King Daddy Polecats
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King Daddy Polecats

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The best kept secret in music

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"King Daddy Polecats"

This is Ted Tuck and the boys. Ted owns Ted's Pro Music up in Gainesville and is one of the most prolific cats to ever torture a Fender Telecaster. These guys do Rockabilly, Swing, Honky Tonk, and other fun Americana music and they do it with an energy that will keep you cooking the WHOLE night! Dressed in zoot suites to look the part you never know what's happening next. Ted will be up on the bar at some point, and standing up on top of the upright bass jamming at another. This guy is 170lb of dynamite! It's GREAT fun - Paul 'Lefty" Sanders (lefty's BBQ)


"King Daddy Polecats"

It started off like any other evening out on the town. A good
friend of mine was taking me to a bar called Rhythm &
Brews in downtown Gainesville to listen to a band I had
never heard of. Like most people, I wasn’t expecting much.
This isn’t Atlanta or Athens, and I understood that this was
a band local to Gainesville. Most bars have bands playing the usual
assortment of pop, country, or classic rock: the industry standard
for local live music. As we walked in, though, I instantly noticed
a buzz, an anxious energy. The house was unusually packed for
so early in the evening, and I saw in people’s faces that they were
excited. They knew that they were in for a great time. We grabbe
drinks and found a place to stand, since every available seat had
already been filled.

The lights dimmed and the band took to the little stage at the front
of the bar. The crowd clapped and cheered as if these guys were
celebrities. The lead guitarist, Ted Tuck, had a long beard coming
directly off of his chin, and he was wearing a blue suit, blue leather
shoes, and a blue top hat. The other two were just as stylish; these guys were definitely there to have a good time. Ted began to play his guitar, and they were off. I was completely blown away by what I was hearing. They were on fire - incredible energy. “Unique” is the only way to describe their sound. Ted later described it to me as “Roots American Music,” which he defines as two parts rockabilly,
a beer mug full of honky tonk, and a few dashes of both blues and swing for the right amount of flavor. How ever you describe it, the ingredients make for an exciting night of fun and music that will knock your socks off. These guys are not just exceptional
musicians; they entertain. They turn any average bar on any normal night into a circus top where everyone is part of the show. It’s not unusual to see these guys standing on the bar, playing with their teeth, using beer bottles as props, switching instruments mid-song, or in bass player Jonathan Peek’s case, performing high-flying daredevil acrobatics on top of his upright bass.

The King Daddy Polecats interact with their audience, telling
stories and jokes, which is probably one of many reasons why
they have such a large following. While I was introduced to them
on a Friday night at Rhythm & Brews, they are also regulars at
clubs like 37 Main in Buford, the ¼ Deck in Flowery Branch, Blue
Olive Lounge in Marietta, Lefty’s BBQ in Buford, Cocktail Cove
in Buford, Sideways Bar in Athens, and Trader Vick’s at the Hilton
in downtown Atlanta. They have also been in great demand for
corporate events, weddings, and benefits. I was surprised to find out that they have only been together for a little over a year! In such
a short amount of time they have become wildly popular very fast.
“It’s hard to believe we’ve only been doing this for a year – feels
like it’s been a lot longer.” said Ted Tuck. With their popularity
growing so quickly their schedules have become far busier than
they ever expected. And with each member also working a full time
job, it’s everything they can do to fit it all in. According to drummer Mike Terrell, “playing in the band is work, but it’s fun work.” If you haven’t heard The King Daddy Polecats perform, you should definitely take time to do so. You can get their schedule from their website at www.myspace.com/chickencitywranglers. And who knows, you might be there when a celebrity like Guitarist Jerry
Donahue (Roy Orbison, Bonnie Raitt, Elton John) or Wendal Cox (Travis Tritt) shows up to play with the band. The KDP appeal to all ages, so everyone who goes to watch them will have a great time. And because no two shows are ever alike, it’s always a musical aventure. - Lanier Community Magazine


"THE NOOZE sits down for a one on one with the Big Cats !"

N

o Beer. The bar is closed. Having already picked out a location for our sit down with the KDP’s, we find that we have rendevoused at a dry hole. Oh well...

TN:

Aside from unsurpassed musicianship, this band oozes a very strong sense of comraderie. How and when did you guys hook up?

TED: Jonathan and I have been playing together for, how long now?

JONATHAN: Wow, 15 years... right?

