Jay ‘JR’ Zwitzer – Lead Guitar
At the age of thirteen Jay joined his first garage band called
"Goliath" that played all their favorite tunes of the day and
things couldn't be better. In his late teens and early twenties he went
from band to band playing songs that would have been the heaviest tunes
you might hear on a classic rock station now: Scorpions, Judas Priest,
Iron Maiden, Sammy Hagar, Van Halen, and so on. Finally Jay joined a
group of guys who, after a few personnel changes, became "Warhead"
and began to write originals. The first release was called "On the Run"
and was regionally successful. Warhead started to play in all the local
clubs and for a while they joined some major tours as an
opening act and things were great.
As life would have it, they all got older and settled down, but Jay continued to play. Using his love of music, guitar and
now computers he was able to write record and produce his own
tunes.
After a couple years of writing tunes and promoting them on MySpace a
local music legend, Jeff Cosco, started up an internet radio station
for local Rochester music called Sore Thumb (internet) Radio and Jay’s
tunes got airtime. Jay was also given the opportunity to be the
"featured artist" and from that and with Basher a band called
ThunderSnow was started so that the music could be performed live as
well as to write new tunes as a band.
Andy 'Basher' Bashaw - Drums
First Jay and Basher have played together at different times over the
past 26 yrs or so. Basher's main musical influences have been Led Zeppelin,
Uriah Heep and later Judas Priest, Savatage and others. Drum wise his
influences includes jazz and blues music and also percussion
instruments in general. He's been playing drums for about 37 yrs on and off
with no formal training other than snare lessons in 6th grade. The most
influential drummer for Basher would have to be John Bonham.
When Basher moved back to Rochester from Phoenix 3 yrs ago he was
trying to reach Jay and as luck would have it - Jay found him on face
book. They exchanged numbers and met up the same day. Jay told Basher
what he was doing and Basher responded with 'I’m in, let’s get the other players'
and here they are.
Dave Conover - Bass
Dave has been around for a while. He enjoys laying down a strong bottom
framework with thick, sweet bass lines and let the stars dance on it.
His early influences include Jimi Hendrix, Jack Bruce (Cream), John
Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), and Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath). He also
found the soul of Willie Nelson and the blues of Willie Dixon.
Dave has played around town in a few local bands: Blak Jak (rock-4
yrs), Scepter (rock-2 yrs), JB and the Smoky Stove Blues (blues-3 yrs),
Bruce King Jr. & Thunderalley (country-2 yrs), Roadkill Karma
(original progressive rock-7yrs, CD release, “Hook, Line and Sinker”,
2002, www.brokentrain.com), and Most Wanted (southern rock, 6 yrs,
awarded Silver and Bonze medals at the World Championships of the
Performing Arts, 1999). He also played with Nashville recording artist
Rickey Lee Watson along with some great musicians (including former
band mates from Most Wanted and Blak Jak) and toured Western NY for
over 2 years.
Recently Dave was invited to work with Jay and Andy on the ThunderSnow
project and feels that this is a great challenge in new dynamic music
that promises to be enriching for him and the listeners.
Bob Cook – Singer
Bob didn’t become interested in music until he was about 12 years old;
at that time he came across a tape of Motley Crue’s. Shout at the
devil. He played that tape until it was worn out. The in 83 or 84
Bob saw them live and was instantly hooked. The result of that concert
was his growing out his hair and bleaching it blonde plus piercing an
ear to complete the effect. Other major influences would include:
Vince Neil, Don Dokken, and Halford.
Bob started singing in his first band by the time he was 13 and the
band called themselves silent rage. The band played originals,
(not very good ones in Bob’s own words) and attempted to do some
covers. None of the band members had any training but they plodded
along and started playing in front of people. As these young first
bands often do it dissolved about a year later.
Bob sang in several other bands over the following years: Leather
Gypsy, Sister Syn, Alexis Machine; are a few of them. These bands
played at the local bars in Syracuse with some traveling to out of town
for shows on occasion. As the early 90's came around and grunge, Bob’s
desire to play the music style was gone. Gone until recently that is,
spotting an ad for a lead singer and responding, then going to the site
and listening to the music he decided to re-enter the music scene and
joined ThunderSnow.
Rob ‘Hoagie’ Hoage – Rhythm Guitar
Hoagie’s mom was a rocker who had a huge record collection so he cut
his teeth on 60's and 70's oldies, The Beatles, Uriah Heep, Hendrix,
Ted Nugent, Skynard, Heart,Queen and the like. He was particularly
intrigued with the Kiss records, and the song God of Thunder tickled a
nerve.
As Hoagie got older, he discovered Metallica. Master of Puppets was the
album that sent him over the edge. His mom bought him a White Harmony
flying "V" from the J.C. Penny's catalog when he was 15 and he started
to bang out punk tunes from The Exploited, Sex Pistols and G.B.H.
Hoagie’s father showed him how to do power chords stating "If you’re
gonna play that metal shit, this is all you need to know".
As the years go on, Hoagie was playing in garage bands - his first
being "Death Pig". They called it that because they thought "Death
Anteater" sounded stupid. After many nowhere bands through the late
80's and 90's, he started a band called "Damnaged" with his cohort
Ernie Slater, which was a "metal/classic rock" fusion, if you will.
After 9 months of bars and feeding rabid fans a dose of their unique
formula a car accident claimed the life of their drummer, Dan Edick,
the band fizzled after trying to recreate the magic that the 3 of them
had. Hoagie had gotten out of the band thing for about 5 years when he
posted an ad to start a Ramones tribute band and saw an ad for a metal
band looking for a guitar player. Hoagie replied and a few days and 2
sessions later he became ThunderSnow's rhythm guitarist completing the
band’s lineup.
I'm looking forward to your set next week for my birthday show! Are you all set with Randy about what time to show up and everything? For any Thundersnow fans reading this - come see them at Montage, Dec 5th!!! FREE admission until 9pm
Check us out! Endless Ink Printing is where the phrase "You get what you pay for" doesn't have to apply we like to say "You get MORE then what you pay for". We have package deals for bands on a budget.Typically we like to work with large quantities but we have been known to make exceptions.
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keep it turned up!
