|
MY PAST
I was brought up in the small town of Cortland Ohio, which is east of Cleveland. I played a lot of football & baseball as a kid, which turned me into a competetive bastard! That's alright though, I still had FUN & that's the name of the game for mostly everything in life: "Just have FUN"
Before "BATTERY", I originally played in a band called "KERRUPTION" but that was a while ago. Probably nobody has ever heard of them but that doesn't break my heart. But again I still had a lot of FUN.
HOW I MET "BATTERY"
When I was still in "KERRUPTION" I went to a bar we always played at called "Ground Zero", in Youngstown, Ohio. I heard that the best Metallica Tribute band in the world was playing there and they needed a new lead guitarist. I thought I was the man for the job because I had been playing Metallica for years and we played some Metallica tunes in "KERRUPTION". During "Battery's" 1st set, I thought the fill-in lead guitarist was really good but he didn't play Kirk Hammett's solos note-for-note!!!! Little did I know he was the lead guitarist for "CRAZY TRAIN", the Ozzy Osbourne Tribute band from Louisville Kentucky. And he could play Randy Rhodes like no-one I have ever heard!!!!
After the 1st set I went up to Harvey, (Battery's original singer) and told him I thought they kicked ass and that I was the man for the job. So in the 2nd set I jumped onstage & jammed "Fade to Black" & "Creeping Death" with them and it went over great since Laurence had a grin from ear to ear for the rest of the night. Six days later I was onstage with "BATTERY" in Buffalo, New York at "The Funhouse"! I was with "BATTERY" for 5 months ...until.......
After Harvey quit the band we were looking for a new lead singer and we found John Schultz from Peoria, Illinois, in another Metallica tribute called "Master of Puppets". The only way John could join was if Frank, (lead guitarist from MOP) could also join "BATTERY", which meant I would be layed-off for a while.
Then Phil M, (bass guitarist) got stuck in Canada on Sept 11th, and Laurence called and asked if I could play bass guitar for a few shows until Phil returned. I had never played the bass onstage in front of a crowd before but figured I would give it a shot. I tried to play bass as good as Phil but it was kinda rough, but I had FUN!!!! I even did Cliff Burton's "Bass Solo Take One"...
Once Phil M returned from Canada, Frank left & I thought: "Finally I can have my job back"!!!!
I came back and travelled to Florida with them & have been kickin' ass with Laurence, Phil & John (stimpy) ever since!!!! Then John Schultz left due to family problems & I left to work on my original band "Entise". "Entise" played some great shows in Ohio, W. Virginia, New York, & Illinois, and opened several shows for "BATTERY", but the band is taking a break to finalize a member change. Early in 2005 Jason Taylor (JJ) returned to "BATTERY" as Jaymz Hetfield & after a few months I returned to my "BATTERY Family"....It's really awesome to be playing with such a great guitar player as Jason...cause now we get to do all the cool Metallica guitar songs....like ORION (full CD version), Call of Ktulu....and Jason & I get to do a 5 minute lead guitar solo trade-off where we both try to outplay each other....It's five minutes of pure lead guitar mayhem!!!!
I'm still working on my original project & plan on recording some new material after the new year at "BATTERY" recording studios, near Chicago. I like to do a lot of guitar harmonies & clean guitar parts....more emotional type music. Heavy, yet, Feeling! I want to try to make something totally original that nobody has ever heard before. I know it is near impossible but Fuck it!!!! I'll have FUN trying......
So anyway, that is the short story of me, REN HOEK!!!!!
CLOSING STATEMENT
No matter how known or unknown your band or music is, always have FUN! THANKS to everyone who comes to see us and THANKS for taking the time to read this damn thing. Oh yeah....."Some day I hope to have huge pectoral muscles.....and don't mind my idiot friend Stimpy"....
"WHAT EES IT MAN?"
|
