Pre-order and new song out today at https://godzillasnacks.bandcamp.com/album/tribes-of-lost-children. Why today? It’s Bandcamp Friday and that means bands get 100% revenue for anything sold today. So if you’re into the album, today is the day to throw in support. We appreciate all of you for the support! Next week Tribes of Lost Children will be out. Until then enjoy Nebula Eye, a new song we haven’t even played at a show yet.
Love,
Godzilla Snacks
Sorry for the absence. I've been busy actually making things in analog life. Recently I've noticed a bunch of online guitar folks talking about the weird switch Gibson came out with in the late 50's. The original idea wasn't around all that long, so perhaps that's why it's misunderstood. It's not a simple capacitor switch that simply cuts treble at different values. People do make those, and often claim it's a varitone. It's not. It's simply a variable low pass filter switch. The varitone is a variable notch filter, allowing you to cut different frequencies (often mids) across the spectrum using a magnetic inductor. Lot's of great info and discussion can be found here: https://guitarnuts2
It can really give you unique and cool sounds from an era that people missed out on. I think because people didn't really understand what it was doing, it got a bad reputation. People often tore them out. I remember being 17 in a guitar store playing a 1960s 335 and asking the owner what the giant switch was. He said "the worst idea Gibson ever came up with". Well, history showed it can always get worse. Guys like BB King and Freddie King loved them. Go back and listen to some of those performances. I'm convinced they used the positions 2 and 3 a lot. This video probably gives the best examples I've seen of the positions.
Last year I thought I'd take a swing at my own recipe for a varitone on my flying V. I wasn't using the single standard tone knob much, so it was my perfect candidate for a varitone. I wanted positions 2 and 3 and maybe 4, but towards the end of the switch, things sounded trashy and super lo-fi with very little bass. Very cool if you need that sound. I do like to cut treble live, to get a nice sustaining (non-squealing) feedback. So, I opted to add a standard cap to ground for that at position 2. Then I moved every other position one down. It just makes more sense for me playing live. I need to hit the treble cut faster than the other positions that I might stay on longer for a song.
So let's look at the updated schematic:
Some 10 meg resistors from the other side's center lug to each position lug to prevent popping sounds when switching. Then some caps to an inductor. In this case I used an easy to find audio transformer (TY-250) rated at 10.29 henrys and 20Hz to 20kHz.. Input to leg 2 and out to ground off leg 4. Because the henrys are at a different rating than the original Gibson one, I had to recalculate the values to work with my transformer.
So we get the following results:
Position 1 = Bypass all tone control
Position 2 = Treble cut (you can tweak the amount by value)
Position 3 = Slight scooped mids sound
Position 4 = More scooped upper mids
Position 5 = Thin bright sound with bass cut
Position 6 = Trashy lo-fi transistor radio tone
I find this works for me in my single tone knob guitar, but you can experiment with your own values within the ballpark of these to find your own sounds that work for you! 
A busy year! Yet again, another new release day. Part one of a collaboration with author Courtney Jensen to accompany his next book in his fantasy series. His second book of the series, The Crown and the Caged God is out now available on Amazon or on Bonstanbooks.com. The book is not your average fantasy novel. You can check out all he is up to at CourtneyJensen.com and his youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@courtneyjensen
A bit of a departure from my last few releases. Because the book takes place in medieval times, the instruments are all acoustic. We hope you enjoy both!
"The picture of the world's richest man killing the world's poorest children is not a pretty one"
I didn’t want to write this album. But I found myself writing most of it in one night post dinner, after seeing yet another gruesome and exhausting day in the news. It was my only catharsis in coming to the reality that my home country’s leadership was just trying to be all-out cruel, and that maybe we weren’t the “good guys” anymore. One of the most heartbreaking parts was the cutting of USAID, which feeds, educates, houses, and develops the poorest areas of the world. They also help stop diseases from taking root and spreading to our own back doors. I guess the leaders don’t think the ills of the world will ever reach their doorsteps. Instead some danced on a stage with a chainsaw celebrating. This is short sighted, and worse yet, there will be someone to step in to fill this void. I’ll give you a hint. It won’t be a democracy.
So, all sales of this album after bandcamp’s cut, will go to the World Central Kitchen. It’s the best solution I can come up with to help the poorest and struggling people in disaster areas and war zones. It’s only helping people in food crisis and I know I’m only throwing a peddle into an ocean. I’m a small artist, the money I can generate isn’t much, but at least it’s not just….talk. You can support any charity of your liking without buying this album as well.
