Joe Kaplow

Up until now it was easy for California based songwriter Joe Kaplow to be pushed along. At eight he was getting screamed at by Uncle Jim for playing out of time. A few years later found him passing almost every single after school evening getting stoned and jamming with his band in Bondar's basement. Years later he was studying music at college and having to sink or swim in the sea of talent crowding Boston streets and finally, for the past 5 years, plugging his amp into the outlet of American music heritage, driving around and playing shows in bars, clubs, and coffeeshops while figuring out along the way that CDs are lame and that booking pitches should be concise. It was almost like there wasn't time to stop and think.

Recently, it seems like all he does is think. When all the momentum, all the plans, all the validation, all the adventure, and all the money just stop; when the pushing stops, one may find themselves asking, "Why am I doing this?" An underdog without an over-dog is just a dog.

Kaplow describes music as his "currency for life. We all have something, or a few things that we do, we work at, we commit to and that's how we pay for our time here. It's like life is a Ferris wheel at the county fair. You can't just ride all night. Every 4 times around you have to stop at the bottom and pay for another half hour or whatever." The new album 'Sending Money and Stems' will be available everywhere by the end of this horrible year.