"BOO!  Vernon Neilly is breakin' down the sweetness!"

Interview with Vernon Neilly
Interviewer:  Nick Martinelli, for The Shred Zone.
Published 4/16/02  

SZ: Well guitar nuts, I'm overly pleased to have the pleasure of introducing to you one of the music industries hottest kats around.  Guitarist, Vernon Neilly.  Whether, its studio sessions, recording his own albums, or running his record label Boosweet, Vernon always has something to share with us every time we speak.  I can't begin to tell you how much fun this interview was to do with Vernon.  He's a musician of extremely high skill and knowledge, and he's going to be sharing a whole ton of it with us today.  So sit tight, because when Vernon talks you better have your game face one.  He has so much knowledge and advise to share, you won't want to miss a word.  So lets get this party started. 

Hi, Vernon, how are you doing?  It's great to have this opportunity to speak with you again.

Hi Nick, all is well let me just give you a few updates since the last time we saw each other at Namm.  The “United By Tone” cd has been reviewed in Guitar Player, this months issue of Guitar One, Music Connection, Vintage Guitar, and of course The Shred Zone.  There are articles on me in the Nassau Tribune (Bahamas), and the Baltimore Times, the May issue of Musico Pro mag I have a page and a half feature that's coming out.  That mag is distributed to all of the Spanish speaking areas of the U.S, Mexico, Central America, and South America. It’s the equivalent of the guitar mags for English speaking people. I just signed a new string deal with a company called Everly Strings after being with Dean Markley since 1995.  You have to check them out they are the most responsive string I have ever played, and the tone is killer.  Seymour Duncan uses them exclusively to test the pickups in their sound room at the Duncan factory, and you know how Seymour is about his tone.  No B.S. they will have your licks literally jumping out of your guitar.  I play the B-52 rocker alloy set 10-46 because they hold their intonation and I wack the hell out of strings when I play so I need a string that going to take my abuse, and they do like a champ. I tell you these strings are great wish I known about them sooner.

A company in New York called Aslin-Dane (www.aslindane.com) is manufacturing a signature model guitar that I designed to my specifications, that will be out on the market soon so look for the reviews in the trades.  It’s going to be a killer tone machine, the body design is unique but very balanced , comfortable and sexy.  The first model that they are in production on right now as we speak is a trem model, I never liked Floyds because of having to use hex keys to change strings so it has Sperzel locking tuners. Bob has set the standard with his tuners that everyone is trying to copy now, they are the best out there.  If your neck angle on your headstock is correct, and your neck is straight, your guitar will stay in tune with these tuners.  It will have a Wilkenson bridge, I just prefer the way they float, this model has Fishman piezo’s built into the bridge so I can do my acoustic thing when needed. The first model will have Seymour’s “live wire Strat set , but other configurations will follow, hum single hum, and a dual p-90 fixed bridge model.  There is so much stuff going on right now we could take up the whole interview with that stuff, but lets move on.

SZ: Wow, sounds like a lot really has been going on since NAMM.  Thanks for the mini update.  Vernon what types music where you into early on growing up and how did it influence you as a musician today? 

I was actually born in the Philippines, my dad was in the Air Force so we traveled quite a bit when I was growing up.  So I lived in the Philippines, England, The Bahamas, Jersey, New York, Washington D.C. , and Hawaii.  I went to high school in Hawaii all 4 years and my first year of college.  I then moved to Miami and went to college there, I now reside in the countryside of the Los Angeles area.  My birthday is May 10th.  Well my mother was a classically trained musician so I heard a lot of classical music, but because we traveled so much I heard music of all genres.  I actually heard more rock, pop, and country than anything else growing up, some blues, some r&b, but not much; that side came much later.  Well, it has made me a very diverse player in terms of being able to play many different styles and be accurate in the phrasing and interpretation of those styles.

SZ: Wow, that must have been great to be able to see so much country so early one.  So how about some of your favorite bands and artists, past, present, now and why?

