Guitar Mania

1) Vernon you have had a very diverse a long lasting career in the music business. Can you bring us up to speed on what you have been doing in the last year or so? Can you also give us some details with respect to your personal history?

It has been a very busy year for me recording wise, playing live, the release of my signature series guitar, and developing new business for my independent label Boosweet Records . For the past year I have been putting together the dream guitar instrumental project which I call "G-Fire"(guitars on fire), which has some of the worlds top recording session players, and touring guitarists. Every guitar player that loves guitar will definetly want to have this project because of the diversity of playing styles, and each player has stepped up to the plate with good material and very good playing. The project includes myself, Miguel Mega from Brazil, Morris O'Connor who records and tours with the legendary Stevie Wonder, and has played with so many top recording artist, and Kevin Chokan who is the musical director for Diana Ross, and also handles the guitar duties with Jeffrey Osborne, he has also played with George Duke who was an original member of Frank Zappa's Band. So like I said the guitar performances and music is great! This project will be out in June, and will be available at Boosweet Records Online, Amazon, CD Now, CDBaby, CD Street, CD Barn, and all of the major online distributors. In California, and Nevada it will be available in most of the independent record stores, but the discount spot will be my site because I can offer it for less!

2) Where did you get your musicall education - walk us through this phase of your development and maybe give us a few highlights?

My musical beginnings started many, many years ago as a little boy growing up in The Bahamas. I come from a very musical family, my mother plays piano, organ and violin, and all of my aunts and uncles, her siblings play atleast one instrument. Early on I was very classically influenced because this is the type of music that my mother and her siblings would spend the most time listening to, things like Handel, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Chopin, Mozart, Paganinni, etc....so by virtue of subconcious alot of this stuff stuck. The first instrument I studied was piano, because both my mother, and aunt who is a proffesor of music taught, so all of the children had to take piano lessons, this was required. You have to remember at that time I was growing up in The Bahamas and it was still a British Crown Colony, and you know how proper that British are! I started tinkering with guitars at age 9, I did not have one myself, but a close friend of mine had one, and I used to go to his house almost everday to play his guitar. It was actually kind of funny because he really was'nt interested in the guitar, so when I went to his house I got to play it all the time. I got my first real guitar, well one that I could learn on anyway at age 14, by that time my family had moved to Hawaii. It was great because in my junior high school there where alot of guys that were into music, guitar players, drummers, bassists, keyboard players, so we would get together over at my friend Aarons house after school and just have these big jam sessions. We would all teach each other the latest songs and licks, and out of those jam session a few of us formed a band and started seriously rehearsing. That led to us doing talent shows at the school, and then even doing some dances which we got paid for, which for 14 year old kids was very cool. Hawaii had some great musicians, so it was a very good enviornment to be in at that time. I played music all through High School in a couple of different bands, we were actually gigging and making money. Alot of those guys that were a apart of that Hawaii scene are still musicians today too, and many of them came to the mainland and went to schools like Berklee, Manhattan School Of Music, Musicians Institute, and are first rate players. After I graduated from High School I went did my first year of college in Hawaii, then transfered to Miami because my family had moved back in that direction. I did not do music as a major though, I did it as a minor because I had been playing music all of my life, and already knew how to sight read from taking piano, and theory from taking it in High School. I actually studied communications, but I was still playing though in some local bands in Miami. Miami was great at that time though, guys who are music legends now were going to school there during that same period Jaco Pastorius, Steve Morse, Pat Matheny, Narada Michael Walden, and Hiram Bullock came on the tail end of that period. I started working in radio in Maimi as an air personality at the #1 station in Miami, I was only 19 at the time, so I got to meet a lot of cool people in the music business, and one of these asscociation actully led to me getting my first professional touring gig, which happened to be with an RnB artist called "Little Beaver". This was the beginning of me working with many recording artist, and producers, so from that point it has gradually turned into what I do today after many years of playing.

3) I understand you are the owner of Boosweet Records. Tell us about your label and what motivated you to start up an "Independant" Label?

