Don Gator

What’s hot about spies? Just about everything — look at the opening of the latest 007 movie and that will tell you tons. Spy TV shows like Burn Notice get a ton of attention and why not have a a spy-based band. Spy Don Gator thinks it’s a nifty idea and he uses his travels and travails as fodder and fuel for his music that he writes as well as performances. Now he’s dropped a new album, Naked with a Gun and it’s available on iTunes.com, amazon.com as well as all the usual suspects.

Who is Don Gator:
Agent Don Gator is on the lam, having escaped a life sentence in a Saharan jail. The impeccably dressed, Sazerac-sipping, steel-abs operative is adept at evading snipers, thwarting art heists and arranging secret rendezvous at a moment’s notice. He revs up Aston Martins, jet skis and helicopters alike, while being relentlessly pursued from one corner of the globe to the next.
A flawed hero with plenty of heart, Gator turned to spydom when he lost the woman he loved to a terrorist attack, so he’s no stranger to going off mission when a beautiful asset is in danger. His current Achilles’ heel is a 5-foot-10 long-haired goddess named Lady Lobo, an undercover Brazilian Intelligence agent who also happens to be the arm candy of his mortal enemy, Benedict Mauvais.

In advance of the album launch, Don Gator posted a steamy new video “My Love at MI6”, which features French model Inès Rau. Note the raincoat Don Gator is wearing – a sneak peak of the new luxury clothing line by Asaf Ganot, head designer for Defyance Clothing for men. This project is the debut music video for fashion photographers Adam and Nick Hayes, who shot and directed the video.
FYI the video is pretty explicit so I can’t run it on the blog– but here’s the link
http://youtu.be/vl2UCY0Qg-A
Don Gator and band played at the Ocelot Robot Film Festival in Los Angeles and wound up winning the best music video award for 2012.

Who is Dennis Hirdt:– Don Gator’s alter-ego
Stripped down, New York City native Dennis Hirdt is like most independent artists today: writing song; rehearsing with his band; booking shows in New York and LA; and getting fans to “like” him on Facebook. Dennis happens to be a very successful runway and print model, strutting down the catwalk or posing for photos of major clothing designers like Diesel and Cesare Paciotti.
“I have been blessed with a great modeling career,” says Dennis, “but writing and playing music has always been my passion.”
A couple years ago, Dennis decided to combine his jet-setting model lifestyle with his love of James Bond films into a fictional character he named Don Gator.

Dennis’s debut concept album Naked with a Loaded Gun (wink wink) includes 9 original songs all written by Dennis and recorded with his four bandmates, which he calls the Kings of Spyrock:
Justin Gild on Guitar,
Ben Rosenberg also on Guitar,
Rus Wimbish on Bass, and
Dan Wintersteen on Drums.
Dennis sings lead vocals and also plays percussion.
Guest appearances include Roger Rosenberg’s bari sax on the title track and Evah Walker’s featured vocals on “Arms Dealers & Art Collectors”.
The album’s storyline explores themes that allow listeners to associate their experiences with that of Gator’s: lost loves, revenge, the thrill of the chase and the strength to begin again. The album ranges from the bass-heavy, dance-inducing “My Love at MI6” to the guitar driven indie rock “Benedict Mauvais” to the piano-based mid-tempo “Heaven”—all with Dennis’s hard-hitting vocals that invoke our favorite 80s rock bands such as Ozzy Osborne and Guns N’ Roses.
DonGator.com
www.facebook.com/dongator
twitter.com/dongator
http://www.youtube.com/dongatortheband
Don’t miss this video, song, CD or any of his upcoming shows. Definitely something interesting. Whether a spy or a model, Don/Dennis has a lot going on and it’s more than just about traveling the world.
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com - LA-Story

I was a college athlete and musician until nature narrowed my choices with a shoulder injury that finished off my pitching career. It’s an old story. Don’t feel sorry for me. I had my music and the love of my life, a Brazilian beauty that the sun rose and set on, a girl who made me feel like I knew what I was doing with my life. I have a dim memory of dropping her off at the train station one morning, and shortly after that my world went dark: she was killed in an attack that ended the lives of many other innocents. In my darkest hours I was approached only by a man named Agent Z, an off-label sack-suit suit on the outside, tae kwon do and jiu jitsu champion on the inside, fluent in seven languages. Z had a simple question for me: Would I be interested in seeking revenge? I didn’t think long before I decided to go with him. The training almost killed me. I was the top recruit out of ten, but that’s because seven men didn’t make the cut, and an eighth got up in the middle of the night, drifted into the dunes, and was never heard from again.

