Hectic Hobo

Since the dawn of the roots music revival of the 2000s, Hectic Hobo have summoned frenzied crowds on national and international tours with their eclectic blend of riotous Eastern European infused American folk-rock, dubbed “Wild West Gypsy Rock” in their earlier days. Wickedly funny, irreverent tunes like “There’s a Hole in My Coffin” (“Our Medicine Will Do You In,” 2014) about rain drops disturbing the corpses because there’s “no rest of the weary, no sleep for the dead,” or the murder ballad “In the Pines” (“Died on the Fourth of July,” 2017) took you on a time-trip to the days of minstrel style shows toting fiddle and horns.

While they’re still playing some of the gypsy party stuff, the band, whose current members along with Cone are Todd Johnson (drums), Eric Peatross (keys, vocals), Nicholas Newberry (accordion, guitar, harmonica), and Christian Mills (bass, vocals) have evolved more towards Americana over time. “But it has always been rock n roll,” Cone says. And at its root, is good old-fashioned folksy storytelling. “Our songs have always carried a hint of protest music, albeit oftentimes hidden in the story, which is how I write: stories,” he says. 

Cone started singing and playing music at Mojos in Ogden, the long-shuttered all ages venue. He had always been drawn to storytellers that paint vivid pictures, like Woody Guthrie, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Isaac Brock and Ian Felice—artists who, like himself, are storytellers first and singers second, he says.“Ever since I was young, even in elementary school, I’ve come up with tales about strange people, often on some sort of journey or stuck in some really tough predicament. They play out in my mind almost like a vivid movie with lots of imagery, and I just try to capture that in my writing, making it at least somewhat rhyme along the way,” Cone says.

Long before Hectic Hobo, Cone played in a scat-jazz-stream of consciousness funk band called Hasenpfeffer & the Bombdiggitty, based in Logan, rapping instead of singing. He didn’t know how to sing or play guitar back then, but with access to instruments from his bandmates he picked up some chords and “twenty years later here I am, a mediocre rhythm guitar player and sore-throated singer that sometimes hits the right notes.”  

Hectic Hobo’s videos are, like their live shows, thoroughly original and wildly entertaining. “We come up with the concepts, they bring their artistic eye, and we are always pleased with the final product,” Cone says. “I like doing music videos because it lets people get to know a bit of our personalities as they're listening to the songs. Plus it's an additional artistic outlet for us on top of writing, recording, and performing.”