4.52am Issue: 032 4th May 2017 The Little Triggers Issue

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Welcome
Welcome to Issue 032
This week we feel like we have one of the
UK’s most important new bands gracing
our cover, and simply put, Little Triggers
have it all – great songs, excellent
musicianship and that little bit of stardust
that can really take them all the way.
From there we have the first of a series of
looks at a Cigar Box Guitar from the
innovative and tasteful world of Mad Dog
Marshall Guitars.
Following on from this we take a closer
look at the P90 Pickup Ben from Fletcher
Pickups has wound especially for our
Paisley Telemaster Jr, as Ben talks us
through the build process. Excellent stuff.
As for the music, there is a bit of that too,
with the Cocteau Twins and Japan joining
Peaness, Talk Talk, Future Islands, and
even Cheap Trick. Who knew?
Have a fine week..
All at 4.52am

Contents
LITTLE TRIGGERS
FLETCHER PICKUPS - WINDING A P90
OUT OF MY HEAD – FUTURE ISLANDS
TAPED – 1984: COCTEAU TWINS & JAPAN
PEANESS
THE DESLONDES
CHEAP TRICK
MAD DOG MARSHALL GUITARS
AMBER ARCADES
TALK TALK

FEATURES

LITTLE TRIGGERS
Silly Cigarettes
We mentioned last week that in Little
Triggers we felt that we had found one of
the most exciting new bands around at
the moment, and that just before they
nipped off to China for a series of dates
we would try and get an interview with
them. Luckily for us, Tom their singer had
already packed and could fit us in.
Here is what he had to say about it all,
As you are about to disappear off to
China, can you tell us how that came
about/what is planned?
“Yeah we got that from when we played
at SoundCity last year and a few bands
got picked to go over and play a few
festivals in China, we were all quite
surprised when we got the invite because
there were about 12 people watching us.”
We're loving (new single) 'Silly
Cigarettes' - can you talk us through
the song/how it was written?
“I can't really remember the specifics of
that one, I remember writing the first
verse and chorus sat in the end of my bed
at about four in the morning and my flat
mates telling me to shut up. I think the
rest just came from jamming it about with
the band in praccy.”
It makes a change to see a band
who have the confidence not to
want to spend their time looking
at their shoes/apologising for
being on the stage - how far do
you want to go as a band/what are
your ambitions?
“We were just a bit bored of seeing
basically the same band all the time
playing the same sort of bland shite
with loads of pedals and that, when
you go to see a band you want to see
something a bit exciting, you wanna go
'fucking hell these are good,' which is I
suppose is what we're trying to do.
As far as aspirations go we'd like to tour
Europe and put out albums and all that.
I suppose the end goal is world
domination.”
I spoke to a few people about you
last night, and immediately it was
all about the Las, Cast, Coral -
does that 'Retro Liverpool band'
stereotype piss you off?
“I don't really think we do sound a lot
like those bands, nothing against them
though, I suppose whatever city a
bands from people will have pre
conceived ideas about what they'll be

like, at least we're not Mancs. (Joke, I do
like Oasis and that.)
I do fucking hate the word retro though,
like a football can be retro can't it? Our
music is more similar to that of older
music because we're into writing actual
songs with a proper chorus rather than
beats and hiring top liners and all that
farcical stuff. “
Obviously you are named for an
Elvis Costello song - was it just a
cool name or are you fans?
“No I'm a huge fan, especially of the
album 'This Years Model' which 'Little
Triggers' is on, I did a gig with him in
Belgium with my old band, was proper
kacking it, he was a very nice bloke
though.”
OK, colour me jealous. Anyway, I'm
really impressed by your lyrics,
where do you take inspiration for
them?
“Costello again is a great one for lyrics, I
suppose Alex Turner although you'll
always get a bit of stick for that from the
odd uppity sod. The lyrics really follow
the mood of the songs, there's some,
where it's more about the lyrics fitting
the melody and others which are more
lyrically driven “
You are writing proper, classic
songs - is that important to you, to
be more than a good image?
“Yeah, you see a lot of bands knocking
about and think oh yeah they're cool and
then they start playing and it's like being
at fucking school disco. We try and back
ourselves up with the odd banger.”
Going back to the beginning, can
you tell me how you all got
together?
“I put out an advert for a drummer and
that's when Sam came in, then I originally
asked Chris's brother to play bass but he
was too busy so he sent me onto Chris.
And then Crawford and me were in the
same year at college.”
Can you briefly tell us about each of
the band members?
“Well there's Chris who is the scousest kid
you're ever likely to bump into, then
Crawford is like Keith Moon on a
keyboard and Sam is the vital back bone
that a gang of reprobates would need.
And I sort of leap about and shout and all
that.”
When and where did you meet?
“We all just had mutual friends and that
really, knocking about the same pubs and
clubs on Seel Street.”
Are there influences that you share
as a band?
“We really love stuff with energy like Dr
Feelgood and The Who which is what
really drove our sound at the beginning
and is what still powers our live shows.
We like to take a slightly different
approach to recording in which songs
with better melody and arrangements
take more of a front running. We are
however releasing an E.P in the coming

