CLASSLESS ACT / GIOVANNIE AND THE HIRED GUNS

12/13/22

Soundstage

Baltimore, MD

Classless Act Set List:  This Is For You, Give It To Me, All That We Are, Time To Bleed, Storm Before The Calm, Haunting Love, Made In Hell, Rock & Roll (Led Zeppelin cover), Classless Act

 Classless Act formed in 2019 in an unconventional way; they met via social media platforms Instagram and TikTok.  The band consists of Derek Day - vocals, Griffin Tucker/Dane Pieper - guitar, Franco Gravante - bass, and Chuck McKissock - drums.  

 Lead singer Derek Day is not only an amazing singer/frontman but also shreds on guitar.  Ironically, Day rarely plays guitar onstage with Classless Act.  Day started performing at age 13 on the streets of Santa Monica, CA, and got his big break when he was asked to open for Steve Vai on the 25th Anniversary tour for “Passion and Warfare”.  Day opened for Living Colour, Ted Nugent, and eventually wrote several songs with Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid.  Day was asked to fill in for The Struts frontman Luke Spiller at the September 27, 2022 “Tribute for Taylor Hawkins Concert” when Spiller became ill.  Day performed “Live Wire” and “Home Sweet Home” with Motley Crue members Nikki Sixx & Tommy Lee alongside Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters.

 Guitarist Griffin Tucker is 21 years old and has been performing onstage since he was 8.  At the age of 13 he won the Texas 10 under 20 Guitar contest at the Dallas International Guitar Festival.  Griffin was on the TV show THE VOICE.  Griffin also earned a GOLDEN TICKET to Hollywood on American Idol & received high praise from Katy Perry & Lionel Richie for his level of talent & musicianship.  Katy Perry comments, “You remind me of a young Paul McCartney.”  Lionel Richie commented, “Your level of talent is staggering. If this is what do at 15, I’m afraid of you.”

The original drummer for Classless Act was London Hudson, son of Guns N Roses guitarist Slash.  

Classless Act received a huge break when Motley Crue chose them as the official opening act for the Crue/Def Leppard 2022 Stadium Tour.  Despite an extremely early set time, the exposure gained the band a slew of new fans.  The bands debut release, “Welcome To The Show” is out now and features a guest appearance by The Darkness guitarist/singer Justin Hawkins on the track “This Is For You”.

This particular evening was extremely cold;  It was just around 26 degrees on this Tuesday night in December.  Baltimore Soundstage has a capacity of 1,000 people and the loose count  for this show was around 200.  The club was sectioned off and the entire back of the venue was closed.

 
Classless Act went on a few minutes late and their set was a very tight 40 minutes.  The band were upbeat, full of energy, and very positive as they ran through their set.  All 5 members bring their own vibe and each member offers a unique experience to the bands live show.  No matter who you choose to watch, there is never a dull moment, it’s non stop movement, and each member is a show on their own.

 The highlight of their set was a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock And Roll” which featured all of the band members switching instruments.  Derek played guitar and sang, Griffin played drums, Dane played keyboard, Franco played guitar, and Chuck played bass.   

Within 10 minutes of their set ending the entire band went back to the merch table to meet and greet fans.  At the bands merch table autographed CD’s were available for $25 and there were also several different shirt designs available.

 
Giovannie & The Hired Guns are a Texas based act that gained millions of online streams without being signed as a direct result of their flattering live shows and impressive performances.  The band recently signed a record deal with Warner Music Nashville.  The band have three full length records under their belt.

Giovannie and The Hired Guns are:

Giovannie Yanez - Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar, Chance Bannister - Lead Guitar, Adam Urbanczyk - Rhythm/Co-Lead Guitar, Alex Trejo - Bass Guitar, Milton Toles - Drums/Percussion.

 
Opening with a partial cover of  “Cowboys From Hell” by Pantera, GATHG delivered a diverse set that mixed hard rock and metal with pop, modern rock, and hip hop.  

 The sound mix was a tad garbled when the band first started their set and depending upon where you stood the lead guitar was muffled.  The sound issue was fixed a few minutes into the set and the band sounded great.  GATHG delivered a solid set and both bands proved that Rock is still alive and well.