Playing Lead

In an unassuming storefront off Winchester Boulevard, Kelly Aronica readies his band's rehearsal space for the night's practice.

The Campbell resident, a guitarist and singer for The Hitmen, is a multitasking dynamo, setting up equipment while fielding phone calls from other band members who are running late, as well as from tenants of one of the properties he manages in his day job.

While he seems a natural for the role, Aronica would be more than happy to hand off to someone else the managerial duties that come with being in a band.

“They introduce me as the leader, but I really don’t like that handle,” he says. “I long for the day I don’t have to write set lists or handle sound, contracts and venue operations and all I have to do is what the rest of the guys in the band do: Look at the set list and play.

"Everything I do until I get on stage is crap until I get on stage.”

Aronica had the mantle of leadership thrust upon him about a half-dozen years ago, when the band's original leader moved out of the area. As one of four original members who have been playing with The Hitmen for 15 years, the guitarist has seen the band go from an 11-piece to a seven-piece organization.

When the lead singer left the group a couple years ago, Aronica and the other band members started sharing the vocal load.

"Out of seven guys, six of us sing," he says.

In addition to personnel changes, the band has also weathered fluctuations in demand for its old-school funk and soul sounds over the years. At its peak, The Hitmen played 36 gigs in a year.

“We played 12 times in one month, and we hated each other by the end of July,” Aronica recalls.

The guitarist considers 2010 to be a weak year—the band played 29 gigs—but he says things are looking up.

“This year I haven’t even pushed, and we probably have 21,” he says, acknowledging that the take from these gigs won't be enough to allow band members to quit their day jobs. “The big-money gigs right now are few and far between. When people are laying people off, they don’t have an entertainment budget.”

Through all these ups and downs, the band manages to stay tight, both musically and personally. “As a group, The Hitmen are friends," Aronica says. "We rarely disagree. It’s still kinda fun, and we have a fan base that expects to see us.”

That fan base is especially visible during the summer months, when The Hitmen play the local outdoor concert circuit. They're set to perform Aug. 11 in the Campbell Summer Concert series, which they've played before on several occasions along with the series in Willow Glen and Sunnyvale.

Aronica says these repeat performances are not always easy to book.

“We’re not a tribute band. That’s what festivals are looking for,” he adds.  "A lot of festivals have a lockout; once you play, you can’t play again for three years.”

To help see The Hitmen through leaner times, Aronica is looking beyond the South Bay to book gigs along the Peninsula and in Contra Costa County. Ever the reluctant frontman, he also has a plan to beef up the band's bottom line when they play the occasional wedding: "I’m working on becoming an ordained minster so we can do a full-package deal.”

The Hitmen play Friday-Saturday at 9 p.m. at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose.