“EMBRACE WHAT YOU CAN’T DO – WORK WITH THOSE LIMITATIONS”
Mark Speer, guitarist for Texas trio Khruangbin, exhales smoke with a satisfied smile as he ponders the meaning of psychedelic music. “People talk to me like I’m some psych-rock aficionado,” he says. “But our ‘psychedelic’ stuff comes from my deep, deep interest in dub reggae. Western ears hear the echoes and all the reverbs in dub and call it psychedelic, because we’re used to placing these components into that context. But it was never intended that way. Dub’s actually meant to be played underneath a Jamaican DJ chatting upon these rhythms, which are crazy sounds to keep the audience engaged when they’re drinking beer and smoking joints. It’s not really an LSD love-in.”
Khruangbin are not like other bands, and Speer is not like other guitarists. For a start, he has only one guitar, a 2001 US Fender Classic Series Strat. He has minimal interest in flashy solos, and his core heroes
