Jon Wolske - The Basics
Bass player, Guitar player, Singer and songwriter. Picked up bass while in High school in the mid-90's and hasn't looked back since!
From his start with 90's riff rock to Chicago Blues, R&B, Classic Rock, Chick Rock, Show tunes, Contemporary and classic Praise/Church music to Country, Southern Rock and even Hard Rock and Metal- there isn't much Jon hasn't played.
Influences are Lynyrd Skynyrd, Allman Brothers Band, Black Crowes, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Green Day, Offspring, Nirvana, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Delbert McClinton, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bonnie Rait, Guns N Roses, and many, many more.
Cover tunes - OK in my book, I just like playing music!
Original music is a little Rock and Roll, a little southern rock : Check out the Beau Hodges Band and I've got some tunes of my own Im cooking up!
( Check it out here!)
Jon uses Steve Clayton picks and a Stagelite Pro Pedal Guard
Scroll down the page for the 'Whole Story" - the complete history of my musical journey
The Gear
Electric:
Epiphone Les Paul Custom
Fender Acoustasonic Tele
Fender Am Std Strat (2006)
Essex B-205
Schecter Stiletto Studio 5
Yamaha RBX 270 F (Fretless)
Chinese upright bass
Acoustic:
Garrison G-50E
Martin Shenendoah (1984)
Gretsch 9020 Bobtail (round neck)
Fender Mandolin
Banjo
Misc/additional (used mostly at home):
Ibanez Metal pedal (distortion)
Vox Valvestate combo (20 watts, modeling)
Peavey Basic 112 (bass combo)
Yorkville BM200 (bass combo)
Crate G60 (guitar combo)
Stagelite Pro Pedal Guard Pro
Clayton USA custom guitar picks
Epiphone Les Paul Custom
Fender Acoustasonic Tele
Fender Am Std Strat (2006)
Essex B-205
Schecter Stiletto Studio 5
Yamaha RBX 270 F (Fretless)
Chinese upright bass
Acoustic:
Garrison G-50E
Martin Shenendoah (1984)
Gretsch 9020 Bobtail (round neck)
Fender Mandolin
Banjo
Misc/additional (used mostly at home):
Ibanez Metal pedal (distortion)
Vox Valvestate combo (20 watts, modeling)
Peavey Basic 112 (bass combo)
Yorkville BM200 (bass combo)
Crate G60 (guitar combo)
Stagelite Pro Pedal Guard Pro
Clayton USA custom guitar picks
Get more info!
The whole Story
Born in Oshawa, Ontario Canada to a musical Mother and Father set Jon up to be who he is today. At a very early age Jon was exposed to singing and guitar playing in the home, at church and at other events his parent's Folk groups (The Hakamu and Christoper) were performing.
Jon tried to learn guitar at an early age, but lost interest when the neck warped on his first acoustic guitar. After that, Jon knew he wanted to be a drummer... Fortunately for Jon (and for the world), that would never be a reality.
In his early teens, his family moved to Salisbury, Maryland. This would prove to be a good thing, since all of the moving boxes in the attic were full of interesting things (and well labelled, too...) At 16, Jon found a tape of a studio project from the 70's and made the connection to the groovin' southern rock basslines and an old family friend who was playing those lines. This sparked an intense interest in making that kind of groove/music for the masses. Jon bought a second-hand Bradley brand P-bass copy (with two P-style pickups) and started jamming along to the radio. At the time (mid-90's) the music was heavy and fast and Jon wanted nothing more than to master the lines of Robert DeLeo of the Stone Temple Pilots and Flee of the Red Hot Chili Peppers (with more of a focus on the funk/jazz parts rather than just the slap & Pop that dominated the albums of the time). Within a year, Jon could walk and improvise around chord changes and was ready for his first band experience.
Jon joined a band called 'Seuss' with his friend Dan Wikander (drums), Richard Pittman (vocals), Chris Horner and Jon's twin brother, Matt on guitar. Seuss played local showcase in December of 1994 and disbanded before the end of the school year. Guitarist Chris Horner, Matt Wolske and Jon all decided that they still wanted to make music together and 'Mourning Stone' was born not long after. Jon learned the basic guitar chords from his brother to help him write songs and to make it easier to identify chord shapes when jamming with others at about this time, but didn't play guitar a whole lot, yet.
Playing original music that was heavily influenced by the more riff-oriented 90's rock and older music like Metallica, Megadeth and even classic rock like Ted Nugent and Lynyrd Skynyrd, Mourning Stone gained a following in the local music scene, with Jon and Matt playing promoters and organizing shows around town. It was this connection to the scene that they were all making that helped fuel Mourning Stones 'success' in the area. Mourning Stone was playing pretty regularly for a group of 17-19 year olds. But that was not to last more than a couple of years. Mourning Stone eventually disbanded due to differences of focus. Jon continued to play as a sub with many of his friends bands, and even got to play rhythm guitar a few times!
At this time, Jon discovered the cover band world. Always one to stay away from playing other people's music, he learned that you could jam and have fun, while actually making a little bit of extra money (what a concept)... Jon played and sang (lead and backup) everything from Chicago blues, classic rock, showtunes (Played in a few shows), 80's and 90's rock and even backed a female singer/songwriter playing tunes of a gentler persuasion (Jewel, Alanis Morrisette, etc..)
When Jon moved to Las Vegas in 2003, he started looking for a cover band to play with. Boy did he find one! A female-fronted band called 'Betty and the Liars' was looking to fill the bass void, and Jon was more than a good fit. After a few years, the majority of the band members were ready for something a little different and they broke off to form 'Nasty Habits'. NH was a bunch of guys who love good music and each had the option to veto songs they were not enjoying playing. The result was 4 sets of Rolling Stones, Allman Brothers, Delbert McClinton, etc... that was powered by energy and love of great music. Nasty Habits rocked the Vegas pub scene for more than 5 years. Jon took more of an interest in playing guitar, and was very active playing guitar in his church and leading worship. Jon grew into a full-fledged guitar player over the years, enjoying the different approach a bass player and a guitar player must take at their perspective roles and really digging into the challenge.
It wasn't until near the end of Nasty Habits that Jon got the inspiration to write original music again. A coach helped Jon realize that writing a song was a goal Jon wanted to accomplish again. Through the exercise of getting back into writing, Jon was bit by the bug, and started writing material for Nasty Habits. The band was open to the new idea and together, the quartet polished 5 songs that Jon had written. But that new direction may have been the end of the band, too. Writing original music in a cover band meant that NH had a test audience to play their music for, but some members didn't understand what Jon hoped to accomplish with the original material. Jon stated 'I just want to play one set of original music on the main stage at the House of Blues, that is my end goal!'... That goal would become a reality sooner than Jon could believe.
September 1st of 2011, Jon met Beau Hodges while he popped in to see his coworker (Tyler WIlliams') and band rehearse. Jon had a guitar with him and was asked if he wanted to jam. Jon chased guitarist Vince Casas around on the tunes from Theory of Flight's album, and was asked if he wanted to play a show with the band the next day. Now over a year later and the band has become the Beau Hodges Band, has written all new material and had the opportunity to play as local support for bands like ZZ-Top, Counting Crows, Matchbox Twenty, Moonshine Bandits, Rehab and more!