Russell Lissack

In an interview with Russell Lissack, when asked "And what gear do you use in order to conjure up the Bloc Party sound?", Lissack responds:

"My guitars are all Fender Telecasters, and Kele and I use Fender Deluxe amps both in the studio and on stage. Pedal-wise, it’s pretty much a Boss-fest. I’ve got a TR-2 Tremolo, DS-1 Distortion, a new PW-10 Wah, the DD-5 and DD-6 Delays and the PS-5 Supershifter. For a long time, all we had was a distortion, a delay and an old wah pedal and we really got the most out of them. The DD-5 was always my best friend because there were so many different types of delay, but it was always really flexible. I really like to push my effects to see what sounds I can achieve when I get new stuff, but it’s been ages since I’ve had time to really experiment with things. I like the way new pedals can open up different ideas. Pedals can inspire new parts or songs by giving you access to new sounds. And the way you can hook them up in a different order as you get more of them can be really interesting too. Unfortunately, the only time I get my hands on my gear now, except for during a gig, is when we’re sound checking. And people don’t tend to appreciate you trying out weird sounds when they’re setting the rest of the PA and monitors up. So I’m a bit frustrated at the moment, because I’ve got all of this new stuff and I haven’t begun to explore its potential yet!" (original interview here).

In the Premier Guitar's rig rundown, at 10:11 minute mark, he says he uses this pedal especially because of the reverse effect it has, because other Boss delays don't have that feature. The reverse delay effect from this pedal has been used by Lissack for "Like Eating Glass" intro, in conjunction with another Boss delay (possibly DD-5 or DD-6).

In this rig rundown of Russell Lissack’s pedalboard, at 18:02, his Line 6 M5 Stompbox Modeler pedal can be seen. Lissack says:

"This is Line 6 M5 which has a bunch of different sounds in it. I got this by accident because I was trying to find a tremolo pedal that had a BPM counter on it, because I didn't want to use MIDI - I don't like MIDI, really. It's kind of unreliable, I find. So I couldn't find one that you could adjust to precise BPM which is annoying. I bought [the M5] before I realized that, then I found actually that it had some other kind of cool sounds in it, which you can combine things. We've got a song called Virtue which has a pulsing keyboard sounding riff... it makes something really simple sound really big and dramatic."

He goes on to demo the riff from Virtue using the Line 6 M5. He actually uses the "octo reverb" setting for "Virtue". Using the setting of "particle verb", Lissack can create his riffs in the songs 'Eden' and 'Different Drugs'.

In the bottom-right of Russell Lissack's pedalboard is his Boss OS-2 Overdrive Distortion Pedal.

In an interview with Russell Lissack, when asked "And what gear do you use in order to conjure up the Bloc Party sound?", Lissack mentions the Boss DD-6 and responds:

"My guitars are all Fender Telecasters, and Kele and I use Fender Deluxe amps both in the studio and on stage. Pedal-wise, it’s pretty much a Boss-fest. I’ve got a TR-2 Tremolo, DS-1 Distortion, a new PW-10 Wah, the DD-5 and DD-6 Delays and the PS-5 Supershifter. For a long time, all we had was a distortion, a delay and an old wah pedal and we really got the most out of them. The DD-5 was always my best friend because there were so many different types of delay, but it was always really flexible. I really like to push my effects to see what sounds I can achieve when I get new stuff, but it’s been ages since I’ve had time to really experiment with things." (original interview here).

At 9:46 minute mark of the Premier Guitar's rig rundown, Lissack showed his DD-6 pedals. One of the pedals is being used for loops and one is being used like the regular delay pedal.

The Boss PW-10 Wah Pedal appears on the right side of Lissack's pedalboard. This pedalboard shot is from the 0:28 second mark of the Bloc Party music video for Octopus.

(12:42 minute mark) The pedal is featured in Bloc Party's rig rundown. He considers the pedal annoying because of the "on/off" routine.

17:13 Lissack always wondered how Johnny Marr got his tone for "How Soon Is Now?". He also explained in the rig rundown that he is using this pedal in conjunction with Line 6 M5 multi-effects pedal to create "Virtue" sound. He uses the tremolo setting on this pedal for the song.

In a Premier Guitar Rig Rundown article, Russell Lissack is shown using the Electro-Harmonix EH-7850/EC-2000/EC-2002 Deluxe Memory Man on his pedalboard, highlighting its role in his complex effects setup.

Russell uses an original Electro-Harmonix POG, as can be seen in the upper left corner of his pedalboard in this photo. He manipulates this pedal, most notably for "Love Within". For Deezer sessions, he used to manipulate this pedal by himself, but on the performance of the same song at Later...with Jools Holland, he manupulates the POG with some kind of device he has been seen playing throughout the whole song.

This shot of Russell Lissack's pedalboard shows that he uses the Boss LS-2 Line Selector pedal (top row, in the middle). This shot is from Bloc Party's music video for Octopus (it appears very quickly around the 0:28 mark).

