Hello Dave showcases twang

Hello Dave has gone from playing dorm rooms to overseas tours.

When it formed about 15 years ago at Eastern Illinois University, the band's early shows included frat parties with less-than-attentive audiences. Now, they enjoy attentive and enthusiastic audiences -- including the troops they've played for all over the world.

The Chicago-based band, which is made up of frontman Mike Himebaugh, guitarists Mike "Magoo" McGohan and Marty Williamson, drummer Peter Bauschke and bassist Matt Longbons, has brought its "Chicago twang" to various USO tours in Iraq, Afghanistan and Japan.

We interviewed Himebaugh about his frat party days, how useful his degree in zoology is, and the band's decision to head into a war zone to entertain the troops.

How did the band get together?

One day I found an old acoustic guitar, learned a few chords and started singing along. I met a couple of other dudes and we played in some dorm rooms, just goofing around. Before too long, there was a drummer and a bass player, and we started playing in a couple of bars. And voila, we had ourselves a band. Over the years the members have changed, but I've still stayed the same (laughs).

You played a lot of frat parties, too. What were those shows like?

A whole bunch of drunk dudes trying to hit on any sorority girl they could find (laughs). And then us just trying to play music. They definitely got into the music, too. But they had their priorities, as all young college boys do.

What were you studying?

I was studying zoology. I originally wanted to become a veterinarian. I wasn't playing music when I first started college, and after a few years, I thought, man, I kind of like this. But I promised my folks I'd still get my degree.

Do you use your degree today?

When I go bird watching. (laughs).

What other jobs have you worked?

One time I was a door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. I was a bus boy at one point, and did a lot of work for veterinarians.

Your music has been described as Chicago twang. Describe the genre.

We've done rock 'n' roll festival shows and we've done country festival shows, and we don't quite fit in to either one of them. We're not quite rockin' enough for rock, we're not country enough for country. But we definitely have a twang about us, and have some rock and blues influences. It just kind of comes out. We're from Chicago, and we've got some twang to us. Chicago twang it is. That's also the title of our new album, we recorded it up in Michigan.

You've gotten to play all over the world. What are some of your more memorable shows?

We've done some USO tours all over the world with the military. Obviously, some of the more intense ones were in Iraq and all throughout the Middle East. I was really proud of the fact that we were there. They're doing a job that they don't necessarily want to do, but they're there for us. It's tough, they come back on the base and you can see the pain in their eyes. So it was nice to spend a couple of hours with them and play some music. You could see the smiles start to creep on their faces after the first couple of songs. By the end of it, they had huge grins on their faces. Every base we went to was like that.

What made you decide to go over there?

We had done a tour before the war started, in Japan and Korea. We got some good reviews from all the troops because we're a good, old-fashioned American band. So year after year they kept inviting us back to different places. We'd traveled all over the world with the military. Then a few years after the war started, they called us again and asked us if we would mind going into Iraq and playing for the guys and girls there. It took a little thinking, we talked to our families about it. My step-father is a big barbershop quartet guy, he's kind of famous in that circle. Back in the Vietnam era, they were asked to go over and sing for some guys over there. They were a little frightened but decided to go do it, and he told me it was one of the most rewarding things he's ever done in his life. So that made the decision pretty easy for me.

Where did the name Hello Dave come from?

That came from back in college, we had this sound guy named Dave. Every night they'd say, "Dave, can we get a little guitar up here on the monitor? Dave? Dave? Hello, Dave?" And for some odd reason it kind of stuck.

Is Dave still with you?

No. In fact, it stuck after he was gone. I don't even think he knows.

At what point did you realize your career was going to be in music?

It happened so slowly, but there was a night when we first started touring. We were out in Colorado, it was overnight and we were driving from one town to another one. And we heard one of our songs on the radio. It was a surreal moment: "Holy mackerel, we're a real band!" Pretty much from then on it was full time.

On the Web: For more information, visit www.HelloDave.com.

Journal Star