Episode 13 - Angel Vivaldi

0:00 Today's guest of the No Cover Charge podcast is Angel Vivaldi and you'll notice my Co host Jared James Nichols is not with me. Where are you Jared? He's in the UK on tour right now. Luckily Angel and I became fast friends in this episode. It feels like I've known the guy for years and he's so good at guitar he actually makes me play better.

0:16 You'll see in the podcast that's an osmosis effect or something. I can totally understand why friend of the podcast Steve Morris wanted Angel in his band. Great guitar player and more importantly, something I've learned a personality trait of successful people in my life. He's incredibly humble and just a nice guy. We had a lot of laughs in this episode, and if you know anything about Angel Vivaldi's guitar playing, the dude has incredible tones.

0:39 Tones for days. And yet he told me that he's never plugged into a guitar pedal board. Without further ado, Angel Vivaldi. I've actually never played through a pedal board like this is my first time actually plugging in through. You've never plugged into a pedal board? And, and I've been playing guitar since I was 14 years old.

0:58 I'm now 40. Whoa, dude. And it's the first time I've ever. Yeah. Like, like a, like a true, like. Oh my God, there's this. Is. I'm so glad this one's set up for you, because this is actually like a pretty fun. This is the. One, yeah. Guitar Hero Delay. I'm sorry, Guitar Hero Delay. It's just like a Milky bed of goodness. Yeah, a Milky bed of safety.

1:22 Yes, exactly right. Feels great man. It's a great feeling man, too. Look at that guitar, man, it's a beautiful top on that. Reliable neck. That's what I think about PRS guitars is just like we want to play in tune that green PRS also is 1 like that, that Les Paul even weird like little freshante triads.

1:57 Oh not with that tone. You know those for Shante triads? Everything but the nose that we're fretting. Yeah, they're. Super. They're in tune. I was going to say these the ones, the ones that kind of horrible, yeah, that are always annoying. Yeah, and your guitar doesn't have those true temperament frets. He tuned his guitar, add a tune to play that song. I think like he did this.

2:34 That's the thing with the traditional guitar, if you don't have those true temperament frets, you technically if you want to be in tune, right, you have to tune to the chord. But the problem is with the true temperament. I mean, I'm very enamored, but it it makes perfect sense. But if your whole band doesn't have true temperament frets, then you're out of tune with the band.

2:50 Yes, you know. Which I didn't understand until I tried to use one of those. And I actually, I wish I had footage of it. One of these days, I'm going to do a true tempered deep dive. But I didn't realize that jamming with other people without them would make you just sound a little wrong. Yeah. Yeah, and that's the thing too is like, it's an imperfect instrument for imperfect humans. So I think it's compatible in that respect. Yeah, You might have to turn this down. Just a hair, yeah.

3:18 Said no. Guitars, crank it down. Crank it down. That's a nice sound man. It's still the frischante G. God forbid. See, I, I do that when I'm putting, when I'm doing AD chord, that's how I kind of get the G back in tune because I know if that's in tune. These my my go to chord as well. That same exact one. Right guitars are fun.

3:46 Angel Vivaldi, welcome to my home. Glad to be here man, thank you for having me. You're on tour with the Steve Morse Band? Sure I am. What do you? What's the energy in the band on stage? What's it like? It's been incredible, man. The energy is interesting because you know, Steve's always had a trio. You know, there's never been an extra guitar player and being the new ingredient, you know, there's a there's the, the band's energy is just like lightning is. It's incredible.

4:13 Everyone has the very cognizant of space. Obviously myself, you know, being the new guy and it's being respectful and cognizant of everyone's Sonic space. But it's also the fans too. You know, these are people who have been with Steve for decades. I remember when he first announced that he was getting a new guitarist. There was a couple people, of course, you know, that were like, Steve doesn't need a second guitarist, you know? Which technically, Really.

4:37 Doesn't. I would love for you to expand on some of that anxiety later on, but yeah. Keep going. It's not even anxiety. It's like it's a matter of coming into it with the softness and an understanding. So like, you know, and I and I would just 'cause I think that over time, it's, it's a matter of them being so emotionally invested in his music.

