A little over a year ago a guy called Kent Carlevi posted a couple of videos of himself playing guitar on Youtube. After that: complete silence… Silence on his behalf because comments, stories and conspiracy theories started flying around.
Rumor even has it that he really is Eddie van Halen fooling around on youtube. One thing’s for certain: The guy can play! To quote some of the comments: “The best player on the tube” , “Kent freakin rules”, :”when I’m grown up, I wanna play like daddy kentcarlevi”, “ COMPLETELY JAWDROPPING”, “id give my left nut to be able to play like that”, and like this it goes on and on and on…. His videos have been watched 1.474.426 times today (and still counting). Needless to say that they all have a 5 star ranking.
About 3 weeks ago, out of the blue, Kent broke the silence and posted a new video of him playing “JUMP”. Since he is a TONELAB SE user tonelabz.com thought it was about time to track him down and see if he was willing to answer a few questions. Guess what: without any hesitation he agreed to do the interview. We’re not worthy!!!
So without any further delay: here’s the definitive (yep, I'm cocky) Kent Carlevi interview!!
Kent, to settle this ones and for all; rumor has it that you are really EVH goofin' off on youtube. So, are you? Thanks a lot but according to the status of my bank account I’m definitely not EVH :D
Then please tell us a little bit about yourself; who is Kent, and what makes you tick? I've been playing since I was about 15 off and on. At the moment my life’s great. Besides playing the guitar I do something I really enjoy and I get to travel a lot. Besides that I love playing and having fun with my son.
It's pretty obvious that you are a big EVH fan. Can you tell us when and why you started playing guitar and what your influences are? About EVH it’s a coincidence really. I have a red Fender Stratocaster American Std (could be seen in the background in some of my movies) that’s been with me since I started playing guitar but I also wanted a guitar with Floyd Rose to have fun with the tremolo. I bought a bunch of DVD’s online some years ago and among them was Van Halen - Live Right Here Right Now and I always thought the guitar Ed used looked nice and was in the line of what I was looking for. I tried it out at the local store, loved it and ordered one and got it in the summer of 2005 and about the same time (independently) I bought a Vox Tonelab SE. The Axis with Floyd Rose opened up for other techniques like dive bombs etc and since that style is EVH-isch I couldn’t resist trying out some of his music. Before summer 2005 I didn’t know any VH at all. In April 2006 I was jamming along my play list (all kinds of music) and thought, hm.. I wonder if I can get a similar sound as VH balance tone (Amsterdam was the song) with the Tonelab and sat down for 20-30 minutes trying to get close and eventually got something that was ok I think. So to sum it up, I like Eddie’s style but am no extreme hard core VH fan. Other people I admire are Hendrix, Dimebag and Nuno.
You've got phenomenal technique. Did you lock yourself up in the bathroom for 14 hours a day, or were you born with it? Thanks but I honestly do not agree. There are thousands of players on youtube that’s far better than me and I’m not just saying that. I’m too lazy to learn scales or how to read music, I just play by ear to what I think sounds reasonable ok.
Some records/bands you are/were involved with and we should know about or is playing guitar just a hobby? At the present moment I’m just playing at home but would really enjoy playing live again. Who knows, maybe I will soon if the right opportunity comes up.
You use the Tonelab SE, can you tell us why, and what you like/dislike about it? I got it for the purpose of some great cleans but ended using it for high gain stuff... ironic isn’t it? It’s hard to get the same punch as a real amp but for the buck it’s really great.
What would you like to see different in the next gen. Tonelab? I guess the next gen’s already here in the LE but I haven’t tried it yet, maybe Vox could send me one for using on youtube? ☺ I would like a built in detune effect in stereo like in some of digitechs stuff, that would be nice.
What other gear are you using? A dimebag wah-wah and a Boss PS-5
You use a Boss PS-5 in your signal chain, can you explain why and what it does exactly. It can do different things, like pitch shifting and harmonizing, but I just use it for detune effect. Detune does a small increment of pitch shift one on channel (let’s say left) and let the other untouched and that makes the stereo combined sound a bit ”thicker”. It is sometimes mistaken for a chorus effect but a chorus has a ”swoosh” if you know what I mean while a detune doesn’t.
You play an Ernie Ball Axis. Why should we all go out and buy one too, and, is it 'as is' or did you customize it? It is ”as is” and I’ve done nothing but cleaned, adjust the truss rod and changed strings. I must have done something wrong cause when I cleaned the guitar the first time (about 3 month old) I added some wax and for some reason the dirt got stuck in the wood so it looks worn in and vintage. I don’t mind, a guitar should look used I think but people think it has been played millions of hours and it hasn’t. My strat probably has five times the hours on it but still look new.
Vox ever contacted you for endorsement? No, but if you hear from them, give them my mail address! I’ll be happy to use and promote their stuff
What can we expect from you on youtube in the next couple of months? I don’t know really, I don’t have a plan. It could be more VH, maybe some ZZ top or Hendrix or even some of my own stuff. I’ve got about 10 CD’s worth of material, does that sound familiar?
Finally: what should we, the common people, do to learn to play as smooth as you? Thanks again but I don’t know what to say really. I used to record some standard E-A-D blues thing to my built in mic to my portable radio and just solo over it, which made me learn some pattern on the neck. About being smooth I haven’t done anything intentionally so I can’t really say what to do.
So, there we have it… He’s still an enigma but at least we know he’s mortal…
Footnote: I asked Kent to send some pics but he chooses to remain anonymous. Respect to the man and we hope to see a lot more vids in the future.
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A little over a year ago a guy called Kent Carlevi posted a couple of videos of himself playing guitar on Youtube. After that: complete silence… Silence on his behalf because comments, stories and conspiracy theories started flying around.