THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 6, 1996 TAG: 9610030208
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: John Harper
LENGTH: 72 lines
CHIP SELLAROLE is one of the Outer Banks' most creative, restless musicians. His passionate, lyrical harmonica playing with his band, Hook, is rapidly becoming legendary.
The word is out. This cat can play.
After five years and 100,000 miles with The New Blues Orchestra, Sellarole left the road and settled on the Outer Banks a little more than a year ago.
``This place is notorious for its volatile weather,'' the 39-year-old Sellarole says. ``It sort of reinforces my dangerous, on-the-edge playing style.''
Sellarole quietly insinuated himself into the Outer Banks music scene. After sitting in with both local and visiting bands, he decided to put together his own group in April. His first recruit was his longtime friend and New Blues Orchestra alumnus, bass player Steve Aldi.
Two top-notch Outer Banks players, drummer Dan Martier and guitarist Joe Mapp, round out the group that has become the house band at the Rundown Cafe's Thursday ``Blues Night.'' And this Saturday, the group gains a wider audience with two sessions at the Weeping Radish restaurant in Manteo.
``I feel real lucky to have found these guys,'' Sellarole says.``Not only are they great musicians, but they have a great attitude.''
Hook plays what Sellarole describes as ``jump blues.''
``Our music is not depressing,'' he says. ``It's up-tempo, danceable. Dan and Joe bring a real jazz/funk thing to Steve's and my brand of blues.''
And while Sellarole is a fan of other blues harp players like Norton Buffalo, Howard Levy and Paul Butterfield, he's no clone.
``It seems like a waste of time to put all that energy into copying,'' he says. ``I borrow and steal stylistic things, but I'm not obsessive about it. The harmonica is an incredibly personal instrument. Playing it is the way you breathe.''
Sellarole's music is not new to area blues fans who may have caught him sitting in with other bands, but his strong vocals are a surprise.
``It comes from a very strange place,'' he says, ``the same place that my playing comes from.''
Hook plays seven originals, six of which Sellarole and Aldi wrote. Mapp wrote the other, an instrumental called ``Woman With A Past.''
``It's a jazz piece,'' Sellarole says, ``sort of cool, sort of out of control.''
Four of the songs are on a Hook cassette that Sellarole and Aldi cut with studio musicians in New York. And the band plans to use a 16-track recorder to capture a live performance at the Rundown Cafe on Oct. 11.
``We plan to shop that around,'' says Sellarole, who's recorded with several bands including Son Lewis, The Bear Brothers and The Bill Perry Blues Band. ``The time seems right for a harmonica-led band. Blues Traveler has made it popular.''
In addition to the originals, Hook plays tasty covers of tunes. They include ``Low Rider'' by War, The Beatles' ``Come Together,'' and Jimi Hendrix's ``Voodoo Chile.''
On Paul Simon's ``Diamonds On The Souls of Her Shoes,'' with Martier singing lead, Sellarole's harp and Mapp's guitar fill in for the horns heard on the recorded version.
``You can play any song on demand,'' Sellarole says, ``as long as you mean it and play it for the people. That's what matters. We all feel that way.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON
Members of Hook include, from left, Joe Mapp, guitar; Dan Martier,
drums and vocals; Chip Sellarole, harp and vocals and Steve Aldi,
bass and vocals.
WHAT & WHEN
Who: Hook
Where: Weeping Radish in Manteo
When: Oct. 5, Noon-3 p.m., 6-9 p.m.
Also, Hook plays every Thursday at the Rundown Cafe, milepost 1
in Kitty Hawk. by CNB