Due to conflicting schedules and time restraints, the members of Soulforge have gone their separate ways.
Shawn and James have formed a new band in Mitchell, SD and are doing well.
Joey is still living in Sioux Falls, SD and at the current time is unsure of his future in the music industry.
Soulforge would like to thank all those who supported us throughout the years, it was a great time. May the future be bright for all of us.
Soulforge began their career in May of 1999 in the living room of Joey's trailer home. Not a great start, but it was a start.
The only equipment they had at the time was an old Ibanez bass, two Ibanez S-series guitars, one of them Joey picked up at a pawn shop for $200, a small guitar practice amp, and a Peavey bass amp.
The original line up was:
Shawn - lead guitar
James - bass
Joey - rhythm guitar
After a few months Joey decided to give up the guitar and buy a drum set. Thus he became the bands drummer.
On New Year's Eve they played their first live show to a packed TLC Bar & Grill in their hometown of Mitchell, South Dakota.
Later in 2000 Soulforge teamed up with another local band to play two shows in March. During one of those shows the guys were asked to play at a cafe downtown, it was an odd place to play, but they accepted and did the show.
After that, because of work schedules, they would be unable to play anymore shows for a while. But they kept practicing and learning as much as they could.
In 2001 they played a couple parties in town, another show at TLC, and started to get things going again. Then, with scheduling conflicts and a brief line-up change, they didn't do any more shows for the rest of the year. James and his wife also bought a house during this time, which the band promptly took over the basement.
In 2002 they returned to the original line-up and played two more shows that year. During this time they got serious about writing originals and wrote their first song "What You Are".
In late 2002 and early 2003, Shawn bought a house and started building a recording studio in his basement. Also during this time Joey quit his job and decided to go back to school. Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of time for the band, but they got together as much as they could.
Late in 2003 Shawn announced that he was quitting his job and moving to Virginia. So the guys quickly planned another show for January, which would be their "farewell" show, finished writing "This Path", and recorded the only two finished songs they had at the time.
Shawn moved back to South Dakota in late 2004 and the band was quickly re-formed.
At the present time they are writing material for their first full length album.