Gary James' Interview With Guitarist
Joel Hoekstra



He's a guitarist who's performed with some of the biggest names in the Rock world. We're talking Whitesnake, Foreigner, Night Ranger, Cher, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra and the list goes on and on. The gentleman we are talking about is Mr. Joel Hoekstra.

Q - Joel, you were in Europe with Whitesnake recently. Didn't I read somewhere that they're on their Farewell Tour?

A - Yeah. I would say we got about two thirds of the way through the U.K and Europe when some of David's (David Coverdale) health issues kind of pushed us off of that and then that kind of continued for what was to be the U.S. run, and now we're just kind of in a holding pattern and seeing what's happening.

Q - You played in this Love Janis play. Did you portray Janis Joplin's guitarist, Sam Andrews in this play?

A - Well, Sam was a dear friend of mine and the music director of the show. I don't know if we were specifically intended to play specific people. The backing band portrayed all three of her bands kind of throughout (the play). So, yeah. Sam was a friend of mine and I actually did do gigs with Big Brother And The Holding Company with him for a bit there too, probably shortly after the show closed I think.

Q - You certainly have played with a lot of people. Did you start out as a member of local bands?

A - Yeah. I came up in the Chicago suburbs. That's where I grew up. My first band I think started when I was 15 and we would do the All Ages shows. We had a pretty cool local scene. Some very talented people came out of that scene. I just kind of did that until I went to L.A. I was 19. I went to G.I.T. out there and stayed another year, working at Cherokee Studios. I spent a lot of time recording and working on my guitar playing as well. Then I went back to Chicago and proceeded to play in various local bands until things kind of took off for me right around the time of when I would say that Love Janis thing, when I was 30.

Q - What then would have been your big break?

A - There's not one. For me it's been a series of big breaks or small breaks, however you want to look at it. Everything was kind of climbing a ladder for me; in the Chicago area, going from joining Kathy Richardson's band, who enjoyed a lot of local success and got me a lot of notoriety in that area, and the ability to join Jim Peteriks's band there and being the house band for his world stage concert. Jim, for those who don't know, is from Survivor and The Ides Of March, and has written a show of hit songs. Eventually, even though I went to New York City to do Love Janis, and was doing things off of that, related to that, Big Brother And The Holding Company and The Turtles were kind of gigs that rolled from there. My break with Night Ranger really happened through the old connection with Jim (Peterik), still going back to do his World Stage shows and be a part of the house band. Kelly Keagy, from Night Ranger, was always one of the guests, and that really gave me my opportunity, my "in" with that band. That certainly would fit into the category of one of my breaks. That kind of got me out there in a situation where I was a guitarist in a band where people really cared about who was the guitarist, so to speak. Right? Getting that and from there getting the show Rock Of Ages on Broadway, which happened doing pit stuff here in New York City, being a part of the Broadway scene a bit, subbing for a friend of mine. So, that was definitely one of the breaks. Really though, Rock Of Ages and Night Ranger, landing in Trans-Siberian. Joining Whitesnake I really think happened as a result of all those things kind of put together. Just connections that I made. It's just like a series of of things where all these gigs kind of came together. Trans-Siberian Orchestra I would say was really heavily related to my being in Night Ranger and Rock Of Ages, having both of those.

Q - Would you say it's more word of mouth or do you have an agent?

A - No. It's all been driven just by myself and just trying to stay productive and keep moving forward and work hard.

Q - Playing with Cher and Debbie Gibson is a lot different than playing with Whitesnake or Foreigner. Is it important that you enjoy the music you're being asked to play?

A - Well, I enjoyed playing a lot of styles of music. That's one of the things that growing up with musical parents and really what the 1990s did for me, where you couldn't fall back on just being somebody with a lot of technique on guitar or being a shredder, which I kind of hate the term. It was a derogatory thing in the '90s. I just learned to make myself valuable on different types of gigs where you couldn't necessarily just fall back on the fact that you had technical ability. So for me, having the opportunity to play anything on a high level is what's cool and important. Just to be able to, I guess to be a professional guitarist has always been my goal more so than to be a Rock star. I think it's cool the way things ended up working out for me in a lot of ways with the music that inspired me, to begin playing, was with that '80s Hard Rock. But with that being said, I'm perfectly happy playing other styles of music. I really enjoy it and just trying to be a better musician and a better player.

Q - Since you've played with so many different singers and musicians, would it be fair to say you know what makes for a good song? Do you see some kind of pattern to songwriting?

A - I think there's definitely formulas out there, but I think what makes up a good song is very much up in the air to people. Not necessarily, a formula can be beautiful when stuff just turns out to be a good song through an artistic statement. However, being able to put stuff together and understand the formulas that go behind it is also what makes people good musicians. In the end, what's a good song is always up to the listener.

Q - Would you prefer to be in the same band for say twenty years or do you like the idea of switching around with musical styles to keep things interesting?

A - Well no, I just want to keep playing music on a high level. So, if the right gig came along for the next twenty years for me where that worked out and lasted twenty years, then so be it. However, I think taking on a variety of musical projects does make you a better musician in the end and not simply playing one set of music over and over.

Official Website: www.JoelHoekstra.com

© Gary James. All rights reserved.

The views and opinions expressed by individuals interviewed for this web site are the sole responsibility of the individual making the comment and / or appearing in interviews and do not necessarily represent the opinions of anyone associated with the website ClassicBands.com.