In the bottom row of Russell Lissack's pedalboard, his Boss RE-20 Space Echo can be seen. This photo is a screenshot from Bloc Party's music video for Octopus (it flashes very quickly around the 0:28 mark of the video).

"My guitars are all Fender Telecasters, and Kele and I use Fender Deluxe amps both in the studio and on stage. Pedal-wise, it’s pretty much a Boss-fest. I’ve got a TR-2 Tremolo..." (original interview here)

In a Premier Guitar Rig Rundown, Russell Lissack is shown with a Boss RC-1 Loop Station. Although its exact role in his setup isn't specified, it may be used for looping in Bloc Party's "Stunt Queen." During live performances, as seen in this video, Lissack utilizes a looper, though it's unclear if it's the RC-1.

In this 2016 photo of a Bloc Party concert, we can see that the pedalboard for Lissack's pedals is PedalTrain Terra 42.

In this photo, EHX nano freeze is located on top of the some kind of channel switcher, next to the Boss Wah pedal.

In this Tweet from Russell Lissack, he shows off the box of his Eventide TimeFactor delay pedal. He says, "The sound of 2015?"

For further proof, a fan asks, "Eventide?" to which Lissack replies, "you got it"

This shot of Russell Lissack's pedalboard shows that he uses the Boss RV-5 Digital Reverb Effects Pedal (bottom row, towards the left). This shot is from Bloc Party's music video for Octopus (it appears very quickly around the 0:28 mark).

The pedal is featured in Bloc Party's rig rundown. (9:55 minute mark)

In an interview with Russell Lissack, when asked "And what gear do you use in order to conjure up the Bloc Party sound?", Lissack responds:

"My guitars are all Fender Telecasters, and Kele and I use Fender Deluxe amps both in the studio and on stage. Pedal-wise, it’s pretty much a Boss-fest. I’ve got a TR-2 Tremolo, DS-1 Distortion..." (original interview here).

From an interview on roland.co.uk:

And what gear do you use in order to conjure up the Bloc Party sound?

My guitars are all Fender Telecasters, and Kele and I use Fender Deluxe amps both in the studio and on stage. Pedal-wise, it’s pretty much a Boss-fest. I’ve got a TR-2 Tremolo, DS-1 Distortion, a new PW-10 Wah, the DD-5 and DD-6 Delays and the PS-5 Supershifter.

(original interview here)

Russell Lissack incorporates the Eventide PitchFactor Harmonizer into his pedalboard for creating synth-like sounds. According to Premier Guitar's "Rig Rundown" by John Bohlinger, this pedal was previously set aside with the Electro-Harmonix POG before being reintegrated into his setup.

This pedal is used only for chord-like sustain. Lissack combines the sustain of the pedal with couple of Boss PS-5 Pitch Shifters to get the "The Love Within" sound.

In this photo from Zane Lowe sessions, Lissack can be checking his pedalboard, which contains Dunlop DC-Brick as a power supply.

Luca Rella, a student from Point Blank Music School helped during the "Hymns" recordings of Bloc Party. In one of the photos, he is seen setting up the Russell's pedalboard, and Strymon Mobius is visible there.

In this photo of Lissack performing with Ash, Way Huge Swollen Pickle is visible next to the Korg Kaoss Pad.

(11:35 minute mark) - This pedal was used for the song "Octopus", as Lissack demonstrated it in the video. This pedal allows Lissack to switch from one delay pedal to another, so this is some kind of "twin-delay" pedal. Two pedals in it have different tempos. Some parts of the pedal suspiciously remind of two Boss pedals. It was built by Lissack's friend. This pedal is controlled by Boss DD-3 digital delay, which got all the knobs removed and only serves as a controller. The pedal used to have a silver housing back in the "Four" days. Currently, the pedal is in the black housing.

Russell got some pedals to try out in 2017. One of this pedals was the Walrus Descent.

In this video he posted to Instagram, Russell Lissack demonstrates a guitar pedal and says "New Pedal time 🎸" and tags Malekko in the hashtags. In the comments, Tim Wheeler says

Tasty! Which pedal is it?

to which Russell replies

Charlie Foxtrot

The pedals rest on several Pedaltrain boards and are powered by Truetone One Spot CS7 power supplies

At 0.8, you can see that Russell Lissack of Bloc Party has the Walrus Audio Julia on his board. https://www.instagram.com/p/B3J3WScHr8m/

Russell Lissack uses the Boss ES-8 Effects Switching System on his new pedalboard, as confirmed by his guitar technician in a detailed rundown video by Hemstock Guitars, following a 2023 show at the Paramount.

Russell Lissack uses the Boss DD-500 Digital Delay on his new pedalboard, as confirmed by his guitar technician following the 2023 show at Paramount. This information is detailed in the YouTube video "Russell Lissack of Bloc Party Pedalboard Rundown" by Hemstock Guitars.