I was actually in partnership running another label before I created Boosweet. I co-ran the other label for 8 years so it was just a natural step of progression to me after that to setup my own. But my initial motivation was from the same fact that alot of independent musicians go through, the need to have an outlet to get your music out to the public, so basically it was formed to help other get their music heard, and at the same time provide a vehicle for my music as well. Working in radio helped alot with understanding how that whole system works and what you need to do to get your music played, I also took marketing courses in college, so I have a very good understanding on how that whole thing works, and that is the key to geting your music heard and played, marketing and promotion. Boosweet Records is basically a distributor, but we as well do artist marketing and promotion because we have extensive resources in the way of data bases and industry contacts to get and artists
music heard and promoted. We work with people that are a part of the major music industry sector as well as independent. One of the key things that we have too is our relationships with many of the major music instrument and software manufacturers, this is truly a key element when we are doing promotional campaigns, for example last year we did one of the biggest online giveaways to date to promote my company, but also companies like Cakewalk, Sonic Foundry, Seymour Duncan, Everly Strings, Aslin Dane Guitars, etc.... it was a huge success. We gave away a guitar, recording software, strings, t-shirts, hats, you name it we gave it away!

4) You have a new CD out titled "Kaleidoscope". Give us a run down on the music that is included on this release? What can we expect from future releases?

Actually this CD is 3 years old now, but I realize although it was played and sold all over the world that there are still many peolple who do not know about it. Kaleidescope was about songs for me not really about guitar playing, although there are a few good guitar songs on there. What I am trying to say is I really wanted to see if I could sell the CD, so the songs are more commercially oriented as opposed to a shred fest. The CD really sold well on a global scale, there are songs from it that get played everyday that I get royalty payments from, and I got some really nice reviews from it overall. The only thing is that some reviewers because of my background and who I have played with wanted to hear more guitar, but like I said it was not a guitar oriented project per say, it was about songs. Those reviewers can buy G-Fire and hear chops galore. Kaleidescope is available on the Boosweet site, Amazon.com, CDBaby, and when it first came out you could buy it at Tower too.

5) From the small selection of MP3's that I have heard - You compose some vary unique songs drawing from a number of musical sources. Who are your main influences? What inspires you to make the type of music you record?

Well first of all you would have to understand what my mindset is about music, and that is I hate classifications, to me music is music, if it is good regardless of what kind of label or classification someone puts on it, it's just good music. That being said because I have such a diverse taste in music, from classical to rock, funk, r n b, jazz, country, blues, asian, etc... I dont really stop to think and say I am going to write or compose this type of music, there might be elements of all of them in that particular song. That is one of the reasons why guitar music in the commercial sense
is almost extinct, because there are so many varying degrees of it, record companies dont know how to market or define it, and it is a shame because there is so much good, diverse music out there that needs to be heard by the masses. Basically I am saying that I write what I feel at a particular time, and dont give much thought to what kind of genre or classification that it's going to fit into. My main influence guitar wise was Jimi Hendrix, but not only from the standpoint of what he played, but by his whole presence. His willingness to take chances musically even if it did not fit in to a particular classification is key for me, plus Jimi just had a whole other persona thng happening that I really dug. My second choice is Carlos Santana because of his definitive voice on the guitar, it does not matter who he is playing with, when Carlos plays you know it's him without question. Eddie Van Halen would have to be next, he just blew me away with his enegy, innovativeness, and his willingness to be daring on the instrument. There are so many good players in the world Steve Vai, Satch, Gary Moore, Neal Schon, Steve Travato, Steve Morse, George Lynch, Yngwie, Greg Howe, Larry Carlton, Lee Ritenour, George Benson, Django, Charlie Christian, Eric Johnson, Bill Frisell, Jimmy Bruno, Pat Martino, Jennifer Batten, see this is why I cant put classifications on music, because I have listened to all of these people and then some, and although the genre's are diverse, all of these guys are smoking guitar players that you can get something different from!

6) All of the artists you have been fortunate enough to work with showcase your depth as a musician and your strong technique as a gifted guitar player. Tell us about your technique and how you developed it?

Basically it's been a whole lot of playing and gigging, touring over the years, listening to alot of talented people and drawing from their techniques, and incorporating it into my own playing. To me the guitar is such a challenge to try to master because there are always so many new things to learn from and on the instrument. It's a never ending process of trying new things from the technical and execution side, trying to attain certain things in my playing, and keeping solid the things that I have worked on through out the years. I am the kind of player that is always searching for the next level in my playing, it's fun. I have been very fortunate to have worked and played with some of the people that I have been involved with. Nothing can take the place of being able to watch these people night after night in performance, it's not only what they play but how they approach the instrument, or their vocals.

7)You are a very diverse, creative force. Tell us about some of the more diverse projects that you have colaberated on?

