James Hook (producer)

James Hook (born 22 April, 1969 in Wichita, Kansas, U.S.) is a musician, sound engineer, and record producer.

Career

Musician

Early career was as a percussionist and vocalist - eventual guitarist/vocalist for Shyboy, a late 1980s touring band in the Midwest United States. Spent time in the studio working with and learning from Larry Funk who went on to record and engineer top selling R&B acts such as SWV and Usher, and has engineering/mixing/mastering credits on several gold and platinum records.

Producer

Owns and operates Skullsessions Studios out of Houston, Texas. (Katy, TX)

Usually referred to as "HOOK", James produces albums (mostly heavy-rock and pop) in Houston area, and has recorded and produced at least one album with national distribution in United States chain stores. Has also done work with bands throughout Texas and other states in the Mid-West.

Lonestar Pornstar

One of the first to benefit from spotting potential within the band Lonestar Pornstar (Houston rap-rock / now with BRP Records, a division of Houston based Broken Record Productions), he (pro bono) produced, recorded and mixed their first EP demo during the summer of 2004. This EP helped them achieve successes within the Houston music scene, as well as throuout much of Texas and the Gulf Coast. They captured the Houston Music Press' "Best Alternative Band 2005" and again in 2006.

BCD Music Group handles distribution for other artists such as Ludacris, Missy Elliot, Chamillionaire, Lil Flip, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Bizzy Bone, Slim Thug, Bun B, DJ Screw, Lloyd Banks and Lil Jon. In 2006, BCD added their rock/metal division and LoneStar PornStar was one of the first few acts to be signed, as well as MARZI (formerly of Superjoint Ritual), another Houston rock act, and national act Paparoach.

The Houston Band Coalition

While producing albums for paying customers who actively seek his talents, HOOK also continues to scout talent and produce albums pro-bono for acts which he deems viable. Many of the young bands he works with eventually become members of the HBC (Houston Band Coalition). The HBC is a non-profit organization which is put together and run by unsigned bands in the Houston area. The mission - to shed light on the growing and diversely talented rock-music scene in and around the Houston area, and to promote the scene as a whole, rather than as a competition between the bands.

Houston Heavy Hitters Club

As a way to remain a creative and supportive role in the Houston Rock Scene, Hook created the Houston Heavy Hitters Club in February 2007. More than 30 different musicians were picked from the Houston Rock Scene to participate in this first-of-its-kind experiment. The players were divided into 5 different "super-groups". The goal was to take a drummer, bassist, two guitarists, and two vocalists who had never played together previously and put them in a situation where they had to write and record two new songs on the fly in a matter of hours.

All of the tracks were done during the course of a weekend. Writing took place on Friday evening in a window of 4 hours. All music was tracked on the following Saturday, and the vocals were tracked on the following Sunday. Mixing and mastering of the album took place over the next months as time was available. A CD release party was staged at Fitzgerald's night club in Houston, TX, where the CD was made available to the public as a way of celebrating and promoting the local scene.