Jason De Meo

Bio:

.. Music has always been very important to me. I've been going to see bands at bars and clubs since I was 15. I started off like so many others playing the recorder in 4th grade. And boy I'll tell ya, that first performance of "When the Saints Go Marching In" really sold me on this whole "rock star" thing! I then graduated to the saxophone which solidified my "band geek status" for the next eight years. I saw that my older cousin Jaime was playing drums and it looked like lots of fun beating things with sticks, so I took his hand-me-down drums and began to "play" myself. I formed my first band in 8th grade with my best friends Justin and Marc. We had our first show at the 8th grade graduation dance. We could not come up with a good name, however, until the night of the dance when we walked onto the stage and noticed a rather large glittery sign that said "CONGRATS!" Well, whomever wrote the sign had a tough time distinguishing between the letters "C" and "G." Thus, from that moment we were known as "The Gong Rats." Problem solved. In High school, I picked up a guitar and started to sing. I soon got tired of singing other people's songs so I started writing my own. After school, I moved out to Los Angeles to play music and live life. I joined an Alt-Country band called West Coast Grand a few years back. We released our first record last year and we signed a deal with a cool label called Red Parlor. I've written and recorded 4 songs for an independent movie called "Growing Out," two of which are currently on this page. Cheers to my first paid song-writing gig! I hope the movie sees the light of day. To Be Continued...

Member Since:

May 13, 2006

Members:

Me, Myself, and I on everything except for when Jaime O'Connell played some drums and guitar.

Influences:

PORTISHEAD, The Beatles, Elvis Costello, Radiohead, The Posies, The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, U2, The Cure, Elton John (before Disney got a hold of him), Sam Cooke, Jon Brion, Morcheeba, Beth Gibbons & Rustin' Man, Jeff Buckley, The Jayhawks, Jason Falkner, The Pernice Bros., Nada Surf, Otis Redding, Matthew Sweet, Pete and Maura Kennedy (The Kennedys), Parthenon Huxley, Sunny Day Real Estate, DJ Shadow, OK Go, The Beach Boys, Supergrass, Glen Phillips, THE POGUES (Erin Go Bragh!), FEIST, Blonde Redhead (musica in pieno di molta bellezza!) Nick Drake, The Cardigans, Camera Obscura, Midlake, Grant Lee Buffalo, The Cowboy Junkies, Brendan Benson, The Zombies/Colin Blunstone, Elliot Smith, The Lemonheads, Badly Drawn Boy, U.N.K.L.E., TV on the Radio, SPOON, The Beastie Boys, Pietro Mascagni, Joseph Arthur, Iron and Wine, Big Star, Cat Power, Neil Young, Ednaswap, Queen (Flash Gordon is the greatest soundtrack of all time! End of story.) Wilco, Broken Social Scene, The National, Aimee Michael Mann Penn, Sarah Mclachlan, Jellyfish, Velvet Crush, DID I MENTION PORTISHEAD? Chopin, Tribe Called Quest, Rod Stewart (before the 80's got a hold of him), Chopin, Sinatra, Echo and the Bunnymen, The Smithereens, Squeeze, my friend Mark Williams (makes me want to be a better guitar player), my cousin/mentor/bandmate/ producer/friend Jaime O'Connell (makes me want to be a better song writer) and anybody else who can write a really great sad song.

Sounds Like:

You tell me.