About The Band
Gerald Gushiken
Guitar
Gerald’s interest in the guitar began when he was around 6 years old but didn’t start playing seriously until his late teens. His first band began when he was a junior in high school. This high school is located in Hilo, Hawaii where Gerald was born and raised. Gerald taught himself to play but the strongest Hawaiian influence in his playing and composing is the fact that he alters the tuning of his guitars much like the famous Slack Key guitarists do in Hawaii.
After graduating from high school, Gerald went to LA for a vacation. He was so excited by the music scene that he immediately relocated living there for 25 years. In 2009 he moved back to Hawaii to be near his family.
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The time spent in LA was tremendously important to his development as a musician and composer. While in LA, Gerald was influenced by the cutting edge music he heard from all over the world. He began playing for a pop band Red Poppies later renamed Tutti Tropo. He also performed with a industrial metal band Luxury Dogs. Gerald composed for both bands. In his unique style of soloing, you can hear echos of that industrial metal style that was the essence of The Luxury Dogs.
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His last project in LA, after already deciding to return home to Hawaii was recording a album of new compositions composed in the Jazz Fusion style.
It was a departure for him musically, particularly learning to solo over complex chord changes. It became an important step in his evolution as a composer which lead him directly to the style of World Fusion. World Fusion personifies the Green Flash Hawaii sound.
Gerald composes the music for Green Flash Hawaii but generously allows each musician to make the music their own. Each musician brings their experience and expertise to the collective sound healing observance.
Hawk Devi
Violin
Hawk Devi was born into a family of classical musicians who taught music in Japan, which is where she was raised until coming to America at the age of 12. Hawk was a bit of a child prodigy performing from the age of 6 through out Japan. Later she performed throughout America with her dad and toured several times throughout Europe. She won various competitions and debuted at The Kennedy Center when she was 18 getting good reviews from The Washington Post. A few years later she debuted in New York at the famous Town Hall and also received great reviews in the NY Times.
At 22 she walked away from classical music and never looked back. She was burned out from the harsh environment of classical music.
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After meeting Dizzy Gillespie and listening to jazz for a year, she came back to the US and helped to create a mostly improv band "The Connection" for 12 years. She wrote music and sang for the band. When the band finally did come apart, Hawk and her family moved to Hawaii.
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After her children were grown she began playing again in earnest. After meeting Gerald she remarked “You’re another me” and Green Flash Hawaii was born.
Gene Tamashiro
Percussion
Gene was born and raised in Hawaii. In his own words he admits to being allergic to traditional ways of learning and therefor is a self-taught percussionist. After playing for 40 years and playing nearly all genres except classical, it is clear that his unorthodox method of learning and his immense passion for music has brought him to a high level of mastery on the drum. In his own words “I play music to maintain my own health and wellness in body, mind and spirit”.
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Gene has been an activist for the Hawaiian Kingdom for many years. It’s his other passion in life.
Erik Avery
Bass
Erik was born and raised in Connecticut. At a very early age Erik was obviously attracted to the guitar. A family member saw this and gave him his first guitar. He took it and ran! A few years later he began playing bass as well.
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Erik is a self taught musician. He admitted to playing in so many bands over the past 40 years that he has no idea how many. What is known is that he is extremely versatile and can masterfully improvise in nearly every genre. Funk and rock have a special place in his heart.
In 2007, tired of living in the cold and wanting to leave the corporate world he moved to the big island of Hawaii. Almost as soon as he landed he realized there was a shortage of bass players on the island. He was scooped up by numerous bands straight away and since then has been focused on the bass. Before joining Green Flash Hawaii he played with "Medicine For The People" while they were forming in Hawaii.