Gone Fishing Effects, who notably collaborated with Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil on the superb BOOOOOM-BLAST, has unveiled a totally unique, one-off fuzz pedal to fund a shot film raising awareness of mental health issues.
The Grim pedal is a high-gain germanium fuzz – a “square wave doom machine” – that is voiced for sonic extremists, is being raffled off on Crowdfunder to finance a short film of the same name.
The film Grim is being produced by Found Films and mental health organisation We Are Hummingbird, and is described as a dark comedy short whose protagonist is planning to end his life only for a stranger to stop him.
Grim features music from Bob Vylan and DM Stith, and Gone Fishing’s Richard ‘Churd’ Pratt hopes the film will get people talking.
“Approximately 6,000 people die by suicide each year in the UK and many more will make a suicide attempt,” says Churd. “Men are three times more likely to die by suicide than women. But suicide is often a topic we choose not to discuss.
“Suicide affects us all, and is sadly a subject very close to my heart. Having been affected by losing friends and colleagues in the music industry, I have made this pedal to support the creation of the short film ‘GRIM' which sets out to raise awareness around these issues and seeks to find an alternative way to get people talking, which we all know isn’t always easy.”
The pedal Grim, meanwhile, is a vintage germanium fuzz fire-breather, hand-wired by Churd on an old-school turret board, with “big meaty components”. Two particularly meaty ingredients were a pair of transistors that were leftover when making Gone Fishing’s The Rage Of The Tsar – a limited edition pedal that when each of the 36 units made were assembled formed a custom art piece by Chris Dorning.
These transistors were too hot for the Tsar, and Churd kept them aside for a rainy day. The Grim pedal comes in a boxy octagonal enclosure decorated with an illustration from Jessica Jumpers that has been hand-painted by Rachel Porter.
You can enter the raffle at Crowdfunder. Ticket price £5. For more details, head to Gone Fishing Effects.
