Warner E Hodges - Wednesday 11th December 2013

[marksc]

Warner E Hodges + Roaming Son

live at

The Greystones

Greystones Rd, Sheffield, S11 7BS

Wednesday 11th December 2013

 

Legendary guitarist for Jason & The Scorchers, The Bluefields and Dan Baird and Homemade Sin, Warner E. Hodges makes his solo debut at the Greystones on Wednesday 11th December 2013.

 

Warner E. Hodges was born in Wurtzberg, Germany, on June 4, 1959 to Ed and Blanche Hodges. Warner's father was a career military man, stationed in Germany at the time. Ed and Blanche also moonlighted at night playing country & western music at USO clubs all over Germany. One night when his parents’ drummer could not show up, Warner was told, "Load your drums, you're playing with us tonight.” When Mr. Hodges spoke, you jumped, and Warner surely did. From there Warner started playing with the various instruments around the house, gravitating to guitar. With an older brother bringing home rock ‘n’ roll records by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Creedence Clearwater Revival, Warner found himself absorbing all of it – as well as the traditional country music of Merle Haggard, Hank Williams, and George Jones that he was playing with his parents.

 

"At the time I didn’t realize I would develop a mixed style on the guitar,” he said. “Those influences shaped my ability to move in and out of different genres of music in an effortless manner. Hell, I thought all kids played in their parents’ band.” Those years of playing four to five sets a night as a kid were the best school of music that Warner could ever attend.

 

After his father retired, the family moved to Nashville, the "Mecca Jerusalem" of country music. Warner's mother, Blanche Hodges, was as gifted as Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette, so it made sense to move there and give it a shot. Though Blanche never managed to grab the golden ring, the move was amazing for Warner. He was now exposed to the cream of the crop when it came to players. He made some music friends at high school, one of them being Perry Baggs. Another Nashville street rocker, Jeff Johnson, came into his orbit, and they all became friends, playing in several bands together until Jason Ringenberg came to town in 1981.

 

Throughout his years with Jason and the Scorchers, Warner continued to do sessions and play on other people’s records. When the Scorchers went into hiatus in the early 2000s, Hodges put together a rock band called Disciples of Loud and released LET THE BEATINGS BEGIN in 2005. Hodges then hooked up with Stacie and Al Collins about 2006 and started doing various shows with the Stacie Collins Band because of a mutual love of the same types of music. Once again Warner found himself playing guitar at every free moment with a renewed love for the instrument. Playing at the top of his game, Warner released CENTERLINE in 2008 and then joined the band Homemade Sin. With fellow band mates Dan Baird, Keith Christopher, and Mauro Magellan, Homemade Sin has become one of the most exciting live bands on the planet, and yet another format to showcase Hodges’ enormous talent. As VINTAGE GUITAR’s Ward Meeker said, “Warner’s guitar style has always been the perfect mix of soul and grit, class and kick. Pretty much beyond stylistic categorization, there's no denying it comes from all the right places – he's part Don Rich through a Marshall, part Angus Young on a Tele.”

 

Last year saw the release of his new project, The Bluefields, with Dan Baird on bass, and Joe Blanton (Royal Court of China), "a perfect storm…" Two albums in with Pure and Ramshackle, and recording the third as we speak, we had the pleasure of a storming show here at The Greystones last year.

 

Warner continues his "frenzied battle" with the guitar. These days it is a matter of principle to play from his heart, not his head. “When I am on, I can go to a place where it just flows, free form. That is where real music is for me: where I am a conduit for a free flowing stream of musical ideas.”

 

Warner's special guest for this date only is Sheffield's own Roaming Son - not to be missed!

 

"Jason & The Scorchers are musical pioneers... generation after generation have fallen under this sing-songy definition of success in one way or another. But Jason and the Scorchers embodied all three prongs of the hypothesis. They were punk. They were country. They were rock… most of all, they were originals." - Americana Music Association

 

"there is absolutely no question that Hodges plays dirty, loud guitar better than many of his better-known contemporaries. With his heart so obviously in loud rock and roll and with blazing performances under his wing... to see Warner E. Hodges on stage is to see him at his best." - Penny Black Music

 

"...one of rock n roll’s top 5 most thrilling moments, the mean-spirited relentlessness of ‘White Lies’... this song, some 20 odd years later still has the ability to simultaneously make love to and bugger the listener senseless. With the ferocious guitar work of Warner E. Hodges battling for supremacy next to Jason’s howling vocal performances there are few finer examples in the annals of recorded music of how the electricity of personality makes for such thrilling sonic adventure." - Ginger Wildheart

 

Tickets are £10.00 (advance) and available from:

Venue: daily til 6pm

Online: http://www.cliffordevents.co.uk and http://www.wegottickets.com/event/245153

[CraigA]

Was a top night when Jason & The Scorchers played there last year. Roaming Son are ace too!

[marksc]

Wow, the mighty Warner E Hodges stops by at The Greystones tomorrow night for the final show of this special solo tour.

 

This will be a very special gig. Sheffield's own Roaming Son have been practising in secret for yonks to to pull together a set of Warner E Hodges, Scorchers, Bluefields, Dan Baird and Homemade Sin songs and, along with a few bombastic covers, will be playing a full electric set with the Nashville legend!

 

They gave it a try-out at Leicester's The Musician on Sunday to much critical acclaim and now for the real thing - get your rock 'n' roll asses down to this gig and enjoy the party in the company of a Nashville geetar legend. You will never see the likes again.

 

Yee Haw!!