The Tone Mob Podcast

This week on The Tone Mob, Blake sits down with Frank Gross, founder of Thunder Road Guitars Seattle, for a conversation about music, retail, risk, reinvention, and the strange magic of simply refusing to disappear. Frank tells the story of leaving the band life behind, moving back to Seattle, and slowly turning Craigslist flips, pawn shop finds, and a tiny workspace into one of the most respected guitar shops on the West Coast. We dig into the early days of Thunder Road, the importance of branding, the realities of bootstrapping a business, and why “just show up and try” might be the most brutally useful advice a new business owner can hear. We also get into the brand-new Thunder Road Seattle location, building an in-person retail experience in an increasingly online world, the chaos of moving a working guitar store, punk and screamo war stories, favorite Boss pedals, gigantic pizza, and why guitar shops still matter. Check them out at https://www.thunderroadguitars.com/ Support The Show And Connect!

Trevor Boone basically grew up inside a guitar shop. His dad started Emerald City Guitars in Seattle back in the mid-90s with a shoestring business plan, a small loan, and a whole lot of secondhand guitar-store dream dust. Trevor was the kid at the counter, surrounded by musicians, weird old guitars, shop talk, and the kind of musical obsession that tends to permanently rewire a person. In this episode, we get into Trevor’s journey from pre-eBay guitar hunts with his dad to becoming one of the people collectors call when they are searching for serious vintage pieces. We talk Bursts, Dumbles, Silvertones, funky under-a-thousand-dollar treasures, and the strange balance of loving the oddball stuff while also surviving in the high-end vintage guitar world. We also dig into how guitar retail has changed, why proper setup and authentication matter more than ever, the pressure of social media, the magic of instruments that simply make you play better, and why the best guitar shops still feel like the barbershops

Yvette Young is back on the podcast, which means we are legally required to talk about beautiful guitar parts, creative chaos, and the strange little circus act of trying to be a functioning artist in the modern world. This time around, Yvette digs into her work on the new Superman soundtrack, including what it was like getting mysterious NDA phone calls, turning around guitar cues on tight deadlines, and then watching the movie wondering which of her parts survived the final cut instead of, you know, simply enjoying the movie like a normal person. We also get into the deeper stuff: burnout, touring, trying to make time for solo music, learning to serve someone else’s creative vision, and the eternal struggle of doing enough work to survive without accidentally sanding your soul down to a decorative nub. There’s also talk of signature gear, musician play dates, creative retreats in the woods, and why music should probably be treated less like a sport and more like a weird, beautiful thing humans do because

Buddy Blues joins The Tone Mob for a long-overdue conversation about guitar, YouTube, blues, pedals, and the strange little internet ecosystem where all of those things collide. Buddy shares his story, from growing up in Beirut playing classical piano, discovering electric guitar through blues and Pink Floyd, moving to Florida as a teenager, gigging heavily, touring with John Mayall, and eventually finding his way into the world of guitar YouTube after the live music world hit a wall in 2020. Blake and Buddy dig into the grind of making gear content, the difference between demos and entertainment, learning to stop trying to win everybody over, the weirdness of algorithm life, favorite amps, recording setups, Victory amps, Fender Supersonics, the value of bedroom-player opinions, and why guitar culture sometimes takes itself way too seriously. They also talk about Buddy’s new LSL Instruments signature Satikoy, Stringjoy strings landing in Guitar Center, the Boss DM-101, proper Neapolitan pizza, and why the

Jesse Honig of 29 Pedals finally joins The Tone Mob, and we are digging all the way into the beautifully nerdy machinery of his story. Before launching 29 Pedals, Jesse spent years inside studios, tape machines, consoles, repair benches, and the general glowing underworld of professional audio. He worked as a roadie as a teenager, became a studio assistant in Philadelphia, built a life as a session player, engineer, and tech, then eventually found himself working with companies like Slate Digital and Manley Labs before deciding it was time to build something of his own. That something became EUNA, a deceptively “simple” pedal that helped turn the humble buffer into a serious tone tool. Blake and Jesse get into why guitars are terrible at driving cable, why input impedance matters, why pedalboards can be treated like modular studio channel strips, and why 29 Pedals approaches design from a very different angle. There is also talk of OAMP, fuzzes, overdrives, true bypass, manufacturing headaches, component c

