Paul S. Victor

Paul Victor (born September 8, 1965 in Castries, St Lucia) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.

At a young age, Paul Victor was taken by music and first began playing guitar at age seven. At the age of six he was inspired by the music of Jimi Hendrix and Marc Bolan, who subsequently were his inspirations to learn the electric guitar. Paul would watch his uncle Francis Fredrick play an acoustic guitar that he would bring to his house; he was fascinated to hear him play the songs that he heard on the records and wanted to do the same. Every time Francis would leave his guitar Paul would pick it up and try to reproduce what he saw, one day he got caught red handed and was told he was not allowed to touch the guitar until he understood what he was doing. Paul then found a guitar instructor in the neighborhood to give him lessons. Within two months of lessons Paul had learned all Trevor could teach him, then started learning all the music of the rock artist he loved. Paul's friends could not understand that in an era of R&B, Calypso and Reggae music that Paul would be so enthralled in playing rock music.

In 1979, Victor moved to the island of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands; he was quickly growing a following due to his amazing chops. He was approached to by the music director of his high school to play in the touring jazz band, Paul again excelled playing solos that would generate standing ovations. He learned a lot AbOUT chord structures during that time. In 1981 Paul went to Minnesota to attend Bethel University, there he made the discovery that he was only just as good as the other guitar players he had met, and decided to do something about it. He developed a Relentless dedication to the instrument developing chops and his own unique voice on the guitar. He formed the band Devine Rite, and quickly developed a writing skill that made his band a sought after group Paul also began playing piano and saxophone and dived into music theory to increase his MusicAL intellectual horsepower. Paul then was asked to play regularly for events at the University opening for BB Winans and other Christian artists that came to play at the university.

In 1987, Victor was asked to audition for a Funk band called FTE (created out of " The Time" Fame) his chops again made him stand out in the clubs and he developed a whole new following, He was soon asked to be the guitar teacher for Mercedes( a Jam/Lewis act) an all female band produced by Jam and Lewis. He then started doing studio work in Minneapolis and Joined the band Alice. Paul then met fellow guitarist Tony MacAlpine; The Two had a lot in common and Paul started learning all he could from Tony. In 1991 Paul moved to San Antonio, Texas, there again he became a sought after guitarist after winning the National Guitar Wars contest. Paul blew away field of twenty five Guitar players to win the overall best Guitar performance, in all Paul had won four Guitar Wars contests, the last of which saw Al Pitrelli as a judge, Al said he was blown away by the chops Paul showed that night, as he played his signature two minute solo, a medley of Beethoven fifth, fur Elise, the William Tell Overture, Somewhere over the rainbow and his dazzling speed arpeggio and Bach inventions runs. In 1997 Paul played to sold out shows with the musical Beehive, a documentary on the women who shaped music from the 60's to the 70's.

In 1998 Paul played two concert events for Ron Kenoly Ron was very impressed with Paul's skill as he was able to fully replace Paul Jackson Junior for those concerts. Tony MacAlpine then encouraged Paul to start working on Solo project because Paul was become frustrated with the band and guitar for hire scene. Paul started working on the CD "Somewhere in Time", due to complications this cd was never released. in 2001 Paul Started playing for the Shoreline Christian Center church band, there again he wowed the attendees with his skill. In 2005 Shoreline created their first praise and worship CD I come to worship, Paul's playing was amazing on this CD, he was then asked to play on other artists CD's () In 2006 and 2007 Paul Played concerts with Hillsong Church, led by Darlene Zschech. In 2009 Paul was approached by Quickstar Productions to use his song Send me an Angel on their compilation CD Unified by Grace, He agreed after learning that the proceeds would go to help the children orphanages in Africa. In 2010 Paul completed and released his solo CD, Time Machine, Time Machine is a CD from the heart, Paul shows his varied influences on this CD with Scott Henderson -esque single "Musetta" or the blues derived "Dance Angel" and the hard rock influenced instrumental "Holy Holy Holy". Paul also shows the depth of his writing with the instrumental "Farewell Don't Cry". In 2010 Paul Left Shoreline and is working on a new CD "Girl From Barcelona" to be released this year. This CD promises to be amazing and again eclectic, with instrumentals reminiscent of The Gypsy Kings

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Mr Monster Paul Live 2008.

Guitar playing style

Paul has described his style as a mix of fusion, soul, rock and blues music. Paul utilizes a loaded amount of sweeping and legato in his playing. His left hand is very strong and he has a solid picking technique. Paul's main influences are Al Di Meola, Jimi Hendrix, Tony MacAlpine, JJ Cale, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert.

INSTRUMENTS and Gear

Paul has used Fender style guitars for most of his career, most notable Kramers and HM strats in the early years, He now playes Tom Anderson guitars Drop Top Classics models.

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Early in his career, Paul used Univox amps before switching to Marshall amplifiers in the early 1990s He used the JCM900 models with ADA MP1's as well as Yamaha T100 Heads(designed by Soldano) with Rocktron Voodoo Valves. In 2010 Paul moved to a Fender Hot Rod Delux, and Vox Night Train amps and TC Electronic G-system as his main rig, he uses the T00 and Nova system for quick gigs. Paul's effects outside of the G-system are the Nova Drive, Fulltone OCD, BBE Green Machine.