OTEP Explores 'House of Secrets' with Peavey

Peavey Int'l. Headquarters—House of Secrets, OTEP's latest offering of grinding art metal, is delivered by a band literate in both musical and poetic expression. Fittingly, wordplay such as the band's moniker, an anagram of "poet," and the title of its 2001 debut, Sevas Tra—"art saves" written in reverse—are declarations of what drives bassist eViL J and his crew.

As a primary songwriting catalyst for OTEP, eViL J channels his 16 years of experience playing in death metal bands, a self-described "hippie rock" trio and hardcore and classic rock groups into his band's intense metal. It's not only about writing huge riffs, though; J's studies at Berklee College of Music, where he earned a degree in music performance, have tempered his approach beyond mere bombast.

J's bass work on "Warhead," the lead single from House of Secrets, is indicative of his style: mature enough to be both virtuosic and utilitarian while leaving real estate for a charged vocal performance from frontwoman Otep. J says the song typifies his writing style. "I'll do some work writing riffs, but I'm not necessarily going for what sounds cool. It's more of, ‘this sounds more reflective of the feeling I'm trying to go for,' so when Otep puts an emotional lyric to it, it makes more sense and works together. A lot of the time, the arrangement comes from her."

J achieves a wide sonic palette through his walnut and bubinga Peavey Cirrus™ 5 basses, which employ active tone circuits that give him more control. "I'm so in love with being able to boost and retract the bass and treble and mid-range," he says. "Bass players seem to fear mid-range, but it's our best friend. If you put it in there just right, you can hear everything."

During live shows, eViL J uses the onboard preamp of his Cirrus 5 in lieu of tweaking the parametric EQ on his Peavey Pro 500™ head. "The amp's parametric EQ really comes in handy in the studio, but for live, the less you use is sometimes better," he explains. This setup through a Peavey GPS® 3500 power amp, which supply extra power to his twin Peavey Pro 810™ cabinets.

Guitarist Lee Rios uses Peavey and Triple XXX® and 5150® amplifiers, and he and J use Pro Comm® PCX U1002 100-channel guitar wireless systems. Vocalist Otep uses the handheld microphone version of the PCX U1002.