Matty Bennett of L.A. dream-pop band Drag Talk told us about his love for his Electro-Harmonix Memory Man...
Matty Bennett: I can't do without my Electro-Harmonix Memory Man (the ol' giant box version).
I actually have two — one from the '90s and one from the 2000s — and both have ended up on virtually every drag talk recording we've done. I've leaned on them since forever, and even though the units are too clunky and fragile to trust on my live board anymore, they're still a mainstay in the studio for tracking all the leads and crazy psychotic noise parts.
I'm not sure exactly how the hell I ended up with two. But when we were touring a lot, one unit was reliably broken at any given time, probably from Neil accidentally stomping on it, so I needed a backup just to keep my board together. That's just part of the deal with these pedals, but the sound is worth it — the preamp is amazingly warm and the warbly, degraded echo compensates for my belligerent guitar playing.
Drag Talk are on tour through the fall. Find their dates here. "Pony Up" is out now.
Photo by Yiyi Wan
