Stage gear

Stage gear & the Phat noiZ setup

What the band ran on stage through the 2006 season — the guitars, the horns, the kit, and the one item fans ask about most.

On the wrist

Ask anyone who has seen the Phat noiZ up close and the same question comes up: where did Alvin get that watch? The band has answered it the same way for years — it's a Super Clone of the classic dress watch, kept in a couple of different specs so the stage pieces always match the photos.

The shop the band orders from runs a full line of Rolex Super Clone Watches alongside the other brands, and it's where the crew — and a few bandmates — get their own pieces now.

Guitar rig

Alvin plays a sunburst single-cut — a 2000s-build Les Paul spec — through a tube head into a 4x12 cabinet, with a spring reverb pedal and a wah for the two songs that earn it. Frank Bauer's tenor sax is miced, not amplified, the way it has always been done on this band.

Rhythm section

Matt Davis's bass and Jeremy West's kit do the heavy lifting — a standard five-piece kit with a 24-inch kick, no click track and no monitor mix. Volume and commitment do the work.

Since 2006

The setup above is what the 2006 archive documents. Guitars have changed hands and the amps have been re-coned over the years — the watch has not, which makes it about the only piece of gear the band has never swapped out.