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We’re on FIRE, again!

Hot As A Pepper has big news and is ready to groove!

Annie Perez Vocalist Front-Person for Hot As A PepperIt’s been 18 months since Shannon left us and during that time we have spoken with and virtually auditioned dozens of vocalists. Many were quite amazing and would have certainly worked with Hot As A Pepper, but the timing was not right.

It’s hard to bring someone on and promise them shows, when the shows were being cancelled left and right due to the pandemic – in total, we lost 54 shows.

However, at the Upstate Live Music SC meetup that took place this year at The Spinning Jenny in Greer again, John just happened to strike up a conversation with Annie Perez who was the lead vocalist of her group, Strange Bird and it seemed that she was looking and interested for a new position.

After lots of discussion, Annie did a “virtual audition” where she videoed herself singing along to audio backing tracks of HAAP, and she nailed it. We wanted to hear more, and got her in to meet with the band, and she was even better in person!

At the Warehouse at Vaughn’s Halloween Costume event, we asked Annie to come join us on stage and sing the last set, which she did and she nailed! That was a terrific show! First, we had Shannon on state and then Annie – who could ask for more?

Long story short, we have brought Annie on to be our front-person and she will help take us back up where we belong!!!!

We are busily updating our song list and preparing for the first full show. Dec 11th is a private event with the Habanero Horns, and then we’re going to be filming for a promo video.

Please make plans to come out and catch the new lineup on Sunday Dec 12th at The Spinning Jenny from 6:00pm to 8:30pm!
It’s going to be HOT HOT HOT!!!!! https://thespinningjennygreer.com/

We would like to give a HUGE THANKS to Wilson Ligon for getting us through the last 18 months by transitioning from just keys/guitar/vocals to lead vocalist! We could not have done it without you Wilson – you did a marvelous job!

Also, another exciting thing – Gavin, who also joined us last year has suddenly become very popular in his OTHER career of film score/orchestration/production and Lance Sweatt has stepped in to keep the beat! You’re going to love Lance!
Best wishes to Gavin in his pursuit of music perfection! We’re going to love watching you succeed!

Thanks to everyone who has supported Hot As A Pepper during these odd times!

If you have a festival, event, wedding, party, bar, or venue that needs FUN, UPBEAT music you can dance to, please give us a call, we’re ready to rock starting in December 2021! CONTACT US or call 864-979-1224

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Another one Bites the Dust

Fans, friends & family, we hate to tell you this, but Hot As A Pepper is announcing the departure of Shannon Ferguson from the group after an awesome year of shows and working together.

She’s relocating to Georgia to be closer to her family and to pursue her music career in the larger Atlanta market.

We will continue to work together on existing shows, original music collaboration and will undoubtably need her to fill-in and join us on stage again!

In the mean-time, HAAP is starting the process of finding our next front-person! 

If you are someone who wants to front a popular variety dance band, or know of someone who is, please visit the site linked below.

Please join us in wishing Shannon the best in her future endeavors and in her move!

We’re going to miss her so much!

READ OUR HELP WANTED AD HERE

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Singer / Front Person Wanted

Hot As A Pepper, a well established Greenville SC based variety dance band is looking to fill the spot of lead vocalist / front person.

We’re in search of the best and most versatile singer to fill this position – male or female.

The band covers songs from the 50s to current, across many genres, including Pop, Top 40, Rock, Disco, R&B, Funk, Carolina Beach and more. We also have a forth-coming CD of originals.
Artists we cover include Prince, Lady Gaga, Micheal Jackson, Bruno Mars, Rick James, Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Daft Punk, DNCE, Chairmen of the Board, Temptations, Earth Wind & Fire, Kool & The Gang, KC & The Sunshine Band, Alice in Chains, B52s, etc.

The band plays frequently at bars, clubs, private and corporate events and festivals, mostly around the Upstate, though we have slowly been leaving many of the local venues to focus more on events.

If you are interested in playing a minimum of 4 to 10 shows a month, mostly on the weekends, and want to work hard to be the best, with weekly rehearsals, then we want to hear from you!

Please send links of your videos, audio, as well as photos and make sure you send a bio or tell us about yourself.

PLEASE DO NOT CALL – JUST SEND INFO TO HELP US LEARN ABOUT YOU FIRST!

Auditions will be held at our Simpsonville based studio.

All the cliche and typical requirements, wants and needs apply.

Professional appearance, attitude and gear.
Reliable transportation.
Know how to read a clock and can be on time to rehearsals and shows.
Have reasonable communication skills and check your email/text.
No vices that negatively affect your performance or relationships with venues or band members.

If you play an instrument – bonus!
If you are interested in collaborating on originals – bonus!

You can use our contact form or email johnh {4t} hotasapepper.com

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Hot As A Pepper Newsletter

Have you joined our mailing list? If you subscribe, you will receive an email once a month (or sometimes once every 6 months if we forget, again) that has our show dates and any important news about the band in it.

Click HERE for the November edition.

Click HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!

Thanks for all your support!

Party on!

