Obsessed With Tone… part 5

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A few weeks ago, as you know from the previous “Obsessed With Tone” posts, Bert had started to build a small series of guitar effect pedals.
Today he finally put the final touches on all three of them.
All pedals are now fully functional (even though they still might require the one or the other
fine tweak), and painted and finished with decals and knobs etc.

In the picture above you can see all three of his first attempt of building boutique guitar effect pedals.
From left to right:
in the baby blue housing you’ll see the “BC109 Fuzz” pedal, a Dunlop Fuzz Face clone with BC109 transistors;
in the silvery housing in the middle you’ll see the “Ram’s Head Muff” pedal, a Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi clone from the Ram’s Head era;
and last but not least in the golden housing all the way to the right you can see the “Triangle Muff” pedal, a Electro-Harmonix Big Muff Pi clone from the so called Triangle era.
The entire band is very exited about the new additions to Bert’s carefully crafted pedal board and can’t wait for the next opportunity for him to show off his fantastic sound.
Come and check Bert’s “new sound” out when KayaMBeE will appear live the next time. We are sure that he will bring the new pedals along…

 

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

Obsessed With Tone… part 4

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Well, this time we are not going to talk about yet another home made guitar effect pedal, and we thought we’ll kick it up a notch.

As most of you know, Bert’s “other hobby/obsession” is his guitar collection. In Bert’s opinion,
there has been one thing we always struggled a little bit with, which is the Beatles guitar sound.
Most instrumental to the early sound of the Beatles is without any doubt the instruments they were playing. If you want to nail that early Beatles sound there is almost no other way to achieve that sound but by using similar guitars as they did back in the day.

So it is probably no surprise that Bert has been working on one of the new guitars he has acquired recently: a Rickenbacker style guitar.

Come and check the “new KayaMBeE sound” out at one of our upcoming live appearances. We are sure that the new Ricky will be among some other six string treasures…

 

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

Obsessed With Tone… part 3

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As mentioned a few weeks ago, Bert has been busy with his “new hobby/obsesson”, and the third pedal has finally been finished.

Last time we mentioned that Bert had pretty much finished Pedal #1: the “BC109 Fuzz” and Pedal #2: the “Ram’s Head Muff”.
He just started building Pedal #3: a “Triangle Muff”

Just like with pedal #2, the name pretty much gives it away what kind of effect pedal this is: a Electro-Harmonix “Big Muff Pi” from the so called Triangle era. Once again, those of you who also belong to the “circle of guitar gear heads” and familiar with this particular pedal probably already know or can guess what kind of sound Bert is trying to nail with the “Triangle Muff” pedal… 😉
All we want to say at this time is, you need to check out the Pink Floyd stuff when we are playing out next time. You will be blown away by the wall of sound á la David Gilmour which Bert will be producing with his new collection of fine guitar effect pedals. And this brand new “Triangle Muff” is going to be heard when Bert will rip into solos such as in Comfortably Numb, Young Lust and other fine Pink Floyd tunes.
Come and check Bert’s “new sound” out when KayaMBeE will appear live the next time. We are sure that he will bring the new pedals along…

 

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

Obsessed With Tone… part 2

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As mentioned two weeks ago, Bert has started “a new hobby”, if you will (even though some might still call this another obsession): building guitar effect pedals. In the attempt to perfect the KayaMBeE live sound, Bert has started to build specific pedals, so he can nail the “original” guitar tones of those songs KayaMBeE is covering live.

Last week we mentioned that Bert had pretty much finished Pedal #1: the “BC109 Fuzz”.
Today we want to talk about Pedal #2: the “Ram’s Head Muff”.

This time the name gives it clearly away what kind of effect pedal this is: a Electro-Harmonix “Big Muff Pi” from the so called Ram’s Head area. Those of you who also belong to the “circle of guitar gear heads” and familiar with this particular probably know what kind of sound Bert is trying to nail with the “Ram’s Head Muff” pedal… 😉
Come and check his “new sound” out when KayaMBeE will appear live the next time. We are sure that he will bring the brand new Ram’s Head Muff pedal along.

AND, (drum roll) stay tuned for more, as Bert is already building his third pedal…

 

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

Obsessed With Tone…

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As most of you probably know, the KayaMBeE sound is greatly influenced and shaped by Bert’s “wall of guitar sound”.
His obsession with tone as well as with perfecting his instruments and gear is no secret. Of interest to
other “gear heads” might be the fact that Bert most recently ventured into an uncharted territory (at least for us), and started building his own effect pedals.
Today we want to show off Pedal #1: “BC109 Fuzz”.
Even though it has not been finished completely (the decals are still missing), the pedal is fully functional and sound super.
As the name kinda gives it away, the “BC109 Fuzz” is a Fuzz Face clone, and this particular version utilizes BC109 transistors.
Some of you might already know what kind of sound Bert is trying to nail with this particular pedal… 😉
Come and check his “new sound” out when KayaMBeE will appear live the next time. We are sure that he will bring the BC109 Fuzz pedal along.
Stay tuned for more, as Bert is already building his second pedal…

 

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

Live at Cerno’s Bar – Ugly Christmas Sweater Party – Dec 14

KayaMBeE live at Cerno’s Bar – Saturday, December 14.
Once again, Cerno’s Bar will host an extra ordinary and fun event:
an “Ugly Christmas Sweater Party”.

