Eastern Glow

Eastern Glow is a "New Age Classic Rock Band" from Chicago, Illinois. It was formed in 2006 by Jake Mikolas and Tom Hicks, and is one of the the newest additions to small time local bands in the Chicago area.

Band Members and Roles
Current members
*Jake Mikolas- Guitars, Mandolin, Piano, Back-Up Vocals, Co-Songwriter
*Tom Hicks- Bass
*Patrick Bochenek- Drums, Percussion, Co-Songwriter, Lyricist
*Dylan Sheehan- Rhythm Guitar
*Kevin Scully- Vocals

Former members
*Brad Jemmi- Singer

*Connor Buchweitz- Temporary Singer
*Matt Bazel- Drummer
*Sean Mara- Part-Time Manager

The First Year
Within the first few months of practicing, the members of Eastern Glow began to develop their style of playing, and what songs that they were going to learn to perfect it. In January of 2007, the band started out with Highway To Hell, by AC/DC, since the band felt this was a relatively easy song to start out with.

The next time the band got together, Mikolas asked if it was time that they began a new cover song. Hicks immediately shouted out that they should do Takin' Care of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Within the next month, they mastered that song. Eastern Glow then realized that their sound was meant for doing classic rock covers.

Lose Control
By the summer of 2007, the band had numerous amounts of cover songs mastered, when they accidentally created their first song. Mikolas and Sheehan were hanging out, and started playing guitar. They were playing some common songs that they both knew, when Mikolas messed up on a chord, and than without realizing it, created their first original song. The two wrote the notes down and finished the guitar part of the song. Within the next few days, they created four more original songs, but so far, only two out of those five have stayed throughout their line-up changes. Unfortunately, the original lyrics for those two songs were eventually lost, due to complications with the band.

Purple Cobra Records Scandal

In August of 2007, a mysterious message was sent to Eastern Glow's MySpace page, saying that an agent from Purple Cobra Records, "John", knew Brad Jemmi and was going to manage and produce the group.

Mikolas immediately contacted Jemmi and asked if this was true, and Jemmi confirmed it, adding that the group needed to pay one hundred dollars to produce the label. Additionally, an old friend, Patrick Bochenek, had resurfaced, and was looking for a band. The next time the band practiced, Bochenek joined them. Since he was a skilled drummer, he was quickly accepted into the band as second drummer, which is not commonly done.

Unfortunately, as time went on, extreme differences between Mikolas and Jemmi flared up, after Purple Cobra Records was found to be a fake. As a result, Jemmi was kicked out of the band. Bochenek then became the official drummer, following the resignations of Matt Bazel and part-time manager Sean Mara.

Search for a new singer
With Brad Jemmi leaving the band, Eastern Glow was down a singer. One of Mikolas' friends, Connor Buchweitz, was considered as a potential candidate for the role. However, while in the band, Buchweitz felt that the group would find a singer better than him, but until than, he would do anything in his power to help the band. However, within the first month, differences between Buchweitz and Hicks resulted in Buchweitz quietly leaving the band, while helping Mikolas search for a new singer.

In December of 2007, Hicks was finally able to pull through on the band. For a few weeks he had been trying to get his friend, Kevin Scully, to be the lead singer. Scully had finally accepted, and became the new vocalist.

Eastern Glow
With Scully now in the band, they were finally able to get back to original material. Since they had two new members, and two members had quit, they decided they needed a new name. Their new and current name, Eastern Glow, was taken from a lyric in the song The Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin. It was an uncommon lyric and not many people knew the song, so no one would mistake them for a tribute band, which they didn't want to be classified as.

First Album
Eastern Glow was finally able to record, using Scully's brother's old recording studio. There, they recorded most of their original material for their un-labeled debut album, Eastern Glow.

== Track Listings For "Eastern Glow" ==
1. Lose Control (Mikolas/Sheehan/Bochenek)

2. Watch Out (Mikolas/Sheehan/Bochenek)

3. When the Lights Are Out (Bochenek/Hicks)

4. Pipelines (Mikolas/Bochenek)

5. Showtime (Mikolas/Bochenek)

6. Adventures of the Golden Cowbell (Mikolas/Bochenek/Sheehan/Hicks)

7. Eastern Glow (Mikolas/Bochenek)

8. Untitled (Sheehan/Bochenek)

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See Also

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