Hello Bob!
I was forwarded the article you wrote regarding Giant. I am the singer in those videos and I must say that you completely made my decade! I very much appreciate your kind words and taking the time to write about Giant.
Thanks again!
Bryan Cole
P.S. It was truly an honor to be a part of such a great band. Wonderful guys that still remain friends to this day
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Every player in town that knew about this going on was flipping out; myself included. I was unfortunately on the road when they held this benefit for “Toddzilla” that gave us this reunion but saw the video the next day.
Todd (Austin), a Nashville musician fixture for decades, had lost possessions & pets in a house fire.
Nashville is pretty darn cool and our musician community is just phenomenal!!
Lee Kelley
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I was just out of music school when Giant appeared in '89 and Dann Huff elevated rock guitar to another level. My musician friends and I were obsessed. And though we’ve moved on of course - some of my friends are playing professionally, while others are on the industry side, we’re still as obsessed as ever with certain players - Eric Johnson, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, Dann Huff. We stay in touch by sending each other links of solos, songs, and live performances; and when we get the chance to see each other IRL, anyone in our orbit will inevitably be subjected to a deep dive on why Giant mattered.
Thank you for this and for the links - the 2017 performance, which I didn’t know existed, will be a great addition to my group text collection.
And, here’s one for you: from Dann Huff’s instructional video which was recorded circa Time To Burn. Aside from his astonishing guitar work (see: instruction on how to play the scorching opening lick @ 8:42), the joy he exudes from playing is palpable and so fun to watch.
youtu.be/pWThQ0DuJr0 — Kirsten Cluthe
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Loved Giant and have been hoping that record would be released on vinyl one of these days. I saw them at a little club in Murfreesboro TN (outside of Nashville) before the record dropped and they did an epic Jeff Beck cover. I think maybe it was Goodbye Pork Pie Hat but can’t remember now.
Kevin Twit
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You nailed this one - right down to sheepish Dan Huff, remembering the old days and then blowing away his alt-country-loving Nashville fans with incredible playing. I dove into the rabbit hole and didn’t come up for a few hours.
JH Tompkins
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The Last of the Runaways album has been a guilty pleasure of mine for so many years. It’s a record filled with choruses from front to back. It’s no wonder that Dann Huff went on to have the career he’s had.
Thanks for the reminder on this one as it’s been a while since I’ve listened.
Jaime Feldman
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I love when you do this, Bob... Giant was an amazing band/album... and your description is so spot on. I feel the same way about Winger's album, Pull... so much history and media noise, that's it easy to miss how great they all sound (and play together). 1988 - 1998 had so many albums like this... I'd even argue that Bon Jovi's These Days was one of their better albums... but they had no chance facing the flannel and sounds of Seattle.
Thank you, as always, for reminding me about bands and albums that I loved... and let go by the wayside...
MITCH JOEL
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Great to read about Dann , Giant and “I’m A Believer”. Yeah, he was defiantly perceived as a “threat” or interloper (from Nash Vegas, for chrissakes!) by the more established “hired guns” in LA at the time. I know, I was there. I built all the guitar rigs for many of the best studio players of that time and was friends with most of them. In fact, I demoed to Steve Lukather Dann’s rig I had just built for him at my house on 4th street in Santa Monica. At different late night “get togethers” there would be talk like “who is this Dann Huff guy coming here getting all the gigs?” ….Ha ha! But Dann was such a nice guy and certainly a great player who eventually moved back to Nashville and started an extremely lucrative career as a top producer. Fun times!
Bob Bradshaw
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lol
I didn't roast Dann. I think he is a huge talent and a sweet guy.
Great band that had potential but no commitment. Its HARD to make it as a band !!! You gotta LOSE money to make it and hang in there. Had they had a hit record history may have changed that.
Too much money in studio work for Dann and Alan Pasqua and then I heard Mutt gave him some production gigs and poof.. he has done very very well for himself.
Alan is a massive talent who last I heard was teaching jazz at UCLA and doing lots of film work. Another great guy,.
Dann DID do a mighty good impression of me when he came to LA. hahaha Even he would admit it. He found his own voice and I still dig the guy and never had any issues as I had pretty much stopped doing lots of session s by the time he started.
I am a fan.
Luke
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Thank for shedding some light on Dann Huff. First heard he and his drummer brother in the band Whiteheart, which was kind of an 80s Christian version of Toto when I wound up on a festival bill with them. Dann went on to a long list of high profile studio credits and was working the late 80s LA scene along with Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, et al. He copped heavily from Luke’s style, for which Luke lightly roasted him in his book.
He did very well as a producer du jour upon returning to his hometown of Nashville. His father, Ron Huff, was a very busy arranger/orchestrator in Nashville for decades, so Dann inherited quite a Rolodex when he got into the biz.
