In the grand tradition of guitar gods who’ve gone before him, Rikk Beatty’s got that Midas touch on the strings akin to the likes of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Alex Lifeson and even Eddie Van Halen.
Whether he plays rock, jazz, blues, Latin, metal, ambient… put a guitar in Beatty’s hands and he’ll make it sing like there’s no tomorrow.
Such is the case on his new CD “No Vocals Allowed.” This album is purely instrumental magic and it purely kicks a**. With his buds Tim Hogan on bass and Chris Shealy on drums, this Pacific Northwest power trio presents 13 tracks that show why they’ve won multiple awards and earned legions of fans.
These guys clearly have a good sense of humor from the looks of the “No Vocals Allowed” CD cover that shows their “lead singer” is a mime. This same sort of vibe comes through in the music as well –the band generates a living, vibrant excitement that belies the fun they’re having jamming together. The three clearly click like three interlocking pieces of a puzzle – put them together and they form something beautiful.
Melody plays a big part in their music on every track. This is the type of music you want to play in the car on a warm summer day, windows rolled down and the highway as smooth as Beatty’s soulful chops.
The 36-year-old started playing at the ripe ol’ age of 13. Born July 9, 1975 in OIympia, he entered the world at a time when hard rock was just coming into its own. Upon reaching his teen years, heavy metal and 80s “hair bands” were hot, and this genre of music obviously had a deep impact on Beatty. He studied guitar by himself for the first two years then took lessons for three years after that. He started playing clubs at age 15.
Beatty has sold more than 3,000 albums from his latest projects alone and has rotation time on three different local stations as well as many online stations worldwide. He’s opened up for many superstar acts including Cheap Trick, April Wine, Dio, Great White and Forced Entry. He is guitar clinician for DigiTech and has toured the USA coast to coast two weeks a month doing guitar clinics at music stores. Beatty has recently been signed to the Song Haus Music label with Sumthing Distribution (Nile Roger's company).
Drummer Shealy has been playing since 1984, completely self taught. He plays a custom, five-piece drum set. He was in a very popular Tacoma band called Feast of Friends and has opened for numerous national acts including former Guns and Roses bass player Duff McKagan's band Loaded. Hogan has been playing the bass guitar for 38 years and is also completely self-taught. He was part of a locally known band called SunnyJim for 10 years and played all the major casinos up and down the I-5 corridor. Hogan's played many styles of music in many different venues from small clubs amd casinos to opening for the Doobie Brothers, Marshall Tucker Band and the Edger Winter Group. He plays the 12-string, 8-string, 5-string, 4-string and fretless bass guitars.
Catch The Rikk Beatty Band live May 7 at the New Frontier (301 E. 25th St.) at 8 p.m. and on May 21 at the 4th Avenue Tavern in Olympia (210 4th Ave.) – Big Wheel Stunt Show opens, 9 p.m. Also, Beatty will be on the cover of, and have an interview in, May's edition of The Sound Guitar Magazine (www.thesound-guitarmagazine.com) in which he has featured guitar lessons very month. Learn more and order CDs at www.rikkbeatty.com.