Naked with a Loaded Gun
Z smuggled in fifty pounds of blow from Colombia, and arranged for me to be arrested trying to sell it. I was sentenced to 15 years in an Arizona hellhole, and I was riding the rap when Z’s people broke me out. An explosion outside my cell set me free, and in my place they dropped the body of a charred John Doe. As far as the world knew, I was dead. In reality, I was alone in the desert with 9mm Beretta. It was an impossibly short journey from all-star jock to locked-up drug dealer to dead afterthought of a prison riot. In the meantime, Z and his team had created its most lethal asset, Agent Don Gator.
I foolishly asked Z who was funding this operation. The answer was, nobody. There wasn’t a government on earth who would claim responsibility for the missions we were charged with.
My Love at MI6, Arms Dealers & Art Collectors, Body Take my Hand
At legitimate intelligence organizations such as CIA, MI6, and Mossad, acknowledging that Z’s band existed was akin to believing in ghosts. In spite of that, the top dogs at those agencies wanted to crush us. They couldn’t have credit taken away from them by the rumor of a team that did not officially exist. The only thing that Z cared about was zeroing out bad guys. I shared that priority.
MI6 dispatched an agent to gather intelligence on me. I turned her into my top recruit, but along the way, I managed to fuck up an operation that involved swapping classic art for fissile material that originated in a Karachi nuclear lab. Critically wounded in an explosion at the Louvre, I sucked up what little strength I had left, and with morphine-fueled music throbbing though my brain, I scribbled this lyric: I don’t have the time for the same old dance, so I made a plan; I’m not gonna sit back here and leave it all to chance, so body take my hand. The chorus stuck in my head as I slumped out of the Parisian hospital.
Benedict Mauvais &Lady Lobo, Try a Little Harder
Recovering in the hills of Menorca, Z brought me the bad news in person. The one other recruit who had completed the training had gone rogue. This traitor, whose name was Benedict, took a suitcase stuffed with cash from a Russian Red Head and was now a free agent, pedaling information to the highest bidder. It was essential that Benedict not know that I was on to him. I needed to determine what had been divulged, and if the clandestine identities of Z’s Band were blown. Enter Lady Lobo, a sweet girl who made me long for my lost Brazilian love, but who had collapsed into the foul thrall of Benedict and his money. The Ballad of Don and Lobo was Try a Little Harder, a song about a love triangle I sang to her one night while I sat at the piano. Lobo, I was able to ascertain, was Brazilian Intelligence. I wished I could have loved her, and I think she wanted to leave me back, but there were some things she was just never going to get over, and I’d have to say the sa - themodern.usa

There’s a new young James Bond 007-type with a lot of sex appeal. Don Gator “looks” and “acts” the part so well with such emotion as he sizzles in his latest “Benedict Mauvais” Spyrock Video.

You can enjoy the fantasy of “Benedict Mauvais” and especially the musical beat. The music builds with wild and infectious rhythms as captivating as the video. “Benedict Mauvais” has got to hit the top of the charts!!!

Don calls his unique songwriting style Spyrock and when you see his video the name is a perfect fit. Everything we have always enjoyed in the James Bond film series is wrapped up in this video. “Benedict Mauvais” has plenty of chase scenes, action, passion and even a touch of humor!

The fast moving James Bond Spoof begins when the sensuous Lady Lobo (Brazilian model Carime) sees Don and the attraction is quite obvious while their passion heats the following scenes. Later bazookas and guns are aimed at Lady Lobo and Don as they flee on a jet-ski. I will not tell the surprise ending.

“Benedict Mauvais’” production must have been expensive with the cameramen shooting some of the chase scenes from a plane as well as the explosions and special effects. Don Gator is an international fashion model, musician and now a Super Spy.

While traveling to exotic countries around the world, Don realized his life was similar to that of a spy. Don knew Anna Chapman but was unaware that she was a Russian spy and found it strange that she was so interested in his musical endeavors that involved spies.

Don is the lead singer of the New York rock band Don Gator & The Kings of Spyrock. Dennis Hirdt, now known as Don Gator, is very talented. For information, contact the Outlet Music.

The Outlet Music has a commitment to the community bringing together local artists in order to create platforms of support to create a shift in the music industry. www.dongator.com www.theoutletmusic.com

James Bond, agent 007, is a fictional British Secret Service character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, featured in twelve novels and two short story collections. James Bond has also appeared in the longest running and the second-most financially successful English-language film franchise to date. There have been 22 films in the series to date.

