VIDEO: Spring duet featuring Killick Hinds & Rick Toone. Three instruments invented by Rick Toone: 8-string fretless guitar, Symbiote 8-string passive resonator, 6-string Spearfish™ guitar equipped with prototype Pisces™ tremolo. Killick on 8-string fretless and Symbiote. Rick on 6-string tremolo guitar. Listen on headphones or monitors.
What did fine arts painting look like at the moment of Picasso?
Killick Hinds has a significant history of recording with some of the most interesting artists. Players who are pushing limits and exploring boundaries.
Yesterday, I asked him if he wanted to record something together. I truly don’t believe you can fully understand Killick’s genius until you actually work with him.
“The interplay of Killick’s 8-string you built and the great range of the tremolo is very exciting. Your playing is exciting, love diving the vibrato at the end of a phrase — reminds me of cutting the power on a tape machine. Reminds me of Xenakis textural language. Excited to hear more of it and see how that thing is working!” (Andy Pitcher, StringJoy)
VIDEO: Chris Buono takes Reptile Spearfish™ for a test flight.
VIDEO: Misha Mansoor shows a different side of his guitar playing with Reptile Spearfish™ 6-string guitar. (video by Ekaterina Gorbacheva)PHOTO: Patent pending Element™ single billet machined aircraft aluminum neck. Misha Mansoor Bare Knuckle Juggernaut™ signature pickups.PHOTO: Reptile Spearfish™ 22-fret guitar built for Misha Mansoor of Periphery.
VIDEO: Chris Buono plays a two minute tone poem musical improvisation. Spearfish 24-fret guitar built in 2017 and refurbished in July 2020. Chris is using a few pedals direct into his ’64 Fender Deluxe amp. Subtle details emerge throughout his expressive playing…watch his right hand hybrid picking and left hand pedal point techniques.
VIDEO: Ede Wright with some smokin’ original jazz fusion. Signal chain is straight into Fargen 2×12 mic’ed speaker. Shou Sugi Ban 8-string guitar. Bare Knuckle Nailbomb™ pickups.
KILLICK HINDS: I ran the fretless eight string to the Schroeder DB7 with a volume pedal (that I seldom used). I also subtly added sustain with a Gamechanger Plus pedal and Collision Devices’ Black Hole Symmetry in its effects loop. The main signal was split before these pedals, with one half going to a volume pedal and then activating Plogue’s Chipsounds via Jam Origin’s MIDI Guitar 2 in the computer. The Schertler piezo on Demi’s headstock ran into an Elite Acoustics StompMix mixer (which contributed occasional delay) into a Henriksen The Bud amp.
It was good working with Henry on this…our sensibilities match extraordinarily well. Playing with the video felt the closest to playing a concert since March.
I’ll add it was recorded with my cellphone against a makeshift green screen made of a picnic tarp and an old clothing rack. The assembly is not quite big enough for the task, so framing was a little tricky, but it worked out very well.
I’m really pleased to share this (as I know Henry is) and am very grateful he suggested the project. I thank Cuneiform Records for their continued support of new and exciting music. And most importantly, thanks to everyone for watching and listening.
RICK TOONE: Cool! He has software that works with green screen?
KILLICK HINDS: Yes, I think Final Cut Pro. I have iMovie and that works with it as well. This was my very first green screen experience.
RICK TOONE: Quite awesome. So you were in Athens and he was…?
KILLICK HINDS: Yes, I was in Athens and he was in California.
RICK TOONE: Could you hear each other during recording?
KILLICK HINDS: I played to the movie first. Then Henry played to my audio and the movie.
