Tag Archive for: y&T

Brad began playing bass guitar after watching a friend playing bass guitar in the junior high school band. He loved how the low end of the sound drove the whole thing along. When he moved to high school, he began playing and was soon in a band named “Misty Island Evil”.

In 1986, he joined the band Jet Red. Jet Red was a popular Central Valley band led by Willie Hines and included Billy Carmassi (drums) and Johnny Feikert (guitar). Jet Red produced its debut album in 1989. The album was well received but Relativity Records did not provide the proper marketing and tour support thus dooming the release. Various demo recordings were made for the follow-up album in 1991. This material was eventually released in 2010 with the album entitled “Flight Plan”.

In July 2010, he was contacted by Y&T as they had learned that original bassist Phil Kennemore was diagnosed with lung cancer and unable to tour. In less than 24 hours, he learned the setlist and was on a plane to Wisconsin to play the next day. Upon Kennemore’s passing in 2011, he was asked to become a full time member of Y&T.

In 2016, Brad left Y&T amicably due to personal reasons, soon after joining Bobby Blotzer’s Ratt. This version of Ratt was derailed by a series of lawsuits. Several opportunies lay ahead for Brad, playing with Dennis DeYoung in 2018 and 2019 when his bass player was unable to perform, and jumping in last minute to play with Foreigner when Jeff Pilson needed a sub in 2024.

He joined Doug Aldrich’s Burning Rain in 2019 to record the album “Face The Music” and tour, performed in a Christmas Holiday musical experience named Luminare in 2021, and in 2022, he was asked to join the BulletBoys, where he’s currently touring internationally.

Brought in part by Five Star Guitars.

“Ï’ve been playing and singing for 50 years now, writing and performing my own material from early on. After playing guitar for a couple years, my brother invited me to join his band Mile Hi. After he left the band we carried for 4 years and then Eric Martin (Mr. Big) joined us. 6 years of playing with Eric was so great! Learned so much more about writing recording and singing etc. Released one album on Electra records, Eric Martin Band, Sucker For A Pretty Face (1983) we broke up in 1984 after being dropped from Electra. They were pushing Howard Jones and Motley Crew at the time. We just didn’t fit there roster.

I was asked to join up with my good friends Y&T as a side touring member in 1984 to tour for the new album In Rock We Trust Played some keyboards and sang background vocals. I even got to play drums a bit! I was with them around 5 years.
In 2003 after the band had been broken up for many years, they reformed and I got the rhythm guitar position after Joey Alves and Stef Burns declined. Fast forward to now and I am releasing my first solo album: Made In America“.

Sponsored by Five Star Guitars and Rhythm Traders

Aaron is most known as the bassist for iconic rockers Y&T and Frank Hannon (Tesla), but he’s also jammed with some of the top names in rock—from Steve Vai, Jani Lane, and Mike Tramp, to Gary Hoey, Joel Hoekstra, Brad Gillis, and many more.

Not only is Aaron an accomplished musician, but is also a noted studio engineer and producer. We rap about all of that and more!

Sponsored by Five Star Guitars

A Bay Area drum favorite, Mike Vanderhule holds down the mighty drum throne for, what I consider to be the most underrated hard rock band on the planet: Y&T. A student and pal of Steve Smith, Mike has all of the facilities of the perfect rock, jazz and fusion player. We’ve had lots of laughs over the years, and I look forward to sharing a few with all of you as Mike and I go live.

Sponsored by Five Star Guitars.

Mike Vanderhule Website Y&T Website