Red Hot Horn Dawgs, Evan Riley Band, Dawg Bones, Gypsy Moths

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Rob Vandersteen

Red Hot Horn Dawgs

press release: Twenty years is more than a lifetime in dog years. It has been the time of their lives for The Red Hot Horn Dawgs. They’ve been cranking out “party music” for the last two decades. They are headlining an all day music event to celebrate on Saturday, June 15, in the Backyard at Wisconsin Brewing Company.

The Horn Dawgs have played bars, beer gardens, beer tents, festivals, countless weddings and company parties since their formation in late 1999.

“It doesn’t seem like twenty years, that’s for sure,” says original member Carl Gitchel. “But as we look back it’s amazing to us how many places we’ve played and all the people we’ve entertained along the way. We thought it was appropriate to commemorate it somehow and this [Saturday’s event] is what we came up with.”

The band’s size and membership has varied over the years. Currently, the band features ten players, five in the rhythm section and five who play horns. Gitchel is one of three original members still with the group. The others are fellow trombone Dennis Kraus and percussionist Todd “Farmboy” Thompson.

But there are no newbies in this group. Several have been with the group for over fifteen years. The newest joined almost five years ago.

The tie which binds them together is a shared history with the University of Wisconsin Marching Band. Founders Bill and Tracy Walker wanted to create a fun band to play in which featured more than the Fifth Quarter tunes they had been playing with the UW Alumni Band since they graduated. The band’s current roster includes six marching band alumni and three who performed with the Wisconsin Singers.

The Walkers will return from their current home in Oak Ridge, TN to reunite with the band and relive some of those glory days. “We’d be playing with the band yet today if the commute weren’t so bad,” jokes Bill Walker. “Tracy and I keep track of the band as best we can. We’re awfully proud of what they’ve done all these years.”

The Walkers will join many other original members on Saturday to play some of the original tunes the ‘Dawgs cranked out in the early days.

Wisconsin Brewing Company opens at noon on Saturday. Live music starts right away with the Gypsy Moths, headed by Thompson and playing original music they put together in college. The Dawg Bones follow, which is a trio of Horn Dawgs who play rockabilly/classic rock-n-roll and country. After that is The Evan Riley Band. Riley was a guitarist and bass player for the Horn Dawgs and much of his band are also current ‘Dawg members.

The Red Hot Horn Dawg “All Stars” (the current band plus the small army of regular substitute players,) take the stage at 4:00 to play some of the band’s all time favorites. The Blues Brothers, Sinatra, and other crowd pleasers will dominate this set. Gitchel promises a surprise during this sequence. “If you can’t be there for the whole noon-to-8:00 event, you’ll want to at least plan to be there at 4:00,” he teases.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open at noon and the music plays all day.