ASK EQD : Matt Horak
Malcolm X Abram
Welcome back pedal lovers and gear heads. We here at EarthQuaker love to interact with the high-quality people who use our high-quality effects. We also appreciate hearing from musicians, fans, customers, nerds and collectors. We welcome every one from the hardcore pedal effects fetishists to the innocent, doe-eyed, pedal curious. To help prove that actual humans work and twerk at EQD (along with one very cute dog), and to keep the conversations flowing along the World Wide Web, we offer our Q&A feature called ASK EQD.
This month for your digital interrogation we have Matthew Horak, professional artist. You know Matt’s work from many of your favorite EarthQuaker pedals (dude really knows how to draw a wizard, amirite?) and a lot of EQD merch items. Oh, he also has a gig drawing for major and indie comic book publications including Marvel’s Deadpool, Punisher and Iron Age, as well as the Dark Horse Comics Norse Mythology series written by Neil Gaiman and Doctor Crowe from 215 Ink. Let’s see what happens, shall we?
A page from the limited edition Octo Skull comic book by Matt Horak.
@wrenandcuff: Rollerblading ... yay or nay?
Matt Horak: Nay, skateboards. Skate or die. Rollerskates are permissible. Every time I drive and I see someone carrying a skateboard I want to yell out “You’re doing it wrong!,” But I’ve gotten away from yelling at people out of my car (laughs).
@sarahkaydence: Hey Matt! What's your usual thought / creative process when it comes to designing the pedal or brand graphics? Also, what are your go-to sources for illustration style and subject inspiration?
MH: For the pedals, usually Jamie will tell me the name. It usually has a name by the time I get it but not always. I always know what type of pedal it is but I don’t always hear them ahead of the art. I used to hear them because Jamie was always testing them down the hall. Sometimes I’ll have an idea for the art right away, sometimes Jamie will have an idea. Jamie’s really good at naming things and he’s good at coming up with names that don’t exist anywhere else and are easily searchable. Like Afterneath. The Afterneath isn’t a thing except for...ours. So, I’ll go off the name and if I don’t have any ideas, I’ll punch the name into Google image search, apply a couple of filters and see if something there jumps out at me and gives me an idea.
I keep my Instagram to only artists so I can scroll through them. I got rid of all my actual friends and baby pictures and stuff, they stay on Facebook and Instagram is only art.
I have a bunch of tumblrs that I follow so once in a while I’ll open Tumblr and start looking around. I’m in my own head a lot, so I take a lot from there too.
Then I’ll do some sketches and show them to Julie and Jamie. Then we pick one and I draw it. For the Astral Destiny, I actually did a version which was just the singularity black hole image and it was...fine. But then [the pedal] ended up needing some extra work. So, when I revisited it, I did the streaks and the starburst effect in the background and redid the singularity on top.
On all of the designs, the area at the top where the knobs are, is solid with the rounded corners and then an open bleed at the bottom. They all hold to that, at least all the ones that Jamie and I have done. Some other people have done some that stray from that design a little bit.
Afterneath t-shirt design by Matt Horak. The Afterneath t-shirt and poster are available for purchase at eqdmerch.com.
@veesfistofdeath: Digital or physical media?
MH: I assume they mean, like records and books? Well, Records and books until I moved recently, and now digital is fine (laughs). No, I like stuff. I definitely like physical in general, but I realize how much of it I just don’t use. I’m never going to reread all the books I have, let alone all the ones I bought that I didn’t read, so why am I moving them multiple times and why are they taking up space? Vinyl’s fun. I like flipping a record, especially with a group of people. It’s nice to play a record, it’s not the same as just playing your playlist, no one cares.
For drawing, I draw digitally and physically with ink and paper. I pretty much prefer ink and paper all across the board, but I have to draw digitally for certain things. It makes it way easier. The Astral Destiny was drawn in Procreate. But I just prefer physical.
@Depacej: Who is your favorite coming book illustrator of all time?
MH: My guys growing up were Mike Mignola, Michael Golden and Arthur Adams and I still love all three of them. Before that, Ed Emberley drawing books and Herge’s Tintin were huge for me.
