Sound Craft Debuts at Hub Stacy's Downtown

As there is so much live music here in Pensacola Florida, one thing for sure is new exciting, vibrant and colorful bands are introduced nearly monthly in this town of culture, art and entertainment.

First, please allow me to talk a bit about the venue, Hub Stacy's downtown. Talk about a friendly, family oriented bar and restaurant! Hub knows how to put a place together and he invites local acts to come show their stuff. When I called to reserve a table, the manager on duty, a very nice young man name of Brian was not only accommodating, but eager to assist me in securing a spot to cover SOUND CRAFT on this debut night of their first performance.

Hub Stacy's downtown Pensacola and Perdido locations serve excellent food, drinks and the service is nothing less than stellar! Our server, (pictured below) was exemplary in the performance of her duties and took very good care of D-Lady and I. If you've never had the privilege of visiting this Pensacola restaurant, you simply must check it out... you won't be disappointed!

Well, this particular night at Hub's spot debuted a new musical concern led by one of our very own local artists... Scott Ricket. Scott did the public proud on this evening of quality entertainment, as he put together a group of talented musicians more than prepared to bring high energy entertainment to Pensacola Florida.

The night began with a bit of technical difficulties as the mixer was giving the band some static on Brittney's mic. It didn't take long for Grib Murphy to figure it out.

Once that was taken care of, what took place next was nothing less than outstanding! SOUND CRAFT opened with a raucous version of "Working For The Weekend" by Loverboy. I wasn't even prepared for the music that sounded from the stage as the band busted out with this iconic tune known by many for years. I was instantly impressed with Britney's vocals and harmonies by both Scott and Grib. The Doobie Brothers would be most proud of SOUND CRAFT'S offering of "Long Train Runnin"!

It was certainly refreshing to hear SOUND CRAFT'S choice of numbers they played. Songs not often heard in our local music venues. "Crazy" segued into a Gloria Gaynor song we all know and love but rarely hear... "I Will Survive"! Bout this time, the bands bassman and my friend, Adriano Medeiros decided to don a disco wig and shake, shake, shake his bass playin booty!

SOUND CRAFT seems to be able to cover several genres of music within one show. Once the disco show was over, the band took a foray into hard rock with "Hot Blooded". Throwing a little soul into the mix, "We Are Family" and "Roll With It" kept the dancefloor hoppin, and our heads a bobbin! To end up set one, they went and "Fooled Around and Fell In Love" and when that concluded they made a point to say "Call Me"! And call them I'm sure they will for their next show!

Scott did real good selecting this beautiful young lady to front the band, Brittany Schaffer displayed her vocal talents in a huge way on this night! Her range is vast in that she had no trouble what so ever reaching the highest highs and lower range with virtual ease. It was obvious to this writer that Brittany loves singing and entertaining a crowd. I believe Brittany has a very bright future ahead of her in the music industry, she has the "stuff" great singers are made of and I look forward to enjoying those lovely lungs sometime real soon! You go girl!

I first had the occasion to see Grib Murphy when he was with COMMON GROUND when they played the event venue in Alabama... (see my review). I knew as soon as I heard him play, that he'd been around the music scene for a while, and is a seasoned professional keyboard player. In addition to running and riffing on the 88's, Grib adds his special vocal flavor to the harmonies performed with both Scott and Brittany. He looks cool... don't he? He should, the way he either glides over the keyboard with grace and style, or slams the daylights out of it when things get crazy, illustrates his versatility as a musician.

It was difficult, with the size of the stage and the band to get good pictures of SOUND CRAFT'S drummer... Al "Rude Dog" Ohtersen, or just "Rudy" as he's known and loved among the Pensacola music scene. Rudy, playing one of his many drum kits...this night a Yamaha DTX E kit, and man did he play it! All his chops, changes, fills and runs could be heard not leaving out a single note.

Rudy's been around for years playing with all sorts of bands and musicians. You can find him most Wednesdays at The Goat, or other music venues around town. You should have seen him hang with a 12 year old female prodigy guitar player one Thursday night at Goatlips! This little girl rocked the house that night with 3 hard rock numbers... and Rudy not only kept up, he jammed all three like it was yesterday! What a night that was... but THIS night Rudy showed us all how to lay down the foundation and entertain us with tasty fills and accents... "RUDY'S THE MAN!"

Scott Ricket, the bands founder and lead guitar player never disappoints wherever he plays. When I first saw Scott, he was leading COMMON GROUND at the music event in Alabama. Scott, a seasoned guitarist and vocalist is known for his style of playing. weather its hard rock, jazz, soul, blues or country... Scott always brings it home. On this particular night at Hub Stacy's, Scott brought it all with each and every note he played. His on stage persona shows his ability to engage with a crowd and keep the music rollin while folks dance the night away! we'll be keeping a very close eye on Scott's latest endeavor, and look forward to experiencing SOUND CRAFT sometime very soon!

Thank so very much for taking time to read my review of SOUND CRAFT. Be sure to go see them when they perform next and help support live music in Pensacola Florida. I sincerely hope you had as much reading it as I did writing it!

Please subscribe to our Weekly Show Alerts over at SCENEPENSACOLA.COM to get all the events and the jump on all our reviews and articles as soon as they publish! Be sure to pick up a print version of our calendar at local businesses around Pensacola as well!

The Beatman has left the review... KTB!