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ONE love, blood, life
Roadie band to open for U2
By Aaron Beck
As one of U2’s main men behind the curtain, Rocko Reedy moves the Irish rock band’s gear and stage throughout the world.
Tonight in Honolulu, the final stop on the latest U2 tour, the duties of the Westerville resident will include getting the party started.
Before "special guest" Pearl Jam warms up the audience, Reedy and his group of guitar and drum technicians, Rocko and the Devils, will head for the stage.
"Before we come out, the crowd is going to be thinking this is just some band of roadies," Reedy, a 32-year veteran of the music industry and 15-year vet of the U2 crew, said recently over lunch.
"I want to rip their faces off."
Reedy — married to Hollie, a lawyer for the Ohio School Boards Association— wears black, like any other roadie paid to blend with lighting rigs and amplifiers.
His persona, though, is technicolor.
His name is loud. His ribrattling laugh is loud. His baritone voice is loud.
He has put those qualities and his well-honed technical and logistical skills to use as a road and stage manager for many a brand-name band: Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, Kiss, Marilyn Manson and U2 have paid Reedy to ensure unflawed stages, gear and shows.
The native of Chicago began playing guitar in bands during the mid-1960s, while still in grade school. Eventually, he discovered that working on guitars for bands was more financially sound than playing guitars for people in bars.
A jaunt with the Chicago band Styx in 1974 marked the first of more than two dozen gigs that have taken him around the globe.
In the back of his mind, the seed germinated for Rocko and the Devils.
Reedy told himself, as years and tours went by, that he would "take time off and go into the studio and get serious about playing — but I never got around to it."
In the spring, when family issues caused U2 to postpone its tour, the opportunity presented itself: Reedy set out to make the Devils come to life.
Since 1999, whenever he had time on his hands, he has worked a side gig as stage manager with Journey, the band that gave the world Wheel in the Sky, Don’t Stop Believing and Open Arms.
Reedy and Journey crew members Scott Appleton, Jim Handley and Brent Jeffers always jammed backstage and occasionally warmed up an audience.
"It’s by far the most unlikely band I’ve ever been in," said Appleton, guitar technician for Journey’s Neal Schon. "It’s a blast."
Before the Journey-Def Leppard tour in the summer, Reedy proposed that Rocko and the Devils (which includes his friend Larry O’Connor) open all shows during the tour.
"(Management) said: ‘A roadie band? No, we don’t want to cheapen the show,’ " Reedy said he was told.
U2, though, didn’t mind.
When singer Bono saw a video of the Devils playing With or Without You before a Journey show, Reedy said, Bono was "over the moon."
"I do this shtick where I say, ‘All you need is four chords and you can play any rock song ever written,’ " said Reedy, 50. "We play it; then I shout out to the audience, ‘OK, name another band.’ They all shout out names, and I point to nobody in particular and segue into I Want To Hold Your Hand. Then we start playing the Cars’ Just What I Needed, then — same four chords — Bush’s Glycerine. And then we end up playing Don’t Stop Believing, then go back into the chorus of With or Without You.
"Bono saw it, and he was blown away: ‘Aw, Rocko, it’s great!’ "
In late September, just before he joined U2 in Australia to begin the completion of the postponed tour, Reedy was driving north on I-71.
As Downtown faded in the rearview mirror, he sang the catchy rock songs that his band of roadies recently recorded in Nashville, Tenn. — songs that cleverly poke fun at life’s everyday annoyances.
"Road Rage — it’s just about something everyone who drives or rides in a car can relate to," Reedy said. "Broken Brains comes from my friends whose kids are driving them nuts — ‘They’re having parties at my house while I’m on the road! They’re smokin’ pot!’ — and I say, ‘Wait, dude, you’re describing yourself, you know?’ "
When he and the Devils play those songs during a 30-minute set tonight, Reedy will play with confidence.
"The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree," he said. "I’ve had some of the best teachers in the world — Jon Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler, Kiss, Bono and, even though I couldn’t stand him, Marilyn Manson."
However it goes, he’ll consider himself fortunate.
"I’m just a guy from Columbus who does rock ’n’ roll tours. But I’m going to go to my grave being able to say I opened for U2."
http://www.dispatch.com/features-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/12/09/20061209-D1-03.html
By Aaron Beck
As one of U2’s main men behind the curtain, Rocko Reedy moves the Irish rock band’s gear and stage throughout the world.
