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Our second official rehearsal resulted in zero deaths or injuries

Last night, we had our second official rehearsal and while there were some rough moments, I am happy to report that deaths and injuries were somehow avoided, and a lot of fun was had by all.

The previous song list posted is what we worked around, not adding anything new, but instead focusing on what needs the most work.

We also had a keyboard player sit in with us that was located on Craigslist. At some point, we would love to add a keys player or rhythm guitarist if we can locate the right person.

One thing is for sure, when we show up at the next practice session, we should be nailing a number of the tunes, and be closer to booking! With that being said, if you are considering hiring a band for your Upstate function or event in or after July, please give us a call, or use that booking / contact link up at the top…

Rock on party people!

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Need to book a band for your Upstate, Greenville, Spartanburg or Greenwood event? Now’s a great time!

Hot As A Pepper has been busy building up our repertoire and it is coming together nicely! Lots of fun, funky groovin’ and dancing tunes from several genres, including rock, country, pop, funk, disco (yeah, I said disco), and more.

Here’s the current list:

“Rock This Town” – Stray Cats
“Play That Funky Music” – Wild Cherry
“Brick House” – Commodores
“My Kinda Party” – Jason Aldean
“Lovin’, Touchin’, Squeezin'” – Journey
“Forget You” – Cee Lo Green
“Billie Jean” – Michael Jackson
“Not My Time” – Three Doors Down
“Two Tickets To Paradise” – Eddie Money
“I Want You To Want Me” – Cheap Trick
“Can’t Get Enough of Your Love” – Bad Company
“Life is a Highway” – Rascal Flatts
“Can’t You See” – Marshall Tucker
“Under the Boardwalk” – The Drifters
“Brown Eyed Girl” – Van Morrison
“Angel Eyes” – Jeff Healey
“Bad Mama Jama” – Carl Carlton
“Breakdown” – Tom Petty
“Dock of the Bay” – Otis Redding
“Lights” – Journey
“Some Kinda Wonderful” – Grand Funk Railroad
“Jessie’s Girl” – Rick Springfield
“Shaky Ground” – Delbert McClinton
“All Summer Long”/”Sweet Home Alabama” – Kid Rock/Skynyrd
“Santaria” – Sublime

This list is not intended to be a final product, only a means to get Hot As A Pepper booked as quickly as possible, it will continue to evolve as we work to define ourselves and through the input of our friends, family and supporters!

When are we available for bookings?

NOW!  If you have an event such as a wedding, party, grand opening or other corporate event scheduled after July 9th, and you want fun and professional live entertainment, then give us a call at 864-979-1224 or use the booking info link to send an email.

We’ll travel outside Greenville, Spartanburg and the Upstate if necessary, and let’s not forget about Greenwood and surrounding area, home of our drummer!

Keep it spicy!

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Hot As A Pepper has finalized the line-up, and an awesome one it is! #FantasyBand

After spending a few weeks posting ads on Craigslist, looking at music stores, checking out online profiles, speaking with over 70 musicians, and meeting with a dozen, last Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012, it became apparent who needed to be in HAAP!

That Tuesday brought together Curtis Butler, a drummer from Greenwood, Tim Howe, a guitarist from Spartanburg, Chip McDonald former vocalist of TDB, and myself, John M. Hoyt, former bassist from TDB.

We had spoken a lot on the phone and via email, but for Tim & Curtis, this was our first meeting and jam ever.  We had decided that we would go through our individual song lists and pick a few tunes that we knew in common and hit those during a “jam”. Ultimately we picked, “Brick House”, “Can’t You See”, “Breakdown”, “Brown Eyed Girl”, “Sweet Home Alabama”, “Under the Boardwalk”, and “Lights”.

Within the first few measures of the first tune, I instantly knew that Curtis was the best fit out of all the drummers I had spoken to, listened to and jammed with. He’s got a natural groove that I just love as a bass player.  Lots of power on the 2 and 4, and super control. I had listened to Curtis on videos posted on the ‘net, and he was exactly what I heard on those recordings. No bait and switch there!

Tim was also a master of his craft, great with rhythm and super with the leads. Totally rock solid, and absolutely not a mimic of the original artists (anyone who knows me, also knows that while I love cover tunes, I love cover tunes done with your own flavor, not exactly as the original artist played it)…. Tim did not let me down. Of course, he’s been doing this a while with other current band, “No Sweat Band”.  As in 12 years I believe.

I don’t know what it was about the day, the players, or maybe the atmosphere, but Chip sounded fantastic, in spite having performed Friday night and Saturday at the Bovinova event with me. I had thought he would be stretched, but he may have sounded better than ever.  Obviously, everyone knows his range and what Chip brings to the party. He’s a seasoned vocalist who is able to hit those higher registers without ripping his insides out.