months with more higher octane tunes
with more guitar hero moments.”
Can you describe your sound?
“High energy, million mile an hour tunes
broken up by the odd slow melodic one
you can waggle your lighters to.”
Can you describe your fans?
“All manner of mods, hippies, fan girls,
weirdoes and people in Berghuas
trackies, just people who want to have a
good time, it's not little kiddies music or
music for pretentious wankers.”
When did you start gigging - what
was your first gig like?
“Our first gig as the current line-up was
in the Cavern nearly a year ago I think,
it was a good laugh as I remember, lots
of free bevvy in the fridge and I think
Chris copped off.”
Tell us about the big gigs you’ve
played and how did you enjoy
them?
“We did this gig in France with Iggy Pop
that was mad, few thousand people
there, we had only been a band for a few
months and we hammered through all of
our songs at break neck speed and
ended up going through them all with 15
minutes to go. We had to round the set
off with a quarter of an hour long version
of Johnny B Goode, went down well on
the continent though like.”
What gear are you using?
“I use a Vox AC15 for small gigs and a
Marshall JCM800 for larger ones. My main
guitar is a Gibson 330 with a Bigsby and
p90 pick ups.
In the studio we also layered parts on
with a Fender Tele and a Rickenbacker
325.
My pedal set up is very basic. I use a
tuner, a wah, and a Tube Screamer.
When we were in the studio however we
did mess around with echo and reverb
but I can't remember what they were.
There was this 70's Marshall 30 watt
combo in the studio which we got a pretty
beefy tone out of.”
Moving forward to the current
release 'Silly Cigarettes' - can you
tell us about the recording?
“We recorded it in the motor museum on
Lark Lane which is just by Sefton Park,
close to loads of Chinese takeaways and
chippy's which is ideal.
We were in there right at the turn of the
new year and we did 4 tunes which will
be in our E.P. Al Groves produced all the
tracks. Was a breeze really.”
What is your approach to
songwriting?
“It's often the chords that come first or
an idea in my head of how the songs
could sound when the whole band is
playing. I normally have to sit down after
and bash the lyrics out.”

How did you learn to write a song?
“It was when I was about 14 or 15, I just
used to steal different bits from other
songs and gaffs them together in my
mind.”
Which one are you proudest of?
“I don't know, that's a tough one that, I
suppose the slower ones are better
'songs.”
Little Triggers really are a band that are
going to go all the way. They don’t suffer
from a lack of confidence, have some
serious songwriting talent and musically
they are incendiary.
If you get the chance to see them live,
make sure you do.
For the stay-at-homers, go check them
out over THERE

FLETCHER PICKUPS
How to Build a P90 Pickup
Ben, from Fletcher Pickups, very kindly
helped us with our Paisley Telemaster Jr
build, by winding us a P90 Soapbar
pickup that would work perfectly with our
aim of using heavy strings (13-65) and
tuning to A-A for a faux baritone kind of
trip.
Being somewhat opportunistic, we asked
Ben to talk us through the process and
take a few happy snaps along the way
(I’ve always loved the old photostories
from Jackie magazine (ahem)) and
thankfully he did just that. We started by
asking what a P90 was,
“A p90 is a meaty, warm, (add
adjectives here....) single coil. Its
power is due to having approximately
double the amount of wire wrapped
around it than a strat single - increasing
output and two bar magnets -
increasing inductance. In essence it is
a very simple device.”
Step 1: Assemble Your Parts
You can't make a pickup without pickup
wire - in this case, AWG42 or 0.063mm
insulated wire. The keeper bar
(bottom) is drilled steel with tight pole
hole diameter to ensure most efficient
transfer of magnetic flux from the
magnets to the screw poles. The
backplate is Nickel Silver and is
completely non-magnetic. This metal is
also used for good HB pickup covers
due to its 'see through' magnetic
properties - i.e. it doesn't colour the
tone. Note also the brass fixing screws,
again non-magnetic and used for least
interference.

