Hello, my name is 'Moke'. I was born in Downey California in 1961. I have been teaching myself to play the guitar since the age of 12. I have been playing live shows and running sound for my bands as well as others since the mid 1980s. My bands have included an original/cover project named, what else...."Moke". As well as several other cover projects, "Kicker", several that never got off the ground, and finally my current 'Cover' project since the early 1990s, "Roughhouse". www.youtube.com/user/roughhousemoke
During my time in these 'Cover' bands, I honed my skills at re-creating the guitar tones and playing styles of the 'Artists' that we covered and all of my personal 'Guitar Heroes'. I have been using various analog and digital guitar processors since their inception, always using the current 'State of the Art'. These include the - 'Roland' GP-8 - Art SGX-2000 - 'Rocktron' Chameleon and Intellifex - 'Digitech' GSP 2101 Artist - 'Line 6' POD 1, Ax2 212, and Vetta 2HD, and Helix LT - 'Fractal Audio' Axe-Fx ll - Mark 1, AX8, and Axe-Fx III.
In 2003, I entered the "Guitar Center's Guitarmageddon" contest. I won the 'Store Finals', the 'Local Regional Finals', and then the 'Western Regional Finals' at the "Sunset House of Blues". The judges included Gilby Clarke, Brian Young (DLR) , and Nuno Bettencourt. From there, I went on to the 'Grand Finals' at the "Las Vegas House of Blues" in the 'Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino'. My fellow 'Regional' winners from across the US and I got to open for 'Cheep Trick'. We got to meet and hangout with the guys in the band as well as the judges, including 'Gary Hoey'. Sadly, I had some equipment problems (the stage tech hooked up one of my pedals backwards) and could not give the performance that I had planned. I'm not all that sure that it would have made much of a difference. As it turns out, the winner was a nice young man from Tennessee named Andy Wood! andywoodmusic.com/
The young man standing between Rick Nielsen (of Cheep Trick) and myself (middle pic, bottom row) is Eric Gillette. He has many solo releases and is currently playing with the Neal Morse Band. www.ericgillettemusic.com/.
During my time in these 'Cover' bands, I honed my skills at re-creating the guitar tones and playing styles of the 'Artists' that we covered and all of my personal 'Guitar Heroes'. I have been using various analog and digital guitar processors since their inception, always using the current 'State of the Art'. These include the - 'Roland' GP-8 - Art SGX-2000 - 'Rocktron' Chameleon and Intellifex - 'Digitech' GSP 2101 Artist - 'Line 6' POD 1, Ax2 212, and Vetta 2HD, and Helix LT - 'Fractal Audio' Axe-Fx ll - Mark 1, AX8, and Axe-Fx III.
In 2003, I entered the "Guitar Center's Guitarmageddon" contest. I won the 'Store Finals', the 'Local Regional Finals', and then the 'Western Regional Finals' at the "Sunset House of Blues". The judges included Gilby Clarke, Brian Young (DLR) , and Nuno Bettencourt. From there, I went on to the 'Grand Finals' at the "Las Vegas House of Blues" in the 'Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino'. My fellow 'Regional' winners from across the US and I got to open for 'Cheep Trick'. We got to meet and hangout with the guys in the band as well as the judges, including 'Gary Hoey'. Sadly, I had some equipment problems (the stage tech hooked up one of my pedals backwards) and could not give the performance that I had planned. I'm not all that sure that it would have made much of a difference. As it turns out, the winner was a nice young man from Tennessee named Andy Wood! andywoodmusic.com/
The young man standing between Rick Nielsen (of Cheep Trick) and myself (middle pic, bottom row) is Eric Gillette. He has many solo releases and is currently playing with the Neal Morse Band. www.ericgillettemusic.com/.