RockNPod PreParty: Rare Hare – Nashville, TN – 4/11/2025
RockNPod weekend events began on Thursday evening with an artist showcase called Nashville Rock Fest at The Cowan, which I sadly missed due to scheduling challenges. I arrived late Friday morning to start the weekend early. It was a slow start to my time in Nashville to be honest, despite an early flight as I wasn’t able to get into my hotel room until the evening. But, I found my way around the event’s host hotel in the Vanderbilt University area on foot and checked out Centennial Park which has an exact-size replica of the Parthenon from Athens before scrambling to get ready for the Rare Hare pre-party at 3rd &
Lindsay.
With Tyson Leslie on the road with Vixen for the weekend, Kim Gagne was tasked with running the event herself and totally killed it! She had a little help with the band announcements from comedians Don Jamieson, Courtney Cronin and Hall Sparks who kept us laughing and helped us make sense of the always rotating line-up of amazing talent that night.
Given the number of guests in town for the RockNPod event, there actually weren’t as many band member rotations as normal. The house band often featured Maxx Rosetta and Jon Hurley on guitar, Curtis Clark on bass, Peter Gallinari on keys and Jack Ivins and on drums. And, the songs focused mostly on big name bands from the 70’s and 80’s with a universal appeal like ZZ Top, Guns ’n Roses, Night Ranger, and Black Sabbath. But, that doesn’t mean there weren’t surprises.
Guests included RockNPod weekend artists like Ron Keel, Roy Cathey (Cold Sweat), Brian Forsythe (KIX, Rhino Bucket), Christopher Williams and Martin Totnik (Accept), Sirius XM’s Keith Roth, and Eric Jayk (Wildstreet).
Performances that stood out, included Tyler Warren (Queen) who joined in on drums, guitar and lead vocals, Anthony Corder (Tora Tora), who sang his band’s classic “Walkin’ Shoes” for a departure from the typical “rare hare” cover concept, and social media sensation Joey Breaux performed on stage (I believe they said for the first time) with a live band. But, the highlight of the evening by far was when Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big) took the mic and sang the oldie “Good Love” by The Young Rascals with Martin Motnik playing his bass, Brian Gamboa on guitar, Peter Gallinari on keys, and Tyler Warren on drums. And, of course, he followed that up by taking over on bass to take things up another notch while Joel Ellis took over on lead vocals for “I Don’t Need No Doctor” by Humble Pie.
We also really loved the set-up at this venue. While there was no photo pit, the soundboard had a great elevated view of the stage with table seating for everyone to grab a meal while taking in the show, and it was fun hoping into seats at different tables to meet some of the attendees who were gracious enough to let me join them throughout the night.
RockNPod – Nashville, TN – 4/12/2025
Having never been to RockNPod, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I’ve done radio and website interviews, but with the need for a flexible schedule, I never wanted to commit to the regularity of a podcast format myself. Much respect to everyone leading the podcast revolution. It was so cool watching interviews happening all around us with the event guests , as well as the main stage and side stage interviews and panels for everyone to hear live in between artist meet and greets and shopping. And, The Nashville Fairgrounds expo hall was a great venue to host the event, with tons of room to walk around and not feel
overcrowded or overwhelmed like a claustrophobic hotel ballroom event.
We eased into our day around noon and visited some of our favorite artists first, including Gavin Evick’s band, Anthony Corder (Tora Tora), Brian Forsythe (KIX, Rhino Bucket), Tuk Smith, and Ace Von Johnson (LA Guns), but as we made our way deeper into the event, there were some definite surprises. The pop star Tiffany was selling vintage clothing at her boutique, Radikal Redz, and I was absolutely thrilled to meet her and her family (and buy a really cute dress), and I picked up a killer chain belt from Breaking Bone Love, grabbed an autographed copy of The True Tale of Mist Bone by author KL Doty, and grabbed some other memorabilia and vintage shirts while exploring.
Tuk Smith – Nashville, TN – 4/12/2025
Having stuck around until 5:30 pm in anticipation of the Gibson guitar raffle, it was a quick turnaround to get out to East Side Bowl for Tuk Smith & The Restless Hearts on Saturday Night. Thankfully, the host hotel had a restaurant on hand for a fast meal and refresh. The show kicked off with Leilani Kilgore, then Wolf Twin took the stage before Tuk Smith and the band drove things home.
Tuk has been one of our favorite song writers since the Biters and we’ve watched his sound evolve with this current line-up which features drummer Nigel Dupree (son of Jess James Dupree of Jackyl), Matthew Curtis on bass, and Tobin Dale on guitar. The set included a long list of favorites like “Glory Bound” and “What Kinda Love,” some comic relief when Tuk started rubbing bald heads in the crowd, and an all-star jam on “Stop Dragging My Heart Around,” where the girls joined in and Blackie Rie helped out on lead vocals.
Merch included lots of new stuff that Tuk didn’t have on hand at the expo, including lunch boxes and custom signed and numbered posters to commemorate the evening. So, I was thankful to have brought an extra bag to get all my new purchases home from Saturday.
Punchlines & Backlines – Nashville, TN – 4/13/2025
Jon Bon Jovi’s on Broadway hosted the Punchlines & Backlines event on Sunday evening with Don Jamieson, Courtney Cronin, Craig Gass, Hal Sparks (Nerd Halen), and Chris Kael (Five Finger Death Punch) with the first of two shows kicking off at 7pm.
VIPs in attendance included drummer Ray Luzier (Korn) and Hugh McDonald (Bon Jovi). The night began with Aaron Camaro of the Decibel Geek Podcast making the introduction for Courtney Cronin who set up the show for the evening and shared a bit of the adventures of the female side of the music industry.
Courtney was joined by Don Jamieson who is best know for That Metal Show and Craig Gass who reeled in the rock crowd with some KISS stories. The premise of the Punchlines & Backlines show is typically a debut of a musician taking on the stage in a comedic role. This show offered a bit of a unique twist as Chris Kael returned to the stage having enjoyed the experience so much the first time, and Hal Sparks is a seasoned stand-up comedian and actor who just coincidentally fronts the Van Halen cover band Nerd Halen.
Having sold out the room for the first show, a second show was added to the intimate room on the fourth floor of the Jon Bon Jovi bar which featured larger than life images of the Bon Jovi band. Ironically, and intentionally, Bon Jovi band bassist Hugh Mcdonald and his wife could be found seated directly in the shadow of Hugh’s image on the wall. Hugh was kind enough to pose for some photos for us before we headed out to make room for the second performance attendees.
Downstairs we found the house band fronted by Monica Lewellen performing some rock and metal covers. We spotted a familiar face, Daniel Laverde (Geoff Tate, Mark Daly & The Ravens) on drums, and had to stop and check them out a bit before exploring Broadway on our final night in Nashville.
I kept asking myself all weekend, how is it that I’ve never been to this event before? I can’t really say why, but I can tell you that I will definitely be back. With a quick direct flight from Pittsburgh, I’ve learned how easy it is to stop by Nashville even if it is just for one show, but having an entire weekend of great fun, great music, shopping, comedy, and great friends is definitely worth traveling for. Congratulations to RockNPod for a smashing success of an event. We can’t wait to hear what you have planned for next year!
Event coverage and photos by Kara Uhrlen for The Pure Rock Shop