About me:
Joe Grah is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, occasional actor, and model who has been involved in many bands and collaborations throughout his career. He is perhaps best known for his role as the frontman and co-songwriter for the Dallas based Jibe. The bands third studio album “Uprising” features the rock radio hit "Yesterdays Gone". Grah also serves as the frontman and co-songwriter of Island Def-jam recording artists Loser, and Chicago’s South Of Earth.
Joe Grah was born in Philadelphia, PA, to parents Rich & Linda (Murphy) Grah. As an only child, Joe and his father left the East coast following a devastating house fire that nearly claimed his life. Amazingly, after two failed attempts, he was finally rescued by a Hells Angel named Blue.
Grah spent his childhood roaming the country with his hippie nomadic father, landing temporarily in several States. He learned at an early age, the process of shedding one's skin and moving on. Joe's father Rich exposed a young and growing boy to an entirely different side of thinking and developing. This included an extensive record collection with an endless supply of Motown 7" singles, as well as everything on vinyl imaginable, from the Beatles to Manhattan Transfer. Rich also turned Joe on to unsung forefathers like Nikola Tesla and Edgar Cayce through books and conversation. When Joe was eight his father took him on a long journey deep into the Ozark Mountains. They drove their van through virtually impassable creeks, rivers, and mountain passes, actually getting stuck along the way. Finally, after a seemingly endless journey, they reached a small compound in the extremely dense mountain terrain. There, Joe was introduced to a shaman named William Boothe, along with his wife and tribe of many children. Boothe was a tall much older man who walked with a cane and the aide of his wife and children. His eyes were covered completely in milky white cataracts with no visible sign of pupils, a strange and alarming site for a young boy deep in the forest. Boothe approached Joe slowly and began moving his hands around the boy. Grah could feel his energy and connection, but there was no actual physical contact. Boothe then took his collected energy from the boy and created some sort of an energy ball in his hands. After a very brief conversation between the two, Rich put Joe back in the van and they made their way back through the mountains to civilization. A strange and moving experience that has left a lasting, and still unfolding impression on Joe to this day.
At age eleven, Joe received his first taste of the entertainment world by starring in the stage presentation of "Cheaper By The Dozen". Grah occupied his teen years with stints as a successful nationally touring Bicycle Motocross Racer and later a semi-professional Street Skateboarder. Grah also owned and operated his own Skateboard Store inside of Think Snow Ski in Tulsa, OK. There, he created a small skate park where any kid could come and skate everyday for free. He eventually went on to play the drums in various punk & hard rock bands including Carnage, Morbid Truth, and Crimes Against Humanity. In addition, Grah opened & operated an artist friendly drum shop that was located inside of the Saied Music Company in Tulsa, OK.
Joe moved to Dallas, TX in March of 1994. There he formed the late 1990s - early 2000s Alt-rock juggernaut Jibe. Driven by Grah's chaotic & intense performances, the band's grueling tour schedule and notorious live shows garnered the band national attention. In 2000, and after yet another intense touring season, Jibe released their third record, “In My Head” achieving regular airplay at various alternative radio stations and underlining the bands increasing prevalence. The song "I'll Meet You Half Way" even made it all the way to #1 on KXUL in Monroe, Louisiana. Rounding out an already busy 2000 Jibe appeared on USA Networks Farmclub as a featured act at the North Texas New Music Festival. On July 8, 2003, Jibe released "Uprising" the bands fourth album. The first single "Yesterday's Gone" climbed the charts to No. 1 and Top 10 on over two dozen radio stations throughout the Midwest eventually peaking at No. 26 on the 2003 National Rock Charts (Radio & Records), and #71 of Top 100 Rock Tracks of 2003 (Radio & Records). Jibe also filmed the video for "Yesterdays Gone" on locations in Dallas, TX. The albums second single "Rewind" added to the bands success on radio stations across the region. To add to the bands growing list of achievements Jibe swept the 2003 KEGL Local Show Awards with Album Of The Year, Uprising, Song Of The Year, "Yesterday's Gone" and Male Vocalist Of The Year Joe Grah. Jibe made their return to television when the song "Hypocrite" was featured on One Tree Hill episode #1.05 "Every Night is Another Story”. To add to an already amazing year the band was thrilled when “Yesterdays Gone” was chosen by the Dallas Cowboys as their 2004 theme song. The track was played on television and in Texas Stadium where the songs lyrics would flash across the screen. in April of 2004, in the middle of a tour, after years of pushing his mind and body to the limits of rock n roll excess, with only one end in sight, Joe disappeared late one night with his girlfriend, Tiffany Anderson. Together they escaped a notoriously destructive life of excess and moved to California to get clean and start over.
