Pat & the Hats

By Keith Testa / Insider Staff
July 16, 2013

Market Days participants Pat and the Hats have a sound that is somewhat difficult to categorize. Even band member Brenden Harisiades had a hard time getting too specific.

“We always get asked that, and I guess the blanket phrase would be original rock and roll,” Harisiades said. “But we touch upon a little bit of each genre out there, I guess.”

And then there’s this classification, from yourband.info: “Imagine if the Beatles met Elvis Costello and then Iggy Pop stopped by to play Monopoly.”

It’s a fitting board game choice. Iggy is shirtless enough that his torso might as well be a community chest.

Anyway, perhaps it’s best if you make your own judgments on the musical stylings of Pat and the Hats, who will be making their Market Days debut a little more than a year after coming together as a unit following singer/songwriter Patrik Gochez’s original album, Heavy Loader. They do indeed blend many different styles, ranging from traditional rock to the occasional hint of a jazzy standard, a diversity born out of varied musical backgrounds.

Harisiades was in jazz band in high school, spent the majority of his high school life in funk bands and later toiled in cover rock and roll bands. The rest of the band has similar ranging backgrounds, including a degree from Berklee for Gochez.

Thanks in part to that unique sound, the group has enjoyed growing success in the time they’ve been together, which barely spans more than a full turn of the calendar.

“We’re slowly growing more and more,” Harisiades said. “We’ve played in Manchester, down at Tupelo Music Hall in Vermont, we’ve played in Manhattan. It’s going really well.”

Though the band is relatively new, the connections for the members run deep – Harisiades met Gochez through Jason Lane, a mutual music teacher, and drummer Bobby Rice went to high school with Gochez and also studied under Lane.

“It was all kind of very natural,” Harisiades said of the band formation.

The group can be heard playing tracks from the aforementioned Heavy Loader album at most recent shows, but there are plans in the works for another release down the road. Though they aren’t in the studio yet, Harisiades said the members already have “more than album’s worth” of new original material. Gochez is the driving force behind the songwriting, which isn’t something Harisiades sees changing anytime in the near future.

Playing live remains a passion for the group, which has already been added to next year’s Camp-N-Jam lineup after playing the Davisville festival this summer.

“We played Saturday on the main stage and attracted some new ears,” Harisiades said. “It was great, just getting on a big stage like that with good sound.”

A big stage isn’t always required, though – Pat and the Hats have enjoyed playing in Concord a number of times, with stops at The Draft and True Brew Barista as well as an appearance on a large outdoor stage at the Smokestack Center to celebrate the release of Heavy Loader.

Market Days will represent a return to Concord for a group that is barely more than a year into a venture it hopes will turn into a long-term career path.

“The best way to put it is we’re definitely career-oriented with the band, with no exact timeline,” Harisiades said. “Because who really knows? But we’re all on the same page as far as the three of us really wanting to make this a career.” - The Concord Insider

Where were you this past Saturday? If you were not at Penuche’s in Concord you missed probably the most exciting music event of the summer. The band, Pat and The Hats, played their first show at the Concord club. They blew the audience away. We might be talking about this band a lot lately but that is because YOU MUST SEE THEM!!! Most of the people in the bar had not seen this band before and I could hear the remarks “Who the hell are these guys cause they are amazing!” Pat and The hats bring a blend of the Beatles, Elvis Costello and Tony Clifton.

A powerful stage show and an ability to feel the crowd made the performance one for the books. The people filled the dance floor and danced and rubbed together in a big mass of body parts. Pat jumped from piano to guitar and back again providing almost two distinct bands. While on piano the band was quieter, more subtle and like a small stream of smoke leaving a cigarette. When Pat jumped back on guitar, the band became a blazing house fire; Powerfull and hot.

