The John Stephan Band

Grinders Hot Sands - January 20, 2007

I drove out to the Shoreline neighborhood to see the John Stephan (left) Band at Grinders Hot Sands last week. Grinders is a restaurant that specializes in sub (or grinder) sandwiches and soups and also serves beer and wine. They feature live music on Saturday nights from 8-10:30 PM ($5.00 cover). The owners are doing something right, because the place was packed both times that I have visited the place to see Stephan. And packed with people that were actually listening to the band - what a concept!

The crowd was digging the band this particular night, for sure. The core players (John Stephan - guitars/vocals, Trev Cutler - drums, and Tom Roesch - bass/backup vocals) were augmented by keyboardist Eric Robert who was coaxing some pretty cool piano and organ sounds out of his electronic keyboards. The band performed original tunes from their 2002 CD "99 Degrees" and the more recent 3J's CD, plus covers like "Call My Job" and the Staple Singers' "I'll Take You There" (one of my favorites). John also did several screamin' Elmore James tunes on his well-worn Tiesco slide guitar.

The John Stephan Band at Grinders.

Left to right: Eric Robert, Trev Cutler, John Stephan, and Tom Roesch

Good stuff! If you aren't familiar with the John Stephan Band, go check 'em out. I see that Grinders is continuing to feature blues bands at least a couple of nights a months, so you might want make the trek out to Shoreline check the joint out. Tell Mitch, the owner, that the Playboy sent ya!