You know what fantasy football is? Where people pick the best players from every team and put them together into their fantasy team? That’s what this was! I had listened to some great musicians, but these guys were the best of the best, and I can only imagine what is going to happen. It should be magic!

What’s next?   We’re rapidly assembling the songlist of tunes we already known in common, peppering it with some that we don’t all know, but know will be a big hit with the audience, and we hope to be out playing in about 30 days.

Once this songlist is established, we will add newer material to it and custom tailor it to what our friends, family, venues and fans want to hear. Your input is welcome!

I tried to contact each of the 70+ musicians who reached out to Hot As A Pepper and to thank them for their interest, and their investment of time. Those who were not selected were awesome in their own right, in fact, a couple of them were more than incredible, but Tim, Curtis, Chip and I *mesh* in a way I can’t explain. It was exactly what I was hoping to find.

Need a fun, funky and HOT band for your Upstate or Greenville party, festival or even a bar mitzvah? Let us know! We want to play it! Guess we have to include Greenwood and the surrounding area too now with Curtis in!

Fantasy Band?  Yewbetcha =)

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Selection of players continues for the fun & funky Upstate party band, Hot As A Pepper… Drummers and Guitarists are up this week!

The ad on Craigslist keeps bringing new people who are interested in joining up with a fun and funky Upstate band even though it is has been nearly a week since the original posting.

One thing is becoming super clear, there are more drummers than you can shake a stick at! And there are a lot of talented guitarists too, but only a few singers have come forward.

Guitarists who can sing lead are also either involved in other bands, or maybe not seeing the facebook or Craigslist posting.  If you are a guitarist who is a lead vocalist and you are wanting a job, then get with me please.

Talks continue with the next two drummers to check out and three guitarists. These 5 individuals are very interesting as they all have something outstanding about them. Several have played in successful bands, with somewhat similar styles.

IF you have contacted me and for some reason I have never contacted you back – chances are good that I missed your message, please try again. If you contacted me and we spoke but have not spoken again, let me assure you, everyone is getting put into a “database” and I will indeed get back with you at some point. Feel free to reach out to me again if you feel you left something out in our first conversation too.

Find us on facebook at http://facebook.com/HotAsAPepper and click the LIKE button or MESSAGE if you would like to contact us.

John – Still the world’s loneliest bass player in a most fun “band”!

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Exciting news: First potential members of HAAP meeting to “jam”

Response to our post on Craigslist has turned up a number of great people!

First up, I’ll be meeting up with a drummer and guitarist/singer combo to “jam” and see what it sounds like. These two have played together before and know songs that I have done in the past, so that should prove interesting.

Four drummers in all have contacted me, one is out right away due to living in Seneca and not realizing rehearsals would be in Greenville, one is part of the combo above and two are on extreme ends of the spectrum, the first is a 19 year old who sounds very ambitious, and the other is 50-something well seasoned player.  Funny story – the older gent is from Alabama originally, and when we hooked up on facebook, I saw he was friends with another friend of mine, David Cook and had played with him years ago.  Dave has been up North and just recently moved to GA for some music opportunities. Dave is one heck of a keyboard player, and who knows, we could end up getting this drummer (he goes by “String”) and Dave together here in Greenville to see how that goes. Dave comes complete with even more LED DMX lights and sound gear than I have.

I’ve had only 2 guitarists come forward, one who is very money oriented, which will not work, he wants to “plug and play and get paid” and the other comes with the drummer.

A keyboard player who also plays guitar and bass sent an email but it was late tonight, so it will be tomorrow before I can get in touch with them. Would be great if he could sing too!

Singer options are slim at this point. The duo is one, and the only other available vocalist I know of is Chip McDonald (formerly from the defunct Dockside Band I was in), but I am unsure if he is really in for this style of music. Knowing Chip though, he might cover it until a permanent singer could be located. That’s a conversation yet to be had…

I’m meeting with Bennie Waddell tomorrow, but I hear he’s playing with a couple guys already so he’s probably not available and he’s more Queen & Journey. Come to think of it, so is Chip. Hrmmm

So there we have it.  Slow progress, but progress none the less.

If you are reading this and are aware of any other players in the Upstate / Greenville area who would be a good candidate for this party band project, please point them in this direction!

John M. Hoyt – Bassist and sole member of Hot As A Pepper… The loneliest band in the land!

 

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Get ready to dance with Greenville’s hottest live music entertainment!

Nothing to see here yet, but please come back when things start HAAPpening!

Hot As A Pepper is on FIRE and working to rapidly bring a hot groove to your Greenville / Upstate SC event, festival, party, corporate function, bar or club that needs to book live music entertainment!

A band like no other, so get ready for a smokin’ night of fun music you will be dancing to!