Episode 10 - Bobby Landgraf (Corrosion Of Conformity, DOWN, Honky)

I love Kathy and Harriet's I I like all that out there. Oh yeah. Right? That's a great place to play. Really into that. Went out there the first time, I think, with Melvins and Buzzo. My man Honky was out with Melvins. So that was the first time I got to see Pathy and Harriet's.

It was great. I saw the Melvins out there. Yeah. What a I mean. I've never I haven't seen an indoor show. They're just uh outdoor.

I think they were indoor, yeah.

It was um Melvins and uh Fu Man 2. It was fun.

That was a good fun night. Bunch of good guys, those two bands. Sure. And I was about to say, depending on who's in the Melvins at any time, but they're always great folks, man. Oh dude. Cody and Dale are great together. Yeah. Great drums. It's just amazing how one's lefty, one's righty, so their hi-hats are right here.

So it's so killer. Yeah.

That's kind of a mind fuck. It's great. It's super sick. Yeah.

Watching the mirrored, the the tom rolls go, you know. There you go. It's like a distorted mirror. Yeah, yeah. Carnival mirror.

Yeah.

That's why.

Yeah. Are you ready yet? Dude, I know. Can I have a couple more minutes?

You know what? Take your time. Dude that walked in. He was more ready than ready is.

Yeah, literally, like, he's just like ready to go at all times. Yeah. Let's go. Well, we had a um uh welcome to the podcast, everybody. Just we're we're gonna get started. Um we're here with Bobby. Yes. And you have been um you've been in a ton of bands, you've done a ton of cool stuff. You are on tour right now.

Yes. Uh you play basic for corrosion and conformity. I do. And you are currently in Seattle and you have been gracious enough with your time to stop by. Hey, thanks for asking. And hanging out. Man. And we recently got to hang out at Sick New World. That's right. Which was a great time. We'll get to that in just a second.

But um, I have a fear, so that I think it was I think it might have been Josh from Silosis, or it was one of our guests. I felt bad because watching it, it was basically like we put them in the couch hit and then we started going, and it felt like we didn't give them enough of a breather time before we actually formally started.

Oh, we warmed up here today. Uh-huh.

The reason why I usually try to get right to it is because when one of our friends comes and hangs out, there's usually instant, awesome conversation. Like we did. And I want to capture that. That's where the good shit is. Yeah. This has been fun. Thanks, guys. Yeah. Anyway, uh, the episode's five minutes long today.

Um, how long, how how far are you into this specific tour?

I think about seven months or so. Whenever we started with Judas Priest, the record wasn't out yet, but the touring began. Right. And then once once the record came out after that, we just hit it really hard uh with Clutch and JD Pinkis, who uh happened to be my partner in crime in honky, uh bass player for Butthole Surfers and Melvins and all.

And uh it was just fun to be on on uh the road with him again because you know we're peas in a pod partners in crime. So anyway, that that's when the official touring started with the record and everything.

So when you get done with a record, and I want to talk about the new record in just a second. When you when you finally get it done, what is the gap between that and the da dang? Here's the dates, let's go.

Um, it's um the the word is eternity. Does it feel like a long time forever? You go you cut it, you you know, you write it, you cut it, you demo it, you you pre-produce, and then you get in and do it. Then the bass and drums are done. And we did those, uh uh, me and Stanton did those separately with the band, but we we went in for bass and drums at this one studio um um called Dockside in in South uh Lafayette.

And then once that was done, the fellas took the tracks and they went here, they go there, they did some stuff, and Warren Riker took them, our producer Warren Riker, uh just took them to different spots.

And um they went guitar nuts, basically.

Guitar nuts. They just went crazy with it, and it was great. They had some time in uh what Pepper calls his studio, the Black Shack, where we did all our pre-production and everything. And um, I just gotta say that uh I didn't know this still existed, but I got to be a part of it. Is we went in to the Black Shack, which is you know, big room producer with the mics and his NS10s and us with our gear, and we didn't go anywhere, we didn't do anything.

We just got in each other's heads and wrote these riffs and had the riffs that we'd been writing and throwing them back and forth. And usually you you know, you send your tracks to this and you send your tracks to that, or you go somewhere without really pre-production, you know, and and we had like two weeks of that, just in each other's heads and eyes and faces and riffs and stuff, and it was great because once we got into cut, we really had the stuff in our back pockets, you know.

At least me and Stan, you know, drums and bass.

Yeah, that makes a lot of difference.

Oh, it was the world, it meant the world to me. Because, you know, uh new bass player. Um, it was the first record I played bass on to, so it was a big deal to me to stand up really tall and and you know, do everything right. So that gave me the opportunity. I got to take the the pre-production tracks and just go home and soak in them.

So when it came time to cut for real, it was great.

You were comfortable with the tracks, you could go in and lay it down.

Totally, and I could play the song 50 times or whatever we needed to do. And uh, but to finish out your your question, um, once that's done, you give it off to the guitar players, and then when that's done, then Pepper's gotta get in his vocal realm. Him and the producer got into their own separate time at studios doing that, and uh, so it takes forever, it feels like forever.

Of course it does, you know. Then it goes to the you know, to the label, then it goes to get pressed, and then it goes to be ready, and then we start talking about it, and then uh, you know, me, I start getting way too excited. So I was doing some podcasting and I was saying all this stuff about it, and you know, I heard I heard from the band about it, like, hey man, can't be saying that shit.

I was like, no, but anyway. It's like okay. When did recording rap for the record? Gosh, I you know what I forgot the dates. I I forgot uh two years ago? Oh while ago, over a year, I think you can play the songs pretty good now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got them down. We got them down. Um, yeah, yeah. And um, for me, um, it was it's the third drummer I've been playing these songs with, and I've only been in the band a couple years.

Uh Jason Patterson uh from Cry of Love was playing drums with the band when we did the Judas Priest tour, and he had been the touring uh drummer for CLC for a number of years, and uh then Stanton came in and we were just all record-minded, so it wasn't about shows or anything. So Stanton got her in our heads, we got in Stanton's heads, and then we did all that, and then Stanton couldn't tour with us because he's so busy in New Orleans with all his stuff, yeah.

