MGS - Welcome Carl Harvey, thanks for speaking with us.
CH – It’s a pleasure and an honor Tony.
MGS - Can you start us off with telling us how you got started into the music business?
CH – I come from a musical family. My Dad plays the piano and my Mom was great on the harmonica. I was always picking up some musical instrument since earliest childhood, but it all started one night when my brother and I were standing by the window of a music store in our Toronto neighborhood, noses pressed up against the cold glass, wondering what it would be like to own one of those instruments. The first guitar that caught my eye was a red Hofner solid body with three pickups and a tremolo. I began with drum lessons, but soon switched to guitar and just fell in love. It put my life on a whole new course.
MGS - Who were some of your influences growing up?
CH – The single most powerful musical influence I had growing up was Jimi Hendrix. A high school friend first introduced me to his music and it blew my mind. I still listen to Jimi and probably always will. No one else takes me where he does.
Hendrix, however, was not my only influence. I loved Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament and Funkadelic, Santana and just about everything I could find in electric blues. I also have my times when I just want to listen to everything from Miles. My reggae influences came later with Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Toots and the Maytals and Heart of the Congo.
MGS - What was your first guitar?
CH – My first guitar was a Harmony f-hole acoustic with a D’Armond pickup attached to it. My first real electric was a Burns with three single coil pickups. It was the closest thing to a Strat that I could afford at the time.
MGS - Can you tell us about the Grammy and the details surrounding it?
CH – The Grammy was awarded to Toots and the Maytals for the album “True Love”. True Love is a collection of duets with Toots and a diverse range of artists. You may think of it as the reggae version of Santana’s “Supernatural” except almost all of the songs were already recorded and released by Toots over the span of his career. The only exception was “Still is Still Moving” by Willie Nelson.
There’s an impressive array of guest guitarists on the album, which by itself makes it very unique in reggaedom. Jeff Beck, Trey Anastasio, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt and others. We also had from the Maytal guitar pool Hux Brown, Andy Bassford, Dougie Bryan and myself.
MGS - What has been on your schedule here lately and what’s coming up?
CH – I am currently at the start of a six-week European tour with the Maytals. I have already completed two tours in the US this year and will be returning there in October to do a month with Willie Nelson.
MGS - What was your most memorable gig?
CH – I would have to say opening for The Rolling Stones during the European leg of the Forty Licks tour in 2003. It was quite challenging to go on stage in front of a Stones audience and keep them happy for an hour while they waited for Mick and the boys. However, it worked out very well. We made friends with the guys and won over some of their audience too.
MGS - Can you give us a current gear rundown? Please spare no details we are all gear heads.
CH – I guess that I have been suffering from GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) for quite some time now. I am sure that your audience will sympathize. I keep changing pedals all the time. I’ll start with my current stage setup. I play “CHI” guitars which are custom made for me in Toronto by a luthier named Brian Mascarin. My signal chain starts with a Radial “Dragster” (a must have for anyone using wireless) into a Sennheiser wireless. On the pedal board it goes to a VHT “Valvulator” and into my Roger Mayer “Vision Wha” then into a Radial “Tri-Mode” overdrive, from there I go into a TC-Electronics Chours/Flanger to a Maxon “AF-9” filter then into a Pharaoh “Class A Boost.” The Class A Boost outputs to the Ernie Ball “VP Jr “ volume pedal, and then into a Line 6 “DL4 “ delay. Finally the chain goes to a Radial Tonebone “JX2 Switcher” before hitting my Bad Cat “Wild Cat” amp, which has a custom Bad Cat 4X12 cabinet with two Green Backs and two Vintage 30’s wired in an X pattern.
I also have a second less elaborate pedal board and that has a Roger Mayer “Vision Wha,” a Maxon Distortion 9, a Vision Octavia, a Tonecore Delay and an Ernie Ball volume pedal. Both boards have Korg DT-7 tuners set up for Buzz Feiton tuning. Currently not on the pedal boards, but that I will never let go of is the Maxon DS-830, OD-9, an original Octavia, a HBE UFO and the Moogerfooger. I also have a Line 6 “Pod XT Live” tricked out with all the expansions. So far the Pod has been used only in the studio. Hey, you said “spare no details”.
MGS - If you could only tour with 3 pedals, what would they be?
CH – Easy, that would be the Vision Wha, the Tonebone Tri-Tone and the Line 6 DL-4. If I were to have only one it would be the Vision Wha.
MGS - Where can folks read about the Chi guitars?
CH – You can check out the Chi guitars on my website at www.carlharvey.net. There hasn’t been anything written up on them prior to this interview. I can tell your readers that they evolved from the various modifications I had done to my 72 Strat by Brian Mascarin.
The necks are thinner with a flatter fingerboard than a Strat. This allows radical bending with low action without the string choking out on the curvature of the fret board. The bodies are made from Swamp Ash and are chambered for less weight and improved resonance. Two of the guitars have figured Maple tops.
All the guitars have Bill Lawrence pickups and Floyd Rose type locking systems. Currently there are only four Chi guitars in existence and one is still waiting for a neck. I started off with EMG’s and I really liked the sound of them, but after having a conversation with Bill Lawrence and trying the passive pickups, I found a character that I did not have with the active pickups. I would recommend Lawrence pickups to anyone who can get away from the herd mentality.
Although I love the feel of the Strat body I am considering a neck through body design for the next generation Chi. I am totally open to innovation will try anything that will improve the sound and playability of the instrument.
MGS - If you could tour with one band of your choice, who would it be?
CH – That would be my own band “CHI” I have yet to make that a reality and things are going really well for the Maytals, but there is so much of myself that I would like to discover and I need an unrestricted forum to do that. My next pick would be the “Band of Gypsies.”
MGS - Where can folks find out more about you and your shows/projects?
CH – Again, stay tuned to my website www.carlharvey.net for updates.
I have a new album out called “The Times,” which is an eclectic mix of rock, blues, funk, reggae and other influences designed to appeal to listeners of varied musical interests. I think the time is now for artists to get back to what it’s all about: the music! Let it come in what ever form inspires.
MGS - Thanks a lot for taking the time to chat Carl. Any special thanks you would like to mention?
CH – Yes! I would like to extend my thanks to Chuck Russell at Roger Mayer America for hooking me up with the best sounding Wha Pedal in the world, to Bill Lawrence for teaching me so much about pickups and the little things that affect the sound of the electric guitar, to Radial Tonebone for rescuing my tone from the wireless with a little device called the Dragster, to Brian Mascarin for making me a fabulous instrument and to all my mentors and friends who have helped to shape who I am.
MGS- Have fun on the road and take care!
CH – All is quiet and peaceful on the bus. It’s 4:50 am and I am somewhere in France on my way to Germany. The drone of the engine is hypnotic and I am the only soul awake. I do it because I love it. I finally got a chance to get this thing done. I hope your readers will get a chance to check out the album “The Times.” They can contact Burnside Distribution Corp. at (503) 231-0876 www.bdcdistribution.com to find a store in their area.