TED: Yeah, I think so. Thats a long time. Ive known Mike for a long time as well but we’ve only been playing together for 4 or 5 years. I always knew him to be a great drummer and vocalist but it took awhile for us to fall into playing together.

MIKE: It took awhile for him to realize that he was in need of an older, wiser and might I add, much better looking component in the band.

JONATHAN: Yeah, Mike is the eye candy of the bunch.

MIKE: (Laughs) Yeah, I guess I’m what... 16 years older than you guys?

TED: I’m 38 and Jonathan is 36.

MIKE: Yeah, I’ll be 54 soon so there’s quite a little age gap there. But we all get along well and really enjoy playing together.

TN: Every band has some sort of internal political mechanism. What about you guys... Democracy or Dictatorship?

MIKE: Oh, its definitely Teds way or the highway! (Uproar of laughter)

JONATHAN: The whole concept and direction we’ve taken was Teds idea and heis definitely the most creative element of the band. No offense, Mike.

TED: In all reality, I think everybody contributes equal parts to the success we’ve achieved thus far and there’s three of us so if it ever really comes down to a decision making process, there is always a deciding vote. But, you know, I don’t recall that ever happening. We all have the same sense of humor and , like Mike said, we all get along really well. Usually one of us will have an idea and the other two ewxpand on it. the creativity actually comes from the combination of all three members.

JONATHAN: Well said... well spoken... you tell’m Ted.

TN: In todays market of such diverse musical tastes, what made you guys decide to go "rockabilly", and do you consider yourselves limited to that genre?

TED: You know, if you lokk at our song list, we do a lot of rackabilly but we also do a lot of honky tonk, blues and swing. We have a vast array of material that we’ve learned so, depending on the show and the response of the audience, we can pull material from several genres. I like to call what we do "Roots American Music". You know, its the stuff that we all grew up on that has kind’ve fallen by the way side.

MIKE: I call it "Blueswinghonkytonokrockabilly". Thats a mouthfull but still a pretty limited genre when you compare it to rock or pop. My friends are all used to me playing southern or classic rock, so I have to warn them before they come see King Daddy Polecats that this is DEFINITELY NOT southern or classic rock! (Laughter from all 3 KDP’s)

JONATHAN:

Classic and southern rock bands are so prevelant here. You can here that music from so many good bands. We’ve taken a few trips to Nashville and the music that we’re playing now really stems from the downtown Nashville scene.

It was fresh to us when we heard it and it seems to be fresh to our North Georgia audience as well.

TED: And this music is just fun to play! I mean, all of us have been playing the clubs for years, How many times can you pla "Funky White Boy" before you throw up?

(More laughter and nods of agreement) For me, there is amaxement that we have lasted this long. When we first decide to go in this direction I expected it to last 3 or 4 months before the audience got tired of it, but... The crowds keep comin" !

TN: Well, for me its not just the music you guys play. It’s the whole beer drinking, kicking ass wearing a zoot suit, down south party thing. Was that all happenstance or marketing plan?

MIKE: There was a concious decision to go retro and we did put ‘some’ thought into it, but I wouldn’t call it a marketing plan.

JONATHAN: We definitely wanted to come off as authentic.

TED: But its not like we got up one day and said "Okay, this is our 5 year strategy to conquer the local club scene !" It was

more like we were sitting around at Mikeshouse drinking beer and said "Lets play some of these songs... It’ll be fun!". I mean, the last thing the music scene around here needs is another band doing a half ass version of a song that 3 other bands do better than you. And with bands around here like SR 53, Vertigo, Crossroads and Red Dirt...

Those guys all do the classic rock thing so well. We saw Roots American Music as a fresh direction.

TN: Individually, your favorite song in your repetoire?

TED: Wow, thats a tough one... I mean, I like a lot of the songs that Jonathan sings because his voice is so great but I also like some of the songs where we got to cut loose on our individual instruments. I think the best answer for me would be that we are a vocal based band as opposed to being an instrume - THE NOOZE


Discography

DVD demo available at the moment.

Photos

Bio

King Daddy Polecats perform classic covers from Buck Owens to Muddy Waters, Stray Cats to Bob Wills. band has a long song list to choose from over 200 songs!

As well as being talented musicians, They also realize the importance of entertaining. Mixing their Music with humor and visual stage antics ( you will often see them switching instruments, standing on Jonathan's Bass, and playing guitar with teeth and beer bottles) They have been wowing audiences with their range and versatility.