Michael Gregory
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I moved from San Diego to LA Jan 1985 for music. By Aug 85
I was homeless and sleeping on the couch at Baby O studios. They had a rehearsal room on Vine and one of my ways of earning my keep was to open, close, clean and run the rehearsal room. I was broke and had no Hollywood cred so most people ignored me there.
Once day a band was rehearsing in there and one guy kept talking to me named Dann Huff. I being a guitar player noticed him right away and at that point in my life I had never seen such an amazing guitar player up close. He was mind blowing good. I was a huge Bowie fan and so was Dann. He told me about meeting Bowie and almost getting to play on a record with him which was also mind blowing ( I would meet and hang out with Bowie 3 years later but that’s a different story).
Point is Dann Huff made me feel so special at the lowest time of my life and I will never forget that. In 1990 his Giant record was out as was my first major label record called Colorcode.
Dann and I could now talk like colleagues but I had mad respect for him always remembering how he treated me when I was a no one in LA.
When he became a massive Nashville Producer my hopes were and still are that he will take one of the many Sass Jordan songs I wrote in the early 90s and get a country star to do a cover…..I could use a new house.
Stevie Salas
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Great piece. I've been a Giant fan for a long time. Still love playing their music cranked to 11.
Thanx for reminding the world their music still exits. Steve
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I have all 6 of the Giant albums. There are usually 4 or 5 killer cuts per disc.
There is a Live And Acoustic-Official Bootleg, released in 2003 with Dann and David Huff. It features both Live and acoustic versions of "I'm A Believer".
I would disagree that the band has broken up. There is a brand new album, Shifting Time, released on January 21, 2022. Dann Huff plays on 1 track; David Huff plays drums again.
Tony Colao
Easthampton, MA
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Bob, I didn't know about the Giant reunion but I was a fan from the first CD and have listened to it on and on over the years. Thanks for making me aware. LOVED seeing that reunion clip. Sounded better than it should for a club gig!
Best,
Ray Palagy
ESPN Sound Design
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This is timely - A friend of mine put on Janis Ian’s Breaking Silence today - I made an offhand comment about the killer guitar parts - turns out they were played by none other than Dann Huff.
Vince Welsh
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Great piece. I discovered, like you, that reunion club video a few years ago. I think Dan not singing at that gig was a function of no longer being able to hit those notes which was evident even in the 1980 live video (which I have also watched many times). As us singers get older, the voice tends to get deeper and in most cases (mine included) rougher and those high notes are no longer within reach.
But, damn, can that boy still play his ass off or what?
Between this and the piece about Terry Thomas and Charlie, you are putting together a great look at bands who never really broke through but were just so very crazy good. Loved both of those pieces
Bill Evans
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Giant-
What the late great Kevin Gilbert used to call “H-T-P’s” - “…highly trained professionals…”
Like so many, great at commerce and craft, really low on innovation, art and the things that make any form of popular music really matter…
See Bob, what so many of us often forget is that between 1964 and 1975 we experienced one of the few times in the history of this world that the most successful popular music being made was also the best music being made.
And back then listeners and bands were in a social contract – the bands created music and presented a lifestyle that helped us make sense of the world around us and in doing so they really mattered…
Peace and Love,
Paul ILL
MFT, MusiCares
Instructor, Jail Guitar Doors
Www.adoptthearts.org - Board Member
Www.dolphinproject.net ____________________________________
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s a reason I’ve never heard this song or album before. It is terrible music! It combines all of the worst elements of 80’s excess into one shiny turd. It tries to be everything to everyone: Cheesy synths, wanker guitars, BIG snare sounds and mechanized drums. If you combined Whitesnake, U2, Van Haggar and the Fixx into one horrifying algorithm, this would be it! In no way does that qualify as classic rock, classic metal, or even tasty pop music.
Don’t get me wrong, I totally understand your reminiscing about the power of real rock and roll bands/concerts etc. I was there too! I just doubt many people are nostalgic for formulaic dreck like this.
Geez…
Jarrett Light
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"And then there are those who believe punk rules, if it gets too complicated it gets too self-conscious and loses the essence."
Yeah, why bother having all those other weird chords, right? I mean, what's next, harmonies? Singing in tune?
Berton Averre
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Man, you got me. I missed them, probably because of the very thing you mentioned, music had changed by that time. Nobody was looking for this. IF they had hit that 15 year time warp you nailed, they could have stood toe to toe with VH etc. top 70's, 80's bands. Believer has that U-2 guitar riff, and he kills it. Stay is also has a great sound and Thunder and Lightning. Huff is fantastic, he's so good it looks easy. Thanks, I got'em in my library now.
