Noir City (2008-2011)

I moved to the Portland, Oregon area in June of 2008, and within a month I had joined the band Noir City, put together by Eric Waetjen to play his original songs. I had to learn a lot of music, but I was mostly given free reign to play the guitar parts the way I wanted to, especially the solos. The songs were fun, and we played exciting venues in what I considered a Big City. This was an exciting time in my life, filled with unforgettable live shows.

Noir City was:
Alexcia Tsu – singer
Eric Waetjen – keyboard player
Chris McGraw – guitarist
Jesse Nagler – bass player
Scott Appleman – drums

When I first joined the band, my live rig consisted of my Fender Stratocaster and Vox Pathfinder 15 R combo amp, but before the end of 2008 I had my Ernie Ball shipped down, and I bought a Genz Benz El Diablo 100 tube amp with a 4x12 Fender cab. My collection of effects pedals expanded to include a DigiTech Whammy, a Way Huge Swollen Pickle fuzz box, and a Decimator G String Noise Reducer by ISP. Together with the Boss DD-20 and Morley pedals, my signal chain was becoming pretty complicated. I wired everything up into a floorboard for easier set up and teardown at gigs.

I produced a few recordings with Noir City, and Eric hired me to produce the soundtrack for his 2012 sci-fi action indie film Ambrosia. The band broke up in the latter half of 2011.