CARL harvey-up close and personal
Search for “Carl Harvey musician” on the Web, and you’ll find a plethora of links that attest to a stellar career. Talk to the man himself about his life and his work, and he’ll tell you that the most important thing about him is: Integrity. Not fame or prowess as a musician, producer and guitar designer – integrity.
“Being my word,” he elaborates. “If I give you my word on something, it means that I intend to fulfill that. And if it’s not possible, then I’ll be in communication as to why it’s not possible. It’s important, because what else are you if you’re not your word? If you’re not your word, it leads to being molded by circumstances and conditions and not being the captain of your own ship.”
He also speaks of the importance of bringing “heart” to his work.
“When we bring heart to something, it’s not necessarily something that is from us. We are just a conduit. To remain open to the Universe allows us to find our greatest creativity, rather than coming at things with some kind of preconceived idea as to what things should be. I am open to the moment, whatever suggestions might come in. When we’re vibrating at a particular frequency, we’ll attract different kinds of influences.”
As a child in Jamaica, Carl didn’t dream of a life in music. He spent a year in a military-style boarding school with the intention of going on to embrace a military career. Fate intervened when his family immigrated to Canada. His first taste of the guitar happened in boarding school when a student who owned one taught Carl to play the top ten hit, “Little Honda.”
Offered music lessons by his parents in Canada, Carl chose to play drums while his younger brother Rupert (now the guitarist in Messenjah) went for guitar. When Rupert wasn’t playing, Carl picked up his guitar and discovered he could play by ear. So he took lessons and worked a paper route to earn money to buy his first guitar.
He soon found the lessons too basic, especially when a friend with a huge record collection turned him on to the blues, from both sides of the Atlantic. Muddy Water, Howling Wolf, T-Bone Walker, Albert King, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Alvin Lee became his influences and he started to discover how to improvise.
Then in grade nine a high-school friend introduced him to Jimi Hendrix.
“That was it! Changed my life right then and there when I listened to Purple Haze,” he laughs, remembering.
Unaware back then of the production values that went into creating the track, he assumed that Hendrix was playing it all live.
“And I’m like: that’s what I gotta do. I have to learn to play like that!”
