One of the less-covered gigs at NAMM this year was the Duesenberg party featuring Johnny Depp and friends, partly due to the “no pro camera” policy I guess. Depp has become somewhat of a regular at NAMM and last year jammed with Aerosmith. This year Alice Cooper and Joe Walsh teamed up with Depp to deliver the most rockin’ event of the trade show.
Beginning the night was Brian Ray’s band The Bayonettes, who played an hour of original and cover material. Brian has been a regular member of Paul McCartney’s band for over a decade. Next up was Johnny Depp himself, together with some old friends bassist Bruce Witkin and guitarist Joey Malone, and yet another member of Paul McCartney’s band, resident drummer Abe Laborial Jr. The band was introduced as the “No Name Band”, probably because they are a loose bunch of players and not a serious project. The boys played two original songs before introducing legendary musician Joe Walsh who sat in for the rest of their set. Together the band performed Funk 49, Rocky Mountain Way, Walk Away and a cover of Search And Destroy. Not to be outdone, Alice joined the core band for a swift and merciless run through of true rock n roll classics – Brown Sugar, Revolution, I’m Eighteen, School’s Out, Come Together and My Generation.
Two charities benefitted from the night’s gig via the auction of a Duesenberg guitar signed by the artists on the night. One of those charities is a foundation which was founded by Italian master chef Bruno Serato. Bruno feeds around 1,200 hungry impoverished children every day with Pasta via his charity called “Caterina’s Club”. The other charity is Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center, saving kids one guitar at a time from going into gang life.
Internationally renown Hammond organ player and friend to Australian Musician, Jon Hammond captured some footage of the night. You can watch it here.
There are also some photos courtesy of Jon and also by Kyler Clark, @CerealKyler from Alice Cooper’s website
Learn more about Jon Hammond here