"Gary Hoey at the Coach House"
By Revn Kevin
Although I am a metal head at heart I love most types of music and one of my favorite guitar heroes of all time Gary Hoey came into to town I new I just had to be there. Tonight show was at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano and is a wonderful venue with tables and chairs for everybody and a great dinner menu. I will definitely be checking out the Coach House calendar for future events as I really enjoyed the atmosphere here.
Opening act tonight was TJR & the Wildcards whose line-up consists of Timothy John Ramirez/ vocals & lead guitar, Eddie Jones/rhythm guitar, Andrew Ferrara/bass, and Bobby Albright on drums. Tim the singer may look like a metal head but as soon as music started it was a mixture of blues and rockabilly with bits of Elvis and BB King influences appearing. The band played numerous selections from their CD "Rip Roaring Rock & Roll" including the songs "She Lies So Much" and "Vegas Diary". More information about upcoming shows can be found at their website
www.tjrandthewildcards.com.
Point Blank hit the stage next and this local band of high school friends tore it up with a pop-punk mixture which their crowd loved. The band tells me they have been together for 4 years and the members are John Anderson/vocals & bass, Philip Allen/vocals & guitar, Kels Phillips/guitar and Anthony Shanahan/drums. Tonight's set included the songs "Shattered Memories" and "Motionless" from their self titled CD. This young band was very tight and solid and as they mature their stage confidence will also, keep your eye on them.
The lights dim down, ZZ Top is fading on the P.A., the opening riff to "Blast" starts, I knewright then that this was going to be a great show. I first heard of Gary Hoey about 7 years ago when I saw him do some of his great Christmas songs on TV and I bought the Ho, Ho, Hoey CD along with the Endless Summer Soundtrack CD. I was hooked and have tried to keep up with his releases ever since. There are many great guitar players out there but very, very few play with the sheer joy and enthusiasm that Gary does. Many shredders tend to show off and focus attention on their prowess but Gary always stays within the context of the music and interacts wonderfully with other band members and the audience as well. The 2 hour set was a mixture of tunes from all his CD's and included many of my favorites such as "Peace Pipe", "Hocus Pocus", "Lowrider", "Linus and Lucy" and many others. There were also a couple of smoking new songs tonight but I missed the names (bad reporter - no biscuit). Tonight on bass was Jamie Carter with Bobby Rock pounding on the skins providing a great rhythm for Gary and yet standing out in their own right also.
The set ended way to soon and as we headed out I tried to remember a better, more enjoyable show and couldn't bring one to mind. Respect also to Gary and the Band for sticking around autographing and talking to his fans until the last one left. That's called fan appreciation, something lots of big names forget about. For more info. on Gary's upcoming events log on to
www.garyhoey.com. The Coach House is a wonderful venue, I'll definitely be back. For more on their upcoming events log on to www.thecoachhouse.com. You can visit me on the web at www.revnkevin.com and see what I'm up to.