Laughlin Entertainer: Cover Stories

Southern California has been an epicenter of serious music even if the lyrics sometimes talk about sand, surf, cars, and girls, and of love lost and found, occasionally drifting to political and social statements. Since the '50 and '60s coastal musicians have been making their own waves with their own sophisticated instrumentals woven around crafty story-telling and blended harmonies.

From Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys, to groups like the Eagles, these bands carved out their places in musical history-beyond chart-topping hit records. People remember where they were and what they were doing when the tunes generated by these groups were popular. The music continues to live on despite band breakups and creative differences. That's where the tribute act comes into play. Bands like The Long Run keep the focus on the music. They might start out like any hungry band, playing a little bit of everything, listening to what the people gravitate to, respond to and request before shifting their focus to one particular group.

The timeless quality behind Eagles' music was the deciding factor when musicians Gary Hagen (guitars, vocals), Gary Grantham (guitars, vocals), Chris Varosy (keyboards, vocals), Jim Wootten (bass, vocals), Stephen Patt (guitars, vocals) and Berto Z (drums, vocals) decided to give the tribute thing a try. Those “Tequila Sunrises,” and “Witchy Women” couldn't be ignored. Besides, the guys must be doing something right if Chris Farmer, a 12-year member of the Beach Boys wants to play music with them.

He'll be joining The Long Run when they make the trip to Laughlin to perform two shows nightly in Kokopelli's Showroom, within the Edgewater, Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the cage.

The Laughlin entertainer recently talked with Gary Grantham of The Long Run about the band and what audiences can expect when they check them out in Kokopelli's.

Q. Talk about the group. How did you guys get together?

A. It was actually 1999 when we met, talked and started performing. Most of us had never even thought of tributes before. I personally didn't know about them being from the original group experience, and being in a cover band was not all that appealing either. When we found out the next new wave was the tribute show, and that we were going to jump on that, we wanted to do music we liked, music that was big on vocal harmony, and that was challenging-we thought if we were going to do this we wanted to do something with wide demographic appeal that was great for all kinds of venues-the festival environment, clubs, corporate and private shows. That's why we chose the Eagles and we've just been going ever since.

Q. Talk about the guys in the group.

A. We've got a wide range of experience. We have people in the band who are in multiple tribute acts that are very successful. We have one band member who just joined us. He got off a 12-year run with the Beach Boys and another worked with Neil Young's band Crazy Horse.

Our regular bass player won't be joining us at the Edgewater. We're bringing Chris Farmer, who just joined the band as a sub, he was with the Beach Boys for 12 years. He called because he said he was looking to fill his calender with quality work. He's a welcome addition. Ironically, our bass player is also very busy in another tribute band, a Led Zeppelin group so he decided he needed to find a substitute when he couldn't play for us. So Jim got on his computer to look and he was also thinking we were to do another tribute who would we do-Beach Boys. Then who does he get a note from wanting to join our group, former Beach Boy, Chris Farmer. Now, we've decided everybody has to have a sub.

Q. What sets your group apart?

A. Good harmony. Everybody has to be able to sing. We devote at least 50 percent of our rehearsal time to standing in a circle-we call it the circle of fear-and singing harmony. We listen to each other and we're standing so close we can feel the vibration in each other's throats. We don't take the harmonies for granted, we're constantly checking. We can tell when it's right. We are vocal nazis. We know every band has their good nights and bad nights-we want every night to be a good night. When we have people who come up to us after the show and say, “Oh, by God, your harmonies are so beautiful,” that's the reason it has to be right. Eagles' harmonies were their trademark in the ‘70s. That's why we spend more time on that than anything.

Q. Have any of you played in other Eagles tribute bands?

A. None of us have ever been in any other Eagles tribute bands but we are friendly with a couple of the triute bands. Desperado has subbed with us and we have a great relationship with Hotel California.