In Los Angeles he formed the band Loser with guitarist John 5 (Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie). The band had initial success not long after signing with Island Def-jam Records, when the track "Disposable Sunshine" became part of the Fantastic Four soundtrack. Loser filmed the video for the song "The First Time" in Los Angeles. The bands first single, "Nobody Knows" landed on radio stations across the US in 2005.
Joe Grah appears as a full page print model for Duarte Clothing in the June 2006 issue of 944 Magazine with Bijou Phillips on the cover.
Another one of Joe's major life influences was his Uncle Dan Murphy. Danny was a total hippie and a certified master hang glider, ultralight stratosphere pilot, and overall adrenaline junky. Danny’s ability to pull off insane maneuvers with any type of aircraft, including escaping death, earned him the nick name, ‘Half-bird’ man. When Joe was nine he had a Finish exchange student babysitter that taught him how to play piano & guitar. One day she just stopped showing up. After several days Joe asked his father what happened? His father replied, “She left with Danny”. A week or so later Joe and his father drove to a property in the Ozark Mountains. As they approached darkness had fallen and it was a moonless black night out in the forest. All of a sudden the headlights shined on two naked people dancing wildly around a large bon-fire. Holy Shit! It was Uncle Danny and his babysitter out of their minds on LSD. Fast forward to September of 2006 and Joe is in San Francisco handling the estate of his Uncle who had just been murdered by a crazed gunman at Fort Funston National Park, as he was about to test a new ultralight hanglider he designed. On the heavy and somber drive back to Los Angeles from San Francisco Joe received a call from Geno Lenardo. Lenardo was the key guitar player, songwriter in the Platinum selling band Filter. After several flights between Chicago and Los Angeles, South Of Earth was born. South Of Earth featured Grah and Lenardo, along with Bill Gower from Boy Hits Car and Joe Babiak from Kill Hannah. The band recorded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Atlanta, including a stint at the infamous Renholder Castle located in the Hollywood Hills. In 2008 SOE shot the video for their first single, "God 2 Get Down" on location at DePague County Airport in Chicago, IL. "God 2 Get Down" was also remixed into a dance track by BlackAntler.
Joe Grah appears alongside Slash, Jerry Cantrell, Duff Mckagan, and others as a model for Sorum-Noce's 2009 clothing line. Sorum-Noce is the brainchild of Joe's close friend, Italian clothing designer Max Noce, along with Guns n Roses drummer Matt Sorum.
Sometime in 2010, Joe growing weary of his endless string of band endeavors, puts together a home studio and begins the arduous task of fully learning Pro Tools and digital recording. During this process of experimentation Joe wrote and recorded a small catalog of unreleased songs, sometimes bringing in personal friends from bands like the Cult and many others to play on tracks. Joe bonded musically with one guitar player in particular, they wrote and recorded an albums worth of big rock tracks reminiscent of his earlier Jibe days. On September 10, 2010, Swedish band Cervello released their major label debut on Supernova records. The band chose to release the “First Time,” written by Joe Grah and John 5, as their first single. The song was originally written and recorded for Loser’s Island Def-jam debut release. In early 2011 Joe wrote and recorded the song "New Machine". The track was featured in the film "Best Dramatic Short". Grah also appears in the film performing the track. Meanwhile, the guitar player Joe had been working with finally made his inevitable exit, leaving Grah with an unavoidable conclusion. Write, record, and perform all of the instruments on an album and release it under his own name. The latter being something he generally shied away from in the past.
Joe Grah is set to release his debut solo effort. The first single "Tess" can be heard at
joegrah.com. "Tess" marks the beginning of a new and exciting soundscape for Joe Grah in 2012 and beyond.
