The Hooters drummer and his In The Pocket supergroup honors Philly’s rich musical history. Next month, he’s bringing it to the Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame Gala.
David Uosokkinen’s In the Pocket only plays music with a Philly connection. / Photograph by Dallyn Pavey Uosikkinen
Thanks to Gamble and Huff, Philly was known for its soul, its R&B, even its disco, in the’70s and early ’80s. But rock-and-roll was a tougher road. Philly bands were often forced to haul their gear up I-95 to court the attention of major label reps in New York.
The Hooters were different.
“I remember with us, and with [Robert] Hazzard, labels started coming down to Philadelphia, to check us out on our own turf,” drummer David Uosikkinen recalls.
It was 1981, and the band was playing a long run of Monday nights at the edgy rock and cabaret club Grendel’s Lair at 5th and South. “There were like a handful of people at the first show,” recalls Uosikkinen. “By the time we were done playing [the residency], there was a line three blocks down on South Street.”
The labels came running and the rest is history. The Hooters went on to tour the world, storm the radio waves with a slew of hits — “All You Zombies,” “And We Danced,” “Day by Day,” “Satellite,” “Johnny B,” etc. — and play gigantic concerts like Live Aid in 1985 and Roger Waters’s famous The Wall concert in Berlin in 1990. To this day, the Hooters still have an active fanbase in Germany and neighboring countries.
Seventeen years ago, after living in California for a while, Uosikkinen moved back home and discovered a Philadelphia on the upswing. The Phillies had just won a championship, downtown was hopping with sidewalk dining, and lots of his friends were still making music.
Almost immediately, he and his wife Dallyn Pavey started dreaming up In the Pocket — a homegrown supergroup dedicated to making music with Philly connections. The band has a “rotating lineup”; on any given night you’re likely to spot Charlie Ingui of Soul Survivors, Tommy Conwell of the Young Rumblers, Richard Bush of the A’s, and more up there on the stage. A typical setlist may include “Expressway to Your Heart,” “Back Stabbers,” “Woman’s Got the Power,” “Punk Rock Girl,” and more.
In the Pocket has a reputation for high energy, feel-good concerts that shed new light on old (and sometimes forgotten) favorites. In addition to the Spinners’ “I’ll Be Around,” the band is looking to record a reboot of “98.6,” a lovely but minor hit by local “sunshine pop” artist Keith from 1968.
Late last year, when rock radio legend Pierre Robert passed away, both the Hooters and In the Pocket were summoned to play the tribute show at the Fillmore. Uosikkinen, of course, was behind the kit for both — despite having his bass-drum knee replaced just five weeks earlier.
“I desperately wanted to play that show,” he recalls. “I started walking and pushing myself on the steps. Even if it was a little uncomfortable, I was like, I gotta do it.” A live recording from that night may eventually see the light of day.
Next month, the Philadelphia Music Alliance is hosting a gala at the Kimmel Center to celebrate this year’s inductees into the city’s Walk of Fame, and David Uosikkinen’s In the Pocket is one of the bands enlisted to perform. It’s an easy choice: The Hooters already have their own shiny brass plaque on Broad Street.
This year’s inductees include Philadelphia Orchestra conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Philadelphia Boys Choir, Broadway star Hugh Panaro (he played the title roles in Sweeney Todd and Phantom of the Opera), award-winning producer and music director Adam Blackstone (whose CV includes Rhianna, Maroon 5, Justin Timberlake, etc.), rapper and pioneering hip-hop radio DJ Lady B, legendary free jazz astronauts the Sun Ra Arkestra (led by centenarian saxophonist Marshall Allen), PA State Rep and veteran broadcaster Louise Williams Bishop, and renowned jazz and blues percussionist Pablo Batista.
That evening’s festivities also include bestowing a lifetime achievement award upon Earl Young, the prolific founder and drummer for the Trammps — making it an especially powerful evening for Uosikkinen. In The Pocket has been known to include “Disco Inferno” into their set lists. He’s very much a fan of Young.
“Earl didn’t play a lot of drum fills — he grooved,” says Uosikkinen, basically a walking talking encyclopedia of drummer knowledge. “He was the king of the four-four. I mean, there were other guys — Charles Collins and Keith Benson were [great] session guys — but Earl was the king. And he played with everybody.”
A stroll down Broad Street backs him up. Young already has five plaques on the Walk of Fame for his work with the Trammps, Philadelphia International Records’ esteemed house band MFSB, the Salsoul Orchestra, the Baker-Harris-Young rhythm section, and John Davis & the Monster Orchestra.
“I hope [Philly Music Alliance] keeps doing this, honoring the past, and looking forward to the new stuff that’s happening,” says Uosikkinen, citing younger acts he enjoys like Catbite and Low Cut Connie. He appreciates anybody “fighting the good fight” these days. The rise of AI-based music has been on his mind recently. Haven’t people been trying to replace drummers with robots for years?
“I get the drummer jokes, but listen, the rhythm is created by the man behind those drums, pushing it.”
If honorees Early Young or Pablo Batista want to join In the Pocket on stage, Uosikkinen says he’ll gladly turn over the sticks and the spotlight to them.
So … is David Uosikkinen the Ringo Starr of Philadelphia — the worldly rock veteran known for assembling a skilled group of all-stars to keep the music alive?
He ducks the comparison. “I’m humbled by the great drummers in Philadelphia — I mean Questlove, Pat Berkery, just some great, great drummers,” he says, before recalling all the great jazz concerts he saw with his dad at the Lambertville Music Circus in the ’60s.
In the Pocket, he says, is about a lot of things: celebrating the city’s musical past, keeping himself fresh, and having a good time with his fellow musicians. “This is a way of pulling the guys together and honoring what made us want to do what we do.”
Philadelphia Music Alliance 2026 Walk of Fame Gala will be held May 13th, 7:30 p.m., at Marian Anderson Hall at the Kimmel Center, 300 South Broad Street.