Fulltone Closing
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Bricksnbeatles
Member known well
Most of mine are good fwiw!
Adrian Belew
Tony Levin
Pat Mastelloto
Ritchie Blackmore
Napoleon Murphy Brock
Denny Walley
Steve Gadd
Mike Landau
John Petrucci
Thurston Moore (he was neither exceptionally nice nor mean, but he was very funny)
The list goes on…
A ton of absolutely lovely folks!
I met Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld once after a Bad Seeds gig. My wife and I sat around on milk crates while Blixa poured us Bollinger into plastic cups. He was really friendly if a little quiet. Nick Cave told me off for not seeing more of his shows. I don't blame him! This was around the Let Love In era and they were absolutely incredible. It was a great night for us.
And I met Björk and Einar of the Sugarcubes after a gig too. We stayed drinking backstage with Einar until the wee hours when we got kicked out of the club. Really lovely, funny guy. I think he does movie and TV music in Iceland now - I've seen his name on a few Icelandic shows.
My only negative "famous people meetings" were with John Galliano, who was main designer at Dior for a long time (he was a bit of a wally) and Emmanuelle Beart (once stunningly beautiful French actress who was in a Mission Impossible film) who wouldn't keep her photoshoot date with me. I was shooting for a magazine, met her at a news conference and was supposed to shoot her later that day but she went all prima donna. Oh well, her loss!
Then there was the time Michael Jackson wanted to buy my photos of children... (true story!)
And I met Björk and Einar of the Sugarcubes after a gig too. We stayed drinking backstage with Einar until the wee hours when we got kicked out of the club. Really lovely, funny guy. I think he does movie and TV music in Iceland now - I've seen his name on a few Icelandic shows.
My only negative "famous people meetings" were with John Galliano, who was main designer at Dior for a long time (he was a bit of a wally) and Emmanuelle Beart (once stunningly beautiful French actress who was in a Mission Impossible film) who wouldn't keep her photoshoot date with me. I was shooting for a magazine, met her at a news conference and was supposed to shoot her later that day but she went all prima donna. Oh well, her loss!
Then there was the time Michael Jackson wanted to buy my photos of children... (true story!)
Robert
Reverse Engineer
I've communicated with Billy Corgan online, it was brief but he seemed nice enough...
I will say the other Smashing Pumpkins guitarist, Jeff, is a straight up dude with no rockstar status attitude whatsoever. We've talked gear a bit in the past. I went to see them during the big reunion tour back in 2018, the next day shot him a message "Great show in Duluth last night!"... he responds "You should have messaged me, I could have gotten you backstage passes" ...
I'm not really the "backstage" kind of guy, but I probably would have made an exception in this case.
I will say the other Smashing Pumpkins guitarist, Jeff, is a straight up dude with no rockstar status attitude whatsoever. We've talked gear a bit in the past. I went to see them during the big reunion tour back in 2018, the next day shot him a message "Great show in Duluth last night!"... he responds "You should have messaged me, I could have gotten you backstage passes" ...
I'm not really the "backstage" kind of guy, but I probably would have made an exception in this case.
xefned
Well-known member
My celebrity interactions aren't impressive:
John Landis told me to "go fuck yourself."
Steve Kilby said, "Why don't you just fuck off right now." (Lesson: celebrities sometimes don't enjoy being questioned.)
I made pancakes for John Mellencamp and his model girlfriend. He has nodded to me on two occasions, probably thankful that I didn't try to talk to him.
John Flansburgh signed my student ID when I had nothing for him to sign. He signed the signature box on the back with my name, which was pretty cool. Great story: “I have John Flansburgh's autograph!!! It says Matthew Jenkins!”
John Landis told me to "go fuck yourself."
Steve Kilby said, "Why don't you just fuck off right now." (Lesson: celebrities sometimes don't enjoy being questioned.)
I made pancakes for John Mellencamp and his model girlfriend. He has nodded to me on two occasions, probably thankful that I didn't try to talk to him.
John Flansburgh signed my student ID when I had nothing for him to sign. He signed the signature box on the back with my name, which was pretty cool. Great story: “I have John Flansburgh's autograph!!! It says Matthew Jenkins!”
xefned
Well-known member
Robert
Reverse Engineer
I've only communicated with Mike Fuller once, and ironically it was in regards to "cloning" one of his pedals, but surprisingly he was nice and polite even considering the subject matter.
A friend of mine had the more "typical" interaction with him though, so I know that side is true as well.
A friend of mine had the more "typical" interaction with him though, so I know that side is true as well.
