Feature / One Question Interviews / What's That Noise?
Western Addiction

May 3, 2020

Western Addiction
Western Addiction

Western Addiction

SPB: Was the mic’ing of your kit in the studio for Frail Bray fairly straight-forward, or were there some things you and the engineer did to find the right mics or experiment with sounds? 

Jack Shirley (producer): The mic’ing was pretty straight forward. I have a default configuration I like to start with. If it sounds right, we go with it. 

Chad Williams (drummer): We used Jack Shirley’s go-to mic setup for the drum kit, made a couple positioning tweaks based on the sound we heard back from tape playback, and really just went for the live sound and feel. 

— words by the SPB team • May 3, 2020

Western Addiction
Western Addiction

Series: What's That Noise?

One-question interviews with artists where we find out about the gear and equipment they use to achieve their sound.

— More from this series

Related features

Black Adidas

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • March 5, 2026

Courtney Ranshaw (Black Adidas) SPB: Is there an instrument that's central to "the Black Adidas sound"? Ranshaw: I’d like to showcase an instrument that’s central to one of the songs on the record and has made its way onto a few songs of ours over the years. This is our … Read more

Eric Angelo Bessel

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • September 22, 2025

Eric Angelo Bessel SPB: Walk us through your gear setup for the recording of Mirror at Night. Eric: I composed the album, Mirror at Night, using a pair of digital Mellotrons (proto-sampling keyboards), an Alesis Micron (keyboard synthesizer), and guitars. The Micron is a new addition, and is the main … Read more

Mike Huguenor

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • July 8, 2025

Mike Huguenor Tell us about the primary guitars you used making Surfing the Web with the Alien? Read more

Six Below Zero

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • January 22, 2025

Matthew Brammer (Six Below Zero) SPB: Can you walk us through your studio or recording set-up to get a glimpse of how a one-man band works for Six Below Zero? Brammer: Since I don't play live anymore, I'm pretty much 100% "in the box" these days. Especially since a lot … Read more

Distants

One Question Interviews / What's That Noise? • May 23, 2024

Steve Brewer (Distants) SPB: Did you choose your name before the band members were located in different cities? Brweer: Yes. Everyone who was in the band when it started lived in Chicago. When I joined the band in 2019, Zach and I would carpool the distants from Michigan to Chicago … Read more

Related news

The latest Western Addiction is...

Posted in Records on March 14, 2026

Western Addiction return with new album

Posted in Records on March 21, 2020

Western Addiction to release Temulous

Posted in Records on December 30, 2016

Related reviews

Western Addiction

Frail Bray
Fat Wreck Chords (2020)

There are bands who you rush to get the new record to see what direction they’ve gone. There are others you return to time-after-time because they have a style and they’ve nailed it. File Western Addition in the latter category. Frail Bray continues their West Coast melodic hardcore tradition without any surprise changes-of-direction.The band plays what used to be called … Read more

Western Addiction

Tremulous
Fat Wreck Chords (2017)

Has it really been 12 years since Cognicide? Well, Western Addiction are back with another single word, make-you-think album title in Tremulous. They may have skipped releasing records for the entire Obama presidency (plus some), but the band didn’t mellow with age.Tremulous is 11 songs of melodic hardcore. Led by Chad Williams’ power drumming, Williams punctuates the sound while the … Read more

More from this section

Meth

One Question Interviews • March 18, 2026

Seb Alvarez (Meth) SPB: Is there a regional food you look forward to when you go on the road? Alvarez: Gravy lunch Read more

Remina

One Question Interviews • March 17, 2026

Heike (Remina) SPB: In the artwork of the last two releases (the EP Erebus and the album The Silver Sea) the black and white art is highlighted with a red accent. It feels like it is part of a story, is this the case? Heike: Throughout all the artworks, there … Read more

The Went Wrongs

One Question Interviews • March 16, 2026

Steven Douglas Jenkins (The Went Wrongs - vocals/guitar) SPB: Who does the majority of the band’s driving (is there a reason or a story as to why)? SDJ: When we play out of town, we usually split the driving, but if I had to choose who does it most, that … Read more