Joel Maitoza

Joel Maitoza is an American drummer best known for his work with 24-7 Spyz and various other heavy metal groups. As a musician, Maitoza has been featured on over twenty albums and widely toured the United States and Europe over the course of his career. He founded his own artist management company under the name JWM Productions & Management in 2001.
Career
Early years
Joel Maitoza was born in West Palm Beach, Florida. His parents moved to the San Diego, California area when he was a year old. After showing an early proclivity for music, his father enrolled him into the Yamaha School Of Music at the age of four. By age six, he had graduated with specializations in piano, music theory and musical notation. This same year, Maitoza received a drum kit as a present from his grandparents and began taking private lessons with Ron George, a local college professor, while continuing to study keyboard and guitar on the side. The lessons continued for the next eight years and included tours around California with the Palomar College Percussion Group. From the seventh to tenth grade, Maitoza played drums in his school marching band, concert band, and jazz band. During this period of time, he would practice after school for several hours each night. During summer breaks, he also performed in stock musicals at a local playhouse in Escondido, California.
At age 14, Maitoza was playing in a band called Metal Arsenal at various local San Diego and Los Angeles club scenes (The Whisky, Roxy, Troubadour, Gazzarri's). They performed both covers and original songs, eventually recording a three-track demo. By high school graduation he had his first independent record with the band Elysian on LCM Records and toured around California. Afterward, he began auditioning for other bands in Los Angeles, and next joined the neo-classical/thrash band Gangland. Around this time, Maitoza also began doing session work and offering drum lessons at a local music shop. In 1987, he signed an endorsement deal with the Paiste cymbal company and continues to endorse both Paiste and Vater drumsticks up to the present day.
24-7 Spyz
Maitoza met 24-7 Spyz guitarist Jimi Hazel at a music convention in January 1991 and gave him a demo, subsequently auditioning over the phone playing the drum portions of several of their songs. He was accepted into the band and finished the last leg of the Gumbo Millennium tour with them. 24-7 Spyz had already received recognition for two previous albums, Harder Than You and Gumbo Millennium, under the Relativity/Sony Records label. The band had previously been managed by the William Morris Agency, but signed a new contract with Atlantic/East West Records, Polygram Publishing, and manager Metropolitan Entertainment shortly after Maitoza's inclusion.
The band began recording the This is... 24-7 Spyz EP in Electric Lady Studios in New York with sound engineer Bruce Calder and continued to tour North America and Europe for several months. They then recorded Strength In Numbers and began a west-coast tour opening for Public Enemy, gaining enough noteriety to be featured in a Budweiser television commercial and on an episode of MTV's Beavis and Butthead. The music videos for "Break The Chains" and "Stuntman" received moderate amounts of play time on MTV's Much Music and Video Jukebox.
Shockhead
In 1993, Maitoza began a solo project called Shockhead, collaborating with then-unknown bass player Ricky Wolking, Craig Soderberg from the band -Itis, and Joey McCaw from Brick Bath. They signed a deal with the small independent label Indivision and recorded the album "Television" in Santa Monica with engineer Jim Wirt. Shortly after touring and promoting this release, 24-7 Spyz flew out to the West Coast to record Shockhead's second album, 6. This album was originally only released in Europe, only later being released in the United States as Heavy Metal Soul By The Pound on Colorado-based company What Are Records. These ventures spurred 24-7 Spyz to resume touring and playing festivals throughout Europe and the U.S. Maitoza continued playing with 24-7 Spyz until 1997, when he had to leave the band due to family-related medical issues.
Current work
In 2001, Maitoza formed his own artist management and production company named JWM Productions & Management with the stated goal of helping upcoming artists in the ever-changing music industry. JWM has managed several acts in the metal and hard rock genres, including Brick Bath from the Pavement/Crash label from 2001 to 2006. More recently, Maitoza has been working with the alternative rock band -Itis from Colorado Springs. In the present day, Maitoza continues to pursue various collaborations, solo projects, and other endeavors as a songwriter, arranger, record producer, and session player.
Endorsements
Joel Maitoza has been involved with several product endorsements, including two currently held associations with Paiste Cymbals beginning in 1987 and Vater Drumsticks under the "Joel Maitoza Signature Series" beginning in 1993. Past endorsements include Dean Markley drumsticks from 1982 to 1992, Carcass Covers clothes from 1991 to 1995, TAMA drums from 1991 to 1996, Joe Montinari custom snare drums from 1991 to 1997, and No Fear from 1992 to 1996.
Discography
Elysian
* Blinded By Sound (1985, L.C.M. Records)
Gangland
* Gangland (1989, Independently Released)
24-7 Spyz
* This is...24-7 Spyz (1991, East West/Atlantic Records)
* Strength In Numbers (1992, East West/Atlantic Records)
* Six (1996, Enemy Records)
* Heavy Metal Soul By The Pound (1996, W.A.R. Records)
* If I Could (1997, W.A.R. Records)
* This is...Strength In Numbers (2006, Wounded Bird Records, re-issued combination of two previous records)
MPG
* Shark Crossing (1992, Independently Released)
Shockhead
* Television (1995, Indivision Records)
Don Lithgow
* Big Daddy (1998, Independently Released)
Machine
* Machine (1999, Independently Released, Australia)
Kerry Conley
* Spill (1999, Independently Released)
Joel Maitoza Project
* Hit (2001, Independently Released)
Crown 10
* Crown 10 (2003, SoCal Records/IDN/Crash Music)
Seventrain
* Moments Of Clarity (2003, Independently Released)
Headtrip Superstar
* Beautiful (2004, RadioStar Records)
James Lloyd
* James Lloyd (2008)

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