If you’re not already familiar with Genre-bending Guitarist Oz Noy, do yourself a huge favor and check out the recently released album Schizophrenic (on Magna Carta Records). Oz took a few minutes from his busy schedule to answer a few questions for us.
TF: What was the very first guitar pedal that you purchased?
Oz: MXR distortion pedal & also an Ibanez Modulation Delay that my uncle broth me from Japan in the early 80’s, I still have this pedal and still play it, its got a great Leslie sounds.
TF:What was the last guitar pedal that you purchased?
Oz: Chicago Iron Octavia, thats the best Octave fuzz I know.
TF: Which guitarists (or other musicians) inspire you?
Oz: A long list- Hendrix, Stevie Ray, BB King, Albert King, Albert Collins, Jeff beck, Eric Johnson, Clapton, Scofield, Metheny, Krantz, Stern, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Adam Rodgers, Julian Bream, Jim Hall, Wes Montegomery, Grant Green etc….
TF: Your recent release (Schizophrenic) has been cited as your most commercial album to date. How did you approach the writing and recording on this record as opposed to previous releases?
Oz: The approach is exactly the same as in all my other records, I think the reason it sound a bit more commercial is cause my writing is much more focused on this one and I choose a few grooves and colors that are more accessible to everybody.
TF: What was it like working with Steve Lukather?
Oz: Very Easy, Luke is a great guy and was playing his ass off. His solo was basically done in 2 or 3 takes, really quick.
TF: Tell us a little bit about your current pedalboard set up:
Thats a hard question! I’ve got about 5 different pedal boards for all different projects:
1. Big pedal board that consists of 3x boards for studio and my Trio stuff, got all the freaky sounds.
2. Traveling pedal board that I use for traveling with my band , it basically does most of what I get from my big board BUT I can fit it into a case and fly with it .
3. Blues pedal board(2x boards) for my new project-The Oz Noy Twisted Blues Band.
4. Jazz small Pedal board for my Jazz gigs,
5. Boss pedal board for more of the singer songwriter stuff.
I do use all of these boards, all the time!
In general I use the LINE6- M13, M9, DL4’s & Boss for Delay, Xotic Pedals, Keeley stuff, Blackstone, Fulltone, Boss etc…
One of the many:
Photo courtesy of Tim from Line 6.