
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, April 20, 1991                   TAG: 9104200354
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Tracie Fellers
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FORMER NUGENT GUITARIST BUILDS ON HIS REPUTATION

Guitarist and singer Derek St. Holmes built a rock 'n' roll reputation in Ted Nugent's band in the 1970s, but he's spent the past few years working to build a name for himself.

Though St. Holmes still plays with Nugent on occasion, it seems his efforts have paid off. St. Holmes, who sang lead on Nugent's "Stranglehold," "Hey Baby," and other hits, brings his band to the Iroquois club tonight. A $5 cover will be charged for the 9 p.m. show.

Former Roanoker Mac Crawford, drummer for the St. Holmes band, has a Southwest Virginia connection. Crawford, who lived in Roanoke in the late '70s and early '80s, played with a band called Dazzle during his Virginia days. Dazzle scored a regional hit with "Baby, Eat Your Heart Out," in 1981, Crawford said.

St. Holmes told the Athens (Ga.) Observer that he's spent much of his career being mistaken for Nugent. "A lot of people think that my voice is Ted's voice, he said. "It used to bother me when I was younger, but it doesn't now."

That's not hard to believe, given that St. Holmes has since developed his own style. He describes his sound as more melodic than Nugent's, with a "blues and soul feel to it. It's like the early Stones, but a little more Bad Company-ish. It's pretty English-flavored."

The band also includes some acoustic songs in its shows, Crawford said in a phone interview from his Marietta, Ga. home.

St. Holmes joked about the band's acoustic material in his interview with the Athens Observer. "In Nugent's band, I don't think anyone knows what an acoustic guitar is.

"I have to have variety. If I sat and played Ted Nugent material all the time, I'd go crazy."

But the St. Holmes band doesn't forget Nugent fans at its shows. "I usually do `Stranglehold,' `Hey Baby,' `Just What the Doctor Ordered,' and sometimes `Free for All' and `Snakeskin Cowboys,' " St. Holmes said.

`It all depends on how the night goes. If there are a lot of Ted Nugent fans and they're all screaming for `Cat Scratch Fever,' sometimes I'll do it, too."

by CNB