Thurston Moore’s Sovtek Big Muff to be auctioned off in aid of Cafe OTO

A Sovtek Big Muff used on tour by Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore is up for auction. Proceeds will go towards Cafe OTO, one of London’s leading small music venues.

The venue initially put together a varied auction of memorabilia, this pedal included to help upgrade its equipment. However recent events have left it strugglin and so the proceeds now will go to help it combat losses amidst the pandemic.

Take a look at Thurston Moore talking about the pedal below:

The pedal, as you can see, has been thoroughly used on tour, as well as signed by Moore. He does admit, it’s more likely an “objet d’art” – he’s not sure if it even still works. It is, however, a very cool addition to any collector’s shelf.

As social distancing and quarantine measures in response to the pandemic roll out, smaller bands and venues are among the worst hit, with less of a safety net to fall back on. Organisations have banded together, however, for example bandcamp waived its revenue share for a day, seeing a massive uptick in sales – all of which went straight to artists.

And, hopefully, this pedal will help Cafe OTO survive. It’s starting bid is £1500, with online bidding ending at 11:59pm BST on 13 April 2020.

Find out more at cafeoto.co.uk. For more music news, click here.