I use fibreboard bobbins with a drilled wood centre block. In many ways plastic bobbins are superior in that
they don't flex and move and are more resistant to changes over time, but for me fibreboard feels correct.
The keeper bar (bottom) is drilled steel with tight pole hole diameter to ensure most efficient transfer of
magnetic flux from the magnets to the screw poles. The backplate is Nickel Silver and is completely nonmagnetic.
This metal is also used for good HB pickup covers due to its 'see through' magnetic properties -
i.e. it doesn't colour the tone. Note also the brass fixing screws, again non-magnetic and used for least
interference.

Step Two: Wind Your Pickup:
First attach the wire to the bobbin. Simply wrapped through an eyelet, this is later soldered together with
the lead. Winding patterns, tension & coil shape are the quirks that make handwound pickups unique to
each manufacturer and are a closely guarded secret! I can't tell you all my tricks can I!

Step 3: Assembly
Magnets! There are two types of magnet commonly used in pickups; ceramic - cheap, strong and IMO only
good for high output madness - & Alnico (Aluminium, Nickel, Cobalt).
Alnico is available with different proportions of each metal in the alloy and graded as III, II, IV, V & VIII -
this is the order of increasing strength/power. Each has its own tonal properties and characteristics and is
another tool in the pickup makers armoury to build to requirements of the guitarists need. In this case we
are using Alnico V, the go to/standard p90 pickup - very early p90s used Alnico III, which has a much
smoother and mellow voice. These are also sand-cast magnets. The rough surface slightly distorts the
magnetic flux, resulting in a gentle smoothing of the top end. This p90 is intended for the bridge

I prefer to wrap the coil in (vintage spec) tape as a bit of protection.

Classic chrome pole screws. Self-tapping pole screws ensure a nice snug fit in the bobbin.

Vintage braided shielded single core wire. Hot wire well separate from earth! Always remember to test the
continuity of the wire. The meter shows 8.29/8.30 - Spot on what I aimed for.

p90 magnets face north-north or south-south.

Screw the baseplate on.

The baseplate connects with the shield to earth all the metal parts for minimum noise

Pop the cover on and job (almost) done. Just needs a quick soak in molten wax to remove microphonic
feedback.

OUT OF MY HEAD
Future Islands
I realise that it is only a hand filled with
weeks ago that we had the rather cool
Future Islands on our front page, and
that the temptation with doing this
regular musical format is to always be
looking at what is next, but I have to say
that despite the intervening days and
weeks, I really can’t get the band’s
wonderful ‘Far Field’ album out of my
head.
There are a few tracks in particular, but it
genuinely is one of those albums that I
find myself listening from start to end
with regular frequency. Which is getting
a little hard to explain as it tends to be
in the car, when I am popping to a
supermarket 5 minutes drive away.
Regardless of the impact upon my
marital solidarity the album is worth a
look if you missed it last time around,
and here are a couple of songs to give
you a taste. And if you see a chap
parked in the corner of Lidl’s car park
with the windows steamed up, don’t
assume the worst.
Find out more HERE

TAPED: 1984
Cocteau Twins & Japan
One of the great loves of my teenage
years was an array of gradually improving
Walkmen, a horrendous amount of
headphones that always broke at the
plug, and a suitcase full of batteries
whenever I went away. The Mix Tape
was king, and then the bootleg when
concerts took over my head, heart and
wallet. But the tape was always there,
and one of the joys of the renaissance of
vinyl and along with it the fact that there
is something to have, hold and read while
you listen to that new band you have
discovered, is that there is an artefact
that is yours to keep and that along with
vinyl, the humble cassette tape has
hitched a ride. I hate to think how many
digital songs I’ve ‘lost’ over the years, but
there are tapes and records that go back
aeons that can still make me smile.
‘Hatful of Hollow’ on cassette is the sound
of a million bus rides to me, and always
will be.
And call me sad, old and mid-lifey if you
like, but in recent times I’ve been
collecting cassettes again, not just of the
old music – although that I definitely
have done – but also of new music that
is getting small releases, and I have to
say that I am loving it. The Good Good
Blood album we reviewed last week is a
classic in the truest sense and better than
90% of everything I’m hearing at the
moment, and I am probably guilty of
understatement at that.
However this morning the tapes I am
listening to as I write this drivel are
both from 1984 – I was 16 if not sweet
– and hearing them again especially on
an analogue, slightly hissy format is
almost chilling, not least because it
showed the explosion of one band and
probably the bracketing of another.
In ‘Treasure’ the Cocteau Twins were
probably at their most opulent. The
gritty clanging noise of ‘Garlands’ far
behind them, Raymonde and Guthrie
had grown to create a perfect backdrop
for Liz Fraser’s voice which they
continued to equal, but I don’t think
ever surpassed. This for me was their
perfect album and listening on cassette
makes you even more aware of how
good it was.
The second is the first (I think) of the
seminal Japan’s best-ofs, ‘Exorcising
Ghosts’. Again the format adds a slight
grit to the beauty and urgency of the
tracks and makes you appreciate the
bass lines as well as the hovering layers
of synth. But it is David Sylvian’s other
world lounge lizard voice that still sells
the chills. As for Auto-reverse, don’t get
me started.

