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He was George in a Beatles tribute band once, but it didn’t work out. Why not try a Stones tribute? Jackson Martin, who looks reasonably enough like an ‘80s version of Keith Richards says this is how Rolling the Stones came about. It was 2008, and Martin began auditioning like-minded musicians who looked the part. “We actually stole Mick from another tribute band,” he says. “We weren’t a working band at that point,” he says, “but we were a better band.”
Martin says that not only do the five RTS members actually look like the real Stone they play, “but our personalities are similar. It’s scary.” Of the Stones it is Keith Richards who is perhaps the most mystical, when you consider that his past includes such events as getting bloodied by Chuck Berry or having had at least one transfusion to beat a drug rap. He is the real-life figure that Johnny Depp famously modeled his pirate character on. And recently, we learned that even though he spent decades in a dope-glaze the Keef was actually taking notes, as evidenced by his clever biography. So, how is Martin like Richards?
“Do we really wanna put that in print?” We do. Martin laughs. “I don’t carry a gun around any more,” he says, “but Keith still likes to carry a gun and a knife and I’ve always been like that. Keith is also known to go off the handle and bop somebody, and I don’t do that anymore either.”
He’s spent a ton of coin to dress the part (“I’ve got $900 dollars alone in two pieces of jewelry – the skull ring and the manacle-handcuff bracelet) but, can Martin hack it on guitar like Richards? Pretty much. “I understand Keith’s guitar playing. It is simple, it’s visceral, it’s animal, and it comes from the groin and the heart and the soul.”
Rolling the Stones cover material from what rock historians consider the three main eras of Stone: Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Ronnie Wood. Their set lists are “Paint it Black” predictable but ramp up to more adventurous material like “All Down the Line.” With Martin, the other “Stones” are drummer Vince Lupo as Charlie Watts, Bernie Yantz in the role of Bill Wyman, and Terry Myers as Ron Wood. “Mick (his real name is Mick Adams) sounds like Mick. And he looks like Mick, and he moves like Mick,” says Jackson. “He really becomes Mick. He’s incredible.” The Las Vegas Hilton and the Belly Up in Solana Beach are favorite venues; they will play the Belly Up on September 24. But unlike the real Stones, who have recorded little of consequence in three decades will RTS attempt to write and record? Probably not, says Martin. “Try to write a song like Brown Sugar. I tried to write a Stones-style song once, and it’s bloody difficult. You’ve either got it or you don’t, and Keith’s got it.”
He was George in a Beatles tribute band once, but it didn’t work out. Why not try a Stones tribute? Jackson Martin, who looks reasonably enough like an ‘80s version of Keith Richards says this is how Rolling the Stones came about. It was 2008, and Martin began auditioning like-minded musicians who looked the part. “We actually stole Mick from another tribute band,” he says. “We weren’t a working band at that point,” he says, “but we were a better band.”
Martin says that not only do the five RTS members actually look like the real Stone they play, “but our personalities are similar. It’s scary.” Of the Stones it is Keith Richards who is perhaps the most mystical, when you consider that his past includes such events as getting bloodied by Chuck Berry or having had at least one transfusion to beat a drug rap. He is the real-life figure that Johnny Depp famously modeled his pirate character on. And recently, we learned that even though he spent decades in a dope-glaze the Keef was actually taking notes, as evidenced by his clever biography. So, how is Martin like Richards?
“Do we really wanna put that in print?” We do. Martin laughs. “I don’t carry a gun around any more,” he says, “but Keith still likes to carry a gun and a knife and I’ve always been like that. Keith is also known to go off the handle and bop somebody, and I don’t do that anymore either.”
He’s spent a ton of coin to dress the part (“I’ve got $900 dollars alone in two pieces of jewelry – the skull ring and the manacle-handcuff bracelet) but, can Martin hack it on guitar like Richards? Pretty much. “I understand Keith’s guitar playing. It is simple, it’s visceral, it’s animal, and it comes from the groin and the heart and the soul.”
Rolling the Stones cover material from what rock historians consider the three main eras of Stone: Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Ronnie Wood. Their set lists are “Paint it Black” predictable but ramp up to more adventurous material like “All Down the Line.” With Martin, the other “Stones” are drummer Vince Lupo as Charlie Watts, Bernie Yantz in the role of Bill Wyman, and Terry Myers as Ron Wood. “Mick (his real name is Mick Adams) sounds like Mick. And he looks like Mick, and he moves like Mick,” says Jackson. “He really becomes Mick. He’s incredible.” The Las Vegas Hilton and the Belly Up in Solana Beach are favorite venues; they will play the Belly Up on September 24. But unlike the real Stones, who have recorded little of consequence in three decades will RTS attempt to write and record? Probably not, says Martin. “Try to write a song like Brown Sugar. I tried to write a Stones-style song once, and it’s bloody difficult. You’ve either got it or you don’t, and Keith’s got it.”