Category: Music

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Yes, HAAP does themed gigs – 60s, 70s, 80s, Rock, Dance

It's Party Time!
It’s Party Time!

While Hot As A Pepper is primarily known as a variety band, covering a wide range of genres such as Rock, Beach, Disco, Funk, R&B, Motown, Soul, Country and more, we are also capable of doing shows that are heavily weighted towards a specific genre.

Thanks to a huge and ever growing repertoire, and a crew of talented professionals who have been playing music most of their lives, this is an easy task for us.

Here are a few themed shows we have done so far:

70s themed Gala – We were booked to play music mostly from the 70s, with a few requests that took us back to the 60s, and early 80s, but kept it mostly in the 70s across several styles, mostly dance. This was an all-out event where many people looked the part by wearing clothing from the 1970s.

Shag / Beach / Dance Fraternity & Sorority Parties – These kids today, like some older music and we are happy to give it to them. While not a “beach band”, we can play 2 hours of shag worthy music and it’s made the people very happy! We have been involved in several of these events for Clemson Greek organizations.

Rock Shows – We have done several events that were mostly rock, from classic rock to southern rock. These have ranged from biker type events to a wedding. They usually request a country song or two at these, and these events are more casual.

Dance Events – These are usually a combination of Disco, Funk, Beach, Pop and Rock, and is what we specialize in. A variety of songs carefully picked to make your booty wiggle. Festivals, Wedding Receptions, Parties, Fundraisers. You name it, we’ve played this type of music for many occasions.

60s show coming up? We have been talking with an organization that wants a 1960s themed show, with ONLY songs from the 60s. After carefully looking at our current song list, it’s easy to see that we have no problem covering two and a half hours of music without adding anything new, however, if you know us, we WILL add several songs for that event.

Yes, Hot As A Pepper really is the “Swiss Army Knife of Bands”, as one person described us. We can do most anything for you, so let us know what you have in mind and we can talk about it! Welll, maybe not Polka, Folk, or Death Metal, however, one of the places we have played a couple times has inquired about us playing a Country themed event.

Looking to do an event that is 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, rock, disco, funk, dance, shag themed? We would love the opportunity.

Let’s talk about booking Hot As A Pepper for your wedding, reunion, festival, or other special event! We cover Greenville, Spartanburg, Clemson, Seneca, Anderson, Simpsonville and anywhere within a few hours of the Upstate of South Carolina!

Contact us *HERE* or call 864-979-1224

 

 

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The InDwellings 70s themed “Back to the Bash” event was exciting!

Hot As A Pepper enjoyed playing for the Upstate organization “InDwellings” last month! Let’s talk about why…

First of all, InDwellings has a goal to provide housing to those with special needs so that they can experience a HOME environment, not just a HOUSE. This is important because as you may be aware, our area has a large number of people who this will impact! These homes which InDwellings hopes to provide will not be some type of institutional dwelling, it will be a home filled with love. With the smell of baking cookies.   Please read more about them on their website to get the latest and to make a contribution.

Back to the bash….  To help achieve their goal, they held an event called “Back to the Bash”, which was a 70s themed gala at the Thornblade Country Club here in Greenville. Hot As A Pepper was booked because we can provide several hours worth of music from just about any style or decade.  For this event, we played a huge selection of music that was mostly from the 70s, peppered with a few from the late 60s and even one or two from the early 80s.   Rock, Beach, Motown, Disco, Country, nothing was safe from us!

The gala coincided with the acquisition of InDwelling’s first house!  It was a real celebration for sure!  But it got exciting….

Delvin Choice who competed on “The Voice” was in the house, and him and our emcee, the multi-talented Michael Codgill joined our band on stage for an impromptu rendition of the James Brown classic, “I Got You (I Feel Good)”.

Here’s a clip from that….

This was a fundraiser, so Jake Ohlinger, with Ohlinger Auctions was in charge of auctioning off some outstanding items, such as an African Safari, and food packages, etc… That was a huge success, as I believe every item was sold!

Jake was so kind as to write the band this note:

Good Afternoon John & Hot As A Pepper,

Great Job!  First Rate!  Enjoyable!  Job Well Done!

I want you and your band members to know that the InDwellings Organization was very pleased with your performance for the “Back to the Bash : Destination 1970’s” at Thornblade Club the evening of October 28th.  You delivered great music and blended well with the group.

InDwellings and I wish you and your group continued success and fun in you business of entertainment and in your careers as musicians.

Sincerely and I look forward to working with you again.

Jake

Jake Ohlinger, BAS

Auctioneer

Ohlinger Auctions, LLC
200 Del Norte Road
Greenville, SC 29615
2jake@ohlinger.com

www.ohlingerauctions.com

cell (864) 918-7572

 

It’s exactly that kind of appreciation that makes our “job” worthwhile!  Thanks Jake for believing in us!

