Bio

For Joel James it all started when he was 9, with a trip to a freight-damage store where he convinced his mother to buy him a pink colored 8-track tape of Alice Cooper’s ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’. When he got it home and listened to it, he couldn’t believe that a guitar could sound like that! Dirty, dark, distorted, and colorful, all at the same time. That changed his listening preferences from way-old-school Country and Western that was just background noise on the radio every morning while his family got ready for work and school, to a realm of guitar sounds and songs that he had yet to experience.

On Joel’s tenth birthday, a guitar was given to him. A Kay brand guitar from K-Mart. His cousin would come visit every now and then and bring his acoustic and strum chords with a broken toothpick, due to being 2hrs drive from the nearest music store in rural Oklahoma. Joel quickly picked up on the chords he was showed, and from there began teaching himself.

When Joel was 11, he noticed an 8 track tape that was left at school. He asked the teacher if he could have it and she said “give it a week and if no one claims it, it is yours.” Well, it became his. His guitar playing would never be the same after being introduced to that 8 track; KISS’s Destroyer. He was so taken aback by the costumes, the music, and sheer performance aspect of KISS that he was enthralled to imitate. He spent hours standing in front of mirrors pretending that he was the lead guitarist of KISS – striking poses, even made his own platform shoes using old tennis shoes with two stacks of 2×4’s nailed to the bottom. Little did he know that his love of music would lead him to the very person that he used to pretend that he was… Ace Frehley~!!! But that is another story…

 

Throughout Jr. High, Joel played guitar furiously in his time away from school activities (which he was much a part of, especially track and field events.) He even played guitar at the Tahlequah Junior High School Coronation ceremonies.

At a talent show, Joel signed up to play without even having a band, and by word of mouth, found a few musicians that tried to do the show. It turned out that some of the talent Joel recruited, weren’t as truthful as they led on, so when Joel and his summoned band tried to play ‘Rock and Roll All Night’ by KISS, it turned out disastrous. BUT, Joel came out ahead with the experience.

In high school Joel found other talented musicians to perform with. He and his band Midnight Overdrive performed in front the entire Tahlequah Senior High School during a talent show, and sang a song by Canadian band, APRIL WINE. Joel and his band performed ‘’’Wanna’ Rock” to a standing ovation. Joel and MIDNIGHT OVERDRIVE would travel around Cherokee County on the weekends and find parties to play at. They would show up with their gear in the back of a truck and ask the party thrower, “You wouldn’t happen to need a band, would you?” Joel cannot remember a time when that didn’t work.

Joel played in a number of bands after high school; Bedrock, Hayton Theory, Prowler, and Stallion. With the latter band, they had a chance to move to Modesto, California where their bass player’s father and uncle owned a construction company. Within just a couple of weeks, they landed a permanent gig 80 miles away in Fresno, California. Joel and his band played Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights in Fresno at a club called Knock Three Times, all the while working construction in Modesto. The guys would leave the Fresno club at around 2:30 AM, head back to Modesto in time to catch an hour nap before getting up in time be at work at 7:00 AM.

After nine weeks of the club scene, the guys soon parted ways as ideas and situations changed. Joel moved to Fresno where he quickly started playing with other bands; people that he had met and networked with while playing the Fresno club circuit. One of the bands that Joel played with, eventually moved to the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo county, where Joel still lives today.

 

Joel’s love of music and the entertainment field as a whole landed him as a guitar tech for quite a few highly regarded artists; Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Smash Mouth, Atreyu, Ace Frehley, and currently, Collective Soul. Some great things happened within this period. Besides making numerous industry contacts on all levels, great friendships blossomed. During his months with Ace Frehley, Ace would sometimes fly to the next show’s town when there may be a day or two of travel by bus ahead of them. On numerous sound checks, Joel, being Ace’s guitar tech, would have the honor of performing with Ace’s band, playing 3 to 5 songs that he grew up listening to. ‘Cold Gin’, ‘Shout it Out Loud’, ‘Lover Her All I Can’, and Joel’s favorite, ‘Shock Me’ just to name a few. Ace’s band, including Anthony Esposito (bass) who also played for George Lynch’s ‘Lynch Mob’, Scot Coogan (drums/vocal), from ‘Brides of Destruction’, one of Nikki Sixx’s bands and Derek Hawkins from ‘Stabbing Westward’ (rhythm guitar), always enjoyed the casualness of Joel filling in for Ace at sound check during his absence. In a quick note,  Joel used to spend over 4 hours on Ace’s ‘smoking guitar’ when he first started teching. He soon figured out a few ‘tricks’ to get the job done more efficiently and in less time. Ace would always lend a helping hand and a master insight during the ‘learning phase’ of Joel being his ‘go to’ guy!

While teching for Collective Soul, Joel was asked to perform with the band at a concert at Sam’s Town Casino, in Tunica, MS. The night before, Collective Soul played a show at The House of Blues in New Orleans, LA. A disturbance awakened Joel out of his bunk on their tour bus. “I was lying in my bunk half asleep, and I heard Joel Kosche’s (Collective Soul guitarist) phone ring. His voice was excited, and he jumped up and went into the front of the bus. I heard more commotion coming from up there where he went”, Joel said. “I got up, stumbled down the hall and opened the door between the bunks and the front lounge, and Ed said (Ed Roland, singer/songwriter for Collective Soul) So are you ready?” I asked him for what and he immediately replied, “Ready to play guitar for us tomorrow night~!!! Joel’s wife just called and her water broke, so we are heading to the airport right now to drop of Joel, and you ARE going to play with us tomorrow night’~!!!” I was blown away”, Joel explained. So the following night, Joel performed ‘Welcome All Again’ and ‘Shine’. Shine can still be found on YouTube by searching Collective Soul Sam’s Town.

Joel is looking for an opportunity to perform, write, record, just about anything that has to do with music right now. He is an exceptional bassist, but most of all he is an amazing all around guitarist. A well seasoned bluesman, but most of all, his heart is in Rock and Roll. Don’t get him wrong! He CAN and WILL play blues, but he really shines at rock. He is a seasoned performer. He always says that “Audience’s aren’t blind. They want to watch a show as well as listen to it. So you really have to give them that. You have to give them their money’s worth. You have to put on a performance~!!!”