Which is amazing stuff. I mean, he sits in with the best of the best.

I mean the night I met Stanton in the man session drummer for those of you who don't know. Stanton Moore.

Stanton Moore. Stant Moore. Night I met him, he was playing with the meters. So I mean, just like, oh, just that you know, just a little gig I got, come by and check me out. Yeah, just he's the hero in in New Orleans. All that to be said, uh, we got our new drummer, uh Nick Shabatura. Um, when I was still cutting stuff and writing stuff, I was still teching for Pantera.

And um, I was talking to Charlie Benante. He's like, You got stand more to go on tour with you guys? I go, No, but you're not busy, huh? And he's like, Ah, I can't do it.

He's like, Listen, man, I'm tired.

I got things, but immediately he goes, But I know your guy, I got your guy. And I'm like, Okay, he's the guy. So he threw me a phone number and we started talking to Nick, and Nick was sending us videos of him playing the songs and things like that. He's really into it, and he just he just hit it. He hit all the right, yeah.

Without talking, I all all of COC's drummers are incredible and amazing and do their thing, and they really bring their own take to it. Uh, Nick, having seen him at Sick New World, yeah, I was like, wait, who is this guy? Right, A, B, fucking rips. He rips, he's rips. He's like a he's like a grow bottom kind of.

I I don't know how to describe him. He has a lot of power. And so what he brings to the songs is just another level of energy, yes, and in my opinion, and it's just such a good fit. He fucking rips, he rips it, man.

He's so good. Shout out to Nick. And he's gonna uh he's gotta be like Reed Mullen uh a lot, and he's gotta be like Stanton Moore a lot, so you know, whatever, but he finds his own voice, he finds his own he really does it.

It's really impressive, and you can tell like he really actually digs the music because as yeah, an old fan. Like, I'm like, all right, is he gonna actually do like the you know the albatross thing or is he gonna do the king of the rotten thing? Or like like and he does he do it, he gets it, he's doing it all.

He's doing good, Nick.

He's so sick, he's great. Uh, you said it was the you know, uh, so the new corrosion conformity record, good god, bad man. Yes, it was your first record as a basis, it certainly was, but you go way back with these guys. I do, and so I can't imagine that was that uncomfortable of a situation as opposed to not knowing them.

I've been friends with the guys in the band for you know, really, I'll just say forever. Um, and what happened the way I got the gig was Kirk Winstein was on tour with Crowbar in Europe, and Down had some gigs to do. So they called me, and I I I played lead guitar on the last down record. Not this new one, but the last one was me and Pep on guitar.

And um, after being many years guitar tech and stage manager for Down, they pulled me right in when Kirk went off. So that is a lot of time I've had with Pepper, and we got into that record together and played you know, lead guitars back and forth and and uh chopped it up together, write some songs together.

So yeah. When were you their stage manager? God, I think I started it was over the under uh record had just come out. I think it was 2003-ish. Until until I don't know, until I joined the band. I think 2014 was the record that I did. So we've met you and I. I know we have. You seem familiar, brother.

Yeah.

Because I I played guitar uh in Loaded. And we played together in Europe. We did Brazil and Argentina.

Definitely the Europe I remember, because yeah.

Oh, that's cool.

Yeah, we ever on the same deck because down and and loaded.

It would have been 2011 or 12. Okay.

11 maybe. Before I was in the band, I was still checking.

Yeah.

Oh, that's funny. Yeah. That's funny. It's a small world. It's it's hilarious how small a world the music industry actually is. It is for as big as it is, it's small. It's so small. Yeah, yeah. I want to ask you all the typical questions because I've never gotten to ask you all the typical questions.

Who were your influences growing up? Like, what were you into as a kid? And I mean, you have a fucking Gibson custom tattoo on your hand.

Those guys, you're uh someone fall asleep asleep on a bus.

Yeah, you know, you're clearly uh you're a a a gear nerd. I am, and I love it, and we have that in common. Yeah, I want to know when that started for you.

Well, really guitar started, I think, when I was a kid, and I think if I think the song was Tush, and I heard Z Top for the first time, and I just like uh, what is that? What is that place? And I just had to learn how to go begab, pagabah, and I did, and I thought I was the king of the universe once I could do that, and I just took it from there.

Um, I remember I was I was 14, buddy of mine's dad had some guitars, and he tuned open E for me so I could play flat-fingered chords.

That's pretty cool.

And I would I would borrow the guitar, I'd go home and play my ACD records and priest, all this stuff, and I was just ruling them with my one finger, and I thought I was the king. And I was over at his house one time, my buddy's house, and his dad saw me doing that. He goes, Okay, that's enough. Give me that.

Because I would go back and have him tune it for me so I could play my records again.

How old were you? Where would you have been 14?

I think 14. And uh me and my buddy also would uh go to some concerts together. Uh, it was Iron Maiden's first tour, Priest was done British Steel, uh stuff like that. So I saw where it could go, you know, where it was what it was all about at that point. And I just wanted in. And I just I didn't really think about much else except the guitar and Randy Rhodes.

What was your first guitar?

Uh Ventura Les Paul that I got at a at a record store. I loved it. I wish I had it. But a black Ventura standard Les Paul copy everywhere. Uh I think it was through. Yeah. No shit. I think it was. Yeah, I don't think I remember screws in it.

And were you in your first band with that guitar? Like, did you buy that guitar for a while?

Everything. Me and a PV Deuce. Yeah, baby. PV Power. PV Power.

We we have also made a video about our first amps where the small PVs were right behind you.

Oh yes. They're actual first amps.

Are they really? Oh PV Deuce. PeeVs, dude. Black widow equipped. That's right. And um, I had uh spent some spent some time. It's a longer story, but I was in Taiwan when I was a kid. And uh I was we were going through Japan, and uh because that was between Taiwan and the States was Japan, and um I I was needing a pedal and I knew I needed a pedal, and I just gravitoured gravitated towards this TS808 tube screamer.

I had no idea what it was. I'm like, tube screamer sounds great. So I got that, I lived off that and my guitars. I never had pedals until more recently in my life, a wah and a tube screamer just got got me everywhere. Um that was definitely the PV deuce and all that, but uh when I was 18, I went to Austin, Texas.

