{"id":50369,"date":"2022-05-07T09:34:13","date_gmt":"2022-05-07T13:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=50369"},"modified":"2022-05-07T09:34:18","modified_gmt":"2022-05-07T13:34:18","slug":"on-stage-john-5-shows-his-versatility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/?p=50369","title":{"rendered":"On Stage: John 5 shows his versatility"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff<\/strong>, Entertainment Editor, The Times<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

John 5<\/p><\/div>\n

The Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808,\u00a0www.st94.com<\/a>) has a reputation for presenting shows stretching across a wide swath of genres.<\/p>\n

This week is a prime example.<\/p>\n

The Sellersville Theater will present The Security Project (high level tribute project for the music of Peter Gabriel), Crack the Sky (classic rock bad from the 1960s), John 5 & the Creatures (session man and guitarist extraordinaire), the Iron Maidens (all female Iron Maiden tribute act), the Quebe Sisters (progressive western swing band), Professor Louie & The Crowmatix (The Band tribute act), John Cafferty & The Beaver Brown Band (1970s rock band), John Cassidy (comedian) and Chris Smither (veteran folk musician from the 1960s).<\/p>\n

On May 8, John 5 & the Creatures will headline a show the Sellersville Theater with The Haxans as the tour\u2019s opening act. The tour will also touch down on May 9 in Lancaster County at Phantom Power (121 West Frederick Street, Millersville, www.phantompower.net<\/a>). <\/p>\n

John 5 and his band are currently touring in support of their new album, \u201cSinner,\u201d which was released October 29, 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my first main tour since the pandemic,\u201d said John 5 during a recent phone interview from his home in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the shutdown, I had so much time on my hands. I played a lot of guitar and I wrote a record. I also made a record with Rob Zombie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted my new album to be very live sounding. I trained myself to play these songs perfectly from end to end. I made a really cool record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was inspired by the bands of the 1930s and 1940s be very live sounding. That\u2019s why I recorded \u2018How High the Moon\u2019 and \u2018Georgia on My Mind.\u2019 \u00a0I wanted to go in the studio and play it perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

John 5 is a very focused musician.<\/p>\n

\u201cI made the record two times,\u201d said John 5. \u201cI first made it last year. Then, I decided to do the record again this year. I tried it and I\u2019m really happy with the way it came out. At the end of the day, it\u2019s instrumental music.\u201d<\/p>\n

John 5\u2019s tendency to be a perfectionist can be heard on one of his more recent albums, \u201cIt\u2019s Alive!,\u201d which was recorded at the Sellersville Theatre.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really came about unexpectedly,\u201d said John 5. \u201cWe were at the Sellersville Theater setting up. A guy asked if we wanted to record the show that night and we said yeah.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told the band to be careful with their playing because of it. And I told the audience we were recording. We didn\u2019t change the order of the set list. I just told the guys \u2013 let\u2019s do a perfect show. It\u2019s such a great place and the people were awesome. Everybody that was at that show is on this record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Versatility is also one of John 5\u2019s endearing traits.<\/p>\n

He\u00a0has worked with a varied range of artists, performing as guitarist for some of the biggest headlining rock bands in the world such as\u00a0Rob Zombie\u00a0and\u00a0Marilyn Manson, as well as playing session with\u00a0Paul Stanley,\u00a0Rod Stewart,\u00a0Lynyrd Skynyrd\u00a0and more.<\/p>\n

Slash\u00a0has called\u00a0John 5 \u201cone of the most mind-blowing guitarists around.\u201d<\/p>\n

John 5\u00a0has released 13 solo albums to date and has written music for the likes of\u00a0Motley Crue,\u00a0Steve Perry, Ricky Martin\u00a0and others.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love all types of music \u2013 bluegrass, rock, country, metal, swing, hard rock,\u201d said John 5. \u201cI love all music. We really have a wide demographic of fans. I\u2019m covering a lot of genres and people really love it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come to our shows, you\u2019ll see fans of Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, kids who like shredders, adults who are into hard rock and guitar fans. It\u2019s a very diverse crowd. That\u2019s all I want to do \u2013 to inspire people.\u201d<\/p>\n

John 5\u2019s opening act, The Haxans, are a goth\/pop duo featuring Ashley Costello (formerly with New Years Day) and Matt Montgomery (bassist with Rob Zombie\u2019s band). Decked out in creep kitsch high fashion and named after a silent film from the twenties about a 15th-century German guide to hunting witches, The Haxans sound exactly like everything those images conjure.<\/p>\n

