{"id":431,"date":"2015-11-23T13:18:44","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T18:18:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/?p=431"},"modified":"2015-11-23T13:18:44","modified_gmt":"2015-11-23T18:18:44","slug":"as-it-should-be-whitford-st-holmes-blows-the-doors-off-havana-new-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/as-it-should-be-whitford-st-holmes-blows-the-doors-off-havana-new-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"As it should be: Whitford St. Holmes blows the doors off Havana New Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Derek<\/a>

Derek St. Holmes rocks out during the Whitford St. Holmes show Nov. 22 at Havana in New Hope, PA.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was around around 3 a.m. on a Saturday in 1971, and Derek St. Holmes had just arrived home. The high school senior was in a band called \u201cScott,\u201d and it had a Friday night gig that had kept him out late, something that his parents usually weren\u2019t too happy about.<\/p>\n

The St. Holmes family lived in Riverview, Michigan, known as \u201cdown river\u201d from Detroit. St. Holmes\u2019 sister, two years his senior, was off to college, which was a break for St. Holmes. Her bedroom was bigger than his, and when she left, Derek got to move into her room and claim it as his own.<\/p>\n

On this night, though, his parents were asleep by the time St. Holmes got home. He got to his bedroom without waking them up, but he was still hyped up from the band\u2019s performance.<\/p>\n

So with his guitar in hand, he sat on the edge of his bed and started to write a song. He got out a piece of paper and a pen and started playing the guitar and writing the lyrics, trying hard not to wake his parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next day I ran it by the band to see how we could put it together and play it. And it sounded great,\u201d said St. Holmes.<\/p>\n

A few years later, in 1974, \u201cScott\u201d had progressed to the point where the band opened for Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes.<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/a>

Brad Whitford, guitarist for Aerosmith, gets into the Whitford St. Holmes performance Sunday night.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

By late 1974, though, Nugent had tired of The Amboy Dukes. He decided to leave the band and start a new one, simply calling it The Ted Nugent Band. He would bring Dukes\u2019 bassist Rob Grange with him, and eventually would add drummer Cliff Davies.<\/p>\n

But Nugent still needed a vocalist and rhythm guitarist.
\nBecause \u201cScott\u201d had opened for Nugent, St. Holmes had on occasion hung out with Nugent, having dinner and kicking around Nugent\u2019s Michigan farm.<\/p>\n

That was enough to get St. Holmes a tryout and he impressed Nugent sufficiently enough to be offered a job as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the band.<\/p>\n

And then it was time to make an album.<\/p>\n

The self-titled \u201cTed Nugent\u201d album was the new band\u2019s first effort. It would be recorded at The Sound Pit in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.<\/p>\n

Although that first album had Nugent\u2019s heavy footprint on it, there is one song that was written, arranged and performed by St. Holmes on the album, and for which he gets all the credit. It\u2019s called \u201cHey Baby,\u201d and it is the song that St. Holmes wrote in his bedroom at 3 a.m. that Saturday morning in 1971 when he was a senior in high school and still living in his parents\u2019 house in Riverview, Michigan.<\/p>\n

The \u201cTed Nugent\u201d album, released in September 1975, reached No. 28 on the Billboard 200 album charts in 1976. \u201cHey Baby\u201d was the only single from the album to chart, checking in at No. 72 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The album would go on to be a double-platinum album in the United States and a gold album in Canada.<\/p>\n

\"Derek<\/a>

Derek St. Holmes and Brad Whitford made their first album together nearly 35 years ago. Now they’ve got a new album out called “Reunion.”
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

St. Holmes had shared that story with me during an interview to preview an appearance by Whitford St. Holmes Nov. 22 at Havana in New Hope, PA.<\/p>\n

The thing I like about those kinds of backs stories is knowing them before a performance, then listening to the songwriter\/artist perform the song live.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what happened Sunday night. Brad Whitford, guitarist for Aerosmith, and St. Holmes have recorded a new album called \u201cReunion\u201d and were at the tail end of a 10-show tour through the upper Midwest and Northeast that had started Nov. 12.<\/p>\n

And when Derek St. Holmes played \u201cHey Baby\u201d live at Havana New Hope, it . . . was . . . just . . . that . . . cool. That song is nearly 45 years old, the album on which it appears celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, and St. Holmes rocks it with an enthusiasm like he just wrote it yesterday.<\/p>\n

The concert itself blew the doors off Havana. I don\u2019t think that was a surprise at all for anyone who was there. Aerosmith and Ted Nugent have blown the doors off a lot of venues over the years. Whitford and St. Holmes grew up with arena rock, so they\u2019re quite skilled at it. Expectations for the show were met and exceeded.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>

The media credential for Sunday night’s Whitford St. Holmes show at Havana in New Hope, PA.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)<\/p><\/div>\n

My ears were still ringing the next day. As it should be with these artists. If you get a chance to see Whitford St. Holmes, do it. And check out the new album.<\/p>\n

And if you live within driving distance of New Hope, PA, check out Havana. It\u2019s a great venue for a show, and entertainment manager Dave Maida is a real music guy and a class act. He knows how to book a show for his venue and he knows how to take care of his customers.<\/p>\n

A special shoutout to the wait staff and the kitchen. I\u2019ve been to Havana a handful of times now. The food is excellent and the service is top notch.<\/p>\n

Great music, great venue, great food, great service. One can\u2019t ask for much more, and that means it\u2019s money well spent.<\/p>\n

Besides, my ears should be back to normal in a few days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was around around 3 a.m. on a Saturday in 1971, and Derek St. Holmes had just arrived home. The high school senior was in a band called \u201cScott,\u201d and it had a Friday night gig that had kept him out late, something that his parents usually weren\u2019t too happy about. The St. Holmes family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16,46,76,118,253],"class_list":["post-431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tvdbook","tag-aerosmith","tag-brad-whitford","tag-derek-st-holmes","tag-havana-new-hope","tag-ted-nugent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vinyldialogues.com\/VinylDialoguesBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}