Big Bang Theory

Former Buddy Guy guitarist Frank Bang makes a pit stop in West Ashley this week when he plays Fiery Ron’s Home Team BBQ on Thursday, July 2. But his musical journey began in his native Chicago. Bang, whose actual surname is Blinkal, saw his first live music at the lounge where his mother waitressed. His father, a Chicago police officer, was initially disapproving of his son’s interest in playing guitar. But Bang persevered, and at age 16 bought a cheap six-string and amp that he was only allowed to play in the garage.
It was rock — everything from AC/DC to Metallica to Z.Z. Top — that caught his interest as a budding guitarist. But when Bang turned 21, he made his first visits to Chicago’s blues clubs, where he began to grasp that the genre provided the musical bedrock of his favorite artists. He also got a copy of the Johnny Copeland, Albert Collins, and Robert Cray’s album, Showdown! and was inspired by the furious interplay of the three blues guitar aces.
Still, it would take nearly a half-decade before Bang would set out on the path to discovering his own artistry through the blues. “I went to college for mechanical engineering and playing guitar became my therapy — the way I blew off steam after doing too much advanced trigonometry,” says Bang.
Feeling that he was on the wrong road, Bang quit school and got a job at Chicago’s Hard Rock Café, which he used as a springboard to see different parts of the country, transferring first to San Diego’s Hard Rock and then to Houston’s. While in San Diego, meeting the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan at an autograph session at the Hard Rock.
“I was a fan, and I started to tell him how much I liked his music, but when he found out I was from Chicago he immediately started telling me I needed to check out Buddy Guy, Junior Wells, Albert Collins, and all the other Chicago cats,” recalls Bang.
So when Bang moved back to the Windy City, he took Vaughan’s advice. He also took a one-night-a-week job as a doorman at Guy’s club Legends. Over the next few years, his involvement in the club grew to even occasionally traveling with the legendary bluesman and his crew to major concerts. But it was late at night, after Legends closed, that his real blues education continued.
“Me and my good buddy Wayne Baker Brooks (son of blues giant Lonnie Brooks) would drag the amps out on stage after hours and we’d play together, trading licks and trying to learn some of what we’d just heard that night,” says Bang. “Every evening we got to see the very best Chicago and national touring blues acts and a lot of great rock musicians, too. It was tremendously inspiring.”
Bang began playing during the Monday night Legends jams. He assembled his own blues-rock group, The Buzz, who became regulars at the club. As Bang’s six-string prowess grew, Buddy Guy took notice. And with that came the invitation to join his band.
Bang circled the world five times with Guy, headlining clubs and theaters, and opening on major tours in some of the biggest arenas and amphitheaters. But he also continued to forge ahead on his own, too. In 2004, he cut his debut album and, now touring with his band The Secret Stash, he hasn’t slowed yet.
Frank Bang and the Secret Stash play this Thursday, July 2 at Home Team BBQ, located at 1205 Ashley River Road. For more call 225-7427 or visit www.hometeambbq.com.