MUSIC

Ferociously, the only way guitarist Chris Duarte knows how to play

Bill Locey

Special to Ventura County Star

Ferocious looks good on the resume of numerous wild animals, linebackers and Klingons, not to mention that pesky ex after a few too many, but a guitar player? Chris Duarte will play some "ferocious rockin’ blues" when he takes the stage at the Hong Kong Inn in Ventura.

Guitarist Chris Duarte will play the Hong Kong Inn in Ventura Sept. 7

Australian blues guitar shredder Dave Hole was also "ferocious," playing as if he had three hands, making it difficult to stand in front of him without lead shoes lest the listener take a short, unscheduled flight. Duarte, who has played with Hole in the past, promises more of the same.

So, ain’t gonna be no one beat, one song, one week generic blues stuff from yet another Texan of note. Duarte has been known to end a gig with bleeding fingers, and surely, with plenty of sweat, but no tears.

Duarte was attracted to music after seeing "Fiddler On the Roof" when he was young – good thing it wasn’t "Psycho." Anyway, later, with guitar in hand and further inspiration from the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn and John Coltrane, Duarte embarked on his crazy (and darn fun) musical adventure. He signed a record deal with he was 21, traveled the world, and now 14 albums later, he’s out and about driving around, and when it’s show time, playing ferociously. Reached on the road – where else – Duarte discussed the latest.

Chris Duarte here.

Hey Chris, it’s Bill Locey with the Ventura County Star. How are you?

Hey Bill, what’s goin’ on?

Are you driving around? Is now a good time?

I’m on the passenger side, so yeah, we can do this.

What’s the latest? What’s the news?Just miles and miles and miles on the road. We just got off the road going to the East Coast. Then we quickly turned around, and now we’re headed for the West Coast. We’re actually headed to Houston right now. I’m doing a sideman gig that I love before I go.

Since you’re such an accomplished road dog, I have a logistical question for you: What have you learned about packing? Except for the gear, can you reduce all else to the size of a pack of cigarettes?

There’s three things I can do really well. I can load and unload equipment, I can drive a tremendous amount of miles, and No. 3, I’m an OK guitar player. Those are the three things I can really do.

As a touring musician, does this mean you can’t have any pets? Don’t have a cat or a dog because you’re always gone?

That’s true. Yeah, I don’t have any pets.

What’s the strangest gig you’ve ever played? Have you ever been up there wondering, 'So who the hell booked this gig and when does it end?’ Has that happened to you?

Yeah, we’ve done some strange ones. I’ve played for a $100. I’ve played for a lawyer who was going to talk to his old friend. I played behind him doing, 'My Girl,’ so that was a funky little gig there.

How have you learned to survive that 'Free Bird’ moment and why is that guy at every show everywhere every night?

It’s funny, and it’s fortunate that I love what I do and that’s what I love about this gig is that every day could be different.

Have you ever found yourself in some awesome place and realized, 'Wow, my music brought me here – how cool is this?’

Oh, definitely. I consider myself so lucky that I get to tour around the world and my music takes me to places I never thought I’d be – places I’d never go even on my own time. I get paid to see the world.

Good work if you can get it. What is the importance of the festival circuit to a blues guy?

The festival circuit is really important because they usually pay a lot of money, so you can use those as anchor gigs, you know. You can get a really good paying festival and then book five or six more gigs around that. So the festivals are really important, plus it gets you out in front of thousands of people.

What happens the other 22 hours of the day when you’re not on the stage? On the phone doing stuff like this?

Yeah, I’m traveling around watching this terrible movie on HBO, and yeah – staying in a hotel room.

You’ve been around – who’s got the best beer?

If only I drank beer…

So you’re the wrong guy to ask?

Yeah, exactly, but I can tell you about single malt Scotch but I hardly ever drink even that.

Congratulations on being such a cheap date. I know you have something going on in Japan and I know the Japanese make great beer, but what’s your connection to Japan?

I love the culture and for a while, I was married to a Japanese woman for about 10 years, so I was going over there a lot to play, and I really developed a relationship with Japan. I loved going over there.

