A Trip Down Memory Lane: 5 Years of Funny Little Boxes

5 Years is something of a milestone which I never really envisioned reaching, in truth, the fact FLB made it to a year was pretty shocking at the time. As such it feels right to take a moment to have a quick jaunt down memory lane and re-visit some of FLB's key moments.

1. FLB opens for business! 

A stack of random second hand pedals and assorted empty boxes on a kitchen table, backed by a cheesy grin... Everyone has to start somehow!

2. First Sale!

Two delightfully oddball pedals shipped off to Japan. The DOD Vibrothang and the fantastically unique Shagpile deluxe by Bluff Chill Devices. I went on to get a few of Bluff Chill's pedals in second hand and they never made any sense but were heaps of fun, which is why I liked them

3. Zander Circuitry Comes On Board 

Thanks to a stroke of luck facilitated via facebook marketplace of all things, I struck up a relationship with Alex from Zander Circuitry who liked what FLB was about and as such we became their designated dealer for B stock and blemished items. The pedal pictured below is my all time favourite from Zander, one which has sadly been long discontinued.

4. Marcus Dluxe

The delightful Marcus Darby was at this time making waves across social media with his awesome hand made pedal boards and luck would have it that he is also Norwich based. I placed an order which he delivered to my door himself, in the pouring rain and we have been firm friends and collaborators ever since. He pops round to the office often and has now branched out into making awesome guitars under his Blanche Flower brand; I have recently been borrowing one and it is fantastic! His boards featured heavily in product photos in the first year of FLB and if you see FLB at a guitar show, it is a Marcus board that the pedals are sitting on.

5. Beer and a Chat!

A short lived and little viewed series of bizarre videos in which I sat in a cluttered room in my house, drinking beer, chatting absolute nonsense and making bizarre noises with whatever strange pedals were in stock at the time in an attempt to sell them to people... which oddly happened sometimes. It is all still available to watch on YouTube; 2 series, each with 7 episodes, none of them with any level of production values nor any relevance to FLB as it is today. They are funny though... or possibly tragic...

6. Bad Penny Fx Little Box - The First FLB Pedal

Bad Penny Fx were a fantastic duo of mad scientist pedal builders based in the south of England who made fantastically chaotic and noisy pedals with one of the most distinct aesthetics in the pedal world. They were big, impractical and bloody brilliant. The Bad Penny boys developed this little beauty, a strictly limited edition variant of their fuzz controller pedal, exclusively for FLB. There are only ten of them in existence, plus a special one off blue version which was done for FLB's 1st Birthday. So if you have one, then you own a seriously niche piece of pedal history.

7. Soundlad Liverpool/JSA Effects/StompSlaps

Late 2020 saw the stars align to bring me into contact with 3 fantastic people, whose influence on, and importance to FLB is impossible for me to overstate. John from StompSlaps was at the time producing artwork for a number of people in the guitar industry and I had a fruitful relationship with him that produced the FLB mascot as well as the artwork for an exclusive JSA/FLB pedal and most importantly the 1991 and Dirt pedals. Simon from JSA pedals and Marc from SoundladLiverpool are two people I hold in the highest esteem. Friends, mentors, invaluable sources of knowledge and support and an indispensable part of the FLB story; when I decided to take the plunge and try and design  a pedal myself they were the two who guided me through the process and the 1991 would not be the pedal it is without their contributions.

8. Let's Play All

I met Matt Webster of the Let's Play All YouTube channel in February 2021 thanks to him purchasing a fuzz pedal from me. We hit it off pretty quickly and kept in touch; fast forward to April 2021 when, via a drunken text exchange the seed that grew into the 1991 was planted. We have been brothers in tone ever since and have plenty more to come!

9. 1991

5 months after that drunken text exchange with Matt, the 1991 emerged into the world and changed everything for FLB. 

10. Skeleton Key

The Skeleton Key was born out of frustration and turmoil and was released at a point where my confidence was at an all time low. The unexpected success of the 1991 was a hell of a lot to live up to and I was convinced the Skeleton Key would fail... Fortunately, I was wrong. The Skeleton Key was so well received that in the aftermath of its release there simply wasn't time to sit back and enjoy things like making it to the cover of Total Guitar magazine; receiving an 8/10 review in Guitarist and then being listed at 3rd place in Total Guitar's "Gear of the Year" 2023. Proud doesn't begin to cover it.

11. Punk Spirit

A lesson in the dangers of putting ridiculous amounts of pressure on yourself, the ill-fated Punk Spirit was a pedal conceived as a strictly limited edition pedal as a love letter to one of my favourite bands, The Levellers, to be sold at the inaugural Brighton Guitar Show and Fx Expo. Everything that could go wrong around this pedal did go wrong; including both myself and Mrs. FLB getting so ill prior to the show that I was on the point of pulling out even on the morning of the show itself. I had managed to get one working demo unit to take with me to the show as opposed to the planned 50 available units and Mrs. FLB and I were still screwing knobs onto the 1991 units for sale at the show as customers were starting to come through the door. The Punk Spirit was reasonably well received at the show with many people interested in buying one once they were available. However following the show the problematic Skeleton Key production took precedence and the Punk Spirit just faded away. However, failure is as important to recognise as success, and if it weren't for the Punk Spirit, the Dirt would maybe not have happened. It was while I was designing the Punk Spirit that I worked out how I could make the Dirt, which at the time had been shelved, work. To the few who have been periodically asking me about the Punk Spirit for the last 2 years, I say all good things to those who wait... and you won't have to wait much longer.

12. Dirt

The Dirt took over two years to get right and nearly killed me twice. That's pretty much all I want to say about its torturous development. The question is, was it worth it? And the answer is an emphatic YES! 

And that brings us up to date. I hope you have enjoyed taking a look at the past five years of FLB. Let me take this opportunity to say a huge thank you for the support over the years. Whether you have been here from day one or have only just discovered us, it means the world that you are here. I cannot wait to show you what's coming next!

All the best

Andy

"It's one thing to start off with a positive jam; It's another to see it on through
We couldn't have done this if it wasn't for you"
 - The Hold Steady, Stay Positive