If you have an upcoming event where you need fun music entertainment, won’t you please consider Hot As A Pepper? What can we do for you?

1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s themed event?  CHECK!
A disco or funk event? CHECK!
Variety – covering several decades and styles? CHECK!

This makes us perfect for your high school or college reunion, your big fundraiser, wedding anniversary or wedding reception.

We play all around The Upstate (Greenville, Anderson, Spartanburg, Seneca, Clemson, Simpsonville) and down to Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Savannah, also Atlanta, Knoxville, Charlotte, Asheville and beyond!

Let’s talk about how we can work together!  CONTACT US…

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Hot As A Pepper band receives accolades for playing an Upstate wedding reception

Hot As A Pepper loves playing wedding receptions and parties! Why? Because we get to hang out with people who want nothing more than to have fun, and more importantly, we get to share in a very special moment in a couple’s lives!

One couple, Todd & Joy, had seen our band perform at one of our favorite venues to play (The Spot on The Alley in Seneca) and decided that we would compliment their wedding day well, so they booked us for the wedding reception.

Their wedding director, Dee, was incredible, tending to every last detail, and making the venue (The Lighthouse) look more beautiful than it ever had for other events we have played there.

My Daughter, Megan Hoyt, played piano for the ceremony music and afterwards, sang and played piano and guitar for the cocktail hour music. I even sat in with Chris Eller to accompany her on a couple songs.

Then, Hot As A Pepper fired up and played a few special songs we had learned for the bride and groom’s first dance and the father/daughter dance, etc…. After which we saw a non-stop dance party until the last chords rang out. During the breaks we kept the crowd going with some popular line dance songs that had been requested.

Mission accomplished! It was an amazing night for the band!

Yesterday, we received this posting from the newlyweds on our Facebook Page:

Client supplied photo of guests enjoying some Hot As A Pepper!
Client supplied photo of guests enjoying some Hot As A Pepper!

Todd Scharich > ‎Hot As A Pepper:

Thank you to Hot As A Pepper for providing a memorable night of entertainment at our recent wedding at the Lighthouse! The dance floor was full all-night long, with great selections of all genres from beach music and through every decade including current hits. The band was a pleasure to work with and we look forward to seeing them again soon. Thanks to Chip, John and the rest of the band!

I guess I don’t have to tell you… This is the icing on the cake! When you can do what you love doing, such as your band playing for a wedding, and then get positive feedback that people loved your work, it just doesn’t get better than this!
Thank you to Todd & Joy for trusting in Hot As A Pepper to play for their wedding. We wish you two a long lifetime of happy times and great music! We want to play for your anniversary parties!
– John
John plays bass for Hot As A Pepper and writes nonsense such as this blog post and silly comments on the band’s facebook page.  The band is available for your wedding reception, party or other event in the Greenville area and out a few hours. We can provide a smaller “core” band of 4 or 5 people, or we can add our horns and an additional vocalist to cover just about any style of music you may desire!
Need cocktail or dinner hour music? How about ceremony music? We can handle all that. Give us a call, or use this FORM to get info on how to book or hire Hot As A Pepper!
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Band Corporate Event Festival Fun Function Greenville Hot As A Pepper John M. Hoyt Live Entertainment Music Simpsonville Upstate

Hot As A Pepper at Bacon Labor Day Festival

Hot As A Pepper had a blast at the first Simpsonville Bacon Labor Day Festival on September 1, 2014.

It was a scorching hot day, yet the crowds were quite pleasing and the number of cars entered in the car show were higher than one would expect.

Hot As A Pepper had worked up a song to play for a special person, Donna Hughey, who was going to front the band and sing it, but due to the heat and her health, it didn’t happen. Hopefully we will get another chance in the future. You see, Donna only has six months to live.  You can find out more about her story HERE.

Here’s one of the tunes we enjoyed playing, the classic rock song, “Magic Carpet Ride”.

If you would like fun and family friendly entertainment for your festival, fair, corporate event or any other occasion, please let us know!  You can use this form to reach out to us HERE.

We play within a few hours driving range of Greenville, SC.  Including Atlanta GA, Asheville NC, Knoxville TN, Columbia SC, Charleston SC, Augusta GA, Myrtle Beach SC, Savannah GA, etc.

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Planning a sorority party or fraternity function and need a band?

Hot As A Pepper has become a HOT commodity in the fraternity and sorority scene. Seems that students can really get into dance music like disco, beach, funk and rock which is exactly what we bring!

Why not book us for your next college event? We’re fun, we’re funky, and we’re ready to help you dance the night away.  Call us today at 864-979-1224 or use the BOOKING link!

