^I don’t hear it as maturity in their sound. I mean, aside from leaving behind the toy piano after new years 92.
;D
To my ears, Mike, Fish & Page evolved, or matured if you will, but mostly just by gradual, slight refinement of their sound (Mike gets clearer and easier to hear all the time, Fish’s drums sound gorgeous PH, etc). Those three guys sound only seems to change via slight improvements to their equipment, or changes to how they play.
I think the change in Trey’s sound is decidedly different from that of the others. Worlds different. I mean, different worlds. I mean … what do I mean anyway?
Yeah, so although Trey’s arsenal of sounds definitely expanded and improved in those ways, he didn’t keep his chops up, and almost intentionally let everything get rough around the edges - like he didn’t care as much about it anymore. His whole mindset must have had a link in the chain of pedals on his foot pedal board, because it sounds like his guitar didn’t care anymore either. You know what I mean?
It’s hard to totally separate bad tone from bad playing, so of course there’s that.
You know, when it sounds like the guitar is out of control, too much distortion or volume or feedback (or all three!), … its intended effect is Rock 'N Roll Goodness. But often it’s actually just crappy and obnoxious! Can’t say I hate it altogether though. On a good night, that Rock 'N Roll Goodness comes through in that crusty brown dirt chunk grunge slam fart sound, and those crazy moments are … they’re … they’re crazy gooder.