Generation HeX

This story ran on nwitimes.com on Saturday, February 4, 2006 12:13 AM CST

Spotlight | Generation Hex

BY TOM LOUNGES
Times Correspondent

The meaning of the name Generation Hex is twofold.

The first part aptly reflects that their music spans the rock generations from the old Motown and the hard rock '60s through today's top stars like Velvet Revolver.

The band puts a heavy emphasis on '70s-80's arena rock covers by Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, Bon Jovi, Foghat and Ted Nugent, but their live show also features a fair share of dance/funk covers by the Commodores, Wild Cherry, Stevie Wonder and others.

"Hex is partially a play on the term Generation X," said guitarist Jim "Jimisix" Karones of Oak Lawn, a dyed-in-the-wool Baby Boomer like the others in his group. "When we started this band (in early 2005), we wanted to be more than just another bar band. We wanted to capture some of the 'magic' of seeing live rock 'n' roll shows back in the day. So that magic is where 'Hex' came from."

Karones and his mates witnessed that old time magic, because they were all part of the Chicagoland nightclub scene before surfing the Internet, watching on-demand programming on home theater systems, and playing Xbox began keeping people at home on the weekends.

Karones' first notable band, Final Faze, was a club staple in the late 1970s and his follow-up group, Rumorz, performed at Chicagofest '81.

"Those were great days," noted the string-bending vocalist.

"People came out to the clubs every night and seeing a band was an event. We're trying to re-capture that same kind of magic with this band."

The rest of the Hex-men are likewise survivors of the region bar wars and enjoy banging out rock 'n' roll as much today as they did back then.

Drummer Ed Nadess of Tinley Park and bassist Greg Pender of Orland Park have been grooving together as a rhythm section since they, too, were part of the Rumorz band with Karones. Prior to Rumorz, Pender played with Papa St. John who regularly opened shows for a fledgling young band named STYX during their early Wooden Nickel Record days.

Lead vocalist Angelo Negrette of Blue Island came on board full time just last month, replacing former frontman Jack Pender who has since gone full time with the Creed tribute band My Sacrifice and 80's Hair Metal tribute, High Gear.

"I've known Angelo for a long time," Karones noted. "He's worked out great and like the rest of us, has been a part of the (Chicagoland) music scene for a lot of years."

While the four old friends make up the nucleus of the Hex lineup, for bigger shows they call in the sonic reinforcement of their unofficial fifth member, keyboardist Pete Reno of New Lenox.

"Pete might be with us this Saturday at the Dizzy Lizard, I'm not sure yet," Karones said. "This is the band's debut performance in Northwest Indiana, so it's a pretty important show for us."

While they have enough cover material to perform several hour-plus sets with no repeats, Generation Hex has focused their offstage attention to writing original songs for their first album, to be recorded later this year.

Karones recently wrapped up work on his own solo album, "Land Of Dreams," which likewise should be available soon.

Keep up with the band, the album projects and upcoming live dates online at www.generationhex.net.

The opinions expressed solely are those of the writer. He can be reached at beatboss@aol.com


- NW Indiana Times

NCTV17 (Naperville) - Featured in performance and interview for the
“Showbuzz” program to air in June/July 2006
Midwest Beat – Feature articles - November 2005, April 2006
Suburban Night Life – Nominees “Best of the ‘Burbs” 2005/2006
“Best Classic Rock Band”, “Best Rock Band” “Best Male Front”
NW Indiana Times – Spotlight article – February 2006
X-Rock Radio 103.9 – Regular gig promotion on ”Rock in the Region”
- Various

Generation HeX was selected as the Featured Band of the Month by the publishers of Chicagosrock.com. Interview/video trailer/and live video are available there. - Chicagosrock.com