Carl Verheyen - Appearing at Wild West Guitars July 30th featuring Shadow Amplification
Please describe the personal attribute(s) that you consider to be
the most important factor(s) in your attaining success and maintaining
longevity. After all, LA is a tough town!
CV:
A willingness to continue learning and practicing, and a belief in the concept that
both an artist and a businessman needs to reinvent himself every 4 or 5 years.
WWG:
What session work (that you are at liberty to discuss) are you proudest of?
CV:
The best stuff I've done has always been on my own CDs. But I'm proud of other recordings like Chad Wackerman's CD "The View," Supertramp's live CD called
"It Was the Best of Times," and Supertramp's "Forward Motion" CD. I worked hard playing the Django stuff on the movie "Ratatouille" as well as many other films. And on
a few HUGE rock albums I was called in to replace the guy in the band, and they never told him! But it would be uncool to tell....
WWG:
Please relate the story of "the one that got away..." what type of guitar, the circumstance..
were you ever able to get it back or get close with another guitar?
Please describe a lowpoint in your career and what you learned, and how you fought your way through it.
CV:
The only low point I've had was when I got my left hand closed in a car door at the Vienna airport in Austria. Although I didn't break anything, the door locked! I couldn't feel my fingertips for about 3 months and it made bending notes really weird! Career-wise there have been ups and downs, but I've always had a long term view. Everybody deals with rejection in this business, but my attitude has always been "I'm gonna make it with or without that geek that just blew me off!"
I did sell a 1972 Les Paul that was nothing special, except that it sounded great and I had played it on dozens of records. I really regretted selling it the next day until one year later when the guy I sold it to came into a club I was playing in LA and said, "remember me?" I said..."no." He said I had sold him the Les Paul a year ago and it's been in his closet ever since. I bought it back the next day! On another front, I could have bought a Dumble Overdrive Special for $2,000.00 back in 1989. I didn't really like the "beam" tone it got, preferring the more "open" tones of my vintage Plexi Marshalls. Unfortunately I didn't see the investment possibility! And with certain guitars those amps don't sound so bad after all! That bad boy is a sunburst, but I have some real PAFs in there from a '58 ES-175
What part of Supertramp, live, do you have the most fun?
What is the biggest challenge live?
CV:
Over the years I've cultivated a handful of solos that are "open" in that I get to play as long as I want and cue the ending.
It's really rare in a huge stadium act like that, where you get to improvise in front of 18,500 people! Somehow I convinced them that letting me improvise my
solos, instead of playing exactly what's on the record, will make the music live and breathe every night.
WWG:
Please describe what the guitar has meant to you over the years, on an emotional and personal level.
CV:
My center as a person is completely wrapped up in the guitar. If I don't play every day and practice a lot, I don't feel good about myself.
I try to be in tune with the guitar both physically and mentally at all times. Music is very emotional for me. The guitar is just one element in music, but it's the element where I can contribute the most so I tend to express that emotion through my instrument. The ability to do that means a lot to me!
WWG:
Please describe your philosophical or attitudinal approach to guitar playing and to improving. For instance, your idea to play famous slide parts without the slide blew my mind. That example strikes me as coming from a guy who really gets off on playing.
CV:
I'll just run lines for the sheer joy of hearing them in the air, so I guess I do get off on playing! There are a lot of guitar players that are quite good, but they've hit a personal plateau in their musical
development. Part of the problem is that the guitar becomes a relaxation tool for them after a day at work. So instead of coming home and studying the guitar, they play stuff that makes them feel good and relax. That could be a Joe Walsh song or a few pretty chords. Unfortunately there is no new ground broken here, no improvement. I prefer to practice the stuff I'm NOT good at and reach for new things to play. This keeps me from getting stagnant and keeps it interesting when I'm on stage.
WWG:
Please describe the tonal quality you get from the Shadow amps you are using, and
what you really like about the amps and the way they bring out the tone of your guitars.
CV:
I"m using a pair of MK-40s for my clean sound with Supertramp on tour, and I hope to use them with the CVB at a few festivals this summer. They have the beautiful sparkle
in the highs that I want to hear, but without sounding brittle on the top end. On my Stratocaster the back pickup doesn't get piercing, the middle pickup sounds chime-y and glassy and the neck pickup sounds full and fat. I described it to another guitarist today: like an original Vox AC-30 back in 1963, right out of the box, but updated!
WWG:
What do you love about stratocasters?
CV:
I love the variety of tones available out of one guitar. I love the character of the single coil pickups when distorted, and how they clean up, too. I love the wang bar and how musical it is. I love the progression of pickups from a warm, woodsy neck pickup to a glassy, shimmery
middle to a bright, nasty bridge pickup. All in one guitar!
WWG:
What do you think of the guitars coming out of the Fender Cst Shop these days?
CV:
Some great stuff! I think I own around 9 strats and 3 teles. But I could always use more!
WWG:
Of all the places you have been, what meal stands out in your mind as the top experience?
CV:
A meal at the Jules Verne Restaurant halfway up the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
A fresh seafood pasta at 1:00AM in Sicily.
An Indian dinner in London, just last October! Too many to mention....
WWG:
Do you have any personal recipes you would like to share with our readers; ones that
will make them better guitar players?!
CV:
The cook in my house is definitely my wife, but I am king of the barbecue.
My secret for chicken:
Marinate in your favorite stuff.
Cook it in the microwave for 8 minutes.
This pre-microwaving keeps it from drying out to much.
Throw it on the grill.
Cook for about 8 more minutes on a side at medium heat
so it doesn't flame up too much.
A little blackened is cool, though.
A nice soul-base for playing the blues!
Guitarst / Vocalist Tom Johnston's
USA BBQ HotSpot Tips
