QUICK LINKS: Bands / Nonprofits / Celebrities / Sponsors
The First Ever Law Rocks-apalooza
A Livestream Concert Event
Thursday, December 10, 2020
$143,131 raised
Rock and Roll can never die! Since in-person concerts are a no go, Law Rocks hosted Law Rocks-Apalooza, our first ever virtual concert. A selection of top bands from across the world rocked together for one night, raising over $143K for amazing local charities and towards ensuring Law Rocks future.
Each band played one epic song, with 18 bands performing representing 30 firms. The performances were all different in style, setting, and genre - and what’s more, Law Rocks-apalooza teamed each band up with a celebrity appearance! The night was a thoroughly entertaining, unique evening unlike anything we’ve done before.
Our Sponsors Rock!
THE BANDS
Bands / Nonprofits / Celebrities / Sponsors
Grand Cayman
Featuring legal talent from Walkers Global
Rocking for Noel Watkins Recovery Fund
Live(-ish) from the rooftop of our secret Caribbean lair. Playing both kinds of music: Rock and Roll. 1981 have been locked down tight, and that's just the rhythm section. Riffs honed during endless zoom calls. Pecs honed by quarantine press-ups. The Diva's voice honed delivering home-schooling lessons. Amps turned up loud enough to make the internet hum. Drum kit taking more hits than Instagram. We're ready to be released…Hello Law Rocks-apalooza!
Los Angeles
Featuring legal talent from Vega & Rivera, LLP; Perez & Caballero, APC; McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP; Practus, LLP; Law Offices of Patricia Higuera
Rocking for Loyola Immigrant Justice Clinic
Los Angeles
Starring legal talent from Allen Matkins and Buchalter
Rocking for California Strong
Featuring an appearance by Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun
Attractive Nuisance roared onto the Whisky stage in 2014 for its inaugural Law Rocks! set. The Nuisance won the Judges' Choice Award in 2016 and won both the Saturday night concert and the Judges' Choice Award in 2017, 2019, and 2020. The Nuisance has played gigs all over Southern California, from Agoura Hills to Hermosa Beach. Law Rocks is thrilled that the Nuisance is bringing back its mosh-inspiring sound in support of California Strong, which provides financial and beneficial aid to individuals and groups in California affected by natural disasters or other tragic and extraordinary events.
London
Starring legal talent from 2KBW
Rocking for Leukaemia UK
Featuring an appearance by John Thomson
The rock world was turned upside down, spun around, spat out and projected into orbit in November 2012. For that was when The Bar Mess were created. Formed by a gaggle of barristers at 2 King’s Bench Walk (barristers are the ones who dress properly in court by wearing collars and bands, wigs, and gowns), the band consists of Richard, Raph, Pedro and Hutch: 4 Brits but with deep and exotic Chilean and Belgian roots. They ply their rock with a distinctive and deliberate punk attitude and make no apology for doing so (much as others might like them to). Veterans of the London rock scene, they have had a near-decade long residency at the world-famous 100 Club – at least, they have in their minds. They reached their zenith on 22 June 2017; a date etched in rock history and an evening almost frozen in time. That was when they won their particular Law Rocks first-round heat at the umpteenth time of trying. Sadly they’ve never quite scaled those dizzy heights since. Nevertheless they power on enigmatically in their deliciously self-contradictory way: measured and calm off-stage, yet emotionally raw (for which, read ‘shouty’ and ‘brash’) on-stage. Vive Le Mess!
New York City
Starring legal talent from Wolf Greenfield; Priority 1 Holdings
Rocking for JDRF - Greater New York City Chapter
Featuring an appearance by Mark McGrath
CellarSonic is comprised of Ted Bednarczyk on drums, Brian Lothson on guitar and vocals, and attorneys Greg Kahn on lead guitar and Gabe McCool on bass. The band hails from the coastal Connecticut area. The guys are honored to be a part of Law Rocks-apolooza this December 10th and to be raising money in support of JDRF and Law Rocks. CellarSonic has been fortunate to have rocked both the NYC and LA shows in the last couple of years, with its members having played the NYC show since its inception in 2014, performing over the years as Doc McCool and the Fools, Rocke Lords, and the Wolfpack. In addition, the band’s members have helped raise over $55,000 for non-profits in connection with Law Rocks over the last 6 years and are continually inspired by the amazing work done by both Law Rocks and the non-profits in the Law Rocks family, including JDRF. CellarSonic is drawn to covering great rock songs written and performed by many of the amazing bands from the 80s and 90s, including the Cult, Foo Fighters, Collective Soul, GnR, and Smashing Pumpkins (to name a few!) and in particular, covering lesser known (but nevertheless awesome!) tracks.
