Gear Rundown: The Amazons
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05.10.2022

Gear Rundown: The Amazons

the amazons
Words by Benjamin Lamb

Exploring the gear used in the latest record co-written in a converted barn in Hertfordshire!

The group just dropped their new album, How Will I Know if Heaven Will Find Me?.

It is very exciting. it’s nice to see the songs out there in the world doing their thing. We’ve been writing for two years, and it’s been ready to go since February, we’re excited to have a new phase in our relationship with the songs.”

We caught up with front man and rhythm guitarist Matt Thomson to dive into all the gear used on their new release.

Read all the latest features, columns and more here. 

Guitars

Squier Telecaster

“I used a lot of the Squier Telecaster, it was honestly worth about 400 pounds. One of the Mexican-made ones, and I actually had one similar at home, and it sounded incredible. I think I used it on everything, and I didn’t expect that was going to be the case.

“We were working with Jim Abiss in his personal studio, and he had these incredible electric guitars that he’d kind of picked up along the way over the last few decades, and I picked this 400 quid Fender Telecaster because it just sat in the track so well. As a rhythm guitarist, I don’t need to be poking through that much, I just need to be in with the bass and the drums, and it was perfect for that.”

Duesenberg

“Our lead guitarist always goes for warmer sounds, he plays a Duesenberg live, or anything with humbuckers. But I like the single coils.”

Mandolin

“We introduced mandolins, which has been a really interesting thing to see Chris, our guitarist grapple with.”

Amps

Marshall Bluesbreaker

“We got to do something you never get to do which is actually turn it up over half. So we had this Bluesbreaker hot, like hot as hell, clean with this Telecaster straight in, and that was a lot of the sounds. I think of ‘Wait for Me’, ‘In the Morning’, and putting it through a pedal just wasn’t right. So, we just did it clean and it was awesome.”

Synthesisers

Juno 60

“There’s Junos all over the record, all over, that was our go to. It was so easy to find references. Pretty much everything you can get a Juno in was like ‘that sounds good to us’.”

Drums 

British Drum Co

“Joe (Emmett, drums) isn’t necessarily the biggest gear head, he likes a few floor toms. The drums are all made by British Drum Company who are up north in Stockport (British Drum Co), and they look after a lot of UK artists.”

Other

Theremin

“We also had a theremin, at the end of ‘Say it Again’. That was really wild, it’s like a living person.”

The Amazons’ new record How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me? is out now.