Tetrarch
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To most people, WWJD spells out \\u201cWhat Would Jesus Do?\\u201d But in the case of sworn shred disciple Diamond Rowe of Tetrarch, it stands for \\u201cWhat Would James (Hetfield) Do?\\u201d
\\u201cThe longer you talk to me, you\\u2019re going to find out that I\\u2019m super old school with my rig,\\u201d admits Rowe. \\u201cWe\\u2019ll go on tours and play festivals and people will approach us and ask, \\u2018why aren\\u2019t you doing this\\u2019 or \\u2018why aren\\u2019t you doing that\\u2019 and I\\u2019m just like, I don\\u2019t know \\u2026 because Metallica did it this way [laughs].\\u201d
Tetrarch was founded in Atlanta during 2007 by friends (and guitarists) Diamond Rowe and Josh Fore. (Fore is also the band\\u2019s lead singer and handled drums for their 2013 EP Relentless). Ryan Lerner has been locked in at bass since 2009 and drummer Ruben Limas has been onboard since 2015.
The band hustled and self-released three EPs and their debut album Freak over the course of 10 grinding years. During that time, their thrashy roots broadened to incorporate nu-metal sounds delivered in a polished, more melodic, hook-laden package. That growth resulted in a deal with Napalm Records, where they released a LP (Unstable) and EP (Addicted) last year. The evolution of their sound and songcraft also saw a progression in gear.
\\u201cOn the [early] EPs, I never did anything with delay pedals, phasers, or whammys\\u2014nothing\\u2014and I really wanted to try it,\\u201d Rowe told PG in 2017, around the recording of Freak. \\u201cSome of my all-time favorite bands have textural stuff like that. A lot of it came out sounding cool and we kept it. I was pretty happy about that. It\\u2019s fun to do live, too.\\u201d
Ironically, as the size of stages they played grew, Rowe\\u2019s gear footprint decreased. \\u201cI am one of those types of people,\\u201d she told PG. \\u201cI get emotional connections to my gear. The idea of switching my rig around gives me so much anxiety.\\u201d
The simplification of their rigs has only helped sharpened Tetrarch\\u2019s collective blade. And, specifically, Rowe\\u2019s reduction in pedals onstage has allowed the young flamethrower to torch crowds with a more immediate, powerful, direct punch to the gut.
Before Tetrarch\\u2019s opening slot for Sevendust at Nashville\\u2019s Wildhorse Saloon, PG\\u2019s Perry Bean stopped by to inspect the condensed-but-crushing setups of guitarists Rowe and Fore. Rowe shows off a sneaky upgrade\\u2014you\\u2019ll get plenty of clues in these captions\\u2014to her ESPs, allowing them to handle severely dropped tunings. Fore reveals how straight-forward his setup is so he can pull off riffing and singing. And both pile on the praise for their EVH bedrocks of gain.
[Brought to you by D\\u2019Addario XPND Pedalboard.]
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