ESSEX — This weekend, when big hair bands such as Twisted Sister and heavy rockers such as Anthrax leap on stage as part of the four-day concert Rocklahoma in northeast Oklahoma, Jeremy Heussi will climb out of his quiet life in Essex and play keyboards for the Boston rock band MASS, one of Saturday's headliners at the event.
Rocklahoma, which kicks off tomorrow and runs through Sunday, has attracted more than 70 bands on four different stages for its third annual concert. The first Rocklahoma event in 2007 brought close to 100,000 people to the Festival Grounds in Pryor, Okla., and it has been billed one of the biggest concerts of the year, Heussi said.
"For me, it's exciting to be a part of the biggest rock concert in the country, to play for 90 minutes and be on the center stage," Heussi said. "We'll be covering Led Zeppelin, The Who and Bad Company. It'll be exciting to hear a band like MASS cover that material.
"They're typically not a cover band," he added, "but they're allowed to cover songs they love so much."
Heussi is a self-proclaimed underdog musician living a "quiet, unassuming existence" as the owner of Paint Pro Inc. in Essex, and he's played keyboards in many different rock bands over a span of 23 years. He's also a member of Fortune, an 1980s rock band that started in Peabody with a record that featured a track with Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica.
"When people come out to see Fortune, it's a very intimate show and you get a concert quality experience," Heussi said, adding that even famed guitarist Barry Goudreau, formerly of the band Boston, joined Fortune for a short stint. "People are just blown away. We usually sell out every single show."
He's played with Fortune for more than 20 years, but this weekend he'll stand in and play with MASS in what he said will be an exciting experience with a high-school reunion feel.
"I'm looking forward to meeting some of the other stars there that I used to listen to as a youngster," Heussi said, mentioning Michael Sweet of the band Stryper, as an old friend who used to come to many of Fortune's shows and will be at Rocklahoma.
"I think we're all kind of shacked up in the same hotel out there, so it's going to be funny to bump into these people after all these years," he said. "I never imagined to be together this far along in the game."
Heussi has met and opened for famous bands such as Kansas, Journey, Bad Company, Cheap Trick, Judas Priest, and Jefferson Starship. He even remembers playing with Kansas at the Hampton Beach Casino in Hampton Beach, N.H., and playing covers of the band's hits, including "Carry On My Wayward Son," during the sound check.
"At the casino we did their songs as a sound check, and, boy, did that blow their minds," Heussi said. "They'd come out of the dressing rooms and stand next to the stage and watch a version eerily similar to theirs."
Heussi called his tours with rock stars "such an incredible experience." He started playing around with a piano at his house as a child, and knew at age 7 that he wanted to be in a rock band.
Heussi cites Jon Lord, the famous pianist who cofounded English rock band Deep Purple, as his greatest influence, but he didn't leave out Carlos Santana, Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Pink Floyd as other important bands that shaped him as a musician.
He has contributed his keyboard work to MASS over the past couple years and joined local bands and artists to play little shows at venues around Cape Ann. But for much of this decade he's taken time off from music to spend time with his 14-year-old daughter, Maizi, who will attend Manchester Essex Regional High School in the fall.
He lives in the house in which he grew up since he bought his parents' house after living for a short period in Gloucester, and marvels at Maizi's artistic ability with writing and drawing.
"She keeps me grounded and humble," Heussi said. "She's a little indifferent to my music career because she grew up with it, and I don't think she understands how lucky and blessed I was to be around those musicians."
It may not be mainstream stardom, but Heussi is happy to be back in the music business and hopes to commit more time to it now that his daughter is more grown up.
Rocklahoma will be a re-introduction of sorts for Heussi, and it holds special meaning because of who he'll be playing with.
"The best experience for me is going out on the road with MASS, because I remember waiting in line to see them in Boston (back in the 1980s), and it looked like they were going to sell out, and here I am going back through their catalog and adding keyboards to their catalog," Heussi said.
"So it's kind of exciting to be in the loop and in the company of such huge stars."
Cameron Kittle can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com