4:55 They want to protect them. Yeah, right. It's from a place of passion. 100% And if you come into that with a little bit of compassion, there's no room for anxiety. So you just respond gracefully and you just say like, listen, I get it. You know, he is the godfather of shred. Oh yeah, he's. I mean, he's your favorite guitar player's favorite guitar player. I've heard that about Jeff Beck, but I've also heard someone like Petrucci say Steve Moore.

5:22 So he's among those shred fathers. Yeah, as we'll say. Yeah, every note that I play is like what Steve wants, you know, and I think it's important that the audience also supports what Steve wants, you know, and when you approach it from that aspect, if they really do care, then they understand that that that defense and protection that they had sort of like, no, this guy actually is is is helping.

5:50 He's here to help Steve being the tone God that he is, which is the that's where Patricia gets it, you know, like that care of frequency. I'm like Steve, what frequency is a 110? You know like he's just, he just he just cares that much. So you know, essentially I've redone my entire tone patch like 3 times already, you know, and every day is sort of like tweaking a little bit because the rooms are different, yes you know so.

6:13 That's a big part of it. When you're performing, it's like, yeah, this is how it sounded here, but I don't know. And you got to have the malleability with the tone to it sort of has to be good in different places, which is probably difficult in itself to have something reliable like that. Yeah, and they, and they're tweaking. So when they tweak, I gotta like, you know, yeah, compliment them.

6:34 But again, it's, it's, it's a wonderful learning experience in terms of playing for another instrumentalist, you know, and, and just knowing the songs cuz it has a lot to do with dynamic. So you have to have tones that have a little bit of headroom to, yeah, dig in a little bit more and when you need to, that back off when you need to as well.

6:54 So yeah, volume knob is my best friend. I see very good. I've heard that from some of my favorite players, so it's no stranger to that concept. I met you virtually. You know how people just meet. You see someone enough online. It's like, I know that person. We never actually met until really today.

7:11 But I was aware of your guitar skills and your cool production style and you know your sick outfits. Like I know you planned some of that. Like it didn't just accidentally look cool. So you know, your whole vibe I was aware of in the early days starting out so. Again, my apologies. Yeah, you know, man, my condolences.

7:32 I loved it. I. Sent flowers. The the point is that the guitar playing always stood out to me. So your guitar playing it makes sense why you would be asked to be in the Steve Morse Band. I mean, it's just insane. I mean, he can get any guitars in the world. I mean, any guitars, they would do it for free. You know, I think the thing that appealed to him about me was so my last record, I'm obviously I'm known to do like, you know, progressive instrumental stuff.

7:58 My last record was a huge departure from that. It was all that and jazz and funk and acoustic and, you know, it was just all over the place, very different. It's the music that I grew up playing on. The first time I ever played music was a church, you know, And the music that we would be playing was, you know, Hispanic.

8:17 So it was like salsa. I'm. So we would take like old school Marc Anthony songs from like the 90s and they would change the lyrics to be, you know, religious. And then that's. Fun. Yeah, it. Was it was It was if you're. Not into church or something And you got you go and you enjoy the music. You know, as some people take the path, that can be like a way to, you know, keep the faith. Yeah, that's a beautiful way.

8:42 That's a good way to put it. But if grew up in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, Hispanic and African American. So that was their way of getting, you know, people into the church because they gave them something to relate to. They knew the songs, you know, and dancing was a huge part of me growing up.

8:59 So like that was all intertwined in there as well. But that versatility and finding space. Like there's no electric guitar in Marc Anthony songs or or Elvis Crespo songs, but I had at 16 years old, I had to find space. So that always stuck with me. And even in the house, listening to like George Benson Sade and even into rock, which is I had a really rough time, very rough time. Because you have to understand, you know, no one in my town listen to anything with a guitar. They want to do it.