Ron Jackson has one of those jobs that sounds suspiciously like something a music nerd invented while staring at the ceiling. As the host and producer of Musora’s Covers On The Spot, Ron brings bands into the studio, hands them an iconic song from somewhere outside their natural habitat, and gives them only a few hours to rebuild it in their own image. The results have included Emily Wolfe dragging Billie Eilish into the smoky riff dungeon of Black Sabbath, Archspire attacking Rosé and Bruno Mars with impossible quantities of technical death metal, and Thursday being forced to figure it all out while Ron quietly watches the pressure gauge climb. Ron joins me to explain how the show came together, what makes a band right for the challenge, and why convincing touring musicians to spend their day off writing a surprise cover is not always the easiest pitch in the world. We also get into Musora’s evolution beyond Drumeo, Ron’s former life as an English and musical-theater teacher, the strange experience of wor

Sal Mignano has never been particularly interested in making the bass behave itself. As a founding member of The Sleeping and one-third of the thunderous new project Held, Sal writes riffs from the bottom up, stacks distortion pedals into increasingly hostile little ecosystems, and believes the bass should do considerably more than quietly hold everyone’s coat. Sal joins Blake to tell the wonderfully accidental origin story of Held, including free studio time, a last-minute guitarist cancellation, and Douglas Robinson being gently shoved toward the six-string. They also dig into Sal’s long musical history, from funk bands and Skycamefalling to The Sleeping, along with the lessons he learned from the late John “Beatz” Holohan of Bayside. Naturally, there is gear. A lot of gear. Sal walks through his collection of gloriously battered Gibson Grabbers, vintage Rickenbackers, Fender basses, obscure pedals, enormous Gallien-Krueger touring rigs, and the wonderfully inconvenient magic that still keeps real amplif

Barton McGuire doesn’t believe a guitar pedal should politely prevent you from making a bad sound. Where’s the adventure in that? In this episode, Blake sits down with the founder of Cosmodio Instruments to talk about accidental self-oscillation, homemade noise contraptions, imposter syndrome, and the long road from stuffing circuits into RadioShack boxes to running a growing pedal company. Barton explains why Cosmodio builds “adventurous pedals for adventurous people,” how the Gravity Well helped put the company on the map, and why a pedal should offer more than a carefully fenced pasture of acceptable guitar tones. Sometimes you need a beautiful chorus. Sometimes you need the machine to cough sparks and open a portal. They also dig into the realities of launching a small business, learning from criticism without being emotionally flattened by it, assembling the right team, and accepting that anything worth making will eventually irritate somebody on the internet. Plus: the Cosmodio Splinter Twin, glitch

Will York of Thunder Road Guitars PDX joins us to tell the real story behind one of the West Coast's favorite guitar shops. Before Thunder Road Portland became a destination for vintage guitar weirdos, touring players, local lifers, and anyone who enjoys staring at old offsets under flattering lighting, Will was a Gainesville, Florida kid chasing music any way he could. That road eventually led him west to Lollar Pickups, then to Thunder Road in Seattle, and finally to opening the Portland shop in 2017. This episode gets into the unglamorous, deeply human side of building a guitar store: living in the basement of the first shop, putting every penny into the business, surviving the COVID guitar boom, buying a commercial building, learning when to delegate, and navigating a major open-heart surgery scare right in the middle of it all. We also talk vintage guitar shows, rare finds, the difference between selling new and vintage gear, why guitar stores should actually feel welcoming, and why Will still believe

This week on The Tone Mob Podcast, Blake hangs with Shea Sterner of thisheavyearth, a Portland-based builder making heavy pedals, brutal solid-state amps, and gear that looks like it crawled directly out of a fantasy-metal record sleeve. Shea shares his path from punk and metal scenes in Pennsylvania, to recording experiments in Texas, to learning repairs and circuit design in Salt Lake City, and eventually launching This Heavy Earth in Portland. The conversation gets into acid-etched pedals, self-taught PCB design, the FleshRot amp and preamp world, Ampeg VH140C inspiration, HM-2 chainsaw tones, baritone guitars, and why solid state deserves a much louder seat at the table. They also dig into building a gear company with your spouse, NAMM stories, fantasy artwork, plugins, small-business chaos, and the joy of making sounds that can swing from beautiful to absolutely disgusting with a single stomp. Check out the brand's offerings HERE https://www.thisheavyearth.com/ Support The Show And Connect! The

