What Kind Of Band Is This, Anyway?

Well, that depends. We are 5 guys who love to play the music that knocks us out. Any style, as long as it’s not boring. No musical “Hold Music” here, thank you very much. As the other James Brown said, “Whatever it is, it’s gotta be funky.”Whatever style you want us to play, we want to play the music that you remember so that you remember when we played it.

Raucous, you say? If you want to put on a blowout for a celebration, or just have a blowout because life’s been a little too serious for too long, put us in, coach. We specialize in spontaneous combustion. From block party to Bar Mitzvah, hey, whatever.

​Laid back? Easy. Not only can we select material to set a mood, we can deliver it at a volume where you can carry on a conversation with that interesting person over there without screaming over the band. We can tone it down without watering it down. Honest.

Band Members

Kevin “Dr. Harpo” Hagerty

Hagerty literally wrote the book on amplified harmonica playing. He authored “Amplified Harmonica Playing Made Possible” in 1991, still the only book on the subject. This was followed by an internationally-distributed newsletter, “Mississippi Saxophone”, and a 10-year run as columnist “Dear Dr. Harpo” for Blues Access Magazine.

His approach to playing is to take up where horn players leave off, with influences as diverse as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Louis Armstrong. He doubles on lead vocals. He has penned all of the band’s original tunes. And yes, he does actually dress like that on purpose.

Alberto “Magic Fingers” Abril

What do you get when you take a Doctorate in Classical Guitar with a background in playing in Salsa bands, and drop him in the middle of this band? Well, that’s for us to know and for you to find out. Alberto’s technical skill  is based on his classical training, and strongly flavored by the Latin tempos played in his previous bands. The result is a bassist who holds the band together, playing on that razor’s edge between too little and too much. It’s a rare bassist who can improvise while maintaining a danceable and irresistible groove, but our Panamanian secret weapon makes it look easy!

Cameron “Pokerface” Leverich

Cameron just can’t stop smiling. Maybe, just maybe, it’s that he’s just having the time of his life keeping the rhythm in the rhythm and blues. He has the rare ability to play drums, sing, and ponder why Harpo is Oprah spelled backwards, and make it all look easy. It’s not, and niether is Cameron. He supplies the fire to keep this band cooking, performing the magic of levitating kiesters of various sizes and shapes onto the dance floor and keeping them there. Incidentally, the band disavows any pronouncements that he makes over the sound system using his AM radio voice.

 

Enrique “The Sage”  Garcia

Enrique has had multiple musical incarnations: he got in on the ground floor of the Punk movement, then made the leap to Rockabilly, fronting his own band and singing, Now, he plays rock-solid guitar that carries those influences without being constrained by them. He has evolved his own style that accomplishes what few guitarists can do: he fills in the sound  as an ensemble player, knowing just where to slide in tasteful fills, while not shy about stepping out front to show off what he can make that Vitamin C enriched guitar do as a soloist. Enrique is his own man stylistically in the post-modern guitar world, the rare guitarist who gets the point across every time. 

Scott “Second Line” Sumner

Scott’s work on piano and organ has that New Orleans flavor, no matter what he plays. This guy has gumbo in his veins, okra in his ears, and Andouille in his overalls. even his tasteful cocktail party jazz stylings have a bit of funkitude around the edges. Crescent City’s loss is Las Vegas’ gain. We ain’t giving him back.