And I went there to, you know, go to college and you know, play music. But sure as far as my folks thought I was going to college. Mostly get stoned. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And uh so I'm I'm I'm there, I'm I'm living in a dorm and I'm joining bands and you know, jamming with people, so it was great.

And playing out, you could improv and call yourself, you know, whatever, Peter, and just you know, call your man Peter and go jam. Um, and uh I finally got the money and I got uh a head and uh cab. And it turns out it's a 72 super bass plexi that I have. I still got it. But you still have the man, me and that thing and my tube screamer's all I had.

I didn't really start wall until way later after that. But me and that tube screamer and that and that super bass just I had everything, every tone I needed. I was louder than anybody else I needed to be louder than.

You could sound like Judas Priest, that's for damn sure. Judas Priest.

Yeah, I was like Malcolm without the tube screamer, step on it and I got Angus. I mean, look kind of that thing.

Yeah. Yeah. So the so the super so yeah we're throwing around with a fucking super bass. Yeah. That would have been basically it wasn't vintage back at the time, it was just a used martial.

Best sounded thing in the store. Yeah, Ray Hennig's music at uh the uh i iHeart Texas music, um, you know, where Stevie Ray bought all his stuff and oh yeah, you're like 19. Uh would have been 85, I think, 84, 85. But you're 19 years old. And yeah, I'm at 20 at this point, yeah. Seasoned.

Seasoned a seasoned vet.

A seasoned vet at 20. But man, I didn't even have a case for it. It it went in trailers and vans, it just it worked almost every time.

Does the amp still work today?

Oh yeah. I haven't plugged it in in a while, and and I want to be careful when I do, but of course, but since then I've just I've I've you know got some JCM 800s and uh through being in down, I got Kirk's uh orange rigs. So the Thunder Verb 50s. Yeah. You can't go wrong with the Thunder Verbs. You know, pedals go out, don't matter.

Straight in, you can finish your show, you know. Um and I got uh yeah, yeah, uh really those. Uh um a boogie uh what is the new boogie, the the rectifier, but not the rectifier. The uh the Badlander? Thank you. I got a Badlander as well, and I love that. It's got so many personalities. Yeah, I love the 20500 switch.

I love that.

I like the visual.

Oh, thank you. For those at home.

Now, even back then when you had the super bass and the tube screamer, were you still tone and gear chasing, or had that had happened yet?

I think I was more band chasing. I had my tone, and I had the best tone anybody ever had. As far as I was concerned, of course, right? So, no problems there. So um, oddly enough, I'd be playing. I got a I was playing a metal kind of improv thing with some buddies. We called it Blow, and we just had fun with it.

And through playing shows out, I got into another band, it was a rap band. It was called the Deaf, Deaf MCs at first, and I would go see them, and they had MCs uh beat uh 808 and um uh turntables. So they had a DJ 808 and the and the MCs, and then this dude, this hippie, kind of angry hippie dude playing guitar.

And I was like, this is great, because I loved run DMC and like when Herbie Hancock had Rocket, yeah. You know, I just like play along with it. I just love funk. I grew up on funk, I really love funk. So anyway, I was like I got driven to meet these guys, so I did, and I started hanging out with them.

And this guy Walter, he's like, I don't want to play guitar anymore, man. You play guitar, I'm gonna I'm gonna rap. I'm like, okay. So we called the band the Deaf Motherfuckers after that. So we were the Deaf MFs, and I was playing guitar, and he was rapping, and and they'd had a bit like Run DMC would do, and it was like nihme nihme nihme nih meh, rock.

And anytime they said rock and point to me, I was like, do a solo. Because it didn't matter. Told we just rhymes and solos, and I'd be taking a kiss riff or a Van Halen riff, because in hip hop you just throw the riff right. So I was just chomping on a on a riff until they said rock and like oh shit.

You know, and at this point I think I was uh uh I had had a Kramer, uh uh the the Pacer Pacer, not not the thank you almost the um Focus Focus was it a focus one thousand two two uh uh two singles and a double. And by that time I had that, so I had a Floyd Rose, so uh I was just chomping on the on the riffs and the Floyd Rose, but as it turns out, the reason I brought that up is because that was really the first band band I was in that went and did shows and toured, and then uh they would call me Bobby Rock because of rock, and so that's how I got my nickname.

So since then, everybody knows me calls me Bobby Rock. Bobby Rock. So that's where that comes from.

You could have certainly been called much worse.

Well, yeah, and I played uh drums in Vinnie Vincent's Invasion. No, I didn't. That's the other part of the book. Wait, what would have been like that? Taking a while to you're not Bobby Rock. I'm like, I but okay, sure. You know. And then went from there to a band called Dino Lee and his Love Johnson.

Uh I have a hard time describing that really quickly, but he had a funk band.

Um I know what a Love Johnson is.

Okay. Fucking okay. So he would hire the Def MFs to play with his band, and he had a blown-out funk band with horns, a real funk rhythm section, like Earth Wind of Fire sound and stuff, and a dude named Billy White. And Billy White played uh for um uh he's the Austin uh Watchtower was was him, and and not a lot of people know about this, but this is some Austin history.

So he came from Watchtower, played metal, and then Dino hired him to play guitar in his band, and and he would hire the Def MFs to play for them. So the reason I'm saying all this is it it it alluded to my movement into Dino's band because Billy said, Bobby man, it's just too weird for me, man. Do you want to do it?

And I'm like, okay. So I started playing for Dino and his band, and he had um uh uh records out, and he had a label called New Rose from France. And so we would go on tour in Europe and be on a Euro pass on the train and then do some shows, and you know, it was the biggest thing in the world to me. I mean, just me and guitar and rented marshals everywhere and my tube screamer.

It sounds like you're pretty you don't have a lot of inhibitions as far as the The music goes, you were just kind of there to play.

None at all, man. I I didn't realize I that idea really hit me during COVID because it was that COVID. When COVID hit, I'm like, okay, no one's going to shows. Bands are all done. We're not gonna play out anymore. The world's ending. I'm gonna learn every funk bass song I've always wanted to know. So I just dove into bass.

Where did you start? Uh Parliament, you know, Bootsy and uh James Jameson, and and I just I went into all the hits that I loved and figured them out. I'm not a big slap or whatever, but I can I can get away with it. So I just soaked into all that. And then of course, when things were lifting and stuff, I I I would get more calls as a bass player than I did as a guitar player.

So that was just fucking weird to me. But it was great. And um, so I was playing funk bass, and then that uh turned into a a really good friend of mine had blues band, Gordy Johnson uh had this blues thing, and he taught me the secret of one, four, and five, where he'd just throw a key at me, and you know, we'd be playing the riff, okay, and he's okay, stay on the one, four.

And oh moving to the four, five, okay. But he was giving me the behind his back, the fours and the ones. And I'm like, okay, well, I can I can play any fucking song he throws out now because he's helping me. And after memorizing and getting these songs down, we could play for three hours straight. So we get residencies, and I was just glad to be playing out, man, because COVID is lifting, and just you know, I was I was uh feeling great about it because I was playing out again and getting on.

And it was through some of that that pepper okay, let me bring that around. I think I'm actually making the story make sense. Then Kurt had to do some crowbar, so I did the down shows. There's more rewinding to do because I'll get there. I ended up. We're gonna go back to the yeah, but um, it was after the two down shows that I was literally leaving, like, hey man, thanks, y'all.

It was a blast. Yeah, call me anytime, see you soon, whatever. And Pepper literally just like, I need you to play bass in COC. I was like, Okay, he goes, You got that right? Because I'd played Woody's parts with him before and done some COC jams. I'm like, Yeah, yeah, yeah, I gotcha. He's like, good, because we're out with Lambagod on a cruise in about two weeks.

So oh fuck.

I know, but I was like, Yeah. Learn the set. Yeah, so I did, but I also went home with confidence, like, shh, this is easy. So I go right on. So I get my P vase on, I'm like, hit play. I'm like, let's go. And we the songs start, and I'm like, I have no idea what Mike Dean is doing. He's on the other side of it, like geezer and Tony Iomi.

Yeah. So I'm like, oh yeah. And Pepper's like, you can use a pick, man, do whatever. I'm like, oh no, no, no, no picks. This is real. I gotta be real and let's let's get into this. So man, I I worked my ass off and really got into Mike Dean's chops and stuff. And it was, and Pepper has me singing on almost every song, so it's a lot of patting my head and rubbing my stomach.

I find that to be I'd have a similar trajectory to you. COVID turned me into a bass player, and now I gig more than I've ever gigged before. Uh but singing and playing bass is way harder than singing and doing anything else. I agree. I would rather tap dance and sing. For real. Wow.

I've never tried it myself.

Singing in hockey and anything I'm sang in before, I I realized it was like I'm chomping a chord. I'm kind of sweet.

You're also writing the material. Yes, yes. Yeah. Okay. That did right.

Okay. Built in. But man, trying to be in Mike Dean and then singing. Because Mike Dean never sang all that stuff. And Pep's like, yeah, he did. He sang. He didn't. But but Reed sang a lot. Yeah. And and Pepper loves having another voice. So I'm like, you got it, man. So yeah, whenever he goes, I need to sing on this, I I just figure it out.

But it takes me a while, but I it's it what is a tap in your rubbing and tell me tapping your head to two two two mindsets. But man, I'm I'm really relishing it. I'm really into it, and I'm having the best time doing it.

So going sound fucking killer, man.

Thank you, brother. Going into COVID, you had you had a bass. Yes. Did you have bass gear? No. No.

So just duck the Pro Tools, home rig stuff. Right.

What are you using? What did you use in the studio and what are you using on tour?

I had nothing except a P bass, really. And um and a and a in a uh SG short scale. Yeah. And I brought those into the studio. Used I used them both. Mostly the P bass. Um but uh no um when it started, no, I didn't have I didn't have anything. And uh I eventually realized what I wanted through playing.

And and it's like I I don't play pointed stuff, you know, so I I definitely wanted a P, Defender P, which I got from Rex Brown. Thanks, Rex. And um that that uh has been my main girlfriend this whole time. Um I walked into the studio session with it, and the producer's like, you're playing that P. And I was like, Yeah, he goes, Thank God.

Because it is the best instrument. It's the best instrument. It's hard to argue with. Um but yeah, uh God, going back um to where I started getting gear, I didn't know until I started playing what I wanted. Um, and then of course, there was another after COVID story, but I get a call from Rex Brown like, hey man, we're doing Pantera.

I need you to tech, let's do this. I'm like, what? What do you mean you're doing Pantera? Because I didn't know any details. He's like, We got Charlie, we got Zach, you know, like, oh, then the light started coming on. I'm like, oh shit, all right, but you can't tell anybody. Okay, all right, signed the NDA and got into all that, but um that's a whole other experience and story, but that's where I learned about all this gear.

He bought one of everything that anyone made dark glass, origin, everybody. He just would buy them and we'd try them. And so he's got the whole collection of stuff. So I got to get my hands on so much base gear.

So there was a time where you guys sat out sat down in what, a studio or his house, garage, somewhere for a show. And you're just sitting there just going through gear and talking about it.

Yes. Um, mostly he's like, hey man, I got this today, put it in my rig. Dude, you play in 20 minutes. Fuck it, I want it. You got it. You put it in his rig, and uh he's got a shelf, you know, in his tower, and we got we got the amps in the shelf. So, you know, let's try it. Sure, let's go. And um, I learned so much.

I also learned that bass players have been using guitar pedals forever. That's right. And I figured that's just the only way to go. But no, these new pedals, man, they're bass pedals. Yeah. And and they keep the low end. And then when the EQ carves, you're not getting out of your realm.

It's really nice, you know. So you're teching, so your teching experience, you tech for uh before Pantera, you were teching for and stage managing down.

Yes.

Their gear changed a little bit over the years as well.

Yes and no. Uh Pepper's the only gear chaser, really.

Uh but he's had main basically the same guitars the whole time. Yes Fibered Studio and the ESG35. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but you know, for as far as his amplifiers go, you know, he originally had some 800s when and then he went to Orange. Went to the Thunderbirds. Right. And then Kirk has a bunch of different amps that he's used.

