Paul Chesne

The band in its current incarnation has been together for over 2 years (120+ shows) with a solid lineup of Eric “Dutch” Suoninen on guitar, Jonny Niemann on keyboards & Wurlitzer, Steve Tegel on bass & Paxton on the drums. Those guys all spent time with a different lead singer signed to American Recordings by Rick Rubin as "The Vacation". They toured England and the United States extensively. We all met, were born and cut our teeth playing several hundred shows at the infamous dive bar connected to Canter’s Jewish Deli, the Kibitz Room, in Los Angeles where many bands got their start including Lenny Kravitz and the Wallflowers. In January 2008 we released our second record "White Man's Curse" with a sold out show at the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip opening up for Texas country star Pat Green. That was our second sold out opening slot with Pat at the HOB. (The first was in 2006 shortly after the release of our first record “Wet Dog Man”.) Other notable shows include opening up for Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers at the sold out Viper Room, Marc Ford of the Black Crowes, Trainwreck (featuring all the guys from Tenacious D), Whitestarr & Reckless Kelly all at the Viper Room. We also opened up for notable singer/songwriters Wayne Hancock and Dale Watson. We play an average of 60 shows a year mostly in Southern California. Over the last 8 years, guitar virtuoso “Dutch” and I have played over 400 hundred shows together. Once a month we play at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles going from bed side to bed side for several hours carrying our acoustic guitars and serenading pediatric cancer and bone marrow patients. Leaving smiles on their faces and ours, sometimes tears too. For the last year we’ve had a residency once a month at Fishlips in Bakersfield growing our audience outside of LA. We'll be opening up for Junior Brown there in June. We have a residency once a month in Santa Monica at O’Brien’s Pub. Lines of 30 minutes or more and frenzied crowds are a guarantee. As well as top notch opening acts and surprise guest musicians. Dave Roe of Johnny Cash's band for 12+ years sang back up vocals on the new record, and played bass on a couple songs on the first record. I actually saw him play with Jonny 4 times. Little did I know years later he would play on my record and even sit in with us when he’s in town! The first record was excellently produced by notable drummer Mitch Marine of Dwight Yoakam, Brave Combo and Smash Mouth. He also played in our band for a couple years. We're doing some touring in the summer with shows in Bakersfield, Sacramento and Reno, NV. There are shows in Santa Cruz and San Francisco on the horizon as well. More extensive touring is a desire and a necessity. We need more time to make fun of each other in the infamous van. I was recently featured on the internet TV show "The Samantha Murphy Show" with my old friend and sometimes band mate Elvis Perkins (XL Records). We played some songs and were interviewed. Celebrity sightings at shows: Billy Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool & Mike Dirnt of Green Day came to 3 shows, Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers came to 2 shows, Kiefer Sutherland, Shakira & Sheryl Crow’s bass player (Jon Button) comes whenever he’s in town, Members of the band Sparta, Mars Volta, Smash Mouth, Dickie Betts of the Allman Brothers, Lucinda Williams, Gary Busey, etc. Another honorary member of the band who sits in with us at about half of our shows is rock n’ roll legend Willie Chambers of the Chambers Brothers. It never fails to give me chills jamming with him. The first time we jammed he said, “I haven’t done this since 1968 when Jimi Hendrix hopped onstage and sat in” with him and his brothers. We also have beautiful twin back up singers on occasion: The Dahl Sisters. They also sang on the record.