KNOW YOUR LOCALS: THE BLUE KATS
Howdy yall, we’re the Blue Kats from Brownsville Texas,
Peter “Pistol Pete” Egly on Guitar and Vocals
Hector “The Hawk” Hernandez on Harmonica
Oscar Garza on the Drums
And Ted Lucio on Bass Guitar
MAGX: Where can our readers find you guys playing?
BK: We play mostly in Harlingen or McAllen; we especially dig playin’ at the Hop Shop in Harlingen and Rhythm and Brews in McAllen. We keep our myspace page pretty current so people can take a look see and know where we will be cookin’ up some blues next. If there is a stage and an audience willin’ to listen we’ll be there too.
MAGX: Why did you choose to form a blues band?
BK: Blues in the valley is like gold baby, rare but mighty valuable. The honest to god’s truth is that all of us really dig playin’ the blues. Blues is a universal music ya know, and everybody can relate to them heartaches and hard times.
MAGX: What are your inspirations & influences?
BK: Pistol Pete- Freddie King, Keith Richards & The Rolling Stones, Duane Allman, Billy F. Gibbons, Mike Bloomfield and Muddy Waters among others…there’s just so many to name. Hector “The Hawk” Hernandez- Magic Dick, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter. Ted Lucio-Flea, Les Claypool, Jaco Pastorius, Victor Wooten, Chris Wood
Oscar Garza- All the unsung heroes of the original Rhythm and Blues. Inspiration for us comes from the crowd. Man alive if ya let it all go and flood yer audience with that sound and emotion and they get to dancin’, hollerin’, and cuttin’ loose…next thing ya know everybody’s got that itch to get wild and before ya know “next stop cloud 9.”
MAGX: What’s the best part of being in the Blue Kats?
Have Mercy, we have our selves a down home good time playin’ the blues. We’ve had plenty of great friends and competent musicians help us out and play with us at one time or another, but a special thanks to Emilio Crixell, The Reverend Jimbo, and Bobby Townsend our oriaginal bass Player. It has been workin’ with these guys and connecting with fans that has made it worth being in the band. Amen
MAGX: What’s one thing you would want our readers to know about you all?
BK: There is a forty-six year difference between the youngest member of the band and the oldest member. (Ted Lucio-22, Oscar Garza 69) This really just proves how influential and important the blues is and always will be to people of all ages, creeds, and walks of life. Playin’ the blues for us is the best way to express that part of the human condition we call sorrow.
MAGX: If Blue Kats was a beer which beer would it be and why?
BK: Pearl in a Can; Aint nothing fancy about it. It’s got a long history but still around just like the blues. True to Texas, and it gets the job done!