Those were my favorites growing up, but the two greatest of all time are probably (Manga artist Katsuhiro) Otomo (Akira) and Moebius (Jean Giraud co-creator of Blueberry and The Incal). I really like Edwardo Risso (100 Bullets), too. Chris Ware. Gaijin Studios. Jack Kirby was pretty good.
@malted_milksteak: Hey Matt, what is your favorite EQD fuzz pedal and why? I'm in the market and cannot decide
MH: The Hoof’s the classic. So that’s probably it. The Spires is really cool because it’s got a lot of features. It’s between the Spires and the Hoof. I also love the Terminal. Find yourself a Terminal. It’s ugly, though. It’s an ugly, nasty grind-y, pedal. The Terminal rules. It’s the one that when it comes on I go (makes a face) `Ooh, what’s that?” It gives you a little stinkface. Yeah, that’s what I want to hear! It’s a very unique sounding, not-your-everyday fuzz pedal. Probably the Hoof would be your everyday fuzz or the Spires because you can do some different, weird stuff with it. I like the weird. I’ll lean weird every time.
Cover illustration for The Devil Strip by Matt Horak. (Courtesy of Matt Horak.)
@linapluslisa: What was your inspiration for octopus drawing on The Depths? amazingly inspiring and the only EQD pedal i own👹
MH: I saw a sculpture or a lamp or something like that someone had made of an octopus with diving implements on its body and I thought, oh that’s a good idea because we had already had an octopus and it was called The Depths. I don’t know if I even saved a picture. I think I just saw it and remembered the idea.
@jkbrodeur: I'm partial to this pedal because I own one, but how did you come up with the art for Astral Destiny? Out of all the newer EQD art, this one is one of the best. Is there a V2 of the graphic design in the works down the road?
MH: Who knows, it just came out. Hopefully not, that would mean there’s something we need to fix (laughs). I don’t know, we can’t make a softer switch at this point and all the jacks are on the top now instead of the side. I don’t think we’ve ever done a Version 2 just to change the artwork. Well, I take that back, the Acapulco Gold, we did a new version for the artwork.
To answer the first part of the question, I think I googled the name Astral Destiny, and I don’t know that a black hole came up, but I somehow ended up there. When I first started working on it was around the time that someone had taken that actual, first photograph of a black hole, which didn’t look like [the pedal] at all. That’s more of an artistic interpretation which is available in a few different places. I think they did it first, that specific look of a singularity, in the movie “Interstellar.” Oh, and Jack Kirby. That’s partially the inspiration for the star burst and the Kirby-esque, Kirby Crackle-type vibe of the whole thing.
@thiago_lang: Nice, thanks for opening up for some Q&A! What would be your advice for someone starting to play with circuit design for guitar fx? I got background in Electronics Engineering, but this is my first time playing with Audio circuits, guitar fx in special.
MH: Stay tuned for other EQD Q&As with someone who knows anything about that, because I know nothing! (laughs). Actually, just make it sound cool. Make a sound that makes the other person in the house get up from what they’re doing, come to wherever you are and say, ‘what is that?’ That’s what you should do. If it makes that kind of sound. If it makes other people not be able to finish washing the dishes because they have to go find out, what is that racket? Then, you’re on the right path (laughs).
@the_eyes_of_the_samsara: Hey Matt, I had the pleasure of meeting you at EarthQuaker Day, and you doodled in some pedals I had. Do you prefer to have someone tell you what they want doodled in the pedal, or would you rather have free reign for whatever you may choose?
MH: Well, I’d rather have you tell what to draw if it’s something simple that I know how to draw (laughs.) Especially when you’re doing one after another. The best is just a prompt. It is a little intimidating to draw on those pedals on demand, in front of somebody. You just spent $90 on this and now I’m, maybe, going to accidentally draw a turd on the inside. And, it’s a rough, black surface inside to draw on, so you can only use silver. More often than not, I’d rather be pointed in a direction, which is what the whole Google search thing is about. You just find a foothold and then go, because then you’ll get there on your own.
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Follow @earthquakerdev on Instagram to submit questions for the next installment of ASK EQD.
Malcolm X Abram is a recovering reporter and music writer and a proud 40 year guitar noodler. He lives, works and plays in the bucolic dreamland of Akron, Ohio in an old house with two dogs who don’t really like each other and way too many spiders.
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