Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree With The Reno DeVilles
Photo by Sam Ray-Johnson.
It’s been about five months since my last artist feature and I was feeling pretty music-deprived. Local concerts used to be my scene before the pandemic, and I would find some sort of live music in Reno to attend almost every weekend. I feel like as the coronavirus has died down, people aren’t the same as they were before. This past year has been incredibly difficult for most of us, as we all get back out into the world to stretch our social muscles, our sense of community has changed pretty drastically.
When I ventured out for the Santa Crawl this past weekend, I’m not going to lie, I had a nervous knot in my stomach. It had been gloomy and rainy for most of the day, and the urge to coop up inside where it was safe and cozy was strong. It started to snow later on that night, and Lord knows I hate driving in slush. But against all our quarantine habits screaming at us, my partner and I mustered ourselves up and got our asses out on the town for some late night music — for the first time in many, many months.
Boy, am I glad we did.
Rockabilly music has always been a favorite of mine for many reasons. Its classic, retro sound is compatible with all walks of life — from punk rockers to hippies, military men to pin-up ladies, old geezers reliving their glory days to young, spry college kids going out with their drinking buddies between finals. Rockabilly can be family-friendly or tongue in cheek, and it can draw from a variety of genres. It’s an American staple, but out of everything, this flavor of song is characterized by one thing: fun.
The Reno DeVilles are one of the few rockabilly bands I could find in the Biggest Little City, and the funny thing is — I’ve seen one of the members before. Almost three years ago now, when I was just beginning to conceptualize this blog, I attended a rockabilly show at Ceol Irish Pub at its old location, literally right before shutdowns due to COVID-19. I’ve never forgotten it, and have been searching for another local rockabilly group ever since.
Chris “Chops” Rodgers, lead singer of the Reno DeVilles, was there. He’s got a new band now, and they were equally as charming and engaging.
With Jason Baglietto, a spitfire on the drums and Andy Hernandez on the standing-bass, you can tell all three were truly talented artists by their impeccable playing. They barely missed a beat save for one time, which the band shrugged off with smiles and a chuckle. With cheesy puns and a satirical air about their songs, these guys really showed what it means to embody the rockabilly genre — complete with Rodger’s mutton chops beard, hence his nickname.
“[Rockabilly is] the first place that I really felt at home,” Rodgers said. “Everyone said you’re born in the wrong time… it was the first thing that felt natural.”
Rockabilly is a versatile style of music, with a song structure that lends the ability to cover literally anything you want. The DeVilles demonstrated that with covers from Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, country, folk, and even Green Day. The mark of a gifted group is not only how great your own songs are, but how good you can nod to other artists too, and the DeVilles knocked it out of the ballpark. I will say, one of their instrumental originals was incredible, and was able to tell a story without any words at all – another mark of the mastery of the genre.
To top it all off, each of the band members were kind and down-to-earth, adding to the group’s overall charm factor. You can be an awesome band but if you’re awesome people too, it makes the experience of coming out to local music even better. During our chat, several attendees came up to hug Rodgers, and it’s clear the guys have a warm community of friends. Rodgers says he just wants more people to come out and rock out, even as we were being snowed on outside Davidson’s Distillery.
“One thing I do like about the rockabilly crowd, they are a die hard bunch,” Rodgers said. “I love that it’s a music that died out years ago, but it’s a culture… I like that it’s still here. I would like to see it make more of a resurgence.”
Getting a little chilly and taking it slow to get there was all worth it to see the Reno DeVilles. Rodgers says the band plans to record some music, but they just want to keep playing for their local community and give back.
“Our music is fun, it’s out to have a good time… [We’re] three guys, having the most fun playing songs that they enjoy,” Rodgers said. “If you like live music and you want to see good bands, come out and watch bands… Every major band is a local band somewhere.”
To follow the Reno DeVilles, like their Facebook page here.
