It’s time for some Pink Freud fun.
The tribute band will take the stage at Macey Center located on the campus of New Mexico Tech at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 28.
The show will mark the return for guitarist Chuck Hawley, who grew up in Socorro and graduated high school in 1983.
“I consider Socorro my hometown because I spent my formative years there,” Hawley says. “It was a great place to grow up because of the natural surroundings of the desert and mountains, the people of the town, and also because there were some stellar local musicians that really inspired me on the guitar (such as Anthony Rosas). I played my first bar gig at the Capitol at the age of 18. I had to get a letter from my parents allowing me to do so.”
Pink Freud recreates the innovative, psychedelic sights and sounds of Pink Floyd, taking listeners on a time-warped trip back to the space age. Or spacey age, with well-known tunes such as “Another Brick in the Wall” and “Comfortably Numb” with a light show to match.
Tony Orant is credited with putting the band together in Chicago.
He moved to New Mexico in 2015.
“When I discovered how much Albuquerque loved classic rock (and the history of notable rock musicians who emigrated from New Mexico …), I knew I had to put Pink Freud together for real,” Orant says. “Nobody was playing this kind of music, and I knew if we did it well, people would come. And I knew, when I found like-minded players, we would be able to do it really well.”
Orant’s first Albuquerque friend, Mike Gerdes, whom he met at Grandma’s Music, became the visual artist of the group.
“I tried recruiting Chuck (Hawley) initially, though we had never met, solely based on his Facebook posts,” Orant says. “I could tell by his guitar-related posts that he would be a great acquisition for the band because he was obsessed with tone. Chuck was a very in-demand player, and it took a short time before I could convince him to come and play, but it clicked instantly.”
