About Joey
THE LOS ANGELES GUITARIST FROM NEW ORLEANS
HistoryOriginally from New Orleans, Joey spent his formative years performing everywhere from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to staple venues of his hometown like (the defunct) Jimmy's
Growing up in New Orleans and being surrounded by Jazz, Blues, R&B, and Neville Brothers fueled funk, Joey spent a lot of time listening to the music that the city had to offer. Even in high school, Joey was playing guitar in any situation possible: pop/rock bands, cover bands, musicals, commercial jingles and sessions. But any kid who grew up watching MTV meant that one genre didn't define or suite him. Rather, it was his passion for finding diverse groups and different music / musicians. Joey’s style ranges from simple, clean R&B to full-blast sonic rock. His influences are both diverse & outrageous. You can easily hear shades of Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), Eddie Van Halen mixed with Nile Rogers (Madonna, Chic, Duran Duran), and Mike Landau (James Taylor, Steve Perry, Richard Marx, Steve Gadd). In 1988, Joey joined the Lenny Jorns band for a temporary stint, and then later filled in with the Mannequins to play the 1988 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage fair (with Anders Johansson sharing guitar duties). But New Orleans wasn’t the place where Joey’s heart really was… so it was time to move west. Here's a partial list of artist that Joey has performed alongside:
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Go West In 1988, Joey moved to Los Angeles to reunite with Lenny Jorns. Blending a mix between David Bowie and the Police, the band did several recordings and played live all over LA to rave reviews, but finally went their separate ways. In the 1990’s, Joey toured and played the LA Club scene non-stop. Joey ended up writing and playing guitar for League of Nations which saw them onstage at The Whiskey A Go-Go, FM Station, Gaslight, Gazarri’s, and the Roxy.
The band got a small deal with Hollywood records, and local radio station KLOS (95.5) added Freedom is King (written by Joey) to their rotation. In 1992, Joey met James Zota Baker and did 2nd guitar duty for James and his pop band. In 1993, Joey became a staff member for Virgin Records and was there until 1997. In 2004, Joey joined forces with James Zota Baker again and performed some live dates with Libido during the summer. The early 2000's found Joey playing live gigs in various Hollywood bands and doing Pro-Tool sessions on home studios more and more. A random call from drummer Scott Goldman in 2005 led to Joey taking on the guitar slot with Stuart Guest Band and performing live in L.A. for a number of years. The band consistent of Stuart Guest (guitar, vocals), Scott Goldman (Drums) and Woody Smith (Bass) blending sounds of British pop, clever jazz/funk and soulful songs with Stuart. "It's a rockin' version of the Steely Dan band that never was..." is how someone described Stuart's sound. The Stuart Guest Band opened for The Tubes and are joined onstage by Bobby Kimball of Toto. This group recorded a stellar CD with Elliot Easton (The Cars) producing and Mark Linnet (Beach Boys, Brian Wilson) engineering. Joey also did the keys & guitars for The Ringtones a live-karaoke band (where you can come up and sing with a live band which has over 250 songs available on a tele-prompter for you to sing along with - very American Idol/The Voice - for all the budding vocalists in L.A. Most recently, Joey was the guitarist for the music act PARTY JONES and the band performs in southern California, playing all your favorite songs from Brown Eyed Girl to Bon Jovi… |