The Tone Mob Podcast

What do you get when you mix a family legacy, a near business collapse, and a piece of gear most people treat like an afterthought? Something that refuses to disappear. This week, I’m talking with Danny Songhurst, the man behind The Rock Slide, a company that didn’t just survive but quietly carved out its own lane in the guitar world. We get into how a simple idea, fixing the sloppy feel of traditional slides, turned into a real business and how Danny ended up carrying it forward after losing the person who started it all. Along the way, we cover growing up in the shadow of grunge, early guitar obsession, building and nearly destroying a custom guitar business, and what it actually takes to stay alive in an industry where most things don’t make it past year one. There’s also talk of cold calling every guitar shop he could find, why most entrepreneurs spread themselves too thin, and how sometimes the smartest move is sticking to your lane and doing it better than anyone else. Plus cars, dad life, NAMM cha

In this episode, Dan Tremonti shares the full story behind FRET12, from its early days creating The Sound and the Story to building a full-blown music culture brand rooted in community, storytelling, and craftsmanship. Along the way, he breaks down how working with artists evolved into building a loyal fanbase, launching original products, and eventually opening a one-of-a-kind retail space inside Chicago’s Salt Shed. We get into the realities of building a brand in the music world, why most “merch” is missing the point, and how Dan approaches everything from handmade clothing to artist collaborations and curated gear. There’s also a deep dive into the philosophy behind experiential retail—and why the future of music shops isn’t just selling gear, but creating places people actually want to be. Plus: the origin of the “String Thing,” supporting local builders, and why analog experiences might be more important than ever. This one goes way beyond pedals and pickups—it’s about building something real in a wo

Jordan Buckley is back for Part 2, and this time the conversation heads somewhere unexpectedly hopeful. After years of noise, pressure, and carrying things that don’t travel light, Jordan talks about what it actually feels like to start setting some of that down. The recent Better Lovers shift becomes less about endings and more about perspective. About realizing not everything is meant to last forever, and that doesn’t make it a failure. Sometimes it just means it did exactly what it was supposed to do. There’s a lot here about growth. About learning how to exist outside of the thing you’ve always been known for. About finding space where there used to be tension, and figuring out how to move forward without dragging the past behind you like a busted amp with a bad wheel. And somewhere along the way, there’s a genuine sense of relief. The kind that doesn’t show up loud or flashy, but sticks around. It’s honest, it’s reflective, and it’s about what can happen when you finally give yourself permission to f

Jordan Buckley is back for round two, and what starts as a classic Tone Mob conversation slowly reveals a little more weight under the hood. In this episode, Blake catches up with Jordan about life in Better Lovers, finally taking guitar more seriously, learning from the absurd level of talent around him, and why picking the instrument back up with fresh eyes has changed everything. They also wander into the weeds on creativity, burnout, parenting, touching grass literally, internet weirdness, AI art, and the ongoing battle to stay human in an increasingly synthetic world. It’s funny, thoughtful, honest, and very much in the spirit of Jordan’s first appearance on the show. Stay tuned for the next one, or sign up for Patreon to get it early! Check out Better Lovers on their main website HERE https://betterloversband.com/ Support The Show And Connect! The Text Chat is back! Hit me up at (503) 751-8577 You can also help out with your gear buying habits by purchasing stuff from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

This week, we’re digging way, way back into the vault for a proper Tone Mob reissue. While I was in Nashville helping move the Stringjoy shop, I needed something special for this week’s episode and decided it was finally time to revisit one of the oldest artifacts in the archive: episode two. Yep, the second episode ever. In this early conversation, I’m joined by my good buddy Chris Benson of Benson Amps, recorded in the sweltering attic of his old Portland house with no AC, a couple of SM57s in hand, and probably far more sweat involved than any podcast should require. At the time, Chris had just quit his job to go all-in on Benson Amps, and listening back now, it’s a wild snapshot of two guys at the beginning of their own strange little journeys in the gear world. We get into amp design, low-wattage magic, speaker efficiency, tape echoes, plate reverbs, why some “bad” tones work better in a mix, and the beautiful sickness that makes guitar people obsess over all of this in the first place. It’s raw, a l

