Today we’d like to introduce you to Greg Bickley.
Hi Greg, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I started what evolved into Tokyo Joe in 1992 under a different name. When current guitar player, Dale Burgess, joined the band I wanted to change the name and start recording original material. He suggested Tokyo Joe, an idea he had after spending a lot of time touring in Japan with his previous band. We celebrated our 25th year as Tokyo Joe last year with a fundraiser show at Icehouse Amphitheater in Lexington and donated over $47,000 to Breast Cancer research. In those 25 years, we’ve released 7 CDs of original material, including 2 live CDs, selling over 35,000 copies. For years we would routinely play over 200 shows a year but we’ve purposely dialed that back to more like 150 over the past couple of years.
In addition to our regular shows as Tokyo Joe we’ve developed two popular tribute shows, “Tokyo Joe Productions presents Rocket man – A Tribute to Sir Elton John” and “The Best of Everything – A Tribute to Tom Petty”.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’d say it’s been pretty smooth. My dad was a professional musician. In fact, our guitar player Dale was in the same band as my dad when they were touring Japan a lot and that’s how Dale and I know each other. We both understood from the beginning what it meant to be professionals and look at it as a job and the band as a business. We’ve also had some really good guys in the band over the years. Obviously, over a 25-year period you’re gonna have some members changes simply because people’s life circumstances change. But we’ve never had anyone leave the band with any kind of animosity. In fact, there are a few guys who have been in the band multiple times. And we’ve often used former band members as fill-ins at times.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on? What sets you apart from the others and what are you most proud of?
We are a 4-piece band with 7 CDs of original material that plays a combination of original and cover songs at our live shows. I’d say I’m most proud of the money we’ve raised for charities. We’ve raised over $100,000 for local children’s shelters over the years and gave over $47,000 to breast cancer research last year. We’re hoping to top that number at our fundraiser this year.
I’d say the tribute shows and our versatility set us apart. We could easily play a 2-hour set of original material. Otherwise, it all depends on the crowd. We’re very appreciative of the large, loyal following we’ve developed over the years. Often times as soon as someone walks in the door, I know what their requests are and they don’t even have to tell me. If we happen to be somewhere that people don’t know us as well, we can read the crowd and lean more to the rock side, if need be, more country, if need be, more 80s, whatever the case may be.
I think the tribute shows are unique even though tribute shows aren’t uncommon anymore. In the Elton John Tribute, I have duplicates of many of the most ridiculous costumes he wore in the 70s and early 80s. Also, our drummer for that show, Charlie Morgan, played drums with Elton for 13 years. In fact, we’re doing that show at Icehouse Amphitheater in Lexington on Friday, September 16th. Tickets are currently on sale at: www.icehouseamphitheater.com. Around 850 of the available 1,000 tickets are sold already.
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you.
I don’t feel like we’ve been particularly lucky or unlucky. I do feel like personally there are people who have come into my life at the right time and pushed me in a direction and I don’t know if I’d have gone in that direction if I hadn’t met that person. But nothing that makes a good story.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tokyojoe.net
- Instagram: @tokyojoeband
- Facebook: facebook.com/tokyojoeband
- Twitter: @tokyojoeband
