Meet The Man Continuing The Hendrix Revolution

The world lost one of the greatest musicians ever when Jimi Hendrix died in 1970. A legacy that was far too short but made an indelible mark in music and popular culture.

Many have tried to copy his unique style and every guitarist in the world dreams of emulating his talent. There is only one man in this world to truly match this legacy – Randy Hansen.

Randy Hansen, the Seattle-born firebrand, has been stunning audiences worldwide with his explosive homage since the 1970s. He has even unleashed his uncanny virtuosity and dazzling charisma alongside Hendrix’s own former bandmates, Mitch Mitchell, Noel Redding and Buddy Miles.

Over 40 years, he has shared stages with Stevie Ray Vaughan, Steve Miller, Paul Rodgers, Sammy Hagar, Herbie Hancock, Robert Cray and Bob Seger.
He has been acclaimed by Eddie Van Halen and Eddie Vedder and released more than a dozen albums including Hendrix by Hansen.

Now, for the first time on antipodean stages, Hansen will be bringing the iconic live show to local fans. To get to know a little more about just want make a man want to try and live up to the Hendrix legend we caught up with Hansen for a chat.

Getting into Hendrix

I was already playing the guitar and when Jimi hit the scene. It was so far in a way different form everything else, it just became very intriguing at first so that was the beginning.

Then when he died it was frightening to me, I felt that one of our greatest composers ever had just died and it just it panicked me into wanting to go and learn a lot more about it. I figured that we had reached the end of anything that was going to be topped by Jimi Hendrix and it kinda’ scared me.

Why it’s so important to keep Hendrix’s Music ‘Live’

I think that it’s important just because of the feeling and the message behind the music and everything you know? Jimi was really only around for three years pushing his own music live, so only a select number of people got to experience it. Most of them are very, very old now.

I’ve noticed that a lot of the people that come to see me probably weren’t even born when Jimi was around. As far as rock music is concerned the original musicians are falling by the wayside they’re getting too old to perform their stuff. When I picked Jimi I was a young man, now I’m getting to almost the point in another 20 years or so I’ll be lucky to be alive myself, so I mean I still feel young, I’m 61 now but I don’t know… I feel the music has always kept me young.

I think also because mostly the message in his music is a really good message – about love and piece and happiness and finding your own way, that’s really important. I found a lot of information in his music and lyrics and just a lot of happiness from learning it and playing it. It’s important that somebody does it. I intended to do it ’til I drop. I’m still having fun with it.

On touring without a setlist

I know there’s certain songs that everybody wants to hear, and I try and hit those at a certain point, and I try to gage what the feeling of the crowd is.

There are so many songs to choose from, so you know? When I finish a 2-2 and a half hour set there’s still people going ‘why didn’t you play this or that song’ and it’s like if played all the songs we know we’d be here all night. I think that’s beautiful they want to hear more after a set so long.

When I do Jimi, I’m not trying to get to his level or copy him, I’m trying to draw from the same well as he did, so I’m improvising like him, I don’t know where it’s going to lead me. You have as good a guess as I do about where the song it going to end.

I can’t stick to a setlist because it represents something to me like homework and I don’t like planning a vacation even, I don’t like to plan, I guess is the problem – winging it is way more fun.

Why Jimi Has Stayed So Relevant So Long After His Pasing

The main reason is that he is so phenomenal, compared to everyone of his time and people who came later, and the amount of emulation that came from his guitar work and guitarists that were influenced by Jimi.

[include_post id=”431034″] If you go and talk to a lot of famous bands and they’ll go ‘I’ll tell you Jimi is really responsible for a lot of my guitar playing’. Without Jimi I think things would be quite different, so I think that he was just a pivotal point in music. Where music all of a suddenly took a left turn, and everyone was like ‘whoa where did he just go? Oh my God let’s find out – that’s a new avenue, let’s go down that.