This week on The Tone Mob Podcast, Blake hangs out with Colt Westbrook of Walrus Audio for a conversation that wanders through guitar pedals, business experiments, digital rigs, tube amps, customer service philosophy, and the delicate art of telling your friends they can’t just show up at the factory and hang out all day. Colt walks through how Walrus has evolved over the years, from the early days of pedals like the 385 and Monument to the creation of entire product ecosystems like the Mako DSP line, Canvas utility gear, and the more affordable Fundamental series. Along the way he shares some surprisingly candid insight about what worked, what didn’t, and why “budget” pedals in the boutique world often aren’t nearly as profitable as people assume. The guys also dig into what working at a pedal company actually looks like day-to-day. Spoiler alert: it involves a lot less shredding and a lot more soldering, packing boxes, managing teams, solving problems, and trying to keep people from treating the shop like

Steve Sladkowski of PUP joins Blake for a conversation about the strange business of building a life out of noise. This one wanders into the good stuff. The human stuff. The part nobody puts on the laminate. Imposter syndrome. Burnout. Getting older. Learning that rest is not the same thing as quitting, even if your brain, like an underqualified middle manager, keeps sending panic memos in all caps. Steve talks about PUP’s early days, growing up in Toronto, falling into music through school programs, and slowly realizing that the thing you love might become the thing that carries you, if you’re willing to drag it uphill long enough. There’s also the darker chapter. The moment when Stefan’s voice gave out, a doctor delivered the kind of sentence that can rearrange your organs, and the band had to stare down the possibility that the whole machine might stop. What comes through here isn’t just the crisis itself, but the way a band survives something like that: by choosing not to let fear, blame, or bad luck

RJM’s Ron Menelli: The MIDI Wizard Behind the Pros’ Pedalboards Description Ron Menelli from RJM Music joins Blake Wyland to tell the long, nerdy, wildly practical story behind one of the most essential “behind the curtain” brands in modern guitar rigs. Ron walks through his early days building circuits from Radio Shack notebooks, studying electrical engineering and computer science, and eventually bailing on the corporate telecom world to build something of his own. That leap leads to RJM’s first big breakthrough: the AmpGizmo, a solution that brought MIDI control to the era of giant channel-switching amps with giant multi-button footswitches. From there, Ron explains how RJM evolved from amp control into full rig command centers, including the RG16 and the Mastermind ecosystem, and why products like the PBC-6X became the best-selling “brain” for players who want one button to handle loops, pedal order, and MIDI commands in a single move. You also get a real talk segment on the business side: what it’s l

Kris Crummett is on the show, and this one rips. Kris has been in music for basically his entire life and has worked on records by Issues, Sleeping With Sirens, Dance Gavin Dance, Alesana, Jonny Craig, Emarosa, Night Verses, and a whole lot more! If you’ve ever wondered why one record punches you in the chest and another one sounds like it got sat on, Kris explains exactly why. We go deep on his path from making demos in a garage with ADATs and a Mackie mixer to becoming one of the most trusted names in production and mastering around Portland and beyond. This is not a fluffy “studio guy” interview. Kris gets into the real stuff: how his early demos beat local “pro” studios, why bands accidentally sabotage their own masters, what mastering engineers actually need from you, and how knowing when to stop tweaking might be the most important skill in the room. We also talk about the shift from chasing the band dream to building a career behind the scenes, the difference between hearing music as a fan vs heari

Ian Martin Allison is back, and this episode is a full-on gear-nerd thunderstorm with actual life lessons hiding in the lightning. Blake and Ian go deep on signature basses, the Walrus Mantle DI drama, and the eternal internet question: “Why is this thing expensive if it only has a few knobs?” Turns out, transformers cost money. Craft costs money. Not cutting corners costs money. And sometimes the loudest opinions come from people who were never the customer in the first place. Inside this episode: how Ian went from collaborator to Creative Director at Scott’s Bass Lessons what it really takes to design gear people obsess over why a $400 bass can absolutely punch above its class how brands weaponize price perception (and why we all fall for it) short-form vs long-form content, and where music media is headed next the creative freedom that shows up when you stop performing “cool” and just be yourself There’s also a perfect dog interruption, some very real talk about st