Wow my favorite bands, and artists over the years, we could take all year answering this one (ha ha).  Let me see, well lets start with my biggest influences as far as the guitar is concerned.  Jimi Hendrix is my biggest, his style, persona, creativeness, inventiveness, his daring to just be experimental with different textures and tones, and also his guts to just be who he was no matter what people thought.  Carlos Santana would have to be next because of his unique voice on the guitar, I love his feel, and whether he plays 1 note or 90 you can feel that note, and you know it’s Carlos.  Growing up I listened to everything like Grand Funk (Mark Farner), Jeff Beck, Black Sabbath, Alvin Lee and Ten Years After, Led Zepplin , Alice Cooper, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Marshall Tucker, Charlie Daniels Band, Creedence, Journey (Neal Schon), Rolling Stones, Guess Who, Steppin Wolf.  When Van Halen hit the scene Eddie blew me away with his playing, Steve Vai, when Al DiMeola was in RTF, I used to breath that stuff. 

As I got more into the funk and r&b music it was Tower of Power (Bruce Conte), Funkadelic (Eddie Hazel, Gary Schider, Mike Hampton, Blackbyrd McKnight).  Let me just talk about those guys for a minute because they are shred kings from way back, each and everyone of those guys can play their asses off, if you have never heard “Maggott Brain” find it and listen!

I really love Prince on the funk/rock side he’s a musical genius, I still love to pop in “Purple Rain” it’s very inspiring.  If you want to acquire some serious funk chops Al Mckay from Earth Wind and Fire, Jimmy Nolan from James Brown Band, Prince, Ernie Singleton from Cameo, Ernie Isley, I could go on and on. On the jazz side George Benson, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritneour, Joe Pass, Barney Kessle, Charlie Christian, Pat Metheny, Pat Martino, Wes Montgomery.  Let me just stop here Nick, because I have not even gotten to the Blues players yet.  Oh before we go on though I forgot to mention Jennifer Batten, she is hands down the most talented woman shredder in the world, and she will kick most men’s asses, she is a monster player.

SZ: You have such a diverse interest in music that's for sure.  I myself am mainly into Metal, rock, little blues, Latin and classical, not much funk or R&B I must admit.  But you have opened my ears to some new stuff, so thank you.  So how did you become interested in Guitar playing and when did you start playing?

I always knew I wanted to play guitar from the first time I say one, but my parents did not think that guitar was a serious instrument to play, so I had to take piano lessons first.  I finally got an el cheapo when I was 9, I can't remember the brand.  So I really stated getting into it at about 10.  I played in my first gigging band when I was 14 and played all through high school, it was cool to have money from doing gigs at that age.  When I was about 17 I started playing with adult cover bands, I was the youngest one in the band and on the breaks if it was a club I used to have to stay in the dressing room, because I could not be around the liquor (ha ha).  What really got me serious, a friend of mine had the Jimi Hendrix “Are You Experiened” record, I saw Jimi on that cover listened to the music, it was all over, I was smitten for life! 

SZ: Don't worry your not the only one, my parents weren't keen on me playing guitar either.  I always got the "turn it down" yell.  Funny thing was my amp never got passed 1 on the volume dial when they were home.  Seeing that Jimi was a big influence on you, and he had an big impact on your playing, what else drove you to become the player you have become today?

I have just always wanted to be the best player that I could be, and because I liked a diverse cross section of music I wanted to be able to play it all well.  I have been fortunate to play with a lot of different recording stars in different genres of music, that has most certainly helped. The cool thing about playing an instrument is that you can always seek to improve, if you want to spend the time you can forever get better. Like the old saying goes “No Pain No Gain”.

SZ: That's totally true I have to agree with the "no pain no gain" method of playing.  I feel that practice and being knowledgeable is very important when it comes to playing music.  When and how did you get into studio work, producing, mixing and recording?

I started recording with an r&b band in the Miami area called “Unit III” when I was 19, we used to open shows for major recording acts coming through the city because we had a regional hit out back then.  We would open shows for old school groups like “K.C. and the Sunshine Band who is also from Miami, The Commodores, Average White Band.  When I moved to L.A. I was 21 and I met a bass player named Mark Kenoly, who was doing sessions and producing for legendary Motown producer, Norman Whitfield.  So he got me in that camp and I started writing and producing too for Norman, we produced legendary saxaphonist “Junior Walker” together.  That was really the start of getting into the session and production thing, so from that people started hearing about my work and I would get calls from other labels to produce their new acts, and or to do sessions.

