Toby. I love that guy.
practice. I’m not perfect in that by any means,
and thank God for the men I travel with who’ve
[WM] What defines your sound or tone? What helped me along the way, but I do feel a bit of a
sound are you looking for with Toby Mac? calling to help younger dudes into that process.
What about studio projects... are you playing I try not to walk around back stage seeing
differently there? people with targets on them, but I do try to be
open to the Holy Spirit and just be available.
[Tim] Tone is everything for me. I’ve worked
hard on that, but not alone. I think it’s so
important to make tone a group effort. All
kinds of people have say in my tone… Pat our
sound guy, Heath on monitors, Toby obviously,
Dave our MD, and my main man, Clint Harris,
our backline tech. At the end of the day, it’s
my responsibility to give Toby what he needs,
but I think the mindset of handling your tone
completely by yourself is a bad one. That being
said, I approach Toby’s gig pretty raw. There’s
enough other stuff going on, I pretty much
focus on making a guitar sound like a guitar.
Does that make sense? I don’t need a bunch
of ambient stuff going on too often with Toby.
In the studio, I just do what needs to be done
for the song. If it needs weird pads and space, I
crank up the reverb and delays and go nuts. If it
needs big stuff, I plug in the big boy amps and
rock. Just depends on the end goal.
Sometime just checking in with someone or a
Move (Keep Walkin’)
[WM] Are you mentoring or teaching any
upcoming guitar players?
[Tim] I’ve been doing this a long time and I’m
42 years old, 20 years of marriage and two
kids. I do some mentoring and teaching when
the opportunity is there, but probably not in the
way you’re thinking. Being a road guitarist is so
much more than playing the guitar. So I tend to
try to reach out to the younger road guys.
Juggling this life can be tricky, especially when
you introduce family to it. It’s so incredibly easy
to become entitled as a touring musician. I mean
it’s nuts… my job is to walk on a stage where
people cheer for me. That’s not normal. So, to
be able to come home to a family successfully
and ready to ‘serve and die to yourself’ takes
October 2019
simple compliment can make all the difference
and open some doors.
Sometimes Toby says something before we
play Speak Life that has really impacted me.
He talks about encounters with people, and
how it’s never neutral. We always leave an
impression, whether good or bad. I have a long
way to go, but I want to leave good impressions
on people, whether it’s in catering, on the bus,
or on stage. God help me! Ha!
[WM] And one last question, where is your
favorite place to play live?
[Tim] We’ve played some incredible places,
but I think I’d say Canada. Mainly because any
chance I have on the road, I go fly fishing, and
there’s a lot of great fly fishing up there!
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