Open Season!

November is here, so if you've been hunting for quality hard rock, we're locked & loaded with two upcoming gigs.  First up is November 29 (Saturday after Thanksgiving) opening for Electric Revolution at McAuliffe's on the south side of Racine.  This is our second gig with Electric Revolution, a hard rock originals power trio made-up of living legends Billie Pulera on drums, Steve Crucianelli on bass and Joe Gajan on guitar.  Their material is all heavy, but it comes from the full spectrum of influences including blues, rockabilly, jazz, funk, soul, British invasion, punk & metal....like an 8-point musical buck running through the woods!

Rock hunting season continues Friday night January 9 when we headline at The Metal Grill in Cudahy with Doctor Snake Oil and Bray Road for openers.  This is our second gig at The Metal Grill which, in our book, is one of the finest venues anywhere for hard rock. Drew "Doc" Webb and Doctor Snake Oil has your prescription for an elixir of old school hard rock covers, and you'll need to keep both hands on the wheel for Bray Road's mix of thrash, groove and heavy metal.  With HWY 13 closing, exceeding your bag limit of quality hard rock originals & covers is guaranteed!

So mark your calendars and set your trail timers for HWY 13 at McAuliffe's on Saturday, November 29 and The Metal Grill on Friday, January 9......and let us know you're coming so we don't have to put salt licks outside the front doors!  Thanks again for tuning-in to the blog and keep rockin!   

         

    

     

Back to the Beach!

HWY 13 and our old friends the Krispy Brothers will be "storming the beaches" of Racine at 3 pm Saturday afternoon, August 23 at the North Beach Oasis.  No, we won't be pushing the Germans back to Douglas Avenue, but we will be liberating the local population from living under the tyranny of the same old pop/rock/R&B cover songs over & over again.  For all we know, maybe Neville Chamberlain would've nipped Hitler in the bud if part of Germany's propaganda war included blasting continuous loops of Mustang Sally and Sweet Caroline. Maybe the French could've mustered the courage to....on second thought, probably not.

In any case, North Beach in Racine is one of the most scenic beaches on the Great Lakes and the Oasis has become one of the best outdoor venues for local live music.   Besides its proximity to the lake and the beach, the Oasis offers food, beverages, ample parking, restrooms and......especially for sweaty rock & roll drummers......showers! We're also looking forward to rocking the Oasis with the Krispy Brothers, a great rock & roll cover band, but not of the Mustang Sally/Proud Mary variety.  Hopefully, our old friend Tim Thilleman can join us on guitar for a couple tunes too.

So flip-flop yourself on down to Racine's North Beach for a rockin' good time with HWY 13 and the Krispy Brothers at the Oasis.  Thanks again for tuning into the blog and keep rockin!

   

You Say You Want a Revolution?

Well, you know, we all want to change the world..........but if you want us to rock your world, the The Electric Revolution will be headlining a gig with us 9 pm Saturday June 21 at Motor Alley, 1402 52nd St. in Kenosha.  And when you talk about destruction..........Dr. Destruction and the Roosevelt Dolls will also be rockin' the house....so don't you that you can count me in!

This will be a three-headed monster of a show that'll change your constitution and your head.  The Electric Revolution just formed earlier this year and is an all-star power-trio of original rock made-up of Steve Crucianelli on bass, Joe Gajan on guitar and Billlie Pulera on drums.  Unfortunately I had to miss their set at Coasters for Thoughts for Food, but word was they were awesome and it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone whose seen these guys play in other bands.  The Roosevelt Dolls is a 3-piece "Glampire Rock" band fronted by living legend Dr. Destruction on guitar.

You ask me for a contribution well, you know..........HWY 13 will be doing all we can to pound-out our original hits before the Electric Revolution goes on.  With a relatively short set between 2 bands you'll get the best of HWY 13's originals, and I should have plenty of strength left for 12 oz. arm curls during the Electric Revolution's set.

So all I can tell you is brother you have to wait.....until 9 pm June 21 at Motor Alley, and don't you know it's going to be...alright!  Thanks again for tuning-in to the blog, hope to see you at Motor Alley on the 21st and keep rockin'!            

Bye George!

Maybe it was the slow economy, maybe it was the lousiest winter in a city known for lousy winters, or maybe it was something one of us said after the umpteenth round of beers & shots at Thoughts for Food, but our old friend Dave Popoff and his wide Soosan have decided to sell George's and enjoy the fruits of their labor in sunny Califorrnia.   Our other old friend, Ron Dixon, is taking over the business and plans to rename it R. D.'s Pub & Grill in July.

