Shane Lyons of Varials Discusses the Band's New Album, Described as an "Audio Onslaught"] - Guitar | Technique

In case titles like I Suffocate, Bleeding, and Deathsong aren’t enough to tip you off, Varials’ music isn’t all Christmas cards and kittens. Best filed under “uneasy listening,” the Philadelphia outfit’s pummeling metalcore is well suited to its dark lyrics, which tackle subjects like mental illness, suicide, addiction, anxiety, and depression.

Fourth album Where the Light Leaves is easily their heaviest output yet. Guitarist Shane Lyons plays like a man who learned his craft from a detuned power drill. Meanwhile, new vocalist Skyler Conder sounds like he’s picking a fight with the idea of a hummable melody, egged on by the chest-beating rhythms of bassist Mike Foley and drummer Sean Rauchut.

“This album is meant to be an ear assault,” Lyons says. “Getting it loud and insane-sounding was the main goal – just turning it up to 11. I don’t think we’d already written the record that defines us. This is that record.”

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You’re diving into some extremely low registers on Where the Light Leaves. What tunings are you using?

We’ve used drop F and drop G#, but The Hurt Chamber is in drop B. It sounds like the lowest-tuned song on the record, but it’s actually our highest. It’s just a full octave blend.

Sometimes you lose a lot of feel and momentum in the tone when you drop your signal a whole octave, so we had to compensate with whatever knobs were in the right place between X amount of pedals. That brought the drive you’d have on a regular-tuned guitar.

We used the Kemper Profiler. There were times when I wished it was a real amp, but the tone we got is fantastic – I wouldn’t change it for the world. I can’t use another tone now. It just feels so right in my hands, which I thought was funny, because it’s not a tone that I made.

It’s a specific capture that [producer] Josh Schroeder had done years and years ago; the Kemper just captured it beautifully. I think it’s a Peavey 6505 with a Mesa cab. Shout-out to Jayson Braffett, formerly of 2×4. It’s his gear that was sampled.

What’s your go-to guitar?

I use ESP guitars – 27-inch scale for anything lower than drop G#. I was always having trouble with standard-scale guitars in that low tuning because they’d get nasty after a while. If you picked hard, it would go out.

You can put thicker strings on, but you need that tension across the neck, so I swear by a longer scale. I feel like I can beat that thing up and it’ll stay perfectly in tune. A standard-scale guitar feels off to me in some ways because I’ve been using a long-scale for such a long time.

How much of your tone comes from your gear versus your playing?

The old “tone is in the hands” debate! I think there’s a reason people sound like themselves when they play. When Stevie Ray Vaughan picks up a guitar it’s different to Jimi Hendrix, but they’re both using Stratocasters.

(Image credit: Varials)

I think it’s 50-50. I think the choices you make with your gear are indicative of your sound and how your hand or your playing reacts to the tone. It’s like a triangle – gear, hands, feel. Where do they meet? What feels right, sounds sick, and is helping you play better? I think each feeds off the other.

Who are your guitar heroes?

Claudio Sanchez from Coheed and Cambria, Bobby Ingram from Molly Hatchet…

I don’t hear much Molly Hatchet in Varials’ music.

That’s my dad’s favorite band. I’ve just been deep-diving on old Molly Hatchet records – even the ones from when they were way past their prime.

Also, DL from the Acacia Strain. I just thought he was so badass and scary! Not necessarily a guitar hero, but I model my attitude around his playing. He had this way with writing riffs, particularly on Continent, that’s just violence on a guitar!

Varials – Blissful End (Official Music Video) – YouTube
Varials - Blissful End (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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What do you value more in a riff: groove or sheer brutality?

I think groove’s a little bit more important to us. But also, how groovy and brutal can you make it at the same time? If you start getting too brutal, there goes the groove. But if you start getting too groovy it’s like, “There’s not enough going on – we could add more.”

What keeps you excited about playing?

Getting new gear, making crazy sounds, and making a guitar sound like it’s not a guitar, but it’s still a guitar! I just got the Electro-Harmonix Stereo Memory Man with Hazarai reverse reverb. You can get the Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine-type of sound, and I’m curious as hell if I can fit that into Varials’ music.