Video link for John 5 & the Creatures \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/kWVTbOraI5E<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show on May 8 at Sellersville will start at 8 p.m.\u00a0 Tickets are $33.<\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at the Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808,\u00a0www.st94.com<\/a>) are Crack the Sky on May 7 and the Iron Maidens on May 10.<\/p>\n

The show at Phantom Power on May 9 will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25.<\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at Phantom Power are A Day Without Love and Cory Paternostor on May 12 and Apes of the State and pigeon pit on May 13.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The Quebe Sisters<\/p><\/div>\n

The Quebe Sisters may be from Texas but that hasn\u2019t kept them from playing a variety of area venues in recent years.<\/p>\n

On May 11, The Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808,\u00a0www.st94.com<\/a>) will present a concert featuring the Quebe Sisters on May 11.<\/p>\n

Making harmonious music is a natural thing for siblings. There usually is a high level of harmony \u2013 onstage and offstage.<\/p>\n

Three siblings who get along great onstage and offstage are the Quebe Sisters, who will headline a show Friday night at City Winery.<\/p>\n

The Quebe Sisters are a fiddle-centric Western swing group from Texas. The band features a trio of sisters \u2014 Grace, Sophia and Hulda Quebe. Formed in 2002, the band performs fiddle music \u2014 Western and traditional Texas style \u2014 along with Western swing and vintage country.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur last album was our self-titled album in 2019,\u201d said Hulda Quebe, during a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. \u201cIt was a starting over \u2013 a new phase for the band. Then came 2020 and the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started working again back in July. The pandemic gave us an appreciation of what we wanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore the pandemic, we worried about ticket sales. After the pandemic, we didn\u2019t worry about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did some outdoor shows and some socially distanced shows. We just went out and played and enjoyed the audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

They haven\u2019t returned to recording yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t gotten back in the studio, but we are working on some arrangements,\u201d said Hulda Quebe.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor our next record, we would like to go to a studio in Austin \u2013Texas Treefort Studio. It\u2019s where we recorded our last album. It has the most incredible collection of vintage gear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat studio has the sound we want. We did everything live \u2013 usually in just a few takes. We didn\u2019t record analog. We wanted to but our engineer suggested not to.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sisters are pointing toward a return to Treefort sometime soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good thing about being at home is that we\u2019ve been working on writing,\u201d said Hulda Quebe. \u201cI bought a guitar and started teaching myself. Hopefully, we\u2019ll be adding different instruments just working on our songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had the good fortune of working with Duffy Jackson. He blew the doors off for us. With him, we\u2019ve been diving into the art of swing \u2013 learning how to be a swing band. We want to carry on his vision of getting people to understand swing bands.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Quebes (rhymes with \u201cmaybe\u201d) take the stage, the triple-threat fiddle champions play and sing in multi-part close harmony. The trio\u2019s vocal and instrumental performances are authentic all-Americana.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy sisters and I started playing music for fun,\u201d said Hulda Quebe. \u201cWe grew up in Krum, Texas. We never thought we\u2019d play music professionally as fiddlers. We just played little Suzuki violins. It was fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, our teacher encouraged us to enter a fiddle contest. We ended up quitting playing violin and stared fiddling. We started taking lessons and our teachers saw the potential. That\u2019s when we started competing in fiddle contests.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Hulda, Sophia and Grace were ages 7, 10 and 12 in 1998, they attended their first local fiddle competition in nearby Denton, and decided fiddling was what they wanted to do.\u00a0The sisters earned solo and group accolades early on \u2014 winning state and national championships in their respective age groups in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teachers were Sherry McKenzie and her husband Joey McKenzie, who was a professional fiddler,\u201d said Quebe, the youngest of the three.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey gave us music to listen to \u2014 western, jazz and country. The three of us would sit in the same room and take lessons together. We\u2019d all learn the same kind of material and we kept progressing at the same level. We learned about chords and arranging. Soon, we were playing gigs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, we tour all the time. Tours range from a week to a month or more. We\u2019ve been coming to Pennsylvania for a long time. Some of our earliest shows were in Pennsylvania. We love touring. It\u2019s been great to see so much and to meet so many wonderful people along the way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for the Quebe Sisters — https:\/\/youtu.be\/QANZnAKDvc8<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show at Sellersville on May 11 will start at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Ticket prices start at $21.50.<\/p>\n

\"\"

The HawtThorns<\/p><\/div>\n

When the HawtThorns — Johnny Hawthorn and KP Hawthorn (formerly Kirsten Proffit) — headline a show at the Dawson Pub (100 Dawson Street, Philadelphia, dawsonstreetpub.com<\/a>) on May 7, it will be a homecoming of sorts for Johnny.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m from the Philly area,\u201d said Johnny, during a phone interview Monday afternoon. \u201cI\u2019m from Warminster and went to Archbishop Wood. I spent my senior year in Tampa. Then, I moved from Tampa to L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