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New Member – Shannon Ferguson

Shannon Ferguson has brought her beautiful voice to Hot As A Pepper!

She also brings an infectious smile and a LOT of energy!

We’re now accepting bookings for events of all types including weddings, reunions, parties, corporate events, festivals, country clubs, and venues.

If there’s a desire for fun live music, then let’s talk!

Here’s a live promotional compilation of Shannon’s second appearance with Hot As A Pepper:

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Dance party band available for your Greenville / Upstate wedding, event or festival

Hot As A Pepper has a few dates left in 2017 and we are booking 2018 already.

If you have an event coming up which would benefit from fun and upbeat music, then please check out HAAP!

We want to play for your wedding reception, graduation, reunion, corporate event, customer appreciation day, festival, block party, or any other function you might have.

HAAP covers the most popular songs from favorite classics to current chart toppers, across a wide array of genres including disco, funk, beach, motown, dance rock, R&B, soul, pop, top 40 and even newer country. A little bit of everything – a WHOLE LOTTA FUN!

Referrals are always appreciated!  Please pass this link on to perspective clients:

Thanks for your support! We wouldn’t be able to claim to be the BEST MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT – Best of the Upstate, if it were not for you!

864-979-1224 or use our CONTACT FORM for more information

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Are you using protection? Hot As A Pepper is! #SoundAdvice

Mackie DL-1608 in Red Dirt Case road case
Mackie DL-1608 16 channel digital mixer in custom made Red Dirt Cases road case

Just over a year ago, Hot As A Pepper ditched our Allen & Heath mixing console and snake in favor of moving into this century and going digital AND wireless. Find the original post HERE.

In short, we opted for the Mackie DL-1608 mixer that uses an iPad for a control surface, and interfaces with iPad/s wirelessly to allow mixing from anywhere in the venue without the need for a snake creating a health and safety hazard to guests (or the console taking up a valuable seat in the venue).

This has worked out wonderfully for us!  We can save our settings once dialed in and though we don’t like to do so, we can opt to not do a sound check and know that everything is close.

But, that mixer has a LOT of potential failure points. You could drop it while moving it, or lose or break the external power supply, wifi access point or its power supply or network cable, etc. Then there are the pots on the top, 16 of them that can get bumped so the setting is not the same or they could even be damaged as they protrude from the case.

We’ve been carrying the thing around from place to place, treating it with kid gloves and praying we didn’t leave the power supply or a cable behind at a gig or at the practice studio, and then carefully readjusting each of the trim pots after we setup and before we powered it up.

I searched for an adequate road case, but there are none. Even the Mackie soft case doesn’t address most of the items on our wishlist… I found one company/guy who was making a suitable case at one point, though they are no longer doing so. However, the photos of that case were all the inspiration it took for me to find someone to build something similar for us!

That’s when I contacted Jason at Red Dirt Cases down in Texas (contact information at the bottom). I sent photos of our mixer, photos of the other case I found, measured our mixer and sent the dimensions as provided by Mackie over to him. We had several email discussions about how the mixer could be supported securely, where the power supply and the wireless access point could be mounted case, how the mixer cools and what type of case I actually wanted (carpet vs traditional, etc).

Today that case arrived, and I could not be happier. It fits like a glove… LIKE A GLOVE! I don’t think I would change a thing at all about it!

It will come out of the vehicle, be placed on top of my bass rig, the lid removed, and one single power plug connected to the AC, then mics, instruments, monitors and mains connected, and we’re done. All the settings on those pots should be where I left them.

The power supply and our wireless access point are UNDER the mixer.The mixer sits on strips of higher density foam.

If you have a Mackie DL-1608 or the DL806, then you need to get that thing protected if you take it out on the road.  Red Dirt Cases now have the dimensions and could provide you with a duplicate, or modify it to suit your needs.

Sure, there are a load of road case dealers and manufacturers out there.  I went with Red Dirt Cases after finding them in an internet search and reading reviews, however, what sold me was the eagerness of Jason to get this right for me.. The whole process was painless and he shared photos of the build as he progressed.

I’ll use them for other upcoming projects too because:

  • The build quality is outstanding.
  • The hardware is not going to fail on me like budget cases I have had.
  • The price is fair.
  • Communication was GREAT

You can find Red Dirt Cases here:

http://www.reddirtcases.com/
1-877-724-2531

If you are in the Greenville / Upstate SC area and catch our band out, I’ll be happy to show it to you in person at a gig or even at my office, just let me know.  – John

Here are some photos:

Closed view of Red Dirt Cases road case made for Mackie DL-1608 mixer
Closed view of Red Dirt Cases road case made for Mackie DL-1608 mixer

Red Dirt Cases road case made for Mackie DL-1608 mixer
Red Dirt Cases road case made for Mackie DL-1608 mixer

Rear view of Red Dirt Cases road case made for Mackie DL-1608 mixer
Rear view of Red Dirt Cases road case made for Mackie DL-1608 mixer

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Test post for claim purposes

Please ignore this post.

 

 

 

 

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