How often do you visit Japan these days?

It’s been three years since I’ve been there but as soon as I put out another album, I’ll be heading over there.

More from Locey:

This will be a preview for your Ventura show.I assume you have priors here in the 805?

Yeah, I’ve played Ventura a couple of times. Tthe last time was at a Mexican restaurant.

To me, the only blues guitar player that is ferocious is Dave Hole – the Australian shredder, do you know him?

Oh yeah, I’ve done shows with him.

So how did you get to be ferocious? I’m assuming that’s a good thing to be for a guitar player…

It’s the only way I know how to play. All my idols just attacked the music, so that’s what I try to do – go out there and attack it.

This is supposed to be fun, right?

I think it’s fun. It’s fun for me.

Here’s a loaded question: Why are there so many great musicians and stupid politicians in Texas?

I don’t know what happened to Texas. We had Democratic governors for the longest time…

Yeah, Ann Richards…she seemed cool…

Yeah, exactly, then all of a sudden, it turned into a red state, so I don’t know. Maybe it balances out.

So would Sen. Ted Cruz wear a Chris Duarte shirt?

If he’s a fan of mine, I’ll take it, but there’s this new guy running against Ted, so I hope that might turn into something.

His Democratic challenger, Beto O’Rourke, is pretty close to Cruz in the polls, so we’ll see. Anyway, what was your big break or have you had it yet?

I think my big break came when I had a newspaper article written about me in the 'Fort Worth Star Telegram' a long time ago, back in the ‘80s, and after that article came out, there were people lined up outside the club I was playing, so that was the my first big break.

Sometimes the power of the press works, sometimes it does not. We’ll see what happens.

We’ll take any kind of publicity we can get.

So what’s the next step? Where do you expect to be in a year, a month, a day?

I really want to try to get an album out next year because I haven’t made one for the last couple years. A new album would help me tremendously with bookings and get me back over to Europe. I want my foot print to be a little bit larger in Europe.

One more easy one: If you could play a dream with anyone, who would that be? Maybe you’ve already had it, I don’t know.

No, I haven’t but I’d love to be on the bill with John McLaughlin. We’ve never been able to hook up yet on a festival but that would be my dream gig.

OK, cool, thanks, Chris, for being where you were supposed to be at the appropriate hour. I look forward to seeing you in Ventura.

Thanks, Bill, come up and introduce yourself.

If you go

Who: Chris Duarte
Where: Hong Kong Inn, 435 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura
When: 8 p.m. Sept. 7
Cost: $12
Call: 805-816-9663.

Bill Locey's picks

If I had a faster car, a richer girlfriend or even one with a job, here’s where I’ll be lurking in the back this week:
Teresa Russell & Cocobilli at Waterside in Oxnard (Sept. 7)
James Brothers at Margarita Villa in Ventura (Sept. 7)
CANTO at Deer Lodge in Meiners Oaks (Sept. 7)
Teresa Russell & Tom Buenger at Lucky Fools in Moorpark (Sept. 8)
805ALLSTARZ at Winchesters in Ventura (Sept. 8)
Matt Armour & the Open Road at Deer Lodge (Sept. 8)
Medicine Hat & The Band at Reyes Creek Bar & Grill in Maricopa (Sept. 8)
Teresa James at Bogies in Westlake (Sept. 9)
Crooked Eye Tommy at Winchesters (Sept. 9)
VC Dead Collective at Deer Lodge (Sept. 11)
Ball & Sultan at Cold Spring Tavern in Santa Barbara (Sept. 9)
Dave Rea at Margarita Villa in Ventura (Sept. 11)
Gin Blossoms at Discovery Ventura (Sept. 11)
Murder By Death, William Elliott Whitmore at Regent Theatre in Los Angeles (Sept. 12)
Frank Barajas at Pirates in Oxnard (Sept. 12)
Jim Friery, Bottom Feeders at Boatyard Café in Ventura (Sept. 13)
805ALLSTARZ at Harbor Cove Café in Ventura (Sept. 13)