Q. Is everything live? No tracks?

A. That's a “watch word.” We decided as an objective-we set out to do it live and actually sing. That's why we're constantly looking for people who sing. I know people criticize bands for using tracks, but the truth is, the Eagles themselves use track rather than have 14 guys on stage. With us, the sentiment is that we're still a cover band who's just together for the purpose of entertaining-to give people what they want and just have fun with it.

Q. Talk about your show. Do you change up the set list each night?

A. A couple of things we noticed about the Eagles that was one of their hallmarks was their long comfortable relationship with country and soft rock and their edgier rock transformation. There were four or five songs where Joe Walsh would really dig into those from time to time. That's one of the first things in the beginning that people noticed about us-”these guys hit the harder stuff and really rock it.”

When you research Eagles history, they were classified as country rock with the Southern California thing, but they really wanted to be a rock band. Labels and such led them that way, and there was no escaping the ballads. We incorporate all those influences.

Also I think to have good audience rapport is to keep the show moving and flowing and take time to talk to the audience and find out what they want to hear. It's not one of those things where you press play and do the same 90-minute show every time. We try to be as much about the moment as we possibly can.

Q. What has been the response to your show at other venues?

A. The best thing is the reviews in magazines and people's comments on the live show-that lets us know how we're doing. One thing I'm surprised at is how much young people enjoy classic rock. This is the generation where we're raising our kids on the music we listened to. Actually the demographics are wider than when we started playing. We're seeing 10 year old kids and older people like my mother, who's 83, coming to as many shows as she can because she's come to like the music so much.

Q. What song gets the most response?

A. There are two we cannot get away without playing-“Desperado” and “Hotel California.” Other staples are “Lyin' Eyes,” “New Kid In Town,” “Life in the Fast Lane,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” which were huge . But things really pick up when we go into Joe Walsh stuff like “Rocky Mountain Way,” and “Funk 49,” it adds another level of energy. I love to watch people do the unexpected when we're playing-the other night people were country line dancing to “Life in the Fast Lane.” We've added the Eagles' new material from Long Road Out of Eden to our play list. “How Long” was actually written in 1972-73, which I think is one of the reasons we put it in there-it sounds like classic Eagles. One or two more songs from that album will be working their way into the show as well.

Q. Do you think people automatically think tribute band, and turn their noses up? Do you also think the way to dispel that belief is to just be damn good at what you do?

A. I think that has a lot to do with it. I have good friends who really don't want to come to the show-they have no respect for tribute bands. One of the things that make this worth doing for me personally, is you have to approach a tribute band like playing in a symphony orchestra-it isn't just a bunch of good musicians jammin' and playing on stage from night to night. The hope there each night is to play their parts letter perfect. Each guy is responsible for their part. It's like doing theater-they inject their part with their soul and their heart to play the parts right. We've learned that after having done this for eight years.

We're great players who don't have that tribute band mindset. We feel if everybody puts their heart and soul into what their doing and each one does what he's supposed to do, then each night we have a shot at delivering the music with the respect and reverence the audience expects. When it's right, people can't help but perk up and enjoy it. We're quality musicians playing a distinct sound, just like the Eagles. We never think we're them, but we do put our hearts and souls into the music-it's kind of like we're transporting people. We subscribe to the philosophy, “we're blue collar guys earning a blue collar living.”

Q. What song do you do last?

A. Usually “Heartache Tonight.” Toward the end of the set, we're wrapping things up from “Desperado,” and we want to push the energy back up, especially if there's a dance floor. We usually like to end on a high note.

Q. Do you have a favorite Eagles song?

A. It changes all the time. It's mitigated on how well I'm singing them. If I hit all the falsettos, I'm diggin' it.

Q. Is there a goal with this band?

A. When we came up with the name, we thought about what we wanted to accomplish-that's when we decided it should be “The Long Run, experience the Eagles.” We want people to do just that-experience the Eagles-whatever that means to them in whatever way that means.

THE LONG RUN

experience the Eagles

Friday, June 6 and Saturday, June 7, at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Kokopelli's Showroom

within the

EDGEWATER

Tickets are $10

For tickets, see the main cage

or call

1-702-298-2453