PEANESS
Are You Sure? E.P
Peaness are one of the coolest (in fact,
surely the coolest?) bands around at the
moment and are this week releasing their
‘Are You Sure?’ E.P on the always
effervescent (ahem) Alcopop! Label, and
what a total joy it is.
If you haven’t caught them yet, they are
continuing their reimagining of what
Indie music used to be like back before
all that Baggie Dance Bobbins infiltrated
and turned the world all shades of the
Union Jack with Britpop. OK, it is 20
years, I know I have to let it go.
Taking a happier version of the Throwing
Muses and Strawberry Switchblade as a
starting point, a quick diversion around
the Sarah Records ring road, a sprinkle of
the Primitives and the cool of Transvision
Vamp, they still somehow make some
quite brilliant, happy, joyous and
danceable songs sound the freshest thing
since one of those lemons in the photo.
They are nothing like any other band
around at the moment, they are much
more important and unique than most.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing
retro or backward looking about them,
I’m just showing my age and timestained
horizons, Peaness are one of
those bands that everybody needs to
listen to, as they bring light into your
life, and there is precious little of that
around at the moment.
Hopefully we’ll catch-up with them next
week, but sod waiting for that, buy the
E.P instead, it is much more important.
Then go and see them live.
Find them HERE
07/05/2017 – LONDON // Thousand
Islands @ The Garage, Highbury
13/05/2017 - WREXHAM // FOCUS
WALES FESTIVAL @ Central Station
23/06/2017 - CHESTER // Chester Live
Fest @ Telfords Warehouse
09/07/2017 - CHELTENHAM // 2000
TREES FESTIVAL
23/07/2017 - OXFORDSHIRE // TRUCK
FESTIVAL
29/07/2017 - DERBYSHIRE //
INDIETRACKS FESTIVAL
05/10/2017 - GLASGOW // Hug And
Pint
06/10/2017 - ABERDEEN // Tunnels
07/10/2017 - EDINBURGH // Sneaky
Pete's

THE DESLONDES
Muddy Water
I have to admit that The Deslondes are
new to me and were a nice surprise when
I heard the track they shared this week,
‘Muddy Water’ and then it only got better
when I went digging around a little to
hear a lot of their heavier electric
R&B/Country/Blues-ish music. From
there I really can’t wait for their album to
come out on the 23 rd of June.
Coming from New Orléans, the band
really do cut across the genres and have
staked a claim on a sound and feel that is
entirely their own, but with a familiarity
that sits nicely in your stomach.
The album, ‘Hurry Home’ was recorded
over a handful of days and as the band
describe it,
“It’s a fitting title for this album because
our lives and our songwriting revolve
around leaving and returning, or
searching for, home. And home can be
a physical place, a relationship, or a
state of mind.”
The Deslondes are a seriously cool
band, and well worth checking out
HERE

CHEAP TRICK
Long Time Coming
We are all getting used to a lot of the old
bands coming back in the hope that they
can top up their underperforming pension
pots and generally get over the lack of
royalties all of this interweb bobbins has
inflicted, but it is rare for a band to come
back – with the Sharks for me the obvious
exception to the rule – with something
new, original and good. So I have to
admit to being a little stunned by just how
much I am loving Cheap Trick’s new
single, ‘Long Time Coming’ which itself is
heralding a quite accurately titled album,
‘We’re All Alright’.
And if the single in all its Kinks-esque
beauty is anything to go by the album
with be a doozy, and the live shows
well worth checking out.
I’m a little shocked, I’m such an indie
boy normally.
Anyway, have a listen, and then go and
find out more about their PledgeMusic
campaign HERE. Awesome stuff.
UK Tour dates
Tue 27th Jun – London, O2 Kentish
Town Forum
Wed 28th Jun – Manchester, Academy
Thu 29th Jun – Bristol, O2 Academy

