The Rockfish Rock! Plain and simple - we like to rock out and play all sorts of Rock music from past to present. You know full well that rocking music has always been about fishing. Casting about for inspiration from the past, from the rivers of various musical traditions. Hanging around with friends passing the time, sometimes catching something interesting, sometimes happy just to dangle your feet in the mainstream of Rock & Roll music. Growing up, but not growing old.
The Rockfish are four rockin dudes who simply love music and love to play it. Rock tunes? Of course; it's how we learned to play. The "best of the 80's, 90's and today"? That's how we stay fresh. Whether you want to dance, have a drink with friends, or just listen, you'll find plenty to enjoy with the Rockfish.
The Rockfish started out in the early 90's when our friend Lenny decided to move down to Myrtle Beach. The group was originally called the Harbingers and Pat decided to revitalize the group with new members and a new name to boot. The Maryland state fish is the striped bass or Rockfish and Pat and the buoys took to the name like fish take to water. Rob took over Lenny's duties on guitar and vocals, Pat switched from drums to guitar and keyboards, and Bruce Allen became the drummer, and the Rockfish were hatched.
The Rockfish went through some changes over the years. Bruce rotated back and forth between the Fish and his originals band, and Jay Dennis was called upon to fill the void. Alan Franks and Mike Nakamura joined the group for a while but the school had a hard time fitting in some of the smaller clubs. Bruce, Alan and Mike left to form the Redstone Band and the rest is history. Jobs kept coming our way and Pat, Joey, Rob and Jay kept the act going.
Bassist Joey "I don't think so - she's looking at me!" Tarbell is a veteran of the local music scene, having played in a number of bands in a number of bars for a number of years. One of the band's many singers, he likes to throw a song overboard and jump in after it.
Multi-instrumentalist Pat "Mach Schau!" Puglisi jumps from electric guitar to acoustic guitar to keyboards and back again - and sings too. (We don't let him play drums anymore.) Pat keeps the group swimming upstream and the others naturally follow.
The bands real singer, Rob "Yeah, we can do that!" Kilgore also holds down the rhythm guitar chair, although we make him stand up at gigs. Rob puts the band in the sink or swim position more than the other Fish care for, but this keeps the group on the lookout for those hooks.
The Rockfish begins with the beat, and drummer Jay "Why certainly!" Dennis is steady but never stodgy. He keeps the tide rolling in and the sound waves crashing all around. His buoyant drumming sets the framework for each tune.
Fish travel together in schools, and the Rockfish are no different from all the other fish in the sea.
Bruce Allen was our original drummer and is a hard hitting guy. Bruce played a really cool green Yamaha kit and
brought a lot of great material to the bands repertoire. Alan Franks went to Blair with Pat and the two high school
buddies enjoyed playing together in the Fish. Alan favored his Paul Reed Smith with the 3 pickups. Mike Nakamura
is a super lead guitarist with blazing licks. He and Bruce were good friends and Mike brought along his snazzy
lead playing to the group. Mike has all sorts of great vintage guitars, but likes his Brian Moore very much. These
three joined forces with Tom Johnson to form the band Redstone.
Hear the Rockfish performing Running On Faith & All The Small Things:
Running On Faith
The Rockfish are always pooling their combined talents to bring you the best in Rock & Roll. We have a promotional kit and demo we can mail to you. Feel free to contact Pat at the following phone numbers and email address:
Pat: (Days) 202-895-5036 (Evenings) 301-414-0095
email: ppuglisi@wtopnews.com