JOE BLAND

Leeds Based Singer/Songwriter Joe Bland (27) wrote his first song 'Jaguar' in his early teens. In his own words "When I was 14, my parents grounded me for breaking one of the house rules. That meant no Playstation or Internet. I did the only sensible thing I could think of and picked up my guitar and started playing 3 chords and wrote my first song 'Jaguar' then and there. The lyrics were a bit dark because I was listening to a lot of Bullet For My Valentine and Slipknot at the time". He then went on to write more songs and by the age of 18, he had written his first two albums combining catchy melodies with bleak lyrics. At 19, he recorded everything he had written at Glide Studio, Leeds. He managed to fund this by working part time in a supermarket. Now 26, Joe Bland has set up his own recording studio, plans to record new music whilst gradually releasing the songs he wrote and recorded all those years ago. His music has been compared to REM and Nirvana. Joe Bland considers System Of A Down to be his favourite band but has a varied taste of music citing 'everyone from Taylor Swift to Slipknot' as influential to him.