Are you ready to party? Then, make Mavricks Music Hall your party headquarters next week.
The band that calls itself Dwayne Gretzky hits the stage with a sound front man Tyler Kyte dubs, “Loud… fun… contagious… epic… dynamic.”
Sure, Kyte and his mates are a cover band, but they’ll expertly cover whatever you want to hear Friday, Nov. 17.
“We were built on learning songs by Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, The Beatles and The Cars. And those artists’ songs are still part of our show today.”
Now, about that name; you probably remember Cee-Lo Green as part of a hip-hop twosome called Gnarls Barkley, after the basketball hero. Well…
“I feel like the name chose us,” says Kyte. “As a group of friends, we've always been prone to puns and wordplay.
“The actual name was born on stage at (Toronto’s) Dakota Tavern. I think we were calling ourselves the New Twigs at the time but no one really considered that a permanent name (as) we weren't even a permanent band… just a hobby band.
“Anyway, during our set that night, someone from the crowd shouted ‘Who are you guys?!’, and Nick Rose grabbed the mike and simply claimed ‘We are Dwayne Gretzky’.”
Kyte agrees it may have been impulsive, “but a week or so later, a few YouTube videos surfaced under the alias Dwayne Gretzky. That was that.”
Whose stuff do they enjoy playing most?
“We've been really lucky in that we've met so many talented musicians and artists to collaborate with. And because of that we've become quite versatile. Nothing is off-limits for this band. From Bowie to Beyonce, Sly and the Family Stone to Spice Girls. We'll try anything once.”
And if you “really, really want” to see your audience in a whole new light, play a Halloween show, as the “Dwayners” did last month at Toronto’s Mod Club.
“The combination of makeup, costumes, lighting, smoke machines, and evil make for a really fun show. It allows us to go a bit bigger and scarier with our song choices.”
Dwayne Gretzky hasn’t played Barrie before, let alone Mavricks, but Kyte and his gang are counting the days.
“We're excited for this show, and we'd like Barrie to become a city we can visit a lot.”
Mavricks is located at 46 Dunlop St. W. Show time is 9 p.m. on Friday, Nov 17. To learn more, click here.
