Wide Awake is a party rock/dance cover band from the Capital District who came into inception in January 2013. Wide Awake consists of Brian Stewart (Lead Vocals & Guitar), Cary Vaeth (Keys, Guitar & Vocals), Kyle Phillips (Drums & Vocals) and Rich Warner (Lead Guitar & Vocals) and Doug Kraus (Bass & Vocals).

Wide Awake’s mission from Day 1 was to entertain their fans/crowds.  The goal is : Giving them upbeat music to move to. Nothing slow, all high energy and no B-Sides. Playing songs everyone knows, everyone loves and music that everyone will move/groove to. There’s no limit to the genre of music you may hear. You could hear anything from The Beatles, to Bon Jovi to Bruno Mars to todays favorite hits! Just know, whatever song it is, it will make you move, sing and dance!

From the first gig in early 2013 to today, Wide Awake has received rave reviews and have gained popularity and momentum with every passing show.

Come see what everyone is talking about.  And don’t forget to bring your dancin’ shoes and your singing voice!  You’re gonna need ’em..

 

 

Brian Stewart: Lead Vocals / Guitar

 

To paraphrase the Bad Company song “Shooting Star”….Brian was a school boy when he heard his first Beatle song.  From then on Brian was hooked on music and especially The Beatles.  Brian sang at every opportunity he was given.  As a child, he was a fixture at all of the Long Island talent shows.

 

After completing high school Brian started a band and started playing the local bar scene.  His band, The Sensors became regulars on the Long Island bar circuit playing many of the same clubs as such legendary bands like Twisted Sister and Zebra.

After collage Brian moved to the bright lights of Los Angeles and started a new band named Conflict.  After 8 years in southern California Brian decided to head back east, this time landing in Albany, NY.  He then stepped away from the music scene to concentrate on his family.

 

In 2010 Brian just could not wait any longer to get back to performing.  He became the lead singer for a popular local cover band named Up All Night.  After 2 years of playing with Up All Night Brian and Cary Vaeth, also a member of Up All Night, decided to break away and start their own band.  In 2013 Wide Awake was born.

The rest and best is yet to come.

 

Cary Vaeth: Keyboard / Bass Guitar / Vocals

 

Started taking keyboard lessons at 7 years old. I think that lasted about a year. I continued to play and picked up lessons again at about ten years old. That probably lasted a couple years before that came to end. Continued playing, though. In and out of bands through middle school and high school until I taught myself bass guitar at 19. Wasn't long after that that I started playing with some guys that would later become the band Crash Landing. A band that continues to exist to this day if only in name and occasional songwriting over the internet with a rare reunion jam session every couple years.

 

We did the bar scene in the Utica area for a couple years before life started to get in the way as it tends to do from time to time.A long period of time would pass with me basically on my own, songwriting, programming sound, recording and teaching myself how to play guitar. Toward the end of this period me and some of my Crash Landing band mates started recoding some songs with the goal of an eventual CD release.

 

My return to gigging semi-regularly started again a few years back when I helped the band Backdraft record a demo that I engineered and laid down some tracks on. That would lead to a no-rehearsal live session with the band and an invitation to join. The remnants of that band would eventually end up as Up All Night.

 

Again life would get in the way. A change of careers would find me struggling to put the effort into my "real" job and support the gigging schedule of a busy band. Something had to give.

 

Shortly after Brian (who was also leaving the band) and I had one of those kinds of conversations something to the affect of " if I were to be another band it would have to like this"

One thing leads to another and the next thing you know we were mapping out a setlist and putting ads out for players.

 

Aaaaaaaaand here we are.The rest of this story is still being written...

 

Some things people don't know about me:

I program all my own sounds. Most of the keyboard voicing you hear in the course of an evening is custom programmed.

 

I can also play drums, although I haven't sat behind a proper kit in quite a while.

 

I catch myself often subconsciously tapping out odd time signatures.

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Doug Kraus: Lead Guitar / Vocals

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“A Band Bio”, I thought to myself; “sounds easy enough”.

The wood shifted a little in the wide fireplace, but not enough to disturb the greyhound dreaming on the hearth in the gloomy drawing room. The grey sun shone dimly through the tall windows overlooking the snowy gardens below.

“Why is the sun always grey in Utica?” I mused. “But where to begin, where to begin…”

My mind quickly flashed to a memory of Cary Vaeth behind the keyboards in the back of his father’s machine shop. His beard was dark back then. I’ve only seen one picture of him without a beard, probably from grade school. Of course, Cary also played bass back then, while I leapt about with a guitar.

“That’s not really appropriate to THIS band”, my conscience quickly scolded.

Obediently, I searched farther back in the darker recesses of my mind. Vague memories of playing bass in early 80’s punk bands came to light. My lack of musical prowess was only eclipsed by the junkiness of my borrowed gear.

“You could hardly call that MUSIC” derided my conscience.

“What about playing lead guitar with those other bands?” I protested. “I’ve played guitar for years in other projects!”

“Again, that’s not the instrument you play NOW” came the instant reply, with just a hint of sourness.

“I played bass for those three recent projects around Utica.” I pleaded. “They were really good.”

“Those never really did get off the ground now, did they?” quipped my brain.

An audible sigh escaped my lips as I reached down to the carved mahogany table for my now cold cup of tea.

“Wow, this is hard” I thought. “Maybe I should tell Brian that I’ll send him a Band Bio later and take a quick break to do something really easy, like rewire the kitchen.”

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Dave Wayne: Drums 

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   It was mid-year of sixth grade when I  first picked up a pair of drum sticks. I was behind in sheet music reading, but the teacher said I had natural rhythm and was given a snare solo in " When Johnny Comes Marching Home". It rocked! In seventh grade, everyone wanted to play the drums, so I stopped. It wasn't until I turned 15 that the drums re-entered my life. I traded a dirt bike for a drum set. They were all different colors. so I covered them with black contact paper for uniformity. A year later , I got my first set of black Ludwig's, and have been using that brand ever since. I currently use Zildjian, Sabian, and Paiste cymbals and a DW snare drum.

The top hat became permanent after an appearance on Time Warner cable's local show "Sounding Board" in 2001, and the Animal tattoos arrived in 2006 for my 30th drumming anniversary.
I've played in original bands; country bands folky bands; cover bands; jam bands; tribute bands; but being with Wide Awake is the perfect fit ! I'm a lucky monkey indeed! The only thing to know about me is:

I'm not like this because I'm in a band ; I'm in a band because I'm like this!