The Neighbors were formed in the fall of 2007. One night, Jim Stehli was playing a solo performance at a house party concert next door to him. They billed him on the posters as "Jim the Neighbor". He played the piano and sang with Djembe drumming accompaniment courtesy of Eric Summers. The crowd was delighted by his performance.
After all the bands and musicians finished playing, an impromptu fireside jam ensued with Jim playing a mandolin and mutual friend Alex Everett playing an acoustic guitar. Some beautiful girls even started to improvise vocal parts for the jam. Everyone sang, drank, and rocked the night away.
Jim was so astonished by Alex's guitar playing that he asked him to learn some of his songs. Jim's roommate Jim is also a drummer who has been jamming with Jim for some years, so with the addition of Alex, the final piece of the triad was in place, and The Neighbors were born.
But wait, there's more!
Recently, we have added a new member to the group, Jake Laramore, who we met when he was filling in on bass for Red Sun. The day we met Jake, as well as the band Red Sun, we were playing a show with them at the Columbus Marathon. People were running by and cheering on the street as we rocked out on the hillside powered by a gas generator. Then, after the marathon, we had some brews and found out we're all big anime nerds. Anyway, now he plays the bass with us and the final piece of the... um square is in place, and The Neighbors are REBORN!
As of 2009, the Neighbors have undergone another Chrysalis. Things have come full circle now with the amazing Eric Summers taking over as our full-time drummer, and we have been recording with multi-instrumentalist Parker Bantum as well.
Another incredible musician, with whom Alex has worked with on multiple musical projects since high school, THE Bryan Brown has also graced us with his bassings. We've been getting a lot of enthusiastic feedback on our new lineup and it's going to be a great year, so prepare to have your face melted by the New Neighbors!
*NEW UPDATE* (April 5, 2009) As of this spring, 4 out of the 5 members of the neighbors have left the band in order to pursue their own creative interests and collaborate on new songs independent of songwriter Jim Stehli.
I (Alex Everett) will no longer be managing this myspace page. You can check out our new band, The Timeless Bandits on our myspace page:
JFJO returns to COLUMBUS at SKULLY'S on WED. APRIL 8th with the new quartet lineup, in support of 'Winterwood' - the new studio album available as FREE download at www.JFJO.com! See you there!
hey, thanks for the add! how did you first come to hear our music? have you seen us live?
if you want more of our music, we have podcasts, videos, and 5 live soundboard recordings available for free download on the music page of our website.
in addition, we have posted an ecard with music and video from our new CD & DVD.
if you want updates on what we are up to, make sure you sign up for our e-mail newsletter on either our homepage or our myspace profile so we can stay in touch with you.
also, remember to check our calendar early and often for upcoming dates.
Hi there! we appreciate your friendship.. thank you:)
We also just posted a new video for our song "Live Before it Kills You" on our space and if you have a minute we'd like to hear what you think of our songs and videos .We respond to as many message/comments as we can so please keep in touch.
you guys have some real nice songs going, look forward to seeing it live sometime soon...thanks for coming out last night jim, hope you enjoyed the show...
