About Me
As a member of the original east coast 70's pop/rock band called Nirvana, musician, singer/song-writer Joe Vance (2nd from left standing in above Nirvana band photo), played organ and electric piano, and sang mostly back-up vocals, having lead vocals on covers like, "Rock Around The Clock" and "You're Sixteen".
The Band "Catchphrase" was "Rock In Motion", so Joe took the liberty of writing a hard-driving funk/rock ditty by that name. The lyric was about some far out trip to a groovy club: "I landed in this joint they call "The Jelly Bean". Not much of a name but it was quite a heavy scene." The chorus is sung very drawn out, (Rahhhk Innnn etc.) "Rock in motion... I couldn't hear the crowd. Rock in motion.. the band was playing loud." The band jammed to it once or twice, but the song never made it to the band's play list.
Only two of the band's original instrumentals would get played at shows, They were, "Subwaymania" and " MOON BUMP " which was popular in the PA & NJ local clubs and at the band's twice weekly USO Shows. That was a song which had begun as one of Joe's original piano pieces, but it was eloquently elaborated on by the band just after a band trip to Mayland and was given a new groove during a rare Nirvana jam session which there was usually no time for, instead always reheasing new songs for their gigs.
After a few visits to the recording studio, the band's original song, "It's Where I'm Going To" was getting air play, was performed on TV by the group, and was one of two original songs about to be recorded for Castle Records. However the founding members of the group nixed that opportunity.
Joe first recorded a 7" 45 rpm record back in 1972. A record with Nirvana would have been his second. Joe left Nirvana in November of 1974, having become jaded with the music biz due to the business side of the coin which does not make the love of music a priority as it always was, and still is, for Joe, and because even the band tended to force the music to take a back seat to other band activities. Joe might have left music entirely back then, and in fact, he had put it all behind him for some months and was determined to keep it that way. But on May 17th, 1975, Joe met John Lennon when JL was hosting a 3-day charity marathon in Pennsylvania, (eventually you'll see a future blog for a complete report on that event) and Joe got the second wind he needed to jump back into daily practice, into writing and recording... and eventually back into band work again.
As the years passed, Joe continued making home demos of his originals, and he took turns co-writing songs, jamming and recording with his former Nirvana bandmates. Joe didn't hit the recording studio again until 1983, this time to record a solo 4-song e.p. His back-up band was made up of one new guitarist on the scene, Ed, who was also just also learning sax at the time, and two new Nirvana band members (bassist & female organist Nelson & JoAnne) who had taken Joe's place in the band. Nelson, JoAnne & Ed, together with Nirvana's original drummer, Richard, began performing under the new band name, "Mantis", a band name which years earlier was Richard's second choice to the name "Nirvana".
The previous Nirvana bassist, Gus was doing well with his new band,"The Wheels". Joe took on work in a print shop for a while. In 1982, Joe was working for a local five and dime. He acted as photographer for The Wheels a few times, and he was also recording Mantis at rehearsals, snapping shots for them and helping out at gigs as well.
Drummer Richard had been unhappy about his band-mates having told him that they could do nothing with a song lyric he'd written. However Joe and Rich shared a big interest in the great Bossa Nova music of Sergio Mendes & Brasil '66 and had spent many a night over the years, after a party, a rehearsal or jam session, spinning Sergio's "Look Around" and "Equinox" lp's. It seemed to Joe that Rich's lyric about chilling at "Ventner Beach" just needed someone who could relate to it. Joe took Rich's original lyric sheet home to give it a better look.
That same night, after creating some music to match the song lyric, Joe, with a tape recorder running, sat behind his Baldwin Fanfare Organ, playing 5th's on the bass pedals as the organ's drum machine kept the beat, and Joe added some organ chords at the end of the song. That became the basic track.
Then, while singing the different melodies he'd created for the song, Joe added one easy going lead guitar part and two rhythm guitar/vocal tracks. The mono demo was all finished, but Joe felt the song needed some echo to give it the dreamy quality he thought Rich would like for it, as Rich had been working down at Ventner Beach, and spending quiet nights alone, gazing out into the ocean just before retiring for the night, when he decided to put his thoughts to pen and paper and wrote this lyric.
