After receiving a Sears drum kit as a gift from my grandparents (which I destroyed within 10 minutes of setting up and playing), my parents purchased a used four piece Ludwig for me. I immediately started private drum lessons with a college professor, while I continued learning keyboards and guitar on the side. The private lessons lasted for six years and included tours around California with the Palomar College Percussion Group.  From seventh to tenth grade, I played drums in the school marching, concert and jazz bands. After school I would practice between 4 to 6 hours a night and do summer stock musicals during the summer breaks at a local playhouse.                                                                                                                   

 My Second Decade

 

   By the time I was 14, I was playing the local San Diego and Los Angeles club scene (The Whisky, Roxy, Troubadour, Gazzarri’s) with a band called Metal Arsenal headlining and opening up for National acts. By the time I graduated high school, I recorded my first independent record with the band Elysian and toured around California. I started auditioning for National recording acts and other well known musicians up in the Los Angeles area whenever I got the chance and ended up joining the neo-classical/thrash band Gangland featuring Spacey T (from the band Sound Barrier, HR and later Fishbone). Gangland recorded a few demos with producer Bill Metoyer (Metal Blade Records) and we started playing shows on the West Coast and Mexico with bands like Exodus, Forbidden, Candlemass, Fates Warning, Cocaphony (Jason Becker and Marty Freedman’s band) along with many others. While in Gangland, I got to jam with many influential musicians such as Geezer Butler, Paul Gilbert, LSD, DRI, The Bullet Boys…too many to mention. To make ends meet I did session work and gave drum lessons at a local music store close to my house, but I wanted to tour and record at a more professional level. These years included many bands, lots of demo tapes and hundreds of shows. I also became endorsed with Paiste Cymbals in 1987 and am still endorsed with them to this day. I was also endorsed with TAMA Drums and Dean Markely Drumsticks for many years until I switched to Vater Drumsticks around 1991.

 

You Graduated High School…Now What?

 

   I ran into 24-7 Spyz guitarist Jimi Hazel at a music convention in January of 1991 and gave him a demo of my playing. He called me back a few nights after the NAMM show at like two in the morning asking me if I wanted to join the band. The catch…I’d need to audition over the phone. I was in San Diego and he was in New York. Previously being a huge Spyz fan I already knew two albums worth of material. I played four of their songs on drums for him over the phone as my audition.  When I got back on the line he said, "You got the gig!" I flew to New York the following week.  After two rehearsals with the band, we were back on the road and finished the last leg of their Gumbo Millennium tour. At this time the band had already achieved international status recording two albums for Relativity/Sony Records, had the William Morris Agency taking care of bookings and touring with bands like Alice Cooper, Prong, Primus, Urban Dance Squad and Janes Addiction. After the tour, we signed a new deal with Atlantic/EastWest Records, Polygram Publishing and acquired new management with Metropolitan Entertainment.                                                              

 

   We immediately recruited engineer Bruce Calder (Foreigner) and went into Electric Lady Studios in New York to start recording the E.P. "This is...24-7 Spyz". Just a teaser for the fans to keep the momentum going so we could stay out on the road.  After months and months playing clubs, theaters, arenas and festivals in the US, Canada and Europe, we took a few weeks off before heading up to Vancouver, British Columbia to start recording "Strength in Numbers" at Little Mountain Studios with engineer Terry Date noted for his prior work with Pantera, Limp Bizkit, Soundgarden and Deftones. 

                                                                                                                                 

   Six weeks into the recording, we decided to finish up a sold-out, West Coast tour with Public Enemy before mixing the record.  A lot of great things came about with that record including more touring worldwide, interviews and reviews in major publications such as Pollstar, Spin, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Billboard. The band was featured in a Budweiser television commercial, two videos (Break the Chains and Stuntman) that got a decent amount of play on MTV/Much Music/Video Jukebox and even on a Beavis and Butthead episode…and they actually liked us!! Yet, the powers that be at our record label didn't know how to market an all black funky, metal, R & B, rock band with a white drummer I guess. We declined to give them another record.  Frustrated, Spyz took some time off to try to negotiate a new deal with another label.

 

Flying Solo

 

   During this down time, I started my own solo project called Shockhead with then virtually unknown bass player phenomenon Ricky Wolking (Jennifer Batton, The Nixons, Tony MacAlpine, Edgewater), Craig Soderberg (from the band –itis) and my buddy Joey McCaw (who ended up in the band Brick Bath).  We signed to a friend's small independent label, and recorded the album "Television". The band recorded the album in about a week at 4th Street Studios in Santa Monica, Calif. with engineer Jim Wirt (No Doubt, Incubus, Sprung Monkey) and mixed at Goodnight L.A. with Shea Baby (Warrant, Night Ranger, Ozzy).  Shortly after touring and promoting the Shockhead disk, 24-7 Spyz flew out to the West Coast to record our next record which would be titled "6" at 4th Street Studios with Jim Wirt at the controls again.  This record was only released in Europe on Enemy Records, and was later released in the United States under the title "Heavy Metal Soul By The Pound" on the Colorado based label What Are Records.  This got Spyz back on tour again co-headlining festivals throughout Europe and rigorous touring in the U.S.  I was with 24-7 Spyz until mid 1997 when I had to take some time off to take care of my mother who underwent some serious surgery.  They hired another drummer to finish the tour in the US and that was the end of my run with Spyz. For those fans out there that wonder why I’m not still in 24-7 Spyz: Over the years I have always made it very clear to them that I would love to record and tour with them again. It's hard to be in a band when the members live on different sides of the US. Jimi, Rick and I still call each other often and keep in touch. Maybe someday it will happen. They have a new CD out with a new killer drummer and the disk sounds great. I only wish the best for them.

 

Moving On

 

  So what does the future hold for me you ask? I finally got married in 2002 to the woman who I was with for six years prior and have two wonderful stepchildren. I have continued to stay busy doing session work as well as record and produce albums for many other national acts. I’ve also been managing the band BRICK BATH on the Pavement/Crash Music label since 2001. Currently I've been writing a lot of music and hope to release a new solo record in 2008 that I will play all the instruments on with some special guest appearances. I'm also working with a guitar player from France by the name of Christophe Godin and we plan to do an album together very soon. An old friend of mine has started up a new record label with me. The distro will be with Warner Bros. in the US. We'll see how it all pans out.

 

After performing on 20 records, six world tours, and 37 years of playing experience, at age 40, I feel truly blessed for all that I have achieved and accomplished as well as all the great people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting all over the world and all the talented musicians I’ve had the honor to play with…and I'm not done yet!

 

Best Regards,

JOEL MAITOZA