I have been wanting to see Hired Gun since it was announced as a documentary in the Summer of 2017.  Thanks to Netflix, I finally got that chance.  If you don’t know what it is, I will tell you.

‘Hired Gun’ is a documentary about those musicians singers and bands hire to be in the band whether to help make an album or to do a tour.  They are the “hired guns” and they aren’t actual members of the band.  For me, that sounded like a very interesting story to be told.  What do these musicians/artists go through to get the gig and to actually keep that gig.

The people they interview are incredible musicians.  You might not know them all by name, but you would probably recognize a lot their work.  They are as follows:

• Liberty Devito (Billy Joel)
• Jason Hook (Five Finger Death Punch)
• Phil X (Bon Jovi)
• Eric Singer (Kiss)
• Ray Parker, Jr. (Ghostbusters)
• Justin Derrico (P!nk)
• Rudy Sarzo (Ozzy Osbourne)
• Steve Lukather (Michael Jackson)
• Kenny Arnoff (John Mellencamp)
• Jason Newsted (Metallica)

and they have interviews with David Foster, John 5, Steve Vai, and the great Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie plus many more.

I learned a lot from watching the documentary.  One thing was that there are a crap load of musicians out there in this world; however, there is only a large handful of what they called “A-List” players.  And if you think about it, that is really true.  You see the same people pop up on songs or in bands all the time.  It is those “A-List” players that the documentary highlights.

There were a couple of stories I really loved. The most interesting story was that of Billy Joel’s band and Liberty Devito his bad ass drummer.  I don’t want to spoil anything, but lets just say that it does not paint a pretty picture of Billy Joel.  He has been knocked down a few pegs after watching and listening to the stories.

The other story I loved was that of Jason Hook who is now a full fledge member of Five Finger Death Punch.  As a struggling musician, he wound up playing with the likes of Mandy Moore and Hillary Duff.  It was at one of those concerts that Alice Cooper saw him and thought how great he was.  Wait…Alice Cooper was at a Mandy Moore or Hillary Duff concert????  Mind Blown!!!  Years later when Alice needed a new guitar player, he immediately thought of Jason.  And I will let you watch it to hear how he got in to Five Finger Death Punch.

There are really so many great stories you hear about.  Some are really exciting and some very, very sad.  The music is great throughout and seeing these musicians come together and jam a little is also worth the price of admission.  I could go on and on about the stories, but you need to watch it for yourself.  If you are a music fan, this is definitely a must see.

I would give it a 4 out or 5 rating.

You can currently stream it on Netflix, so go check it out.  Come back and let me know what you thought about it.  The trailer is below if you want a taste of what is to come.

Have a great day!!