An Average Joe
September 16, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
Who Is Joe Mulkern?
Joe is a self described average guy. He sits in a cube all day as a Technical Account Manager for a major software company. But Geoff Tate changed all that when he asked him to play guitar on his upcoming Insania Tour.
Joe, originally from Southern California, came of age during the 1980’s metal explosion. He was inspired by Randy Rhodes and Eddie Van Halen to start playing guitar when he was 14. He played guitar for many different bands hoping to one day to make it big. Reality quickly set in. He cut off his long hair, got a degree in Electronics Engineering and a regular job. He eventually moved to Washington with his wife to pursue his career and started a family, and subsequently set aside his guitar for many years.
One day he heard about a suburban dad garage band needing a guitarist and decided to dust off his guitar and join the band. Soon, a friendship between his wife and Susan Tate led to an invitation for dinner and opportunity to jam with one of Queensryche’s guitarists, Mike Stone. An evening of blues jams and Joe felt invigorated again. He began taking lessons and re-discovered his passion for playing.
Both Geoff and Susan remembered that evening when they were beginning to look at guitarists for The Geoff Tate Band. They asked Joe if he could learn 30 songs in six weeks and take some time off of work to go out on tour. After careful consideration of what that would mean to his average life, he decided to take the chance. He’s temporarily trading in his small cube for a smaller bunk on a bus. Instead of typing on his laptop all day he’s playing Geoff’s riffs. He may be an Average Joe, but he’s living the dream!
Who is Jason Ames?
September 14, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
Take from Jason’s website:
Jason Ames Saunders Born July 21 in Denver, Colorado, grew up in Seattle, Washington USA.
1989-1993
The first real band I sang in was called Terra’s Love Child born in late 1989 in a still pre-grunge fame Seattle. It was a hippy-trippy-bluesy thang. Then our sound changed and was a little heavier, and we later changed our name to Mama Troll and made a 12 song “demo” in 1992. During the early period of playing in the local Seattle clubs, I had the pleasure to perform as the opening act for such bands as Alice In Chains, members of the future Pearl Jam, other members of Nirvana (not Kurt!) and we played whenever and wherever we could…usually for free! When grunge hit big all over the world, so did the club scene in Seattle. It was a great time.
1994-1996
Ah, now enter the post-grunge era, 1994/95 I experimented with some different types of music. I called this “experiment” Tea for Twelve, I wrote some songs, recorded them and then realized that they were basically…crap, so I took a bit of a break. I started to attend Blues Jams at the local clubs only to find the true source that fuelled one of my all-time favorite bands, Led Zeppelin….traditional blues. Blues music was not all too foreign to me, but I dug into the past and found the beauty and talent in some of the earliest blues recording artists dating back to the 1920′s and its evolution into electric blues. Albert Collins and Elmore James really had an impact on me at this moment in time. Then in 1996 I formed a blues group called the Voodoo Roosters. Also having a soft spot in my heart for funk, I incorporated that style into my sound a little bit. We prepared songs and made a demo recording of the new material and gigged endlessly.
1997-1999
In late 1997 I quickly recorded one song on a soundtrack for a computer animated video called Televoid for Mirimar Records. A project led by Queensryche drummer Scott Rockenfield. The song called “Chasing Blue Sky” written by singer Geoff Tate & Scott Rockenfield (both of Queensryche), exists in two versions, my version on the Televoid soundtrack and the other with Geoff’s vocals on the Queensryche greatest hits CD. Televoid was later nominated for the 1999 Grammy Awards for best long form video. 1998 the Voodoo Roosters signed a recording contract with Full Scale Productions and we began recording a 12 song CD titled “Heavy Loaded”. These sessions took us to San Francisco, California to record the horn section of Tower of Power on 9 of the tracks, watching them record was…incredible. After the release we toured the western United States and performed with many blues greats such as Koko Taylor, Jimmie Vaughn, John Mayall, Pinetop Perkins & James Cotton (Muddy Waters band), Delbert McClinton, among others.
2000-2002
To start the new millenium, I was asked to do a studio project. It was Hard Rock…and I accepted. It was a project co-produced and mixed by Ron Saint-Germain (Soundgarden, Creed, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin…). It features guest performances by bassist John Giblin (Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Simple Minds), drummer Alan White of Yes and I sing a duet with Ann Wilson of Heart. The final result is a loud 12 song CD called “Spinning” under the group name Treason on the Waterstreet Media label (released in 2001). In 2000, Full Scale Productions changed format, and me and my Voodoo Roosters were orphans. Then while in Italy (2001) doing some gigs, I met my future producer, Luigi Brigida. Even though I was playing blues and rock, he liked my voice and said he worked with J&Q records, a dance music label…. I said, ‘I don’t dance!, BUT I would be interested in making some music, I like all types of music. Why not?’ We wrote and recorded a bunch of songs in a 6 month period until J&Q Records gave us the green light.
2002-2003
June 2002 I signed with J&Q and by November the first single “Looking Back” produced and mixed by Fargetta was released. This brings us to now, and the new single “Yesterday”. So, I leave you to help me write the rest of “the story”.
The New Geoff Tate Band
September 14, 2008 by Kevin Scurlock
Members of the Geoff Tate Band
(from left to right)
Joe Mulkern – Guitar
Jason Ames – Vocals
Scott Rockenfield – Drums
Parker Lundgren – Guitar
Ben Anderson – Keyboards
Pamela Moore – Vocals
Geoff Tate – Vocals
Jason Slater – Bass
