Twenty minutes into our interview about his upcoming performance and Carl Blake shift gears. It’s equipment that’s on his mind.

“Do you talk gear,” Blake asks? Not my forte, but I figure I can hang with gear-talk for a bit. Wrong.

The veteran San Juan guitarist outstrips in a flash whatever working knowledge I possess about amplifiers, sound equipment and why that “stack of really, really old Marshall amps”, along with a vintage Sunn amplifier—the kind used by Jimi Hendrix early on in his career—adds authenticity in recreating the legendary guitarist’s classic sound.

“We’re really proud of our gear,” said Blake, a left-handed guitar player who, like Hendrix, plays the instrument with strings set upside down. Staying true to the artist and to his music is what Blake and his ensemble, A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix, are all about.

The trio returns to the San Juan Community Theatre spotlight Saturday, Aug. 25, breathing life back into the man and the music that turned pop music on its head 40-plus years ago.

Blake describes the upcoming concert, the band’s second of the year at the theatre, as more of a “stripped-down” take on the previous show, minus lasers and Go-Go dancers, but with a “completely restructured” play list of songs.

“We’ll have the fog machine and lava lamps going, of course,” he notes. The band, featuring Blake’s son, Hunter, on bass, and B.C. Dolsen, on drums, continues to fine-tune its tribute and for fans of “The Wind Cries Mary”, it’s one you don’t want to miss.

Doors open at 7 p.m. for a “social hour”; concert begins at 8 p.m. Tickets: $15 adults, $8 student reserved, $5 student RUSH.