Music
Press
Formerly a blues / rock blaster in the manner of his early idols Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top, Corey Heuvel has shifted gears dramatically – and very effectively – on EVERS. It’s hard to believe that these warm, introspective acoustic tunes come from an artist who is only 18 years old. Whatever direction he takes next, we’ll be watching!
Mark Rheaume, CBC Radio Music Resources
- CBC Radio Music Resources
COREY HEUVEL: This Barrie-based teenager has recently made the transition from blues-rock guitar prodigy to a folk-inflected singer/songwriter whose new songs (as on new EP Evers) conjure the likes of JEFF BUCKLEY and NICK DRAKE. Recently got the chance to see him live, as part of highly-regarded local folkie NOAH ZACHARIN’s Wednesday night open mic series at The Liberty Café. Heuvel’s fluent guitar-picking and melodic haunting vocals certainly did impress, as did Zacharin in his varied short set, and ukulele plucking troubadour PAUL KOLINSKI. - Tandem by Kerry Doole
Posted by John Swartz 11 Sep 2007
Last Tuesday I reviewed a CD, "In Balance," made by Corey Heuvel. I thought it was a pretty good listen from a teenager still in school to have recorded.
I did note a couple exceptions, "Green Light Girl," and a remake of "Sunshine of Your Love," but I was impressed with his playing and writing.
Saturday night he performed in the Studio Theatre at the Opera House.
Backing him up was Craig Lapsley on drums and Mark McIntyre on bass. McIntyre was filling in for Stan Miczek, who was the bassist on the disc, and had only met Heuvel that afternoon.
The house was full. Corey's dad said only about 60 per cent were family and friends, the rest were people he assumed trusted my judgment about the affair and bought tickets.
The show opened with four tunes by Rob Lamothe. Lamothe sang backup vocals on Heuvel's disc and did some of the engineering.
The first was a very different take on "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds." He treated it kind of like the way Clapton treated "Layla" in the remake; slower with a different emotion - and it worked.
Later he brought out his son, "Zander," only 15 years old, to play drums the rest of the way. He brought out Hailey Gillis to sing with him on the last tune of his short set. They all played very well together.
Then it was time for Heuvel to take the stage. He opened with an instrumental, "Tension," which served notice to those who hadn't heard him play before that they were in for a ride.
The first set was made up of tunes from his disc, plus several others he wrote.
Before the second tune was over, one which he sang, I knew he was for real.
Often I get discs that are marvels of achievement in the studio, but the performers have difficulty reproducing the music live.
In the studio, you can stop and do it again. You can over-dub singing until you actually do hit all the right notes. Of course, if that's the way a CD is recorded, there's little doubt the band will not live up to the digital billing.
Not so here. The performance Heuvel and company gave was several levels beyond what is found on his disc. It cooked from start to finish. Even when he slowed down for a mellower song, it still cooked.
A case in point is "Green Light Girl." The song's OK. The the playing is very good. I just didn't like the tune on the disc.
Live, it's another story. Heuvel ended the first set with it and what do you know? I liked how it came off.
He opened the second set solo, playing an acoustic guitar and singing some tunes he wrote recently. He prefaced them by saying he was in a folk mood.
Well, when you knock everyone dead playing electric guitar the way he did, my advice is, dabble in folk, but don't make it your main cause.
He performed one song from the disc, "My Favourite Obsession," acoustically. This one didn't seem to lose anything because he still belted it out.
The remainder of the night featured the last half of his disc. This is where the Cream cover and Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" are found. As on the disc, he did them back to back. "Sunshine" was vastly improved in its live rendition and "Solsbury" live turned out to be a highlight of the night.
I sat with Peter Swanek, of the Peter's Place blues concerts, and he was suitably impressed enough to offer to hire Heuvel to open one of the blues concerts coming up that Swanek is promoting. He said that he was amazed at the depth of the kind of material Heuvel played.
My take, this was the best guitar playing I've seen since I last saw Kevin Breit play. Granted, Breit is more experienced, but I wouldn't hesitate to put the two of them on the same stage.
Heuvel wears his Fender Strat the way you and I wear a favourite T-shirt. The strings seem to be mere extensions of his fingers, with which he can do anything he wants.
He finished by starting to play Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Child." He wound up the tune with "Voodoo Child." Where it went in between was not Hendrix material, and it was explosive.
If you ever have a chance to see Heuvel play, run for the tickets. You will not regret it one bit. You can findout more about Corey at www.coreyheuvel.com.
- Orillia Packet and Times
DOUG GALLANT
The Guardian - 26th January 2008
Finding good young guitar players in this county is not difficult. Talk to musicians in virtually any part of Canada and they can likely give you the name of a young player in their area with serious chops who bears watching. Talk to musicians in the Barrie area and the name likely to come up is Corey Heuvel.
Heuvel, who’s still not out of his teens, is very much a guitar star in the making. He was barely school age when he saw his babysitter strap on a guitar and rip into some ’90s rockers. But that first taste of the guitar was enough to get him excited about music.
