Thursday, July 22, the answer to if the Sunset Strip ‘80s scene happened in the 2000’s, Hairball comes to Kettering, furthering the decline of western and southeastern civilization. The Fraze stage is gonna get crazy from the heat with two hours of tribute tunes bringing back the decade of true decadence, hairspray and a lot of stuff bands did that couldn’t be printed… or posted.
It’s the real, live version of Steel Dragon and Rock of Ages with respect to Sammi Curr and Spinal Tap.
Bassist HBK, has no affiliation with wrestling but has been with the band for about three years, will grace and embrace the open air stage for the first time Thursday evening. “I believe it’s the first time, definitely first for me. If it happened before, it happened more than three years ago.”
As normal slowly returns, live music is coming back with a vengeance with shows and tours announced almost every week for summer, fall and winter. They’ve played a few shows this year already, “We played a week run in March in Daytona for bike week than the second week of May. We’ve been pretty steady since then. Probably a couple dozen shows.”
They actually managed a few gigs last summer, “We got out a little bit last summer and did a few outdoor shows, some drive-in’s and some weird socially distanced things. That wrapped up by the fall.” Daytona was the first thing in a long time. “We did tons of online stuff, that’s what you had to do.”
The name dates back two decades, “That goes back 22 years. The band started playing a little over 21 years ago. It was 22 years ago that someone said we should call this thing Hairball.”
It’s definitely more tribute band than cover act. “If a Las Vegas show and a ‘80s arena rock band had a baby, it’d be Hairball. Much like the tributes you’ve seen in Vegas for decades. The level of detail is incredible with wigs, costumes, the money that goes into each. What we term, the character for each set we do is on the low hundreds, on the high end thousands of dollars.”
They’re really paying tribute to a large time period celebrating hundreds of artists and thousands of songs rather than just one act. They painstakingly recreate over a dozen looks, persona’s and stage personalities complete with mannerisms, moves and voices in a non-stop blitzkrieg pace show so there’s always something happening.
The guys have spent countless hours learning, recreating and studying the stage greats their playing HBK says. Double take’s are often done by fans, crew and band members when each singer appears as another character. It’s not just guys in ‘80s band tees, with bandanas playing cover tunes. “That’s what makes it awesome.”
There are six members, three rotating singers and three players on stage full show. KISS fans will especially enjoy their Paul and Gene. “In full makeup, jumpsuit, boots, correct guitar for the era making sure they match, period-correct outfits.” It’s not just a collection of different era KISS gear put together. There’s no, I have the Alive II boots and Alive guitar and Love Gun outfit. It’s done so even the biggest KISS nerd, like me, would go, yep that’s right. Those are the right boots, the right necklace, armband, guitar with the right color pickups in it. It’s down to detail.”
They’ve played with Rich Kosak from KISS tribute MR. Speed so they had to be prepared. “When we went to Daytona, the front guy from MR. Speed actually came in and played with us.”
The 80’s weren’t always known for being kid friendly but they keep it clean, “We do lots of all ages shows. We do an all ages show a little different than a 21 and up show. You might hear the word damn, but not at an all ages show. It’s important.” They don’t want to do anything to make the promotor, venue or themselves look bad. “We’re all in this together.” There’s nothing from the satanic panic of the decade.
The show embraces the ‘80s, dipping back a little into the ‘70s. “More glam and hard rock, we do some heavier stuff with Priest. It kinda depends where we are and what we’ve played in that market.” We can hope for Skid Row. “Previously it depends on how many nights we’re there. At a place like Sturgis, we’re in town for four or five days. We have a catalogue to go in and play a different show every night. We have enough characters and songs we can deliver a different show every night of that week. Have we played that venue and market?” They’ve saved every set list for the past 10-12 years and can look at what they played last time in that venue or area delivering a different show.
They come to an area at least once a year, sometimes playing 30 minutes or an hour away. “Fans come to both shows and we make sure we give you something different, not the same show you saw last time.”
All their characters are recognizable from up front to in the back. “Can someone from a hundred feet away know who that is just by looking? If Paul Stanley or Dee Snider is over there, you can stand 200 feet and know that’s Paul Stanley. It’s a very visual show.” Fans attending Friday’s show might get a preview if they play Styx or Night Ranger.
On occasion they’ll play more obscure or lesser known bands, “Every once in a while we’ll dip into those bands, but not often. It’s like well, how do I knock out Queen to play Hanoi Rocks when 5000 people there all know Queen and a couple hundred say, hey that’s Hanoi Rocks. Overall our show is a highlight reel. We’re gonna give you the biggest and the best, one big highlight after another. I’m not saying it won’t happen because every now and then we’ll break something out. We’ll play a little bit deeper cut but still in the middle of two hits.” Everybody knows Cinderella, Britny Fox, probably half the people.”
So probably no Tuff (American Hair Band would fit in perfectly), Vixen, Vinnie Vincent Invasion, Mr. Big, Shotgun Messiah or Europe songs but you never know.
Medleys are done depending on the character, songs and how many they do, though usually full songs are performed.
If “Wanted Dead or Alive” is played there won’t be stools or acoustics, it’ll be the lighter/cell phone arena version.
