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Lukas Nelson & Darren Hall - A Talent All Their Own!

 

The Rocker Twins tell their experience of working with the sons of legends

*Post Date  April 27th, 2014*

This article was supposed to be a concert review, but after the experience we had with both of these acts, (Darren Hall and Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real) we felt that they were more than deserving of a few more words, than just a simple review.

 

When asked if we wanted to work with not one, but two legends of music's sons, we were more than leery. With our preconceived notions, judgmental roll of our eyes and heavy sighs, we threw up our hands and said, why not! Lets see what happens.

 

Metal girls our whole lives, even we have HUGE respect for Willie Nelson. From his amazing song writing, to his body of work, to his charities (Farm Aid), and quite frankly for just being the epitome of COOL! And as children of the 80's, Darryl Hall's (Hall & Oates) songs were the background music of our childhood. Come on, like we're the only ones who still sing and clap our hands to "Private Eyes".

 

Like everyone else we've seen the other sons of legends with their kickstarter funds asking for $100,000 to record an album, and we've all seen the reality shows with the star's kids competing against one another, so you see where we were hesitant. Still, we did what we always do, we did the research on them. Yes, both Darren and Lukas have very famous fathers, and yes both are very talented, but both couldn't have had more of a different upbringing. While Lukas was born and raised with his father, Darren was not.

 

Doing the research we saw Lukas getting to play with his dad, and every other legend you could imagine. Research on Darren...well, there isn't really any to speak of, except for a blip on Darryl Hall's Wikipedia page stating the name of his biological son, which takes you to a court case about a child support disbute, so right there you can see the difference. We thought these two acts don't have anything in common, except for an impressive, musical gene pool. Then we listened to the music, and wouldn't you know, they're more alike than we thought. Both of them have a very Venice Beach/ Laurel Canyon vibe to them, so we thought why not put them on the same bill. So that's what we did.

Still leery, our anxieties started to disappear as we talked to each of them through the event of putting on the concert. This is where we saw more differences. Where we were dealing with agents, managers and publicists, rightfully so, for Lukas, for Darren we just dealt with him.

However when dealing with each of them personally you find them both to be endearing, genuine guys. From Darren talking about growing up with his rocker mom in Duluth, to Lukas talking about his Uncle Kris (Kristofferson) they were just real about everything they said. From where they are in their lives to where they want to be.

 

We have to tell you that we've never enjoyed working a show so much in our career. From picking up Darren at the airport. To losing his guitar between flights. To him making himself right at home like he had always been there. To Corey (Mc Cormick, bass player for POTR) hopping off The Honey Suckle Rose with a hug and bags of laundry. To picking up Tato, Anthony, Ross and Corey in our beater 99 Neon for dinner at our house. To Lukas and Uncle Mike arriving for dinner and heading straight to the kitchen to make sure they thanked my mom for cooking. To everyone insisting that Tashie's Korean Nachos are in fact the best thing since sliced bread. To the pow wow Aunt Pam threw upstairs. To the smile on Anthony's face when we asked how many plates he was on after his trip back upstairs with Aunt Pam. To the impromptu concert on my living room couch by Lukas. To him singing Amazing Grace for my mom, Wild Horses, and his Uncle Kris' "Help Me Make It Through The Night", after seeing a ribbon tied around Brandy's wrist. To the crazy girl that didn't know a thing about music, and irritated everyone in the process...what was she doing in our house? To Lukas handing my mom the stash of laundry he brought with him and charming her into doing it at midnight. To loading Lukas and band back into the beater 99 Neon with the squeaky brakes. To me and Aunt Pam cleaning the dinner mess. To sending Darren to bed as he had a 6am interview. To Mom, Brandy and Vik doing Lukas' laundry. To me, Darren and Aunt Pam heading to the news studio before the sun came up. To watching Darren be a total ROCK STAR on air. To having Aunt Pam make the weather man laugh and barely recover on air. To the news anchor bouncing off her chair in total lust after Darren sings and plays for her. To Mc Donald's drive thur with Darren for a celebratory Mc Griddle. To Brandy and Tashie driving Corey up to Powder Horn so he could snowboard before the show. To the crazy purchaser and all his drama. To no sleep for anyone after that. To thanking God that Fucking Dio has the crew handled and brought Brian along to help and have our backs. To Sheela taking awesome pictures. To Tashie making dinner in the middle of drama. To Page, Cameron, and Koric handling load in and door rotations. To Mike going into FIGHT CLUB mode and helping everyone all day. To Theresa working a full day and still showing up being the best box office girl ever. To taking Brian to the dentist so the poor guy could eat. To Erik and Andy at The Mesa and their awesome staff. To James and his band (The Williams Brothers) helping out and making us all laugh. To the love we felt all day from our crew, club and bands. And this was all BEFORE THE SHOW! For lack of a better term it felt...magical.

 

Having to deal with day of show stress is always a toss up, you hope for the best and know to expect the worse. As a promoter it's our job to deal with the headaches, some times it's a club owner, sometimes a tour manager, sometimes a band memeber, but not in this case. Except for an annoyance we were already dealing with, I couldn't have asked for a better club (Mesa Theater) and their staff to work with, our crew was solid as always and all the acts were a dream.

 

With three acts on the bill it was more than a joy to see, at one point in the day, all of the lead singers talking about how they wanted the show to progress. We've been doing concerts for over 15 years now and have never seen a headliner come out and collaborate with his opening acts, to say Lukas Nelson is a gentleman would be putting it mildly. He instantly made everyone feel at ease.

With Darren (Hall) opening the show with an acoustic set, you would have never known that this was his first time in front of a national act.