John Brodey
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I was surprised yet so glad you recognized Giant. They were "such" a great band. Dann Huff's an incredible talent. Killer guitar player, great singer, and a kick-ass songwriter. Man, I wish Rock was back.
Regards,
Peter Kalish
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Great to see you giving one of the most underrated and passed over bands their due recognition. Giant’s second record, “Time to Burn” was even better than “Last of the Runaways”. Dann teamed up with the late great Van Stephenson of Blackhawk fame to write most of the material on that second record and they found what would have been their essential sound on songs like “Chained”, “Stay”, and “ I’ll Be There When It’s Over”. TTB is a songwriting and production masterpiece that is very much worth the time to check out.
Last thing, and just a bit-picky niggle really, but to say Dann Huff wasn’t as well known as a session guitarist as others of the era might be a little bit off. Obviously not to civilians, but if you are a musician, his name might as well be like sterling stamped on silver. Us session, touring, and production cats all know damn well he’s one of the most recorded guitarists in music history. Huff, Luke, and Michael Landau were on everything back then, sometimes all three on the same record. Simply one of the most innovative and brilliantly musical players of all time. If you really want to hear what he was great at when a producer just let him have his way in the booth, check out the Patrick Leonard-produced Peter Cetera record “One More Story” or Michael W. Smith’s lead track “Lamu” off his mid-80s commercial breakthrough “The Big Picture”. Huff’s inventive parts elevated those records to the heights of some of the most innovative sounds you’ll ever hear and his signature sound still stands up to this day.
Thanks for shining a light on those guys. Incredible band and each original member (c’mon, Alan Pasqua and Mike Brignardello, too??!) was a huge piece of what made them so fantastic.
Deane Ogden
Bali
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I hope all is well in your world!
You gave me that warm, fuzzy feeling today with your words about Giant. Years before I was fortunate enough to meet "The Late, Great Bud Prager,” whom I regularly credit with saving my business and possibly my life . . . (everyone needs a solid mentor & friend, and Bud, may be the best of both that’s ever been) . . . I got turned onto Giant. Their “Last of the Runaways” album, which featured “I’m A Believer” and the hit ballad “I’ll See You In My Dreams” was a favorite of mine for years. The guitar layering and spacial riffing on the title track is absolutely sick . . . check out Dann Huff creating an “Edge-like” soundscape with intermittent lead lines that I’ve only heard from the likes of Dann, Steve Lukather, Larry Carlton, or Jay Graydon.
I met Dann at Bud’s memorial service, and later became friends with his brother and drummer David Huff through mutual acquaintances. In addition to both being immensely talented musicians who have played with everyone, Dann and David are two of the nicest music industry guys I’ve ever met . . . great DNA! Giant’s bass player, Mike Brignardello and keyboardist Alan Pasqua have also toured and recorded with the "Who’s Who" of pop and rock music from the 80’s and 90’s; and Mike, in particular has had a major presence on the CCM scene. There were no weak links in that band, and yes “I’m A Believer” really launches the whole album in a big way.
Thanks for the nice memory . . . I still can’t believe that the album is a few decades old. It still holds up.
Be well, God bless, & GOGETEM Bob . . . You ROCK!!!
Pat O'Connor
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So excited to read your missive today on Giant. I am possibly the only Giant fan in Australia, bar the late night DJ on KixFM that used to play Believer religiously each Sunday night. Interesting their ties to Foreigner, you could hear that musical tie in their music. Their music represented to me - a young aspiring musician at the time - impeccable songwriting and execution, perhaps too polished. It just made me dream of what was possible if you got your chops up. Years later while on a soul-searching sojourn through America in a GMC truck, I discover Keith Urban and see Dann Huff's name on it, and I can hear the connection. You can hear a Dann Huff record. Now his impeccable quality is on so many records, and I still get excited when I see his name on something. I'll unlikely ever meet or work with him, but he truly is a hero of mine. Anyone that rips a 1-minute guitar solo as an intro to their single should be applauded, I think it's gutsy.
Well done digging this one out of the crate, gave me goosebumps.
Matt Aitchison (Aus)
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Thanks for writing about Dann Huff & Giant. I saw them open for Heart in 1990 at Poplar Creek Music Theater just outside of Chicago. The two things I remember about that evening were...
1) Several dudes making no effort to hide the fact they were drooling over my date.
2) Giant stole the show.
I'm no longer with that woman but I still have my Giant CDs.
Thanks for jogging my memory,
Ken Misch
Grumpy Dingo Radio
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Your kind words
Hi Bob, this is Dann Huff. I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you wrote about me in your blog today. Means the word coming from you. All the best, Dann
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