Joel DaSilva and The Midnight Howl will bring Chicago style to downtown Cape

Blues cat or rock 'n' roll cowboy? Guitar hero Joel DaSilva says it's all in him, and he's bringing his show to the Rude Dog Pub tonight.

"My music is like Johnny Cash meets Jimi Hendrix at a Motorhead show," he said. "Oh, and B.B. King is in the audience."

His musical style, he said, is steeped in his experiences as a child growing up in a legendary blues town: Chicago.

"I used to go to all kinds of music venues as a teenager in Chicago," he said.

While he gravitated toward the rock and blues artists, he said he preferred the simple thrill of seeing a live performance.

Joel DaSilva performs.Photo courtesy of J Skolnick Photography

And as a starry-eyed teen, rubbing elbows with your heroes is one heck of a perk, too.

"I'd help them set up and stuff," he said. "And in return, they would show me some things on guitar. Tricks and stuff."

Soon, he said, he was up on stage, taking his own crack at the music.

"My first band I was in, I was 18 at the time, and it was with Junior Drinkwater and the Thirst Quenchers," he said.

In a few short years, he had moved on to a jump swing band called the Regulators, then to a psychobilly outfit called the Underbellies, who signed a record deal with Columbia Records.

Joel DaSilva.Photo courtesy of J Skolnick Photography

Since then, he's played with Grady Champion, Bobby Rush and a band called the Hep Cat Boo Daddies, but now he plays his own original music -- and the occasional Cash or Hendrix or Ramones cover -- with his backing band The Midnight Howl.

DaSilva comes from a musical family, with his parents being traveling musicians in Brazil before coming to America.

"My dad played guitar, and my mother sang," he said.

But for his own career, it's all about the rock 'n' roll.

"The blues and rock 'n' roll, it's just an honest medium," he said. "You cannot lie in it."

That immediacy and emotional presence, he said, can be seen in his songwriting.

"It's pretty raw, and it's pretty emotional music," he said. "It can take you to a higher level if you have patience and give it the time."

Catch Joel DaSilva and The Midnight Howl at 9:30 p.m. today at the Rude Dog Pub, 123 N. Main St. in downtown Cape Girardeau. The cover charge is $3.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627

Pertinent address:

123 N. Main St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.