If you want to have a night of dancing and singing to the songs you know but aren’t sick of, check these guys out. Seriously.

I’m not easily shaken, but there’s something about a bar garnished with Confederate flags that puts me a bit on edge. Call it the Jew in me. Call it the dyke in me. Call it the Philly in me. Call it having no idea what I’d gotten myself into.
    That, and the band hadn’t shown up yet.
    I’d gotten this call the night before from my editor, telling me about a show Saturday night.  A classic rock (gah!) cover band (ugh!) called Loose Gravel (no comment) out by the airport (pfft!). But being “new” and wanting to “make a good impression,” I quickly agreed and knew that at the very least, friends later on might buy me drinks out of pity when I regaled them with stories of how I’d narrowly survived another derivative cover of “Hotel California.”
    Oh, and I was supposed to interview the band and their manager.
“I know I’m throwing you to the wolves on this one,” said my editor over the phone.
The band meanders in, one member at a time, as they had played a show the night before at the same place, left their equipment over night, and therefore didn’t need time to set up.  Singer/guitarist Bill Coon was the first one brave enough to engage me in conversation, and I’m glad he did. His warm personality and silly humor disarmed me, and I started to feel more at ease in this environment.
Coon introduced me to the band’s manager, Kathy Russis. Russis’ no nonsense demeanor strikes a deep contrast to her petite stature, and I could tell she’s suspicious of what I might write about her, or the band for that matter. Still, she remained the very picture of professionalism and slowly warmed up to me as I asked her some questions about managing three bands.
33: How long have you managed bands?
Kathy Russis: This is the first band I’ve managed.  Three and half years, going on four, and I love it.
33: What got you into managing?
KR: I had been following bands since I was a teenager. The lead singer here [Bill Coon], he and I went to school together and I followed his last two bands and of course, this band. They had gone through two managers, and when the last one quit, I volunteered. And I could tell they were a little bit, not skeptical, but I had never done this before. Luckily their previous manager had them booked solid for three months, and I just took it from there. Each time they play somewhere I introduce myself to the managers of the clubs just so they would know me.
33: And I understand that you manage two other bands, too?
KR: Yep, two other great bands. Nat King Kong, a couple of those guys have played with a couple of these guys [Loose Gravel] and they all know each other. Union Pacific Band, same thing. We had one gig that our bass player couldn’t make it, so the bass player in Nat King Kong subbed for him. So it works out.
That’s how I’m able to get the other two bands in a place. Loose Gravel was my main band for about a year, so Nat King Kong asked me to book them. What helped them get into places was that if somebody called and they wanted this band and the band’s booked, so I used the other band. So it kind of works all three ways now.
33: How do you find bands to manage?
KR: It’s word of mouth. Actually the bands come to me and ask me now. I’ve had two other bands ask me to manage them, so I’ve gone out and listened to them.
33: What are some of the challenges that you face when trying to book bands?
KR: It’s always a challenge if it’s a new place, just trying to get in the door. Club managers are really hesitant about calling you back. Some of them will say “Great, send me a demo” and some of them will say “Send me something and I’ll see” and they just don’t call you, so you have to be really aggressive. I don’t like to be too aggressive, where I’ll get on their nerves, but I do like to follow up, just to make sure they got the package and they like the band.
33: Do you find that people support cover bands more than original material?
KR: I do. I think when they go out, people like to listen to music they’re familiar with, dance to, sing along with.  Personally, I find it boring if I don’t know the music. That’s just me. I’ve always liked music that I can sing to.
33: Do you think that since the members of the band are older, that their demographic would be more inclined…
KR: They like the older music that they grew up with.
33: One last question: Do you find that venues, when booking your bands, prefer cover bands to original material?
KR: Depends on the venue.  I do wish venues would advertise bands more. That’s my biggest peeve, especially if it’s a new place. I see both sides of it. They want the band to be able to bring in a crowd, and some bands do and some bands are newer, and those are the bands that are harder to get into a place. But the band expects that place to have a crowd too.  If places would just advertise that they have bands and that it’s free…if you don’t put out there that you have bands, then you won’t get a crowd.
