Roadwork: Paving Road to Success

The Southland has been taken by storm and flooded with the rock ‘n’ roll music from the band Roadwork. 

This relatively new cover band is making quite a name for itself in the mere year and a half that they have been together. 

These local boys are starting to receive the recognition that they deserve as they are working their way through all of Southern California playing at a variety of different venues from Los Angeles and Orange County to Big Bear and down to San Diego. 

While most new bands are struggling to get bookings, they have overcome adversity and many challenges to gain success by getting their foot in the door of quite a few clubs.

Once given the opportunity to display their talents, the performances steadily rolled in. 

The focus of this band is not original music, but the classic tunes of rock and roll that we all grew up to love. Attributing their achievements to hard work and lots of rehearsals, they play songs as close to the original band as possible.

Andy Micheli, lead guitarist and vocalist, started the band a year and a half ago when he decided to change his life and do something that he enjoyed.

In the '70’s, he had a band called Roadwork, and after a hiatus of several decades, he decided to revive the name along with his passion for music and re-formed the new band. 

After trial and error, the band now has the perfect blend of talent that creates the classic sounds from AC/DC to ZZ Top. 

Mike Elliot is a very effective and dynamic drummer that keeps it simple but not overpowering. Anthony Arguijo was the thunderous bass player and showed us that he was also very capable as a vocalist. Mike Kraker is their keyboard player whose looks resemble a young Frank Zappa. 

All of them do vocals and have been playing a variety of musical instruments since they were five to seven years old. They love playing the harder to play music like Van Halen. 

They played an awesome rendition of “Panama,” and I was mesmerized by Micheli’s lightening quick fingers strumming though a short solo interlude. 

What’s important is they gel. They harmonize together beautifully and pull off a sound like the original artists.

Priding themselves at being a drug-free band, they get high off of the applause and exultation of their audience.

As their popularity continues to grow, Roadwork has performances scheduled months in advance with a following from venue to venue.  Here are some of the upcoming shows:

Aug 5 – Clubhouse Grille in Placentia, CA

Aug 6 – Monterey Bay Canners in Oceanside, CA

Aug 11 – Temecula Amphitheater/Community Center in Temecula, CA

Aug 12 – Lacey J’s Roadhouse Saloon in Santee, CA

For more information you can visit http://www.reverbnation.com/roadwork or follow them on their Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/pages/Roadwork Kicks.