Salt Lake City
Featuring legal talent from Salt Lake Legal Defenders Association
Rocking for Rock Camp SLC
Started as the brain-child of Talia Keys and Rock Camp SLC, the Femme is a power-group composed of six femme-identifying rockers who cover everything from classic rock to pop and R&B. After debuting at Moab Pride in 2018, the group has gone on to continue to unite forces to raise funds for good causes and non-profits and get people dancing while they do.
Featuring "Step-Daddy" Talia Keys on guitar, bass, drums, and vocals
"Aunt Momma" Hillary McDaniel on bass and drums
"Hot Babysitter" Sofia Scott on guitar
"Uncle Baby" Lindsay Heath on drums, keys, and guitar
"Emo Mom" Kat Kellermeyer on keys, drums, and vocals
"Red-Headed Step-Momma" Elise Lockwood on ukulele and vocals.
San Francisco
Starring legal talent from Baker Botts
Rocking for Neal Casal Music Foundation
Featuring an appearance by Dave Schools
Formed in the Bay Area during 2020, Flight Risk is Baker Botts’ new house band. With bandmates from a wide variety of musical backgrounds, you can expected the unexpected with a broad range of tunes to keep you in the groove. Flight Risk is proud to support the Neal Casal Music Foundation to provide instruments and lessons to youth musicians and mental health services to musicians in need.
San Francisco
Featuring legal talent from Greenberg Traurig
Rocking for The Veterans Consortium (TVC) Pro Bono Program
Formed in 2017, The Latent Defects (f.k.a. Attractive Nuisance) are proud to return at Law Rocks for the third time! Originally formed as one of Greenberg Traurig’s house bands, The LDs now includes a Verein of weekend warriors from four different law firms (Greenberg Traurig, Baker Botts, Perkins Coie, and K&L Gates) all flying a united banner of rock. Whether in-person or virtual, these guys definitely go to 11 and are proud to be supporting the Family Violence Appellate Project (FVAP) for this upcoming event.
Los Angeles
Starring legal talent from Glancy Prongay & Murray
Rocking for Kids In Need of Defense (KIND)
Featuring an appearance by Tommy Lee
Lodestar is a hard rock band that took first place and the Judge’s Choice Award at last year’s Law Rocks concert in Los Angeles. in 2018 they took third place in the Banding Together to End Domestic Violence charity concert at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. Most recently, in 2020, Lodestar took first place in Law Rocks “Best Performance Ever” contest.
Marc Godino, guitarist for Lodestar, is a senior partner at Glancy Prongay & Murray, and along with bassist Daniel Cubert have been playing music together for over 40 years. Combined with drummer Tom Zevin, percussionist/attorney Melissa Wright, and vocalist/attorney Gary Yones, Lodestar promises to deliver a high energy, guitar driven rock experience.
New York City
Starring legal talent from Greenberg Traurig
Rocking for The Veterans Consortium (TVC) Pro Bono Program
Featuring an appearance by TBD
The Meltones, named in honor of Greenberg Traurig’s co-founder, Mel Greenberg, have rocked for decades—proudly earning 6 Law Rocks NY Championships along the way! The Meltones never miss a beat, when given the opportunity to perform in support of a charitable cause and community. The Meltones draw homegrown talent from across GT’s worldwide network, including GT NY’s very own Stephen Rabinowitz (guitar), Tracy Newirth, Ashley LeBlanc, Sylvia Simson (vocals), and Jim Mussen (drums); Original Meltones’ member, Burt Bruton from Miami (bass), joins Chris Cernik from Albany (keys), Tony Hatchett from Atlanta (vocals), Thédoor Melchers from Amsterdam (trombone), and Mark Mattioli from Philadelphia (guitar).
Los Angeles
Starring legal talent from Spertus, Landes & Umhofer
Rocking for Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles
Featuring an appearance by Nick Valensi
Matthew Umhofer has spent most of COVID being a cliché by getting a Peloton, scouring the internet for a mask that doesn’t fog his glasses, and watching Marvel movies on an endless loop. He recently mastered both the Renegade and WAP routines for his TikTok account, DadBod2020, which totally does not embarrass his teenage daughters.
For this year’s virtual Law Rocks performance, Matthew is headed to his recording studio in his basement mancave armed with an ironclad excuse for not helping out with homework: “It’s for charity, honey.” He is performing this year in honor of the late, great Notorious RBG, and raising money for the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles, which is a far better association than he is a musician.
