Brandon Ray Henderson resides just several blocks from The Hood Bar & Pizza by design. Henderson is the Live Entertainment Manager and Booking Agent for The Hood. After facilitating approximately 170 consecutive shows since he took over the gig in December 2011, Henderson has requested a hiatus from his full-time duties. “I imagine that I will always have a relationship with these dudes. I’m actually taking a break and taking some time off. No falling out. No weirdness. I’ve gotten to this point where I need a mental re-charge and I want to focus on music on a personal level.”
For those of us desert rats who are familiar with Henderson and his contribution to the desert music scene, we can find comfort in knowing that he will remain an integral part of The Hood while pursuing the many musical avenues he has created for himself. Henderson confirms this by mimicking the equally influential Huell Howser by saying, “I love desert living. I appreciate it. This place is amazing.”
Musical Genealogy
Henderson, 31, grew up in Southern California and has been a Coachella Valley fixture for about ten years. He has been in a bevy of bands from various genres playing guitar or bass. These ensembles include; the Del Padres with Herb Lienau, Hey Mike!, Half Astro, Family Butcher, Brant Bjork and the Bros, The Country with Gram Rabbit members Jesika Von Rabbit and Todd Rutherford, The Woodys with Alfredo Hernandez formerly of Kyuss, Parosella with Mike Riley and Jason Burns, Giselle Woo and the Night Owls, and Pedestrians VS. In explaining his contributions to the above artists, Henderson has this to say, “I’ve never been a song writer but I’m always playing my guitar. I’ve always been that guy that I’ll go in the studio and if someone’s writing a record or songs, they write the structure and I come in with colorful highlights.” In performing the many different musical styles Henderson has had the pleasure of playing, he enjoys one more than all the others. He asserts, “Punk rock is my true passion.”
Musical Memories
Henderson’s most memorable music moments include performing the Misfits song “Skulls” with Kris Roe, the singer/song writer/guitarist from The Ataris and establishing a rapport with surf rock guitar god Dick Dale. Henderson reminisces, “We just had Dick Dale recently. I got a nice RV for him out back so he’d have his own private green room. People were getting antsy. We had an opening band at 9 p.m. He shows up at 10:45 p.m. I escort him to the RV and he loved it so much he continued to tell me a half an hour story about RVs. I wasn’t going to stop him. I was patiently listening while at the same time freaking out.” It’s this patience which has permeated Henderson’s success.
Musical Influences
Currently, Henderson is listening to the Misfits, Radical Face, Arcade Fire, and First Aid Kit. Henderson shares about his musical influences. “My favorite music of all time is probably the 90’s progressive melodic punk rock like NOFX, Strung Out, and Propagandhi. Those are like my Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. When I was a teenager playing guitar in my room, I don’t know if I had the attention span to listen to a Beatles record and be like super-stoked and excited. I knew it was great music I just couldn’t find myself that excited so I listened to this other stuff and it really just got me going and I learned how to play guitar by listening to that stuff.”
Guitar vs. Bass
Henderson presently plays guitar for Pedestrians VS and bass guitar for a few bands. When asked if he had to choose between the two, he replied without hesitation, “It’s always going to be guitar.”
The Hood Tenure
The Hood Bar and Pizza is a restaurant, bar and live music venue that has captivated the desert music scene for over the past year. Henderson has booked acts like Dick Dale, Unwritten Law, Modern English, Kyuss Lives, Terry Reid, Chris Goss, Chuck Dukowski (Black Flag), Agent Orange, The Dickies, Nekromantix, Strung Out, Unida, Joey Cape (Lagwagon), Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters), Meiko, Supersuckers, Mondo Generator, and D.I. just to name a few.
Henderson began as a patron of the first Hood Bar & Pizza, which was a much smaller venue than it is now. Henderson recollects, “It was super small and super rad. I really dug it. We became friends. At the time I was playing in Family Butcher. We played a couple of gigs there. There was no room for bands. We had to set up in the corner and bring our own PA. They weren’t really cut out for live music. We pulled it off a few times.”