9:30 Dude, I had a very, very difficult time playing guitar. There was no support in the family. We're just like, what are you doing, you know? So once I got into, you know, that sort of music, it was very gradual. First record I ever got was Jewels, Pieces of You. Then from there it was like Hanson in Savage Garden. Then it was, you know, Meredith Brooks, Alice Morissette, then Bush.

9:56 That's right, we're. Getting Yeah, all right, now we're. Pivoting Metallica yeah. Megadeth Testament, then soil work in flames yeah. So it's very, very, very gradual so you have to understand I'm coming from like funk, Motown, jazz, Latin, Hispanic, Spanish, Medenga, stuff like that to very. So I feel like I hit every musical speed bump and every musical speed bump like really impacted me.

10:23 And, and I think what it is for me, I feel like you'll probably get this answer a lot too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but a lot of people who do metal and they're like in their mid 30s going into their 40s and I'm 40 now, you often hear them say that they don't listen to the music that they play. I think Nisha said this recently, like metals, not his favorite genres. I see that.

10:46 Right. And I hear this a lot. And I think part of it is because when we're when we're teenagers, it's sort of like we speak this language of angst. And I feel it's a language that we learn how to speak our emotions through. And we just, some of us get really good at it, you know, and we get known to do that thing.

11:07 And when you pivot or do something different, the people who are attached to your music maybe have a hard time. And I knew that going into my last record with. Which Part 2 going from shred and huge epic breakdown type music to going in a different direction that's always going to garner some maybe confusion. It's like, wait, isn't that you know, this type of thing that I'm expecting from Angel or, or in that case, you know, it could be any band.

11:34 I feel like my favorite bands tend to sound like themselves, but the albums never sound the same. And I sort of look forward to that. A Radiohead's one of my favorite bands that does that. And there have been multiple times where bands have been outraged at their albums and that's sort of like one of my favorite parts about them. And they end up being things that I return to. And I don't think that's the same as like maybe the Taylor Swift thing where it's like, I think we just don't like this one.

12:04 The Radio the Radiohead situation is like, oh, we just maybe don't understand. And that that could be a genre thing as well, where she's like pop icon and they're, you know, niche icon, whatever you want to say. But the point is growth or change among your art that you're putting out, I don't think it should be shield away from, but I understand how people can get in a lane and then be like, well, shoot, this is working for me and it's hard enough to get to this stage, so here I will stay.

12:36 And that can be a dream for many people until you get there. And then the night there, you know, you change your opinion on things. Especially like, you know, big pop stars as well. It's like, like you said, once they're paying a number of people's salaries, you know, and a line will depend on them to do a certain thing.

12:53 That is another characteristic of bands that I love is they never album tour, album tour, album tour. It's always like, yeah, maybe there's an album nothing tour, yeah. Or album tour, Oh, nothing. Yeah. You know, it's the hiatus, I think is where the great art is made and spoke. Like I wish I could take my own advice.

13:13 Just I love doing these things because I always look back. I'm like I said that right I I had that thought. Here's a link you know. Here's a link to myself because yes, I wish I could take this advice that I'm saying right now, which is hiatus yields great art. I think the bravery that you're talking about the bravery to be like, well, maybe I will just, you know, prioritize this other thing. For better or worse, that bravery hasn't been available to me in quite some time, but I think it's it's growing. And maybe the other people paving the way and whatever means that is or whoever your influences are in your life, I feel like that's becoming more and more of a potential real thing as opposed to like, you

13:58 got to grind, you got to hustle the grind culture. Can we like you know? Jesus Christ, I'm trying. To slow that down or am I about to get ousted of the grind culture? You forget the little things are actually the important things in the stuff that you do. It's like, I don't really want to offload this part of it necessarily if it's actually the part that you enjoy the most.

14:19 Like I don't have a video editor. I think editing is just as much of an art form as writing music. Like win an Oscar for best video editing, film editing, I should say. So that sort of thing I learned throughout doing this is like, oh, I love doing this. I would never. But to other people, it's crazy.