If you missed it, you can redeem yourself. Catch Pat and the Hats on the Bicentennial Square Home Grown Stage in Concord NH during Market Days. Pat and The Hats take the stage on Saturday at noon. Don’t just go to the Home Grown Stage for Pat and The Hats!!! You can see a bunch of other great local acts performing their tunes for free. See below for the schedule of events!!!!

more on the hats:
http://yourband.info/index.php?q=Bobby-Rice-5-questions
http://yourband.info/index.php?q=pat-and-the-hats
https://www.facebook.com/patrikgochezofficial - yourband.info

“Patrik Gochez is a unique specimen. An extraordinarily talented singer and guitar player with a primal and genuine passion for music, specifically rock and roll. It’s a breath of fresh air to see someone attack a song the way he does, sliding between a sweet croon and a beast roar effortlessly, taking occasional breaks to rip some of the coolest guitar lines I’ve ever heard. I’m not saying that the current climate of the indie-rock show is boring. Oh wait, yes I am, and Patrik Gochez (and his prolific yet elusive band WhiteShoeBrownShoe) could very well be the answer to that. He seems to be one of the few out there who realize a show is called a show for a reason.” - Last Train Magazine (2012)

"...Pavement at their most upbeat, and the Velvet Underground at their least pretentious" - Revolt Media

Making time
Pat & the Hats move quickly to establish band

09/19/13
By Michael Witthaus music@hippopress.com



Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers that it takes 10,000 hours to gain true command of one’s chosen art. Patrik Gochez & the Hats have been together for barely a year, but the band is rapidly closing in on that number. A recent Saturday night gig in Bow was the day’s third, following an early morning car wash performance in Concord and a set at a Tamworth home brewer’s festival that afternoon.
“We’ll be better tonight for having played all day,” said Gochez (pronounced with an audible z), sitting on an L-shaped couch in the corner of Chen Yang Li with drummer Bobby Rice and bass player Brenden Harisiades. “This is our Gladwell year.”
Gochez, a Berklee grad, grew up in a musical household. His mother recalled him banging on the piano and improvising songs at 9 months old — perhaps the first of his 10,000 hours. He spent six years playing progressive rock in WhiteShoeBrownShoe, a duo that Yes front man Jon Anderson called “wild and wonderful,” before moving to a more pop-oriented sound.
In 2012, he released Heavy Loader. Gochez recruited his two band mates after completing the solo effort, aiming to take its lush production to the stage. Rice, a friend since high school, was initially leery.
“How the hell are we going to perform live anything even comparable to how it sounds on the record?” he asked.
“Like it was going to be rigid, just reading music — not organic,” Gochez interjected.
“But over time, this project has evolved into something greater,” concluded Rice.
Indeed. Most Pat & the Hats shows these days feature only a few Heavy Loader tracks, among a catalog that’s grown to over 40 songs. While Gochez’s solo effort suggested John Lennon’s Mind Games, the newly minted power trio sounds more like the White Album — a comparison that delights the three Beatles-loving twentysomethings.
“I just love timeless songs that are rich with harmony and melody,” said Gochez.
The band has a polyglot of influences, from late ‘70s punk pop to modern acts like Flaming Lips, all rooted in classic sensibility: when asked to name a favorite album, all three agreed.
“The soundtrack of The Last Waltz,” said Harisiades, as Gochez and Rice nodded. “It’s kind of cheating, but there’s a bit of everything in there.”
Later, the group encored with “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.”
They’ve become ubiquitous around Manchester and Concord, getting booked, rebooked and booked again at area watering holes like The Farm, Penuche’s and Strange Brew Tavern, where they play Sept. 26 and Halloween night.
Perhaps the most gratifying part of this success is that it’s come without compromise. The band plays its own material, and no one shouts a request for “Bad Romance” or “Moves Like Jagger.” One fan even hired the group for a wedding, insisting only that they stick to originals.
If they do play a cover, it typically rips the roof off. Gochez one-ups George Harrison with his guitar pyrotechnics on “Taxman,” and the band does a stellar version of ELO’s “Evil Woman” with the bandleader sitting at the piano.
The hard work and toil is beginning to pay off, with appearances added so fast that keeping their Facebook page up to date is almost impossible. Playing a summer festival in Concord helped build buzz for the band.
“Camp n’ Jam opened a lot of doors,” said Gochez, who lobbied promoters hard for the slot. “It almost seemed as if we were banging our heads against the wall and it was pointless, but six months of persistence paid off. … We all love to do this. We thrive being on the road.” - Hippo Press