SZ: Wow 19 years old and recording, that must have been awesome.  Can you tell us about some of the bands and projects you’ve been involved in over the years?

I was signed to a label deal back in the day, it was an r&b band called C. B. and Jus Us. A label in Nashville called (AVI/Nashboro) records was created just to release the project on this group.  All the other groups on the parent company label were country groups, they had no r&b groups. We got decent airplay on the Urban stations, but there was no real promotion money, so it did not last long.  I think it was an experiment for that label, we were their test animals ( ha ha).  I was  in another hot L.A. r&b recording band called Omega, this band would work it’s ass of sometimes playing 3 or 4 shows a day.  We had a great following and people would just follow us from club to club.  I use to read Billy Sheehan’s columns years ago and he would be talking about how many gigs he played, I would always think to myself, Billy you don’t have anything on this band.  That group stayed together for about 5 years, so try to imagine playing 5-7 nights a week, doing 3-4 clubs a night for 5 years, and in then going into the studio and recording.  After that band I was pretty tired of bands and all the problems of dealing with everyone’s ego, so I was more like a hired gun after that, that’s when I started playing with a lot of r&b, blues, and jazz recording artists.  This was a great learning experience for me because I got to play with and meet tons of great musicians, it really broadened my scope not only as a guitar player, but a musician.

SZ: From hearing your stuff and reading about your releases, projects and such that it maybe safe to say that R&B is you most favorite to play?  Am I far off with that statement?

    No really r&b is not my favorite style of music to play, I just kind of fell into it and it has paid my bills for many, many years.  I would say progressive rock, and jazz fusion would be my favorite to play.  You have to remember I grew up listening to rock before r&b, I think what happened is when I moved to L.A. the rock gigs were not paying any money, you would have to pay to showcase your band at the Roxy, or Gizzari’s, The Sold Out.  The r&b gigs were always paid gigs, the blues gigs were always paid gigs, the jazz gigs were paid gigs, so I think that’s how I happened to end up playing so much r&b music, it was a question of paying the rent back then.

SZ: I stand corrected (laughs).  Your latest work “Kaleidescope” is a diverse groove fest.  Can you give us some insight into this release?

    As a person that markets product into the market place doing “Kaleidescope” for me really was about where I could fit in and be accepted out of the box, not so much about what I really wanted to play genre wise.  I knew that I could sell cd’s with the kind of music I did on “Kaleidescope” and also that I would be accepted into that genre.  Since we are on that subject let me just say, that as a person of color it would have been much harder for me to do a rock project, because still in the U.S. the conception is that people of color don’t play metal, rock, grunge, and in the industry we have been held back from acceptance in those genres.  If “Living Color” had not been introduced by the Stones, they might have never been heard of on a mass scale.  There is a monster black group called “Fishbone” that’s been rocking and putting out product for years, and they still don’t have that mass acceptance.  Although I like some of the work on “Kaleidesope” it was really recorded that way for the commercial value and is a good commercial cd, it has gotten very good radio play, and reviews from around the world.

SZ: If I was describing “Kaleidescope” to someone who wanted to buy it, the most compelling thing about the project is that it is very diverse. It includes smooth jazz, r&b, blues, calypso, funk/rock, pop/rock, there are many different musical textures to it. I have sold more copies of that cd than a lot of guys out there who have had monster radio play.

    "Kaleidescope" is my first solo project ever, I am now in production on my second project which will be totally different.  I love laying down funky under grooves and putting heavy guitars on top, those kind of tracks just rock.  You will definitely hear more distortion and chops on this one, but you will still hear diversity, melody is very important to me.  I have proven to myself that I could sell cd’s, so now the motivation is to just play and create what I want to do, and if I don’t sell any that’s fine but it will be from the heart.

