One of the premier Eagles tribute bands in America will be bringing the best of their love, and music, to Bigfork on Valentine’s Day.
Organizers are expecting a sold out show when Los Angeles-based Desperado takes the stage at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts on Feb. 14. The band has been together since the early 2000s and is hailed as one of the best Eagles tribute bands in the country.
Desperado founder Aaron Broering plays guitar, piano and sings and said that cover bands like his often work hard to capture the look, sound and feel of the band to which they’re paying tribute.
“We mimic the best,” he said. “We try and sound like the band when they were in their prime so when people come and see Desperado they’re not going to be listening to the Eagles of 2015 but rather the band back in 1975 or 1976. When they were in their heyday … We recreate music that brings people back.”
Broering said he was more of a jock than a musician growing up and even received a baseball scholarship in college. But when an injury derailed the scholarship, he turned to music. Within a few years he became a proficient guitar player and in 1994 enrolled in San Diego State University’s music program. After school he joined a band that played tribute to one of his favorite groups: The Eagles. The band was called Hotel California and, although Broering enjoyed playing with them, he said he wanted to go off on his own. He created Desperado in 2001.
Today, Desperado includes Broering, Kevin O’Connell as drummer, Chris Farmer on bass, Rich Lewis on the guitar, and Kerry Chester on keyboard and guitar. All five members also sing. Some members of the band, including Broering and Farmer, have played with members of the Eagles in their solo-projects.
“We like to say that when the Eagles needs musicians they call Desperado first,” Farmer said.
Broering said that he and the other members of Desperado often study video of the Eagles and listen to original recordings so that they can nail the sound of the band they’re trying to emulate. The show’s promoter John Raymond, who brought the Elvis tribute to Bigfork a few years ago, said in his experience the tribute bands often work harder than the originals because they are trying to get over the stigma of being a cover band. In some ways, the tribute bands are producing an historical recreation of the band in their prime.
“A lot of the music and their voices sounds a little different now, and of course they can change it because it is their music,” Farmer said. “But some people want to hear the music the way it was.”
“What’s more difficult: to come up with the original or replicate it exactly? I think it’s almost just as tough to replicate it exactly,” Broering said.
Desperado will take the stage of the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 14. Tickets are $28 an available at Electric Avenue Gifts or online at BigforkTheater.org.