Musical Background
Born on April 10th, 1983 in Toronto Canada. George spent his young years in Athens Greece until he moved with his mom and brother to Toronto Canada.
George didn't get into rock & roll right away. Heavily influenced by his older brother Nick he started listening to 90's rap and raggae. Later on his friend Harris (long time childhood friend) introduced him to Metallica, Iron Maiden and The Offspring by giving him tapes to listen of their greatest hits. Instantly the rebelious lyrics, thundering riffs and blazing solos made a huge impression on George and he descided that rock was here to stay and be part of his personality. After listening to metal and more specifically to the band Metallica, George really wanted to pick up the electric guitar and play the songs that he actually loved. So he got a cheap Yamaha and a 10W amp for Christmas.
After practicing and learning how to make music, George's influences started changing heavily. Marc Seal and the Marcseal.com community being the biggest influence. He started getting into the blues, instrumental rock and would spend countless hours playing over backing tracks and learning about theory with the help of the internet. The only thing George actually lacked was friends that also had the same passion for the instrument and the music. In high school noone really had the interest for rock like he did...but the search continued.
In September 2003, George enrolled in Seneca College to persuit his career in Computer Programming. In one of his classes he met Alex Akimov. Alex also played guitar and George without hesitation invited him over for a jam. George and Alex started sharing the same musical taste and learning guitar and musical theory together. Soon the two started jamming weekly and got really familiar with each other's musical behaviour.
While checking out musical acts like Tony Springer, George and Alex met Johnny. They all got together later to cover songs by Led Zepplin, Van Halen and other classic rock bands. This is when George started playing the bass and the first time playing in a band. While looking for a new drummer, George Harrison was found. George H invited George and Alex to come and play for Babyoil. George started getting a feel for the bass guitar so the switch was very natural.
After playing the bass for about a year George started listening to alot of bass dominant music. Here enters the Jaco.
Influences
Joe Satriani
The Satch hooks you in with his melodies and you can't get out. By the time you are in dream land..WACK..here come the fast legatto! God knows what I would have been listening to now if Satriani wasn't around to teach me about blues and progressive rock.
Steve Vai
Just like Joe Satriani, he also creates instrumental music but with a twist. His non-bluesy, yet bluesy, songs, unique techniques and songwritting abilities have been permanently entered into history. His live performances are unreal. Vai is the true guitar God.
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Texas blues for the masses! What can I say? When I first listened to SRV I thought "well this is the blues I want to listen to". His vocal style and awesome guitar ability and passion is immediately communicated with the first note.
Jaco Pastorius
Victor Wooten said: "He's the reason we got into playing Jazz".
No words can describe what Jaco has done on the bass. I mean no sentences can describe him, here are some words: Spontaneous, Sincere, Harmonics, Fretless, Super Human, Millions of students.
Jerry Jemot
We play his bass lines every day. Need me to say more?