It was really important at the time and it stayed important because people don’t quite understand it. Even me I’ve been listening to his music for years and there’s still something that attracts me to it, even if I hear it in a grocery store or something, it’s like ‘oh here’s Jimi again’.

On Writing original material While Working As A Tribute Act

Eddie Van Halen is a good friend of mine right, and my ex wife said this to him one time, I couldn’t believe she said, like it blew me away that she said this to him. She said ‘Eddie you need to learn how to write hit songs’ and I was like ‘oh my God, he’s got platinum records lining his walls, why would you say that?!’ And Eddie’s response to that was ‘eff you, I write what I write’ and that’s kinda’ what I do.

There’s no better advice than to just put it out. I don’t really follow any kind of set pattern of what I do when I write, I’ll just be inspired enough to turn on my recording gear. Then do my best to get it out and make it sound like something.

If Randy Hadn’t Discovered Hendrix

If I hadn’t discovered Hendrix, I still would have played guitar. I don’t know whether I would have made it my life though.

Before Jimi came along I was just playing with the idea of playing with the guitar. When Jimi came around that was a little bit more serious, then I started getting very intrigued by it, then he died and that really changed everything. I thought well somebody must try to salvage this as best they can.

I realised that I would be unable to succeed in salvaging it all but I could do my best. I know my best might be a bit better than somebody else because I had a good ear.

Accidentally Becoming A Tribute Act

It happened because I was in a ‘50s rock comedy band and they decided to add another show. We saw another show that was just a couple of comedians who made up a fictitious rock star and then made it very funny to watch. So it gave the leader of our band the idea ‘let’s make fun of rock stars – who would you like to make fun of?’ I said ‘I wanna do Jimi Hendrix, but I don’t wanna make fun of him, I wanna do it seriously’ and he goes ‘ok we’ll make fun of everyone else and you do that seriously’ and that was how it happened.

[include_post id=”423188″]Really (it was 1975) to my knowledge the birth of the first tribute band. I guess nobody had ever thought of doing that, doing somebody else’s music seriously except for Elvis. There was Elvis tributes out at the time and that was it. There were Elvis tributes while Elvis was still alive.

I end up playing a Jimi song and it drives me wild so I end up doing things on stage that Jimi would never do, I end up being myself and I’m influenced by a lot of other people: Pete Townsend, Richard Blackmore and even Angus Young, there’s just other influences that inspire me, like world championship wrestlers and I end up doing things they would do in the show!

When it all gets boiled down I really don’t know what’s going to come out. A lot of it is dictated by the crowd if they go insane I try and go even more insane than they do. So it ends up being between me and the audience, not so much me and my band or anything. It’s kind of a communion thing.

Getting the blessing from the Hendrix family

They came to see me and they realised I just loved Jimi’s music, that I was not only paying tribute to it but I was really trying to kind act like a musical surrogate, not as a brother or a person off stage or anything weird like that going on.

I think they recognised I really loved their brother and Al recognised that I really loved his son and really cared about what happened to him and I had a lot of empathy for them and I think they realised that. It’s a reason why they let me go ahead – they could have stopped it if they wanted. They decided to let me go on.

I would have stopped if they said stop. But Al would come to a lot of shows and Leon (Jimi’s brother), and they would always end up in tears by the end of the night. Al just wanted to hear his son’s music and I try to give it to him in the best way possible, and I think when he sees how many people are going for it, it really hits him.

He didm’t realise what Jimi meant to people I don’t think and when he did it must have really been ‘wow that’s my son, they love the heck outta’ my son’. I have a son and I know there’s hip hip people that love him because he’s a musician also and that’s a point of pride for me.

Fave Hendrix song

‘1983 Merman I Should Turn To Be’

I think it’s his most involved it’s him at his best in the studio, he’s pulling out all the stops for that song and everything.

It really is a musical excursion to somewhere and if you close your eye and figure out what he’s playing and singling about you really go somewhere. It’s one of those songs where you can close your eyes and imagine all sorts of things.

Tour Dates