Emma Jo and the Poets Down Here: The Poets

Emma Jo - Lead Vocals / Rhythm Guitar

I'm Emma Jo, and I am the lead singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist. I started writing songs when I was about 12, and learned to play guitar soon after that. My main songwriting influence is Bruce Springsteen because of his many styles and ability to connect with people.

I recorded my first demo, Girl... Guitar... Microphone when I was 13, and in 2006 I released my first full-length record, Waiting to be Heard. I formed the band in March of 2007, and now here we are, set to release our first album together.

My Gear:
Gibson Les Paul 295 Goldtop ("Lola")
Epiphone Les Paul Standard ("Sunny")
Ibanez AEL20E acoustic-electric ("Maria")
Marshall MG 100 DFX Amplifier
Boss Pedals, Monster Cables

Brett Cox - Lead Guitar

Here’s my story on what got me interested in music. You see, at age 5 I was introduced to the band “AC/DC”. A year later my favorite song would be Hells Bells. I just always grew up listening to that kind of rock.

After my 14th birthday I had quite a bit of money. And I didn’t know what I wanted to buy. And so I was looking through my dad’s “Musician’s Friend” magazine and I realized that I would like a guitar. Epiphone SG 3-10. About a month later my dad brother and I were at a music store called Heartland Guitar in Independence, MO and there it was. I bought my Epiphone SG Special and went home to learn how to play. That was April 30th 2005. Four months later I joined my first band “Time Warp”. It wasn’t that successful and in the end of November 2006, it ended. During that time I had also been in a youth group band. And that didn’t work out very well. So I left. After all that I went without a band for what seemed a year, but it was actually 4 months. And then my brother and I joined the Emma Jo's band. We have already had more shows than I did with Time Warp. I had 3 shows with them during the year I was in the band. The Poets Down Here had 7 gigs in the first 3 months I was with them. That’s my story.

My Gear:
PRS SE Custom
Epiphone SG Special
Yamaha FX335
Line 6 Spider Valve 1x12
Rocktron Banshee Talkbox

Garrett Cox - Bass Guitar

My name is Garrett and I am the bassist. I started playing bass when I turned 14. I grew up listening to classic rock and my influences mainly come from that. I am also very influenced by John Taylor of Duran Duran, and Geddy Lee of Rush. Both of those bassist's bass lines are very intricate and fun to play.

The first band I was in was our youth group band. That lasted for about 9 months and I quit due to lack of practice and dedication from other band members. The second band I was in was TimeWarp. I was in that for 8 months and we broke up because our drummer moved. Then, I met Kyle at school. One day, he came up to me and asked if I would like to join a band and I said yes.

My Gear:

Fender Standard Jazz Bass
OLP MM2
Kramer Focus 70000 (MetalGopher)
Sansamp 3 Channel Bass Driver
Peavey Basic 112

Kyle Scheel - Drums

My name is Kyle Scheel. I started playing the drums when I joined the school band at 11. My roots are in snare drumming, but I joined the school Jazz Band when I was 13, and I started to play set. I dropped out right before ninth grade because school band wasn't really my thing and the only thing that I ever really enjoyed about it was my instructor, Mr. McAdams, who I wouldn't have in High School anyway.

So I ended up not playing at all for a little over three years. In 2007, I picked back up my sticks in order to play in a worship band at church with Emma and we slowly just started to play some of her stuff, and work out the parts for them. My favorite drummer of all time is Jose Pasillas from the band Incubus because of the complexity of his drumlines, but I would say that I take more influence from Max Weinberg from the E Street Band.

The equipment I use is a Ludwig Accent LC 125 five piece set with Remo Pinstripe Heads and Zildjian cymbals with a Wuhan China.