MAD DOG MARSHALL
Montecristo Relic CBG
Before I started nailing guitars together
by the dozen, my first exercise in toedipping
involved making a few Cigar Box
Guitars. They were great fun to do, and
brilliant to play – even if my slide work
wasn’t – but the limits of my talent were
quickly reached and I moved on to more
forgiving methods. And that is something
I think people miss – making a CBG is, in
a lot of ways, harder than making a
traditional guitar, certainly a partscaster,
as everything has to be redefined and if
you are going the route of making them
from things you can find or pick-up
cheaply, you need talent and
imagination.
Time has moved on since I dabbled and
there are people around that take it a lot
more seriously and produce some quite
brilliant instruments. One I have been
particularly impressed by is Lee Marshall’s
‘Mad Dog Marshall’ guitars, which have all
of the attention to detail you would
expect of any luthier. And that is my
point, people like Lee are building guitars
that are exquisite musical instruments in
their own right, and he has an artist’s eye
when it comes to the finish and the detail.
Over the coming weeks I want to look at
several of Lee’s builds, but to start with
I’ve gone for one that is seemingly
simple. Based on a Montecristo Cigar
Box, it has a carved oak neck, with
brass frets. The nut and bridge are
obviously coming from the traditional
CBG approach of ‘what works, works’,
but it is the beautifully observed ageing
that catches my eye immediately. Lee
really has a talent for that and
especially on the oak of the neck it is
believably old and well used.
The other thing that I was really
impressed by was the 3 pole pickup. At
first glance it is easy to miss, but to
maintain the aesthetic of the guitar,
Lee has chosen to fix it below the top
of the box, with only the poles
protruding through the top. It may
seem to be a small detail to mention,
but they are the ones that let you know
the builder is ‘on it.’
Other than that, it is obviously 3
strings, tuned GDG, and will scream
like a hellhound is on your tail. What
else could you want?
You can check out more of Mad Dog
Marshall’s builds HERE, and you really
should

AMBER ARCADES
Can’t Say That We Tried
Well it wouldn’t be 4.52am without
another mention for the all manner of
awesome, Ms. De Graaf and the
imminent (June 2 nd ) release of a new
E.P’s worth of material from the lass is
plenty enough of a reason in my book.
Not that you will feel that I need an
excuse when you have a listen to the first
track from the E.P, ‘Can’t Say That We
Tried’ which effortlessly builds upon
everything we have heard so far from
Amber Arcades before taking a left-turn
toward a small town in America that only
David Lynch would recognise. This is a
beautiful, dreampop song that adds a
further depth to Annelotte’s portfolio.
And then there is a quite artful video, as
she explains,
"Sometimes when I'm bored I just
randomly click when I get a notification
that someone likes my page. Like a kind
of market research I tell myself cos I can't
accept that maybe I'm just a creepy
internet stalker yet. This one day I clicked
and I came on the Facebook profile of this
guy Don and he had a link to his Vimeo
page and since I was really bored I
clicked further on that and then I saw he
made some pretty amazing stuff. I
especially liked this video he had made of
an aquarium with dreamy fish. The week
after my label guy told me it would be
good to have a video for this song and I
just thought about this fishy video. Like
how the fish just float around, not
knowing that there is this whole world
outside of this aquarium, it's beautiful
but also kind of sad, which is how I feel
about this song. So I asked Don if he'd
be into making an edit of his material
to fit the song and shot some extra
footage of me singing the tune to mix
up with it. Like Sinead O'Connor vids
kinda. I love how it all turned out and I
love how the whole thing was kind of
born out of a coincidence, like me
clicking that notification that time. The
magic of this internet world."
The director said, "One morning I woke
up to an email from a name that wasn't
familiar to me. Instead of my usual
habit of not batting an eye at the emails
that pile up each day, I read the
message and saw the subject saying
"Amber Arcades" and then I just flipped
out! I felt honored because I adore her
music, and it's so unlikely that a
musician that I place in high regard
would send me a message asking me
to make a music video for her. It was
quite an honor and it's very cool to see
how social media can connect artists
globally. Annelotte is very fun to talk to
as well! Such a cool and down to earth
person."
Find out more HERE

TALK TALK
Life’s What You Make It
This week La Contessa D’Jook has gone a
little introspective, mining some of the
greatest pop/rock/experimental music
ever recorded, in the shape of Talk Talk.
Mark Hollis, in ‘Spirit of Eden’ created
what is quite simply a masterpiece that
he, nor anybody else can hope to
surpass, but it is the slightly earlier, more
accessible work that La Contessa is laying
out for us here with a selection of his,
perhaps more popular songs
Mr Hollis seems to have walked away
from the music business now, which
you have to say is a tragedy, but here
is what we have been missing.
Beautiful and special in all the right
ways.