Back when bassist Larry Kubiayk and drummer Bruce Cole started playing in Milwaukee bands, rock 'n' roll still smelled as new as a car on the dealer's lot, and had many miles to travel before reaching that point where many say it's all been heard before. As a member of the '60s garage-punks The Henchmen, Kubiayk opened for such esteemed Nuggets-era bands as The Blues Magoos, The Cryan' Shames and even a forerunner of Grand Funk Railroad. Cole began in the early '60s with bands like The Savoys and The Grand Prixs and continued in the British Invasion style of The Ricochettes before switching to the blues.
Their present band, Hat Trick, gives them an opportunity to reflect on all that history in set lists that cover the '60s through the '00s.
Hat Trick began in 1990 as an acoustic zydeco combo playing in the window of Benny's Cajun Kitchen in Waukesha. "People would yell out for tunes and they'd try their best to play them," says Cole, who joined the band only two years ago. "Nowadays the amount of songs we are capable of playing is amazing-hundreds of songs."
The band has led a checkered existence, releasing an album of original songs in the zydeco style and working the festival circuit in that vein during the '90s, when Louisiana was the hot new thing in food and music in the Upper Midwest. They have seen several personnel changes. Only Kubiayk and guitarist-vocalist Mark Cooper remain from the original lineup. Cole and keyboardist Steve Kohrs (formerly with Tom Green) are the most recent additions.
Some of the zydeco flavor, along with a splash of reggae and calypso, remain, especially when the band puts out the inflatable palm trees to entertain audiences with a sunny, Caribbean act. Other gigs showcase Hat Trick's three- and four-part harmonies in sets of '60s favorites. They continue to leaven performances with original songs in styles ranging from zydeco to rock and blues.
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"I feel that Hat Trick is one of the funnest bands I've ever been in," Cole says. "We don't go through the motions like some groups who sound like they're playing those songs in their sleep. Hat Trick is like a band of brothers, and, at this point, that's a wonderful place to be."
Hat Trick performs from 2 to 5:30 p.m. on June 20 at the St. Roman Parish Festival, 1710 W. Bolivar Ave.