Washington DC
Starring legal talent from Venable LLP
Rocking for Together We Bake
Featuring an appearance by Bryan Stevenson
Formed in 2012, this three-time DC Law Rocks winner has serious pent up emotion ready to unleash! We isolated from each other for months – not even a Zoom call or immature texts. We lost a few spirited fans for college, i.e., our kids. Our bass player Derek Argust started making paper mache animals. Our lead singer Andy Bucholz rededicated himself to river creek gold mining. Our drummer Alex Sirpis discovered his inner Bob Ross. Guitarist Andy Krakowski explored Montana and trolled Facebook, while lead guitarist Andrew Price got a dog and thought about restarting his solo career. And percussionist Damon Wright succumbed to an unusual addiction, buying Cameo videos for friends. But Law Rocks brought us back together and we’re ready to rock!!! Please support us as we support Together We Bake, a job training and personal empowerment program for women in need!
Houston
Starring legal talent from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, Enterprise Products Partners, L.P. and The Friedkin Group
Rocking for Chance for Hope Foundation
Featuring an appearance by Pauly Shore
The members of Pro Hac Vice joined forces in 2019 for the inaugural Law Rocks Houston event to bring the hits from the most totally awesome era of music. Performing in their first show together as a band, they won the competition as well as the Judges’ Choice Award. The band will be raising money for the Chance for Hope Foundation, a local charity providing support services for children with cancer and their families, and grant funding for pediatric cancer research. Pro Hac Vice is: Mario Barrientos (bass, vocals), Travis Earp (guitar, vocals), Scott Davidson (lead vocals, guitar), John Goodgame (guitar, vocals) and Charlie San Miguel (drums/percussion). Law Rocks-Apalooza will be the band’s second public performance.
Phoenix
Starring legal talent from General Dynamics Mission Systems; Fennemore Craig; Potomac Law Group
Rocking for Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Center
Featuring a performance by Alice Cooper and an appearance by Buck Dharma
Devon Engel – bass
Sean Hood – guitar
Mike Rissman – keyboards
Chuck Leyva – drums
Christi Sartin – vocals
Dave Cass - vocals
Retro-Active is a high energy rock & roll cover band playing in the Valley since 2006. Featuring dynamic male and female vocals (and three Valley lawyers!) Retro-Active set lists are full of the songs that make you jump out of your seat to dance and sing along. From Adele to Zeppelin, Journey to Van Halen, Guns n Roses to Velvet Revolver, Boston to Kansas and Toto, Styx to Stones, the Black Crowes to the White Stripes, Aerosmith to Jet, Blue Oyster Cult to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Heart to Paramore, Alien Ant Farm to Michael Jackson, the Cult to Kravitz, Boston to Bon Jovi, Jefferson Starship to Foreigner, Elle King to Prince, Scandal to Dramarama, Petty to Mellencamp, AC/DC to U2, The Killers to The Knack, Florence + The Machine to No Doubt, Def Leppard to Foo Fighters, Rihanna to Rage Against the Machine, Grace Potter to Greta Van Fleet, Ratt to the Doobie Brothers…you get the picture…
San Francisco
Starring legal talent from Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein
Rocking for East Bay Community Law Center and Open Door Legal
Featuring an appearance by George Glinton
The verdict is in: Lieff Cabraser's R23s rock! From class action to class act, the R23s reinvent classic rock and roll for the new millennium, and you won't want to miss it. Join Elizabeth Cabraser (Drums, Partner), Anthony McDaniel (Singer, Head of Services), Djuna Gray (Bass, Paralegal), Mark Chalos (Keyboards, Partner), Phong Nguyen (Guitar, Glockenspiel, Singer, Partner), Melissa Gardner (Flute, Singer, Partner), and Jordan Elias (Saxophone) as they dazzle and delight in support of East Bay Community Law Center and Open Door Legal.
London
Starring legal talent from Nuix / Alvarez and Marsal
Rocking for Variety, the Children’s Charity
Featuring an appearance by Tony Hatch
This is a band that breaks the rules of Rock and Roll. I mean, for the last few years it’s been one man and his little guitar...
Now there is a full band made up of people who make it their lives to support lawyers and also play covers of covers of covers.
Shotgun Margarita - Where the drinks probably won’t be on us.
London
Featuring legal talent from Mishcon de Reya
Rocking for Charles Dickens Museum
Featuring an audio performance by Guy Pratt and an appearance by Miriam Margolyes
These Rawckers represent an age-old tale of musical boom and bust. You might just recognise some of the band from their heyday, almost a decade ago, when they bossed the UK’s Law Rocks! scene. Back then, performing as The Enlightened Tenacitists, and with performances brimming with energy and swagger, it seemed that no UK amateur professional services title was beyond their reach. But the success, followed by a cliché of other vices, went straight to their heads and, just as quickly as their reputation blossomed, it withered and disappeared without trace.