We’re scheduled to play from 9:00 PM till 1:00 AM.
We are looking forward to having a great time and hope to see ya’ll out there! Don’ t forget to wear an Ugly Christmas Sweater… 😉

You can also sign up to attend right on Facebook, where Cerno’s Bar has posted the event as well:
http://www.facebook.com/events/123655954415894

If you haven’t yet, please check us out and Like us on Facebook, too:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/KayaMBeE/125362634198404?ref=ts

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

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Live at Blondie’s – November 30

KayaMBeE will be appearing live on Saturday, November 30 at Blondie’s in Kewanee, IL.

Currently we’re scheduled to play from 9:00 PM to 1 AM.

This time we will perform a special “Once Time Only Show”:
“Wish You Were on the Dark Side of the Wall”
Aside from this special show, which will display our brand new light show as well, we will play selections from the recently released KayaMBeE debut album “Live And Learn” as well as tons of other popular and classic tunes.

Come and check this very special show out. Don’t miss it… 😉

The event can also be seen on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1446178558942549/

If you haven’t yet, please check us out and Like us on Facebook, too:
http://www.facebook.com/KayaMBeE?ref=ts

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

KayaMBeE live in Geneseo, IL

On October 6 KayaMBeE will appear live in Geneseo, IL @ the Country Club for a private party. Actually we will be playing our first ever Wedding Reception / Wedding Reception Party.

“Public appearances” are already being planned for the near future as well. Stay tuned for more details…

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

Summer Break Is Almost Over

With the kids being back to school now for a couple of weeks, we are happy to say that KayaMBeE ‘s involuntary summer break is finally about to be over.

Business travels (yes, we do have day jobs…) and family vacations etc. interfered with our
plans of playing out during the summer months. But we have been back to practicing and coming up with brand new performance updates, e.g. like a completely revamped light show, which kept us busy anyhow.

At the beginning of October we will be back “on the road”.
Looking forward to the upcoming events this fall, and to seeing as many of you as possible at our live appearances.
We can’t wait…

visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com

Kewanee StarCourier featuring KayaMBeE

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On May 9, the Kewanee StarCourier published an article featuring KayaMBeE. As previously posted, the Article “Local Band Releases Debut Album” talks about our recently released remixed and remastered album, Live And Learn.

Since not all of our fans and followers had access to the Kewanee Newspaper
, here is what the Star Courier printed on May 9.

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B6
* * *
THURSDAY
MAY 9, 2013

Local band releases debut album

KEWANEE – Celebrating their tenth anniversary of the band’s conception and birth, on April 21 KayaMBeE [\’kā\ – \’em\ – \’bē\] have officially released their entirely remixed and remastered debut album “Live And Learn”.
The band’s founders, Kerry Murray of Burlington, Iowa (who lived in Kewanee 10 years ago, when the band was formed), and Bert Erdmann of Kewanee, wrote and recorded Live And Learn, a concept album about introspection and clarity between May of 2003 and April of 2004.
After the official release of their first single, Candle Of Unity in 2011, the band was working on the release of a follow-up album, Q & A, when fans urged the Midwest progressive rockers to release Live And Learn first.
The remix and remaster process started in 2012 and took uncountable hours to resurrect the original material from 2003/2004 and to hone it into a presentable shape. Fans of KayaMBeE always enjoy the broad variety of material the band draws from at their live shows, so it comes as no surprise that Live And Learn also utilizes all of the colors on their musical palette.
The Live And Learn album contains a total of 21 tracks with 10 tracks consisting of spoken dialog, which give this album a theatrical aspect, and turns the music into a rock opera-like piece.
The tunes vary from pop, to hip-hip with rap influences, classic rock style, full on epic rock and alternative/progressive numbers. A well balanced mix of styles combined with ultra smooth yet powerful vocals and a blend of catchy guitar riffs and solos keeps things quite interesting for the listener.
The album is available in digital format in all popular online music stores, and will be available on CD soon.

LOCAL BAND KayaMBeE includes, from left, Rodney Taylor, Bob Tellier (on drums), Kerry Murray and Bert Erdmann.

In 2010, the band expanded from a duo to a quartet. Bob Tellier of Kewanee (drums, backing vocals) and Rodney Taylor of Kewanee, IL (bass) joined the band to expand the sonic aspects of the bands live shows.
“We are now able to perform material which was difficult for us to do as a duo”, front man Kerry Murray (vocals, guitar and keyboards) says.
“This shows not only in our original material, but on our cover versions as well, especially in our tribute sets” Bert Erdmann (guitar, backing vocals) adds.
Multi-song tributes to rock music greats like The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones and The Police have always been the center point of KayaMBeE’s live shows. They also shine with blocks of songs by various artists which they brilliantly meld together. “This is a specialty of ours which makes us unique among our fellow local musicians” Murray said.
Aside from original material, the broad spectrum from the ‘60s to today’s artists is covered in KayaMBeE’s live appearances.
If you haven’t done so recently, you should check them out at one of their upcoming shows.

Find more details about KayaMBeE online at www.kayambee.com, or connect with them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/kayambee) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/kayambee).
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visit us also online:
www.KayaMBeE.com