Geared Up: April Art Chris Bunnell Discusses His Third Eye Baritone Guitars

Rather than dwell on the cynical side of life, April Art is full of hope and enthusiasm. You can hear it clearly in frontwoman Lisa-Marie Watz’s rousing, supercharged vocals. The German ensemble has come into its own lately, with tomorrow marking the official release of their new record, Rodeo, via Reaper Entertainment. Their third studio full-length, Rodeo, is full of big hits and explosive power. The band views this album as something of a feat for them. It’s the culmination of years of hard work, honing their sound, playing gigs at tiny little venues, and doing whatever it takes to forge ahead. April Art has been making lots of noise in the underground for some time. Now, they are ready to emerge to a larger audience.

April Art views their music with purpose. They are out to spread hope and give strength and courage to their listeners. They want to incentivize you into taking control of your life, living it with high regard, and striving towards the things that you want. With this kind of attitude, there is less space for hatred and envy to start seeping in. Rodeo is a call to anyone who likes loud guitars and empowered messaging. It’s time to step up to racism, homophobia, and just overall divisiveness. April Art feels that that is a message we can all get behind.

Joining us for our latest edition of Geared Up is April Art guitarist Chris Bunnell. He shares with us his latest setup, including his Third Eye baritone guitars.

First things first: what’s your current setup?

Chris Bunell: “For the main guitars I am using two Third Eye baritone guitars. Both of them are the ‘London’s Burning’ model. I’m using Pyramid strings with a gauge of 0.13-0.72 for the low unings. Drop G and F/Std. A (It’s standard A tuning, with the lowest string tuned down two whole steps).

Besides the baritone guitars, I’m using a Furch Blue DC-CM dreadnought for our acoustic songs on tour.

“Amp-wise I just got the Quad Cortex ready in time, for the ‘Rodeo Tour 2024.’

“On stage, I’m using a Sennheiser wireless system. The EW 500 G4 receiver and two SK 500 transmitters. To make everything safe, I’m using Richter guitar straps and transmitter pockets.”

What one piece of gear do you use to obtain your signature sound?

“The beefy signature tone is created by the low-tuned baritone guitar. This is one of the main elements of the April Art sound. Of course, besides Lisa’s signature voice.”

How did you come to possess these guitars? Vintage shop, regular shop, borrowed money, gifted? Give us the details.

“With April Art I didn’t play baritone guitars at first. It all began with the decision 2020, we made about how we want to sound. We listened to a lot of metalcore music and got inspired by bands like Annisokay, Wage War, and I Prevail. I started tuning my guitar down and quickly realized that I needed a different instrument. I did some research and found out about Third Eye baritone guitars. It works, I like it.”

April Art ‘Rodeo’ album artwork

Do you have a special way that you recreate your album tones in a live setting, or is it more just plug-and-play?

“I mentioned the Quad Cortex in my current setup. I’m using my own captures of the Neural-DSP Plugin ‘SLO-100 X’ with the settings of our current album, to be able to recreate the tones in a live situation. Julian (Schuetze) our bassist is also using the Quad Cortex. In our rehearsals, we fit the bass tone to the guitar and tweak everything until it sounds good to our ears.”

We know you love these guitars, but are there any major cons? (Ok, you can also list the pros.)

“Unfortunately, there are some cons about the baritone guitars. Because I’m also a lead guitarist, it’s more challenging to do bendings and play faster licks with the heavy string gauge and the longer scaled neck.”

If you could, or wanted to, what would you tweak or mod on this guitar?

“I think this piece of gear is, what it is. And It’s a great piece of gear. Maybe it will be interesting to try something else. Like a multiscale baritone or a multiscale seven-string baritone guitar. It could work for me if I have the longer scale on the lower strings for riffing and the normal scale on the higher strings for soloing. I need to check this out sometime soon.”

How easy is it for you to tweak the device and get the tone/sounds you need?

“Knowing exactly what sound I want, is have of the battle. And that’s mostly the hardest part. If I know how I want it to sound, it usually just takes some time to compare and tweak the sounds until I’m happy with it.”

Quad Cortex, photo by Chris Bunell of April Art

How does this guitar hold up with regular touring and gigging?

“My guitars are doing a pretty good job with holding up. I’m still a bit nervous about the Quad Cortex. I’m now letting the computer switch my sounds via MIDI. It’s the first time I’m going on tour without switching the sounds by my feet.”

Do you have any backups? If so, what?

“Currently Julian and I have the Kemper for backup purposes. But we will soon get another Quad Cortex unit and keep it up to date with our sounds and pre-sets.”

Furch Blue, photo by Chris Bunell of April Art

What was your first-ever instrument?

“My first ever instrument was a Mickey Mouse drumset my dad bought me for my third birthday. One year later my dad got me a Sonor drumkit. At the age of 13, I started to play guitar. Since then, I have loved Les Paul-style guitars. But I’m also in love with the Music Man JP6.”

What’s your favourite piece of equipment you’ve ever owned?

“The Music Man JP6. Unfortunately, I had to sell it to afford the baritone-style guitars. One day I will buy myself another one!”