Voodoo Puppet's Page

Voodoo Puppet, the Cincinnati-based blues-rock band, plays dirty, gritty Delta blues, cranked-up, fuzzed-out, and blown away - we like to call it “garage blues.” And they have a softer side – in volume only – with raunchy, twangy acoustic sets that’ll take you back to a porch on the bayou.

The band, consisting of vocalist and guitar player T. Rae, guitarist Harry Harvey, and bassist James Czar, was formed in the winter of 2008 as the psychedelic rock trio, “Lords of Reverb.” As their interests led them toward more and more blues-based music, they reformed in the fall of 2008, with the addition of the drummer Adam Runyan.

They are currently working on writing original blues tracks for their (yet untitled) first studio album slated for recording in the fall of 2009. They often showcase many of their in-progress tracks as part of improvisational blues jams during their live shows, and feature the finished pieces, like the blues ballad “Never Gonna Be the Same” and the blues-rock romp, “Alt.Elvis” peppered throughout their sets.

Currently touring the Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana regions, the band also appears regularly in the Greater Cincinnati area. The band is available for booking at private functions, live music venues, street festivals, and live in-studio radio performances. Voodoo Puppet performs for large and small houses, as a solo act or as part of a multi-act bill.

In an alternate configuration, Voodoo Puppet performs a mainly acoustic (with amplified reinforcement) version of their sets, perfect for intimate venues, coffeehouses, restaurants, and small private gatherings. For these shows the band breaks out steel slide guitars, a minimalist percussion set, and an electric upright bass.

T. RAE
T. Rae is the vocalist for Voodoo Puppet. He also plays guitar and keyboards. T. grew up in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Columbia Tusculum. He first started playing music in 1965, inspired, he says, by “parental neglect, radio, and church… as well as Bob Dylan’s Mr. Tamborine Man recorded by The Byrds.” Since then he has performed in many punk, pop, new wave, and prog rock bands, including Carefree Day, ONE, Dennis the Menace, Sorry Charlie, Boo Boo Ray, Paleo Wah, and The Comforts. He has also performed with Grammy Award-winning producer Ric Wake, Haymarket Riot and in the Cincinnati May Festival Chorus. He once opened for Joan Jet and the Blackhearts at Bogarts. “I live to listen and play,” T. says of his passion for music, which he’s instilled in his son who plays keyboard and harmonica.

HARRY
Cincinnati west side native and lead guitarist Harry Harvey began playing music in 1967. He has since performed in several bands, including Rush (not the Canadian prog rock band), ONE, Boo Boo Ray, Cadillacs for Jesus, Idle, and Paleo Wah. He recorded with the famous producer Ric Wake, and he played with legendary pianist James “Pigmeat” Jarrett. Harry’s musical influences include The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, Santana, B.B. King, King Crimson, Weather Report, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, John McLaughlin, Robert Johnson, Rob Zombie, Metallica, and Miles Davis. ‘Just for fun,’ Harry builds and experiments with analog synthesizers, and composes mathmatics-based electronic music. He is also a skilled luthier (Harry was a professional guitar repair tech for 15 years), designing and building acoustic guitars and electric basses, as well as piecing together instruments from parts of very disparate basses and guitars to make unusual sounding “Franken-basses,” like his Les Paul Recording Bass neck on a Gibson 125 hollow-body guitar.

MR. JAMES
Bassist James Czar grew up in Youngstown, Ohio during the punk and metal scene of the 80s and has been playing music for more than 25 years. In addition to bass guitar, he also plays tenor saxophone. He has performed in various rock, metal, punk, and blues bands, including Guillotine, Pariah, Bobby Linden Trio, Idle, and Paleo Wah. He was one of the original members of the 90s internationally renowned metal band Tempo Tantrum. James’s influences include John Paul Jones, John Entwistle, Stanley Clarke, Pink Floyd, Cake, Junior Kimbrough, R. L. Burnside, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, The Orb, and Talking Heads. He was raised on old-school country music (like Waylon, Willie, and Hank Sr.), Sinatra, and Dylan. For more than 12 years, James has been involved in the Cincy Blues Fest in various capacities, as co-director and promotions coordinator. To James, the blues is “a groove I can get into as a musician and settle in like a comfy part of the couch, just made for you.”

ADAM
Drummer Adam Runyan was born in Fort Thomas, Kentucky and has been a musician since he asked his non-musician – and very hesitant – parents to split the cost for a drumset at age 15. He performed in high school and college concert, marching, pep, jazz and percussion ensembles. Rock and pop music from the 90s influenced Adam’s musical sensibilities, most notably Dave Matthews Band, Smashing Pumpkins, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Green Day, Flaming Lips, Modest Mouse, Weezer, and Superdrag, as well as classic rock groups Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rush, Rolling Stones, and The Beatles. Working in record stores and for Cincinnati’s arts and entertainment newsweekly CityBeat helped Adam expand his musical tastes and library. “There's rhythm in my bones...always has been. There's a beat to everything I do,” says Adam. “Playing and listening to music are literally how I connect to and learn from the world around me.” His first experience listening to live rock music changed Adam’s life: “I knew that I was meant to be a part of this energy and that I was not alone.”