Episode 500, baby. And we brought in Henri Cash (Starcrawler, Plague Vendor, Cash & Skye) to celebrate the only way this show knows how: by diving headfirst into glorious guitar chaos. This episode has everything. Vintage amp obsession. Touring war stories. Studio nerdery. Gretsch evangelism. Voltage drama. Tape machine romance. Mild existential crises about digital modelers. It is a full buffet of tone. Henri talks about Starcrawler being the first band to record on Les Paul’s restored recording console in LA, how different venue power can totally change your rig night to night, and why speakers are secretly doing half the job while everyone argues about pedals online. Blake and Henri also get into production philosophy, why perfect takes can sound lifeless, and how mistakes are often the secret sauce that make records feel human. Along the way: Orange OR80 love, Magnatone/Vox combos, 5150 reality checks, old guitar neck magic, gear collecting vs actually playing, and why Gretsch might be the official gui

Steve Rowe from 60 Cycle Hum returns to the show after an eight-year gap, and we immediately time-travel back to the era of wired earbuds, headphone jacks, and recording next to a wall outlet like it’s a survival game. From there, it’s a full spiral through the modern guitar media landscape: audio vs video, why interviews work when “can I talk to you for an hour?” absolutely shouldn’t, and how NAMM feels different depending on whether you’re stuck at a booth or sprinting the floor. We hit the silent pedal room (eerily quiet), Woodwire Volts (chill, boutique, intentional), Effectors Market (dangerous for your wallet), and the existential questions, like: if you pair an internal speaker guitar with a fart pedal… do we delete the universe? Also: favorite Boss pedals, pizza opinions, and why the secret sauce is still just showing up and doing the work. Check out everything 60 Cycle Hum HERE https://60cyclehum.com/ Support The Show And Connect! The Text Chat is back! Hit me up at (503) 751-8577 You can

My dude Jason Mays is back, and we get into the real stuff on this one! We talk about wearing 12 different hats (PlayJason, Working Class Music, writing gigs, Orange, a band, and whatever else gets stapled to his name this week), and what happens when “hustle” turns into straight-up burnout. Jason breaks down the behind-the-scenes evolution of Working Class Music, why he started PlayJason as a creative pressure valve, and how keeping things authentic sometimes means stepping back, changing roles, and rebuilding the workflow so it doesn’t eat your brain. If you've ever wondered how some folks juggle it all, this episode is for you. Find Jason on Instagram HERE https://www.instagram.com/jasontmays Check out PlayJason HERE https://www.youtube.com/@JasonTMays/videos Support The Show And Connect! The Text Chat is back! Hit me up at (503) 751-8577 You can also help out with your gear buying habits by purchasing stuff from ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tonemob.com/reverb⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Here’s a vintage reissue that refuses to stay buried. This throwback episode with Yvette Young started life as a Patreon bonus… until enough people yelled “this is too good to keep secret” and it hit the main feed, where it promptly became one of the most-listened-to episodes of the whole show. So if you’re new around here, congrats: you just found a greatest hit. If you’ve heard it before, it’s absolutely worth a re-listen. This one is a ride. We barely talk about guitars, and that’s kind of the point. Instead we get into: sleep paralysis, shadowy hooded figures, red eyes, radio-static brain glitches, and why the stories are weirdly consistent UFOs, alien nightmares, and a “star” that breaks the rules like it’s trying to avoid getting reported DIY tour chaos, sketchy houses, cash hidden in books, and why “band horror” should be its own movie genre discipline, deadlines, and Yvette’s surprisingly genius riff-to-song system labels, contracts, and how to not get your creative so

Nashville bassist Alison Prestwood joins Blake for a deep-dive hang that zig-zags through the kind of career that only makes sense in hindsight: a near-miss with Waylon Jennings, a pivotal run with Rodney Crowell, getting the call to jump in with Patti Loveless on a few days’ notice, and why saying “no” at the wrong time can still be the right move. They talk shop on what it really takes to break in today (attitude, reputation, the bus factor, and yes… learn the number system), plus why studio work still has that magic when a whole band builds something together in real time. Also: a midlife detour into law school and practicing as an attorney before returning to music full-time, and a proper gear spiral, including her 1973 P-bass, vintage favorites, and why touring with Peter Frampton can actually be safer for great instruments than leaving them at home. Check out her podcast Hey, Good For You! (podcasts.apple.com) Support The Show And Connect! The Text Chat is back! Hit me up at (503) 751-8577

