Two hearts in harmony

REEN BAY – This Saturday, Green Bay’s Meyer Theatre will be filled with timeless melodies and classic hits as “No Can Do: A Tribute to the Music of Daryl Hall & John Oates” captures the legendary sound of Hall & Oates, but the harmony for this group started long before its formation.

“I went to college for music, and then left and moved out to California and lived there for a couple years. And the idea was I was going to try to make it in music out there, but it was kind of at the time of all the hard rock bands and stuff like Poison and Guns ‘N Roses and bands like that,” lead vocalist Rich Hoffman recalled.

“At that point, I didn’t have the hair or the image it would take to do that kind of music out there, and I didn’t particularly care for California. So, I moved back a couple years later to Milwaukee and then got started in the Milwaukee music scene.

“In 1990, when I first started playing at clubs, my first band here was called ‘Cosmic Debris,’ and we ended up playing Summerfest shows and stuff like that. We were an original band; we released an album.

“Then, I had another one called ‘Everyone and Their Mother’ that we also put on an album and played some fairly big shows and stuff.

“Then one of the guys in the band and I continued to write and just do studio stuff and record our music.”

Rich then spent some time doing musicals in Appleton and Madison
“So once I was living in Madison, I had an original band there that was recording and doing a few shows here and there, and I came back for a wedding for the drummer who was in “Everyone and their Mother, and we ended up talking about putting together a new music project here in Milwaukee.

“So, I was driving back and forth from Madison to Milwaukee for that band, which eventually became ‘Almighty Vinyl,’ which is my main project now.”
Rich and his wife and fellow vocalist, Angie (Rypel) Hoffman, both credit high school for their influence on their musical trajectory.

For Rich, it was Greg Reierson at Colby High School and for Angie, Wolf Calnin at South Milwaukee High School.

“In high school, I had a great choir teacher, and I think Rich did too. I think that’s kind of a thing for singers — that grows passion in singing — if you have a great teacher. But in this case, he led an adult choir that I, after high school, joined for a bit, and I did a little bit of church choir work and stuff,” Angie recalled.

“I was singing karaoke, which is one of my passions, and I met a couple of guys who asked me to audition for their band called ‘Never Static,’ and it was an original band, and I ended up joining the band. I was in it for about a year. We almost released an album. We had all the music done, but we couldn’t decide on the cover art.

While attending UW-Milwaukee, Angie auditioned for American Idol in Nashville.

“I got all the way to Simon Paula and Randy for season two. So it was kind of a fun, you know, a story to tell over a cup of coffee. Obviously, I didn’t make it to Hollywood or anything, but it was an interesting experience. It was interesting seeing how not live and impulsive those shows actually are, despite how they may look.

“My family is very supportive. We went down to Detroit, me and my girlfriend, to try to audition there, and we didn’t get anywhere near the front of the line to audition. And my dad was like, ‘Don’t give up.’ He said, ‘I will pay for you to go down. Where else are they having auditions? I will pay to get you on a plane in a hotel, and so that’s really, obviously helpful.

“And then I moved away. I have a degree in electrical engineering. So I moved away to Indiana for a job, and so I couldn’t be in the band anymore, but one of the guys in the band I ended up marrying and had kids with and stuff like that, so I had a big gap in time that I wasn’t doing music.”

But when Angie took a job in Milwaukee in 2000, a guy she worked with was in a band that was looking for a singer; but, her kids were young and she didn’t think it would work.

“But then he said, ‘Well, we’re playing at Greek Fest, which is an outdoor music festival at the State Fair Park on a Sunday afternoon. And I was like, ‘Well, then I could do it because my girls can come, and they could go on some rides and stuff.’ So, I did four or five songs with them, and I was hooked.

“I’ve been in that band for nine years now. Since I’ve been in that, I’ve done other small stuff and that’s how I met Rich. We met at a karaoke show, actually, and he and I do ‘Yacht Rock’ together.

“Being in a relationship with a fellow singer, I think, is incredible. We are very supportive of each other. We deal with some of the issues that are unique to singers.

The couple was married on Oct. 19, 2024.

No Can Do

“It started with a random Facebook post that I made,” Rich explained.
“I just said, “Hey, anybody out there want to put together a Hall & Oates tribute band? And I had a few people respond, but two people in particular —a drummer and a bassist — who were really interested.”

While the post was a whim, the people who responded were all in and pretty soon Rich was putting the pieces together, which included his now wife.

“I started putting people together because I knew that I needed a strong vocal group in order to pull off the stuff that they do. And I know of her attention to detail and ability; and you know, not to mention the fact that she’s nice to look at. So offsets all of us guys on stage,” Rich joked.

“We decided that we wanted to put together a quality tribute, doing the music the way people remember it on the radio. And it’s not a knock, I’ve seen Daryl Hall and John Oates multiple times, and because they’ve been around a long time and they really like the live aspect of music; most of the time, if you went to see them live, you would hear the songs done differently than you remember them. They just would alter them, or do them, you know, in a different live fashion.

“And so my goal was, I want to put this together and do it exactly like the record so that it’s the version people grew up listening to, and will really enjoy it being recreated the way they remember.

“As we learned their music, it’s so meticulous the stuff they did in the studio; it’s amazing when you start breaking it down.”

Along with Rich and Angie on vocals, the band consists of Craig Brog on drums, Dave Ciccantelli on keyboards and vocals, Tony Inzeo on guitar and vocals, Harry Ipsarides on guitar and vocals, Carl Stessl on bass and John Vollmar on sax, vocals and keyboards.

“We have six singers in the band, which I think a lot of people think, ‘Well, it’s Hall & Oates, so how many people do you need; it’s just Daryl Hall and John Oates?’ No, you would miss all of those vocals if they weren’t there. But it’s been so fun putting it together; I feel like I’m back in choir class.

“It’s getting these lush harmonies, and we’re just the backdrop, but it’s like every piece of it coming together.

No Can Do will perform live at the Meyer Theatre in downtown Green Bay on Jan. 25.

For more information, visit meyertheatre.org/events/no-can-do-tribute-to-hall-and-oates.