Um and he's actually kind of seems to like a lot of different guitars just depending on what he's feeling. Yes. How much of that are you absorbing even then when you're stage managing stuff of like taking note of like, oh, I like that, or that's cool, or that sounds cool, and there that doesn't sound cool for that.

They didn't get past the ESP stuff when I was working with them. Uh the eclipses, so they were Les Paul's. Yeah. Or the other uh S. Oh yeah, the Vipers. The Vipers. So it was Vipers and and you know, eclipses, so it was still Les Pauls and Sure, you know, but the EMGs, that's the whole other planet when you have the batteries, you know.

Uh I noticed that it they just like to be on or off. You know, you know, you find that sweet spot where you roll the volume off, and they're still they just want to be pedal to the metal at all. Yeah, you know, just leave them up and go. And that's all Dow never did anyway. So um, but no, um not renowned for their dynamics.

No. I mean they're not, yeah. I mean, yeah, of course.

Oh, that does it, but Zach can do anything.

Yeah, of course.

Um so um the pedal boards were still mostly I think um Kirk was all about the yellow uh pedal, and and and Pepper always had the tube screamers, but again, it they sat they had the same amps and same rigs when I was there.

Yeah.

They uh either had Marshall 800s or they had the um Thunder Verbs. And then after Kirk left, I absorbed the his Thunder Verb wall. And so it was me and Pepper both both playing Thunder Verb 50s, which are great. I love them still, yeah. So good. And I never used channel A. Me and Pepper never touched it, it's just channel B, because it's it's got the gain, the out, and then the volume sweep or the EQ sweep.

Yeah, yeah.

And the attenuation channel. Yeah, exactly.

And you can find your stuff in the sweep. It's like, ah, good, that's perfect.

Yeah. So, what did you use to record? Uh thank you. I'm back to the jumping all over the place. And what are you touring with?

Okay. Um, I went to Eddie Mapp, who's the front of the house for Pantera, and a brilliant engineer, and he's just he's like, Bobby, you need to use these. Because I went to get a uh uh SVT Pro 4, because that's what Rex always used, and I know how to translate. Sure. Okay. So I had the Pro 4 up and I was getting tones, and then uh Eddie also said, uh, you've got to try these ICAMPs, E-I-C-H.

And these ICAMPs were powering Rex's uh floorboards. If you don't know what those are, no, it's uh like a beatbox, uh uh uh a hip-hop box in the in the back of your trunk, right? Just two speakers going anywhere, it doesn't matter, it's just bass. Their boards he's got two sizes, and uh they're about that thick, and they got speakers pointing to the ground, and you stand on it.

Oh so you run a line to it, it's like a shake box like that drummers use on their throne customers.

I've seen these things. You run a line to it and you step on it, and oh that's awesome! Oh, it's great. And the reason we got those is because we were doing the Metallica donut, and in the circle, there's no live amps, there's only in-ears and wireless and your rigs that you're getting off your tower.

That's hard. So then I just jumped into these uh different areas that had the Ike amps and the Ike floorboards. So the Ike amps powered the floorboards, and and Eddie's like, I know we're just using them for floorboards, but dude, you gotta check them out. So he gave me this Ike T1000, and I brought it in and it made the the Pro 4 just seem like it was thin or something.

It was just like wow, and the producer was like, These are fucking great. I'm like, let's just go with it. So I did the whole record on a 410 and an Ike uh head, which I have two of them now because I'm sold and I I just love them. I got so much headroom, they're a thousand watts a piece. I got two of them behind me, one is for behind me, one is for the other side by Woody, and so they're great, yeah, yeah.

And I can lift 2,000 watts by myself, and I don't have to stack SVT more than once, even. Oh my god. But that's the beauty about them, and they're amazing.

When you're dialing in uh your live tone, or even your studio tone for that matter, but um especially your your live tone. Are you in any way cognizant of how the any of the previous songs sounded sonically? And are you going for any of those tones, or are you strictly just doing and doing what you feel like?

Great question.

Uh clean or dirty or whatever.

I wanted to be on Mike Dean's tone. I wanted the exact tone. I didn't want to be any different. I wanted to slip in and just be like, there you go, nothing changed. And when I did that, the guys are like, no, dude, that tone you had in the studio, let's let's go with that. So um the thing about that tone with this different from Mike's is Mike had more of a mid-range thing going on.

It was very kind of of a percussive, yeah, yeah, percussively uh clacky, you know, but it made it worked for him, just gave him that fucking roots and made it happen. But for me, I'm not, so I'm living in the subs more, and so Pepper and Woody can hear a lot of their picking more because they're chopping in the in the mid-range more than I'm out of.

So it works really well for us, and they really love it, and they compliment me a lot on it. Like that's that tone is great.

What does really bring uh for the live show? There was a depth, or it was like a was like a sonic piece of steak or like it was it was very like oh fuck, you're living down by the kick drum almost. So it's this big pummeling thing when it gets real when the music gets really, really big. And that wasn't there before.

Okay, that's uh definitely different. Um and um I'm taking my DI out of the uh origin bass amp pedal, the blue line that that imitates uh as uh ampeg. Shout out to Origin. Shout out to Origin. We like Origin in this house. Oh, I love it. Um, I got the uh the Cali 76 in front of that. Uh huh. So that's keeping me right, and then I go into the base amp.

Well, the base amps at the end, sorry. I go into the Cali 76, and then my other stuff and the base amps at the end, um uh as a head, but it's there, and I run the amps clean, so I just got nice clean power behind me. And yeah, man, I dial in the the the base amp pedal and I use the DI out of it because it's got an 810 IR knob.

So I'm like every sound person loves it. What else is on your board? Um, I've got okay. I start with the Cali 76 and I go, I turn around and take it to my uh Justin Chancellor WA, which I love because that's what it was.

Yeah, you sent me the video earlier today. I was like, what is that?

I love that. Well, of course, another thing. Rex had all that stuff too, but uh that's how I got turned on to it. Um I love that because when I use wah, I don't use it clean, I uh use the fuzz. And the thing about it, it's up there waiting for you, so it's spring loaded, and the fuzz doesn't turn on until I hit it.

