David Gogo drinks “anything that’s liquid” and uses the empty glass for a slide in Vancouver

undated archival photo/david gogo facebook

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON SEPT. 19, 1991

By Steve Newton

Does 22-year-old David Gogo have what it takes to become Canada’s next blues-rock guitar hero? Can his name be mentioned along with the likes of Jeff Healey, Colin James, and Tony “Wild T” Springer?

That question could be on a few minds these days, especially in light of the fact the Nanaimo native recently inked a worldwide recording deal with Capitol Records. There are a lot of factors involved in the prospect, though, and Gogo’s show at the Commodore last Friday (September 13) didn’t offer any easy answers.

But one thing’s for sure: the boy can play.

Gogo didn’t waste much time showing who his major influences are, choosing as his second tune the Buddy Guy classic “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, a rollicking ditty popularized by Gogo’s idol, Stevie Ray Vaughan. He pulled out all the SRV tricks on that one—right down to the overhand neck-sliding between “tiskit” and “tasket”—and got the packed dance floor jiving madly along.

Later, he stood on the wah-wah pedal for another Vaughan concert fave, Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile”, and pulled it off with equal parts fire and grace. All that crowd-pleasing stuff is fine and dandy, but it seemed like Gogo might have been covering up for a lack of original material. It could be pencil-sharpening time.

As a performer, though, Gogo’s got it. In the middle of one song, he headed up to the Commodore bar and ordered a stiff shot, wailin’ away the whole time. What was he havin’? “Anything that’s liquid,” he said, before downing several ounces of brown fluid and using the empty glass for a wicked slide.

Ya gotta like that.

While Gogo’s band, the Persuaders, is a decent, workmanlike outfit, you also have to wonder whether they’re up to his potential or whether—like Jeff Healey’s band—they’re holding him back. The saxophonist was right on but seemed to be competing with Gogo more than encouraging him to new heights. And you couldn’t even hear the sax during the encore; it was as if someone had unplugged the poor guy.

You wouldn’t see that happening to Colin James’s saxman.

Here’s some video of Gogo being interviewed and performing with his new band a year after the Commodore gig:

To hear the full audio of my interviews with David Gogo from 1991, 1994, 1999, and 2002 subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 700 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with such blues greats as:

Albert King, 1990
Albert Collins, 1985
Otis Rush, 1997
Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1985
Buddy Guy, 2004
Roy Buchanan, 1986
B.B. King, 1984
Gary Moore, 1984
Jeff Beck, 2001
Robert Cray, 1996
Jeff Healey, 1988
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 1995
Ellen McIlwaine, 2001
J.J. Cale, March 15,1990
John Mayall of the Bluesbreakers, 1988
Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown, 1998
Taj Mahal, 2001
Joe Louis Walker, 1997
Ronnie Earl, 1998
Luther Allison, 1995
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, 1994
Paul Rodgers, 1997
R.L. Burnside, 1999
Walter Trout, 2003
Long John Baldry, 1985
Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers, 1994
Derek Trucks, 1998
Susan Tedeschi, 1998
Jonny Lang, 2003
Charlie Sexton, 2005
Big Dave MacLean, 2003
Colin Linden of Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, 2003
Jeff Lang, 1999
Tab Benoit, 1998
Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, 2004
Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes, 2001
David Gogo, 1999
Michael Burks, 2002
Paul Rodgers, 2000
Chris Duarte, 2000
Gerry McAvoy from Rory Gallagher’s Band, 2018
Eric Burdon, 1984
Alvin Youngblood Hart, 2000
George Thorogood, 2014
Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, 2006
Steve Earle, 1996
Buddy Guy, 2001
Dave Alvin, 1991
Delbert McClinton, 2002
Bill Perry, 1996
Sonny Landreth, 1995
Buddy Guy, 2008
Duke Robillard, 1995
Ian Moore, 1995
Eddy Clearwater, 1999
Jim Byrnes, 1985
Magic Slim, 1999
Jack de Keyzer, 1991
George Thorogood, 2003
Jordan Cook, 2001
Ben Harper, 2022
Steve Miller, 2022
James Cotton, 2002
Guitar Shorty, 2001
Charlie Musselwhite, 2002
Tinsley Ellis, 1992
Sue Foley, 1992
Sonny Rhodes, 1999
Chris Whitley, 1991
J. Geils from the J. Geils Band, 2006Sean Costello, 2006
Derek Trucks of Tedeschi Trucks, 2012
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, 1997
David “Honeyboy” Edwards, 2003
Doyle Bramhall II and Charlie Sexton of Arc Angels, 1992
Tommy Shannon of SRV & Double Trouble, 1998
Colin James, 1995
David Lindley, 2002
Jim McCarty of the Yardbirds, 2003
Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, 2001
Buddy Guy, 1993
Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, 1998
Roy Buchanan, 1988
Randy Hansen, 2001
Davy Knowles of Back Door Slam, 2007
Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, 1998
Doyle Bramhall II, 2001
Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, 1992
Joe Bonamassa, 2011
Tommy Emmanuel, 1994
Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1990
Robin Trower, 1990
Donald “Duck” Dunn, 1985
Booker T. Jones, 2016
Buddy Guy, 1991
Buddy Miles, 2001
Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, 2016
Sonny Landreth, 2016

…with hundreds more to come