Joe accomplished an echo on the track by playing back the left track of his reel to reel recorder (where the finshed song was) with the right track recording the left track and playing it back a split second later. Such created a nice echo effect when it heard itself back on the monitor at just the right volume. (You had to be there. That's just how monophonic "sound on sound" recorders worked when you forced them to go the extra mile through experimentation.)
And so Joe, who is usually unable to have any music project sit and wait, he wrote the music for "Ventner Beach", learned to play it on guitar and organ, recorded the demo (that same demo version can be heard on this page), and handed Rich a cassette tape, returning his lyric sheet to him just one day after Joe had received it.
Rich loved the demo for their first co-written song, "Ventner Beach" and was hoping to do similar collaborations with Joe. The two former band-mates had made definate plans about performing their song "live" together at an upcoming "Mantis" benefit show, which would have been their first gig together in 8 years. But, it was not to be. A future blog will go into the sad circimstances surrounding the events of that period, October 1982.
It was following the untimely death, in October 1982, of the band's drummer, Richard, that Joe came to perform that gig with "Mantis" as a tribute to Richard. Rather than to perform "Ventner Beach" with the band, Joe just sat on two songs on organ, "Knock On Wood" and one other cover.
Joe began hanging with the surviving Mantis band members. In February 1983, they took a 7 hour trip together up to Northern Pennsylvania to visit Richard's cousin for a few days at a hotel he owed which was then unoccupied. So, Joe and the band had the run of the place and had a couple late night jam sessions. That gave Joe the thought to have his new friends play as his back-up band on a record he was going to record in the near future.
And so, in March of '83, the remaining "Mantis" band members gladly agreed to join Joe on his record. They had just added a new drummer to their band, "Sticks" Primavera and by late March, rehearsals commenced at the drummer's home on 3 of Joe's songs. When Joe told Mantis' organist/singer JoAnne that the record would be low-budget with black and white lables, she announced, "Then we will be The Generic Band". At that time, the term "generic brand" was popular and was on everyone's lips. Joe had been looking for a name to give his backing band on his record. And so, "Joe Vance with The Generic Band" was how that record lable was printed.
Some bonds were formed during rehearsals for that record and so Joe was asked into the group, and the name "Generic Band" was officially adopted.
As one more tribute to his late friend and drummer, Richard, Joe included a new version of "Ventner Beach" as the 4th song for his record.
Joe began teaching his first music student just after the first Generic Band "live" performance in September 1983 which was for "Jerry's Kids". Joe's first student, (taking lessons first on organ, then later keyboard, synth, guitar and bass guitar) a talented and ambitious 9 year old, 23 years later, is today a popular, hard working musician/performer/songwriter, playing in a top band.
But back in the day, it was teacher Joe who'd learned through his first student, John, that his (Joe's) nitch was more in teaching than in performing with a band. And so followed other young musicians who took lessons with Joe, or who happened to be in bands made up of some of Joe's students, with whom Joe had the privilage of sharing the benefit of his own knowledge, and his song-writing and band experience.
During the late 80's into the 90's, while still in their very early teens, some of Joe's private music students formed bands with other talents kids from their schools. Joe spent much time coaching these young musicians, recording them individually and with their groups, both audio and video, arranging many of the songs on their set list for guitar, bass & keyboards, providing transportation to and from practice sessions and gigs, refereeing band squabbles and offering advice.
The learning experience was always mutual, with Joe being the first to admit that he was learning as much from his students and their peers as they were from him. As Joe watched these kids, from that early era in his teaching career, become independant, to begin to write their own songs, to arrange their own covers and to mature as musicians and as people, he then turned his eyes to the next generation of kids coming up.
And those who loved music and worked hard at it, went from kids with dreams - to life-long musicians and song-writers, producers and arrangers, music instructors and school teachers, all making their mark today. And now, going through his old tapes of his own originals, The Joevancequerade is on MYSPACE, letting the world hear some of them.
You will learn through Joe's blogs, (which will be added to frequently), much more about his past and present, and you'll hear more of his music, with selections changing from time to time.
So visit often
Remember Love!
And always give thanks
To The Good Lord above. Peace.
Amo la ragazza del fiore
Ich liebe das Blumemädchen
Amo a muchacha de la flor
I love the flower girl