By SARAH KINNEY
Monitor staff
Thursday, April 16, 2015
(Published in print: Thursday, April 16, 2015)

New England’s top musicians, songwriters and producers will be recognized Saturday at the New England Music Awards.

Those who attend will hear Latin, rock, country, folk, pop, hip hop, reggae and more by artists who call New England home.

There were a number of smaller, regional awards programs: the Connecticut Music Awards, the Boston Music Awards, the Worcester Music Awards, and the Limelight Music, said Joseph Graham, one of the awards program organizers. But not one that involved all of New England.

Graham and partners John Fleming and Mike Flynn set out to change that four years ago with the first New England Music Awards night.

A New Hampshire band, Pat and The Hats, will be one of the featured live performances of the evening. The group is nominated for best pop act of the year. Last year, they were named best band in New Hampshire at the awards.


The band features front-man and songwriter Patrik Gochez on guitar and keyboard, Brendan Harisiades on bass and vocals, Bobby Rice on drums and vocals, Scott Solsky on guitar and Brittany Laine on vocals.

The band has been promoting its first album Fake it ’til you Make a Hit, which features accompaniment from Greg Hawkes of The Cars. Hawkes will join them at the New England Music Awards, too.

The band will give an unofficial pre-party concert Friday at Bull McCabe’s Pub in Somerville, Mass.

Other featured performance acts at the awards include Joey Batts and Them, Sarah Barrios, Ben Knight, We Were Astronauts, Amy and The Engines and the Willie J. Laws Band.

Boston comedian Dave Russo will host the award ceremony.

Musical artists can be nominated in a variety of categories all year on the website.

Then, a committee of music industry experts including journalists from music publications, radio personalities, talent buyers, event planners and record label executives narrow down the nominations for each category, trying to represent a variety of genres and states, Graham said.

Once, narrowed down, voting takes place on the website.

The nominees for best in state for New Hampshire this year are Tan Vampires, Best Not Broken, Gretchen and the Pickpockets, Blacklight Ruckus and the Jandee Lee Porter Band.

New Hampshire musicians are represented in almost every category.


The Shana Stack Band, a country music group, is a nominee for band of the year.

“Bad Decisions” by Manchester singer Josh Logan was nominated for song of the year.

Brian Coombes of Rocking Horse Studio in Pittsfield was nominated as producer of the year. American Idol finalist and Mont Vernon singer Alex Preston was nominated as male performer of the year.

Roots of Creation and the Aldous Collins Band were nominated for best live act of the year.

In the genre categories, Concord-based Dusty Gray Band and Four Legged Faithful were nominated for roots, the Rory Scott Band was nominated for country, Emmarie and Pat and The Hats were nominated for pop, Crushed Out was nominated for rock, Mr. Nick and The Dirty Tricks was nominated for blues, Cameen was nominated for hip hop, and A Simple Complex was nominated for metal.

Lizzy Marella, a 15 year old New Hampshire native was nominated for new act of the year.

The awards ceremony starts at 7 p.m. at Showcase Live in Foxboro, Mass. Seats are sold out for the concert, but a livesteam can be viewed at nemusicawards.com. - Concord Monitor

New Band: If you haven’t heard of Pat and the Hats, just wait. You will. This Central NH band is dropping its first CD just in time for a showcase performance at the Granite State Music (and an appearance at the Best of NH 2014). Original songs by Patrik Gochez confidently mix rock references from many decades and produce what might just be a new and authentic Granite State sound. - NH Magazine