Joseph Pepper

Joseph Pepper

Joseph Pepper is a guitar player in the rock band Cartel. He is of Hispanic descent and was born in Tucson, Arizona, but moved to Conyers GA as a child where he would meet the other members of the band.

Early Years

He learned to play guitar and discovered early in his life that he wanted to pursue a career as a musician. His first playing experiences were at a small family church in Conyers. He formed a special bond with his youth pastor Jeffrey Jones, who became a mentor to Joseph, and encouraged his love of Music. In an interview, Joseph described Jones as, "A loving man who touched me in many ways. He was a huge part of my life as a child and without his guidance, I would not be doing what I love as my career today." [Jackson 2005 p. 34]

After playing in a few short lived Christian rock bands with his church, Joseph formed a band in Jr. high school called Panther Party Hat, inspired by his love of the animal (Joseph recently, got a tattoo of a panther after a Cartel show in St Pete, Florida on July 26 2008). The band played mostly Poison covers, with some original songs, and he became inspired by the guitar work of Pat Metheny. Once in high school, he met Will Pugh and Kevin Sanders and left Panther Party Hat to begin making music with his friends who would eventually become Cartel. [Jackson 2005 pg. 35]

Cartel

Cartel began playing small shows in their home town of Conyers, Ga and began to build a fan base in nearby Atlanta. They signed to a major record label and produced two albums. They will be recording a third album under a new record label in Oct 2008.

Band in a Bubble

The band had a unique experience in 2007 when they were on the MTV show Band In a Bubble. They lived in a glass dome with web cams set up everywhere and the fans could watch as the band recorded their second album. It was sponsored by Dr. Pepper (Joseph has no relation to the real Dr. Pepper) and KFC. It was a bit of a moral dilemma for Joseph because he is a member of PETA and a strong supporter of animal rights. Despite the fact that he is opposed to KFC's practice of using genetically altered chickens in its restaurants, he felt it was in the best interest of the band to set aside his ideological convictions to participate in the project. [ Hanson 2007 pg. 19]

Notes

References

*Jackson, Mike (2005). "In Deep with Cartel", Bandwatch, 34(35).
*Hanson, Christopher (2007). "Sitting Down with Joseph Pepper", Atlanta Music Press, 19.