KP, meanwhile, was already in California native.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew in California,\u201d said KP. \u201cMy family lived in Santa Cruz.\u201d
\nThe country rock duo, which now lives in East Nashville, is touring in support of a new album, \u201cTarot Cards & Shooting Stars.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny and I happen to be rehearsing today,\u201d said KP. \u201cWe have a little studio that we built when we moved here in 2020.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnny said, \u201cIt\u2019s nothing too fancy. We tore the garage down and built a studio. We do most of the guitar stuff here \u2013guitar, amps and pedal steel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The HawtThorns\u2019 first album was \u201cMorning Sun,\u201d which was released in August 2019 by Forty Below Records. \u201cTarot Cards & Shooting Stars\u201d was released February 25, 2022 \u2013 also on Forty Below Records.<\/p>\n

The duo\u2019s chemistry reaches a new peak with \u201cTarot Cards and Shooting Stars,\u201d the pair’s second collection of country-rockers, acoustic ballads, and southern soul songs. Written and recorded during a global pandemic that brought the HawtThorns\u2019 touring schedule to a halt, it’s an album the finds its creators counting their blessings and finding silver linings during an otherwise dark time.<\/p>\n

Recorded in both L.A. and Nashville, it nods to both sides of the group’s geographic and musical roots. The Nashville sessions took place in KP and Johnny’s home studio with cicadas chirping outside the studio doors. The southern culture and Tennessee humidity seeped its way into the music itself, adding gospel-soul grit to the duo\u2019s sound.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did all the album ourselves with Steve Berns co-producing,\u201d said Johnny. \u201cWe recorded most of it early last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were staying with our friend Steve in L.A., and he said \u2013 let\u2019s make a record. We had a lot of solid songs on our iPhone. Within days, we had all the basic tracks done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe brought it home in May and finished it. We use Logic in our home studio. Then, the album was mixed by Mark Niemiec.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before forming their band in Los Angeles, the\u00a0Hawthorns\u00a0both enjoyed acclaimed careers of their own, leaving their marks upon the intersecting worlds of rock, country, and pop music.<\/p>\n

KP, who launched her solo career with 2006\u2019s \u201cLucky Girl,\u201d is a singer\/songwriter record whose tracks found their way onto TV shows like Friday Night Lights and Dawson\u2019s Creek. By 2012, she was also touring the country as a member of Calico.<\/p>\n

As a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, lead guitarist, and record producer, Johnny had already performed with bands like Toad the Wet Sprocket and Everclear by the time he crossed paths with KP at the Cinema Bar in Culver City, California. He also had released three albums as a solo artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohnny and I ran in the same circles,\u201d said KP. \u201cI always liked him, and he always liked me. We met eight years ago and got married five years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor quite a while, he had his own thing going and I had Calico. I didn\u2019t want to do anything until Calico ended. When Calico stopped, Johnny and I started working together. We got into our own project and started writing together.\u201d<\/p>\n

That led to the release of \u201cMorning Sun.\u201d Produced by Eric Corne (Sam Morrow, Jaime Wyatt), with some songs produced by Steve Berns and KP, \u201cMorning Sun\u201d is an amped-up Americana album.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went in the studio with producer Eric Corne from Forty Below Records,\u201d said KP. \u201cWe recorded five songs and finished those at Fitting Room Studio in West Hills.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen, we did more recording at King Size Studio in Atwater Village in East L.A. That\u2019s a really cool studio. We recorded everything live. We went through an old soundboard from the 1970s and into ProTools.<\/p>\n

\u201cEric mixed most of what we recorded. It took about nine months altogether. Even though we had sessions at different times in different studios, it was easy to keep it consistent. Johnny and I are connected. And Eric did a great job with the mixing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Songs from \u201cMorning Sun\u201d and \u201cTarot Cards and Shooting Stars\u201d make up most of The HawtThorns\u2019 set list on this tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe live show has really come alive,\u201d said KP. \u201cWe\u2019re really connecting with the audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for The HawtThorns \u2013https:\/\/youtu.be\/j1HqkRdaBqA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The show on May 7 at Dawson Pub will start at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

The concert at the Theatre of the Living Arts (334 South Street, Philadelphia, 215-222-1011, http:\/\/www.lnphilly.com<\/a>) on May 8 will have a distinct Northern Ireland vibe.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Gareth Dunlop<\/p><\/div>\n

