The House Band, which stars locals Keith Turner, Andrew Stewart, Paul Hodgdon, Doug Masterson, Shel Cohn, John Nahra and Jeff Siegel, takes its show to the TRIP bar on Friday, Nov. 21 at 8:15 p.m. The bar is located at 2101 Lincoln Blvd. (south of Pico). Attendees must be 21 or older and there is an $8 cover.
The band, which played in Malibu in August and has played The Roxy and The Viper Room on the Sunset Strip, has stayed together longer than most rock bands.
Stewart (keyboard and guitar) and Keith Turner (drums) started the band when their daughters were at Methodist Preschool. Emma Turner is now a freshman at the University of Puget Sound and Sophia Stewart is at Chapman.
They were soon joined by Masterson (vocals) and Cohn (guitar). Cohn’s daughter Sarah is at Indiana University and Masterson’s son Devyn is at the University of Michigan.
Even as the dads have stayed together through a love of music, the young women have also remained friends, having attended either elementary or high school together in Pacific Palisades.
Guitarist John Nahra and bass player Jeff Siegel round out the band. Turner, Cohn and Nahra live in the Palisades; Stewart and Masterson are former residents.
Practices have usually been at Turner’s house, and early on the group advertised that “The House Band is available for house parties, fundraisers and bars/clubs within an 11 mile radius of the 90272. We will play for booze.”
The men were not looking to strike it rich as musicians because they are professionals in different fields: Masterson (film producer), Stewart (psychologist), Turner (business and real estate lawyer), Cohn (social worker), Nahra (trial attorney) and Siegel (now a business owner, who retired from the department of ichthyology and herpetology at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum).
The group has also played at the local Fourth of July concert “Palisades Rocks the 4th” in 2008, 2010 and 2011.
Turner has served as a volunteer organizer for the July 4 concert since its incep- tion, and Cohn bought the first PA system for the concert.
Initially, the House Band played cover songs, everything from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to Wilco, Police, English Beat, Muse, Grateful Dead and Elvis Costello, but now play mostly original music. “Andy and Shel write the originals in a variety of styles—rock, classic rock, blues, country, reggae and alternative rock,” Turner said. “We have more than 300songs in our repertoire.”
This will be the band’s tenth appearance at TRIP.
“Our ideal gig is a backyard party with carne asada and/or fish tacos and a bartender,” Turner said. “We played some great spots this summer in Zuma and Topanga.”
Contact Turner drum2law@me.com or Steward drewstewmusic@aol.com or call (310) 990-4373 to book the band.
You must be logged in to post a comment.