J. Mascis, Kevin Shields, Billy Corgan & more appear in new documentary about guitar pedals

Online music gear marketplace Reverb has announced their first full-length documentary. They describe The Pedal Movie as “the most comprehensive look at how effects pedals have influenced the sound of popular music as we know it,” and it features conversations with a bunch of musicians and producers, including Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr., Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, Graham Coxon of Blur, Nels Cline of Wilco, Sarah Lipstate of Noveller, Steve Albini, Peter Frampton, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys and Steve Vai.

“Over the years, effects pedals have shaped our favorite songs,” Reverb’s Michael Lux, the film’s co-director, says. “Despite the wide-reaching influences of these tiny boxes, the full story of how they were created and how they evolved alongside the music they shaped has been largely untold. Effects pedals have not only been a source of inspiration for countless players over the years, but also they’ve provided a source of income for an entire industry of mostly small businesses working alongside their musical heroes. It’s an important part of music history that Reverb is uniquely positioned to tell based on our centrality to the builders, artists, and more who make up the pedal community.”

“The initial inspiration for The Pedal Movie was us asking how this strange little pocket of the music world grew into this massive community, with new pedals and companies continuously entering the fold,” co-director Dan Orkin says. “Today, there are thousands of builders churning out hundreds of thousands of pedals every year to an ever-growing community of music makers always on the lookout for new ways to express themselves. These little boxes have changed how people make music and ultimately, changed the course of popular music forever.”

The Pedal Movie is available to rent and purchase on iTunes, Google Play and Vudu. You can watch a trailer below, and shop the pedals featured in the film on Reverb.