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Local Tracks: Renegade Sons proves whole is greater than sum of its parts

John O’Neill
Special to the Daily
Local band Renegade Sons will play their next show at 7 Hermits Brewing Co. on St. Patrick's Day.
Special to the Daily |

The next gig …

What: Renegade Sons.

When: 8 p.m. Friday, March 17.

Where: 7 Hermits Brewing Co., 1020 Capitol St., Eagle.

Cost: No cover.

More information: The bar will be offering happy hour all day in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Call 970-328-6220 for more details.

There’s this thing about small robots, superheroes or musicians coming together to make bigger robots, more powerful superheroes or catchy musical groups. The Power Rangers could do it with Megazord. Marvel comics did with S.H.I.E.L.D. Even Paul McCartney joined Kanye and Rihanna for a song once.

In 2012, something similar happened locally when rhythm guitarist Joe Hanley, of Avon, formerly of Tongue and Groove and Flux, pulled back into town and called bassist Cristian Basso, of Eagle, also of The Sessh and The Royal Peeps, with the idea of getting a band together.

Those two called up percussionist Leo Spaziani, of Eagle, also of Schwing Daddy and formerly of Tongue and Groove, and lead guitarist Bob Masters, of Edwards, also of the Laughing Bones and Boneless, and by 2013, Renegade Sons was born to rock venues up and down the valley.



“I lived here from ’98 to ’03, left for a while but came back in 2012,” Hanley said. “When I got back and started kicking around the idea of getting a band together, I knew of all these great guys with local projects. Cristian (Basso) and I wanted to put together an eclectic band that could do a variety of different styles.”

Rare kind of Concert

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The result of these different styles coming together is a rare kind of concert. Renegade Sons covers pieces of music others might not have heard of, such as a John Fullbright song called “Moving,” a variety of songs by Wilco or a song by Steve Earle called “The Revolution Starts Now.”

The group is also known for taking a popular cover song and completely morphing it into something folks haven’t heard before — imagine hearing Nirvana’s “All Apologies” played as a funk song. Just the same, Renegade Sons can knock out a three-minute Tom Petty tune.

“There is a lot of improvisation,” Hanley said. “We might take a four-minute rock tune and open it up or add a section where the band breaks down. Or we might string songs together on the fly. We might take a Ray Lamontagne song and morph it right into a Beatles song at the end.”

The next time Renegade Sons will play locally will be on St. Patrick’s Day at 7 Hermits Brewing Co. in Eagle. If you have ever seen any of the musicians playing together in their separate projects, then you’ll know how their coming together on one of America’s favorite beer-drinking holidays with an eclectic song book will be some kind of super.

Local Tracks is a monthly series highlighting Eagle County musicians and bands. Want to see your band featured in the High Life section? Email arts and entertainment editor Krista Driscoll at kdriscoll@vaildaily.com for more information.


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