Sandy Zimmerman is an award winning Show and Dining Reviewer, travel writer, photographer, and talk show host of the Las Vegas Today Show and Discover the Ultimate Vacation travel specials. Sandy is published in Dubai, Japan, England, South America, other countries around the world and in the United States.

SUGGESTIONS: Do you have a favorite singer, magician, hypnotist, comedian, specialty act or other entertainer? Let us know the reasons for your choice, your name, e-mail and telephone number and you may win free tickets or other prizes. Please write: P. O. Box #750211, Las Vegas, NV. 89136. - Las Vegas Tribune

Video alert. Don Gator is famous fashion model, and Dennis Hirdt's alter ego. Armed with a concept album and with tongue planted firmly in cheek, he defines his unique songwriting style and sound as "spy rock."

Spy rock, huh? Yes, actually. Ironically, Don had gotten some publicity when he was linked to the actual Russian spy Anna Chapman. Completely unaware of her legit spy status, he found it strange that she was so interested in his musical endeavors that involved spies.

Bazookas and missiles abound in this video. Spy rock, well, rocks! - www.artistdirect.com

Don Gator is the lead singer of the New York rock band Don Gator & The Kings of Spyrock and is our latest Sonicbids winner. When we first checked out Don’s music portfolio we were really keen to interview him so that we could share everything with you. Read the full in-depth interview below to learn about Don Gator’s musical background, who he would love to collaborate with given the chance and what he’s currently working on.

Q: Who are you called?
Don Gator is the short name; the long name is Don Gator & The Kings of Spyrock.

Q: If you could classify your music in a genre or a number of genres what would it be?
Our music is definitely pure 100% spyrock. What is that? It’s rock that grooves with passion and soul infused with a Jack Bauer/James Bond motif.

Q: If you could use a tagline of less than 20 words to describe your music and who you are what would it be?
Lyrics explore everyday themes with a spy backdrop; music’s GNR, Eagles and Chili Peppers vox set against sexy, danceable beats.

Q: What is your musical background?
My first instrument was the alto saxophone; I then went on to learn guitar and piano and started songwriting from a young age. My first band I played in I was the songwriter, saxophonist, played some guitar and did some vocals.

Q: How was 2010 for you?
2010 the producer Justin Gild and I worked hard recording our first studio album, “Naked with a Loaded Gun,” which will be ready for release later this fall or early winter. Towards the end of the year we auditioned the members of the Kings of Spyrock, and got together and impressive lineup: besides Justin on lead guitar, we also brought in Ben Rosenberg who provides solid rhythms and some leads of his own, and a battery composed of Dan Wintersteen (drums) and Rus Wimbish (bass).

Q: Who inspires you musically?
I have eclectic inspirations; some U.S. West Coast rock bands have inspired me the most, from decade-to-decade: The Beach Boys, The Eagles, Guns n’ Roses, & The Chili Peppers. But anyone who writes great music also inspires me, from every genre. I listen to a lot of Spanish rock too.

Q: Which modern day artists do you look up to?
My favorite new band is the Cleveland duo “The Kickdrums” whose sound is revolutionary and songwriting is flawless.

Q: Is there anyone you would like to collaborate or gig with?
I’d love to collaborate with Alex Fitts or Matt Pentilla of The Kickdrums. Lykke Li is a female vocalist I’d really like to work with.

Q: What songs are on your ipod at the moment?
Everything from GNR, Michael Jackson, Mando Diao, Lykke Li, Stone Temple Pilots, Jay-Z, Jackson Brown, Fito y Fitipaldis, to the “Eyes Wide Shut” soundtrack.

Q: What is your creative process for creating a track?
I usually come up with either a chorus or a verse, lyrics and melody, then find the chord progression that best supports it. If I’m lucky it’ll all come together at once but often times a song will remain an idea fragment for a period until I receive that “light bulb” moment where a chorus or bridge is born and it all starts to come together. I often dream melodies and lyrics and wake up and sing them into a recorder; dreams are how two of the songs on the upcoming album –“Body Take my Hand” and “Heaven” – came to me.

Q: What’s more important, melody or lyrics?
They are equally important and that’s not a cop out answer –it’s the truth! You need both for a quality song. You can have a bubble-gum pop song with awful lyrics I suppose, but it certainly won’t withstand the test of time.
Q: Where are you based?
New York City.

Q: What’s it like being where you’re from?
It’s thrilling and tough at the same time. You live in the city with one of the best entertainment industries in the world and to break out in that completive atmosphere is challenging but it makes you better.

