It’s been more than five years since Eddie Van Halen’s death left a void in the guitar universe. Like Jimi Hendrix before him, EVH’s influence will continue to be felt for decades, possibly centuries, after the man himself left this world.
For evidence, just head to YouTube and witness the uncountable number of guitarists emulating Eddie. While many are able to hit the notes, only a few can nail the nuances of his feel, not to mention his tone. At the top of that list, from St-Georges de Beuce, Quebec, is one Jacob Deraps.
For more than a decade, Deraps has been making content, much of it based around the music of Van Halen. Alongside the usual playthroughs of hits like Runnin’ with the Devil, there are reviews of various pieces of EVH branded gear and instructions on how to get Eddie’s famed Brown Sound.
“I had to learn that song,” he says. “I had to learn how to get the sound. I was just hooked. There was so much groove and feel, and it sounds like the amp is about to blow up. I love that aggressiveness.”
His love for Van Halen soon blossomed into a full-on obsession. He spent hours analyzing the playing on those albums and working out all the nooks and crannies on his own guitar. He’d spend all day, every day, playing the songs back to back. Much of that journey was documented on his YouTube channel, which he started when he was 13.
“I was kind of a tool to get my playing out there, to just show the world my passion for the instrument and what I could do,” he says. “It wasn’t more than that. It was just kind of giving a performance out to the world.”
In the 14 years since, the YouTube channel has taken off, garnering Deraps almost 50,000 subscribers and almost 13 million views. While those aren’t Mr. Beast numbers, it’s enabled the young Canadian to make connections, including with the EVH brand.
As viewers can attest, Deraps has accumulated quite the collection of Eddie-related gear, including at last count, six replicas of some of his most iconic guitars, including three Wolfgangs, a Frankenstrat, a Bumblebee, and the oft-forgotten Circles guitar.
“It’s really a dream come true to work with EVH,” he says. “It couldn’t get any better for me. It’s surreal. It’s amazing. The Wolfgangs are a little bit more modern and they have certain little things, like, where the neck meets the body is a little bit rounded, and it’s more comfortable.”
Along with the swag, YouTube has allowed him to make music his full-time job. Deraps is an example of the unorthodox ways to make it in music in the days where a record deal is no longer the be all and end all. Revenue from YouTube, along with a publishing deal and recording deal, combine with session work to make his life making art possible.
“I love doing videos, and I think it’s a great way to make money and build a brand. So I’m trying to focus on that. I’m also doing gigs here and there; I play for other people, so there are many revenue sources.”
I love doing videos, and I think it’s a great way to make money and build a brand. So I’m trying to focus on that
One of those sources is his own eponymous band, and it’s here, too, that Deraps’ Van Halen love shines through. Not necessarily in the playing, as the influence of Deraps’ other hard rock heroes shines through just as much, but in the songs themselves.
There’s no denying Eddie’s influence on the evolution of guitar, but some players took the wrong lessons, choosing to focus solely on technical mastery and ignoring what made VH so timeless. The band had hooks for days, and for every acrobatic solo, there was a riff so catchy it would get just as many butts shaking as it would fingers practicing.
Having studied the music of Van Halen and their contemporaries closely, Deraps wisely opted to fold that catchiness into his own eponymous project. Just as the core of Van Halen was Eddie and his drumming brother Alex (no disrespect to Michael Anthony intended), the band Deraps is centered around the guitarist and Australian drummer Josh Gallagher.
The pair recorded their latest album, Viva Rock N’ Roll, on their own, including a big helping of vocal harmonies (one other lesson Deraps may have gleaned from his idols: frontmen may be more trouble than they’re worth). Not that the album is an attempt to ape Van Halen. It’s just that at this point, their music is part of his DNA.
“It’s not really something I think about prior to writing,” he says. “I pick up a guitar and if the riff is good, and it sounds like certain things, that’s what’s going to be on the record. But it’s not forced or anything.”
Ever the hustler, he also sees a niche in the current music environment. There’s simply not a lot of catchy rock ’n’ roll in the mainstream. He’s betting that there’s a chunk of younger YouTube watchers who are simply ignorant and will fall in love with rock, the same way he did when he was 12.
“I think it’s just kind of forgotten. People don’t really know about that stuff anymore. It’s not about not liking it – I think young people are just not exposed to it.”
- Subscribe to Jacob Deraps' YouTube channel
- This article first appeared in Guitar World. Subscribe and save.
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