SZ: I couldn't agree with you any more about the importance of melody in songs.  What kind of mindset do you have when you write songs for an album?

When it comes to writing I pretty much write depending on what kind of mood that I am in, or a particular experience that I have gone through.  Take for instance songs that are on “Kaleidescope,” most were written out of something that I was experiencing at that time in my life, just look at the titles.  "Para Carlos" is pretty much self explanatory, I have always loved the playing of Carlos Santana and musically he has been a big influence on me, so it is my tribute to him.

SZ: Well I bet Carlos would appreciate your hard work and musical abilities.  Seeing that you've been in the L.A. music scene for years now, on the average how many performances do you play at each year?

Well how many times I play a year depends sometimes on how busy I am with label business, because I cant be in 2 places at once.  Last year I played quite a bit and so far this year I am playing 4-8 shows a month.  I am planning to tour more during the summer months this year but just how much will depend on how the recording of the new project goes, and remember I have other acts on my label that I record and produce as well, and tour with.  It’s a very hectic life that I lead, but for sure there is never a dull day or one without challenge.

SZ: Ok, I have to ask this one, as I do with all of our Shred Zone interviewees, Have any funny performance experiences to share?

Years ago I was doing a club gig in L.A. with a band I was in called Omega Band, it was one of the hottest bands on the local scene at that time we worked like crazy.  It was a true show band with stage props, pyrotechnics, costumes, the whole nine yards.  Anyway one night we were doing one of our routines where we set off fire pods at a certain time in the routine, well this particular night the bass player got too close to the pod as it was being set off, and the heat from the fire sent him running off stage. He was so close to the fire that we could actually see his hair smoking from the heat, it was our good fortune that he did not get seriously hurt but it was hilarious when it happened, we still laugh about it today when we talk about those days.

SZ: That is pretty funny, but man I'm glad I wasn't the one getting toasted!  Speaking of shows, where is your favorite place to play?

I like to play more intimate venues because they are more personal, anywhere from 200-2,000 seat capacities. You can interact with your crowd on a much more personal level.  In my career I have played from the smallest little dive neighborhood bar to stadium sized venues, but anyone who has played stadiums know that you cant see past the first couple rows. Also, your sound gets very weird the larger a venue gets and you really have to get loud to hear what you want to hear, because the sound disperses, especially in large outside venues.  Large inside venues the problems are just the opposite, sound bounces everywhere and can get very boomy, and cluttered. Sound checks only give you a general idea of what your sound is going to sound like, because as you know an empty arena or hall is going to sound a lot different than when it’s filled to capacity, and now your sound is being soaked up by bodies.  In the venues like theaters and large clubs I always get a much truer read on  my stage sound in comparison to my out front sound, they should sound the same or as close as possible.

SZ: That totally makes sense man.  I recently did a review of your "United by Tone" -Volume One (Seymour Duncan/Boosweet Records) CD on our site here at The Shred Zone.  How did you become involved with this release and what responsibilities did you have on it?

I originally talked to Evan at Duncan about doing a project like this, because of the diversity of the talent roster, I just thought that it would be a great way for people to hear how different artists using their favorite model pickups get their sound. I met with Evan and Kellie once again and we discussed what it would take to pull it off technically and financially. We all agreed that it would be a great thing to do, Seymour backed it and was excited about it, so we each took care of our respective parts to complete it. Since I run a label I consulted on the manufacturing aspect of the project, because this is something that I do all the time, but my input for the project was mostly technical. My responsibility was to take 18 tracks from eighteen different artists, previously mastered at 18 different volumes, produce and edit it into one cohesive sounding project, and then re-master the project to sound like a polished piece of work. I have to really take my hat off to the folks at Sonic Foundry, because their software made things a whole lot easier for me, accurate editing, being able to get and read consistent levels between the tracks, and the final mastering polish. Hey Sonic you guys are the bomb! Also, I would like to thank my family at Duncan, Seymour, Evan, Kellie, Cathy, Lanie, Billy, you guys are the best, and thanks for understanding the concept and vision. That’s why you guys lead the world in your market and are the largest manufacturer of guitar and bass pickups!