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Our Story so far

A Westminster, CA based rock band inspired by the "hard rock meets pop" sensibilities of the 90's Punk and Alternative music.

 

 

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Gearheart sitting against brick wall

Formed in spring 2012 by Joey Chavez Ferguson after developing a love for simple punk rock music and the high hopes of impressing a High School crush. He taught himself how to play guitar his junior year in High School. Longtime friend Kevin Beckers also played guitar and together they recruited their friend Ahmad Halwani on drums. After finally getting a first show in February 2013 they had Pedro Galvez, who was in another band at the time, offer to play bass for the show but the chemistry was too good to pass up. He remained a solidified member after that first show.

Early Days of Gearheart

After a year of just playing a handful of shows, Joey, Kevin and Pedro decided to take the band more seriously while Ahmad only wanted to do the band for fun. After parting ways with Ahmad, Kevin Tran was recruited on drums in June 2014 after he had just left the band he was in at the time. With Kevin “Drummer” now a part of Gearheart, the "official" lineup was complete and played everywhere they possibly could.

Kevin Drummer

In the summer of 2014 they went into a studio to record their debut album “Kick It Into Gear” which was released in April, 2015. Their track 'Kansas Bound' from the album was featured featured in OC Music League’s 2015 Summer Sampler CD. Signed to Wright Records in 2015, their 2nd LP "Dreamin'" was released on April 1st, 2016 to very positive reception due to the music expanding on their sound of straight up punk rock and incorporation of acoustics, harmonies, and craftier songwriting to push the limits even further.

Joey recording at Sound Matrix
Pedro recording at Sound Matrix

In 2017 when Kevin Beckers decided his time with the band could no longer continue, Joey, Pedro & Kevin Drummer decided to carry on as a 3 piece

Gerheart 3 Piece era

During this time they chose not to renew with Wright Records & instead went about completely self managing themselves. Playing as many shows as they possibley could, averaging four to six a month, the band began acquiring local notoriety. They also established a monthly residency at a venue called “Perqs” in Huntington Beach, CA & even appeared on a KROQ’s Locals Only session.

Perqs
Gearheart at Characters
Gearheart crowd at Perqs

In early 2018 Joey's Cousin Peter Chavez offered his help to provide extra guitar duties for the live shows to fill out the space desired for the new added complexity to their songs until a more formal replacement was found in Austin Myers later that summer.

The Boys Are Out Of Town Tour
Austin Myers

In The summer of 2019 the band embarked on their first ever tour. Booked and put together completely on their own, they rented a Uhaul trailer and set out for a Coastal U.S tour with fellow O.C. band Madison Grove on the "The Boys Are Out Of Town Tour" going as far as Seattle Washington and trickling back down to a homecoming show in Huntington Beach, CA at Perqs. 

After returning from their first tour, the band went in to record a new album from material they had developed over the last few years starting in late 2019 and finishing in early 2020. Their long awaited third full length 

album, Lobotomized, was released on September 1st, 2020 to high praise once again.

 

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Gearheart at House of Blues Anaheim

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