ple and also give our sound some
legit electronic moments that re-
ally only recently became part of
the fabric of jam music.
What’s your favorite guitar ef-
fect and why?
My favorite guitar effect is a tie
between delay and the pitch shift-
er. I stole several techniques of
using delay from Carlos Santana,
and it’s a big part of my sound at
times. The pitch shifter is another
example of the electronic element
that pervades music today. It also
can make my guitar sound sort of
like an electronic flute or penny
whistle, which always perks up the
ears like a surprised German shep-
herd dog.
The band originated in what
once was a great New Bruns-
wick jam ‘n’ groove scene. How
did that scene inspire, fuel and
employ Secret Sound?
I was initially inspired to really
NJ STAGE - ISSUE 59
get into that scene by a band
called Fatty Lumpkin. As a fresh-
man jazz weirdo at Mason Gross
who also knew a bunch of Dead
tunes, I was invited to sit in with
them a bunch of times, and it re-
ally got me acquainted with that
scene. I was not of legal age to be
going to most shows, but my gui-
tar got me in the door of places
like Plum Street, the Budapest,
Tumulty’s and Harvest Moon. Mu-
sicians like Antar Goodwin and
Melvin McKnight really embraced
me and encouraged me. I sound-
ed good but was really, really
geeky. It took years to figure that
out! We had regular gigs at Plum
Street as I mentioned, Harvest
Moon and Doll’s Place, and some
really awesome bartenders, like
“Brother” Bob Richards and An-
thony DiLeo -- an amazing song-
writer and vocalist of the Fighting
Amish -- helped give us the work
we needed to get it together.
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