Gato came to Martini’s in Valparaiso with the full band Saturday night, the bar was full of NWI music fans and they were ready to dance.
Gato, Spanish for cat, is:
- Darren Grigsby (Dr. D) – electric guitar, harmonica, and vocals
- Rocco Labriola – pedal steel and electric guitar
- Danny Moore – acoustic guitar and keyboards
- Tommy Mitchell – bass
- Kevan Watson – drums
These are some cool jamming cats.
Chatting with Rocco, he had just moved to the region from Chicago in September of 2016 and met Darren jamming with Steve Ball at Duffy’s Place. Darren needed a band for a memorial tribute to Blind Melon’s late singer Shannon Hoon at the Lafayette Theater and the rest is history. Have a listen to their first show here.
The great thing about Gato is you never know what each night is going to bring you. When I saw them in December at Knuckleheads as a four piece I wanted to write something around the lines of “This is the Workingmans’s Dead” but I felt it would really fall short of how great this band is because they go well beyond the Grateful Dead and get funky at times, Reggae at others, blues, you name it, they are a band with their own unique style attributed to all of the members.
This band is so respected among the other musicians, we counted at least members of 4 other bands in the audience Saturday enjoying a night of music. Gato’s shows are always worth the listen and will get you moving.
NWI Jam 