Email: webmaster@ytsejam.com

Bio: I've been a fan of music ever since I can remember. I started singing to my parents LPs when I was very young. Artists like Ray Charles, Simon & Garfunkel, Elvis and many others formed my love for good songwriting. I discovered radio soon after that and got into bands like Led Zeppelin, The Five-Man Electric Band, The Charlie Daniel's Band...etc. In the 80's it was all about Motley, Ratt, Def Leppard and anything featuring Jake E. Lee on guitar.

I got into Progressive Rock late when I joined a band at Michigan Technological University. The guys were all into Marillion, Genesis, Yes, Rush, Tull and the like and I quickly became a fanatic. I did, however, get to introduce the guys to a up-and-coming group called Dream Theater and their instrumental The Ytse Jam. Of Course, they are all fans now.

I did a couple years in college radio where I started to make contacts with the record labels and forming relationships with some of the bands. I kept those contacts and went to work for the Musicland Group where I formed even more label contacts, including some of the upstart Indie Prog labels like Magna Carta and InsideOut.

In the late 90's I started an online mailing list informing people of new releases and tour dates of current Progressive Rock acts. I started Ytsejam.com in 2000 as a Dream Theater Fan Site, but quickly morphed it into the promotional tool and community for fans of Progressive Rock that exists today.

Email: tommyhash@gmail.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/tomhash

Bio: Where does one start when talking about how one gets into music? Well growing up in Nashville, I began listening to music at an early age. The city was blessed with a real rock station on the 80’s; 103 KDF (which went to an alternative rock format to the now country format in the 90’s; for the record, I can’t stand country music) where I was exposed to bands such as the Scorpions, Yes, Judas Priest, Kiss, Rush, Led Zeppelin, all the major Prog-acts, and even bands like The Clash, Dio, and Ratt. And all this when I was only 6-years old. There was something about that loud music that intrigued me, while other peers my age might have been scared by it.

As the years went on, instead of buying 45 RPM singles, Albums became my medium of choice (later to CDs of course), where I delved deeper in finding out what a band was really about. By the time I was in grade school “hair metal” was prominent and it was my music of choice. But it wasn’t until I heard Metallica’s Master of Puppets when I was in the fourth grade (a friend’s older brother had it; he made me a cassette copy, and put Ride the Lightning on side two; this was right before And Justice for All came out, so those records had been out for years), this is when I realized that was something more out there.

Operation: Mindcrime followed, where I got into the conceptual side of things, then started getting into Malmsteen, Iron Maiden, Fates Warning, Savatage, and many other guitar oriented bands, hence I picked up a guitar before junior high and realized what I wanted to do with my life; play lead guitar in a heavy metal band. But before I entered high school, Nirvana broke big, and the music world changed; where listening to “edgy music” meant the Dave Matthews Band, Phish, Green Day, and The Offspring, not my cup of tea (I think I was the only person among my friends that didn’t buy Nevermind). However during this time period, Images and Words and Awake were released and I was never the same. So as I entered college, I endlessly listened to many releases from Magna Carta, Inside Out, Frontiers, Lion Music, etc. etc; as always, enjoying music on my own terms.

In my last semester in college, like most of us, didn’t know what I was going to do with my life after I would graduate. During that time, I met up with a friend who ran a website and was asked to come aboard to add metal and progressive stuff. Right after I graduated from Middle Tennessee State University (Bachelor of Science in Recording Industry/Music Business Emphasis with Business Admin and Mass Communication as minors) I dived head first into becoming a freelance writer, and didn’t look back. This was my calling.

Now, I work as a freelance journalist, promoter and publicist and have lived here and there between both Nashville and Cincinnati (but in the meantime, I still drag my Jackson Rhodes V and the Marshall out every once in a while, for grins). I have been with Ytsejam since the early spring of 2005. Writing about the music that I like is where I find solace; and by sharing my thoughts, I hope that all of you can get exposed to the same great music that I am exposed to.

Cheers!

-Tommy “Hashman” Hash

Email: mike36fan@aol.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/lurkermichael

Bio: Music has been part of my life ever since I can remember. As early as 4th grade, I would listen to the American Top 40 countdown with Casey Kasem every weekend. Like many kids who grew up in the midwest, I discovered Kiss in my elementary school years, and they became my first "favorite" band. I also had an early love of ELO, which I'd seen on Don Kirchner's Rock Concert. My focus throughout high school was mainly on hard rock and metal - bands like Rush, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, and Queensryche - but I also developed an affinity for the music of Genesis, Peter Gabriel and Pink Floyd.

Perpetually broke, the Napster boom finally afforded me a chance to check out the pre-Collins era of Genesis and opened my eyes to the world of progressive music. I quickly purchased the entire Genesis collection and started hanging out at the Genesis website forum, where I learned a lot about classic prog and began to collect Yes albums. Since I initially got to hear those old Genesis albums in 2001, I've purchased approximately 650 CDs, the vast majority of which are progressive or prog metal. It's safe to say that music took on a new importance in my life and began to consume a much larger part of my income.

A good friend bought me Dream Theater's "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" for my birthday in 2002 and it blew my mind. I began spending more time online at progressive rock message boards and band websites. I soon bought Dream Theater's catalog and that led me to bands like Porcupine Tree, Spock's Beard, The Flower Kings, Transatlantic, Marillion and more.

In January of 2003, I started my own internet radio show on The Dividing Line, called "Epic Prog with The Lurker," using my nickname (The Lurker) from several message boards. The name was taken from the Genesis track "Dodo/Lurker." This summer, the show migrated from The Dividing Line to ProgRock.com, where it still runs every Friday night from 8 p.m. to midnight (U.S. eastern time). The show is mainly a way for me to share all my musical discoveries with others, kind of like when I was a kid and would invite others over to hear the latest Kiss record.

Email: rita.stardust@gmail.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ritabayer

Bio: Introduced to the world of music by my parents and uncle confronted with the Beatles, Stones, J. Hendrix, Doors, Yard Birds, Elvis, Little Richard etc. when I was a child.

In the early 70’s, I visited my very first concert: SWEET, supporting act: Scorpions. I was listening to my “own” music now, such as Led Zeppelin, T. Rex, Sweet, ELP, Genesis, Talking Heads, Bowie, Deep Purple, King Crimson, Uriah Heep, Weather Report, Van der Graaf Generator, Can, Zappa, Floyd, Queen, Kansas, Iron Butterfly etc. I re-discovered the world of Prog by listening to Dream Theater & The Flower Kings in 2001/2002.

Since the 80’s, I wasn’t up to date music wise for almost 15 years (only visiting a few concerts) still listening to my “old heroes” whenever I had the time and of course to my husband’s & our friends´ compositions but missing what was going on in the present Prog & rock scene worldwide simply because the family thing turned into a 24/7 job.

Anyway – kids were grown up in the meantime, my mind became free for all the other nice things in life again…I began listening to the music that was ACTUALLY in the players around me. Dream Theater & The Flower Kings. I was sooooooo enthusiastic about finding out that Prog music was still vital & alive.

Strange times for my family followed because I was so much in love with this re-discovered world of Prog music that I listened to ALL Dream Theater releases, including the band member’s side projects non stop. 5 ½ months, almost round the clock…and I mean this literally….I woke up in the middle of the night with a special melody on my mind and I could not rest again before I listened to this special song that was running in my head all the time.

In 2004, I visited Ytsejam.com by accident when Koggie was searching for European support to keep his website running and I contacted him….