Interviewed: Hep Cat Boo Daddies
Originally posted 08.24.03

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When I'm reading up on the Hep Cat Boo Daddies prior to the interview, I notice one write up that calls vocalist and guitarist Joel DaSilva shy in conversations. Great, I think, getting good answers will be like pulling teeth. I decided to meet him at the Pompano Harness Track, partly because it was a convenient area for him but mostly because neither one of us was sure if harness meant horses or dogs.

Expecting to spend a few hours with a quiet guy, I'm pleasantly surprised (and relieved) at how immediately talkative he is. When I mention the shy write up, he admits that it can be true, he can be quiet off stage, when around a lot of people. Then, it's fortunate that most of the place is deserted. The extremely friendly Southern lady at the concession stand tells us that the season doesn't start till October. So, only a few people float through the place this early afternoon, betting on Simulcasts. Darn, we don't get to go pet horses.

Talk continues to be easy flowing as the conversation turns to the band. He bubbles over with an almost childlike enthusiasm when he talks about music, the band, his girlfriend, his dog, but especially when he talks about music and the band.

To get you up to speed on the HCBD, we need to take a quick look at DaSilva's musical past. Growing up, his brother was into playing guitar and music, while he favored video games. After the death of Stevie Ray Vaughn, his brother, a huge fan, had him listen to some of Vaughan's music. "Ever since that," says DaSilva, "I was hooked." After that, he started playing guitar. While listening to a Led Zeppelin album, he noticed that they covered a great deal of old blues songs. He carried his newfound interest in the blues into playing at the open mike at a local blues club where his brother worked ("The Backroom, in Delray Beach...it's pretty much a parking lot now"), occasionally sitting in with the house band, the Nucklebusters. He also helped out, doing odd jobs at the bar, getting to meet the major blues artists that came through town.

"They would hear a little kid in the back playing while they were setting up," he remembers. "I would actually learn from the records but I would watch them, I would watch these living legends show me stuff."

Over the next few years, he joined several local bands, including Junior Drink Water and the Thrust Quenchers, the Regulators and the Underbellies. The Underbellies scored a demo deal, going to record several songs in New York. It didn't work out and the band broke up, with the singer and the second guitar player going to do other projects. The remainder of the line up, DaSilva, bassist Sean "Evil" Gerovitz and drummer Randy Blitz, decided to form a new band. The HCBD were born.

When asked where the band name came from, he replies, "Everybody asks me that and I tell everybody a different answer." He stops the tape recorder for a second to think and then starts it again and answers, "The name came from a song that Evil was working on. I don't know what the song was, he never played it for me." I'm assuming that this is the true version of how the name came about.

The HCBD have merged several genres of music to produce an interesting sound, which is especially unique to the South Florida area, currently dominated by pop punk and commercial radio rock.

"On our t-shirts, it says a unique blend of high energy blues oriented power swing surf rock." He also cites a review by Sean Picocoli (music writer for the Sun-Sentinel) where the sound is likened to a "Stevie Ray-meets-the Surfaris-at
-a-Sabbath-show vibe."

And they've brought that blues/straight ahead rock 'n' roll/surf/R&B mix and infamous live show energy to CD. Long Time Comin', the band's first release, was recorded in five days at the Landmark Studios in Fort Lauderdale and released on Mosher St. Records in 2002. It's currently available online, as well as Uncle Sam's and select Borders and Barnes & Noble locations.

"We are going to eventually come out with a new CD, but we want to take our time with it. I don't like to put out anything that's half assed. We're working with a couple of producers right now. I can't say who, because I don't want to jinx it. They're helping us with songs. Our main focus is songs right now, getting good songs. After our gigs end in October, we're going to take a break from playing out live and just mainly focus on song writing, getting tightjust try to find inspiration again. Playing out live is great but it also drains you."

It's easy to see why they're deciding to take some time off from playing live. They've played everything. In addition to shows at the Culture Room and their regular stomping grounds, the Poorhouse ("it's like the best damn club down here"), they've played numerous blues festivals throughout Florida and last February's NHL All-Star Game Fest. They've opened for the Reverend Horton Heat, Jimmy Vaughn, Robbie Krieger, Pat Travers, Derek Trucks, ZZ Top, B.B. King, to name just a few.

The band opened for B.B. King twice, one show a New Year's Eve appearance in St. Pete. "That was the best show...I was scared shitless [to meet King]. In this business, you meet a lot of assholes [but] he was just the nicest guy. He takes the time to talk to everyone, however long they want."

The band will also be taking some time off for other reasons. "We went through a lot of changes recently. We had to let our drummer Randy goabout two weeks ago," he says. And "musical differences" is the only reason DaSilva gives for the recent departure of Blitz (and, completely as an aside, it seems to be becoming weird mixed76 tradition that we do an interview a few weeks after a member has left). They're currently auditioning drummers.

DaSilva's generally positive about the local music scene. "It's good. There's a lot of great talent...cool bands. I wish the A&R people would hang out here more. Everybody gets along pretty good. There's a lack of cool clubs [for bands to play at]. Nobody seems to market it right. They're marketing the pop and the dance clubs a lot." He adds, "A lot of bands disappear. They move on, try to make it somewhere else. I think the bands get tired of it down here and try to do it somewhere else." In response to whether or not he'd move out of here, he says, "I'm going to try to do it from here."

He's also positive about the HCBD's future. "I would like to...slowly climb up the ladder...and have a [steady] career and always selling good albums...it's hard but if it was easy everyone would be doing it. There's a little voice in the back of my head [that says] keep going." He admits that at many times, he has been tempted to throw in the towel, but his genuine love of playing music always brings him back. "You can't describe playing music, especially in front of people, on stage. It's better than anything in the whole wide world. Getting up there, doing what you love, playing in front of people. Giving the gift of music to them and when you feel it, hopefully they'll feel it as well."

Pics from the Hep Cat Boo Daddies  interview


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Interviewed: Hep Cat Boo Daddies
Originally posted 08.24.03