SEEKING
Vocalist, Rhythm Guitar, Bass Guitar, Drums, Piano.ABOUT
I am interested in playing music that has roots in the blues. This includes rock, soul, old-school R&B, and funk.
I found my first guitar in a trash can on my newspaper route when I was 15. My older brother taught me to play a few things. I picked up stuff from records: Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Hank Williams, and Lou Reed. I started playing in a band, The Boxcars, during senior year in high school. I loved it! Music. People interested in music. Hip social scenes. We eventually called ourselves Western Chapter. At first I was heavily inspired by British Punk: The Clash, Sex Pistols, Gang of Four, Stiff Little Fingers. In college, the '80's college radio boom had a major impact on me. There was a lot of great music on non-commercial radio. The hip scene got a lot more hip. Lots of these bands came to town: REM, Replacements, Dream Syndicate, Bangles, and Concrete Blonde. We eventually changed our name to Western Chapter. We met with some success playing radio station sponsored shows, sometimes opening for bands we loved. After a while Western Chapter broke up. Three of us reformed as Ruth and the Hypocrites. The music in Ruth was a lot more experimental. Breaking the mold was the goal. After a hiatus, another singer/songwriter joined us as front man, and then another guitarist. That quintet became Kindergarten, although we changed the name with almost every show. The new singer and new guitarist and I moved to Santa Cruz, California to form Zuzu's petals. This was a few years after the Loma Prieta quake of 1989. We had some good times, recorded a nice set of tunes at the Music Annex in Palo Alto.
To stay creative, I have done quite a bit of writing and recording at home. Mostly sequencing drum and bass and other instruments, and then recording guitar and voice. I have also done electronic music as well as just acoustic guitar and voice.
I love playing:
Rock – Cheap Trick, Black Crows, Sex Pistols, Aerosmith, AC/DC, Rolling Stones, Prince, Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin.
Blues – B.B. King, Walter Trout, Tommy Castro, T-Bone Walker, Mike Zito, Coco Montoya, Robert Cray, Jimmy Vaughan, Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters.
- Screen name:
- johnnypavement
- Member since:
- Nov 15 2011
- Active within 1 week
- Level of commitment:
- Committed
- Years playing music:
- 25
- Gigs played:
- Over 100
- Tend to practice:
- 1 time per week
- Available to gig:
- 1 night a week
- Most available:
- Nights
Instrument experience:
- Lead Guitar:
- Moderate
- Rhythm Guitar:
- Moderate
EQUIPMENT
60's Telecaster Reissue, PRS SE08, Epiphone Casino, Les Paul Tribute 2018, Fender Blues Deluxe Amplifier, Blackstar Silverline Especial, Blackstar Silverline Deluxe, various pedals (Cry Baby, PolyTune 3, Boss Compressor, Xotic EP Booster, Boss TR-2 Tremolo, Boss EQ, Talkbox)