Lower Than Atlantis

Frontman Mike Duce and guitarist Ben Sansom walk TG through the gear being used on the Safe In Sound tour…

Eyeing up an empty Brixton Academy, Lower Than Atlantis guitarists Mike Duce and Ben Sansom are preparing for their biggest headliner in the capital to date. Since forming in 2007, the Essex quartet have managed to break through the glass ceiling that often hinders British artists. Tonight’s show will have the kind of production only bands in the big league can afford. With the wind in their sails from the Top 10 success of Safe In Sound, Mike and Ben invite TG onstage to get a closer look at their weapons of choice…

MIKE DUCE

FENDER AMERICAN ELITE STRAT

1“This is my main guitar. It’s brand new from Fender with Noiseless pickups, as well as the in-phase/out-of-phase S-1 system. There’s nice hardware on it, as well! There’s a Hipshot [bridge] because I’m drop-tuning a lot from standard and the songs go straight into each other. I was a bit dubious about them at first as I thought they were mainly used for bass; I found myself checking the tunings and it’s actually been pretty good. I use custom gauge strings – 56, 44, 32, 24, 16, 12 – which just came out of preference over the years.”

FENDER TOM DELONGE STRAT

2 “This is the guitar I’m most known for and one of my oldest. It’s got Seymour Duncan Invaders loaded into it with a coil-tap. I keep this in drop A tuning and use a 65 bass string on the bottom and a regular guitar set for the rest.