In 2013, Steve Brodsky (Cave In) and Ben Koller (Converge) debuted their two piece experimental, prog rock band, Mutoid Man with the album Helium Head. The sounds created by the pair show a departure from previous work, breathing life into new territory. For Brodsky, the guitar and bass riffs are some of the heaviest, quirkiest and sludgiest of his career. Koller lets loose and absolutely kills the drums throughout the whole album. Once the two realized they had something special, they found a helping hand and soon found their third member in form of Nick Cageo.

Both Brodsky and Cageo know their gear. Brodsky’s pedalboard has maintained a similar look throughout his career consisting of mainly Boss pedals, including the OS-2, PS-3 and a rare PN-2 Trem/Pan pedal. However, while recording Helium Head, Brodsky employed the use of a pedal not seen on his board. As he explained, “there’s a fuzz pedal call the Flying Tomato which sounds great for distorted vocals - that’s what I used for most of Helium Head and it also sounds killer mixed with bass.”

Speaking of bass, Cageo’s beefed up low end has assistance from a few friends: the Fairfield Circuitry Four Eyes Crossover Fuzz (with a Moog expression pedal controlling the FREQ knob) going through a custom Fuzzrocious A/B switch which then splits his signal to a “dirty” and “dry” amp signal. Sitting not-so-quietly behind the amps, Koller’s kit features his Trick drum set and Meinl Cymbals.

We recently caught up with Mutoid Man to get a glimpse at their gear they're using on the new project.

Members / other acts

Steve Brodsky: Cave In, Pet Genious, Octave Museum, Converge, Solo

Ben Koller: Converge, Acid Tiger, All Pigs Must Die, Cave In

Nick Cageao

Gear

Brodsky: Boss Tuner, PS-3 Pitch Shift/Delay(x2), DD-6 Digital Delay, BF-2B Bass Flanger, PN-2 Tremolo/Pan, OS-2 OverDrive/Distortion, Digitech Synth Wah, Fuzzrocious Custom Heliotropic Fuzz, Akai Headrush (looper). Sunn Model T head in to two Sunn 4x12 cabs.

Cageao: tc electronic polytune mini, Fairfield Circuitry Four Eyes Crossover Fuzz (with Moog expression pedal to control frequency), MXR bass d.i. +, Henretta Engineering Purple Octopus, Boss Metal Zone, Fuzzrocious A/B with independent boost, Ampeg Sub-Blaster. Sound City x188 through two Marshall 4x12 cabs (with a Marshall JMP-1 Preamp and Peavey Power amp for split signal).

Koller: Trick drums - 24” Kick, 13” and 16” toms. Meinl Cymbals.

Be sure to check out Mutoid Man’s Helium Head and yet to be released untitled album due in 2015.