David Byrne's Carpet of 100 Guitar Pedals

Look at all those pedals. No, it's not the bedroom of a Guitar Center sales rep, it's David Byrne's latest work in progress. As if turning the Battery Maritime Building into a massive sound sculpture wasn't enough, Byrne is now readying a "guitar pedal carpet" installation for an event honoring Christian Marclay next Wednesday at the Puck Building.

Recently on his blog (a regular source of info here at EF), Byrne briefly described the project, which will essentially take the space separating the entrance to the Puck Building and the reception area - meaning that everyone will have to pass through - and transform it into a giant walkway of 100 guitar pedals all linked together and then run through an amplifier and guitar. Byrne stated:

We’ve tested a portion of it to see if there are any unexpected problems and I was surprised to discover how well it works. Of course, the sounds are fairly random, and stepping on one or two of the distortion or fuzz pedals raises the screaming noise level pretty high, but that will be adjusted. Happily, some pedals will loop whatever is going on at the time of their activation, and so there will be constant sound changing all the time.

This seems like a punk rock version of the "Soundstairs" that Christopher Janney built for the Boston Museum of Science back when I was a kid. I used to spend entire afternoons running up and down those piano-like steps and triggering all the cool sounds; hopefully, the folks at Wednesday's benefit will have as much fun, though Byrne has expressed reservations about women showing up in heels and having to traverse the pedal minefield. But fear not stilettoed masses, he's busy planning an alternate passageway for you as well.

Listen: "Road To Nowhere"

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