the Pepper Shakers

Back at Caven’s Alley Bar this Friday, the Pepper Shakers are, “a little bit more upbeat than the average country, or oldies band,” says their singer/guitarist ‘Hank’ Fox.

And while they may sport cowboy garb, Fox, bassist ‘Major’ Wayne McKenzie, and drummer Steve ‘Shakin’ Wilcox (a Port Credit native) touch on rockabilly, classic country, blues, R&B, surf guitar, classic rock, and modern rock by evening’s end. They bring a touch of swagger to Dwight Yoakam’s Honky Tonk Man, a sweet groove to Elvis’ Suspicious Minds, and Fox outdoes himself on the Eagles’ ballad Tequila Sunrise.

On the go for just two years, this trio of vets gelled quickly and is booked up two to three nights a week.

“We sort of wedged our way into that country thing, and expanded outward from there,” the Richmond Hill resident explains.

“We basically bill ourselves as a party band.”

They’re regulars on that little West End country/roots rock circuit, which includes the Hensall Circle Legion, the Army Navy and Air Force Veterans Centre, the Moose Lodge in Long Branch, and Caven’s (which Fox calls, “the best-kept secret in Mississauga”).

Of his own musical predilections, Fox (previously spoken to with the rootsy Highway Hepcats) offers, “I was a Beatles fan, and then sort of expanded backward. I wanted to find out who were Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, and why did Keith Richards play like he did?”

Showtime is 9:30 p.m. at Caven’s Alley Bar, 645 Lakeshore Rd. E. at Cawthra Rd. - Mississauga News