Often described as “Cowpunk”, they actually play a style of music that resembles 60’s & 70’s era Country & Honky-Tonk mixed with Heavy Metal. The Band got its name from the famous Earp & Holliday gun fighters in the Arizona Territory circa 1880’s. The band consists of members Hottwheels McGregor, Leif L’amour, “Marvelous” Matt Maverick and Ump-Ump. The band is influenced by Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Dwight Yoakam, Nine Pound Hammer, The Rangehoods and the greatest band that few people outside of the Puget Sound ever heard of; Redneck Girlfriend.
The Nucleus of the Earps spawned in Seattle, Washington in 2002, In late 2003, now based in Phoenix, Arizona, Vocalist/guitarist Hottwheels McGregor discovered drummer “Marvelous” Matt Maverick while he and McGregor were working at a Home Depot in Mesa and actually got fired the same day; McGregor for time clock fraud and Maverick for nappin’ on the job (because he didn’t want to wor k in 120 degrees outside, when it couldn’t have been any more than 114!) Bassist Leif L’amour left the Pacific Northwest (thank god for Arizona’s lenient extradition laws) to rejoin the boys and 2003 was spent primarily working on new material and finally played a debut show on January 16, 2004 at The Hard Rock Café in Phoenix. The Earps spent the following year cutting their teeth in the Southwest music scene when long-time picker Tony Tow truck decided to leave the band to pursue other musical endeavors in December. A guitar player from the Tulsa, Oklahoma area simply called “UMP UMP” came to Las Vegas to play a show with the Earps at the Double Down saloon in January of ’05 and has been in the band since. After some slight musical differences The Earps said adios to pal Leif L'amour in late '05. After the dust settled the boys picked up, out of the deep arizona desert, the slick bass slinger "Buckshot" George..
What started as a weekend hobby has now turned into a semi-serious project for the Earps, who now finally have a professional website, merchandise, a regional Southwest tour circuit and are on schedule to release a full-length LP Under the Maybell Ann Recording Co. label in Spring of 2006.
Website Link:
http://www.theearpsrock.com
Myspace Link:
http://www.myspace.com/theearpsaz
Booking and Contact Info:
contact@theearpsrock.com