People Behind The Pedals
Interview with Mark Huizenga of
Cusack Music & Mojo Hand FX
In our ‘People Behind The Pedals’ blog series, we delve a little deeper into the brains behind the businesses, the memories of the manufacturers and the expertise of the effects pedal aficionados!
Today we chat to Mark Huizenga who looks after sales, artist relations, product development and social media for both Cusack Music and Mojo Hand FX.
Personal Background
- Brief overview of your career path to date:
I worked for many years in construction while playing music in a number of bands. Before Cusack Music I last worked at Throbak winding guitar pickups.
- How did you get into the industry?
I’ve played in bands since high school and also bought and sold guitars and other gear, so I knew quite a few people in the music business. Jon Cusack was an old friend and he asked me to join the company.
What was the first pedal you ever built?
I‘ve never actually personally built a pedal from scratch, but the first pedal I owned was a Nu Wah fuzz pedal.
When it comes to developing new pedals, where do you draw inspiration from – both in terms of sound and visual appearance?
I like to ask keep up on the new pedals coming out to see what is popular and also ask other players what they would like to see made. There’s lots of no longer made classics that are always inspiring, but in the end I ask if it is something I would get excited about having and using myself.
As far as design, if the pedal is based on an older classic we hint at the source of inspiration, if it is something completely new we try to keep the brand identity with the graphics.
What's the relationship between Mojo Hand & Cusack? Are they designed and built by the same team?
Jon Cusack did some work with Brad Fee, the former owner of MojoHand in the past. When Brad wanted to go back to a more conventional job Jon purchased MojoHand because he thought it was a good brand and should be carried on.
The same people work together at Cusack Music, but Jon is much more hands off with the MojoHand brand and leaves new model development mostly to myself and our programmer Dave Kleinjahns. Our engineer Eric Bennetts is also integral to the process.
Do the two brands represent any difference in design philosophy / positioning?
Yes they do.
The Cusack brand currently has a very clean uncluttered look to them, and usually have a few more features than the MojoHand line.
The MojoHand brand has always had a more old school early boutique pedal look to them that we’d like to carry on.The brand look seems to determines to a degree the people that become attracted to either brand.
Can you talk us through the creative design and branding process of your products? Are there any specific type of music, artist or tech that inspires and influences your designs? Most important design features of your pedals ?
Not really, I like any genre of music, as long as it’s done well.
I make it a point to listen to what people tell me they like and don’t like as far as feature sets and so forth, then ask our people what is possible of the requests I condense as far as a new concept.
We don’t have a large engineering staff and seemingly unlimited resources like some pedal companies seem to, so we try to think about how we can offer the most with what we have at our disposal to build.
Jon is a very capable engineer, but he has a lot on his plate with the OEM work we do and running the company, so we try to do all the developing we can without having to involve him until we have to.
Once we have the idea or concept, I’ll work on the name taking all input and vetting it . A lot of the process is making sure everyone has a chance to have a voice, it’s good to keep your mind open to all suggestions and requests, but Jon has left me with much of the task of making a lot of the new design decisions.
What makes your pedals different from other brands or similar models?
That’s the key question we always ask ourselves.
The pedal market is so crowded you must always think about what would make someone want to buy your pedal over the next guy.
We try to position ourselves with offering things that we feel are missing at the price point we intend to offer the product at.
The Mr-O phaser is one example of where I think we really achieved our goal of offering something the market wanted at a very reasonable price.
What have been your biggest learnings in pedal production, and business in general, to date?
That any change no matter how small you think it is, may entail a whole new design. And also that there are a lot of people that won’t keep their word in the OEM business. It’s always better to have things in written legal agreements.
What’s in the pipeline for Cusack and Mojo Hand? What are your business goals/ hopes for the future?
My goal is to make the Cusack brand more visible in todays market while at the same time getting Jon some long overdue recognition, and to keep expanding the MojoHand line to make more products that are exciting and useful for musicians.
Where do you see pedal production moving in the future, for the industry as a whole? Upcoming trends & industry predictions? Will you have to make any changes based on the growing business scrutiny of green, eco and sustainability practices?
There are a lot of pedal companies that have moved their entire production overseas, where the cost of labor is cheap and the environmental regulations are almost non existent. And many of the components the industry uses are only made in China with no alternatives.
I don’t see this changing unless there is some seismic shift in global awareness of the environmental impact of all types of production.
We follow all the environmental guidelines we have to meet for production in the US, and are always open for ways of doing what we do with a smaller footprint. As always, if we find ways to do it cleaner we will.
As far is the future of the industry, besides the huge modular effects movement, I think at the same time there may be a shift toward smaller pedals such as the “Never Off” series Cusack Music developed years ago for compact and effective pedalboards.
What is your career highlight to date? Have you had a ‘pinch me’ moment?
The Cease and Desist letter we were handed by Gibson over the original version of the Mister-O was something of a highlight. Jon came into the room and said, “ look we’ve made the big time, we just got served a C&D by the big G!”
But on a serious note, any time I see a major music artist using our pedals to make great music it is rewarding.
I saw MercyMe a few nights ago because their guitarist Mike called and offered tickets and it was really cool to know that I was listening to our pedals during the show. Any time that happens it is rewarding.
Are there any changes to the circuitry in newly re-branded Mr O , or just a name change to appease Gibson?
No the circuit is the same, but we added a 4/6 stage button to it to make it more versatile.
Personal favourite of all your pedals?
I have a lot of favorites, but besides my ancient Deluxe Memory Man (which I replaced with a Dream Mender on my backup board) probably my most used pedals are a Cusack Resound, Screamer Fuzz Germanium, and More Louder.
I’ve got a lot of pedals, some of them really in depth “noise makers” as I call them, but on the board I play out with the Resound is so useful for so many things I don’t think I’d want to be without it. I use if for a lot of effects beyond the tube reverb in my Fender amp.
What is the story behind your sponsorship of Park Theatre through sales of same named pedal?
Jon Cusack has always been a big supporter of the Park, which is a non profit where local musicians have a venue to call their own.
They had some real structural damage that had to be taken care of , and Jon suggested we make a pedal called the Park Theatre.
It was up to us to decide what it would be and we attempted to incorporate the sound of this very old Theatre into a pedal. All the profit from each one sold goes toward helping the Park with it’s expenses. I thought that it was cool that our endorser Michael Guy Chislett from Hillsong insisted on paying for one himself to help the cause and it is still on his board to this day.
Excluding your own brand, what’s the one pedal you wish you had created yourself, any why?
I must admit I really admire the Neo Ventilator. It is hands down the best Leslie simulator ever made. I use it and a B9 pedal on my second board to run into a second amp for B3 organ sounds. It’s fun and a challenge to sneak it in when there is no organ player available.
I also wish I was responsible for the Count to 5 by Montreal Assemblies. It’s my other favorite ambient tool besides the Resound.
What’s the guitar riff/song you immediately play when picking up a guitar?
Depends on the day and the mood. I try not to bore myself by playing the same vintage guitar show licks every time I pick it up.
What questions haven't we asked you that we should have - and what are the answers?
Maybe why aren’t we better known? I still run into people who never heard of either of our brands, and are surprised by one of our pedals that they just discovered and love.
The answer is we’re still trying to figure that out and change it, lol.
Many Thanks Mark! – it’s been a really interesting talk