They don’t go out in the crowd but have brought kids up for a rock star experience. “We’ll bring kids up on stage. If it’s an all ages show and there’s someone up close we can safely bring up. There’s a point usually in “Welcome to the Jungle” our guitar player brings a kid up and they play his guitar. It’s pretty awesome to see. Some of the most fun shows are the ones where you see a kid come up, standing in front of a few thousand people getting a guitar strapped on them. They light up. It’s cool.”
They’re toured the country and internationally. “We’ve been to London, Mexico, actually next week we’re heading to Alaska. One night in Anchorage, one in Fairbanks, that’ll be an interesting trek.”
Though they shy away from the heavier stuff moshpits and crowd surfing have happened. Just don’t expect to hear “Raining Blood” or “Master of Puppets.”
It’s a different show every night, with over a decade of songs to choose from. They always keep track of where they are, if they’ve played there before and how close they’ve played to the venue in the past. No one see’s the same show twice, especially when the bands running in full gear.
HBK’s on stage the whole time minus the drum solo, where he does his own lesser wardrobe change into dry attire. Though he’s not with the idea of a bass solo saying he thinks people would rather hear one extra song, there’s no denying 90 seconds of “(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth” would get a big reaction.
An impressive list of musicians have joined them on stage including Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Rob Halford, Alice Cooper, Bret Michaels, Kip Winger, Rob Zombie, Stephen Pearcy, Sebastian Bach and Lita Ford. “We’ve had a lot of luck with that. Last month Pearcy came up and did some Ratt songs. It’s always fun.”
The show’s for the MTV generation, overall but they do play classic Cooper and some Sabbath.
HBK says there are people that like the music they honor and those that are lying. There are too many hits not to like one. If you don’t like a certain song or group, just wait five minutes and they’ll play something else. It’s a nonstop best of the decade of dominance. Kids can look back and see how much fun we had without cell phones and social media.
You could get Bon Scott and Brian Johnson era AC/DC… but not Axl/DC. “Our AC/DC guy came from a full time AC/DC tribute. It’s always interesting to get his view on the Axl tour.”
There probably won’t be any Chinese Democracy tunes heard Thursday either. Though he says, “I bought the record and there’s some good stuff there.” They have no illusions of keeping their appetite in the ‘80s, maybe early ‘90s.
When it comes to Ozzy, “We do everything from “Iron Man” to “Crazy Train” to “No More Tears.” That’s the great thing about a character like Ozzy. He’s great on stage, everyone knows who it is. You got a catalogue of amazing songs from Sabbath, all the way through. How do you get down to just playing, three a night? It’s hard sometimes.” Being an all age’s show it’ll be interesting to hear the verbatim verbiage when it’s time to go, extra, extra crazy.
The show’s continuous, excluding costume changes. Having a constant rotation of three singers gives fans a non-stop experience with one coming off stage, one half-dressed for their next character and the other ready to go. This transition allows time for the attention to detail they’re known for.
They’re often imitated, never duplicated, “Lots of bands try to do that, but look like they came out of the Halloween store and probably did. These costumes cost thousands of dollars each and the level of details is like, wow.”
A guillotine has accompanied the king of shock rock on stage before. HBK laughs that someone always yells Skynyrd or “Freebird.”
It’s almost guaranteed you’ll get something from Sabbath whether it’s Ozzy or Dio. The set list is made a few hours before the show with songs performed by about 12 different characters, so it’s an all around sound and visual experience. If someone yells out a song or band and enough people get behind it they might take requests. Though, you’re still getting a two hour barrage or your favorite ‘80s songs, videos and memories, if you were around back then. For the younger generation this is junior’s way cool look into the time capsule of mom and dad’s youth.
About a year ago, they did a show with Bret Michaels, Sebastian Bach and Lita Ford. “We played some Lita songs and her and our Ozzy came out and did Lita and Ozzy. The look on her face, we rehearsed at sound check of course but when he came out during the show, full on as Ozzy, the look on her face was priceless.” She had an OMG/HS moment doing “Close My Eyes Forever.”
Though Ford’s never done the song with Ozzy live, we can now say it’s the closest thing to. “I know she generally does it with her guitar player. They killed it, ‘together again.’ “Those were the times where I get a front row seat to watch the real Lita Ford with as close to Ozzy as you’re gonna get, and I’m five feet away. It was fantastic.”
He says their Vince Neil looks good and is curious how the stadium tour will roll next year. “I’ve seen them throughout the years. Vince has come up and played with Hairball. When they’re on, they’re a force of nature. I had a feeling, they might come back again.”
It’s quite possible if Priest is played they’ll be a motorcycle on stage. “That’s happened more than once.”
It’s gonna be a nice list of rockers, ballads and fist pumpers. Maybe not all the ‘80s mega-hits will be played but it’ll be a nice mix of everything when MTV and VHS ruled.
Five screens will be on stage flashing footage, live shots and montages. “There’s video of fans, past shows, us, different things, and the artists. We have a video guy that’s always adding and tweaking new content to enhance each one.”
If you can brave the heat, bring the bandanas, wristbands. Spandex and black leather or dress for the weather in a cutoff band tee. “You’re gonna come in and get two hours of absolute nonstop highlight reel rock n’ roll that’ll take you back in time to what I like to think of as a more fun time musically and leave with a smile on your face.” You might leave as exhausted as they do. On Thursday night, even if briefly, we get our MTV… back.
$5 concert series, general admission. Show at 8PM. Check the Fraze site for more information.
Photo Credit: – Eric Sherman
