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AMADOR LIVE

The Ghetto Blaster headlines at Amador Dayz with a celebration of Rocking Las Cruces

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The Ghetto Blaster is a four-man dance-rock-funk-disco-soul band that has been part of the area’s music scene dating back into the 1990s.

The band will be featured as part of Amador Dayz, performing Saturday, May 1, on the mainstage stage at Amador Live Eatery and Entertainment District, 302 S. Main St. The music will begin at 7:30 p.m. as The Ghetto Blaster performs a show called “Celebrating Six Years of Rocking Las Cruces.”

It was 2014 when Scott Guthrie, Oliver Charity, Dru Hubbard and Jason Reed decided to form The Ghetto Blaster. All four had been part of a band called The Liars that had been around for about 20 years. Charity had done some acoustic shows with the name The Ghetto Blaster, and the foursome decided to use it for their new band, Guthrie said.

Charity on vocals, Guthrie on guitar, Hubbard on drums and Reed on bass are all either Las Cruces natives or long-time residents, Guthrie said.

They have a repertoire of well more than 100 songs that features the band’s unique thumbprint in a wide range of genres with an emphasis on dance music, he said.

“We even squeeze in some country,” Guthrie said.

The band plays covers, but “We definitely don’t try to sound exactly like the record,” he said. “We want people to hear songs they’re familiar with,” Guthrie said, but with The Ghetto Blaster’s unique take on the classic tunes.

“The vibe we try to go for is a real party environment, very danceable, pretty groovy stuff built around crowd engagements and participation,” he said. “It really is a mixed bag of stuff. We try to make it where there’s a little something for everybody.”

The Amador Dayz gig is also part of The Ghetto Blaster’s return to live performance, Guthrie said. The band had taken a break because of COVID-19 since last October, returning to the stage for the first time in early April.

Band members continued to rehearse throughout the pandemic, he said.

They have “been really fortunate” to be able to get together to work on their music and “to keep everything sharp,” Guthrie said.

“The whole Ghetto Blaster thing is in reference to the boom box,” he said. “The way we present the set, it goes from song to song to song to song without a break, with very limited breaks throughout the set, eight to 10 songs that flow all in a row. It’s almost the same kind of presentation as if there were a DJ mixing songs. The average set list is around 50 songs,” Guthrie said.

There is no cover charge for the show, but reservations are required. Call 575-541-7417. Visit www.amadorlive.com/events.

 Also visit www.facebook.com/theghettoblasterlc

 and www.instagram.com/theghettoblasterband.

Amador Dayz will begin Friday, April 30, and continue through Saturday, May 8, with seven major events in seven days on the main stage and event lawn at the Amador Live.

Amador Live

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