HWY 13 will be celebrating this "changing of the guard" with a live gig there (1201 N. Main St. Racine) this Saturday night May 17 from 8-12.  George's has always been one of our favorite venues with great acoustics, a nice big stage, plenty of seating and a full bar in a separate room for those who don't necessarily want to hear Ace of Spades three feet away from the PA.  With two full sets to play and no major sporting events to cut into our time, we've added a number of songs, originals and covers, we haven't played for a while. We've also been working on a secret Black Sabbath cover song, so if Thursday's practice goes well, you'll have that going for you.....which is  nice.

Either way, we're sorry to see Dave go and we thank him for all the support he's given to local live music.  Hope to see him at the gig Saturday night, but if not, we wish them well and we'll be thinking of them next January when the snow is up to our eyeballs again.  It's great to see R.D. is booking live music every weekend and we hope you all make a point of going out to see your favorite bands there.....preferably us......this Saturday night.

Thanks again for tuning-in to the blog and keep rockin'!          

...And Now For Something Completely Different!

Life throws you a curve ball once in a while, and in this case it'll be HWY 13 playing a sober gig on Saturday night May 3 at the Outcasts Motorcycle Club AfterBar located at 1310 63rd Street in Kenosha.  This event is open to the public with a $5 cover charge and starts with a NA Speaker at 8 pm, followed by two full sets of live rock & roll by HWY 13 at 9:15.  It's also an 18 & over event so the venue will be as free of ankle-biters as it is of alcohol.

It'll be interesting to see how we're received by a room full of sober fans.  We've always counted on alcohol providing the musical equivalent of a "beer-goggles" effect, in which the more you drink the better the opposite sex looks.  Call it the "beer-phones" effect, but as an example, some people may think Nickelback, after a dozen Spaten Optimators, sounds better than Led Zeppelin after only 1 Miller Lite.....then again, maybe not! 

Either way, they've been after us to rock their house for some time now, we're jacked-up about finally playing there and our act should be tighter than ever just from the sobriety alone.  We'll have plenty of CD's & koozies on hand for sale, so hope you can make it to the show, thanks for tuning in to the blog and keep rockin'!

CD Release Party!

One quick flip of the calendar away is our Collision Course CD Release Party.  Put a big fat circle around Saturday April 5, set your GPS for a 9 pm arrival at McAuliffe's Pub on the south side of Racine (3700 Meachem Rd.) and be our guest for a full night of smash-mouth original rock & roll from HWY 13 and The Biscanies.  The featured attraction, of course, will be our live rendition of all the the new CD's songs, plus most of our first CD and some covers from our rotation.  

Opening for us are The Biscanies, another local 3-piece band of original hard-rockers. We've gigged with them a couple of times before and we look forward to hearing their high-energy act as much as we look forward to rocking their high-energy fans.  We make a great one-two punch and thanks, as always, to J.J. at McAuliffe's Pub for providing a great venue for local, original music.

Commerce-wise, we'll have a full supply of Collision Course and HWY 13 CD's on hand so you can take us home with you in the figurative sense, as our wives/significant other would never allow it in the literal sense.  Even if they didn't care we'd be tired, sweaty, 66% inebriated and looking for something to eat.  You're way better-off taking HWY 13 home in CD form so you can hear us on your favorite sound system under perfect studio conditions, and without all the smells & dirty dishes from the real HWY 13.  We'll also have HWY 13 koozies on hand, free with a CD purchase!   

Thanks again for tuning-in to the blog, hope to see you at McAuliffe's for the CD Release Party on April 5th, and keep rockin'! 

          

CD Baby!

As mentioned in several recent posts our second album, Collision Course, is now available either from the band members locally, or through the link below to our album's page on CD Baby.com, where you can buy the CD or download the album for $9.99, or download your favorite songs for $0.99 each.

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/hwy132

In addition, we're pleased to announce we'll be having our CD release party Saturday night April 5 at McAuliffe's Pub, 3700 Meachem Rd. in Racine.  Opening for us will be The Biscanies, another great local band with a growing list of original rockers.

What you'll get with this CD are nine original rock & roll songs, each with their own distinct feel.....from punk beats (Tourniquet and Collision Course) to rockabilly (Nothing But Blue and Wildkat).  We even included a murder ballad (Murder One) with a special guest appearance by Geff Crowell, former lead singer of our predecessor band, Blind Ambition, on harmony vocals!  Our long-time fans will also appreciate the inclusion of two classic HWY 13 songs (Sacrifice and She's The One) from the Rick Shepard/Johnny Stehlik era, that were never recorded for an album.  That leaves Dark Horse, a heavy swing beat song about swift (and punishing) justice in various forms, and Poke The Bear, an up-tempo rocker about maintaining domestic tranquility......or not.