So it's clean, I'm fine. I just walk up to it, get my and then walk away from it. And it's just it's back up and I'm clean again. So that's what I love about that pub. That's great. Um, I'm taking that into um well, I just most recently got an MXR uh synth base synth. Oh, cool. Because I love the funk.

And I got flashlight and all that good shit. It's for just right there. Yeah, my Bernie World fucking tones, this killer. And then I got a filter, MXR base filter, because uh there's Diablo Boulevard, is one of the songs we play, and it got the owl, ow, ow, it's got owl, ow, so I got the owl going on there, and uh after that I got my DCX origin DCX pedal because it's uh I call it my Lemmy because I could step on that and I got the dirt and I got the aggression, but I don't use it for any full songs, those are moments I'll turn it on, and uh so between yeah, that's what I got.

And then at the end of that, I'm into bass amp pedal to go out to the clean heads.

Have you turned into a bass collector?

Yes.

Have you really? Yeah, what have you what have you got?

Tell us more. Well, let's see. I've I've got uh an LTD, uh, an older LTD kind of Viper. No, it is a Viper. Zeneck? Um uh yes. Fuck. Yeah, you've been I've been you've been going on about trying to find one of those. I've got one. I've got I got it from my brother-in-law, had it sitting on hanging on his wall.

Like, you playing that, bro? I was like, I ain't playing that no more. I was like, okay, they don't make anymore. Yeah, yeah, they don't make it. Yeah, yeah. Um, I've got uh uh uh the SG uh short scale, black. Um that's great. Um I've got my P bass, which I love. I've got a jazz, uh, but the jazz is electric.

I'm borrowing it from a buddy thinking I'm gonna buy it, but I'm not sure. Um, and I got uh um an Epiphone Zenith, which is a crazy big body, and it has two outs. One's a Pizo. And it's a beautiful, beautiful, crazy looking thing. Yeah, I got photos I can show y'all. Um got what else? And then uh geez, I'm thinking about my stuff.

Uh I got two ESP 87s, LTD 87s, when I joined COC. Um, they're like, get some bases, bro. I'm like, okay, but I don't want any pointy fucking star-shaped stuff. And they're like, oh well, here's you can get these, and I got a black and white one. So like, you know, Spy versus Spy.

Is that a prospector? Is that like a P base shape, or is it like a P.

Okay, it's not with the JP, the jazz picture.

I kind of like the horizon shaped, but like, I'm a sucker for that shit.

Yeah, I like it, man. But they were matching my P's, so I'm like, I'll go for that. And the black and white one, brand new. They were gorgeous, they're gorgeous. The black one is untouched, but the white one, uh, Pepper and Woody were like, Man, that's pretty shiny white, man. It's a little too much.

I'm like, I know, I don't know what to do.

And so uh Dragon around the parking lot. We did that. Are you so?

We Pepper goes, Man, I'd like to try and do something to that. I'm like, let's do it. We took the neck off and all the electronics out, and we just beat the shit out of it, and it's gorgeous now. It's just like he put a cannon sticker on it, and it's it's it's nuts. We vanhalened it out because we didn't need all that pit guard.

So the pit guard's just holding the volume knobs in, and and uh uh got uh uh uh quarter pounders in there, so you know, so I got quarter pounders and everything. Um uh my buddy made me my buddy Paul Crow, uh working man bases, he's just starting up, but he made me a uh jazz body peanick that looks like he just carved it out of a tree and put black hardware on it.

Cool, and that's like he's like, Yeah, just play it. I mean, beat up, use it for your spare, whatever, this and that. I can't put it down. It's heavy as shit. But when we play the drop C stuff and I just throw, it just throws. I mean, Pep and Woody were both going, What the fuck is that? And I'm like, my buddy made it.

They're like, get more of those. I'm like, okay. Um, so I'm playing that, and I got the like I said, I got the P and I got the two uh ESPs out. Um, I don't have any fretless, but um Well, let me ask you this.

Working with Rex, he's on the Spectres.

Yeah. Did you ever consider using an active base or was that just not I absolutely love the Spectres and and they're super great, you know, uh with Pantera and the clean and the punch that comes through. Sure. But uh it's it's kind of a I I I'll eventually get one or try one to see what how it works with COC.

Um, but I do have one of Rex's Gibson uh Thunderbirds. Oh those are amazing. Yeah. So uh, you know, so I got one of those. Um what else? I got I don't know, bits and bobs and things. I did buy something teamwork, don't tell anybody. T Mu. But uh we were in this kick, me and some friends buying a bunch of TMU stuff.

So I'm like, uh, do I get the Randy Rhodes and the Tony Iomi just to put them on my walls and have them be cool because I'm you know, whatever. So I'm looking through the Timu stuff and I got a clear P base. It weighs as much as a car. It's dumb. It hangs on your wall? No, I'm afraid to pull the hooks out of the wall.

So it's gonna stand, but yeah, I got a clear P base.

How does it sound? I'm curious.

Not great, but it was 200 bucks and 130 or something like that.

There's a there's a fake James Hetfield in that yellow in that yellow styrofoam thing over there that looks cool from ten feet away, but looks sounds like a box of man explorer.

Okay, okay, but it's a total fake it's horrible guitar. Yeah, it's so bad.

The worst, maybe. It is actually the worst. That actual Timu guitar strat behind us is ten times better, actually.

Yeah, right.

Yeah, I didn't think about that.

Maybe the Timu thing's gonna fade.

When you were uh when you were Tekken, did you have any uh on the on the scale of Pantera, do you have any nightmare scenarios or gear going down or anything? Gig mares? Gig gig mares. I like it.

Of course.

Yeah? Wow. Please tell us please please tell us.

Well, okay, I did front of house a lot too. I I was a house sound guy at the Continental Club in Austin for many years. And uh I just I had such a good thing going on there. They would let me tour, and when I was done touring, they let me come back. So when I was home, I always had a job, right? So it was great.

But uh then I would do more gigs to front of house, and uh I would I'd had a lot of gig mares where I'm looking at a board and I just I don't know what that fucking knob's doing or what it's called or where it's going. And I'm I'm old school sound guy, so everything's linear on a board. You know, I wasn't digital yet.