Douglas Robinson is best known as the voice of The Sleeping, but with his new project Held, he’s stepping into a whole new role: guitar player, riff writer, and newly minted Gibson SG obsessive. On this episode of The Tone Mob Podcast, Doug joins Blake to talk about Held’s new record Grey, rediscovering the guitar after years of primarily being a vocalist, and the strange joy of realizing people are just as excited about your riffs as they are about your voice. They get into the punk rock roots that shaped his approach, the difference between playing with personality and playing for internet points, the disappearing mystery of rock bands, and why sometimes the best music still starts with a few people in a room figuring it out together. There’s also plenty of gear talk, including Gibson SGs, Fender Tone Master rigs, Mesa cabs, Boss delays, and the eternal truth that Jersey pizza people are always prepared for combat. Held’s Grey is out now. Go listen. Get more info at: https://www.heldsounds.com/ http

Mark Morton joins the show today, and we somehow manage to talk about the gravitational pull of the electric guitar, the operational realities of a world-class metal band, parenting, vintage Gibsons, noise gates, and New York pizza without anyone needing a liability waiver. Mark gets into the early magic of the guitar, back when the instrument didn’t just look cool, it felt like a secret door. A wooden plank with wires, knobs, and just enough electricity to rearrange a kid’s entire personality. From there, we talk about the family support that helped him chase that feeling, and how that same idea now shapes the way he supports his own kids as they find their own creative obsessions. We also dig into the less glamorous, more interesting machinery behind one of metal's most popular acts. Touring, family, business calls, merch approvals, stage production, the whole industrial riff-farm. The rock and roll fantasy is still in there somewhere, wearing sunglasses indoors, but these days it has a calendar invite an

Joey Bradford of The Used is back on The Tone Mob, and this one wanders through the good stuff: touring, dad life, studio rabbit holes, guitar rigs, loud amps, weird pedals, and the eternal human illness known as “maybe I need one more piece of gear.” Blake and Joey talk about what it’s like to spend a massive chunk of the year on the road, then come home and try to be a normal dad like you didn’t just spend the last several months vibrating in a bus bunk. They also get into Joey’s home studio, producing bands, experimenting with sounds, and why sometimes the ugly little noise in the corner is exactly what the song needs. There’s plenty of gear talk, of course, because this is still The Tone Mob and we have paperwork to maintain. Digital rigs, real amps, analog pedals, guitars that multiply when no one is looking, and the quiet thrill of walking into a music store for “just a patch cable” all make an appearance. But the bigger theme is this: rock music is not dead. It was never dead. It was just out in the

Ryan “Fluff” Bruce is back, and this time it’s less about chasing tones and more about chasing sanity. After more than a decade in the YouTube trenches, Fluff joins Blake to talk about what happens when the thing you built starts to feel like a treadmill set to “forever.” Social media burnout, algorithm roulette, and the strange reality of being “internet famous” without it always translating to real life… it’s all on the table. They get into the evolution from scrappy early content days to a world where nobody cares about subscriber counts anymore (seriously), why passion still beats strategy every time, and how Fluff is shifting his focus toward building something that actually lasts. Along the way, there’s talk of signature guitars, starting new ventures behind the scenes, and why doing cool stuff with cool people might be the only goal that actually holds up. Also: vintage gear chaos, tuning guitars lower than nature intended, and a brief but important appreciation for YouTube dads teaching the world h

This week I'm serving up something a bit different! There is another podcast I do called Tape Spaghetti with my good buddy Scott Marquart. On that podcast, we explore strange musical stories, and I'm giving you a sample of it here. Let's get into it! OG show notes: You already know the chorus. In fact, you've probably scream-sung it at a bar. But, what do you know about the band behind Tubthumping? What if we told you that the biggest pub anthem of the '90s was written by militant anarchic agitators who supported striking miners, clashed with fascists, and called a crumbling Victorian mansion home? Yep, Chumbawamba is probably a LOT more interesting than you might have imagined. In this week's episode of Tape Spaghetti, Scott & Blake trace the band’s journey from punk squatters in Northern England to Britpop chart-toppers, and the ideological tightrope they walked along the way. Some might have accused them of selling out, but when "Tubthumping" became a global smash, the band used their spotlight for d

