About Me
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The Joe O. experiment rose out of the ashes of Knot Knot Seven in 1998. After the demise of one of the great rock bands of our time Joe retreated to what he knew best, basket weaving. After this basket weaving stint Joe realized this was not what he was best at.Around the Spring of 2000 Joe began writing new material in earnest and started to put together a possible demo. Around this time Joe also made his first public performance in over 2 years at a church bake sale in Wheaton. Riding the momentum from this high profile performance Joe continued to work on the demo he had begun. The demmand of topping his earlier material with Knot knot seven had begun to take its toll. Trying to follow up earlier hits like "Giant Snowman" had put an adding level of pressure on Joe. Another thing had happen Joe had lost the will to rock and was bogged down in "sad crappy pap."
The demo was scrapped and Joe went into seclusion.The year was 2002 and the town was Evanston. After the release of Wilco's "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" Joe had found the will to write music again. The next year would yield what became known as the E-Town demos. The sessions were recorded with only vocals, guitars, keyboards and recorded in one or two takes. Most songs were written and recorded in a matter of minutes. The hits "Strung out in Amsterdam" and Burning Dashbored came out of these sessions.After playing these sessions for a few close friends, Joe had the confidence to return to the live stage. The Joe O. reunion tour took place in 2003 starting at the now defunct Espresso brewery in Addison. About 20-30 people were there to witness the return of Joe, and fans were also treated to his first release since Knot Knot Seven, the reunion tour CD. The CD featured 3 tracks from the E-town sessions and gave hope that a future release may follow. The tour started out strongly and began to lose steam. Before shows Joe found himself in strange bars with parrots, drinking vodka to keep his voice in line. After 5 performances and conflicts with management the plug was pulled on the tour.That fall Joe returned to his parents house. The room that gave inspiration to the Knot Knot seven material. There he found the rock. New technology in recording gave Joe the opportunity to record with drums and other new instruments. Joe also recorded with Vel Vetri an original member of Knot Knot seven on the track "Let me win this Time" one of the highlights of the bedroom sessions. Over 35 tracks mostly electric were recorded over a year, but never recorded in proper form for release. Again Joe pulled the plug.That brings us to today. With Joe living in Chicago and no sign of anything going on we are left to wonder what will become of this material. Is this on par with Guns n Roses "Chinese Democracy?" Is Joe a tortured genius that can't finish anything? Only time will tell. Word on the street is that Joe has shown up playing a few open mics around Chicago, playing only covers. Two new songs have leaked from new demo sessions. "Beautiful in the Rain" and "I'm Alive", two songs that are in the same vain as the E-town demos. There is also a rumor that he is searching for a female vocalist to complete his opus. For all of us we can only hope.-Robert Racine 2005
