HERRIMAN, Utah, June 25, 2025 (Gephardt Daily) — Rich Loffredo is living the dream of his 8-year-old self.
All it took to get there was about three decades of regret and doing other things, followed by a few intense years studying the Las Vegas music scene and taking rock guitar lessons.
Loffredo, a former New York truck driver, founded and plays with Godsmack’d, a Godsmack tribute band that covers the early years of the hard rock/alternative/metal group.
But it was a different hard rock band that first electrified a much younger Loffredo.
“When I was 8 years old, I saw a Guns N’ Roses video that came out, came out, and I saw my very first thing that really caught my attention musically in my life, was I saw the ‘Welcome to the Jungle‘ video, and I was completely captivated with the sound coming out of the television. I’d never heard anything like that before.
“The little hairs on my arms stood up — my little 8-year-old hairs. I had little goose bumps going. I fell in love with the sound of a guitar, and I really wanted to learn at that time. I knew immediately that ‘this is what I want to do. That’s what I want to be. I want to look like those guys.’ They look so crazy, and they’re jumping all over the place, and the sound.”
Godsmack’d. Provided photo
So Loffredo approached his parents, and informed them he wanted to play guitar.
“And they saw it as just a kid being a kid, and they really brushed it off like, ‘No, you know you’re not going to stick with that kind of thing.’ So I had to wait till I was older, when I could do everything on my own, then I went out and I bought my first guitar.”
All Loffredo knew about the instrument was that “if you hit the strings, noise is going to come out,” he said, laughing. He plugged away at it, teaching himself all he could, “then I had gotten married, and I had put everything down. I wasn’t getting very far anymore, and I just gave up completely.”
Years later, he went through a divorce, and figured it was his chance to change his life. He moved to Las Vegas, where his mother and aunt lived, arriving with his dog, his cat, and his duffle bag.
He began going to local concerts and discussing the shows afterward with musicians he admired. Before he knew it, members of the working music community were his best friends.
“And I thought, ‘Geez, I’m kind of starting everything over.’ Was like a midlife rebuild, you know, starting from scratch. And I said, ‘Gee, it would be nice to maybe, you know, maybe give it another shot.'”
Godsmack’d. Provided photo
Loffredo took guitar lessons from Chris Iorio, a professional guitarist/songwriter best known as the original guitarist and co-founder of Adelitas Way. Iorio now plays lead guitar in Godsmack’d, with Loffredo playing rhythm guitar. Veteran musicians Stace Wagle (vocals), Doug Nelson (bass) and Jay Dardano (drums) complete the five-piece band.
The Godsmack tribute band, founded by Loffredo, drew immediate attention in Las Vegas, and although still new, already has played the House of Blues twice, and Count’s Vamp’d Rock Bar & Grill.
Godsmack’d keeps getting offered shows by impressive venues, Loffredo said. And the response from fans has been positive.
“I haven’t found anybody that’s like, ‘Oh, those guys suck,’ Loffredo said. “I can’t find any negative comments, whether it be on Instagram, Facebook, messaging, texts. I have yet to hear anything but something positive. I have seen comments like ‘Oh my god, I have to see his again.'”
Loffredo said audiences who come to Redemption for the for 8 p.m. Saturday show, with opening acts Milf & Cookies and Sight Unseen, can expect pure, “absolute passion, five guys playing music with passion, to pay tribute and play it correctly, and play it the way it should be played, play it the way it should be heard, and to try our best to make you feel what we’re feeling.”
Loffredo is now happily reinvented, he said. He has a new and happy marriage, and a step daughter he adores. And, of course, the chance to live out his childhood dream.
“It’s just a dream come true, even if it’s not my own music, even if it’s just me being able to pay tribute to music that mattered to me. I am just so blessed to do that at this age.”
He’s 46 and recently reborn.
“I just feel an absolute insane pride that I’m able to be a part, just 20%, of this band I know is helping to let someone else feel the way I always felt my whole life. I hope, in the crowd watching this band, someone is going, ‘God, these guys are great.’ You know, ‘My god, they’re making my skin tingle.'”
Redemption Bar & Grill is a 21 and older venue at 3517 W. Maradona Drive. Tickets are $20/day of show, $18 in advance through promoter TNT Rocker Productionz through Venmo @TNTRockerz68.
Redemption Bar & Grill is a proud sponsor of Gephardt Daily and supporter of independent local journalism in Utah.
Godsmack’d. Provided photo
