Legendary guitarist for
Jason & The Scorchers, The Bluefields and Dan Baird and Homemade
Sin, Warner E. Hodges delivers a unique show, full of anecdotes, Q&A
and rock n roll riffs!
Expect surprises in this intimate setting!
With a strictly limited audience, Warner will answer your questions,
give you insight into his creative world and play some good old
fashioned country, punk rock n roll.
And... he'll probably be joined by a guest
or two to play along!
This show will feature an entirely
different set of songs and music from the evening show and in an
entirely different format and setting. This is a unique, one-off
event, never to be repeated!
Get your tickets quick before they are
gone.
* * *
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.”
This is a unique and
exciting show, 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 £9 / £8 (special offer for holders
of tickets for the Ralphs / Hodges / Sizzlers evening show)