14:41 Do you believe anything else that other people think is crazy? You know, picking up a guitar and starting, you want to do it, you know, have a career that's crazy, you know, but like you said, editing is a language. You know, like you, there's a, there's a pacing to it, there's a, there's a style to it. Just like someone has a guitar phrase, you know, like how many Youtubers have that, you know, a specific way that they jump cut that's unique to them.

15:05 Like Casey Neistat is a perfect example back in the day, you know, you know, his style and that signature to him is sort of like, it's like tone is the same thing. Anyone who's familiar with my music videos know, like I have, you know, full on dance groups in some of the videos. I have some, you know, wardrobe is an incredibly important.

15:23 I love fashion because The thing is like even what I'm wearing, like you're in silence. You're communicating something, right? Even if you don't care about what you wear, you're still communicating something. Whether you like it or not. You're communicating that you don't care, right? Right. That's true and. And same thing with the guitar.

15:40 If someone walked in here with the Strandberg, I know exactly what's happening. You're going to play with an 85% accuracy, come up with an Abbasi. I know exactly with 100% accuracy that I know what they're going to play. And it's one of the reasons why, you know, I played Ibanez for many years back, you know, 10 years ago. And one of the reasons why I went to Charvel was because you don't know what I'm going to play like. You sort of might have an idea.

16:04 But at the time they had. Yeah, Jakey Lee, Warren Dimartini and Guthrie. Those were like the three, you know, and Joe from Gojira, they had at the time. Cool. So that's like like when you, they're all really, really different, so. And they're all like math proficient masters of their instrument. Yeah, that's the thing.

16:23 Like the guitar that you use, and I say this, I have an Art of services company and I do a lot of branding and and marketing for artists who just, you know, need help with that stuff. And when I work with the guitars, I'm like, you have to understand that, you know, if you don't want to be pigeon hole in XY and Z, you could love the guitar all you want, but you're communicating something. They're seeing a thumbnail of you play that guitar. Like for instance, when I'm doing a signing at like Nam or something, yeah, if someone comes up to me and says you're the guy with the purple Kiesel, right? And they're like, holy shit, I don't know their names, right? But I know that they play a

16:55 purple Kiesel, you know, so. I was, I was the guy with the green PRS forever, yes, and dude, that green PRS, right? Yeah, and like if if you if people saw that green PRS as a signature, they'd be like, that's Tyler's guitar, you know, and but that's the thing. So these are opportunities to communicate. So again, when you go to my Instagram and you see it like really symmetrical, It's, I care about what I do in life to such a degree where I want to put thought into every little thing and working with people who can get the best out of you too. What, who can see your blind spots. You know, my band's been with me since 2007, same guys. They've been on every record.

17:35 And you know how I describe it often. And, and I, I taught, I taught this to bands too, because obviously being a bands dude, it's hard. It's really, really hard being in a band 'cause you have to get along with all these eccentric personalities and everyone, musicians are all screwy. We all are quirky people and creatives are like that in general.

17:57 So you're trying to get 4 creatives to get into a musical marriage and all sorts of temperaments and different experiences in life. And hard to delegate that, you know, especially when you're on the road, because the road is sort of like, you know, it's like a marriage or a, a wedding or a funeral, whether it brings out the best in people or the worst. That's pretty good, yeah.

18:18 It can also not be good too, you know. Well, I mean, like, that's a good, that's a good. I mean, I'm not good. It's a good analogy. You know when you get a divorce on the road, it's it's good stuff. It's rough, you know, and The thing is too, when you're in this culture of that, that you add the fuel of the grinding and, you know, the anxiety of if I don't do this, they're going to forget me, you know, and to a degree it's true. It's true, you know, 'cause what you, when you drop the baton, some kid is going to pick it up, you know? And, but you have to balance that with like, listen, music is the biggest part of my life.

18:54 It is not my life. Like I have a family, you know, I have people who I really care about. I have artists that I work with. Steve's one of them. We help them management stuff as well. And that's the thing when you pigeonhole yourself with one thing in life, man, like in my humble opinion, it cheapens the privilege of being alive because God forbid, God forbid you wake up tomorrow and you can't play guitar or you can't speak.

