played some guitar together. He asked
me about some things I did, and asked me
how I did it, then I would ask him things.
He was surprisingly down sometimes. He
would say, “I feel like I'm doing the same
thing every night Gary, like I'm in a rut.' I
was like, 'You're Brian May, relax.' He was
humble and just a really great guy.
Gary
Gary Hoey came onto the guitar scene like a
Whirling Dervish. He was determined and
focused on where he wanted to take his career.
Almost a quarter of a century later, Hoey is
still looking for new avenues to explore. Most
recently he's fulfilled his lifelong ambition to
caught in the crossfire. We couldn't get
arrested at that point. Warner Brothers
was throwing money at the radio and
everything. It's just the timing was off, but
it was a great experience for me. It was
record a blues album; this materialized as Deja
Blues. In addition to his regular rock outings,
he's enjoyed a successful run touring with
annual Christmas show. Needless to say, Gary
Hoey is man of many faces, but he always lets
his guitar do the talking.
my first major label deal, and I saw the big
machine in operation. I liked the chemistry of the band and I liked Frankie Banali
(of Quiet Riot fame.) It was a great band
and a good experience. I could tell you a
million stories about it. We'll do it over a
beer sometime.
Illinois Entertainer: You first came to our
attention as a member of Heavy Bones
back in the early '90s. What memories do
you have from that time?
Gary Hoey: Wow, I'm surprised that you
know Heavy Bones. You are one of the few
people that has the album. That was a
great project, and we all had really high
hopes for that album. And then the
grunge thing came out, and we just got
IE: Shortly after your solo career took off,
and you were on tour supporting Brian
May of Queen. How educational was the
interaction with him on that tour?
GH: That was great. I was a big fan of
Brian May, and when I got on the tour
with him, and I did it solo, I remember
that. It was just great. He was a super
nice guy. We sat down backstage; we
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8 illinoisentertainer.com december 2013
IE: What are the pluses and minuses of
being a solo artist as opposed to being in a
band?
GH: Well, Heavy Bones was my last shot
at being an Aerosmith or Led Zeppelin.
We had a power trio with a singer with his
foot on the monitor. There were drugs
involved, and I got tired of dealing with it.
There were people in the band who were
not as responsible and not working as
hard as I was. I just got tired of having my
future depending on five other guys. I
don't have anything against any one of
those guys, but it's hard for any group to
keep it all together, and stay on track and
make enough money to keep everybody
employed. It's a big undertaking. And for
me, the stress that started happening with
the band, which is why we broke up. I
didn't want to do a band anymore. I started thinking about a solo career. I wanted
to have peace of mind and be happy. I
kind of just wanted to drive my own ship.
And even if I didn't have multi-platinum
albums, I was good with that. I wanted to
bring it down to earth, and do my own
music. I've been doing that for a long time
now, and I made a lot of records, played
with amazing rhythm sections. There
were times when I wasn't getting paid, the
band was getting paid. I wasn't getting
any money because that's what happens
when you are a solo artist. These guys are
not gonna take a chance with me because
if I'm not gonna share my publishing with
them, why should they? I don't think I
made any money from the first few tours I
did. But then, it changed, and we can
make a living now, and do other stuff. So
I like doing a solo career, but you know,
it's always great to play with other musicians.
IE: Your latest album, Deja Blues, ventures
into blues territory. It's a combination of
original and cover material.
What
inspired you to go in this direction?
GH: Deja Blue