Q: What are you currently working on?
My team and I have finished mixing the album and am sending it to the mastering house, so now we’re trying to get our live show as tight as possible. A Don Gator show is not just a concert or gig but an experience. We want those who come to see us to lose themselves in the world of Don Gator.

Q: What’s been the highlight of your career to date?
Our first show we completely packed the house and received a standing ovation; it was the first payoff of a lot of hard work. Also shooting our first music video I got to ride a jetski at top speed with a gorgeous Brazilian model, Carime Lobo, on the back, and a single-engine aircraft with the cameraman flying 15 feet above us…that was a rush!

Q: What are you hoping to achieve in 2011?
We’re hoping to bring our album and live shows to as many people as possible; we’d like to tour in different regions and maybe even do some international stuff.

Q: Do you have any gigs or shows that you’d like to tell us about?
We have a charity concert called Gator Aide later this fall at a secret venue in New York City; all details no - http://songrevelation.com

Models and music rarely make for a good combination (unless they’re lip-syncing George Michael), and admittedly, I had contemplated writing off Mr. Gator here. But if the video for his debut single, “Benedict Mauvais” is any indication, he’s more than happy to play his budding music career for laughs while, quite honestly, serving up a catchy tune. He seems to be dabbling in a pretty particular niche, affectionately referred to as “spyrock”. When this first hit my inbox, I was dreading something in the “poppy euro-dance douche anthem” area.
- http://www.popcultureshock.com/

This month we have been working feverishly on finishing up the latest Don Gator release. Everyone in the DG camp is looking forward to finalizing the mixes and sending them to the mastering house. The production value is huge including a Macedonian orchestra accompanying the band on “Heaven” and a high octane, jet-ski chase filled, “Benedict Mauvais” music video (featuring the beautiful Cairme Lobo, directed by the talented George Salisbury). Further details are on a need to know basis.

***This message will self destruct*** - adamharley.wordpress

Oggi usciamo completamente dagli schemi e ci tuffiamo nella saga spionistica di Don Gator, novello 007 con una vita che si divide tra armi, inseguimenti, appuntamenti galanti e cocktail senza fine.
Ma come - qualcuno di voi chiederà - non si doveva parlare di musica?
Ed è proprio così!
Don Gator è il personaggio fittizio, la storia del quale viene narrata nei brani dell'omonima band newyorkese fondata da Dennis Hirdt, modello e musicista che un bel giorno ha inventato niente meno che un nuovo genere musicale: lo spyrock (rock della spia).
L'idea è nata quando si è reso conto che la sua vita, fatta di continui viaggi e compagnie strane ed esotiche, dove tutti volevano fotografarlo (in inglese "shoot" significa anche sparare), non era poi tanto diversa da quella di una spia.
Il progetto Don Gator si avvale della collaborazione di ottimi musicisti, quali i chitarristi Justin Gild e Ben Rosenberg, il cui lavoro è predominante nel sound della band. Le radici vere dello spyrock si fondano nel ben più noto surf rock. La generale sfacciataggine della musica dei Don Gator svaria da elementi dance all'indie rock fino all'americana, qua e là contornata da pregevoli ballate.
Ai chitarristi si aggiungono Rus Wimbish al basso e Dan Wintersteen alla batteria.
I testi sono ricchi di metafore che permettono all'ascoltatore di immedesimarsi nelle avventure della spia protagonista delle storie in essi raccontate. Gli argomenti sono quelli che ci si attende da una spia: amori perduti, battaglie personali, il brivido della caccia e la vendetta
Il tutto viene raccolto in un concept album intitolato "Naked With A Loaded Gun".
La storia si apre con una fuga da una prigione nel Sahara, che fungerà da innesco per gli avvenimenti narrati nei brani dell'album, al cui interno scoprirete che Gator è diventato una spia dopo aver perso la donna che amava in un attacco terroristico e seguirete il primo capitolo delle sue avventure.
Sono riuscita a suscitare la vostra curiosità?
Per soddisfarla non vi resta che visitare i link sotto riportati per ascoltare alcuni brani e vedere alcuni video di questa band/spia. - www.anakina.net

