam waiting for the Highfive to let us set up.

Jam of Shenanigans

Behold! This is an inside peek into what may or may not go on during The Neighbors Practice sessions. It is also an excellent example of why you shouldn't hand the camera over to your roommates when you are trying to make a SERIOUS MUSICAL DOCUMENTARY!! The resulting shenanigans are quite humorous however.



Points to notice:

Superb Ebow usage

Delay looping effect on the GNX pedal

Melodic arpeggio hits on the Edrums

Jim's Keyboard is not a stable place to put a camcorder.

Ebow Demonstration / GNX 4 Pedal

This is what it looks like when I use the Ebow. The Ebow creates an oscillating electromagnetic frequency that vibrates the string for infinite sustain and blah blah blah (See the Ebow post for more info)



I am also using the Wah effect on Jim's incredible pedal.



I gotta say... This pedal is the shit. Or, uh, to be more specific the Digitech GNX 4 has a Built-in 8-track recorder, USB I/O, MP3 playback, phantom-powered mic preamp, and endless combinations of customizable guitar effects. With everything from wah and yah to divebomb to retro effects, as well as the hilarious riffmatic effect which plays automatic arpeggios, its not just a pedal, its actually referred to as a "Guitar Workstation"

Instrumentation - Guitars

The Neighbors are a group with many guitars... So let me break it down.

When it comes to electric guitar playing, I use my BC Rich Warlock Metal Master - Bronze series. This axe features a Basswood Body, Bolt on Rosewood Fretboard, 24 Jumbo Frets, 2 BC Rich B.D.S.M.Humbucker Pickups, and a wrap around fixed Bridge.





When the Steely Man gets on his axe, he uses a Jackson with locking tremolo, a whammy bar, 24 frets, and Seymore Duncan pickups.





Jim and I also use a couple of Acoustic/Electric guitars such as the Takamine and the Ibanez. They are acoustic, but have pickups and equalizer sliders to control Highs, Mids, and Low frequencies.


Ibanez Acoustic/Electric


Takamine Acoustic/Electric

Finally, Jakey plays this here Yamaha RBX-170 Bass Guitar.



It's a bass.

Instrumentation - Keys

Here's a little bit about the keyboards that Jimbo plays for all you instrument tech fans out there:


The Steely man rocks a Yamaha DGX505 full portable grande synth piano. It has 494 instruments including pianos, woodwinds, brass instruments, and percussion. It has 88 weighted keys, midi capability, a floppy drive for storage, and it looks a little something like this:



He also recently purchased a badass synthesizer by Korg called a microkorg synth/vocoder. This little synth features 37 keys, 128 programmed effects that are infinitely customizable, and the vocoder which is the microphone part that you can alter your voice with. You wouldn't believe the sounds that come out of this thing when you start turning all those dials. We are hoping to diversify our sound with this versatile instrument. Stay tuned to see what we can do.

The Amazing Ebow: Sustaining the World

You may be curious how I manage to get such strange, infinitely sustained guitar sounds on some of our songs such as "Runner's High" and the soundtrack from "Earth-born".

One of my secrets is the Ebow. Ebow, which stands for Electronic Bow, is a small device which creates an oscillating electromagnetic field around the guitar string causing it to vibrate at certain frequencies resulting in potentially infinite sustain, similar to that of a violin bow.



The Ebow is a truly versatile implement with 2 settings that oscillate at variant frequencies allowing me to switch between a more squeeling harmonic sustain versus a more melodic, legato, flute sounding effect.


Ebows have been around since 1976 and used by such groups as U2, Blondie, Elton John, Van Halen, Phil Collins, Queen, REO Speedwagon, David Bowie, Blue Oyster Cult, and my favorite, The Smashing Pumpkins. They go for around $100, but it is well worth it, and I highly recommend the EBow for anyone wishing to expand their repertoire of guitar sounds.