This five-member, Coastside-based band headlines this week's Summer Concert Series concert, sponsored by the Half Moon Bay Recreation Division.
From 1 to 3 p.m. in the park at Kelly Avenue and Main Street in Half Moon Bay, the Getaways will get down with their upbeat, danceable mix of rock, blues and pop covers.
 Catie Chase and the Getaways bring their upbeat sound to the summer concert series this Sunday. |
She alternately belts and croons songs from Ray Charles to Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin to Bonnie Raitt.
A few of the songs are originals that reflect the band's diverse roots. For now, the Getaways are establishing themselves with covers.
St. Louis-born and Dallas-reared Chase, now of Miramar, began singing at 3, harmonizing with her professional-singer mother. Growing up, she absorbed classical piano, guitar, flute, musical theater and 1970s pop classics.
She sang lead for a Dallas-based professional show band and fell in love with country. In San Francisco, she and husband Denton Chase joined the Glide Memorial Church gospel ensemble.
She juggles music with raising three children under age 6 with her "very, very supportive husband."
Mike "Dr. K." Krechevsky of Miramar is the band's business manager offstage and plays sax and keyboard onstage. He grew up in Los Angeles and studied classical clarinet, influenced by New Orleans-style traditional jazz and circa-1920s Tin Pan Alley. When he heard the 1960s British Invasion, he switched to blues, and carries jazz and blues influences into the Getaways.
Lead guitarist Bob "Hatchet" Hatcher of El Granada grew up in southwestern Iowa influenced by his singer/songwriter/guitarist uncle Jimmy Smith and his down-home rockabilly. He took up guitar before moving to the Bay Area in 1966.
Since the mid-1970s he has played in cover bands including "Nightshift" and "Rum Runners", and performed with "Thunder Gray" which he co-founded. His kids perform in Coastside theater.
"Rock Solid" Ron Potts of Concord played drums in elementary school and joined marching and jazz bands in high school. He went professional at 16 with Bay Area rock band "Gentle Annic" which spawned Journey bassist Ross Valory. He then joined "Bittersweet" which shared stages with Boz Scaggs, the Doobie Brothers, Tower of Power, the Tubes, Harvey Mandel and more.
Getaways bassist Burt "The Anchorman" Kirson stepped into his New Jersey jazz saxophonist father's footsteps, playing with a soul and R&B cover band while in college. He picked up blues harmonica and did a stint with Las Vegas pop group "The Sky High Band," then settled in San Francisco to study classical guitar and bass.
The Getaways began five years ago, rehearsing in his garage, said Krechevsky, and moved into Kirson's garage after he cleaned and carpeted it. They began as the laid-back Blue Cowboy but decided to tighten and polish their act.
Laid-back, said Krechevsky, "has its place, but not if you want to be a professional band." After debate and member changes, they picked the name "Getaways."
"We're a bunch of people who love the coast, love our fans, love our music and get along great as musicians and friends," said Chase.
They focus on rapport with listeners but take music seriously, said Krechevsky. "Some bands are composed of articulate musicians," he said. "Others are about art: the music is important but there are a lot of histrionics on stage. We care about the music but get our energy from the audience.
"We see people dancing, singing along, and that raises our level or performance at the moment."
The band also gives back to the community by donating services to organizations such as Sea Crest School, where they offered themselves at a fund-raising auction and were "bought" to perform at an upcoming wedding in Half Moon Bay.
For more information about the Summer Concert Series, contact the Recreation Division at 726-8297.
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