Belle Vernon musician Jon Belan with The Reb Beach Project at Cello Fury concert

By Eric Seiverling
eseiverling@yourmvi.com
It’s rare for a person to meet and befriend their rock ‘n roll idols.
But for Belle Vernon native and guitarist and singer Jon Belan, that dream came true in 2012 when guitar hero and fellow Pittsburgher Reb Beach came calling and asked Belan to join his band The Reb Beach Project, which Beach uses as his creative outlet when he’s not recording and touring with hard rock legends Whitesnake and Winger.
Belan, Beach and drummer David Throckmorton will be special guests at the second annual Cello Fury Holiday Show at the Hard Rock Cafe Pittsburgh 9 p.m. Friday.
Belan remembers Beach calling him after hearing’s Belan’s other band, Gene The Werewolf, on a Pittsburgh radio station.
“He actually called the radio station and asked them for my phone number,” Belan said. “The guitarist from Gene The Werewolf told me that Reb was going to call me, but I thought they were pulling some kind of joke on me. It’s strange how the process happened, but it’s a dream come true.”
Beach’s out-of-the-blue phone call to Belan has turned into an eight-year-long friendship between the two musicians, with The Reb Beach Project playing cover songs by a wide range of artists such as Whitesnake, Winger, Dokken, Stevie Wonder and Robin Trower.
“I was nervous about what he thought about me and I was hoping to not let him down,” said Belan, a 1995 Belle Vernon Area High School graduate. “But he made me feel really comfortable about it. It’s an honor to play those songs.”
Belan, 42, is no newcomer to playing to rock ‘n roll.
As a former member of local bands like The Berlin Project and Punchline, Belan toured the West Coast and even England. But years of being on the road took its toll on Belan.
“Those were some of the best times of my life,” Belan, said. “We were still young. But then we started to have kids, families and jobs, and it turned into work and aggravation. We finally decided it just wasn’t working.”
In 2007, Belan, a full-time manager of a multimedia company, formed Gene The Werewolf with the intention of just playing Pittsburgh and surrounding West Virginia, Ohio and Maryland.
The band has three studio albums under its belt, and its current single “Love and Touch” is seeing regular airplay on local radio stations WDVE and 105.9 The X.
“We’ve had a really good year,” Belan said of Gene The Werewolf’s success. “We’re at that point where we’re a reputable Pittsburgh band without having to worry about making it big.”
Does Belan find it difficult to divide his time between Gene The Werewolf and The Reb Beach Project?
“Reb will call me to find out my schedule because he never wants to interfere with that,” he said. “I get to pick and choose, and luckily there’s never been a conflict. Gene is always my top priority.”
If You’re Going:
Cello Fury and special guests Reb Beach, Jon Belan and Celtic singer Jacquelynn Ware will perform at the 2nd annual Holiday Show at Hard Rock Cafe Pittsburgh on Friday, Dec. 20. Doors open at 8:30 p.m., show at 9 p.m. Under 21 allowed with guardian. Tickets are general admission and cost $10 – $20; To reserve a table, call 412-481-7625.