Stompbox: 100 Pedals of the World's Greatest Guitarists - Hardcover

Eilon Paz

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1984860607 ISBN 13: 9781984860606

Publisher: Ten Speed Press, 2021

Synopsis

A deluxe photographic celebration of the unsung hero of guitar music--the effects pedal--featuring interviews with 100 musicians including Peter Frampton, Joe Perry, Jack White, and Courtney Barnett. <p/>As soon as the first effects pedals were introduced in the 1960s, the diminutive devices were adopted by many of the world's most celebrated musicians to craft their iconic sounds. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine speaks for countless sonic innovators when he says, Before I stepped on it, I had never made rock 'n' roll, but the second I stepped on it I was rock 'n' roll, and I haven't looked back! Until now, however, the pedal hasn't been given its due. <p/>Stompbox illustrates the connection between 100 musicians and the colorful little boxes that help them shape their music. This striking celebration of the guitarist's secret weapon uses bold, bright photography to capture the character of each pedal and the relationship between the pedal and artist. Reflections and anecdotes from Alex Lifeson, Dave Navarro, Ed O'Brien, Joe Satriani, Andy Summers, Steve Vai, and many more--from rock legends to rising stars--bring their stompboxes to life the same way the devices bring unique guitar sounds to life. <p/>A visual treat for obsessive collectors, guitar players, and music fans, Stompbox reveals the essential but lesser-known marvels behind some of rock 'n' roll's signature sounds.

About this title

About the Author

<b>Eilon Paz</b> is a professional photographer and the founder of the popular vinyl-collecting website Dust & Grooves. Paz's work has appeared in worldwide publications such as <i>Wax Poetics</i>, <i>Saveur</i>, <i>Monocle</i>, <i>Condé Nast Traveler</i>, <i>Sky Magazine</i>, and the French music magazine <i>Vibrations</i>.

From the Back Cover

A deluxe photographic celebration of the unsung hero of guitar music--the effects pedal--featuring interviews with 100 musicians including Peter Frampton, Joe Perry, Jack White, and Courtney Barnett. Stompbox illustrates the connection between 100 musicians and the colorful little boxes that help them shape their music. This striking celebration of the guitarist's secret weapon uses bold, bright photography to capture the character of each pedal and the relationship between the pedal and artist. Reflection

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Preface 
by Eilon Paz

My older brother got the guitar. My middle brother got the drums. I was left with that legendary rock and roll instrument known as . . . the recorder.

Learning to play the Israeli national anthem and other Eastern European hit melodies, conducted with pride by my Russian music teacher, wasn’t exactly the epitome of rock and roll excitement. And thus, my promising musical career came to an end at the tender age of six. Still, I eventually found ways to keep myself surrounded with music in the small desert town in Israel where I grew up: collecting records, hanging out with my musician friends, and occasionally even picking up a bass guitar from time to time.

So perhaps it’s no surprise that, not long after I published my first book, Dust & Grooves—which documented the fascinating stories of vinyl collectors from around the world—I began to turn my attention to the book you hold in your hands. Dust & Grooves, which started out simply enough as a personal photo project, ended up having an incredible impact on the vinyl community. It allowed collectors to peek into their fellow collectors’ personal space, revealing the stories behind the music as well as each collector’s personal history with their beloved vinyl.

And it was a serious teaching moment for me, too. See, Dust & Grooves wasn’t aimed at the casual music fan. Instead, the folks who bought that massive book cared deeply about the subject matter, and appreciated every word and photo in it. The project taught me that diving into a community of passionate, like-minded people will always spark my own passion for the work. With that in mind, I was looking for a theme or subject that combined music, a passionate community, collecting, and potent myths.

Guitar pedals, and the pedal community, checked all those boxes. I’d seen coffee-table books about famous guitarists and their guitars, sure, and there are a number of tech-savvy reference books about guitar pedals, but I had never seen a fine photo book specifically about guitar pedals. Having come of age in the grunge era, I was as motivated by the sound of fuzz boxes and other pedals as I was by the look of them. I even still had that old bass guitar, which sat in the corner and winked at me from time to time.

I could instantly visualize the look and feel of the book. My photographs would be the through line that guides you into the personal stories behind the stompboxes, objects that carry so much history, whether through their design, their graphics, their texture, their scars, their accumulated schmutz, or all of the above. My goal in photographing each pedal was to reveal the hardship involved in touring and creating music—to show every speck of dust, rust, and sometimes even blood that’s built up on the pedal’s surface. As a portrait and documentary photographer, photographing pedals was a door to still-life photography, which for years I considered a boring technical discipline. Now, the challenge was upon me—to pull the stories and musical history out of these still objects, which are so rarely seen or appreciated by anyone outside of the musicians who use them. After all, you can smash a guitar into pieces, kick and abuse the drums, but what kind of drama—other than sonics—can you get from a pedalboard?

The first decision I made was that the pedals would be the real stars of the book; there would not be any photos of the guitarists themselves. Zeroing in on a consistent visual aesthetic was also challenging. I started experimenting with different lights and surfaces, with the goal of bringing the most texture and grit out of the pedal’s surfaces. I ended up with a very straightforward approach: shoot the pedal on a white background, while using very strong and contrast-y lighting that would penetrate every crack and scratch, in order to truly bring out the pedal’s history and character through its exterior. I also needed a professional setup that would be extra light and could be set up and broken down in minimal time, and also be packed into a small suitcase that could be carried around the world on a small budget. In the end, I would travel the globe, often away for two months at a time, making multiple stops across the USA, as well as Japan, Russia, Europe, the UK, and back to my home in Brooklyn. Still, how does a photographer with only basic pedal knowledge (and admittedly limited guitar moves) go about making a credible book about guitar pedals? Well, he gets the best writers, editors, and advisors in the industry on his team. In my fortunate case, author Barry Cleveland helped shape the book’s concept and set the bar at the highest level. Dan “Mother$%#^ing” Epstein and James “Roto” Rotondi, our dedicated editors, brought some serious smarts to the project, and put in countless hours on its behalf; they made sure that no detail was overlooked, as did our technical editing team. Our awesome cast of contributing writers repeatedly went the extra mile, both in securing and conducting interviews, as well as fact-checking and helping facilitate photo shoots, and, of course, turning in top-notch copy.

So, here we are. After three years in the works, over a hundred interviews, eight countries visited, one pandemic, and hundreds of pedals meticulously photographed, I’m left with a very satisfying realization of my vision for the book as a photographer, and even more of an itch to hear all these super-cool pedals in action. Perhaps it’s time to put the camera aside for a bit and pick up that ready-to-rumble bass guitar that’s been egging me on from across the room for the last few years. Yeah, I think it’s exactly the right time.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ten Speed Press
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1984860607
• ISBN 13: 9781984860606
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 512