But lockdown has cleaned them up and flushed them out, and so here they are again, digitally remastered and virtually rejuvenated as “Starstruck” and ready to rock’n’roll the dice one more time.
With the band's bassist having fallen foul of logistical hurdles, Starstruck have had to rope in a last minute celebrity replacement - with Pink Floyd, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Roxy Music and Robert Palmer on his CV, and having opened for David Bowie on a stadium tour, there isn’t much this Guy doesn’t know about low notes...but, as with all good pros, he’s still learning and who better to teach him how really to keep time than a bunch of late night lawyers…
London
Starring legal talent from CMS
Rocking for Duchenne UK
Featuring an appearance by Justin Hawkins
Paul Smith (Vocals & Keys) honed his vocal skills shouting at his four kids. He started out on keys but switched to guitar when he realised that sitting at the piano stool prevented him from dancing like a pig farmer. He has since moved back to keys, having realised that his “moves” aren’t much appreciated outside the farmyard. The set list has improved since he was stopped from choosing songs. Paul proves two immutable truths: coming from Liverpool does not make you a Beatle; but it does make you think you're one.
Jon Dames (Guitar) grew up on the mean streets of Nottingham dodging small arms fire. Learnt to "play" guitar by twanging on a solitary line of barbed wire running along the wall at the back of his parents' council house. Usually sounds like he's still doing just that. He has a face for radio, which is a shame because it's extremely unlikely any station would want to spin any record he played on.
Marcus Barclay (Drums) invented the stereotype about drummers being people who hang around with musicians. Despite only having to remember to bring himself and his sticks, usually turns up at band practices and asks if anyone has sticks he can borrow. And whether anyone has seen the drummer. Deep pockets, short arms. Not quick to the bar.
Nathan Smith (Bass) "completes" the band, but not in the Jerry Maguire sense. Of Liverpudlian descent. Liverpool has, of course, produced many fine bass players. Nathan isn't one of them. Hired solely as eye candy, he has at least improved the appearance of the band and lowers the average age by a couple of decades. Spends a lot of time talking about what he played and how he played it. When others are quizzed on the point they almost invariably say: "there's a bass player in the band?"
It shouldn't work ... and most of the time it doesn't. They are “The Stragglers” from CMS.
Bands / Nonprofits / Celebrities / Sponsors
your law rocks-apalooza host
Trey is a survivor of 10 years in the Radio Industry during it final heyday. He was a music director and afternoon drive DJ at various stations throughout the midwest before being scooped up by MTV in the 90's because he kinda looked like Alan Hunter. It wasn't long after arriving in New York that Nirvana, ended Trey's MTV stint. Everyone was going grunge and he was unable to grow any facial hair. He moved on to other areas of the entertainment industry, but is proud of some of his past escapades, such as playing golf with Journey, drinking several gallons of beer with Brian Johnson of AC/DC, and being fired from "Friends" for saying something stupid to Jennifer Aniston. He is most proud of his former world record of Hot Tub Sitting (4 days at 105 degrees). He thanks his wife for being so patient when it came time to have children.
CELEBRITY GUESTS
We are thrilled to have an incredible roster of celebrities joining our bands for the first ever Law Rocks-apalooza!
Alice Cooper and Buck Dharma (Blue Öyster Cult)
Appearing with Retro-Active
Anthony Bozza (music journalist and bestselling author)
Appearing with The Appeals
Bryan Stevenson (author Just Mercy; founder of Equal Justice Initiative)
Appearing with Noise in the Basement
Christian Yelich and Ryan Braun (Milwaukee Brewers)
Appearing with Attractive Nuisance
Dave Schools (Widespread Panic)
Appearing with Flight Risk
George Clinton (Parliament-Funkadelic)
Appearing with The R-23’s
Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd) and Miriam Margolyes (actor Harry Potter; Blackadder)
Appearing with Starstruck
Iggy Pop (the godfather of punk; The Stooges)
Appearing with 1981
John Thomson (comedian and actor, “Jazz Club” host Louis Balfour at BBC's The Fast Show)
Appearing with The Bar Mess
Justin Hawkins (The Darkness)
Appearing with The Stragglers
Mark McGrath (Sugar Ray)
Appearing with CellarSonic
Melissa Etheridge
Appearing with The Femme
Nick Valensi (The Strokes)
Appearing with Matthew Umhofer
Pauly Shore (actor Totally Pauly, Encino Man)
Appearing with Pro Has Vice
Tommy Lee (Mötley Crüe)
Appearing with Lodestar
THE NONPROFITS
Bands / Nonprofits / Celebrities / Sponsors