And a lot of gig mares like that. Um sometimes you can't find the plug or you're just not getting tone, you know. That's another gig mare kind of thing. Umps going down, anything like that? Yeah, just not having sound, no matter what the looking at you like. Yeah, and I'm in my gig mare dream, like going, what the fuck, man?

I wake up like no, but did you have any actual gig mares? Oh, yeah, things happening constantly, but that's how you learn. Yeah. It really is. Yeah, yeah. Things go down all the time. I was talking about like waking up in the bunk, like, oh no, the fever dreams. Yeah, I have those. Okay. We all get those, right?

Absolutely. Um, no, things are weird. Um, um the little fucking cables that go from the wireless to the guitar, quarter inch to those little damn things. They'll bite you in the ass every time, unless you wind them. Oh, here's your little velvet pouch that I made for you. Oh, be nice. You know, like put some uh dehumidifier things in there.

Just be nice, you know, those fucking things. Uh uh batteries going out. Of course. You know, like I have a thing about I can't change a battery every day and throw them out. In air cables, in ear cables, that stuff too. With Rex, I didn't have to worry about that because he had his uh his his guy, his handler doing his ears and stuff.

So I was just on his gear, but yeah, I'd see those out. I'd see those go out. Um, pedals and cables, little tiny cables in between the pedals. You don't realize it. You've had it for 20 years. Sure, you know, but you had anything with COC? No, I mean I've been lucky. I've built my own rig, of course, and and I've just I've pretty simple.

I mean, it'll never go down. Wink, wink.

Yeah. Um, but uh I don't know, I'm pretty efficient the way I set it up. My pedal board's pretty tight, all new cables and everything. The pedals were pretty much new for uh, you know, I don't have any old vintage anything on there or my bases. Um, I got into the curly cables. I'm really into those again.

I don't know. 70s as hell. 70s as hell. I just love them. The bullet cables uh set me up really nice, and uh, they got the on-off switches too, yeah, even on the elbow, so those are nice. But um, I like walking away from the rig and then it reels back up when I come back, and I'm not doing any spaghetti tripping on pepper woody, you know, so that helps.

Um uh but uh no, like batteries going out and um yeah, just little cable stuff, those little damn wireless to the things, or just wireless in general. Now, the Metallica shows were difficult as a tech because you're on you're on all day and you gotta keep doing circles to make sure your wireless isn't going out.

So you got your wireless and you got your rig, and you're going dan. No one else can hear you but you, the monitor guy's just got your stuff, so you're just droning out all every instrument he's gonna play that day, and the pack that's on it, and doing laps, just going, making sure you don't have any cutouts.

Or if you do, you figure out the spot and you tell the monitor guy, like, look, in this corner, man, it's like glitching. I don't know why or what's there. And then they're like, Okay, they got their stuff, and you know, a little bit of paddle moving and the science behind all that. Sure.

And Metallica's production happens the day before, yeah. So you guys you guys have day of show. Day of show. Right. It's a long day.

Uh first, first, well, uh uh, we got to go to Lidditz and and tape we taped out a a circle. So we had a big ass room at Lidditz, and we practiced. So we got our our heads around what we were actually doing. Yeah. Because it's not like any other gig. You got your your your guitars, your tower, your workbox, and you're in a you know, one little end of the circle.

You can't see what's happening on the other side.

Yeah, you just you know doing this constantly and looking around, looking for your guy because he's on the other side of a 50-yard line. That's fucking stressful. It was. There's a lot of stress to that. And you're just worried about things because you know, things go glitching and Rex like freaking out, and he's you know, you just don't know what to do.

Runs back to the safe area, he knows he's gonna have connection. There's some of that, you know. Of course. Um the the difficulty behind that is they had their show geared up to where they've been on this side of the circle for the beginning of the show, and then Charlie's got another kit on the other side of the circle.

So then they spend their time on that side of the circle for the second half of the show. So all my bass changes, I'm running around, you know, doing that and a little tiny stairway coming up and bass handoffs and yeah, stuff like that. Um that was crazy. But yeah, I have a lot of difficult stuff happen during that.

That's also especially a weird setup because you know, as opposed to being side stage and eye level, you are below. So, in any way, when you coming up and you're even like even handy basically, you are poking out into like your head above water, kind of a thing.

Very much so, which is just uncomfortable. I didn't care. I'm just like, here, man, there's your base, go, let's get this done. Let's go.

Are there stairwells like mid-deck? Are there every opposite?

Every I don't know what, but there are little stairways that that come up. Yeah. Um, sometimes on two sides, and then you're on deck. And the deck was was tall at some points and then lower at other points. So the stairs are all at the lower points.

So you would have been at the uh the Safe Go uh show. Yes. Uh it was flawless.

Yeah. I mean, it goes off, man.

It was a machine. The whole thing seemed like a machine. Yeah. Um, Mammoth played. Yeah. And then shout out to John and Wolfie. And uh you guys, and it was all like a choreographed dance almost. It really was, man. It really was.

And not to just add to that story, but you're talking about stuff that can go wrong, right? Like well, here's another big deal. Uh Rex has his pedal boards, Zach's got his pedal boards, but Zach uh batteries up his stuff, so you just kind of set his stuff there and he's good. One on this side, one on that side.

So for Rex, I had the same thing. But I had him plugged in, and I so I had to double up his pedal boards, and he also has uh Taurus pedals. So his torus pedals are here, Taurus pedals on the other side. So that's a whole other planet of plumbing. Right. So you figure out your plumbing, and um what is it?

The rag mount uh uh switcher box um yellow and black. Um it's because radial? Radial. Yeah, thank god for radial, having four ins and outs and being able to direct some plumbing, just route it wherever you need it to go. Yeah, and it took some took some stuff. It's set up for one pedalboard. You can do the uh XLR thing into the radial DIs.

So you can have 200 feet of XLR cable go into that radial that's on the pedal board from the radial rack that has every all the signal going to it, and those are amazing for one pedalboard. So then it's like, oh, so you put one pedalboard in that spot and it cuts out the other one. So you can't have that.

