HiWatt in 2006 - Photo courtesy of Andy Volmer
HIWATT
Seattle, Washington
2001 - Present

Members

Theron Andrews ~ Lead Guitar, Vocals
Sid Anschel ~ Bass Guitar
Jess Hamilton ~ Lead Vocals
Tod Hobart ~ Drums, Vocals
Andy Volmer* ~ Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
 

Alumni
 

Phil Bergeron ~ Drums, Vocals
Rick Bowen ~ Drums, Vocals
Trish Burke ~ Vocals
Sara Darington ~ Vocals
Jack English ~ Drums, Vocals
Brian Feldtman ~ Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Donn Garrett ~ Drums
Stuart Gordon ~ Bass
Gerald "Spot" Harmon ~ Bass, Vocals
Derek Hovander* ~ Drums, Vocals
Dawn Lindsey ~ Vocals
Pete "Mags" Magarelli ~ Drums, Vocals
Terry "Terrified" McCormack ~ Bass
Scottie McDevitt ~ Drums
Rick Peters ~ Drums
Ted Pickett* ~ Bass, Vocals
David Pearce* ~ Lead Guitar, Vocals
Bruce Raabe ~ Drums
Benny "G" ~ Drums, Vocals

*  Original Member
 

After 9+ years, HiWatt is STILL rockin and rollin in the local clubs and area festivals. Check them out at: MySpace

Visit Ted Pickett at his personal MySpace or at Idol Eyes


HIWATT combines the powerful sound of 60's British Rock, 70's Classic Rock, 80's New Wave and 90's Grunge into a great mix of high energy, high voltage, danceable rock and roll....At a HIWATT show you'll hear songs by The Beatles, Cheap Trick, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Romantics, John Mellencamp, The Black Crowes, The Gin Blossoms, Fastball, 3 Doors Down and many more. Be sure and catch them whenever possible.

Formed from the ashes of the band, “The Slackers” (Andy Volmer, Ed Busey, Dave Pierce and Derek Hovander, who played their last gig together in August of 2001), the new band, “HiWatt” started rehearsing in new bassist’s Ted Pickett’s basement in the Fall of 2001.

Dave didn’t like the direction the song list was going, so he quit the band in November of 2001. After placing an ad in The Rocket, a now extinct Seattle music scene rag, Andy found lead guitarist extraordinaire Theron Andrews, who had recently moved to West Seattle from Madison, Wisconsin. After about a  month of practices with Theron, the “new HiWatt went in and cut a 4 song demo at Electrokitty Studios in February of 2002 and then played their first live show at the Freemont Dock Tavern in March of 2002.

Eventually, Ted was replaced by Stu Gordon in May of 2002 and Gerald Harmon (aka “G-Spot”) quickly replaced Stu in June of 2002. It was around this time that Trish Burke had a brief stint in the band as our first attempt of a female lead vocalist, but that experiment didn’t last very long (maybe a month or so).

Benny Goldberg (aka “Benny G”) replaced Derek after he left in September of 2002 due to his wife having a new baby. After a few months, Benny was replaced by Phil Bergeron (aka “Phil E. Carlos”) in January of 2003.

In March of 2003 we decided to give the female singer thing a try again and that's when Dawn Lindsey joined us. That line up of Dawn, Andy, Theron, Gerald and Phil stayed/played together for about 8 months. Dawn eventually left HiWatt to pursue her new original project with Doug Sample (“D-n-D”) and Sara Darrington was brought in as lead vocalist for a few gigs, but it didn’t work out everyone had hoped, and by the end of 2004, HiWatt was back to an all male line up of Andy, Theron, Gerald and Phil. Another 8 months went by and eventually Phil got a job offer to move to Arizona that was just too good to pass up, and in November of 2005, Phil left us and Everett resident Rick Bowen joined up with HiWatt.

Rick played a few gigs, but we turned to Jack English in December of 2005 because he added vocal support as well as decent drumming skills. Jack stayed with us for about 2 months and then Rick Peters was hired in February of 2006 to take Jack's spot. Rick, a better singer and drummer, only lasted about a month due to scheduling conflicts (mostly because he lived in Cle Elum) and Pete Magarelli (aka “The Petenis”) joined us in the Spring of 2006.

