ANDY TIMMONS BAND

It started at a Jam session at Rob Wechsler’s house sometime in 1987. One year after Andy had moved from Miami to Denton, Texas to join the band Brinker, Andy found himself looking for some players to work on some solo material. His friend violinist/engineer Rob Wechsler often hosted jam sessions at his house and told Andy he should start jamming with different musicians. Denton is home to the University of North Texas, which has a renowned Jazz Studies program which attracts musicians from all over the world. Within a 3 mile radius of campus are literally hundreds of great musicians wanting to play.

Mitch Marine was currently playing drums with legendary Texas band, Brave Combo, but was always inclined to try other endeavors. He showed up at Rob’s house one day to jam with Andy and some other musicians. Andy immediately liked Mitch’s energy and feel.

A few weeks later bassist Mike Daane showed up at Rob’s house. As Daane remembers, “I was in my second year of college studying and playing Jazz. A bassist friend had told me he just jammed with this amazing guitar player and he was completely blown away. I didn’t ever expect to have the chance to jam with Andy, then a week later Rob called me up. I was a bit nervous when I showed up, but when Andy and I started playing, we immediately clicked. We started putting together all the elements we loved in music into these amazing melodic jams.”

The first gig was shortly after that in early ’88. Nicknamed “Teen Beat ’88” the jam band consisted of Bassist Mike Daane, Drummer Mitch Marine, Violinist/Engineer Rob Wechsler and assorted special guests. After a few successful gigs, they streamlined to a trio, renamed it “the Andy Timmons Band” and started working on originals. The early ATB gigs were a mixture of originals and covers of various guitarists like Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Steve Morse and some Bubble Puppy thrown in for good measure.

The ATB played successfully out and around Dallas for about a year, then Andy was offered the gig with Danger Danger. Many thought the ATB was gone, but any chance Andy had to make it back to Texas, he would reunite the group for a show and book recording time at Rob’s studio. After 4 years of touring and recording with D2, Andy left NY and moved back to Texas. Over that 4 year period the ATB had recorded over an albums’ worth of material, and the decision was made to try to mix it and put it out. This was the the first Ear X-tacy album.

The group toured and recorded on and off over the next several years and released several CDs (Ear X-tacy II, Spoken & The Unspoken, And-thology) in Texas, Europe and Japan. Session ace and UNT Alum Dan Wojciechowski also recorded drums on several songs and often performed live with the group. During this time the ATB also became a top call session band, which recorded on dozens of records for other artists and countless jingle sessions. The group also won several awards and honors over these years (Musician of the Year, Best Guitarist, Best Bassist, Best Drummer….)

In 2001 Andy signed with Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label and released “That Was Then, This Is Now” a compilation of songs from the first 2 Ear X-tacy albums and five new tracks. This was the first combined U.S. and International release for the band and it garnered a lot of attention in guitar communities throughout the world. The new tracks also marked a new direction musically for the band which they would follow for the recording of their next CD “Resolution”.

The team of Andy, Mike, Mitch, Dan and Rob have all worked together on every CD Andy has put out.

MIKE DAANE

Mike Daane, born 1967 in suburbs of Detroit, started his music career by taking up piano at age 6, saxophone at 10 and electric bass at age 14. He studied jazz and classical music at North Texas State University (now U.N.T.) for four years then moved to Dallas where he now makes his home and living. He has recorded and toured with an extremely wide range of talented artists, most notably, guitar virtuoso Andy Timmons, industrial/art-rock band Ugly Mus-tard, roots/pop band Sparrows, punk/funk band Last Rites, and contemporary artist Sara Hickman (While with Sara he performed on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Austin City Limits, and opened on tour with Eric Johnson). Mike is also recognized as a talented producer and engineer, producing numerous Texas artists, all of the Ugly Mus-tard CDs, and most recently co-producing “Resolution”. He has also delved into the film world, scoring several independent films and editing a short film and a full length documentary. Mike has received numerous awards and honors over the years for both his bass playing and producing/engineering abilities.

MITCH MARINE

Born in Illinois, Mitch grew up listening to rock and jazz. He started playing drums in the 8th grade and formed his first rock band “Black Pearl” in high school. In ’81 he moved to Texas to study Music at U.N.T. and after one year landed the drum spot with legendary Texas band Brave Combo. He toured and recorded with Brave Combo for 10 years and then went on to perform with a variety of other renowned national acts including: Terence Simeon and the Mallet Playboys (Zydeco), Billygoat, Tripping Daisy, and Smashmouth. He moved to Los Angeles in 2002 and quickly found himself in the center of the Country/Rock scene that was emerging and was soon playing drums in and producing several acts. In 2003 he started performing with country legend, Dwight Yoakam, with whom he has toured and recorded extensively.

ROB AVSHARIAN

DAN WOJCIECHOWSKI

Dan Wojciechowski (Woj) grew up in Warren, MI listening to a lot of rock and jazz.He started playing drums at age 6 and later played with several bands in his home town. In high school he performed with the Wayne State Big Band, and also performed at the Detroit Lions home games. He then went to study music at NTSU (now UNT) and in his third year became the the top Drummer in the famous 1:00 Lab Band. He remained the 1:00 drummer until he graduated in ’88. He then went on to be the top call studio drummer in the Dallas music scene recording several albums and an uncountable number of jingles. He has toured and recorded with several major label artists including Lee Ann Rimes and Olivia Newton-John.