Joe Gajan: Supermatic - mini review

Joe Gajan: Supermatic - mini review

This is Joe's first release on the Digital Nations label operated by Steve Vai. Joe started guitar at the age of 10 with lessons and the Mel Bay, but obviously many hours of practice and live performances with his band have resulted in Joe get a reputation for some mean six string guitar playing.

Amongst his influences he lists: Jimmy Page, Hendrix, Eddie van Halen, Randy Rhodes, Jeff Beck, Johnny Winter, Frank Marino, Al DiMeola, Allan Holdsworth, Larry Carlton, George Benson, Robin Trower, Steve Vai, Danny Gatton, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino.   The list indicates that Joe has a broad based approach to his playing and this shows through in his playing, blending straight ahead rock with fusion and state art of the art licks.

There are nine tracks on this album weighing in at 45 minutes in length. Production is crisp, with the bass and drums having plenty of room to breathe. This gives the album more of a band feel, with real drums and bass elevating it from the lone guitar slinger approach. Joe is ably supported by Jimmy Erhardt - Drums, Dave Moran - Bass, Jack kammien - Bass.

Opener Paradigm Puzzle is chock full of crazy licks and time changes, slowing down enough to allow Joe to stretch out a bit more, giving the notes some room to breathe, highlighting his fluid playing.  Style wise there isn't a pidgeon whole to slot Joe into, he's got his own style. He also covers different music styles, for example the interestingly titled Kikin'chit has a more hyper country feel to it for example.  Odds and ends has crazy guitar that sounds like kettle drums. Cerebius is more fusion orientated, changes of pace, beefy drums and bass. 

1. Paradigm Puzzle 6:23
2. Rally Fingers 4:56
3. Sector Z 6:04
4. Kikin' Chit 4:37
5. Cerebius 7:43
7. Enter Stratos 8:04
8. Zigswag 4:44
9. Cliff Racer 6.39

This is obviously a man who is enjoying his playing and it really shows in the nature of the tunes, high energy and adventurous for the most part.  Go grab yourself a a copy from http://www.amazon.com/Supermatic/dp/B0073WMB14

Joe Gajan:

http://www.joegajan.com
http://www.digital-nations.com/artists/joegajan

https://www.facebook.com/joe.gajan 

http://www.reverbnation.com/joegajangroup 

https://twitter.com/#!/joegajan 

Joe Gajan: announces new CD on the Digital Nations label

Joe Gajan http://digital-nations.com/artists/joegajan/

"I started guitar at the age of 10 with lessons and the Mel Bay method which I flew through, by age 12 I was performing live. My group would play whatever was on the radio - mostly Zeppelin, Hendrix, Sabbath etc. & we'd attempt fusiony stuff like Jeff Beck, Jaco Pastorius & Tommy Bolin. There was a lot of Blues stuff we'd groove on also - Luther Allison who one of our bandmates played with in the 70's and Albert King stuff also.

Soon I'd discover one of my biggest overall influences when I heard the first couple Van Halen album's. Bands like Yesterday & Today, Scorpions, U.F.O & Accept and prog stuff like Yes, Tull, Zappa, Rush I'd consider influences as well. Various bands followed through my teen years and I'd practice as much as I could as a plethora of great players came to my attention. For the next several years I gave guitar lesson's and gigged. In these years the various bands I played with secured opening slots with major label bands such as Saxon, The Outlaws, Head East and others.

I released a 4 song demo in 1988 that received some positive reviews and I continued with different projects releasing demo's regulary. In 1993 I hooked up with Roy Edwards and gigged frequently with him doing Blues based material. This lead to the 1998 release "Box O' Blues". I currently play in the instrumental based Joe Gajan Group, with Jimmy Erhardt on drums & Dave Moran on Bass."

Joe Gajan