Local Music Profile: Have Gun, Will Travel

Tonight at Crowbar (1812 N. 17^th St., Ybor City), Brokenmold Entertainment will be throwing a birthday bash for Sean O’Brien, the company’s founder. The event will showcase four bands from all over central Florida: Poetry N’ Lotion, Auto?Automatic?? (both from Tampa), Peter Baldwin (from Orlando), and Have Gun, Will Travel (based in Bradenton). It promises to be an eclectic evening, featuring everything from guitar-driven rock to smooth soul to instrumental mayhem, and will be headlined by Have Gun, Will Travel, one of the Tampa Bay area’s hometown favorites.

Playing a blend of folk, rock, and alt-country, and influenced by punk and indie rock, HGWT has a significant local following and delivers incredible performances on a regular basis. Frontman Matt Burke started out as a solo acoustic act before bringing the current line-up together, which consists of Daniel Burke on bass guitar, JP Beaubien on drums, Joshua Hernandez on viola, and Scott Anderson on electric guitar and lap steel. This line-up has been playing for about two and a half years.

The band members are all veteran musicians of the local scene. Daniel, JP, and Matt all played in a band called The Chase Theory. Scott has played with both The Human Condition and Will Quinlan & the Diviners, and Joshua is currently finishing up a musical performance degree for viola at FSU. This experience is evident when HGWT plays a show, both in the tightness and continuity of their set, as well as their professionalism both on the stage and off.

When asked what their favorite Bay area venue to play is, Matt Burke says that he personally likes Skipper’s Smokehouse (910 Skipper Rd, Tampa) because of its family-friendly atmosphere and delicious food. As for the Tampa Bay area in general, the band loves hurricanes, blood-thirsty mosquitoes, oppressive heat, and the humidity (insert sarcastic tone where needed). Along with some of central Florida’s finest acts, you can see Have Gun, Will Travel in all of their hot, humid, mosquito-bitten glory tonight at Crowbar. The doors open at 8, and entry is $6. It promises to be an incredible way to spend a Friday night.