The beached-out GEARED and photographer ERIK VELAND head backstage at Port Macquarie’s Festival Of The Sun for an impromptu pre-gig interview with US extraordinaire Mike Silverman – AKA THAT 1 GUY.

GEARED: I’ve heard you’ve got a bigger and better Magic Pipe these days – can’t wait to see it!

THAT 1 GUY: It’s a brand new one – version 3.0! It’s the essentially the same design as the old one, but much more refined. There are more custom-made triggers on it; a friend of mine, who’s an amazing machinist – he worked on the Aerospace Phoenix Mars lander – helped me design this thing. It’s the latest and the greatest for what I do.

G: I presume the Magic Saw and the Magic Boot will be also making an appearance...

T1G: They’re always with me on the road – absolutely!

G: And the poker cards?

T1G: The Magic Cards? Of course! [laughs]

G: One of my most vivid memories of you is the “Brisbane remix” of Buttmachine at The Zoo in 2008 – do you have a special remix for each city you play in?

T1G: Oh, thank you so much! I try to make it special for each time – I try to vibe on the moment [laughs].

G: Your new album Packs A Wallop! is perhaps more “electronic”-sounding compared to your previous records – but I could be wrong.

T1G: Wow, that’s interesting – everyone’s got a different take on it. I used a different producer, who’s down in Atlanta where’s there’s a lot of hip hop. He was great – a really good producer. On this album, like on all my other albums, I make all the sounds just banging on things and stuff, but maybe it’s the way it’s mixed or something. There’s a lot more of the heavy kick drum – that could be it.

G: What are your favourite numbers from PAW! to play live?

T1G: I love Modern Man – it’s a real powerful song for me to play. Packs A Wallop’s got a great groove ... what’s the other one ... Step Into Striped Light. I play that one with a bow and I like to improvise on it – it’s super-fun for me. That’s the big three I’ve been playing, but then I also like playing Laser Beans sometimes, and Luck Bean sometimes, too.

ERIK VELAND: What’s your fascination with beans?

T1G: [laughs] Every album ends up collecting itself around things – I never plan it. I start writing songs and all of a sudden I’ll have three ‘bean’ songs – it’s like the ‘fruit’ songs on the last album.

G: On this current tour, can we expect to hear the good old The Moon Is Disgusting?

T1G: Oh yeah – I usually end with that one. I love playing that song.

G: On the more technical side of things, what effects do you use on the Magic Pipe?

T1G: Like, what effects and how do I use them?

EV: He’s a gear nerd...

T1G: Me too – that’s how I got this way. Originally, they were all guitar pedals – I’ve got 20 different ones and I’ve got this box called the Switchblade: 16-input, 16-output, routes everything instantly and I can run everything in series or parallel. It’s pretty incredible. I’ve got a sampler, which I don’t use anymore because it runs on Zip disks – really scary. I’ve moved over to the computer, which is a lot more stable and I can upgrade. I’ve been using the effects on the computer now too, because it’s got them all – you can do almost anything now. It just took me a whole year to figure out how to do that; at the end of the day, it opens you up a lot more. There are a lot more possibilities and you’re not just stuck with the pedal sounds, although I love the way pedals sound – they have this warm analogue sound. You can still get that sound with some of the plug-ins, but it takes a lot of work. I like the tone, but it’s really frustrating for me because every piece of gear that I use has been discontinued. It pisses me off, you know, really makes me mad – I’ve got to buy it on eBay. I’m trying to free myself of being dependent on the manufacturers and come up with ways to get any sound I want any time. I don’t like having a computer onstage – I’ve got a good set-up now.

EV: What do you use for live?

T1G: Mainstage with Logic – it was the only one I’ve seen that was set up exactly like my old set-up was. It’s pedals and sampler – they sound just like mine! [conversation detours into the discussion of Mike’s old DOD Envelope Filter] You’ve got to make the music – that’s the bottom line.

G: Thanks Mike!

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