This section is all about me, Brandon Carswell, the owner of Elevation Boutiques. I wanted to put a face to the name here and let you get an idea of who you are working with. It's my vision that each customer be completely comfortable when looking around at Elevation! I always like to know who I'm working with. It should never be a big mystery.
The first thing you should know about me is that I am a musician. I've been playing guitar and writing songs since I was twelve, which seems fitting since I was born in Nashville, TN. Most of my growing occurred around Raleigh, NC though. This is where I started & ended bands, becoming enamored with boutique gear along the way. My first guitar pedal was a Christmas gift from my brother which was The Danelectro Dan Echo. The heaviness of the metal frame, the "chrome" hardwear, the retro shape and red LED reminded me of a classic car. Upon plugging it in my first delay experience was confusing yet exciting. I know I sound like a nerd....but if you are a gear head you know exactly what I mean. I was so intrigued with the idea of pedals, guitars and amps without a name brand on them that I began my quest to collect. When I was 14 or 15 I bought my first two boutique pieces, (having no clue I would end up as a rep for both!) The Bixonic Expandora & the Guyatone Flip Series Tube Echo. I was enthralled at how these pedals preformed and started writing songs around the pedals. In my first REAL band my board held 14 pedals and I used a red Gibson Nighthawk (which I still own). I still wasn't well versed in boutiques as there was only one guitar store in Raleigh, NC that I knew of at the time that had this kind of stuff.
Fast forward a few years. I moved back to Nashville and started a band with my brother called "Carswell"....very fitting name. ;) We played the circuit around town, made an EP, started work on a full length record and landed an endorsement deal with Flatline Guitars. Music is hard to make a living at and with a merciless economy I had to get creative. Flatline asked me if I'd be interested in being a rep for them. I was happy to. I sold a few guitars and quickly realized that musicians loved getting their hands on new amazing gear. They loved the idea of testing it out and the possibility that they were among the first to hear about it. I saw an opportunity. With in two months I was a rep for 5 companies. In six months I had 8 companies and put a name to my serivce...."Elevation Boutiques". The idea being to take boutique gear to a new level. To make the unknown known and the known more accessible. And U2's "Elevation" was playing on my laptop when I was brainstorming.
Now we rep almost 30 companies and are growing strong. We offer gear that no one knows about and gear that most gear junkies know all too well. We have Guitars, Pedals, Amps, Cables and even Picks! All boutique! My office is a gear emporium. My desk is usual covered in pedals that I need to demo and my guitar boat is quickly sinking from a guitar overload. Fun is an understatement of how this job is!
Currently, I am still making music with my brother in our band, "Carswell" and will soon be releasing our first full length record. I am the father of my 8 month old son named Ace and married to Jami, a brilliant, beautiful singer & photographer. My days are full of demoing gear for people, talking about gear with people, selling gear to people and insane amounts of coffee.
I greatly appreciate you taking the time to check out my short story and look forward to the opportunity of working directly with you. If anyone ever has a question or just wants to chat about gear email me directly at Brandon@Elevationboutiques.com
Thanks!
-Brandon
