The long and winding road leads to Crossroads
Gerry Rosenthal on his Beatles cover band, Hey Bulldog
I had a professor in college who was also a critic for The New York Times, and something he said has always stuck with me: Anything that’s popular is interesting, whether you’re interested in it or not. Which brings me to the quandary of cover (or tribute) bands, a phenomenon that remains very popular.
Here in the Hoboken/Jersey City scene, Jaime DeJesus of ALEOproduction has raised the tribute set to an art form, first with the annual recreation of The Band’s “The Last Waltz,” which routinely packs White Eagle Hall at Thanksgivingtime, along with tribute sets to classic bands throughout the year.
Then there’s Hey Bulldog, Gerry Rosenthal’s Beatles cover band, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary on Friday, April 18 at Crossroads in Garwood, NJ. For that show, ALEOproduction is staging its David Bowie tribute, originally presented at Hoboken’s Sinatra Park.
With a nod to my old college mentor Roger Greenspun, let’s delve into this phenomenon by talking to Gerry and Jaime about the nuts & bolts of recreating yesteryear’s hits.
Q: Gerry, Hey Bulldog is something of a supergroup of Jersey musicians who front their own original bands. What’s the current lineup?
Gerry: Peter Horvath (The Anderson Council) - Guitar/Vocals, Tommy Strazza (Tommy Strazza and The Strazzacasters) - Guitar/Vocals, Jeff Fernandes (The Defending Champions, Big Wake, Sky Pony) - Drums/Vocals, Gerry Rosenthal (Gerry Rosenthal Band, Big Wake) - Bass/Vocals, Patrick Bridge (The Jersey Joint, WUPA) Vocals/Percussion
Q: Jaime, your troupe is much larger. Tell us who will be doing the David Bowie Engagement.
Jaime:
Jaime DeJesus - vocals
Jeff Greenspan - guitars/vocals
Mike Tichy - guitars/vocals
Leo Main - bass/vocals
Matty Carl - keys/sax/vocals
Johnny Roccesano - drums/vocals
Sean-David Cunningham - violin/vocals
Casey Solomon - vocals
Q: I did a deep dive on the covers scene when I wrote about the Grateful Dead underground last year. One thing I learned is that there’s a difference between a cover band that does familiar material but with their own style, and a tribute band that tries to reproduce the records we all know and love. Where does Hey Bulldog fit into that spectrum?
Gerry: 100% in the former category! We have never tried to reproduce the songs exactly as the sound on the albums. These songs were written and recorded 60+ years ago, and bands have been covering them faithfully for nearly as long. Our theory is that people have heard these songs played “note for note” for years and we wanted to provide a set of music where the listener might hear/see something different every time.
Obviously, there are plenty of “tribute” bands that you can go see if you want to hear the songs played exactly as written and recorded, with musicians talking in Liverpool accents and wearing wigs. That stuff never appealed to us. Which is why we specifically market ourselves as “A Beatles Cover Band” and NOT a “Tribute” act. We have always tried to cover the music as honestly as we can by staying true to who we are as musicians, rather than try to imitate the Beatles. A few of us come from the improv/jam scene as well and we enjoy stretching songs out with solos and extended vamps, etc which in our opinion gives these songs a fresh and exciting feel.
We don’t have a keyboard player or horns/string players either, so all of those orchestral parts are either sung or played on guitar, which is always fun and different sounding. We have said over the years that we try to play the songs like the Beatles would have in their Liverpool and Germany days - when they were just kids popping uppers and playing 8 hour sets a night 6 days a week. That is to say, with a higher punk/rock energy!
Q: Jaime, what is your feeling on that?
Jaime: I approach Bowie (and every artist that I cover) with the mindset of covering orchestral and choral works. We are celebrating the catalogue of an artist while utilizing the compositions to speak our own expressions. We stay true to the notes, for the most part.
Q: Hey Bulldog is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary, which is a remarkable achievement. Gerry, have you in those 20 years seen a shift in the way audiences approach the Beatles, what songs they want to hear, how they react, etc.? Or has it been a fairly constant experience?
Gerry: For starters, I don’t think any of us would have believed you if you told us we would still be doing this 20 years later! I think it’s a testament not only to how brilliant the source material is, but a validation to our theory that people are happy to hear somewhat more of an “updated” approach to these songs. And while of course the members of the Beatles played Beatles songs live in their solo careers, there are still plenty of Beatles songs that were never played live because they stopped touring in 1966 - so that gives us more freedom to interpret the songs live the way we would like. One thing that always amazes me is that when we play “younger demographic” places like Hoboken or Jersey City, the kids in the audience know the words to every song. You would think they are going to come up to you to request the latest Lady Gaga hit, and then they ask for “Dear Prudence” or “She’s So Heavy.” The mix of the older generations and younger crowds is always something special to see.
Q: Jaime, for this show, your ensemble is doing David Bowie. Bowie had such a huge catalog of songs and shifted styles so much during this career, I’m curious how you put together a set list that satisfies an audience and yet still creates a cohesive experience. Can you explain that process?
Jaime: It begins with a study of Bowie; listening to his catalogue of music and reading about where Bowie was, geographically and mentally when writing the tunes. For example, Bowie's last album was written about and while he was dying from cancer. He died 2 days after it was released. And finally let the public know at that point.
From there, I visualize the venue and grab tunes from throughout that paint a picture of Bowie's overall intentions.
Q: Have you given any thought to why so many people seek out music they already know as opposed to original bands? One thing about NJ, there’s always been a big cover band scene here and it’s still far more profitable than playing your own music except for a few lucky bands. You do both, is there anything you’ve learned in Hey Bulldog that you’ve ever applied to your original projects?
Gerry: We think about the tribute bands vs. original bands thing a lot, especially since we all have original projects of our own. Of course, audiences will normally gravitate towards what they know more often than something unknown, and I think our main takeaway has been to play the songs as “us” and not try to imitate the original songs note for note. In our opinion, if you’re going to play in a cover band it’s much more creatively satisfying to at least try and make the songs your own when you can. And we see audiences respond to that because it’s honest, and honesty is always refreshing.
Q: Jaime, same question to you.
Jaime: I haven't given much thought to that. I enjoy listening to and performing both originals and covers.
Q: Feel free to plug anything you have coming up.
Gerry: We have a show coming up at Destination Dogs in New Brunswick, NJ on Sunday, May 4, at at 9pm.
We also have a two-night stand at Great Divide Campground in Newton NJ on Friday, August 8, and Saturday, August 9. Two sets of Beatles each night! It’s an amazing campsite and music venue. We played last year and the campground sold out so grab your tickets while you still can! Tickets here.
Q: Jaime, what’s 2025 look like for you?
You'll have to see for yourself. The Last Waltz date is booked: the Friday before Thanksgiving - November 21, 2025
You can follow Hey Bulldog here, but also be sure to check out Gerry Rosenthal’s original projects here. And here’s the link for upcoming events by ALEOProduction.