Here’s a recent sorority gig down in Clemson…   On stage, the crowd was just about the same level when they sang along as our monitors! Seems like they were having a blast!

Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”

The Beatles “Twist & Shout”

We can handle all the entertainment needs so you don’t have to think about that part! From the stage, to the lights to the audio, to the music during breaks – we’ve got this!

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Mackie DL1608 Mixer – Follow-up review

Back in May, we posted about our new mixing console, the Mackie DL1608 digital board and after several gigs, we thought it might be a good idea to do a follow up for anyone contemplating this type of mixer..

Let’s go with the bad (or the annoying) first

The Power Supply: This thing uses an external power supply. That means, we have to worry with getting the brick’s input and output cables tangled, and we have to handle it with care. And God forbid we were to break the barrel connector or something, as there is no locally sourced part that will exactly work.

The Wireless Router: Then there is the inconvenience of using a wireless router to connect the DL1608 to our iPads for wireless control. That thing gives us two more cables to worry with, an ethernet cable and a power supply, which takes up a couple spots on a power strip.

A Solution To All Our Problems?

A possible solution might be to mount the DL1608 into a road case, and secure the power brick inside as well as the wireless router and a power strip. That would permit quicker setup, secure everything in one place so nothing can get lost (or easily damaged). We might just do this in the near future.

That’s pretty much it for the bad! Sure, we would like a few more inputs, and the ability to have some sub groups, ability to turn on/off groups of inputs for Phantom (It’s either all on or all off), additional affects, and maybe to record more than two channels at a time – but hey, what do you expect for less than a grand???

The Good

Size: It’s compact! so much better than dragging a full size console out and using the venue’s table.

No Snake Needed: We place it on the stage, and run short cables to it. No health or safety hazard of running cables where people might be walking. No rolling up that heavy snake.

Audio Quality: While the DL1608 does not have the headroom and the low noise of our old ZED, it is still very much acceptable. It’s just not as crisp, it’s more flat sounding. Accept that the preamps are not going to be the same as on your big monsters, but this isn’t a bad thing.

Intuitive Controls: Pamela runs our audio at most shows. While she is not an audio engineer, she has a good ear, and she is there for us and able to accept input from four musicians all wanting something different and the venue personnel, and turn that into a great mix. The DL1608 allows her to do that on the iPad, and it is NOT overwhelming. It doesn’t look like the cockpit of a 747.

Saving A Show: This is one of the best things! There’s not a lot in the way of knobs that can get tweaked (or damaged) during a move of this mixer. So when you show up, if the knobs for input gain have not moved, the mixer settings are exactly like you last saved them.  You can set the levels and EQ for your favorite bar or club and save them, then recall them when you play there again. This saves us 10 minutes at setup!

Six Aux Outputs: Hey, if you go with in ear monitors, you could have 6 mono outputs, or 3 stereo for your musicians. We have standard powered monitors, so we have run up to 3 different mixes. Each musician that has an iPhone or iPad can set their own mix. These also save when you save a show.

Cool factor: Trust me when I tell you that people are fascinated by this technology. They see Pamela wandering around with an iPad in hand and watch her. Also, on stage, we leave an iPad docked into the DL1608, so we can record to it, and use it for stage mix.

With Behringer’s new console, and the Presonus out there, would we get the DL1608 if we were to do this all over again? At this point in time, yes. Even though there are more inputs from the competitors, and certainly better preamps, this little unit seems like it is perfect for our four piece group.

When you see us play in the Greenville, SC area, come check it out, we’ll be glad to show you how it works.

 

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Summer is here and it’s vacation time for our band members!

It’s been a fun year so far for Hot As A Pepper! We’ve had some great gigs at many venues that are new to us and made a lot of new friends and connections in the process.

Now, it’s time to slow down a bit and spend some time with our families. We’ve scheduled downtime, vacation and trips in July and through August so, we have not been actively booking gigs.

Once the kids are back in school and normal work schedules resume, we will get back to booking.

Until then, if you need us, you know where we are, shoot us an email. We’d love to play your pool party or reunion if we are available!

Have a happy and safe summer!

 

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Oh noes! Our mixing console has no knobs or sliders!

Our trusty Allen and Heath ZED22FX mixer was working so well that we decided to replace it… With this:

Mackie DL1608
Mackie DL1608 16 channel, stereo, 6 aux mixing console with iPad for control

Sometimes you just have to mix it up (pun intended) and try something new and there’s not much newer that we can afford than the Mackie DL1608.

The DL1608 is not your typical mixer. They have removed 90% of the knobs, sliders and meters, leaving you with a box that is rather small, with 16 XLR inputs, 6 1/4″ TRS, a pair of XLR outputs, and a headphone jack. The only knobs are the input trim knobs and the headphone level knob.

