Los Angeles hard rock band Slant and actor Gary Sinise and his band, The Lt. Dan Band, will tour U.S. military bases in Europe.
The four-member Slant will begin its tour March 16 in Hohenfels, Germany.
Slant has played a number of shows in the San Diego area, including at Camp Pendleton, and has a large following among Marines and sailors stationed in the region, according to Munir Haque, the band’s guitarist. The band’s bassist, Ilya Karpman, served in the Marine Corps.
Like most bands brought overseas by Armed Forces Entertainment, Slant is only getting its expenses covered, plus a small per diem.
“It’s a chance to say ‘thank you’ for all the support,” Haque said. “A lot of the friends we have made in the military are overseas and are in Iraq. So it just feels like a really cool thing to do.”
Haque described the band’s music as hard rock with a Middle Eastern tone, rhythm and solos with an ethnic vibe, with hints of Southeast Asia.
Its first album, “A Thin Line,” was released in 2005.
The Lt. Dan Band is scheduled to play six concerts in May in Germany and Belgium, as well as visit troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
The Lt. Dan Band, named after Sinise’s character in the hit movie “Forrest Gump,” has 11 members and has played numerous concerts for the United Service Organizations at military locations around the world.
The May tour includes performances in Germany at Spangdahlem (May 8), Hohenfels (May 9), Ansbach (May 10), Stuttgart (May 11) and Ramstein (May 14), as well as a May 12 show in Mons, Belgium.
The venues for the concerts have not been finalized, according to George DeGrella, a spokesman with Armed Forces Entertainment, which is producing the shows along with USO.
Sinise is co-founder of Operation Iraqi Children, a nonprofit organization that collects school supplies and other donations to give to schoolchildren in Iraq.
Slant concerts
March 16:Hohenfels, Germany, The Zone Club, 7 p.m.
March 17:Spangdahlem, Germany, Brick House, 8 p.m.
March 18:Stuttgart, Germany, Kelley Club, 9 p.m.
March 21:Chievres, Belgium, Prime Time, 7 p.m.
March 23: Mildenhall, England, Galaxy Club, 8 p.m.
March 24:JMF St. Mawgan, England, Bar None, 9 p.m.
Source: Armed Forces Entertainment
