Reverb Hosts Jack White for Exclusive Gear Launch

Guitarist, songwriter and entrepreneur Jack White popped into Chicago for a concert on July 26 and stopped in at the offices of Reverb for an invitation-only interview and product launch from Third Man Hardware, his guitar gear company.

During a conversation White spoke about his life as a musician, his love of gear and Third Man Hardware, a company he founded to create new pedals and gear in collaboration with some of the most gifted boutique and large manufacturers of guitar gear.

During a conversation with Jim Tuerk, Reverb’s vice president of marketing, White offered an in-depth tour of his pedal boards and introduced Third Man’s long-anticipated Roto-Trem pedal, which has been shrouded in secrecy.

“We had the Roto-Echo that came out recently, which is outstanding,” White said. “If you ever get a chance to use this and play with it and stand up and use your foot and move that wheel, it’s really tactile. It feels so good to control echo that way. Black Mountain designed that concept. It’s really well designed. We’re so glad we were able to do that.”

White then held up the Roto-Trem and noted: “Yeah. People have seen this on my board and assumed that’s what it was. But here it is — the secret!”

White said Third Man and Black Mountain had been working on the pedal for years. He noted that using the echo and trem at the same time created some “really cool staccato moments. I can push them both on while you’re performing. You can ease back the wheel on either and change the whole [sound].”

The conversation also covered White’s love for touring, especially playing in small venues where he and his band can see and really connect with the audience. That style of intimacy is also how he likes to record music, including his latest album, Frozen Charlotte, released in July on his own Third Man Records.

“Almost 100 percent it starts with tape and me and several other musicians playing together something,” he said. “And I’m not a big fan of putting things that I created and taking all the solo stuff and using plugins and fixing all the supposed mistakes. All those mistakes, quote/unquote, are the best part. I love that. Like this feedback right now.” [chuckles at the feedback coming from the interview audio system]

After the the interview conducted for a few hundred invited guests, the space turned into a Third Man Hardware x Reverb pop-up shop selling gear to the public before the show, including a few hundred pedals signed by White.

It was the first time Reverb tried such an event in the company’s new headquarters based at The Salt Shed, an indoor/outdoor music and community space on Chicago’s North Side. Look for Reverb to present other live events in conjunction with the space, including its larger performance area, which has a capacity of 3,600–5,000 people. MI