I wish club owners would realize that if you start earlier, then  you’d have more people there. You have the happy hour crowd till seven, seven thirty, and if your band doesn’t start till nine, nine thirty, ten o’clock, that crowd’s gone. If you start and eight, seven forty-five, you still have the bar crowd, and it’s great.
    So, onto the band.
I must admit that I was skeptical. I’ve been playing music for 18 years and have been composing nearly all that time. I’ve been in five bands, all original material, and I tend to look down on cover bands with scorn and disdain. So do most people who write original material. Upon telling my band’s singer that I interviewed a cover band, his lip curled in a way of which Billy Idol would be envious. To say the least, the question that I, or anyone else I’ve talked to, can’t get out of my mind is a resounding “Why?”
This is the part where I open mouth, insert foot.
I mean, what do musicians do when they reach that magical age of thirty-something and haven’t “made it?” What do they do when they get a nervous tick after not picking up their instruments for two days?  Are they supposed to completely give up their passion for music because they didn’t have the hit single?
Loose Gravel shows that just because you’re in a cover band, that doesn’t doom you to a fate of never-ending “Free Bird” and “Proud Mary” renditions. Their set encompasses material as recent as Jet and Black Crows. When they play Tom Petty, it’s not “Free Fallin’.” It’s “Here Comes My Girl.” Their “Respect” conjures the magic of the all-but-forgotten Otis Redding original.
These guys just love playing. Buzzy Lawler, who shares an eerie resemblance to Eric Clapton, relishes in rekindling the lost art of rhythm guitar. Bill Coon keeps the atmosphere unpretentious with his jovial banter, and it’s an understatement to say that he’s a pro on guitar. Henry Gerber hammers the bass line for “Miss You” with deadly accuracy. (It’s hard to hit those perfect eights!) And speaking of the Stones, I swear that drummer Ray Lassiter and Charlie Watts must share the same metronome. The guy doesn’t miss a beat and along with Gerber, make a solid backbone for the guitarists. These guys might be playing covers, but you’d never know it.
33: First and foremost, why covers?
Henry: Well, ever try playing original music in this town?
Laughter and chorus of ‘we all have!’
Buzzy: We’re all in our 50s, and you can get more gigs and more people to come out if you play covers. Also, not everything we do is all that familiar. We mix it up a bit with songs that are older that we know.
Henry: There’s not a lot of bands that do Lou Reed these days.
Bill: The bottom line is that we try to play as much danceable stuff as we can and not be too artsy, even though we come off artsy sometimes and get a lot of blank stares. But we really just want people to dance and have a good time, sing along.
Henry: We all went through the original thing ourselves and we did that for a long time. And it was good for what it was and it worked really well for us back then. But now we want to keep playing.
33: What are some of your influences, not just bands, but musicians, too?
Buzzy: Brian Wilson, The Who.
Bill: Dean Hunter, Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Cheap Trick, Ray Davies and the Kinks, Badfinger.
Buzzy: Lou Reed. Did we mention Lou?
Ray: Some country music.
Henry: Come on, man.
Ray: I don’t know, I like ‘em all, man!
Henry: I’m a huge Paul McCartney fan. He’s my big influence, as well as people like Jack Bruce.
33: How do you pick your covers?
Henry: Lately, we’ve been playing stuff that we like to play and what we think everyone else might want to hear. Is it going to get them up on the floor? Before we looked mostly at what we might enjoy, but now we kind of look at what they might enjoy.
Buzzy; But it’s always got to be songs that we enjoy playing.
Bill: Though there are songs that we do that we…
Buzzy: Bite the bullet.
Henry: And usually when we do something that we don’t like, we usually find a way to inject our own thing into it.
33: What song do you wish you had written?
Silence.
Someone lets out a low whistle.
Buzzy: “And Your Bird Can Sing.”  What were you going to say, “Shake Some Action?”
Bill: I thought that’s what you were going to say, but “And Your Bird Can Sing” is a good one.
Henry: Just from the sheer magnitude of it: “Yesterday.” That would have been a good one for me.
Buzzy: “God Only Knows.”
Bill: I like “Wonderful.” From “Smile.” Or anything during that period that Brian Wilson wrote during the Smile period.
If you want to have a night of dancing and singing to the songs you know but aren’t sick of, check these guys out. Seriously.

