<
Local South Valley band JJ Hawg is set to bring their “Rocking Hog Style” to Fifth Street Live on Friday July 22.
<
“I grew up on a lot of country with my uncles,” says Bandleader James Avena. “Merle Haggard, Freddie Fender, Johnny Cash. So we incorporate a lot of that and I think that’s why a lot of people relate to the band in coming to see us, because we’re always going to play something that they recognize.”
<
JJ Hawg is a power trio comprised of James Avena (Guitar, Vocals), John Diaz (Bass, Background Vocals), and John Galvan (Drums). They’ve been together since the early 2000s.
The band covers a wide range of musical territory, and plays songs like “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry and “Purple Rain” by Prince.
<
Avena invited local 501(c)3 nonprofit organization Heroes 4 Hope to be part of the show.
<
“Our mission is to impact and empower children, to teach them that the hero that they always wanted to be is within themselves,” says Heroes 4 Hope Founder and CEO Mark Preader.
Preader, who dresses as Batman during Heroes 4 Hope events, said the nonprofit has a four-point message: a hero never gives up, a hero always does the right thing, a hero always helps other, and a hero is never a bully. He’s thankful that JJ Hawg is opening their space to them.
“It’s great because it’s about supporting the community,” he says. “We love to support people in the community, give them exposure and vice versa because it helps everybody out.”
<
Avena spoke with the South Valley to discuss JJ Hawg’s Fifth Street Live performance, the best and worst gigs, and the story behind the band’s name.
<
– – – – – – –
<
SOUTH VALLEY: So, what’s the story behind the band name?
<
JAMES AVENA: Well, John Galvan is a DJ for The Hippo radio station in Monterey, and I’d been playing music for years. We left one band and decided we were going to start another band. His fiancé at the time said, “Why don’t you just say James and John and the Hawgs?” So that’s how it came to be JJ Hawg.
<
And when was that?
<
Early 2000’s. And we needed a bass player. We talked to his cousin [John Diaz] who was coming out of the military. He wanted to get back into music and he became the bass player and we’ve all been together ever since.
<
Where do you guys practice?
<
I don’t think we’ve rehearsed in 10-15 years. Normally what we do, if we want to learn something new, we just call each other and say “Learn this.” Then we show up to the gig and we pretty much already know it. Even though we learn new stuff, a lot of people want to hear the same.
<
How do you decide what to play?
<
We play to the crowd. If we see the crowd’s mostly middle age, we know what they want to hear. I guess I’m middle age too. That’s anything from 50’s on up. And then the younger kids would rather hear some rock, so we beef things up a bit. They could be the same songs, but we give it a bit more oomph, you know? We just love to play. And we tend to get energetic onstage and jump around and be silly, which motivates the crowds. Every night is different.
<
So as for Fifth Street Live, have you played the event in the past?
<
We have played it in the past, yeah. It’s always been a good thing for us because we love to give back to the community. We make a living playing music in different clubs, Station 55, Crazy Coyote, Old City Hall. We make a little bit of money, we don’t make a lot of money. But what we do is give back to the community. We love to see the kids jumping around. My sisters bring their kids, family members bring the babies. And the little kids are running around, which makes it fun and makes it community-oriented. We love to play it.
<
What’s been JJ Hawg’s best show? What about the worst?
<
JJ Hawg has had many good shows, including opening shows for The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Cheap Trick, Mickey Thomas’ Starship, Ronnie Montrose, Pat Travers, and others. Worst show was the Gilroy Garlic Festival. We had a great show, but what made it our worst was it was 10,000,000 Degrees outside.
<
What upcoming shows does the band have?
We have numerous club gigs scheduled, but one that stands out is August 27th at Hellyer Park in San Jose for their last summer concert of the season. This is a family oriented day at the park. We get to bring our families out and spend the day and play music. We invite all our friends and family in Gilroy and the surrounding counties to come out and spend the day with us.
<
Tell me a bit about your background with music.
<
I grew up listening to old Hank and Merle tunes, and Freddy Fender. We all watched our local artists like Chuck Trujillo and Dave Muro playing music all over and we all discovered the musical bug. John Diaz’ father, Johnny Diaz, played everywhere when we were young. We all grew up listening to these guys and idolizing them.
<
What does music mean to you? What’s your relationship with music?
I look at music as all of the above and then some. My guitar screams when I’m mad, cries when I’m sad, expresses all my emotions, and at the end of the day relaxes me and puts me to sleep. Ask my wife how many times she’s had to pry my guitar from my arms while sitting in the recliner. Now she just leaves me there and I wake in the night still holding my guitar in my arms. She gets a little jealous.
For more information about JJ Hawg, visit the band’s Facebook pagehttps://www.facebook.com/thehawgpen or their websitehttp://www.jjhawgband.com
