Paul Szmal: 7.55 now on FLX Morning on Finger Lakes News Radio, and you just may have heard the announcement about the Seneca Lake Resorts Live at the Vista and the band Rock Jester that is going to be playing. Well, guess what? I got a couple of the guys from the band in the studio with us. Why don't you guys go ahead and introduce yourselves?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: My name is Mark Hillis.
My name is Bruce Verheek.
Paul Szmal: All right. Mark, what's your role in the band?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: I am the lead singer.
Paul Szmal: Okay.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: I'm the lead guitarist.
Paul Szmal: How long have you guys been playing out?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Oh, with this formation, about a year now.
Paul Szmal: About a year. Wow. So you guys are just kind of getting into it. How long did it take to develop the chemistry with new members in the band?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Very interesting because we had lost, Rock Jester had lost their guitar player and their drummer and I just happen to remember Bruce was in a band. I called Bruce and he goes, I've got a drummer. We got in and we jammed a bunch of songs and said, okay, let's try this out. Right. And what we did is we did like eight songs every week. We learned like four songs of my band that I used to have, which is Off The Grid. And we learned four songs that he did. So we put eight together and everybody did their homework and it just came right together.
Paul Szmal: So you guys have original material that you do that?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: No, no. It's all covered. It's all covered?
Classic rock, modern rock.
Paul Szmal: Oh, okay. What can people expect to hear when they go see you guys at Live at the Vista tomorrow?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Oh, you can hear a little bit from, we got Journey, Brian Adams. We got Bon Jovi, Bruno Mars. We got a little of everything. Elvis, a little Elvis will pop in there.
Paul Szmal: Now that's running a stylistic gamut to go from like Journey to Bruno Mars to Elvis. So you should hear, you got to hear something you like. That'll be the thing.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Well, that's cool. Cause I mean, it shows you guys are versatile.
Paul Szmal: Yeah.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Yeah. For everybody.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. So how long, how many gigs do you guys play out during the course of the summer? Are you busy this year?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: We're, well, we were off a little bit. Bruce had some surgery, so we were off a little bit, but we're full bore back. We're doing, we do the Vista Friday and we're at the Shortsville Carnival on Saturday and we're back right up to the summer. About three to four a month we play.
Paul Szmal: I always like to, I always like to ask when a band members come in about influences. So I'll start with, I'll start with you. Influences growing up that got you to want to be a rock and roll singer.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Actually Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
Paul Szmal: Oh yeah.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Right after he passed away. I was a big Beach Boys fan back in my younger days and, and you know, and when I was a little kid I wanted to sing every part. So that's how I started singing. I could sing every part of every song, Beach Boys song, all the harmonies and, and you know, and of course Lou Graham from Warner, you know, he was a big influence on me.
Paul Szmal: Local boy too from just down the road.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Yeah. My influence is always Tom Schultz, Boston. I just love the way they, I've seen them live way back in the day and they just, with their harmonies and their double leads and that, that's what got me totally into music.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. And Boston, Boston music is deceptively complex.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Very complex, very complex.
Paul Szmal: So is there a website that people can go and check out what you guys are about or a Facebook page where they can follow along with you?
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: We have a Facebook page. Our website is www.Rochester.com.
Paul Szmal: Beautiful, beautiful. And you guys must love playing a live at the Vista. Every band that I talk to, it's my favorite.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: It's my favorite.
Paul Szmal: Yeah.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Yeah. Cause it's so cool having the open air. There's still cover if the weather's a little bit iffy, but tomorrow night the weather's supposed to be perfect.
Paul Szmal: Right on the lake. Couldn't ask for better.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Yeah. Sunset on the lake. A little rock and roll. There we go. Get you some food from the food trucks.
Paul Szmal: Yep.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Yeah. It's all good.
Paul Szmal: All right guys. I appreciate you coming in. Thank you so much. And we'll look forward to hearing you guys tomorrow night live at the Vista. That's at Seneca Lake Resorts and the Samson State Park. So go check them out.
Mark Hillis, Bruce Verhick: Awesome. Thank you very much.
Paul Szmal: Thank you guys. Much appreciated.
It is coming up on seven 59 on FLX morning on Finger Lakes news radio. We have newsmaker interviews coming up in the eight o'clock hour. We'll talk nutrition and specifically a little bit about dairy since it is dairy month with Christina Ehlers from Cornell Cooperative Extension and our friends from the Geneva Rotary Club will pay us a visit. That's coming up at eight 35 this morning. Greg Cotterill has local news coming up that'll follow the CBS world news roundup as FLX morning continues right here on Finger Lakes news radio.
