Rock’n On The River presents “The Regional Band Blowout” Friday, Aug. 19 beginning at 6 p.m. on the Cape Fear River, 1122 Person Street in East Fayetteville. The event will feature 80’s Unleashed, The Guy Unger Band and Rivermist.

“The Regional Band Blowout is something that I thought about and we started planning it around September or October,” said Greg Adair, manager and member of Rivermist. “I thought about how would the attendance be with all of these followers from these great regional bands altogether in one spot.”
Adair added, “We never get a chance to play side by side or see each other because everyone is out gigging, so we figured this would be a stellar event and the bands’ followers would get a chance to see their favorite band perform.”

80’s Unleashed

The band 80’s Unleashed started out as 80’s Unplugged 13 years ago. The band members are Curtis Church, guitar and vocals; Mitra Maraj, percussion; Domo Max, drums; and Bryan Shaw, lead singer and bass player.

“My idea was to have a project that I could play during the week before we left out to travel,” said Bryan Shaw, lead singer and bass player of 80’s Unleashed. “My idea was to do 80’s music, but acoustic, and I started out as a solo then quickly added Maraj then Curtis so we were a trio for a decade.”

He added, “We had a club owner approach us about doing a live band karaoke night because he had seen it done in Boston and wanted to recreate it. He said that we were the only band that knows thousands of tunes because the premise of the band was that we take requests on top of playing 80’s music.”

“I wanted to set it up like a dueling piano show where they play certain tunes but the crowd gets involved by asking for certain songs all night,” said Shaw. “So that is kind of the premise on how 80’s Unplugged got started.”

Shaw added, “The way that the name 80’s Unleashed came about is when a girl that worked with us introduced the band as 80’s Unleashed by accident so we kept the name and that is what we have been doing the last three years.”

“On August 19, the audience should expect a fun show while taking a trip down memory lane,” said Shaw. “Hopefully they will sing along and remember the tunes that we bring to them.”

You can find the band on Facebook and Instagram at 80’s Unleashed.

The Guy Unger Band

The Guy Unger Band got their start by all of its members playing in various bands together. “The core of the band has always been me, Mandy and Jeff,” said Guy Unger, founder, guitarist and singer of The Guy Unger Band. “We pulled in J. R. Wright after we lost a keyboard player along with Nate Williams joining the band.”
The band members include Mandy Unger, saxophone, flute and singer; Jeff Stone, drummer and singer; J. R. Wright, keyboards and vocals; Nate Williams, bass player; and Guy Unger, founder, guitarist and singer.

“We do a lot of classic rock stuff and we do everything from Led Zeppelin, Floyd, The Eagles, Billy Idol, Men at Work, some dance music and more,” said Unger. “We have opened for many acts such as Collective Soul, Charlie Daniels, Skid Row and tons of big name bands.”

“Over the years we have been fortunate enough to keep on ticking and playing through all of this COVID-19 stuff,” said Unger. “For instance, when a lot of bands were not able to work, we found a way to do some stuff online by going to the venue that we would normally book at and they would let us play there and videotape it.”

Future projects for the band include writing songs, he said.

“We have not done any writing but I would like to do some writing with this band in the future,” said Unger. “I enjoy writing and that is the next thing we will really focus on is getting some
original material into the mix of what we have been doing.”

He added, “I have got some good solid musicians with me and they are the best players around. I think that Rivermist, 80’s Unleashed and The Guy Unger Band are the best musicians around and we have put ourselves to a level where it is hard to do what we have done over the years and be just as successful as we all have.”

“As for the event, the audience should expect some of the best musicians and performances that you can see here in Fayetteville and I feel honored to be playing with Rivermist and 80’s Unleashed because they are awesome bands,” said Unger. “Every one of the musicians will bring it that day so expect nothing but the best.” Their website is https://www.guyunger.band/.

Rivermist

Rivermist is a local party hometown band that was formed in 2014 and is comprised of Greg Adair, manager, drummer and vocalist; Tony Harrison, bass player; Cliff Bender, guitarist;
Allen Pier, songwriter, keyboards and lead vocalist; and Rick Starling, percussion, vocals and keyboards.

“We have about 27 shows left this year and we have been really busy,” said Greg Adair, manager and member of Rivermist. “One of our songs, ‘Pucker Up,’ is number one on several charts all over the Carolinas and Virginia.”

He added, “We are up for a Cammy Award,” and the band has been named Best Band in Up & Coming Weekly’s Best of Fayetteville competition for the last six years.

As for future projects, fans can expect some new music. “We have some new material coming out and we are getting ready to get into the studio within the next couple of weeks,” said Adair. “Right now we have four songs that are out and they are doing very well on the charts.”

The band has many accomplishments but there is one more thing they would like to achieve. “I want Rivermist to be a household name and keep getting better and better together,” said Adair.
Their website is www.rivermistband.com.

Rock'n On The River is free and open to the public. Parking is $10 per vehicle and refreshments will be sold starting at 5 p.m. No outside food or coolers will be allowed.
For more information visit the Rock'n On The River Facebook page.