19:19 You lose your voice for some reason. You're not a content creator no more. You're not a musician anymore. What am I? You have those moments of like what you are. I'm an guitar and amp storage owner. That's a pivot. That's a pivot. Because I am the guitar shop owner who does not speak or whatever my ailment is. They put me.

19:40 In a glass. Cage You look at someone, you look at someone, you assess their aura and you point to a guitar and then you pick it up and they walk. Away. Yeah, I'm the sorting hat of guitars is what I've become. That's the thing. But some people don't have the capacity to do that pivot, you know, because they identify. Themselves easier said than done yeah I have to make light because it's it's so horrifying to imagine having you you have if you don't have your health you have nothing so I've learned that and I think that it's easy to take all a lot of little things for granted in your.

20:13 Guitar rig set up you know it could be as simple as that it's like you have the tone all the way up as big to you know, stuff in life you. Have to be very tactfully honest with yourself, not brutally honest because people who are brutally honest. Oh, that's a good distinction. They do not care about the the honesty, they just care about the brutality. Sick people.

20:34 Sick LA Yeah is. That right? Yeah, I've. Literally only heard stories. Another place that'll bring out the worst or the best in people. But I think it's a matter of being tactically honest with yourself. You don't want to be hard on yourself. Just like, what am I interested in doing? What am I willing to do?

20:53 You know, what am I willing to learn? Because The thing is, it's like, I think that if you if you allow your ego to take the wheel, floor the gas and put on the signal lights, it's like you're really going to be in for a world of trouble. I think if you're like, all right, I'm really good at this, but I really suck at this.

21:11 All right. It's like a if this, then that. All right. Can I do I want to be good at that? No. OK, I can hire someone to do that. How do I make the money to do that? All right, well, maybe I have to get a day job. Yeah. And then you end up at A at A at a destination. Then you have to sort of like work your way back down. Yeah.

21:28 To achieve those things. But like for instance for me like I have saved probably 6 figures doing my own videos right? That's definitely an understatement because you've made a lot of videos and I know how much one of them costs when you outsource it. And even then, like they're really, really expensive because again, locations, wardrobe, but it's as softness.

21:51 And in terms of like knowing what you're really good at and hiring people who like, for instance, I never tracked myself in the beginning, but I learned how to track an engineer through watching Will Putney, who is one of the most amazing top level heavy producers in the world right now. He did a majority of my records and I would just watch him cutting comp, asking questions, you know, it helps shooting your own documentaries because I could just relive the experience and see what he's doing. But again, that was it.

22:20 That was something I was like, all right, I'm going to learn how to do this because I feel like I need to and I want to see if I'm good at it. Like my first tour ITM or tour manage, my first tour, I realized that I don't have the personality you you have to be. It's hard for ATM the an artist to be a tour manager because you have to advocate for yourself and you have to be a little bit of a Dick.

22:43 And I have a hard time. Like I can't, I can't, I don't. Have that, especially when I want everyone to like me when I'm, you know, going to their venue and having a good time. Like I, it's hard enough for me to tell the waitress that this is undercooked. I'm going to be like. It's you're coming down your eye, you know, so.

23:04 It's tough and and also, what about the stress that alleviates off just one less hat that you're wearing? And that's why you have to leave your ego at home and just be honest with what you're good at and not good at and what you're willing to be good. Universe said no more. That was sick, dude, I say we just leave it at that one.

25:08 That's. Fine with me man. Dude that was great. Track, man, it's a lot of. Fun. I found that jam. I've been cleaning out my cleaning out my closet. You know of? Riffs. That was one of the ones that didn't get deleted. Nice man. Well, for good reason. It sounds great. You fucking rock, man, You're just as awesome as you've always been.

25:27 Well, I have my moments, you've not. Always been this way. Definitely not. Damn you sound great dude, good tone. Thanks dude, great plan. I'm getting my ass kicked weekly doing stuff like this, hanging with people and it's humbling and I've it's always fun because I feel like I have an expertise in something just like everybody else does.

