Just what is joelmusicgroup? Well... it's simple really. It's one man making the music that you hear...as a group (as opposed to a soloist). Hence the title "joel-music-group". When you're writing tunes... some of the best ones get lost in translation...or in the time it takes for the drummer to show up, or the keyboardist to come round...or better yet, we'll do the backing tracks tomorrow because the bass player has a "commitment" he can't break. (aka...as a date with a girlfriend.) Yep...been there done that, became overly frustrated and lost the incentive to make music under those conditions. That's why "joelmusicgroup" was conceived. 
 
Luckily, in spite of me being a "Lead Guitarist",  I'm still pretty competent on bass, keyboards, and drums. ( I'm not professionally qualified on them..haha.) But.. I can do the job. This means for me, that I can put my ideas directly down to tape as quickly as the inspiration hits. And sometimes, in a matter of a few hours we have a great tune finished. (Except for mixing.) This is the "old school" way of recording. And I love it. Live..is live! As Keith Richards says, "If you don't have something down after three takes.. you've got nothing worth recording". 

I also do all the engineering, mixing, and post production as well for my albums. Saving time and money, that's what it's about...but what it's really about... is trying to get the sounds, tones and textures that I feel are at the heart of the song or music that I'm working on. Tone baby! It's all about theTone! 
  

 

Who is Joel? Well... the answer is Joel Maslakowski. He is a little known Lead Guitarist/Singer Songwriter from a small industrial city called Dunkirk, N.Y., U.S.A.  And if you ask anyone from there... they'll probably tell you that they heard of him... but they don't know him. And he hasn't lived there in sometime. In fact...right now, he is living in the Netherlands, and has been in Europe for the past ten years.

 

Joel learned to play guitar by "ear", from listening to records. Back then...that was the way it was done. There was no one around that could teach anyone how to play or sound like Jimi Hendrix, or Robin Trower, or Clapton, and Jeff Beck. Nope.. to learn that, you had to spend long hours in the bed room and ply those records until you could see through the otherside. And once you learned the technique...how do you get that "Tone"??? Well.. you look at a lot of magazines, photos, any television clips you could find, or if you're lucky! You go to one of your hero's gigs and stand front stage and check out his "gear" or equipment. Yep... that's how it was done. Trial and Error. 

Once you've graduated from "Tone" school... you started playing and jamming with anyone you could. Joel has played in a whole lot of different bands, covering a wide variety of musical styles, and earned his dues by playing seedy clubs, bar room saloons, and grimy dives. From there Joel progressed to doing session work in the studio, and playing larger venues, and standing around a lot and waiting for the sound check to take place. 

It wasn't long before some A&R men spotted the young guitarist, and with his drunken Scottish manager guiding his every step, he was soon signed to a recording contract. This being 1983 & the advent of MTV, this was not a good time to be playing "Guitar" orientated music. And the label soon dropped Joel from it's roster and consigned him to touring duties, song writing, and producing demos. This gave Joel the opportunity to do "real" touring work, and learn first hand "how" to make records. It was definitely the best thing at the time, that could have happened to him. And he loved it.

Many years later Joel stopped performing (1997) and concentrated on producing his own compositions in his home studio. His first release under "joelmusicgroup" was "Music From Nobody" released Independently in 1999. Since then, Joel has never looked back and continues to produce "indie" records and also continues working as a songwriter, and negotiating artists contracts..