Carl Verheyen Band

Description

Carl Verheyen is a major presence on the guitar. Growing up in Pasadena in Southern California, he began a lifelong study of the instrument at age 10. Even in his early teens Carl practiced guitar every day, a tradition that continues to this day. Four or five rock bands down the road, he decided to pursue his musical education at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Although his formal training was to last less than a year, the experience proved invaluable, broadening Carl's musical influences and introducing him to jazz , blues, classical and country music.

While living near the University of Massachusetts, Carl got the opportunity to work with the innovative jazz drummer, Max Roach. After a brief taste of the road, he returned to the Los Angeles area and began leading his own group, which included bassists John Patitucci and Dave Marotta and drummers Chad Wackerman and John Ferraro.

Early in the 1980s, Carl was also a sideman in many groups, including the Victor Feldman Generation Band and keyboardist Dan Siegel's group. He played on five of Siegel's records and was the most prolific songwriting contributor to the first three Richard Elliott records (especially Trolltown, which contains five of Carl's songs, and Initial Approach which contains the Verheyen penned hit "Gretchen's Theme"). He also worked live with the saxophonist for five years. Carl recorded with and played live with Robben Ford, and early in his studio career he recorded with Stanley Clarke, Dave Grusin and Little Richard. Soon he was getting called to work on many pop records including Tiffany's multi-platinum selling debut. He performed live with jazz saxophonists Joe Farrell and Ronnie Laws, and over the years worked with singers Carl Anderson, Christina Aguilera, Melissa Manchester, Miley Cyrrus, Leanne Rimes, Michael Damian, and Glenn Frey from the Eagles. He played on the Tonight Show with country music artists Tom Wopat and Shelby Lynn, and recorded a movie soundtrack with Dolly Parton and a few records with Cher.

In 1985, Carl became lead guitarist for the British rock group Supertramp, replacing the departing guitarist Roger Hodgson. The band played stadium shows all across the U.S. and Canada. In 1986 the group toured Europe, selling out huge arenas in eight countries. This tour finished with a command performance for Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

After those tours, Carl slipped into the enviable position of being one of L.A's first call studio guitarists. He has played on over 200 different television shows as far back as "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley" and including every episode of the hit series "Cheers." Soon Carl's CD collection became full of the movie soundtracks he was doing like "Stand and Deliver," "Moscow on the Hudson," "L.A. Story," "Dusk 'til Dawn," "Mr. Wrong" and the soundtrack Oscar winner "The Milagro Beanfield Wars." Recently Carl was a featured soloist on the Pixar films "Ratatouille" and "Up," as well as "Speed Racer" and "Star Trek: Corporate Headquarters." You can hear his guitar on many episodes of "Lost," "Scrubs" and "Samantha Who?" Due to the anonymous nature of studio work, not a day goes by when you don"t hear Carl on one thing or another: in the movie theaters, on TV, or over the radio.

But studio work alone was't enough for this artistic soloist. In 1988 Carl released his first album entitled No Borders, featuring Dave Marotta and John Ferraro. Over the years it has obtained "cult classic' status and still sells consistently, in part due to the unique collaboration with guitarist Allan Holdsworth. In January of 1992, Carl's recording of the pyrotechnic guitar display of "The Big Shuffle" was included in a compilation CD entitled "Guitar on the Edge". This underground recording of hot new guitarists eventually gained cult status. Two more editions (volumes 3 and 5) were subsequently released containing some of Carl's bootlegged live performances.

Later in 1992 Carl was asked to make a video for REH/Warner Bros. Titled "Intervallic Rock Guitar," this advanced instructional primer has had guitarists working on Carl's ideas and techniques for many years. It is now available in DVD format and continues to sell constantly. In early 1993 an innovative computer-guitar educational interface company called G-Vox commissioned Carl to write three interactive libraries along with Steve Morse and Adrian Legg. This forerunner in the high tech world of interactive computer guitar lessons provided more insight into the Verheyen style.

In May of 1994, Carl's second CD Garage Sale was released to very positive reviews and critical acclaim. Before long Carl became internationally known as a unique improvising voice on the scene. Guitar magazines began asking him to detail his innovative style. Quite a departure from the typical guitar sound, it interests people all over the world, from Japan to Finland to South Africa.

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415.383.9600 (Box Office)