Inspired by the mind expanding sounds of the ’60s, Send Medicine began as the solo project for Toronto based singer/songwriter Julian Hacquebard in the summer of 2012. Now based in Los Angeles and expanded to five (and at times six) members , the band, in debut album “Scary Aquarius Daughter” honed a sound that updates psychedelic folk to the current times. Of course, when we hear the word “psychedelic” we immediately think “guitar pedals!” – which is why we asked Julian to tell us about his favorite stompboxes. He decided to focus on the ones used in the recording of the single “July Eyes,” streaming below.
Real McCoy Wah
I think I got the RMC pedal from an old buddy of mine in Toronto who was the same guy that turned me on to John Fante; the writer, most famous for “Ask the Dust” and other great proto-Bukowski stuff. One afternoon he dropped off a book of Fante’s short stories and proceeded, subsequently, to give me that Wah pedal on account of him no longer needing it as a musician. He was about to enter his “folk” phase. I’ve pretty much only ever used this Wah pedal on the songs because it seems to do the trick. It can be heard in July Eyes between the 1:55 and 2:08 minute mark.
Ibanez DE7
The Ibanez DE7 delay is by no means the king bitch of the delay world. In fact it’s quite “sub par” compared to countless other delay pedals out there, especially in the analog world. I got this effect when I was back in high school, and all the post rock that was seeping into our town by way of Montreal at the time was hitting its peak. As a result, pretty much everyone back then liked to set the delay time to mid to long intervals and then repeat this into a cacophony of “Explosions in the Sky-esque” type shit. The DE7 was/is cool because it also has a built in Echo setting, which I hardly use any more, but can be fun in the context of a self indulgent intro or outro. Pretty much nowadays I reserve it exclusively for a slap back setting, like the one that can be faintly heard on the rhythm guitar of July Eyes.
Electro Harmonix Graphic Fuzz
The Electro Harmonix Graphic Fuzz pedal, I believe is no longer being made. After buying 3 fuzz pedals in a row, one of which being the Fuzz Factory by Zvex. And another being the Octafuzz by Fulltone I settled on the Graphic. It’s a good bang for your buck because it doubles as an EQ pedal, and because of this factor you can really control the frequency of the lows and highs, which makes all the difference in the world of fuzz. You can hear it at the 3:47 mark of July Eyes, which follows a previous solo done on the Ibanez Turbo Screamer. You can hear the difference at this marker going between an Overdrive Pedal, to a Fuzz which gives a nice step up on the ladder tone.
