Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Jeremy and I’m the guitarist for Little Grim, a South London alt/indie group. Think Stone Roses meets the Strokes meets 1970s funk and you’ll get a general idea of what we do – or check out our recently released single, Sparks.
What do you use?
My set-up is simple, partly because I’m a purist, and partly because I’m broke. So it consists of a 2001 Fender American Standard Stratocaster going into a Vox AC15, with a few pedals in-between. The Vox, which was part of my set-up long before I got my first American guitar, completely opened up my sound. It’s capable of bell-like clean tones and has plenty of grit, too. It’s the perfect size for the size of venues we play. I’ve played through an AC30 before (which belongs to our drummer) but never found myself in a situation where I could really get the most out of it – like driving a Ferrari in Central London.
My Strat is a complete workhorse, and I treat it as such. I’m not too precious over it, and think any knocks and dinks that it’s earned on the road only make it look better. Sound-wise, it’s unmistakably a Strat. Being a slightly older model, its pick-ups aren’t so hot and I think it has quite a vintage sound which works for me.
In the studio I’ve used other guitars. Our first single, Vice, was recorded on an old Ibanez semi-hollow, as well as a gorgeous Fender Deluxe Telecaster which was very hard to leave behind.
I can’t get enough of pedals – I even tried to make one once whilst at university, but my soldering skills weren’t up to scratch. I’d like to draw attention to a couple: The Fulltone Plimsoul Overdrive pedal is a completely distinctive overdrive (and far more interesting than their more popular OCD); and the TC Electronic Hall of Fame reverb puts the spring in my Vox to shame.
What would be your dream set up?
I’m surprised I haven’t been barred from my local guitar shop, I go in there so often just to try all my dream guitars and then leave without spending a penny. It changes every day, but at the moment I’m a big fan of the 1971 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe similar to the one used by Adam Granduciel from the War on Drugs. My ideal amp would probably be a Fender Princeton, although I’m not sure the two would go so well together.