There are two switches. Do you need any more than that? There is one to turn it on and off and one to shoot some voltage onto the inputs for your phantom powered devices.

EVERY THING ELSE is controlled from your iPad. The entire control surface is gone from the mixer and moved to an app.

You are not locked into just one iPad though. You can keep one docked if you wish, and that iPad can control the thing, as well as record two channels of mix audio (unfortunately, you cannot record all 16 channels like you can on the Presonus or the Behringer digital mixers). Using an inexpensive wireless router, you can plug the Mackie into that, and use several other iPads / iPhones to control the thing.

Here’s our plan:

DL1608 on stage, will reside on my bass amp’s road case. All stage wiring from mics and to speakers will run to the mixer. NO SNAKE running across the floor to pose a health and safety issue to dancers.

An iPad will remain docked in the DL1608 at all times and we will record two channels to that docked iPad.  This iPad will be used to control the stage monitor mixes (remember those 6 aux outs? We can have 6 different feeds).

An 802.11n wireless router (Currently a very inexpensive Asus model) will plug into the Mackie and be velcro’d inside my road case.

My wife is our audio engineer who has been doing both front of house and monitor mixes for me for a couple years.  She will now use her own iPad to control the Mackie from anywhere around the venue she chooses!   NO CONSOLE TAKING UP A TABLE in the middle of the room. No Snake. No chance of someone spilling a beer in it.

Our guitarist and drummer probably want a different mix….   I’ll let them associate their own iPad or iPod to the Mackie and give them permission to affect ONLY their mix.

Should we add in ear monitors at some point, this system will be perfect for that too.

Shakedown cruise is coming this Friday at Rhythm & Brews in Greer, SC.  I’ll try to reply or post a new blog post with the results.  Oh, and we will be taking the old ZED with us, just in case!

John M. Hoyt – Bass guitarist on a mission

 

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Want a band for your next party but cannot afford it?

Here’s a common issue…  Someone wants a band for their 40th birthday party and they can’t afford it. Bummer! And an iPod just won’t cut it!

The cost of the band isn’t the only issue either! Besides paying the band for their appearance, there may be other expenses, such as renting a venue, sound and/or lighting. If the band is a popular act, they may have a rider that covers everything from transportation, accommodations, refreshments and assistants. They could require a particular size stage, union stagehands and more.

So maybe booking a band of that caliber is a bit much. Even a local band can set you back a grand, and you still have to have a place that is large enough, has enough power to provide for their audio and lighting gear, and keeps them warm / cool and dry. And, all without the neighbors calling the police for loud noise.

Here’s a suggestion – work with a local band to find a venue who might subsidize your party!

How would that work? Simply put, your party will only last a couple hours, right? A bar, club or restaurant has live music starting around 8 or 9 in the evening generally, and some as late as 10pm start times.

You might be able to work with the band and venue to secure the facility for your party from  6 to 8, or 7 to 9. The venue pays half the band’s fees and you pay half and you both get exactly what you want! You get a party at a great location, with a band all to yourself, or at least mostly to yourself, and then the bar or club gets the benefit of the band playing until they close.

The band may charge slightly more for this, as their play time is increased, but they are getting two gigs and only moving gear once.

The venue may be more than happy to entertain this idea as you are bringing 50 of your closest friends to their place, and providing them with some sales. You can probably secure a deal where they let your party have discounted booze, or a drink special.

If this sounds like something you are interested in and you are in the Upstate or Greenville SC area, give us a call and let’s talk! You might just end up with a band for 25-30% off AND have a great location for your party!

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Hot As A Pepper was once again on the Wild Wing Spartanburg stage

Hey everyone, it’s been a while since we posted anything here, and I apologize because I know you have been hanging around, hitting REFRESH over and over wondering why there was nothing new!

Last night HAAP played again on the Wild Wing Cafe Spartanburg stage. What a blast that was!  We were pleasantly surprised to see a couple dozen of our friends make it in from Greenville, Easley, Powdersville, Piedmont, Simpsonville and other parts unknown.

What can I say? We’re honored that someone would go out on a cold and rainy night just to see us!

We made some new friends last night too, got a few new “likes” on our facebook page, and even a gig inquiry.  And very important to us, the management and staff seemed to like us and not only paid us, but I think we will be playing there again in 2013!

We’ve brought on board a new drummer, Chris Eller, who made his debut at last night’s gig. Chris is a pretty alright guy who knows his chops and seems to play well with others.

You can read more about him on our member profile page!

Next up – New Year’s Eve at The Lighthouse on Keowee in Seneca.  We will be helping to ring in the new year there!  Come on out!