Corey Heuvel : Funky Guitar Playing & Smooth Vocals

A couple years ago, when I was living in London, my girlfriend was visiting me for my birthday and we had planned to go see Peter Gabriel. It was the first and only time I used ticketmaster.com, due to the fact that we were sorely disappointed. The two, somewhat pricey tickets arrived on the day of the concert and the two of us went off to see Mr. Gabriel at the O2 Arena. We actually went the whole way from Richmond to the O2 only to be told "Sorry, these tickets were for yesterday!" Needless to say, we were quite disappointed and I never did see a cent of a refund from Ticketmaster. As time passed, it turned into from a bitter story to a somewhat funny story (although I still think ticketmaster is a terrible company). I still love Peter Gabriel however, and cover his songs frequently. And, that's how I came across Corey Heuvel.

It must have been more than a little while ago when I stumbled upon his brilliant cover of "Solsbury Hill". But, despite my enjoyment of the song I forgot to click the little "Subscribe" button under the left corner of the video. Make sure you don't make the same mistake because Corey's covers and originals are all great. He's got a certain dexterity with melodious guitar lines and his vocals are reminiscent of that Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins sound. Have a listen to "Solsbury Hill" and truly appreciate that great sound quality Corey gets with his recording equipment!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKHBvqQAfiw

Great stuff. It makes such a huge difference to have good recording equipment. Every detail of a recording can be exposed or hidden depending on the equipment and editing process. I myself use a Blue Yeti microphone from time to time but tend to stick to my camera's microphone which isn't always "the best". And for those who don't know, a good recording set up and be quite costly, so make sure you support your favourite indie artists by going to their gigs and buying their albums. I'm sure Corey would confirm this.

Another one of his covers that I just loved is of the Steve Miller Band's "Fly Like An Eagle". It's such a classic 70's track that bridges the gap between rock and funk, heavily influenced by that funk rock guitar style started by Hendrix in the late 60's. And Corey makes it clear that the song sounds just as good when done acoustically. With just one guitar, and his vocal he makes the song sound just as full as it would with a full band, and any artist worth his stuff, knows how challenging that can be. As I always say, you know an artist is really great when he can give a great performance unplugged! Check out this funky rock classic as performed by Corey Heuvel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-awWzNUJIo

Another great cover, amongst quite a few others on his channel, which I hope you've subscribed to by now. Now, aside from the covers Corey's got some great sounding originals. One that jumped out at me is called "Giving Up". A smooth, folky sound emerges from this melodic creation of Corey's. His vocal is a lot more emotional than in the two covers brought up previously, and the manner in which he utters the words is almost reminiscent of Bob Marley's intimate acoustic recordings. But overall, I get that Peter Gabriel/Phil Collins/Sting feel from his fantastically mind opening songs. So, let's hope he's not "Giving Up" on songwriting. Check this one out and if you're crazy about it, make sure you buy his album "The New" off bandcamp. Check back tomorrow for another fantastic artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRAo1FzoTuQ

Alex Hamel