With a name like Angel Vivaldi, you’d be destined for greatness, and that’s exactly where he’s landed.
With a slew of virtuosic albums to his name, both as artist and a producer, it’s no wonder that a company like Charvel has taken notice and honoured Angel Vivaldi with an equally impressive range of signature guitars. The latest collaboration sees the NOVA-7 brought to life, putting the guitar’s Flame Maple top on show, and boasting gold hardware, a recessed Floyd Rose and a pair of DiMarzio humbuckers.
We had the chance to chat to Angel about his new model, and I ask about how each succession of artist model sits in the larger range.
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“Anything I do in life, I’m trying to make it better.” he explains. “Not in the pursuit of perfection, but to leave things better than when I found them.”
“So I’m already two models ahead [in my head],” he says with a laugh.
“With guitar tone, we know tone is in the fingers, it’s how the person speaks behind the instrument. But you also have to have an awareness of what the tone sounds like, right? What does your tone actually sound like?”
Angel relates this back to the ‘journey’ of finding gear, looking for partners and team members in gear that compliment the sound of your hands behind the playing. He sees instruments as a companion, to hide your flaws and exaggerate the good parts of what you like.
“I think it’s an important journey to go on, as time consuming and expensive as it can be!” he says with a grin.
In this sense, Angel is trying to pursue his own voice rather than imitate the players and artists that’ve come before him, albeit having influenced him. I ask how his needs and preferences for instruments change over time.
“The main thing is a sense of versatility, only because my discography is quite dense with genres, especially now.” he explains. “So because I genre hop a lot, there’s certain things that allow me to do that with a bit more ease.” he muses.
“Not that [his instruments] are vastly different, we’re still talking 24 frets and a comfortable neck. Six or seven strings, doesn’t really matter to me, although I lean more toward a six these days.” he laughs.
Charvel NOVA-7
Angel continues, explaining the small and subtle changes that happen, and he cites the new NOVA-7 versus the NOVA-6, explaining the neck shape is vastly different because of the genres that he uses the six-string for, versus the seven-string.
“It’s subtle changes off of a mould, over time.”
I ask if he’s is pursuing his perfect instrument: a number one, a mainstay.
“The interesting thing is, I’m going to be doing the John Petrucci Camp. There’s songs I’m going to be showcasing and talking about, and I’m only bringing one, maybe two guitars. If I only bought one, I have no issue doing the whole set on the new NOVA-7. It can handle anything that I give it, truly.”
“But I think in comparison to a six-string, seven is just a little bit more work, y’know?” he says with a chuckle. “But the new model is so beautiful and it makes me just want to play it!”
We chat for a moment about how new stuff can inspire new sounds, albeit being a very expensive way to maintain motivation and remain inspired.
“It really does inspire. I did this concept record called Synapse in 2017. If you’re an artist, and you’re very self aware and you practice a level of mindfulness, you will be able to pinpoint exactly what inspires you the most.”
Angel explains he’s moved a lot in his life, from house to house, and the new spaces and environments would inspire him.
“There’s something about that newness, that novelty, making it your own, that really tends to inspire a lot of people. So for that record, I assigned a colour to each of the eight songs.”
Angel explains that for the song “Adrenaline”, which was red, he painted the studio red, also adding that this fed into his interest in interior decorating and fashion, so this environment really inspired him.
“It was the most daunting thing— I will never do that again man!” he says. “I’m trying to write, I’m also filming the documentary, so it’s primer, paint, redecorate, write, force yourself to finish it. Next one. Orange, yellow, blue, every colour it was hell on Earth. But when we get something new, these things invigorate the soul.”
On his newest EP, Away with Words: Part 2, Angel Vivaldi used a six-string as a limitation, acknowledging that the extended range of a seven or eight string might enable him to play low-tuned metal riffs, something he wanted to steer away from on this release, instead bringing funk and blues to his catalogue.
Pushing this further, Angel discusses allowing a muse to visit you, or making space for inspiration to arrive.
“That’s what music is, it’s the language of the muses.” he says. In this sense, while music is a huge part of his life, he has other interests and parts of his life that create stories that inspire music. He’s very adept at putting himself in a position to be visited by these muses.
“You don’t know when she’s coming,” he says, referring to the muse. “If it takes me 663 sessions of me sitting here and working on this song, every time I sit here I’m one step closer to getting it done.”
“And the more often I do [it], the more chance I have of meeting her when she’s here.” he explains. “So it’s not to put pressure on people or yourself, it’s more an awareness of a conscious decision to go visit your parents, or walk your dog, or go on vacation.”
Angel concludes that it’s important to him to make an impression, to make people feel good about themselves, which he finds is reciprocated.
“Assuming you’re not meeting an egotistical musician from LA.” he chuckles.
Keep reading about the Angel Vivaldi NOVA-7 here.