I spent 3 years cooking over a wood fired grill in a larger casino’s steak house , lost track of the entertainment that sat at the long table 2m/6ft away. May have gotten along with them easier because I left them alone 
They came to me providing complements. returned the favor and off they’d go to bed or on the road… be surprised wtf they have for diets, but most I can say about it(changed depts and this silence clause at work…….)
They came to me providing complements. returned the favor and off they’d go to bed or on the road… be surprised wtf they have for diets, but most I can say about it(changed depts and this silence clause at work…….)
peccary
Well-known member
I met John Lydon when I was about 10 years old. I lived with my dad in a Franciscan monastery in Malibu for a couple years in the very early 90's when my dad was getting clean. John was one of the 5-8 people or so who would go out to this deli after meetings as was my dad and we'd get something to eat, so I saw him fairly regularly.
I had no idea who he was when I was a kid, but I remember really liking him. He was hilarious, and seemed to want to talk with me more than anyone else there. One day John called me to the back of the restaurant to show me something - it was a giant poster of Cher's ass in fishnets and stockings. I remember him laughing and walking away to leave me there standing and staring at this poster while I had no idea what to do. We had other little interactions but nothing that really stands out like that.
I had no idea who he was when I was a kid, but I remember really liking him. He was hilarious, and seemed to want to talk with me more than anyone else there. One day John called me to the back of the restaurant to show me something - it was a giant poster of Cher's ass in fishnets and stockings. I remember him laughing and walking away to leave me there standing and staring at this poster while I had no idea what to do. We had other little interactions but nothing that really stands out like that.
Feral Feline
Well-known member
I've had mostly good interactions with a large number of the jazz elite, as I used to help out a jazz promoter in HK. Driving celebs to-from gig/hotel; dinners after the show; occasionally airport duty etc...
It's kind of hard not to have good interactions, though, when you're basically helping someone out — to deal with someone on a long-term basis you might get to know better who's genuinely cool and who's ... truly difficult.
It's kind of hard not to have good interactions, though, when you're basically helping someone out — to deal with someone on a long-term basis you might get to know better who's genuinely cool and who's ... truly difficult.
maybe you ought to put up the originals of the Zvex C&D letters on ebay and see if he objects to that as well. or better yet sell clones of his C&D letters.
This thread has reminded me of when I bought a Dr Z KT-45 head. When it arrived after a long journey it sounded pretty bad - not broken or anything but really excessively bright with no way to dial it out. And the chassis was made of feeble enough aluminium that the transformers had warped it purely through their weight. Apparently he went to stronger aluminium after that. I emailed him to ask what I could do to fix my amp and received a reply full of scorn and sarcasm which completely surprised me. I had been polite and reasonable so the response was unexpected to say the least. As much as I tried to get on with that amp I just couldn't. It was frustrating because it almost sounded really good - but didn't.
Needless to say no more Dr Z for me.
On the other extreme was Brian from Top Hat amps. Helpful, friendly, positively wonderful fella to deal with. I felt bad not buying one of his amps!
Needless to say no more Dr Z for me.
On the other extreme was Brian from Top Hat amps. Helpful, friendly, positively wonderful fella to deal with. I felt bad not buying one of his amps!
xefned
Well-known member
I wouldn't want Dr. Z (or Fulltone) in my signal chain after learning about their character, or lack thereof.
The message I hear is:
“My role is not to help you get good guitar tone; your role is to help me get rich. Know your place pleb!”
Coda
Well-known member
History is how it was, warts and all; no heroes, no villans: just people. Heritage is the highlight reel of the past...
Mentaltossflycoon
Well-known member
I'll put my feelings aside while also putting their products in the trash.
Imagine being the Kevin Sorbo of guitar pedals. "Nice legacy, bro. I'm super convinced you had absolute control over the end of your career."
Imagine being the Kevin Sorbo of guitar pedals. "Nice legacy, bro. I'm super convinced you had absolute control over the end of your career."
chongmagic
Well-known member
I met John Fogerty in a music store in Concord, NC. The shop sold a lot of vintage guitars, lots of nice Fenders and Gibsons and such. John was there wanting to buy some old Silvertone guitars. I was like 17 at the time, and at first honestly didn't even know who he was. I was more into Pink Floyd and Rush at the time, but knew of CCR. Anyway the shop owner asks me if I know who just walked in, I am like no. He tells me, and I am like cool. LOL. I end up buying a 1990 Fender Strat Plus and he signs the trem cover, and I got to play with him for like 45 minutes. He told me to keep in touch with him and let me know if I ever wanted tickets for a show. Super down to earth guy, hate I never gave him a call. I think this was back in 1996.
