Los Lonely Boys with the Gary Douglas Band at The Space at Westbury
Los Lonely Boys with the Gary Douglas Band
The Space at Westbury
Westbury, NY
April 20, 2019
The Grammy Award-winning classic rock power trio, Los Lonely Boys, hails from San Angelo, Texas. The band calls their powerful musical gumbo “Texican Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Los Lonely Boys mélange of styles combines elements of good old fashioned rock, Texas blues, Americana, brown-eyed soul, R&B, country, power pop and Tejano.
The three members of the band are brothers, actual brothers. The Garza brothers--vocalist/guitarist Henry, bassist/vocalist Jojo and drummer/vocalist Ringo-- took the band’s name from the lyrics of a song their father wrote. As brothers, the three have stuck together through thick and thin. The highs have been very high (2004’s self-titled major label debut album (Epic Records/Or Music), has sold over 2.5 million copies and featured “Heaven,” the Grammy-winning Best Pop Performance and No. 1 hit single) and the lows have been quite low (in 2013, the band canceled 43 shows and was forced to delay work on the Revelation album (Blue Rose Records, 2014) after Henry was seriously hurt when he fell from a stage and a few years earlier lesions on his vocal cord caused Jojo to stop singing for months).
During the course of its career, Los Lonely Boys has released six studio albums, a Christmas album, three live albums, two live DVDs, the all-cover song EP 1969 (Lonelytone Records/Playing in Traffic, 2009) and three greatest hits collections. The band has also appeared on a number of tribute albums and, in 2010 released the community-minded song “Solid Ground.” The song is about the Family Justice Center (of Erie County) which provides services for victims of domestic violence.
In addition to “Heaven” and “Solid Ground,” Los Lonely Boys’ catalogue includes: “Señorita,” “Onda,” “Diamonds,” “Outlaws,” “Home,” “Blame It On Love,” “Give A Little More,” “Roses” and impressive covers of Santana’s “Evil Ways,” The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues,” The Beatles’ “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” John Lennon’s “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night” and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Born On The Bayou.”
The eponymously named Gary Douglas Band is led by a Long Island born and bred rocker who favors cowboy boots and southern rock flavored anthems. Douglas is also a Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame attorney who fights for workers’ rights. The seven member band is comprised of: Douglas on guitar and lead vocals; Jeremy Goldsmith on guitar; Nicolas Biello on reeds and keyboards; Dan Asher on bass; Tom Curiano on drums; Sebastien Ammann on keyboards and Jessica Antonette on backing vocals and acoustic guitar. The band’s latest CD is the independently released Deep In The Water (2018).
On a late-April Saturday evening at the Space at Westbury, Los Lonely Boys and the Gary Douglas Band treated an enthusiastic Long Island audience to a wonderful night of happy and brawny rock ‘n’ roll. Gary Douglas and his cohorts were on first and did not disappoint. The band’s strong half-hour set included: the title track from em>Deep In The Water, a rockin’ version of “River Road,” “Nothing Ever Goes As Planned” and “Wild Child.”
After a sort intermission, Los Lonely Boys stormed the stage in true power trio fashion. It delivered an amazing, explosive, greasy and gritty Latin-flavored version of “Born On The Bayou” that brought the crowd to its collective feet and had them dancing in the aisles. Los Lonely Boys recorded its version of the classic song for the Quiero Creedence (Concord Records, 2016) compilation. On this night, the band, truly, made the song its own--changing the lyric in the final chorus to “born in el barrio.”
After that, Henry, Jojo and Ringo shifted into a higher gear and delivered an amazing set that kept the attentive crowd on its feet, dancing the night away while enthusiastically applauding and whooping appreciatively after each song. Highlights included: “Blame It on Love” and “So Sensual” (both of which were from Revelation); the jamming improvised call and response stream of consciousness “Que Pasa” during which Henry and Jojo danced and let their hair down; “Oye Mamacita;” “Friday Night” and, of course, the show closer--“Heaven.”
During the performance the brothers’ joy and love of playing was evident as they harmonized, blended rhythms and fed off the kinetic energy of the audience members. The audience members, in turn, sang along, especially on “Heaven” and had themselves a grand time celebrating life on a Saturday night that they’ll remember for quite some time.
Los Lonely Boys’ performance was fantastic, tight and fun. The three musicians spent the evening smiling and playing their hearts out. Jojo’s vocals were spot-on. He was also a perpetual motion machine, marching, dancing to the beat and laying down a funky rhythm with his six-string bass. Henry’s tasty guitar and soaring leads gave the songs depth and body, while Ringo’s powerful drumming provided the backbeat and the soul that made each song special.
Photo Credit: Christine Connallon