25:48 But being in the Guitar World, you want to offer something that's not technical anymore. I don't think that's like the bar, like the 80s style. How fast can you shred? It's more of like how much do you really love this guitar and like how much do you really do with it In the guitar community these days, if there is even a Nashville scene versus LA versus New York versus whatever, I think it's all just one scene.

26:10 Right. It is. It used to be like back I remember in 2007, I was thinking about doing that LA move because the location back then, it still sort of mattered. Yeah, but now it's like the zip code is the Internet, you know, as long as you're living on there, you're all right. Like I've seen people in like the most remote places in the world, like have the most amazing careers. Yeah, dude.

26:29 Like it's the same thing with me playing with Morris, man. Like watching him improvise, dude. It's like fucking it's, it's just crazy. Because The thing is like, he has to not only improvise you because he has, you know, his arthritis in his hand and stuff like that. But like, that's the thing with him. And it's like, aside from like guitar shit, like his biggest talent in life is adapting adaptation. Like cool, imagine learning how to play guitar, right? And you're playing that way for 40 something years and then one day you can't anymore.

26:59 And, you know, especially when you're when you're in that mature demographic, like it's just easier to stop and it's easier to just be like, I'm done. This guy, this guys never he's always going to find a way. Like, so we just changed the whole way that you alternate pics. Like no big deal. Yeah, let me just. If anyone can do it, it's going to be that. Guy it is man so like but I but I get that man like not not many people pivot like.

27:23 That well, I was going to ask you what's, you know, we, we got to get you out of here because you got sound check for Steve Moore's gig. Soon, but. What time is it? I was going to ask you what? Well, it's 4:30. I still have a little bit of time. I don't know how much. Time you have we don't want you to get stuck in this ridiculous traffic that's all of a sudden exists here in this city.

27:40 That's fair enough. But the the main take away, I guess that's that's the main philosophy you've taken from Steve. But what's what's one thing that you've learned from him? Just about your guitar upkeep, perhaps? Steve, again, he knows frequencies, he knows tone, he knows how to make certain things happen. Pedants and ohms and stuff like that. He taught me as much as I love and I know how important tone is, he taught me that.

28:05 I have very little interest in learning about that so I'm going to hire someone what to? Do. That's so awesome. He taught you what you don't want to know. That's so sweet. So we got this tour. I believe we have a couple couple more tours coming because Steve's releasing a record and then next year 2026, I have AI have a concept record of my own that I'm working on at the moment.

28:28 Zenith Council, please seem pretty busy, which is great. I love doing. Zenith Council. Zenith Council. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just been, it's been such a boat of enjoyment in my life that I love doing. I love again helping artists have a vision if they don't have a vision of their own. Not that you need one, but as long as you have good songs, I think you'll be all right. Sharva, I don't have my new guitar with me, but we were just we just released a new signature 7 string 7 Nova, which is I love that guitar.

28:56 I've been playing mostly 6 for the since the 2020 or something like that. But for the new record and going back to seven for rhythm, is could be another heavy record. I see I use that term. Is that right? Yeah. Yeah, I have to do that. How heavy? How heavy I'm, I'm still in B standard, you know, so it's not that heavy to the kids.

29:17 These days, that's not that heavy anymore. Man, you know you have to be in drop E sharp. We're going to invent a new note soon, I think. You should. Seriously. NAMM Show NAMM show this year. Yeah, I'll be at the NAMM show I got. AI haven't been in in a year or two. Yeah, it's been, I can't remember. But point is, I'm going this year. Yeah, it's like a blur, man.

29:36 Yeah, I went to this past one because there's always like, the name's not the same. It was great, dude. It's the same. It was me back, I would say. Oh, yeah, definitely. You know, but I took a couple years off to myself. But having a new guitar is important to, you know, wrap it and name it up.

29:51 Yeah, you know, So I'll definitely do that and we'll see where else the universe brings me. Cool man. Well, it was an honor chatting with you and getting to play. I can't wait to keep following along the interwebs. Likewise the universal zip code. Seriously man, thank you so much for having me man.

30:07 I really really appreciate your time.