At the age of seven, he got his first guitar and in the 10 years since then has spent countless hours trying to hone his craft, inspired first by the music of Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and Stevie Ray Vaughan he found in his father’s record collection and later by the
music of Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani and Jeff Beck.
You can hear the influence of many of those players at work on Heuvel’s latest project, In Balance, an album of primarily original material that showcases his talents
as both a guitar player and a songwriter.
Heuvel, who’s been getting national exposure on CBC with
this record, doesn’t look that different from most kids his age but when he straps on his Stratocaster and steps up to the mike he adds another 10 years, particularly when he starts to crank out a number like If It’s Wrong (It’s Alright) or his gutsy cover of Cream’s Sunshine of
Your Love. Two other covers here also show what he’s made of, Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill and Doyle Bramhall II’s Green Light Girl.
Keep your eyes on this kid. He’s already gotten the attention of people like flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook who brought him up on stage.
He also impressed the faculty of the Berklee College of Music in Boston who offered him a scholarship after hearing him play at a one-week summer program they hosted.
Choice cuts on In Balance include If It’s Wrong (It’s Alright), Tension, Green Light Girl, Drowning In Your Love and Sunshine of Your Love.
(Rating: 3 1/2 stars out out of 5)
- Charlottetown, The Guardian
Discography
In Balance - 2007
Evers - EP - 2008
Tracks from In Balance have received local and international airplay on independant blues radio stations. Songs from Evers are currently being played on CBC radio. Both releases are available for sale on iTunes, CD Baby and other digital media websites.
Photos
Bio
"Music to me is the most powerful and beautiful experience that I can endure and it passionately projects me beyond imagination into a subtle awareness that is invincible."
Those are the words of Canadian guitarist and singer/songwriter Corey Heuvel, but even he says there truly are no words to describe his love for music.
The sound of Corey Heuvel holds the richness of acoustic folk with tinges of alternative and blues, culminating in a dynamic indie style. Heuvel’s music is built around stunning and hypnotic guitar work, which lays the foundation for his sensitive yet powerful voice. His songs are as appropriate when performed alone or with the accompaniment of just about any other instrument imaginable. With the summer’s 2008 release of his 5-song EP titled Evers, Heuvel is making sure his music is heard in any way he can.
Corey Heuvel’s music career began at the age of 7 when he first picked up the guitar. Within a few years, Heuvel began writing songs and crafting his guitar work around the genius of Jimi Hendrix and the virtuosity of Joe Satriani. Soon enough he was finding himself onstage at local venues in his hometown of Barrie, Ontario where he slowly began to make people take notice of his prodigious guitar skills. In his early teens, Heuvel began forming bands featuring his own songs and even finding the time to record demos of his electric guitar driven sound. As a result of the strong response surrounding him, Heuvel was invited to open for Canadian greats such as Trooper and Lighthouse. If that wasn’t enough, Canadian flamenco guitarist Jesse Cook invited Heuvel to join him onstage for an encore.
The vocal debut of Corey Heuvel came in the summer of 2006 when he and his blues-trio performed 40+ shows across southern Ontario. One particular show in Toronto caught the eye of industry veteran Tom Tremeuth (Big Sugar, Honeymoon Suite) who decided he wanted to record a full-length album with Heuvel. That fall and winter, Heuvel finished his 10-song debut album of electric driven blues/rock material titled In Balance, and produced by Tremeuth.
As In Balance was in post-production stages, Heuvel began shifting his interests in music away from hard-edged blues and self-indulgent guitar solos to the more otherworldly sounds of Jeff Buckley and Joni Mitchell. Heuvel’s summer stay at Boston’s prestigious Berkelee College of Music in 2007 only amplified his newfound love for quiet, thought provoking music. When he returned from Boston, work began on a new acoustic style and a catalogue of more than 12 new songs erupted before the end of the year.
Heuvel spent the winter performing everywhere he could, including the legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. By spring it was time to begin work on a new project. Heuvel hit the studio in March of 2008 to self-produce a few of his recently written acoustic songs with acclaimed songwriter Dean McTaggart (Amanda Marshall, The Arrows) engineering and mixing the project. The result of the sessions is a 5-song EP that features Heuvel’s delicate guitar work, emotional vocals, piano and even mandolin. A soft cello is layered over a few of the tracks as well courtesy of Alyssa Wright. The meaningful songs are an honest representation of where Heuvel is at in his young life and where he hopes to be in the future. Evers delivers a subtle complexity that is comparable to the late Nick Drake and Scott Matthews. 23 minutes later and listeners will be aching for more and willed to play it again.
"Formerly a blues / rock blaster in the manner of his early idols Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and ZZ Top, Corey Heuvel has shifted gears dramatically – and very effectively – on EVERS. It’s hard to believe that these warm, introspective acoustic tunes come from an artist who is only 18 years old. Whatever direction he takes next, we’ll be watching!"
Mark Rheaume, CBC Radio Music Resources
Links
