MORE MUSIC IN HAMPTON ROADS
Picking up his guitar after a 10-year break, Christian Simmons has brought his band to local stages again.
The Virginia Beach singer-songwriter decided to re-create his band, Gasoline- a rock/post-punk and, most recently, acoustic group - and make a new attempt at some original tunes.
"My guitar actually sat in the attic for 10 years," Simmons said, "but by the time I put the band together, we were playing within a month. We've been playing straight since January and have played about 50 shows."
He attributes a personal breakup with getting him back into music.
Simmons, with Heather Griffith on bass and Fred Collier on drums, released a three-song EP in June called "Let's Get Lost."
With 20 performable songs, he's 100 percent original and hopes to put some of those on a full-length disc. "If someone had a million dollars and said to me, 'Play one cover song,' I couldn't take the million dollars. I don't know any cover songs," he said.
Gasoline will take the stage at The NorVa on Sept. 20, opening for local band Celebrity Gunfight. The band has performed several times at the venue, opening for nationally known Jesse Malin, Pat McGee and others.
Simmons answered a few questions for us:
What's your best performance memory?
I kind of look at when we play, or I play, as it being the last time. So, I kind of try and enjoy every show.... I've gotten to the age that thinking whatever you're doing, it can end up being your last.
What was the best live show you ever saw?
The Clash on Broadway in New York City.
What is your earliest musical memory?
Hearing my mother tell me the story about meeting Elvis Presley on Granby Street and getting a kiss. It was 1955, and he was playing his first tour - stopping at what is now the opera house.
What's your dream as an artist?
I guess a full-length CD, and then one step at a time.
Give us an original song lyric and tell what it means.
"Well I'm standing. I'm standing still. The leaves are falling down, she's got me counting them." Means I'm always on the lookout for The One.
Patty Jenkins, (757) 446-2298, patty.jenkins@pilotonline.com
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