Hogdoggn

Ten Toe Turbo is a collection of four different song writters based out of Hendersonville, Nc. Heath Patrick with Hogdoggn is mentioned in the article for creating staple songs for Ten Toe Turbo's melody of genres and creative sounds.


Ten Toe Turbo -- the funkadelic winner of the Battle of the Bands -- will play a victory concert tonight at 9 p.m. at the Back Room.

This energetic band of Henderson County musicians crank up original tunes and frequently improvise, making each show a unique experience.

The band's name is based on a Jamaican term that refers to the primary means of transportation for the average impoverished Jamaican -- one's own legs.

"They're very eclectic, and play a wide range of music. I think that's what put them over the top in the Battle of the Bands," says David Brannock, owner of the Back Room and host of the recent band contest.

"You never know what to expect with them. None of their shows are the same."

Their grab bag, toe-tapping funkadelic repertoire includes rock, reggae, blues, funk, jazz, rockabilly, hip-hop -- even some gospel and bluegrass.

When they play covers, the band makes sure that the music is eclectic enough to sound fresh.

Ten Toe Turbo's magnetic stage presence and its unpredictable shows are helping make it an audience favorite.

"They're very original and spontaneous," says Ann Bailes, a Hendersonville fan of the band. "Every time I see them it's a lot of fun."

Bailes attended a Cinco de Mayo show at Janitzio Mexican Restaurant on Spartanburg Highway, where Ten Toe Turbo performed a week after its Battle of the Bands win in late April.

Bailes helped to vote Ten Toe Turbo in as the Battle of the Bands' victors. Ten Toe Turbo won $200 and tonight's gig at the Flat Rock music venue and restaurant.

It was a narrow, one-vote win over Born Broke, a local "garage, rock, and country" favorite that had the place packed with fans. Jason Boyd, who plays harmonica and percussion in Ten Toe Turbo, describes the win as "very unexpected."

Ten Toe Turbo's founder Tony Campbell -- aka "The Big Toe"-- says the band spent the prize money on strings and drumheads.

Band members enjoy improvising the music and lyrics to "strive to make sure the audience is having a good time," says Campbell, a Charleston native who plays guitar, bass and mandolin. He's studying to be a middle school science teacher.

Campbell originally started the band with former percussionist Cameron Deeb, who has since moved back to his native Louisville, Ky.

He continues to contribute to the band by designing quirky hand-drawn promo posters.

"A lot of our improv is an instrumental jam that starts when one of us is goofing around and the next thing you know we're all playing," Campbell says. "It's akin to us carrying on a conversation with our instruments."

Ten Toe Turbo percussionist Isaac Wells is a fourth-grade teacher at Sugarloaf Elementary School, where his wife Dana Wells is a fifth-grade teacher, by day. He was recently voted 2009-2010 Teacher of the Year at Sugarloaf Elementary and also performs with area bands Bacchus' Jukebox, Consciously Sedated and Ethos.

Many of Ten Toe Turbo's musicians also play in other bands.

Bass guitarist Jonathon McDade, for instance, plays with the Chemical Pickle and Consciously Sedated. A 1996 graduate of East Henderson High School, he owns McDade Restoration, a home renovation company. Self-described as a "collaborative effort," each of Ten Toe Turbo's members offers inspiration for their bandmates from a variety of personal influences.

"It's a whirlwind of musicians," says Boyd.

Boyd, whom Campbell describes as "the hottest maraca player around," does surveying and handy work when he's not backing up the tunes for Ten Toe Turbo.

The band is flexible enough to play with a skeleton crew, or with a whole slew of guys. "We've played gigs with as little as two people on the stage to as many as nine people on the stage," says Campbell.

All of the band's members, which also include Mike Pelz, Heath Patrick, and didgeridoo player Steve O'Neil, sing vocals.

A diverse group
Ten Toe Turbo's musicians range in age from the early 20s to early 40s.

Pelz and Campbell can also be found performing acoustic music as Miguel y Antonio, inspired by the Mexican acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela.

A 1997 graduate of Hendersonville High, Pelz, 32, is a Hendersonville native. And O'Neil, aka "Didge Steve," works as an outdoor educator at Earthshine Mountain Lodge in Lake Toxaway when he's not performing with the band.

Most of Ten Toe Turbo's original music is created by Campbell and Patrick, a carpenter who plays guitar, bass, and drums and writes music and performs with the name Hogdoggn'.

Patrick has written such Ten Toe classics as "Cauliflower," "an upbeat number that started as a garage jam about Cauliflower looking like a brain," Campbell says.

"We even include cauliflower's Latin botanical name, Brassica Oleracea Botritus, in the chorus."

"Sasquatch," a hard rock piece found on Patrick's EP "The Sasquatch Chronicles," is another popular number the band plays.

Although Ten Toe Turbo has yet to cut a CD, the band members aspire to in the near future.

Campbell is especially proud of the band's reggae protest song called "Dollar Beer."

"It came out of an improv jam one night when the place we were playing stopped serving their dollar beer special," he says.

"We've played the song enough that it actually inspired The Back Room to put in a dollar beer night."
- Blueridge Now, Times News Hendersonville, NC