|
|
|
|
Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks | |
|
Dan Hicks is a multi-instrumentalist from the San Francisco area, who began his musical calling in various local folk and jazz bands in the mid-1960's. From 1965- 1968 he played in the Charlatans. One of his band mates of that group was violinist David LaFlamme, who later went on to form It's A Beautiful Day. Dan started playing drums at age 11 and switched to guitar at age 20, although he continued to play both, as well as harp and keyboards throughout his music career. In early 1968 he formed the drummer-less group Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, which was modeled on Django Reinhardt's quintet, as an opener for the Charlatans. Soon the new band became his primary project. With a pair of female backing vocalists - "the Lickettes" - the group released it's debut album Original Recordings on Epic in 1969, but it flopped. After a series of personnel changes, the group was signed to Blue Thumb in 1971. They released three albums - 1971 Where's the Money (recorded live at the Troubadour in LA), 1972 Strikin' It Rich, and 1973 Last Train To Hicksville (their first with a drummer) and their most successful. Hick's music blended western swing, jazz, ragtime and pseudo-nostalgia song writing. He became known for compositions like "How Can I Miss You" and "Walkin' One and Only" (which was covered by Maria Muldaur) however by 1974 Hicks had disbanded the Hot Licks at the height of their popularity. The Hot licks had toured internationally and appeared on several hi profile television shows of the day - Johnny Carson, Dick Cavett and Flip Wilson. The combined success of these ventures also helped land Hicks on the cover of Rolling Stone two times throughout his career.
Hicks carried on sporadically in the Bay Area as a solo artist sometimes billed as Lonesome Dan Hicks. He released It Happened One Bite in early 1978, which was the soundtrack to an uncompleted feature by animator Ralph Bakshi (later of Heavy Metal fame).
|
EMusic FREE Trial MP3 Subscriptions
Market your band or artist
Get 100 Free 80's MP3s at EMusic
Discussion Forum
Album Reviews
Interactive Poll
Audio Files
Artist Links
Buying Guide
Newsletter
He then phased in and out of the music industry for more than a decade, and did not issue another major recording until 1994's Shootin' Straight, a live recording cut with a new band, the Acoustic Warrior. In 2000, over two decades after the group's dissolution, Hicks reformed the Hot Licks and issued Beatin' The Heat.
Dan Hicks and The Hot Licks are back with a vengeance on his first studio production in over twenty years, with Beatin' The Heat. A star studded lineup of special guests contribute to this epic recording, including Elvis Costello, Brian Setzer, Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones and the Divine Miss M
Bette Midler! The current version of the Hot Licks includes Sid Page - violin, Greg Bissonette - drums,
Tom Mitchell - guitar, Kevin Smith - upright bass and the Lickettes on background vocals - Jessica Harper and Karla Devito. Devito is known for her solo work and also as the female voice on Meat Loaf's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light". As has been his longtime trademark and style, Hicks continues to write originally and evoke the country/jazz/folk/swing sound that you'll not hear anywhere else.
Longtime fan, huge admirer and present day label owner, Dave Kaplan of Surfdog Records, convinced Dan to speed up his "slow comeback". In fact, Kaplan ended up co-producing Beatin' The Heat with Gary Hoey. Said Kaplan, "it was genuinely heart-warming to see the respect so many others have for Dan's work, which became very evident throughout the recording of this album".
...read more
|
|
|
Dan Hicks Discussion Forum:
Are you a big fan of Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks? Join other fans
in the message board and post questions or comments! Interact with others in the
Dan Hicks Fan Forum | |
|
|
Visit Our Sponsors |
 |
|
|
