JOKER

They had a raw sound and with that and being able to play live, they were able to rock the clubs and fill the house! It was the start for great music to come!.. So feel free to check out some demos and unreleased I hope all fans will like!........... The early original Joker songs consisted of titles such as “Pages You Turn”, “Hey Salesman”, “Talk Like A Hero”, “If You’ve Got The Time” and “Rock Tonight”. Regardless of who wrote the music and lyrics to each song, all song writing credit went to Joker because they were a band. By the fall of ‘86, song writing clicked like clockwork and Joker was ready to bring its act to the stage.Joker’s debut performance was at the Condessa Del Mar in September 1986 in front of over 700 people on a triple-bill with Mind’s Eye and Barracuda, two fellow south-side bands. Joker then began playing in clubs such as Haywires, Katz and The Thirsty Whale and soon became weekend headliners in the circuit as a result of the respectful following of people that came out to their shows. The early set list consisted primarily of their original material, but the band also loved to play covers from their favorite artists such as Ozzy, The Scorpions, Dokken, and Ingwie Malmsteen (and who can forget that kick-ass remake of “Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer”). Joker also performed a couple of covers whereby everyone switched instruments. A crowd favorite was when the band played Cinderella’s “Shake Me”; Tony and Scott played guitars, Jeff played drums, Joe played bass and Mike brought down the house on vocals.As much fun as the band had playing out, the band cherished the time spent in the garage they practiced in at 55th and Christiana. The garage had a portable kerosene space heater that Mike used to cook food on top of to cure the band members’ munchies (Chef Mike was famous for the Stone spice combo that he sprinkled on everything he cooked). It was also the place where Joe damaged several guitars (including Jeff’s) while trying to spin them around his back a la Cinderella. The garage was a hangout for many of the band members’ friends and there always seemed to be a party going on either inside or outside the garage at every practice.During mid-1987, Seagram’s and Chicago’s best rock station at the time, 106.9 Z-Rock (tune it in and rip the knob off!) sponsored a search for the best local band contest. Joker submitted a demo tape of “Party For Your Life” to the contest and it was chosen as one of the best songs by a local artist. The contest then gave Joker the opportunity to perform in a live battle of the bands at the Vic Theater. The judges voted Joker as Chicago’s Best Rock Band and the band received $1,000 gift certificate for Guitar Center (sure, with the $1000, Joe got a nice 12-string and Mike got some new cymbals, but Jeff, Tony and Scott didn’t get jack). Following the contest, Z-Rock provided the band with lots of media exposure and performances in featured concerts. Z-Rock also invited the band to its studios to tape-record several different 10-second promo messages that were played on the radio station as a lead-in from the commercials to the songs in Z-Rock’s song set list. An example of one of Joker’s lead-ins is “Hi, this is Tony, Mike, Jeff, Scott, Joeeeey, and we’re Joker, and you’re listening to 106.9, Z-ROCK!” (That was so cool to hear our voices on the radio just about everyday during that time!) Z-Rock also played “Party For Your Life” often. o ............................................................ ................ ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ .......................................I edited my profile with Thomas' Myspace Editor V4.4 ..........mspobj type="application/x-