What do you get when you mix a family legacy, a near business collapse, and a piece of gear most people treat like an afterthought? Something that refuses to disappear. This week, I’m talking with Danny Songhurst, the man behind The Rock Slide, a company that didn’t just survive but quietly carved out its own lane in the guitar world. We get into how a simple idea, fixing the sloppy feel of traditional slides, turned into a real business and how Danny ended up carrying it forward after losing the person who started it all. Along the way, we cover growing up in the shadow of grunge, early guitar obsession, building and nearly destroying a custom guitar business, and what it actually takes to stay alive in an industry where most things don’t make it past year one. There’s also talk of cold calling every guitar shop he could find, why most entrepreneurs spread themselves too thin, and how sometimes the smartest move is sticking to your lane and doing it better than anyone else. Plus cars, dad life, NAMM cha

In this episode, Dan Tremonti shares the full story behind FRET12, from its early days creating The Sound and the Story to building a full-blown music culture brand rooted in community, storytelling, and craftsmanship. Along the way, he breaks down how working with artists evolved into building a loyal fanbase, launching original products, and eventually opening a one-of-a-kind retail space inside Chicago’s Salt Shed. We get into the realities of building a brand in the music world, why most “merch” is missing the point, and how Dan approaches everything from handmade clothing to artist collaborations and curated gear. There’s also a deep dive into the philosophy behind experiential retail—and why the future of music shops isn’t just selling gear, but creating places people actually want to be. Plus: the origin of the “String Thing,” supporting local builders, and why analog experiences might be more important than ever. This one goes way beyond pedals and pickups—it’s about building something real in a wo

Jordan Buckley is back for Part 2, and this time the conversation heads somewhere unexpectedly hopeful. After years of noise, pressure, and carrying things that don’t travel light, Jordan talks about what it actually feels like to start setting some of that down. The recent Better Lovers shift becomes less about endings and more about perspective. About realizing not everything is meant to last forever, and that doesn’t make it a failure. Sometimes it just means it did exactly what it was supposed to do. There’s a lot here about growth. About learning how to exist outside of the thing you’ve always been known for. About finding space where there used to be tension, and figuring out how to move forward without dragging the past behind you like a busted amp with a bad wheel. And somewhere along the way, there’s a genuine sense of relief. The kind that doesn’t show up loud or flashy, but sticks around. It’s honest, it’s reflective, and it’s about what can happen when you finally give yourself permission to f

Jordan Buckley is back for round two, and what starts as a classic Tone Mob conversation slowly reveals a little more weight under the hood. In this episode, Blake catches up with Jordan about life in Better Lovers, finally taking guitar more seriously, learning from the absurd level of talent around him, and why picking the instrument back up with fresh eyes has changed everything. They also wander into the weeds on creativity, burnout, parenting, touching grass literally, internet weirdness, AI art, and the ongoing battle to stay human in an increasingly synthetic world. It’s funny, thoughtful, honest, and very much in the spirit of Jordan’s first appearance on the show. Stay tuned for the next one, or sign up for Patreon to get it early! Check out Better Lovers on their main website HERE https://betterloversband.com/ Support The Show And Connect! The Text Chat is back! Hit me up at (503) 751-8577 You can also help out with your gear buying habits by purchasing stuff from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This week, we’re digging way, way back into the vault for a proper Tone Mob reissue. While I was in Nashville helping move the Stringjoy shop, I needed something special for this week’s episode and decided it was finally time to revisit one of the oldest artifacts in the archive: episode two. Yep, the second episode ever. In this early conversation, I’m joined by my good buddy Chris Benson of Benson Amps, recorded in the sweltering attic of his old Portland house with no AC, a couple of SM57s in hand, and probably far more sweat involved than any podcast should require. At the time, Chris had just quit his job to go all-in on Benson Amps, and listening back now, it’s a wild snapshot of two guys at the beginning of their own strange little journeys in the gear world. We get into amp design, low-wattage magic, speaker efficiency, tape echoes, plate reverbs, why some “bad” tones work better in a mix, and the beautiful sickness that makes guitar people obsess over all of this in the first place. It’s raw, a l