The lineup of Andy, Theron, Gerald and Pete played together for about 8 months, but Gerald bailed out in October 2006 to go play with “New Jack City”, a new band that was being formed specifically aimed at Casino work (G-spot was a slave to the almighty dollar). In his place we hired a really great guy, Terry McCormack (aka “Terrified”), to play bass.

With the departure of Gerald, Pete eventually also decided to leave us in November of 2006 (Pete decided to pursue a lifelong dream and went to school at night to become a Chef), and Bruce Raabe was hired on to take his place. It was right around this time that Theron left Seattle to take a new job in Houston, TX, and Brian Feldtman came on board to play Lead Guitar and Keyboards. So, at the end of 2006, the line up was Andy, Brian, Terry and Bruce.

With the departure of Theron, the lead vocal/frontman duties lacked what Theron brought to the table, so we set out to hire a new lead vocalist, and found a really great singer and showman. Jess Hamilton was his name. Jess officially joined HiWatt in February of 2007. Jess, Andy, Brian, Terry and Bruce played together until Bruce left HiWatt in July of 2007 to take care of his ailing parents and concentrate on work more. To take his place, we hired Scott McDevitt. Scotty was with us for about 4 months, but eventually the commuting distance to North end gigs (he lives in Olympia) for Scotty proved to be too much for him, and he left us in November of 2007.

Terry eventually decided to quit playing live and he left the band about the same time Scotty did, or maybe it was a little before Scotty left. We were lucky enough to find Sid Anschell, one of the best rock bassists in the Pacific Northwest to take Terry's spot on Bass. With Scotty's departure, we hired long time friend of the band, Donn Garrett (aka “Donnie G”), to hold the drum chair down until we could find a new drummer. This took about 2 months and the waiting was worth it, as we got a good one in Tod Hobart.

In the mean time, Brian's work schedule was really ramping up and he was finding it hard to play the gigs we had booked due to him being called out of town a lot, so as much as he hated it, he had to give notice that he was leaving. And then, as if the stars had somehow aligned, Theron moved back from Texas around this time and took Brian's spot when he left in December of 2007. So, 2008 dawned with the new lineup of Jess, Andy, Theron, Sid and Tod, and that line up is the current lineup, coming up on a year together……and that folks, is the History of HiWatt!!!!
 
 

THE ORIGINAL HIWATT LINEUP (FALL OF 2001):

David Pearce ~ Lead Guitar, Vocals
Andy Volmer* ~ Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
Ted Pickett (now with “Idol Eyez”) ~ Bass, Vocals
Derek Hovander (now with “The Nowhere Men”) ~ Drums, Vocals
 
 

LEAD GUITARISTS:

Theron Andrews* ~ Lead Guitar, Vocals
Brian Feldtman ~ Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
 
 

BASS PLAYERS:

Stuart Gordon (now with “Union Jack”) ~ Bass
Gerald "Spot" Harmon (now with “Expertease”) ~ Bass, Vocals
Terry "Terrified" McCormack ~ Bass
Sid Anschell* ~ Bass
 
 

DRUMMERS:

Benny "G" (now with “The Boinkers) ~ Drums, Vocals
Phil Bergeron ~ Drums, Vocals
Rick Bowen ~ Drums, Vocals
Jack English ~ Drums, Vocals
Rick Peters ~ Drums
Pete Magarelli ~ Drums, Vocals
Bruce Raabe ~ Drums
Scottie McDevitt (now with “Stir Crazy”)  ~ Drums
Donn Garrett (now with “Shelly and the Curves”) ~ Drums, Vocals
Tod Hobart* ~ Drums
 
 

MALE SINGERS:

Jess Hamilton* ~ Vocals
 
 

FEMALE SINGERS:

Trish Burke ~ Vocals
Sara Darrington ~ Vocals
Dawn Lindsey (now with “Whiskey Creek”)  ~ Vocals
 
 

* = Current Member

Some of the other Pacific Northwest music groups represented in members of: The Slackers, The Unknowns, The Eggmen, The Harmainiacs, 100 Proof, Children of a Common Mother, Shelly's Leg, The Nowhere Men, Mr Miyagi, Shelly and the Curves, i2i, Fugitive, The Brian Butler Band, The Buzzcuts, Stonebender, The Hettle Street Blues Band, Stir Crazy, The Boinkers, Expertease, Influence and many others NW bands.

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Last Update:  4 November 2011
Credits:  Andy Volmer, Brian Feldtman, Ted Pickett, Richard Evans
Band # 713