When you see The Hitchhiker live, you feel like a kid watching an epic WWE wrestling match for the first time. The stage is set with furious energy, courtesy of tube amplifiers and band members wearing copious amounts of denim.
If this band played in the ring, it would be the tag team match of the century with Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on the sidelines, ready to get a piece of the action.
True to the band’s rock ‘n’ roll demeanor, singer/guitarist Luis Mariani peppers the set with guitar solos, songs about fooling around and falling in love and then even settles into a bit of choreography with his band mates.
If it doesn’t bring a smile to your face, hell, I don’t know what will.
By the end of the year, Mariani and his band hope to have a new EP, dubbed Thunder & Lightning, ready for fans. The release will feature three to four songs, including live staples “Motivation” and “Blind Eagle.”
In the past weeks, The Hitchhiker has been tracking tunes here in Baton Rouge. While the songs will be new to many, they have been lodged in the band members’ heads for quite some time.
“We’ve been playing these songs for about four months now,” Mariani says. “We’ve had the opportunity to rehearse and try them out live. That’s more rewarding because we can go into the studio and explore other things that can make the song better.”
Though the new release will only have a few songs, Mariani says it will feel like you’re listening to the equivalent of an eight-song record. “Blind Eagle” sounds at first like the driving rock Queens of the Stone Age used to revel in, until The Hitchhiker’s wheels come loose in a sludge breakdown.
“It’s an overload,” he says. “There’s something different with each part of each song, but it still fits between that meaning of classic and modern rock. We’re experimenting a lot, even with Nine Inch Nails and ELO-type sounds.”
If you haven’t seen the band live, Mariani says this will be the closest thing to seeing The Hitchhiker in concert.
“We wanted there to be a progression and to evolve as musicians while representing our live sound,” he says. “I know that this band has the classic rock style, but I don’t think it makes sense to record it in a classic way. We don’t need to have a 1960s Les Paul Gibson guitar or analog tape recording. We wanted to track this as a modern band.”
For more information on The Hitchhiker, visit the band’s Facebook page.
Check out 225‘s video below to see the band in the studio:
