John is currently playing with the following groups:
Michael Shrieve's Spellbinder - Michael Shrieve: drums, Danny Godinez: guitar, Joe Doria: Keys, Farko Dosumov: bass, John: trumpet and effectsThe Downtown Apostles - James Whiton: Bass, Bill Patton: Guitar, Jay Jaskot: Drums, John: Trumpet and effects
The Douglas Cameron Band - Douglas: Guitar/Vox, Casey Miller: Drums, Rich Ross: Bass, John: Backing vox/guitar
Danny Godinez and Friends - Danny: Guitar/vox, Farko Dosumov: Bass, John: Trumpet and effects/vox, and whomever else is a friend for the night!
History~
I picked up the trumpet after our family moved to Seattle WA the summer of 1980. Being the new kid on the block in a neighborhood filled with kids older or younger than me left me with quite a bit of free time. This is when I fell in love with the horn. Bad day at school? Tough soccer practice? Break your kneecap? Playing the trumpet made all those things disapear from my mind. A few years later my good ol' mom gave me a double record entitled "Live at the Hollywood Bowl". Yeah, that's right, I like Chuck. That album is still one of my favorites of all time and influenced me into the "not so heavy" jazz scene. Then came the school years, we all had 'em so I'm not going to go there, but I will say that I fell more in love with music as a whole while picking up the bass, guitar, piano and way too much singing. Headed over to the University of Idaho, Lionel Hampton School of Music to pursue a Music Education degree. After 4 years of it and almost obtaining my goal, I decided that teaching was not for me. Changed my Major to performance and plowed ahead. While my studies slacked I began to dable with running my horn through guitar effects and eventually joining a number of bands: Big Time Adam, The Bedheads, The Senders (on bass), Three Band Bus which led into playing with Stranger Neighbor.The Stranger Neighbor Years~
Stranger Neighbor began as a cover band in Moscow, Idaho with Douglas Cameron (vocals/guitar), Casey Miller (drums/vocals), Ryan Gibler (bass/vocals) and Me (trumpet/vocals/guitar and a weee bit of keys) playing 3 nights a week at The Capricorn.... Many good times were had there playing to 200+ a night. The band grew in many ways over the time spent there. Did you know how much better we sounded when we were dRuNk!?!? (can you smell the sarcasim?) While we were rockin out at the Cap, I stumbled (literally) into the job of managing and booking music at the bar down the street, John's Alley. This was the beginning of some grand ol' times! I had the pleasure of booking national bands like Mango Jam, Leftover Salmon, The Clumsy Lovers, Keller Williams as well as many regional and local acts. Quickly got the idea of tracking where all these bands were playing and started to share the music of Stranger Neighbor(SN) with them when they would play the club. I guess that's the power/blessing of booking, most of the bands were very generous with club names and booking contacts around the country back then. After a few years of playing the cover gig, we recorded our first CD filled with our own tunes, picked up and moved to Denver Colorado and toured the country for the following 5 years. Those were good times with the boys in our van and trailer, racking up 140k miles, 4 cds, playing 180-200 shows a year and seeing the country. **Diamond moment: We were playing Under Blue to 350 people at John's Alley and all of a sudden we couldn't hear the monitors... Brought a little tingle to our hearts because the crowd was singing the chorus so loud that we backed off the mics and let them carry it.** I've put up some old SN live tunes on the page for your enjoyment. Don't listen to them much anymore but every once in a while it's nice to drift down that highway. Like most good things, SN came to its end (in a good, non violent kind of way) and I decided to move back to my home town of Seattle.Seattle~
I started to focus on my songwriting once I landed back home living with my little brother. Really cool pad with this Kitchen that had the best natural verb I have ever heard. I almost stopped playing the trumpet all together my first year back. Played a ton of open mic nights with my favorite being The Jet Deck, man what a groovy open mic they threw each week. This is where I brought my wife on our first date/hang(but that's the story to tell on my personal page) and then met the horde of Seattle musicians whom I have come to know and love so much. Flowmotion, Electric Jake, 40 to 5 Funkin' it up, Blake Lewis, Panda Conspiracy and Dano Piano to name a few. Ran into the Danny Godinez Band one festive night at the Owl N Thistle which led to the end of our beloved SN touring van (not to worry, DGB bought it and put another 200k on her). I pretty much set aside booking after I helped DGB hit the road to Colorado. Actually, I more than put it aside, I gave my booking address/phone book to their booker... I started to enjoy the trumpet again and had the pleasure of recording with Flowmotion, OneTons and the Emerald City Jazz Orchestra early .. my arrival. Recorded with DGB, the Downtown Apostles, DCB and Four Finger Five over the next few years, and now I play with Michael Shrieve's Spellbinder(who just finished tracking a live cd) every Monday night in Seattle. Doug, Casey and myself still play on ocation in The Douglas Cameron Band who, by the way, got to tear it up at Red Rocks for 2 hours on the main stage in the summer of 2007. Man I miss singing with him every day.On the Horizen~
I pretty much don't play without my effects anymore. I don't know, just love the dark oceanic vibe I get. I'll get around to posting my gear one of these days.