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Joel Eckels started the PAPER SUN project in early 2000 as a vehicle to express his musical inspiration. At the end of that year, he moved to Los Angeles intent on forming a band. What transpired over the course of the next 8 years was that PAPER SUN became an open-book biography of Eckels' life and experiences. The musicians who joined Eckels not only contributed to the musical growth of the band but also contributed to those stories Eckels now sings about that tell of life, love, loss and soul.

PAPER SUN's music is about finding life's bigger picture and rising above obstacles and suppression. "Los Angeles" talks about self-sabotage and taking responsibility for the things that hold us back from achieving our personal goals and success. "You just can't blame Los Angeles for bringing you down/ Don't blame this town while you settle for less." In the bluesy, rockin' fan favorite, "Valentine", Eckels talks about losing love, despite having good intentions; "Please don't think that I've been wasting your time/ Let me down easy if I can't change your mind/ You'll feel just what you're missing while we're kissing goodbye/ Swallow your pride/ Baby, be mine". More recent songs like "Little Brother" and "Sing Me Something Beautiful" have explored an even more personal side of Eckels' writing while songs like the political funk rant, "What That's About" and "45" explore the activist side of Eckels and his issues with corruption in religion and the media.

In the summer of 2003, PAPER SUN entered the studio with producer, Chris Fuhrman (Garrison Starr, the Innocence Mission) to record a song they had written for the Intermedia film If Only starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. "Grateful" would become a milestone in the evolution of PAPER SUN and their relationship with Chris Fuhrman. It represented a new direction and edge that inspired the definitive soul/rock style that is now associated with PAPER SUN. The band went on to write and record songs over the next year that would become the album, GOOD THINGS.

"From the moment you hit play until the moment the disc player coasts to a stop, everything else vanishes...reminded me of a cross between a smooth blend of Citizen Cope and Ben Harper on tracks like, the rock and soul mover "Los Angeles" and the groove laden, "Do Ya"...It's music to soothe whatever savage beast you might have lurking inside...If you could only have a few CDs on a desert island, Good Things by Paper Sun should be one of them."

The peak of Paper Sun's existence was the release of GOOD THINGS. The album featured songs written by Eckels and Sally Jaye, who were the core of the band for the first 5 years. Sally Jaye left the band in May of 2005 to explore new musical direction and has recently released her first solo album, Amarillo. Eckels reconfigured the band and continued on with Paper Sun ever since.

On September 3rd, 2007, after 7 years, Eckels put PAPER SUN to rest. The idea was to continue on under a new name and project. Now, after a year of soul-searching and endless name-searching, Eckels is back in LA to re-ignite PAPER SUN. The band is currently working on a new record with co-producer, Dan Rothchild. It will be completed and released on Home Tone Records this winter. Eckels has reunited with a few former PAPER SUN members in LA to prepare the new project for release. Based on the solid funky rock and blues of GOOD THINGS, the new material has taken on a new edge. Eckels refers to it as, "a groovy old-school R&B/Motown rhythm under a classic rock/soul grit". It's expected to be something a little familiar, but they are planning to raise the stakes and come out of the gates re-inspired and ready to rock! Stay tuned...

"Soul music comes directly from experience. You can't fake it. The more I travel through life's lessons and trying times, the more I find soul and my ways to express it. I embrace the future and how I will continue to grow. It fuels and feeds me as a person and an artist. To me, soul is the honesty and openness that you find deep within yourself and what allows you to truly live free."

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