MySpace a place for friends

This page is for all the bands and musicians I play with, jam with, record with. I love to play, and live to play - just ask and I generally will show up with a small amp, a lap steel and a Teli. It's also for music I've produced. Below I'll be posting pics of gigs with pals [not pics of pigs with gals], links to Photobucket albums, and some LP and CD covers of things I've played on or produced. Here is a link to YouTube Playlists, for bands I play in, for bands I guest with, anything but my own band and solo shows.

In 2006 I tried to play with 48 bands in one year, between my 47th and 48th birthday, and I'm grateful to say 52+ bands and acts let me sit in. Since moving to Asbury I've jammed or played shows with some great national, touring, and regional players. National acts who've let me rock on their stage since moving here include Jonathan Richman, Monotonix, Elvis Perkins, Pernice Brothers, John Hickey, and Philly Funk Authority;

Touring and Out of Town acts generous with their stages include the Dull, U.S. Funk Team, Bret Mosley, Jake Walker [NYC bluesman], 4-Way Street, Soul Project, Velvetones, Chris Hartford, Asa Brebner, the Brothers Kendall, David Champagne, Jerome Deupree and the Ragtime Trio

And Regional/Local bands and players who’ve graciously shared a stage include Rachel, Steven, and Chucky ‘the Chuckinator’ Ade, Jimmy Amato, Tommy Anton, Rick Barry, Bad Bet Band w/ Jay Walker & Sarah Tomek, Christian Beach, Frankie Bell, Bubblegum, Chik-A-Boom, Cook, Marissa Crecca, Cucumbers, James Dalton, Damian, Tony Detroit, Jay Diablo, Divine Sign, Domenic from Day's Awake, Dragster, Anthony Fiumano, Jon Francis, studio w/Lindsey Miller and Kerry MacNulty, Dan Mulvey, Jay [fr God Complex], Mike and Alvis, Joe Hughes, Human Slinky meets Lousy Break , Jay 420, Joanna Burns & Amanda Duncan, Steve Honoshowsky, Sonny Kenn, Jeremy Korpas [Days Awake], Lance Larsen, Maybe Pete, Frank and Kelly McGrath, Milky Chicken Spit [Jacko Monahan, Chuck Welch, Dan Weeks, Mike Noordzy], Mike from the Brighton, Willy Mitchell Band, Keith Monacchio, The Mourning After, New Rick Barry’s [Ben, Justin], Kris Oehme, Outside the Box, Jon Pfeiffer, Tom Phillips, Mark Prescott, Roadside Repentants [Homer, Glen and Tom], Eric Safka, Chrissie Santoni, Mike Scotto, Ken Shane, Snurtles, Russell and Lou from Status Green, Bobby Strange, Stringbean and the Stalkers, Los Splenditos, Tony “the Prime Minister” Tedesco, Turtle Soup, Truck Star Collision, Billy Walton Band, Greg Wilkens, Kurt Wrobel and the JH Band w/ Sarah tomek and Marcus Croan.

FOR MORE STUFF TO LISTEN TO
This is a link to the Myspace page for the Joe Harvard Band., you'll find a number of other songs there. Please don't send messages to this account, use the Joe Harvard Band page, or email me direct at joeharvard@optonline.net

Earliest influences came from my much-older brother and sisters records: mod-period Kinks, Who, Beatles, Stax-Volt soul and Motown. When I started playing guitar I ate up all the usual: Santana, Sabbath, Zep,Bowie esp. Mick Ronson and Earl Slick's work, Small Faces, Humble Pie, Allman Bros., Montrose, UFO, Yes, Fripp with Brian Eno, Phil Manzanera, the guys on the first Tubes LP's, and the Hunter /Wagner guitar team on Alice Cooper and Lou Reed's live LP's.

Biggest early lead guitar impressions were made by Jeff Beck's work with the Yardbirds, Clapton with Cream, Albert Lee, James Burton, Martin Barre with Jethro Tull and Leslie West with Mountain, Alvin Lee, and of course Hendrix. I saw Bo Diddley in '71 and Zeppelin the same year, at 12, and at 14 I saw Gran Funk, all three left a mark. Thin Lizzy and Aerosmith were my high school faves, saw them both from club tours on up to the Gardens, they were awesome until '78 or so when Aero started falling apart. Cheap Trick's 1st LP tour was also great.

Like all old farts I went thru a blooz binge, Muddy Waters, Lightnin' Hopkins, Taj Mahal, James Blood Ulmer, the 4 guys on Angola Prison '52, Nitzinger, Johnny Winter, Duane and Dicky Betts, Son House, Elmore James and early Stones with Brian as the biggies.

Once I could play the guys who floored me changed, and included Steve Cropper, Richard Thompson, Danny Liedermayer from Herman Brood and His Wild Romance, Jimmy Reed, Leroy Radcliffe and Jonathan of the later Modern Lovers, as well as Sterling and Lou's interplay with the Velvet Underground. I'm also a big fan of James Williamson - esp. his earlier work with the Stooges and BIGTIME on Iggy's "New Values", David Lindley's work with el Rayo X, Dave Champagne's slide work in Treat Her Right, Mark Sandman's "Low Guitar" work with that band [and his later Duotar work in Morphine], Brinsley Schwartz and the cats who played on Ian Drury's first record, and the whole Nick Lowe and Rockpile crew including Billy Bremner and Dave Edmunds, who are giants. Peter Halsapple with the Db's, and even his live work with Hootie and REM floored me. Marc Bolan is the king of doing a lot with a little, and the guitar sounds he got with Tony Visconti's production still make me jump around the room.

For rhythm guitar work I like Hendrix and Townsend, Johnny Ramone, Dave Minnehan w/the Neighborhoods, Steve from the Sex Pistols, and especially the bands with a 2-guitars-as-one approach: the early to mid-period Stones, Small Faces, NY Dolls, Real Kids, Big Dipper, Verlaine and Lloyd's Television work [and the Matt McKenzie and Lloyd's interplay on Lloyd's "Alchemy" LP], and the Shadows. Bob Marley was on my turntable constantly throughout '75 and '76.

Biggest early influences on my music, not just my guitar playing, were mostly friends from Boston: Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, the Real Kids, Willie "Loco" Alexander, Sex Execs, Lifeboat, Matthew MacKenzie of Reddy Teddy, Eric Rose of the Sidewinders, Frank Rowe from Baby's Arm. I love and saw so many of the great old [and not-so-old] Boston bands that they must have worked their way into my sound: La Peste, Tracks, Nervous Eaters, Pastiche, Peter Dayton, etc. Bands I played with for varying lengths of time definitely have left their mark, and bands I've worked with in the studio, too, like Dinosaur, Jr. and Throwing Muses -- see bio for these.

Then all the other stuff I've binged on over the years: Buddy Holly, Tom Robinson, Graham Parker, King Sunny Ade, Db's, Feelies, Pistols, X-Ray Specs, Hammel on Trial, Helicopter Helicopter. Miles Davis, Chelsea, Stax/Volt esp. Booker T. and the M.G.'s, Pixies, Stiff records, esp. Ian Drury & the Blockheads and Wreckless Eric, Abba, the MC5, Iggy, Al Green, Sly and the Family Stone, the Pioneers, early Sonic Youth, Husker Du, Violent Femmes, Specials, Patti Smith, the Ventures, the Louvin Brothers, Throwing Muses, Big Dipper, Sean Slade, Bill Horhaus Trio, Johnny Cash, Creedence Clearwarer Revival, Hollies, T. Rex, Joan Armatradin.