All this goodness was professionally engineered, recorded and produced by Chris Wisco at his new & improved studio at Belle City Sound.  We can't say enough about the great work Chris has done on both our albums including the first one, HWY 13.  On this one, he kept the overdubbing to a minimum so it sounds like the new power trio lineup we've become.  We also want to thank our good friend and former band-mate, Tim Thilleman, who was with us and helped when the new songs were evolving.  Well played sirs!

So check-out the new album and be the first one on your block to score your own copy. Played loud enough and often enough, it'll scare all the unwanted critters out of your house and help keep property taxes low in the neighborhood.  Thanks again for tuning-in to the blog and keep rockin'!    

Thoughts for Food

On Saturday March 1 we'll be rocking the 22nd Thoughts for Food, a multi-venue benefit concert for the Racine County Food Bank.  Our set is from 9:15-10:45 pm downstairs at the Eagles Club on the the southeast corner of Hamilton and Main St. just north of downtown Racine over the Main St. bridge.  The Honyockers (Punk/Rock) open at 7:30 pm and 38DD (original metal) closes starting at 11:00 pm.  Mean Jake, Weird Science and Fall Hazard will be rocking the upstairs hall.  In total, 41 acts will be playing at 14 venues and a $10 donation & 2 non-perishable food items gives you access to all including a free shuttle service.  Full details are available by clicking on the link below:

Thoughts for Food 

We'll be delivering a shopping cart full of original rock from our recently completed second album, Collision Course, our first, self-titled album and a smattering of select covers that rock.  CD's for both albums and a fresh supply of HWY13 koozies will be on-hand so you can take HWY 13 home with you (figuratively) after the show.  We're looking forward to rocking our favorite venue in our favorite time slot and we strongly encourage you to turn out and help the cause.

As mentioned, a large supply of CD's for our latest album, Collision Course, are now on hand and available through the band members.  We're in the process of scheduling our CD release party, but if you can't wait to hear it.....or if you're lucky enough to live somewhere other than Southeast Wisconsin in February, we've also made this one available through CD Baby.com.  We'll let you know when we nail down the date for our CD release party, so in the meantime, thanks for tuning-in to the blog and keep rockin'!      

The Metal Grill Rocks!

It almost took a team of sled dogs but we trekked to our gig at The Metal Grill and successfully rocked the house for a surprisingly large audience on a night better suited for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.  As the picture shows, The Metal Grill is one of the Milwaukee area's best venues for live rock with a large stage & hall, good acoustics and a nice sound/light/video system so the bands can be seen & heard throughout the bar.  The engineer was great to work with and we hope to make a return visit sometime when the climate is a bit milder.....like North Dakota's!  Thanks go to the management for their hospitality and kudos to the two up & coming bands that also braved the cold, brought their fans and nailed their sets with us, The Unknown and The Family.

New CD Update:  The master of our second CD of original rock, Collision Course, has been sent to Disc Makers and our first supply should be delivered by mid-February.  We're also designing special t-shirts to commemorate the release, ordering a third batch of our first CD, HWY 13, and bringing back the ever-popular HWY 13 beer koozies.  So if you can't get enough of us, we've got you covered and we'll let you know when we nail down the date & venue for our CD release party.

Last on the docket is the 22nd annual Thoughts for Food fundraiser for the Racine County Food Bank on Saturday, March 1 in downtown Racine.  The full lineup hasn't been announced yet, but we'll be playing our favorite venue & time slot, 9:15 to 10:45 pm downstairs at the Eagles Club.  This is always a great time for an important cause so we'll be applying some "gentle pressure" on our fans to attend this gig and remember......we know where most of you live!

Thanks again for tuning in to the blog and keep rockin'!          

Cudahy or Bust!

Next gig on the schedule will be Friday, January 24 at The Metal Grill, 5036 S. Packard Ave. in Cudahy.  The Metal Grill is one of the best live music venues in the Milwaukee area with a large hall, elevated stage and fully-equipped sound & light system.  This will be our first gig there so we'll be looking forward to rockin' the house and adding some new fans (and CD sales) in the process.

In the meantime, progress continues on our second CD, Collision Course.  It's currently in rough mix form so we can give it several listens before deciding on the final edits. Danno did a masterful job of writing & arranging nine original songs that will be a white-knuckle ride of a listen from start to finish, and it's great to finally hear the music fully assembled after recording the various parts one at a time.  Artwork for the disc cover is ready so once the final edits and mastering is done, we'll be ready to order the first supply of discs.

The trick now is to deliver a live act that lives up to what you've accomplished in the studio.  Judging by the crowd response at our Blue Rock gig in downtown Racine last Saturday night, it seems they liked what they heard.  Thanks go to the Blood Skulls for inviting us to open for them and also for bringing their fans, all of whom obviously have great taste in live rock!  

Hope you can help us bring a good turnout for The Metal Grill gig on Friday the 24th, thanks again for tuning in to the blog and keep rockin'!