<div style="page-break-before:always; page-break-after:always"><p id="1"></p><div style="page-break-before:always; page-break-after:always">A week later he says, &lsquo;Hey, Dan Auerbach wants to get lunch,&rsquo;&rdquo; says Heavy Hours guitarist AJ Yorio, explaining how they came to co-write with the Black Keys frontman. &ldquo;The way we&rsquo;re used to writing songs, the music takes about a month and then the lyrics take another month. Dan was like, &lsquo;Alright, let&rsquo;s try and write a song before lunch,&rsquo; so that was wild.&rdquo;<div style="page-break-before:always; page-break-after:always"><p id="3">The Black Keys connection began a whirlwind that has seen the band collaborate with Simon Felice (The Lumineers, Bat For Lashes) and David Rhodes (Peter Gabriel). Their third single, <i>Desperate Days</i> has been released to streaming ahead of a forthcoming album. The singles have a plaintive, acoustic feel, so AJ has to use his electric guitars creatively, layering parts and adding tasteful slide. &ldquo;I love my volume pedal. I&rsquo;ve been concocting a recipe there because I love having those swells, acting as a synthesizer almost. It&rsquo;s this misty vibe that sort of floats throughout the song.&rdquo;</p><div style="page-break-before:always; page-break-after:always"><p id="2">At the same time, AJ isn&rsquo;t afraid to pile up the guitars. &ldquo;For these singles, I recorded probably nine guitars on every song because I love the sound of four different acoustics and three different electrics. I got into this habit of in laying down a lead part, going back for a solo and then adding some of swells and feedback. The producer said, &lsquo;It&rsquo;d be really cool if you could play every part on this album with one guitar,&rsquo; so that challenged me to compose and arrange the parts that way.&rdquo;</p><div style="page-break-before:always; page-break-after:always"><p id="2">AJ&rsquo;s main weapon for this purpose is a Telecaster Deluxe, retrofitted with  Seymour Duncan Phat Cat P90 pickups, through a silverface Fender Vibro Champ for small gigs or a 1969 Super Reverb when serious volume is required. His pedalboard takes from out-of-control to tasteful: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m always trying to figure out how to harness the Big Muff&rsquo;s power and weirdness. But  when Mike is singing, I don&rsquo;t want to overpower it, so I try with the combination of the guitar and the volume pedal to make it sound like a pedal steel, just have some bends running into each other, never letting the audience hear the pick strike the string.&rdquo;</p>

AJ YORIO (THE HEAVY HOURS)

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