Steve Reis from Does It Doom returns after four years and it’s one of those “wait… you did what?!” catch-up episodes. In the time since his last visit, Steve didn’t just add a couple new pedals to the shelf. He helped turn Woodwright Guitars into a full-on operation with a growing lineup, more dealers, and signature models tied to the heavy universe with names like Matt Pike, Brent Hinds, and Jimmy Bower. We get into the real stuff behind the curtain: how a doom-obsessed niche turns into a career, what it takes to go from “I make content” to “we make instruments,” and how Steve thinks about building a brand without sanding off the personality that made people care in the first place. Then we hit the creator brain spiral: why long-form YouTube can feel like building a ship in a bottle every week, how short-form became the steady river, and what happens when you finally admit you’d rather make the thing than perform the thing. And yes, there’s plenty of gear goblin behavior: stage-played guitars with battle

This is the last episode of 2026!!! And just for that, I wanted to give you a special look at one of the other podcasts I do, Tape Spaghetti! What happens when one of the biggest bands in the world takes on its industry’s Death Star? In 1994, Pearl Jam was willing to find out. On this week’s Tape Spaghetti, Scott & Blake revisit the grunge-era showdown that pitted a group of scrappy rock idealists against Ticketmaster, the ultimate corporate monolith. Having locked down every major venue in America, Ticketmaster strangled fans with specious “service charges” and squeezed bands with exclusivity contracts. At the height of their popularity, Pearl Jam demanded fairer prices and more transparency. They even attempted to bypass Ticketmaster altogether by playing public spaces – but ultimately they had to put up with shady politics, convoluted permitting, and the reality that they were losing millions in revenue. How did Ticketmaster go from a scrappy Arizona startup to a money-printing monopoly? In a world wh

I caught up with a good chunk of The Allegheny High boys in central Oregon while they were out doing what they do best: making Charles Wesley Godwin sound like a freight train and giving folks goosebumps. We posted up near Bend for a hang that starts off with “are we about to get murdered?” energy… and quickly turns into a full-on origin story: the Beaver County scene that shaped them, jam nights that built their chops, and the larger-than-life local legends who taught them the most important rule of all: never take a gig off, even if a guitar ends up in a popcorn machine. From there, we get nerdy in the best way: production philosophy (and why recording is basically 95% failure and 5% magic), the real behind-the-scenes of tracking big guitars, and that moment when a song hits so hard you have to sit in the dark and just… listen. Also: stoner-rock riffs hiding inside “country,” touring gear that makes your heart do the pitter-patter thing, Boss pedal picks, and a Pittsburgh-area pizza style that sounds fak

On this episode of The Tone Mob Podcast, Corey Congilio returns to hang out and pull back the curtain on what it actually looks like to build a modern guitar career in 2025. We talk about trying to survive the algorithm game without losing your mind, why memes sometimes move the needle more than music, and how Corey is building his own tiny desk style live show right out of his studio – complete with a band, multiple cameras, a switcher, and a Zoom-powered hang so fans can ask questions in real time. From there we get into the realities of being a working musician in Nashville: juggling sideman gigs, teaching, clinics, content, and trying to make the numbers add up when the live scene feels very different than it did pre-COVID. Corey shares stories from his years as a sideman, why he finally decided to step forward as an artist under his own name, and how he is approaching writing songs that are song-first with room for guitar, not just guitar-for-guitar’s-sake. We also chat about music stores, good hangs,

This time I am hanging out with Mike Leon, current bassist for CKY, and Igorrr. (Former member of Soulfly, Havok and The Absence.) We dig into how a kid who was obsessed with CKY movies and weird heavy bands ended up actually joining his favorite band, and how that path wound through DIY world tours, insane lineups and a whole lot of van miles. Mike walks through his whole journey: discovering heavy music in the pre-internet days, cutting his teeth in The Absence, jumping into Havok, then getting the call from Soulfly, and finally landing in CKY literally days after leaving Soulfly. We get into the “law of attraction” side of all this, but with the real-world piece too, the boring but crucial part, consistency and doing the work for years when no one is watching. Of course we nerd out on bass gear and tone. Mike talks about his first Fender PJ that felt like opening a treasure chest, his love affair with ESP basses, how his ESP MLB4 signature came to be, why longer scale lengths and heavier strings matter f