October 10 @SJ’s Lakeside Tavern 7:45-11:45 pm
5406 Lakeside Ave.
and it’s free!
Also check out Buzzy’s show on WRIR 97.3 “Shake Some Action” every Saturday morning from 11am-1pm

loosegravelrocks.com

By Author: Sadie Powers

Sadie Powers is the bass player for Nude Photos of Celebrities, a queer post-punk band based in Richmond, Virginia. She started playing violin in fifth grade to get out of math class and met the love of her life, bass, four years later.  Powers has played in several bands, including the Richmond cult post-rock band Planar. She considers Miles Davis’ “Flamenco Sketches” and “Brian Eno’s “1/1” to be perfect songs. ‘Tomorrow Never Knows” isn’t too shabby, either. Her greatest achievements to date are meeting her hero, Steve Reich, running after Bauhaus’ David J in spiked heels and a red feather boa, and sharing a joint with My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields.  Powers lives in Oregon Hill, RVA and restores porcelain in order to fund her music habit.

Comments(4):

1. These Guys Rock !

   I have seen this band several times in the past but it has been a few years ago. That will change.I met Bill while working in Richmond at Hawkeye .He is a Great Guy and very knowlegable when it come to music. He is however very ugly to be a front man lol JK Bill. I met the rest of the guys when they were doing a gig before.They were all on point musically and very nice bunch,SEE YOU SOON , Mike Tracy

   Friday, October 02, 2009 Mike

2. Tight business, Loose Gravel

   I really enjoyed this article's approach to the tight business of performing covers in Richmond. Loose Gravel does a great job of injecting energy into their shows and their selection of danceable music gets the crowd moving. I have played many shows with them, with my bands Backstage Pass and The Barracudas, and always find myself singing along with their music. Most people don't know how tight the music business is at this time. Club owners are trying hard to survive around Richmond, customers are saying they have little extra money to go out on the town, and band equipment keeps getting more expensive. Musicians have to love their work and they get most of their rewards from observing the crowds. Loose Gravel's band members are very talented and fun to watch as they crank out classic rock and keep rock alive. Kathy Russis is an excellent manager and she puts her heart and soul into promoting live music around Richmond. They all deserve a round of applause for keeping us entertained with skill and devotion to their craft. Did I mention the thousands of dollars they have helped raise for the Shriner's Childrens hospital? Maybe a followup article might point that out for the readers and show another side of devotion to the fans. Rock On! Mike Parker.

   Friday, October 02, 2009 Mike

3. Venues and bands and promotion.

   Kathy Russis hits the nail on the head with her comment, "...the band expects that place (the venue) to have a crowd too. If places would just advertise that they have bands and that it’s free…if you don’t put out there that you have bands, then you won’t get a crowd." I couldn't have said that any better. I owe Kathy a beer.

   Wednesday, October 07, 2009 Jim

4. Advertising

   Guys, thanks for the complements and your loyalty to local live music. I would like to point out that my comment on "it's free" to mean that most local venues and clubs don't know that "it's free to advertise" their live entertaiment or events. I make use of four local publications and also on-line publications that allow venues and bands to advertise live music or any other events - for free. The Weekend section of the Times Dispatch (Thursday) and Style are the better known ones that most people, including me, swear by every week to let us know who's playing where and when. It's there for all of us to utilize - and it's free. Support Live Music.....Kathy and LG

   Sunday, October 18, 2009 Kathy