The headliner is Foy Vance, a vocalist\/guitarist\/pianist from Bangor, County Down. The opening act is Gareth Dunlop, a vocalist\/guitarist\/pianist from East Belfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have a band with me for this tour,\u201d said Dunlop, during a phone interview Wednesday morning, a day after he flew in from<\/p>\n

Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m on my own for these shows. I\u2019ll be playing guitar and some piano and singing my songs. I\u2019m also playing in Foy\u2019s band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance has toured as a support act to British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and his music has been featured on numerous TV shows.\u00a0 His most recent album, \u201cSings of Life, was produced by Dunlop.<\/p>\n

Dunlop has been recognized as an accomplished talent ever since the BBC tipped him as \u2018one to watch\u2019 in 2010 when he was not long out of his teens. In the decade since he has released several singles, a handful of EPs and one album that have been musically eclectic yet have all showcased his highly soulful voice, with several of his songs going on to be used in the hit TV series \u2018Nashville\u2019, other shows (\u2018Lucifer\u2019, \u2018This Is Us\u2019, Bones\u2019, \u2018Suits\u2019), movies (\u2018The Best Of Me\u2019, \u2018Safe Haven\u2019) and commercials (Disney, Subaru).<\/p>\n

Inspired by icons such as The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Waits and Pink Floyd, Dunlop picked up a guitar and soon began performing covers and original songs in live venues around Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. In 2011 he won a \u201cYoung Songwriter of the Year\u201d award in Belfast that not only earned him an invite to collaborate with seasoned writers in Nashville, an experience he has repeated many times since, but it also enabled him to tour the US extensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t grow up around musicians,\u201d said Dunlop. \u201cWhen I was around 13, I was flicking through a catalog magazine, and I saw a guitar \u2013 a Stratocaster copy. I pestered my parents to get me one. They thought it was another phase like the skateboard a year earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I started playing it, I felt this power. I loved playing and then I got into lyrics \u2013 hard rock songs. Then, I got into the singer\/songwriter phase. Dylan\u2019s \u2018Blood on the Tracks\u2019 was a major influencer and I started writing my own songs.<\/p>\n

In 2011, I played in the Belfast Nashville Singer Songwriter’s Festival and that got me a trip to Nashville. I was performing at the Bluebird Caf\u00e9 in Nashville and got approached by a publisher. I didn\u2019t even know what that was. I signed a publishing contract with with Moraine Music and Nettwerk Music Group. A little while later, I went back to Nashville and started writing for TV shows. I was going back-and-forth between Belfast and Nashville every month.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gareth\u2019s debut recording was the \u201cDevil Mocks Me\u201d EP in 2011. He followed with the \u201cHow Far This Road Goes\u201d EP in 2014 and the \u201cPieces\u201d EP in 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith \u2018Devil Mocks Me\u2019 I got a chance to work with a great producer \u2013 Brent Maher,\u201d said Dunlop. \u201cIt was a strange thing for a boy from East Belfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maher, who lives in Colorado, is an engineer and producer. He engineered classic recordings like\u00a0Ike and Tina Turner\u2019s \u201cProud Mary\u201d and\u00a0the 5th Dimension’s\u00a0“Age of Aquarius” and produced all of The Judds\u2019 albums.<\/p>\n

Dunlop\u2019s latest album is \u201cAnimal,\u201d which was released earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe silver lining of the pandemic is that it allowed me to be home for a long time and to spend time with my kids,\u201d said Dunlop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had bones of a new record. When gigging started to go away, I put it on as shelf. When I went back to it, some songs didn\u2019t stand up. I took away four of them and then decided to keep one \u2013 \u2018Right About Ready.\u2019 I feel like I wrote that song about 20 times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Video link for Gareth Dunlop \u2013 https:\/\/youtu.be\/JB_9s-xEOtw.aaa<\/a><\/p>\n

The show on May 8, which has Foy Vance as the headliner, will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $23.<\/p>\n

Other upcoming shows at the TLA are Aly and AJ on May 6, Lucius on May 7, Omar Apollo on May 10 and Sevendust on May 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times The Sellersville Theater (24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, 215-257-5808,\u00a0www.st94.com) has a reputation for presenting shows stretching across a wide swath of genres. This week is a prime example. The Sellersville Theater will present The Security Project (high level tribute project for the music of Peter Gabriel), Crack the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8457],"tags":[7426,14506,12341,9670,8327],"class_list":["post-50369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-d-arts-entertainment","tag-featured","tag-gareth-dunlop","tag-hawtthorns","tag-john-5","tag-the-quebe-sisters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50369"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50370,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50369\/revisions\/50370"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.unionvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}