Radio Nowhere, in a short period of time, have managed to forge a very unique sound in the progressive rock spectrum. Eschewing the keyboard-heavy sound of their contemporaries and influences, they manage to sound fresh and unique without over-complicating their arrangements. We recently caught up with guitarists Bradley Ard and Paula Shizuka to see how they shape their thundering guitar tones.

"My rig is really, really straightforward, while she has the refrigerator of a rack", says Bradley Ard. "I just run a Gibson Les Paul Standard into a Digitech RP200 and a really, really old DOD Stereo Chorus, the blue one from the 1990's. From there, it just goes into two Fender Frontman 212's, which are really good amps for being solid state. I considered upgrading to Twins for the upcoming tour, but I've ran these for years, and they have such a great clean tone and work well with the effects boxes. I also recently added a Samson wireless when we started playing bigger venues, which was necessary, since I really didn't want to be tripping over cables all night on the bigger stages we're playing."

For back-up guitars, Bradley also has a Fender Telecaster with Dimarzio humbucking pickups, as well as a somewhat rare (and heavily modified) 1981 Gibson Sonex. "That was my first 'real' guitar, and I've held onto it ever since. That's what you hear on everything I've ever recorded. That's my whole tone right there, but I'm kind of afraid to use it much on stage and have it get knocked around too much."

Paula Shizuka's rig is somewhat more complicated. "I'm playing Ibanez JEMs into two Hughes and Kettner half stacks. For my effects rig, I have two Alesis reverb and delay units, a Digitech GSP1101, a Digitech Whammy, a Crybaby wah, a Digitech volume pedal, and a Boomerang Looper that I use for some really cool tape echo effects.

"All that gets controlled by a Voodoo Labs Ground Control switching system. That really gives me full control of my rig, without having to tapdance my way across the stage or having to have a bunch of pedals under my feet. I also run a Samson wireless, which sounds great."

Catch their debut album, "Left for Dead", out now on N0where Records.
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