Caught By The Fuzz!

Can You Hear Us Pumping On Your Stereo?

Growing up, one of the few advantages afforded to me by living in rural isolation was that the village I called home had a train station with a direct line to the city of Oxford, a mere half an hour along the route.

Naturally, Oxford became the cultural centre of my youth; Trips to the cinema; ice rink; laser quest; shopping; forging friendships; romances; heartbreak. Oxford provided it all.

Best of all, it had the Zodiac on Cowley Road; A small venue, instantly recognisable for its gaudy purple façade. Since 2007 it has been a 02 academy and not purple, but to me it will always be the Zodiac! Here I got to witness performances from bands that I am sure I will remember all my life. Every week there were brilliant bands passing through and it was easy and affordable to get tickets.

Local heroes Winnebago Deal; established underground hell raisers Amen; little known Scandinavian rock and rollers Minus and Span; post-hardcore screamo types The Movie Life; and indie superstars of the day in the form of Hundred Reasons, Bloc Party (on their first ever tour!) and Biffy Clyro. The Zodiac provided a veritable smorgasboard of delights for a restless youth, which I feasted upon hungrily.

Now you can probably guess where I am going with this. Oxford obviously has some homegrown heroes beyond the likes of Winnebago Deal that you are more likely to have heard of, and I will put you out of your misery quickly, I am not talking about Radiohead here. If you want to get your Jonny Greenwood on then you can either buy a Marshall Shredmaster or alternatively, if you want to keep things strictly FLB, in which case thanks for your loyalty I am genuinely touched, then plug a telecaster into the Dirt, turn the gain down to minimum and rock out.

No, I am talking about Oxford’s other major, musical export in the form of everyone’s second favourite band; the magnificent Supergrass! The youthful, fun loving, loveable rogue counterparts to Radiohead’s anxiety ridden, introverted, tortured genius – private schoolboys and the favourite band of one Taylor Hawkins.

I understand if you are scratching your head a bit at this one as it is somewhat of a curve ball after the three big hitting, American influenced pedals that FLB has become known for, to aim to capture the sounds of a comparatively small and quintessentially British act; but after the long and torturous development of the Dirt, I was very much in the mood for having some fun.

If we are talking 90’s rock, there are few acts more fun than Supergrass. I defy anyone to listen to a few Supergrass songs and not find themselves with a smile on their face, so infectious is their youthful enthusiasm. As a teenager on the bus to school should a Supergrass song come on the radio, a mass sing along was guaranteed to break out and the prospect of the gruelling school day ahead seemed altogether less doom laden. I was lucky enough to see Supergrass live in 2005 and to this day it stands not just as one of the best gigs I have ever attended, but as one of the best nights of my life full stop!

When we are talking guitar pedals, there is nothing more fun than fuzz! I have long held a rule that when it comes to fuzz, there are no rules save one; when you plug a fuzz pedal in and strike that first chord or note, the sound it makes should put a massive smile on your face.

Now aside from the fact they are both incredibly fun, Supergrass and Fuzz have a close connection in another sense. The band’s debut single in 1994 told the story of singer Gaz Coombes’ night spent in a jail cell after being found in possession of marijuana at the age of 15 and is entitled “Caught By The Fuzz” (Fuzz being one of the more polite British slang words for the police)

That one song provided the inspiration for everything about this pedal; the tone, the graphic and the name, which we have just outright nicked from the song because it sums everything up perfectly.

In stark contrast to the Dirt, this pedal has come together incredibly quickly. I sketched out a design for the circuit between Christmas and New Year and before the end of January I had finalised the circuit and had Matt’s ears put their stamp of approval upon it.

Circuit wise it is about as simple as I could possibly make it, Fuzz needs to be fun, not complicated. As ever it is an op-amp based circuit using easily available, reliable, modern components.

This pedal has really allowed me to lean into the British eccentric side of FLB and I think the look of the pedal really reflects that. We commissioned the very talented Kati Lacey, an Oxfordshire based illustrator, to produce the artwork for this and I think she has done an amazing job, creating a bold and uncomplicated look that has a healthy dose of British humour embedded in it. As I said we have really taken the theme of the song and run with it and this pedal comes complete with flashing sirens!

Sounds wise, it goes without saying that it nails down guitar tones from across Supergrasses career; Caught By The Fuzz, Pumping On Your Stereo, Moving, Richard III, Mary… it’s all there and more. If you are unfamiliar with the Supergrass catalogue, firstly please go give them a listen because they really are excellent, secondly, don’t worry because it covers way more ground than that as you will be able to hear in Matt’s demo video. The components may be super modern but the sounds of this pedal are firmly in the vintage fuzz category so you will find classic tones from the likes of Led Zeppelin and early Black Sabbath through to some of Pearl Jam’s fuzzier tones and beyond. It is also shockingly good at In Utero era Nirvana tones!

As I said earlier, the ultimate aim of this pedal for me was to have some fun while making something that sounds great and from my point of view it meets that brief and then some. I am extremely proud of everything about it and I really hope you have as much fun playing it as I have.

Like all FLB pedals, Caught By The Fuzz is priced at £99 and proudly built in the fine city of Norwich, England.