So we figured out through other DIs, and I can't even remember anymore the plumbing that Eddie Mapp uh helped me figure out to get split pedal boards, two of them, and then two uh Taurus pedals as well. So within that stuff, things can go wrong. Like if he oversteps on a pedal or messes something up, again, he's on the other side of the 50-yard line.

So I'm like, oh shit, no signal. Okay, it's not me. Uh and I had a way to bypass and just turn the pedals off, and then he did have tone again. But it's like at that point it was on, and I had to run around, see what's up with that pedal, you know, try to look get out of the show and you know, uh fix that and then run back.

And most of the time, um it was just something dumb. Like I started putting tape on all my power inputs for the pedals, stuff like that. Little dumb things, little dumb things. And you know, he's doing a show, so he's hitting stuff and not thinking about it. And if I didn't really lock him down, there's a little AC comes out.

Yeah, nine times out of ten, that's what it is. Yeah, and it'll kill your signal. Yeah, yeah. Because uh it's it's set in off the chassis, yeah.

When when Pantera first started firing up again, take me through the process of okay, your first time you and Rex get together, and were you there and figuring out the rig and the plumbing from scratch? Yes. So are you sitting there going, okay, for this song, and you guys are having an active discussion, I imagine.

And it's from there you are basically having to outline the gear needs to necessitate whatever it is they want to do. Is that right?

Yes, and the other thing I never got to do before was we got to buy everything new and take it out of the box and build the racks. So from amps to shelves to to pedals to you know the radio stuff from scratch to wireless from scratch, fresh out of the box, brand new. Everything it was amazing. It's a fun thing for people like us.

Of course, oh my god. Pop it in. It's just great. And uh so I to Rex Suspects built everything, um, and so Rex would come in for the first day of rehearsals, which we did in a smaller area uh that was Phillip's house, uh, the lair. And uh we we were in the lair, and um the lair actually got built up into a bigger room.

So it was really small at first, and then now it's a uh much bigger, great, perfectly usable space. So anyway, I'm in the my corner with my bass rig, Charlie's tech, he's opening up new stuff, building Charlie's kid. Uh Grady's over in the corner with uh Father Steve, uh uh Zach's old tech that went out with us.

Um he was the guitar tech and Grady was the amp tech. They had to build a whole crazy thing for Zach that I don't know all those details. But to answer your question, there I am in my Rex corner, built built my stuff up and put it in the rack and just uh what's working, what's not working, you know, uh what he likes, what he doesn't like.

We tried, you know, all this new stuff, and and there wasn't enough time to really try every pedal. And then once we got on the road, we started trying more pedals. You know, he had so many. I'm not even kidding. He bought one of everything from everybody. It was great, you know.

That sounds fun.

It was, it was great, but uh we tried all kinds of stuff. We stuck with dark glass in the beginning, and we really steady rolling on dark glass, and then um we switched over to origin, and we both liked it so much better. I don't know about better, it was just some presence or something was happening.

The dark glass was was very dark, and as a matter of fact, and and um the compressor was a little more difficult to use, and uh um the pedals were you just didn't know which pedal to use because they had four the the the the 3k and the 8k and the the the I forget all the different names for they had like four or five different pedals uh so we had them all in, you know, and he's like for this song I want these two, and for this song I want these two.

I'm like, oh geez. And eventually we got into uh a digital um uh pedal switch thing, the uh RJM. Oh yeah, the mastermind. So we got we got a mastermind in there as well. You know, we went with that for a while, and uh yeah, but uh I I I I learned a lot about pedals, man, and plumbing more than I ever knew.

Does that rub off on you in the context of crocheting of conformity? Like, do you ever like are you gonna change up your setup? I don't think so. Like every run, or like do you ever imagine a time where you're like, I'm gonna buy one and everything and just try shit out?

That origin pedal is pretty direct.

It's I mean, yeah, that's fair.

There's not a lot, there's nothing there to confuse you and everything that you'd need.

I agree, and they're built like tanks, man. The pedals are metal and hard. Yeah, you know, you could drop them and they're fine. Yeah, shout out to Origin. Shout out to Origin.

Let me ask you this question. As a guitar player, I bet you were changing your strings every show. Sure. Did you carry that over to bass? I did not. Yeah. What do you think?

With Rex I changed five basses a show every day. Me? Nah. I'm fine. Three or four shows? They get a little dead. I'll do a week, maybe more. Wow. And I got four basses, so I'm like playing around. You know, I could, you know, if one's been you know played a whole little too much, I'll let it go and string it the next day, something like that.

But no, um, I'm not too worried. I I have such a a dark, kind of subby tone that the strings aren't gonna make or break a show. But with uh like Rex and his picking and is really sticking out, you know, I'd clean the fuck out of those things too, you know.

Yeah. Knock on wood, I haven't broken a bass string since 1995. Ooh. As a finger player. Nice. When was the last time you broke a bass string? I haven't yet. Really? Yeah. Good. I know.

Well, that's all right. You don't want to the day is young. Yeah, the day is young. There's a show tonight. That's right. All right, y'all might say the first time I do it. I don't know.

Yeah, we might. I'll do it on purpose. Yeah, all right. Uh-huh. It's because of the gotcha. Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time. I love being here. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you for asking. And uh check out the new Crowject Conformity Record, number one. Good God, bad man. It's so sick.

You're on tour, probably near someone's house soon.

We're always near someone's house.

Are you guys your guys are out for a while still, aren't you?

Well, after another week or so of this, we go to Europe to finish out the summer festivals. So yeah. Damn, dude. Yeah, then there's Aftershock is in Sacramento coming up. And uh they're bouncing around more dates and stuff. So you're we're gonna beat the hell out of this record and stay out as much as we can.

We got a really good group. Me and Nick are really finding each other, you know, rhythm section wise, and it just makes Pep and Woody just their job so much easier.

All right. Yeah. Bobby Langriff, thank you so much. Thank you so much. All right. See everybody. All to love. Thank you.

Thank you.

So apprashing.

Oh, I love it.

Episode 10 - Bobby Landgraf (Corrosion Of Conformity, DOWN, Honky)

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