Tonight in Honolulu, the final stop on the latest U2 tour, the duties of the Westerville resident will include getting the party started.
Before "special guest" Pearl Jam warms up the audience, Reedy and his group of guitar and drum technicians, Rocko and the Devils, will head for the stage.
"Before we come out, the crowd is going to be thinking this is just some band of roadies," Reedy, a 32-year veteran of the music industry and 15-year vet of the U2 crew, said recently over lunch.
"I want to rip their faces off."
Reedy — married to Hollie, a lawyer for the Ohio School Boards Association— wears black, like any other roadie paid to blend with lighting rigs and amplifiers.
His persona, though, is technicolor.
His name is loud. His ribrattling laugh is loud. His baritone voice is loud.
He has put those qualities and his well-honed technical and logistical skills to use as a road and stage manager for many a brand-name band: Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, Kiss, Marilyn Manson and U2 have paid Reedy to ensure unflawed stages, gear and shows.
The native of Chicago began playing guitar in bands during the mid-1960s, while still in grade school. Eventually, he discovered that working on guitars for bands was more financially sound than playing guitars for people in bars.
A jaunt with the Chicago band Styx in 1974 marked the first of more than two dozen gigs that have taken him around the globe.
In the back of his mind, the seed germinated for Rocko and the Devils.
Reedy told himself, as years and tours went by, that he would "take time off and go into the studio and get serious about playing — but I never got around to it."
In the spring, when family issues caused U2 to postpone its tour, the opportunity presented itself: Reedy set out to make the Devils come to life.
Since 1999, whenever he had time on his hands, he has worked a side gig as stage manager with Journey, the band that gave the world Wheel in the Sky, Don’t Stop Believing and Open Arms.
Reedy and Journey crew members Scott Appleton, Jim Handley and Brent Jeffers always jammed backstage and occasionally warmed up an audience.
"It’s by far the most unlikely band I’ve ever been in," said Appleton, guitar technician for Journey’s Neal Schon. "It’s a blast."
Before the Journey-Def Leppard tour in the summer, Reedy proposed that Rocko and the Devils (which includes his friend Larry O’Connor) open all shows during the tour.
"(Management) said: ‘A roadie band? No, we don’t want to cheapen the show,’ " Reedy said he was told.
U2, though, didn’t mind.
When singer Bono saw a video of the Devils playing With or Without You before a Journey show, Reedy said, Bono was "over the moon."
"I do this shtick where I say, ‘All you need is four chords and you can play any rock song ever written,’ " said Reedy, 50. "We play it; then I shout out to the audience, ‘OK, name another band.’ They all shout out names, and I point to nobody in particular and segue into I Want To Hold Your Hand. Then we start playing the Cars’ Just What I Needed, then — same four chords — Bush’s Glycerine. And then we end up playing Don’t Stop Believing, then go back into the chorus of With or Without You.
"Bono saw it, and he was blown away: ‘Aw, Rocko, it’s great!’ "
In late September, just before he joined U2 in Australia to begin the completion of the postponed tour, Reedy was driving north on I-71.
As Downtown faded in the rearview mirror, he sang the catchy rock songs that his band of roadies recently recorded in Nashville, Tenn. — songs that cleverly poke fun at life’s everyday annoyances.
"Road Rage — it’s just about something everyone who drives or rides in a car can relate to," Reedy said. "Broken Brains comes from my friends whose kids are driving them nuts — ‘They’re having parties at my house while I’m on the road! They’re smokin’ pot!’ — and I say, ‘Wait, dude, you’re describing yourself, you know?’ "
When he and the Devils play those songs during a 30-minute set tonight, Reedy will play with confidence.
"The apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree," he said. "I’ve had some of the best teachers in the world — Jon Bon Jovi, Steven Tyler, Kiss, Bono and, even though I couldn’t stand him, Marilyn Manson."
However it goes, he’ll consider himself fortunate.
"I’m just a guy from Columbus who does rock ’n’ roll tours. But I’m going to go to my grave being able to say I opened for U2."
http://www.dispatch.com/features-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/12/09/20061209-D1-03.html