Talk about someone with STAR quality, and charisma oozing out of every pore. Excited to see him play live, a YOU TUBE video does not do his talent justice.

 

Walking out he greeted his audience like a seasoned performer, and had the crowd instantly eating out of his hands. Starting his set off seated, with his guitar laid across his lap we watched in awe, as did the crowd, while he played in such a unique and masterful way. Watching as he tapped the strings and strummed them with a confident caress us, and everyone in the crowd was mesmerized. Usually when we think of finger tapping we think Eddie Van Halen, well now we'll also think of Darren Hall. Along with his masterful guitar playing skills, self taught by the way, you hear his voice. The range he carries, along with his well placed octive changes, catches your brain and reels you in more. And the song writing, with a complete original set the lyrics drill themselves into your head making you want to sing along even if it's the first time you're hearing it. To say it's in his genes, maybe, but not entirely. This is purely a talent all his own!

 

By the close of his set the crowd was on their feet cheering and applauding, and everyone asking why they haven't heard of him before?

 

Bridging the gap between Darren's phenomenal acoustic set, to Lukas' high energy show we have local favorites, The Williams Brothers Band. Bringing a mix of everything they energized the crowd even more, getting everyone on their feet. From their fun originals to a much needed Greatful Dead dedication to my headache of the day, thank you guys for that, they kept the show thumping.

 

Closing out their set and making sure the crowd stayed on a high, they finished strong with the crowd dancing as they covered, Waylon Jennings' "Good Hearted Woman", everyone singing along. Setting the perfect mood for our headliner to hit stage.

Watching Lukas and the Promise Of The Real guys on YOU TUBE we already knew that they were very high energy. Never (we told you we're METAL girls right?) have we worked with a band that has their own bongo player, so we were intrigued and more than curious to see if we were going to like it.

 

Let us just say this, Lukas Nelson is now our definition of stage presence. If you think (we admit we're guilty of this too) that you're going to go and see his daddy's show, you would be wrong! Not to say that Willie isn't a presence of his own, but we've seen Willie Nelson a few times and this is NOT a Willie Nelson show. It is a full on ROCK N ROLL SHOW!

 

Watching Lukas and his band mates on stage you can see the real friendship between them and feel their love of what they're doing. We mentioned the bongos right? Well let us tell you, hearing Tato (Melgar) play along side Anthony (Lo Gerfo) added something more to the sound. It might sound crazy but it seemed like the bongos made you feel it more in your heart. Where Tato's bongos added a richness to the beats, Anthony's rawness added to the power of the set, and of course him having the most endearing smile ever doesn't hurt either. The drumming of Anthony behind the kit and the heartfelt sounds of Tato on bongos set the tone for their show.

 

On bass you have Corey (Mc Cormick), already loving him as we knew he had played with Chris Cornell, he completely blew us away. A lot of times the bass player gets over looked, the guy on the side of the stage holding down the front. Sure, you could say Corey did this, but he did SO MUCH MORE! Knowing that not only is Lukas the lead singer, but also the soul guitar player, you can see and hear Corey not only keeping the beat, but also playing his bass as an added guitar player on stage. We've never seen anything like it. We've never seen anyone literally play a bass like he was playing lead guitar. His rhythm changes and note progressions are something to marvel at, and still he bounced around the stage, leaping from one end to the other while he and Lukas did an amazing stage show. Brad Pitt called it right...haha, inside joke.

And last but definitely not least we get to Lukas. Like we said, don't get it in your head that you're going to see a Willie Nelson concert. When we say he rocks, trust us...HE DOES!

 

With a bluesy, rock voice and added amount of twang, he is definitely a vocal talent. The voice was amazing, but his guitar skills are off the charts. With their original songs, we will say that his song writing skills he does get from his dad. The lyrics for "Wasted" tell a story that will get stuck in your head, as we can attest to now while we sing it in our heads. Not only is their original material a great body of work, but the show they put on to go with it is amazing! Playing a 3 hour set, not only are these guys talented musicians, but athletes as well, never seeming to tire throughout their set and keeping the crowd entertained from start to finish.

 

With Lukas doing leaps in the air, and flips off of Corey's back, their energy and love of what they're doing resonates through the crowd and keeps everyone on their feet wanting more, and MORE we got! We got Lukas playing his guitar with his teeth, an homage to his guitar hero Jimi Hendrix. Then between their original material you see and hear them pay respect to their heros. From covering Pearl Jam's "Just Breathe", just as Willie did on his Heros album, to The Rolling Stones "Sympathy For The Devil", and you literally felt like you were at The Whisky a Go Go, circa 1971 while he closed out the show with The Doors' "L.A. Woman".

 

To say we enjoyed Darren Hall, Lukas Nelson and all the Promise Of The Real boys would be an understatement. Putting on this show has more than rejuvenated our souls. And being around seeing and hearing the level of pure talent was amazing! You could say...it's in their genes. You could say...must be nice. But we won't. We will say that Lukas and Darren have a talent all their own! And we expect to see and hear GREAT things from them in the future. Their talent alone demands it!

 

And in the words of #TonyThePeaceTurtle we send them Peace, Love and Harmony.

Follow the artists at:

 

*Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real:

 

www.PromiseOfTheReal.com

www.twitter.com/potr

www.youtube.com/promiseofthereal

www.promiseofthereal.com/store

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/wasted/

 

*Darren Hall:

 

www.darrenhallmusic.com

www.facebook.com/darrenhallmusic

www.indiegogo.com/projects/darren-hall-debut-ep-release#home

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