In describing his relationship with the Hood family, Henderson stated, “It’s a very solid team of people. I can’t take full credit for our success because it really takes a strong team to run a tight ship. Patrick and Colin Hood were generous enough to release a budget for a great new sound system and give me the opportunity to spearhead the ideas for most of the improvements that have been made in the last year. Those improvements were made possible by our awesome handymen, sound and lighting technicians. We’ve come a long way and conquered so much in this last year. There’s a lot of trust and it’s a very family oriented vibe.” Henderson had respectfully declined the offer to work as the Entertainment Manager when The Hood opened in July 2011. And in November 2011 everything seemed to fall into place for him. “Right around the time I started at The Hood I had been playing in a few bands cohesively for a while and they were all winding down. The timing couldn’t have been better. I wanted to dive more into the business aspect of music.”
Henderson has also handled the sound for many of the shows in the past year. “I’ve done sound for most of them. I didn’t even know how to do sound before this gig. I cut my teeth at the Hood with the help of my good friend Mike Riley and mostly by trial and error.”
The Booking
When asked if he had ever taken on such a position, Henderson proudly declared, “I popped my booking cherry with The Hood. I had been an active touring musician for years so I understood how it worked. I had a really good general knowledge on what it takes to make a show happen plus I also had a pretty thick “black book if you will” of contacts and numbers through touring and networking. I never had a reason to call a lot of these people but this gave me a reason to hit them up. Now, I look back to some of my first e-mails and realize I didn’t need to write like five paragraphs. I figured out pretty quick that there is a certain very simple and efficient way to approach people.” Figure it out he did. In November 2011 Henderson almost secured The Misfits, which would have been another outdoor Hood event but the booking didn’t work out due to scheduling conflicts.
Booking local talent was not difficult to do for Henderson. “I didn’t really have to look for bands for very long. Luckily I knew a lot of them personally.” In developing a bill, Henderson uses the logical approach, “I do what makes sense. I try and keep the genres the same for each bill and keep a nice variety of styles flowing through every month. Although I try and maintain a certain level/standard of booking quality bands, it’s really not always about how talented you are. As long as they have a positive attitude and heart I think that is rad. Just the fact that they are doing it and working hard is what counts. I try and give everyone a shot, but really, it is a business, and there is a high demand to play there. So at the end of the day I have to cater to The Hood and focus on getting bands that are going to bring a good draw.”
Dormant
There has been an extended period of time that the Coachella Valley has lacked a site where live music can be performed that is not a casino. There is a parallel between The Hood and the long-departed live music venue Rhythm and Brews that was once in Indio. I was in attendance at many Rhythm and Brews shows. Those emotions I felt and experiences I had are now affiliated with shows at The Hood. Many Hood patrons have approached Henderson and thanked him and The Hood for what they have done to provide a long needed outlet for music fans. As for Henderson, he focuses more on the immediate area stating, “There’s nothing else in Palm Desert that rivals us or that probably ever will that I can foresee.”
Moving Forward
Henderson is very optimistic about his time at The Hood as well as he and the venue’s future.
“Nothing negative has gone down. I can’t think of anything that I would change. Even the moments where I might have been a little bit stressed, it was all a learning experience and I needed to go through it. I feel like if any of the shit would have been smoother maybe I wouldn’t have learned as much.” Henderson says this about The Hood as he steps away for a while to feed his musical hunger, “If they maintain the momentum, it’s gonna be unstoppable and legendary. The Hood has extended its chronicled story across the Atlantic to Europe where desert rock and music from this area is extremely popular.” Henderson continues with pride, “These active hard-working out of town bands that we have been paying and taking care of are gonna travel the world and talk about us and they already have been. It’s really been paying off as the word is constantly spreading. The Hood is now on the map.”
Henderson does not want anyone to attempt to read between the lines of his temporary leave of absence from The Hood. He states, “Now that the Hood is off and running. The formula is built and everyone knows how to do everything I don’t need to be there for every single show.” I, for one, am grateful for his dedication in establishing a destination where live music can be shared and I equally applaud his desire to move on to the next plane of his life. By his assertion, he is not done with The Hood. “I’m gonna put more focus on the bigger shows. At the top of my wish list are Bad Religion and NOFX.” Given what he has accomplished in the past year, his wishes may come true!
