Joey Shears
From Changeling Venue
THIS WIKI IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION!
Feel free to add Joey as an Ally, even if it's just because your 'Ling might listen to his work. My OOC goal is to make him a rock star in the venue ... toss a brother a bone. ;)
Without express permission from the player, the information contained on and linked from this page is classified as OOC Knowledge.
NOTE : Everything on this page is subject to change prior to the Chronicle Go-Live date of 01-Jan-08.
|
|
|
|---|
Contents |
Where the Fingers Meet the Frets ...
Alias(es): Joe White, Byrdland Joe
Real Name: Joseph Weinberg
Age: 26
Location: Based in Cleveland, OH; currently on tour
Concept: Meteoric Prodigy-Turned-Rockstar
Entitlement:
Physical description: Collar length hair, cropped facial hair, vivid blue eyes, pierced ears, fully tattooed arms
Relevant Mechanics: The air about him swirls with the scent of black opium and the sumptuous crushed velour smell of a worn guitar case. This boy has the SCENT of rock, and it only explodes in intensity as he picks up speed, becoming a heady pheromonal experience that is nearly narcotic.
Virtue:
Vice:
Mask:
Mien:
Character Livejournal: Denoted as 'IC: Joey'
IC Email: mailto:jer@dreaminglion.com
A Composition of Years
Known History
Basic Timeline: Born 1931, Taken 1957, Returned 2001
Current Activities: Joey is currently on tour, supporting his release Neveragainland. He is also recording material for his as-of-yet-unnamed sophomore project.
Merit Details:
Background:
Barrie's id, or a look at "Neveragainland",
by Kevin Stricke, AP
Try walking into the modern music scene and not getting struck down by the toddler-driven diesel of pseudo-glam-nu-metal and fuck-yo-bitches hip-hop, and you will have outdone Hercules.
That being said, now enter Neveragainland.
Joey Shears' debut effort on Looking Glass Records has the whispers of a virtuoso pouring epiphanies into the ear of someone who is both musical vandal and dichotomous genius. Not content to dwell simply within the trappings of electronica and overly crunched Les Pauls, Shears tastes a wide milieu of musical expression to pour out one of the most compelling concept albums in some time, while not solidly subscribing to the formula of unbreakable story.
This disc is wall-to-wall top-shelf meat, kicking the door in with distorted violins on the frighteningly seductive title cut, walks with full-on rockstar braggadocio amidst a wall of fuzz in The First Cut and Rain of Light, horrifies the listener with a rather sociopathic prayer spoken through his guitar on Sick, but never lets us forget exactly what we're listening to ... a bonafide musical savant whose poignant lyrical voice touches with a sculptor's grace in Touch, Long Waters, and Me Not You.
While he plays all the instruments on this epic, Shears' primary calling is in his guitar, and he serves it well in this release. Grasping well the material into which he has restrained himself, he manages to stretch the wall of perception brilliantly by taking divergent turns away from rather formulaic rock methods, such as his mastery of two-handed tapping methods for Penny Arcadia and the marriage of tech with prose in the Sick prayer.
Liberally mixed with equal parts of blistering fretboard arpeggios, soulful vocals, and stories both fascinating and disturbing, Neveragainland straddles the music scene at an interesting moment with unswerving cockswagger, while managing to allow us to breath and see the totality of his statement.
If anything, this album is almost too good. The creativity imbued here rings to the likes of the earlier works of Alan Parsons and Keith Emerson, to where it borders on prog-rock domain. The listener is left with a haunting sensation that this is no mere campfire story, no simple tale to lull children to slumber. Shears shows us an avenue that speaks to a hardwired pulse inside, a vibe that recoils in both desire and revulsion. The monsters of his penning seems to know us, simply by our patronage ... Shears' hungers are their hungers, and the line blurs with a clever mercuriality. Wherein the safety of listening at a distance is normally sufficient, one gets the impression that hearing this suite is akin to an invitation for that vibe to thrive and grow, and the chill remains long after the iPod sleeps.
Then again, it's only an album.
Isn't it?
== "Neveragainland" == ***** Stars
1) Long Waters
2) Every Breath Taken
3) Rain of Light
4) Touch
5) Neveragainland
6) Penny Arcadia
7) The First Cut
8) Sick
9) Blackened
10) Through the Hedge
11) Me Not You
Entourages ...
Motley
Allies
The Morning - "Hombres of the heart, man ... no one gets up under it like they do, and keeps it pumpin'."
Cordelia Marrow - "A righteous author and a good woman. She gets it."
General Benedict Waldo Ironhand - "I've already got a song written about him, but my guitar fears it."
Gilded
Laurel Thorn
Tommy Blue - "Savior and sister, I can't thank her enough ... not that she would even understand why I did."
Horace "Race" Ardent - "Fuck psychotherapy and cognitive bullshit. This cat's got my six 24/7, and that's all the security I need."
Enemies
All Along the Watchtower ...
Character Inspirations
- Eddie and the Cruisers
- Jim Morrison
- David Bowie
- Crossroads
- Pink Floyd's The Wall
- The Pianist
Soundtrack
- Paralyzed - The Eric Gales Band
- The Lady in My Life - Stanley Jordan
- What Do I Have to Do? - Stabbing Westward
- Poor Robbie - Bert Weedon
- Echo - Joe Satriani
- Summertime - Sam Cooke
- Erotomania - Dream Theater
- Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - Jimi Hendrix
- Guarded - Disturbed
- Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
- Death of Balance/Lacrymosa - Symphony X
- Punta Patri - California Guitar Trio
- I Won't Stand in Your Way - Stray Cats
- Red Water - Type O Negative
- Here is No Why - Smashing Pumpkins
- Shake Your Moneymaker - Elmore James
- Cliffs of Dover - Eric Johnson
- Push It - StaticX
- Riviera Paradise - Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
- Guitar Boogie - Chuck Berry
- Who Was in My Room Last Night? - Butthole Surfers
- I'll Keep Sittin' on It (If I Can't Sell It) - Les Paul
- The Information - Course of Empire
- Have Guitar Will Travel - Scotty Moore Trio
Quotes
"We are all, we Lost, afflicted. Those of us who have become the artist, we provide a gateway of commonality, a release, a sharing that crosses distances and boundaries. Where mine is the artistry of fear, Mr. Shear's is that of living. Would that we all had such courage." - Cordelia Marrow
"Sure, Joey. One of the lucky ones. Just listen to what got left to him and what he has. What he is still able to do. I only reach that Pipe, the Green Peace while riding the Red Wave...Wha, nevermind. Joey's a good guy, listen and be happy with what you have, pay me no attention." - Gilded
"He...yes, I met him once. I doubt he remembers. I blame Dane for that. What I remember most vividly is his...intoxicating scent. It's hard to breathe around him, hard to feel anything *but* him. It's hard to think. But it's easy to write... So easy. He reminds me of Dane. I blame Joey for that... --Zoe Edwards
"As the surgical pain blossomed, some of our screams were timed and tuned. They may have called it music, but we can never disassociate the source. Think on that next time you play a Joey Shears album. I sorely hope he doesn't get too famous." - Johan Gambrys
"Joey is a happening cat, I've never been a rock guy but the stuff he plays it speaks me like all the greats. You know growing up I asked a Blues Man what it took to play so good, he said 'Pain and Persaverance'; well Joey... he don't play good, he plays great... think about that for a while next time you hear him." - Horace "Race" Ardent
Rumors
- Joey loves bloodplay.
OOC Info
Player: Jericho Johnson
Cam #: US2002021010
