Understanding the gear behind Melbourne's fast-rising trio
“Josh is such a control freak that in the studio, he’s running around like a mad man like he’s part of Queens of the Stone Age,” quips Telenova guitarist Ed Quinn about bassist Josh Moriarty.
Telenova’s steep rise is nothing short of phenomenal, with the trio that was grouped together at a songwriting camp set to release their highly anticipated second EP Stained Glass Love.
With their initial formation coming just before the onset of the pandemic, the group persisted through the harsh Melbourne lockdowns to get a “head start” on the beginning of their career.
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“Ed and I didn’t have that much respect for the rules,” Josh laughs. “We just continued to get together at my studio, Ange was a lot more diligent in following what Premier Andrews had to say but Ed and I were like, ‘Fuck this, if everyone else is allowed to work at whatever capacity they are, suddenly because we’re musicians, two of us can’t get together at my home studio and write music?’ He was my intimate partner!”
Spending almost an hour with two thirds of Telenova, we thought we’d sneak some gear chat in there as only we know how!
Bass guitar
Hofner Violin Bass
“I had another band and the bass player ended up just buying one of those cheap Hofners, I remember it just sounding so good, but then he quit the band and we had two guitar players, I was one, and the other guitarist was like, ‘Well I’m not fucking playing bass’. So I just became the bass player in that band and bought what our old bass player had. It’s quite an easy transition from guitar to a Hofner because they’re so small and you can be quite nimble and play it a bit like a guitar but still with a bit of a bass brain.”
Pedals
Line 6 Helix LT
“My pedalboard used to be an absolute nightmare,” Ed says. “Then Josh did the research and got me a Helix LT, and that basically has everything that we need in one stompbox. It’s so beautiful. You don’t even need an amp! Josh is the one that’s always fiddling with it like, ‘No no no, turn the tremolo rate down, turn it down! Turn it up!’ I’m totally cool with that.”
Tech 21 SansAmp
“The tones in the Hofner are so good, it’s pretty simple,” Josh says. “I was using an amp and I’d just have a compressor and then like a fuzz pedal and a few things like that, but now I’m just using the SansAmp, just going straight out of the that because we’re all on in-ears so we just decided instead of hiring an amp for Ed and an amp for me every time, let’s just use amp mods, or just the SansAmp and Ed’s Helix and everything’s the same every time. The Hofner just has such a tone, you palm-mute it with a pick, it sounds fat and sweet so I’ve just been doing that.”
Software
Ableton
“We use Ableton (to trigger percussion parts live), click play, even if it’s like three songs in a row, we’re at the mercy of Ableton to keep the set going, launching straight into the next song. It’s risky, not very rock and roll, no time for 25-minute improv jazz solos,” Ed laughs.
“We always have this plan to get a drummer in but because the samples we use are so refined and so keyed to the song, every single band we saw play with a drummer made it sound like an 18-year-old school band and we were like, ‘You know who doesn’t give a fuck whether there’s a drummer or not? The audience’.”
Stained Glass Love will be released August 19 via Pointer Recordings.
