This Saturday, the New Blues Festival takes place for the first time at Huntington Beach Sports Complex. Performers include guitarist extraordinaire Eric Sardinas, rockabilly troupe the Rhythm Shakers, and many more. Two former members of the Cadillac Tramps have a new band performing called The Verdoros, so we chatted with one of them, Brian Coakley, about it all.

L.A. WEEKLY: When did the band form, and what was the mission?
BRIAN COAKLEY: We formed at the beginning of this year, originally just to play one show. After we did that show we realized we had something really cool. It started out as just friends from different bands wanting to have some fun and that’s what we do, but we didn’t actually realize how many people would get so excited about it.

Describe your sound…
I would call the style greasy rock & roll soul. We play cool covers and cool songs from the early rock & roll days.

This Huntington Beach festival is obviously a new one, but do you enjoy playing festivals in general, or do you prefer indoor venues?
We love playing hot, steamy clubs. But we are also familiar with big festivals in our separate respective bands, so we can take it either way.

What can we expect from the set?
What you can expect from us on Saturday is a rock show by some of the most dynamic players in Southern California. We’ve got three front men from three killer bands so expect a rad show.

When that festival is done, what else do you have planned this year?
Going forward is anybody’s guess. We get calls all the time so it’s really about picking the right shows for what we want to do which is have fun with our friends.

More info about the New Blues Festival can be found here.

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