Andrew McKeag Band

“I don’t like to be told to turn my amp down.” This is Andrew McKeag on the phone. “People don’t understand how much fun it is to hear a loud rock band.”

Some of you may remember McKeag from when he was the guitar player in Uncle Joe’s Big Ol’ Driver or the Presidents of the United States of America. He and his wife and their children live in Carmel Valley now. Lately, he’s been sitting in with hometown acts such as Dirty Sweet or Lady Dottie and the Diamonds. “There was a time when dinosaurs roamed the earth,” he says, good natured about it and laughing, “and loud music was acceptable.”

McKeag’s working on his own band, too, a power rock trio with which he’s just released a self-titled CD. “I just call it ‘dad rock.’ Dudes playing regular rock and roll. Not ground-breaking or anything, but it’s original. And we have a good time doing it.”

With McKeag on vox and guitar, the band is drummer Charley George and John Krylow on bass. “Those two were in a band called Voodoo. They had some success.”

Born in the Seattle area, McKeag moved to San Diego the first time when he was 18. “All my friends were going to college, and I needed to go somewhere. My buddy said San Diego. He surfed. I played in bands. We didn’t know what the hell we were doing. We got an apartment in O.B.”

He went back to Seattle in 1997 and worked for the Experience Music Project for seven years. He also booked clubs and festivals before joining the Presidents in 2004. That ended in 2016, when the Presidents called it a day. “In Seattle, music is art. Here, it’s entertainment. So, my band learned a whole bunch of covers so we can play for three hours if we have to.”