Singer Dennis Hirdt created spyrock at 40,000 feet … For Dennis Hirdt, a NYC-based model and musician who’s known as the King of Spyrock, the travel demands of life as an international model brought on an aha! moment. “I was traveling constantly — I'd get a call from an agency rep, this voice with an accent that’d tell me which country I was flying to next,” Hirdt said. “I’d hang out in strange and exotic circles, and everybody wanted to shoot me. I thought, ‘This is pretty similar to being a spy.’” So Hirdt created the character of Don Gator and his spydom saga, which is rife with weaponry, chase scenes, sexy rendezvous and bottomless cocktails. But the lyrics are not without substance. Metaphors are Hirdt’s weapons of choice, exploring themes that allow listeners to associate their experiences with that of Gator’s: lost loves, personal battles, the thrill of the chase and bold beginnings. Spyrock Defined. Finally. Spyrock’s roots are in surf rock. On this groundbreaking album of storytelling through music, the guitars are the stars, thanks to the always-sinuous, often-cutting stylings of Justin Gild and Ben Rosenberg. The overall sonic brazenness allows rhythm to take the lead, going from dance-inducing (My Love at MI6) to transporting indie rock (Benedict Mauvais) to riding-with-the-top-down Americana (Burn). Piano-based mid-tempos are peppered with Ben Folds hope (Brazilian Summer), while affecting ballads (Try a Little Harder, Heaven) reveal the inner Gator. Continuity is achieved through the album’s storyline and Hirdt’s all-out, Bowie-meets-Axl-then-charters-a-jet-with-Vedder vocals. Guest appearances include Roger Rosenberg’s bari sax on the title track and Evah Walker’s featured vocals on Arms Dealers & Art Collectors. - http://ww2.fm102x.com

Don Gator’s Sharp Byte

On the eve of the release of his debut CD, Don Gator (overseen by his alter ego, model Dennis Hirdt) sinks his teeth into the high spy life.

”I was traveling a ton modeling,” says Dennis Hirdt on the evolution of his Don Gator music project. “I was always in the air. I would get a call from the agency, with an accented voice, saying, ‘You have to be here, you have to be there.’ I was traveling in these strange and exotic circles and I had to fit in with all of them. And everyone wanted to shoot me. This isn’t too different from the spy lifestyle.”
With that, the lightbulb went off over his handsome head, and his alter ego, Don Gator, was born. Now, with the debut of his new CD, Hirdt has set the spy lifestyle to music – and birthed a new genre.

“Spy Rock is good old fashioned rock,” he explains. “You mix in a little bit of Jack Bauer, you mix in a little bit of Bond and you put it into the pot and you stir it up and then out comes Spy Rock.”

Born and raised in New York, but educated in places like Spain and the cut-throat world of modeling, Hirdt is totally up for a project upon which he as total control.
He gave himself a crash course in business, and produced the entire project independently, with the help of Oklahoma-based co-songwriter Jonathon Stranger and New York producer Justin Gild.

The album of “ten and a half songs,” (by Hirdt’s count), has really packed a punch, with the help of extraordinary songwriter Ron Passaro, and singer Heather Walker lending her pipes.

Although the team is All-American, the songs have a decidedly international flavor.
“Some of the songs really have a Spanish sound to them,” Hirdt says, ”either rhythmically or with the progression of chords. That’s because I did a lot of songwriting when I was in Spain, and I traveled with my acoustic guitar a lot. I even used some Spanish words in a couple of the songs.

“There is one song called ‘Barcelona Slum,’ about how Don Gator is in a slum of Barcelona, and he has to stop a terrorist attack there. He’s getting information from the terrorist because he’s running a prostitution ring. In the course of the song, he falls for one of the girls, and he wants to save her from this lifestyle. It’s actually a very
moving and metaphorical song about how you can be stuck in one place in life and you really want to get out and move out from that place.”With lifelong influences as diverse as The Beach Boys, Steely Dan and Guns N’ Roses, Hirdt is drawn to any music that is character driven. His own creation contains some interesting personalities, including Gator’s arch rival, Benedict Mauvias, and his lady love, Lady Lobo (played in the accompanying video by the model Carime Lobo).

“What Don sees is that Benedict has this golddigging wife or girlfriend named Lady Lobo,” he says. “Once she sees Don, she grabs something from her past. She’s wearing this little cross around her neck. She sees him and she suddenly, without realizing it, clutches onto it because she’s clutching on to something from her past, before she became the golddigger, before she became the hawk, as the British call golddiggers.

“She sees Don and she’s drawn back to the simpler times and maybe back to the original feeling of love. Don sees that he has an opening and he sees Benedict treating her poorly. Benedict is his arch nemesis and rival, so Don sees that he has the opportunity to take her away. And a jet ski chase pursues and Benedict assumes - Everybodys.Us