Quick Facts
AquariusBiography
Joel Graham is the bassist of English thrash metal group Evile. He was formerly the bassist of metal band Rise to Addiction.
Biography
Graham was born on 10 February 1977 in Dewsbury, England. He was strongly influenced and supported by his parents from a young age to enjoy music and was taken to rock shows from the age of 7 to see such bands as Queen, Iron Maiden and Bruce Springsteen. Graham started playing Bass as his main instrument in 1996 playing in local bands around the West Yorkshire area. He moved to Nottingham in 1999 and helped form the stoner rock band Ninedenine who released the highly praised Scars E.P in 2001. During this time he also worked at Earache Records processing orders for the labels then first webstore.
In May 2004, Graham moved to Kenora in Northwest Ontario, Canada where he spent time volunteering in the First Nations community.
Rise To Addiction
In 2006, Graham returned to his birth town of Dewsbury and replaced Rob Naylor as bassist of Rise To Addiction. Graham co-wrote and played on the albums A New Shade of Black for the Soul 2007, and Some Other Truth 2009.
Evile
On 16 December 2009, he was announced as the replacement for Mike Alexander, the founding Evile bassist who died whilst on tour in Sweden on 5 October 2009. Graham played his first show with Evile on 14 January 2010 at Cardiff Barfly, also the same day his daughter was born. After a long intensive tour through the United States of America in 2010, he began recording the third Evile album Five Serpent's Teeth. This is the first Evile album to feature him as bass player, although the re-dux edition of Infected Nations released in 2010 contained a bonus disc of live material which featured him playing Bass.
Writing
In early 2014 Joel Graham joined Bass Guitar Magazine as a reviewer and contributing writer.
The Old Turk, Dewsbury
In October 2014 Joel Graham took on the role of Landlord at The Old Turk pub in Dewsbury in between performing and recording withEvileThe Old Turk historically is the only dedicated rock/metal bar in Dewsbury and frequently has live music events on.
Playing style
Joel Graham uses both a finger-picking style and a plectrum when performing, although his preferred style is finger picking. Graham mainly uses the alternate two-finger (index and middle finger) picking style, but he performs an extremely fast three-finger roll style (made famous by bassist Billy Sheehan) during faster songs such as "Descent into Madness" and "Long Live New Flesh".He uses a plectrum for all songs originally performed by Mike Alexander, commenting in several interviews that he wanted to play those songs just as Alexander did.
Influences
Graham has cited bassists including Steve Harris, John Entwistle, Cliff Burton, Billy Sheehan, Les Claypool, Scott Reeder, Pat Badger, Frank Bello and John Deacon as influences.
Discography
Ninedenine
- The Scars (Self Release) 2001
- A New Shade (Self Release)2004
Rise To Addiction
- A New Shade of Black for the Soul (Mausoleum) 2007
- Some Other Truth(Mausoleum) 2009
Evile
- Infected Nations re-dux Edition, Disc 2 (Earache Records) 2010
- Five Serpent's Teeth (Earache Records) 2011
- Skull (Earache Records) 2013
Equipment
Guitars
- Fender Standard Jazz Bass
- Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass
- ESP LTD Surveyor-4 Bass
Also during early Evile performances
- Gibson Thunderbird
Amps
- Peavey Tour Series 700
- Peavey Tour Series 410 x 2
Effects
- Dunlop Cry Baby Wah
- Sansamp Delux Pre-Amp
- Electro Harmonics Big Muff
These effects are clearly heard in the song "Descent into Madness" in the Bass solo section towards the end of the song.
Other equipment
- Sony Wireless system
- Fender PT-100 stage tuner
- ESP LTD Surveyor 4 Basses
- Sansamp