I know some of the subjects or criticisms on this album will anger some people. While it’s not my intent, you’re free to receive it as you like or don’t. If you feel as if you must retort my views, I feel it’s only respectful of my time, after the hours I spent, to present your retort in some form of creativity, art, or at the very least, something well thought out. Because just words on the internet are cheap…..and a lot of times very incorrect. And no, AI is not being creative, nor art.
Hopefully I can go back to making a different album in the future. Thanks for the support. Thanks to Trevor Brown for contributing the drums on the album and all his past collaborations. This is what punk music and humanity is to me.
Lum and Trevor
https://lumband.bandcamp.com/album/idiots-talking-to-idiots
New album, Idiots Talking to Idiots will be out June, Friday the 13th. How fitting...Today we release the title track and pre-order here: https://lumband.bandcamp.com/album/idiots-talking-to-idiots More information soon. Until then enjoy.
~Trevor and Lum
Paulo Giovanni Campo and Texas Davey do it again! A pseudonym release from the outtakes of the newest funk release. Perhaps we'll have follow-ups in a Volume II?
https://maleorder.bandcamp.com/album/volume-i
Out now! My latest solo album. Thanks to all my friends who helped make it possible!
https://lumband.bandcamp.com/album/extraterrestrial-wet-dream
Extraterrestrial Wet Dream is a project (Aaron)Lum dreamed-up, channeling inspiration from 70-80s funk and disco greats like Parliament Funkadelic, Prince, and the Italian disco group Kano. The group tries to connect the lines of funk, soul and disco together with sexual innuendos or being overtly over the top, but with some ghost remains of Lum’s rock guitar shredding roots. It was also an excuse for getting together with new and old musician friends, While Lum played his role on his usual vocal and guitar duties, he got to deep dive into the world of synths from the 70s and 80s along with resurrecting his saxophone playing for the first time since 2008. The album features legendary bassist Mike Watt of the Minutemen, Iggy Pop, and Porno for Pyros. Ex-band mate from the hip hop group Lost History and current People of the Abyss solo artist, Trevor Brown on Drums/vocals. As well as Fukuoka punk rockers; The Born Shit Stirrer’s original bassist, Paul Blair. Special thanks to Jan Bart Leeuw on keys, samples and whistles. Melisa Delgado on Viola, Ryan McMahon with his pertinent information, and Jon Bates for yelling!
We hope it’s a testimonial for shaking your ass.
Hello earthlings! Today we drop the per-order for our next album and total invasion. My friends and I Lum, have gone through a transformation musically. We hope you can find the time to head over to our page and check out the funk we’ve been cooking…..13 tracks coming your way soon. Until then, please enjoy two new ones out now.
https://lumband.bandcamp.com/album/extraterrestrial-wet-dream
Peace and Funk
Lum
Hello earth. Today was a good day to put out a single. Some BirdsReturn. It’s a collaboration with author Courtney Jensen to
accompany his next book in his fantasy series. His first book, The
Crown and the Caged God is out now available on Amazon or Bonstanbooks.com. This song
takes place in a medieval type world, sung in a tavern after mourning
the loss of a desolated city. I promise it sounds much more cheerful
than that description. We tried to emulate what happens with oral
traditions overs generations, where words often get changed or
misinterpreted. So we passed the song around a few times between
each other without truly seeing the written original lyrics.
Courtney is a great writer and I promises the book is not your
average fantasy novel. So please check out all he is up to at
CourtneyJensen.com and his youtube channel.
I also wanted to announce my next album, Extraterrestrial Wet Dream which should be out before the year’s end. It’s a funk/soul/disco/jazz album. I know... a total left turn from the previous album. But this it the point of these albums. To try new things. The inspiration started from late night jams with my punk band’s (Born Shit Stirrers) founding member Paul Blair on bass
Special guests will be Mike Watt from the Minutemen, Firehose, and Iggy Pop. Trevor Brown on drums of People of the Abyss. Our first album together with him on drums in16 years, since our time together in the hip hop band Lost History. Also long time collaborator Jan Bart Leeuw adding keys and samples and Melisa Delgado on viola.
I hope you enjoy these releases. We all put a lot of work into them.
Love, Lum
Seems art and humanity are values being questioned these days because of new technology. This was 100% human made. This is a subject the author talks about from time to time on his youtube channel. Which usually has various weekly short journal subjects. Ranging from topics around writing, art, society and even old video games which can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/@courtneyjensen
End of broadcast for the day!
Enjoy