Last year I produced for Seymour Duncan the "United By Tone" compilation which was a challenge, but alot of fun putting it all together, thats probably to date the most diverse because of the many variying styles of music, shred, classic rock, alternative rock, punk, progressive rock, jazz, blues, latin, acoustic. So to put a project together like that and make it sound cohesive was a challenge but we did it, and it got great reviews from Guitar One, Guitar Player, Vintage Guitar Mags, and countless other news papers, and media sources. I was honored to have the very first track on that compilation with such great players! The project can still be purchased although quantities are very limited now from Boosweet Records and the Seymour Duncan sites exclusively, and this is a collectors item, there were only so many for these pressed for distribution. There will never be another deal like this where you can get ths many great artists on a CD for only $3.50 U.S., unheard of !

8) What type of music do you enjoy listening to?

Everything as long as it hits me, if I feel it then it's cool with me. Once again I grew up listening to such a diverse cross section of music, it's just a part of who I am.

9) What equipment did you utilize to record your latest CD "Kaleidoscope"? Who are your Endoursers?

Guitar wise at the time I did this project I endorsed Parker Guitars so I used my Parkers mainly, and I used my GT5 pedal board for all of the guitar sounds and effects except for the synth stuff I used my GR-09 guitar synth. For the new CD G-Fire I used one of my Parkers, and my new Vernon Neilly Custom U.S.A. signature model that I designed for Aslin Dane Guitars. This guitar is just so sweet, it's strung with Everly B52's 10-46, it's loaded with a Seymour Duncan 59 in the neck, vintage staggered in the middle position, and a Jeff Beck in the bridge. It also has a piezo system which can be used alone or I can combine it with the magnetic pickups. The guitar literally sings and sustains for ever without a device like the Fernandes Sustainer. Everyone who has played this guitar has fallen in love with it. It was launched at the Winter Namm show and I had tons of people stopping by the booth and checking it out as I was playing. It's a very sexy guitar design on top of everything else, very beautiful to look at! I used my GT5 again, but also my Johnson J Station by digitech for other tones, my whammy 4 pedal by digitech, and my GR-33 guitar synth. I also played keyboards on my songs for the G-Fire CD. Live my 2 favorite amps are my Mesa Boogie simulclass 2C, and My Marshall T-1220 Triple Super Lead. Currently I endorse Seymour Duncan, Levy's Leathers(Bags and straps), Everly Strings, Aslin Dane Guitars, Digitech Electronics, Cakewalk, Sonic Foundry, Antares, Jim Dunlop, Samson Technologies.

10) What do you think about the new crop of talented Guitar Player's that are currently out there making music? If you had to pick one guitarist as your all time favorite, who would it be?

I think that there are some very talented upcoming players out there, Rust Cooley is one, Miguel Mega is another, TD Clark has skillz, Greg Howe is a monster, Mike Campese, Paul Nelson, Neil Zaza, and I am quite sure that there are some that I am not aware of yet! My all time favorite guitar player is Jimi Hendrix , and there are many that are a close second!

11) What are your thoughts on the state of the music industry these days?

The mainstream music industry right now is in caos because they did nor make the right decisions on certain issues a few years back when they had the chance to, but it is a great time for independent companies that are willing to work their butts off to get into the game. What most people done realize is that most for the major labels that we now know and recognize were not always major labels, they grew into that position after years of doing business, and corporatizing. The point that I am trying to make is that this is a good time in the industry for small companies to grow and become larger. It will be a good thing if the government stops playing around and puts a stop to the monopolization or radio networks here in the U.S., its really no good for music and for people who love to listen to music, I think that the people should always be given the choice of what they want to listen to, as opposed to some programmer who is programming 2,000 station the same way across the nation.

12) What are your interests outside of music and guitar playing?

I have traveled all of my life, so I still like going to different places and seeing new things, and learning about other cultures. I am a big football and basketball fan, and I love tennis as well. I really love to see good movies when I have the chance, which is very rare! I love being able to help with disadvantaged youth, speaking with them and encouraging them, letting them know that they do have choices in life, and that they dont have to be a product of their enviornment, if it is not so good at present.

13) Is there anything else's you would like to share with our readers that we have not asked or may have overlooked?

For the musicians that are coming up I would just like to say that music should be fun and that it should be done first out of your love for the music that you love to play. This is a very challanging industry with many pitfalls, and obstacles, and it will be your love of music that will help you attain your goals, not the quest for money or superstardom. Remember what you put into your music is what you will reveive in return, so practice, practice, practice, and be prepared for the opportunities that might present themselves. You never want to loose
a gig or opportunity because you have not properly prepared yourself. When you have learned all of the technical things then put them aside and play from your heart, from what is inside of you, train you ears, they are your most valuable asset. When you can execute comfortably what you hear in your head then you will be on the right road to discovery of what truly is inside of you musically !!

Thank you Mike