“To all the people that lived in the Sunset Strip scene in the 80s, I’m the farthest thing from “wild” compared to all you motherfuckers!”
— Gavin Evick

LOS ANGELES – He is just 22 years old and has rarely ventured outside home state Virginia, but remember the name Gavin Evick. 

He is a 22-year-old rock singer with just two original songs – but he and the Gavin Evick Band have already supported an impressive list of national acts in big halls, and Evick has a viral online presence with a great original rocker called “Young, Wild & Free” that is earning the youngster lots of attention.

Evick, son of Bret Michaels guitarist Pete Evick, comes to Las Vegas for a concert at Vampd on July 19, followed by a performance in Los Angeles on July 20 at the Whisky where the local rock community can judge for themselves if the kid is really this good.

One thing is for sure. Gavin Evick has the voice, the talent and requisite long blond hair to make quite an impact.

Is he the new face of Rock? We shall see. In the meantime, Evick sat with Metal Sludge for his first national interview, and he comes across as enthusiastic, intelligent and exuberant.

METAL SLUDGE: Your new video for “Young, Wild and Free” is getting some attention. Tell us about the song.

GAVIN EVICK: The song is all about having fun in the summer with your friends. It’s about not having to worry about the next day, it’s a mindset where you’re just free to do whatever you want to do. If you had a bad day at work, school or something else, you call up all of your friends and forget about all your problems and leave them all behind. It’s for all generations, and hopefully the older generations feel nostalgia with this song and the younger generations relate and it makes them want to get out of the house and have some fun.

METAL SLUDGE: Great song and video to go with it, are there more originals, and if so when will we hear them?

GAVIN: Yes. The band name is The Gavin Evick Band. But before I had a band I was just “Gavin Evick,” and I released my first song “Favorite Songs” less than two years ago, and we play it live in our set. You can expect more original stuff to come very soon; the success of this song, I think, has lit the fire under our asses to work harder and faster!

METAL SLUDGE: Young, Wild and Free. Let’s break it down. Your thoughts on youth? How wild are you in real life? And do you have your own concept of freedom?

GAVIN: Well singing about your youth is a theme that I love, and it is very common. The Skid Row song “Youth Gone Wild” is a perfect example. 

How wild am I in real life? That’s a hard question to answer because it’s subjective. To all the people that lived in the Sunset Strip scene in the 80s, I’m the farthest thing from “wild” compared to all you motherfuckers! Ha ha. I’m not a drinker, smoker nor do I do any drugs. I’m not a poser. I won’t pretend to be something I’m not. But I guess you can say to my friends in my age group, I am wild because I will do whatever crazy shit somebody throws my way.

My concept of “Freedom” is the ability to do whatever you want without judgement. In context of the song, there’s a line about “forget about your  problems, them all behind.”  The song is about breaking free of whatever is dragging you down in life and you are free to have fun and let go.

METAL SLUDGE: Can you introduce everyone in your band including something particularly unique about each one?

GAVIN: Well I’m Gavin Evick, I sing and scream!

My lead guitarist’s name is Gavin Hades. Yes there’s two Gavin’s! We call him little Gavin. He’s 17 and grew up in the Ocean City Maryland music scene

My rhythm guitarist’s name is Logan Blake, and we’ve been friends since high school and he’s been my guitarist ever since.

My drummer’s name is Steven Hudgins. He’s about as redneck as it gets. We call him Tommy Yee from time to time. He’s a big Avenged Sevenfold guy!

And then we’ve got Max Myer, our bass player; he is a musician’s musician. Prior to joining this band, he was a sound technician, bass guitar teacher and vocal harmonies teacher. He’s the nerd of the band – but we love him.

METAL SLUDGE: What are some of the cover songs you perform? 

GAVIN: We’ll switch it up sometimes but consistently it’s “Youth Gone Wild,” “Shout At The Devil” and “Still Of The Night,” and we will always do a Poison Song. Most of the time it’s either “Look What The Cat Dragged In” or “Fallen Angel.” But I can pretty much do any of the Poison songs.

METAL SLUDGE: Ah yes, Poison. What does your father, Bret Michaels guitarist Pete Evick, think of your band?

GAVIN: He is always supportive and positive. But what he does right is what most parents do wrong. After every show of mine that he’s at, we immediately talk about what I can do better for next time. Very constructive criticism. He will always tell me I did a great job, but then he will tell me how to improve and what I did poorly or wrong, because he has been there and done that. 

I see so many parents blow smoke up their kids’ asses and act like everything they touch turns to gold; my dad keeps me grounded and humble but makes it clear how proud he is of all of us.

METAL SLUDGE: And what about Bret Michaels? What does he think of “Young, Wild and Free”?

GAVIN: You know I wasn’t there when he first heard the song. From what I heard, he said something along the lines of “it’s a really fun song, there’s not a lot of fun songs nowadays.” Which by the way, that was important for me to hear because that was the sole purpose of this song – “FUN.” It’s something I feel that is missing from today’s rock and roll and a void I wanna fill.

METAL SLUDGE: How well do you and Bret Michaels know each other?

GAVIN: Well I’ve known Bret my whole life. He is like an uncle to me. And if there’s one thing I can say about Bret, no matter who you are, whether you’re a friend, family member, billionaire, celebrity, or an average Joe, he will always treat everybody the same and put everyone else first. As a kid growing up, we would fly over in Bret’s jet to his house and he would always make sure I was having a great time, we would ride his ATVs, go to his pool, watch “Modern Family,” and he would let me drive his Bentley, etc. He would always put me first like he does with his fans to make sure we are all having nothing but a good time!

METAL SLUDGE: And finally, what did we leave out? Anything you want to add?

GAVIN: I think we touched on a lot. We are coming out to the Whisky in Hollywood on July 20 and Vampd in Las Vegas on July 19. It’ll be our first time out west – and it certainly won’t be our last; after the release of this song, we’re getting offers from everywhere. To keep up follow our socials.

The Gavin Evick Band @ Facebook – Instagram – X/Twitter – YouTube – Store –

Gavin Evick @ FB – Gavin Hades @ FB – May Myer @ FB – Logan Blake @ FB – Steven Hudgins @ FB

Stay tuned to Metal Sludge for Breaking News, Updates and Features along with both new and classic interviews.

Gerry G can be reached at Gerryg123@gmail.com