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"Stolen Ogre, a band of accomplished musicians with excellent vocals combined with a creative flare that is exercised with feel and emotion!! Well worth a listen!!"
"I am a big fan of the band! I love hearing them live and on record."
"Richard Gehr/ The Village Voice "The swirling organ twists your mind." – Rami Jaffee ~ The Wallflowers "Congratulations on a great honest record that a couple of generations of rock fans can relate to." – George Graham ~ WVIA 89.9 FM Scranton, PA "Michael and I started Stolen Ogre in my basement in Seattle, we started by jamming on the weekends, adding different players, Dave Simpson joined on guitar, Steve Manning on Bass, Scott Adams on Sax, and Pam Tobiason singing. It was so organic, just friends getting together to play, and write music that we all love, together. Road to Jericho is the culmination of the first 5 years of work. As Blues Traveler's schedule ramped up, I handed the sticks over to the very capable hands of Rick Boice, and the band plays on. I am so thrilled by Ogre's current success and recommend anyone to see the band Live. Support live music everywhere!." – Brendan Hill ~ Blues Traveler "'Road to Jericho' is the perfect launching pad in the process of defining the Stolen Ogre vibe." explains Michael McMorrow, Stolen Ogre Keyboardist and founder. "We are not concerned about being "rock and roll" per se, but what we are about is creating noteworthy, distinctive music. Music that delivers. Music with heart. Music that actually has depth and artistry. It's not just about rock. It's about emotion and art." Stolen Ogre played its debut New York City show at the famed Lion's Den with The Village Voice giving the show a "Recommended" note by writer Richard Gehr ("The Phish Book" Co-written by Richard Gehr and Phish.) The band continued on with shows at the legendary Asbury Park club The Saint and NYC's Acme Underground. The Northeast swing and ROAD TO JERICHO were highlighted in both Jambands.com and Jambase.com. After Relix Magazine President and Publisher Steve Bernstein and other Relix staffers saw the Stolen Ogre set at Lion’s Den, the band was invited to play a private mid-day concert the magazine’s Manhattan home office. From the Acme Underground show a live recording hit www.archive.org, one of the internet’s largest portals for sanctioned live recordings and out of nearly 18 thousand recordings, Stolen Ogre remained in the Top 5 downloaded shows for over a month with nearly 4000 downloads. Following a Scranton, PA area show, the band taped a live performance and interview at the WVIA/FM studios and the special later aired in the fall in conjunction with the national release of ROAD TO JERICHO to college radio where the CD was already picking up early support and airplay. "Traveling to the NE was a great shot in the arm for the band. We forget that the boom in music and the Seattle Sound of the 90's was like a bomb that went off. It brought a lot of attention to Seattle". says Michael. "Unfortunately the attention was very focused on one type of music. What happened was that it pushed 95% of the other musicians off to the sidelines. Believe it or not though we have all moved on - club owners and the press are still waiting for Kurt to come back. We want to start the new chapter. Going to NYC was like crawling into the light. We were very well received" Stolen Ogre is lead singer/songwriter Pamela Tobiason, keyboardist/songwriter Michael McMorrow, guitarist David Simpson , sax/vocals the Reverend Scott "Junior" Adams , bass Marc Willett and drummer Rick Boice. Michael McMorrow and Blues Traveler's Brendan Hill formed Stolen Ogre after they met on the HORDE tour. Hill's Traveler duties eventually led him to stop his regular appearances with the group, although he went on to record with the band on ROAD TO JERICHO and still remains a creative collaborator. The band takes its name from a child's doll that Brendan Hill spotted on the roadside of the German Autobahn. Christened Ogre, and enthroned on Hill's drum kit, it became his good luck mascot through Blues Traveler's early years. After Ogre vanished on tour, McMorrow, Hill and company adopted the name, and the circumstances, in playful tribute.
" It is a true pleasure to perform on stage with John Popper." says Pamela." He is such a talent and brings so much energy and uniqueness to each show that it really raises the bar for everyone's stage performance. Off stage he has an endless array of amusing stories and insights. Totally looking forward to our future performances with Mr. Popper."
Stolen Ogre is currently writing sessions for the follow up to ROAD TO JERICHO and are in planning for the next tour and festival dates. |
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In the spring of 2004, Stolen Ogre released ROAD TO JERICHO CD on the Seattle based Shadowhawk Records marking the bands first full length recording. Two songs, "Jericho" and "Love Me Alone" went on to receive airplay nationwide from Maine to California. Pennsylvania's WVIA in had the ROAD TO JERICHO album on the charts for 8 weeks with the album peaking at #2 for 2 weeks. Enigma Magazine notes of the CD, "Bottom line it's rock, folk, jam and pop all mixed together into one big happy concoction."
In other highlights the band was one of the TOP 10 National Finalist bands for the Jeep Corporation's CampJeep California, Jeep's national owner appreciation event. It released its first Christmas single "Little Drummer Boy" to Triple A/NPR Radio and celebrated the year's end when out of over 500 CD's, WVIA selects ROAD TO JERICHO as one of it's "Best of 2004" along with releases from artists such as Ben Harper, Gov't. Mule and Elvis Costello among others.
Stolen Ogre continued the Blues Traveler relationship when front-man John Popper played with Stolen Ogre at the Music Aid Northwest and KZOK 102.5FM benefit, The Tsunami Relief Concert. Yes's Alan White's new project "White" and members of Heart play with The Geoffrey Castle Band were also on bill and the concert raised over $10,000 for CARE.