Tom Hoelle: Bio!

Ever the student...

• In the Beginning - Growing up in the midwest in the 60's, Tom's childhood was pretty typical... sandlot sports, Saturday movies, and playing "air-guitar" to the songs of The Beatles.  It wasn't long before Beatle-mania had really taken hold and it seemed like everyone was getting a guitar.  Tom was no exception... his older brother Bob was the first of the siblings to embark on the art, but soon began teaching Tom the chords to favorite songs of the day.

• Early Connections - By the early 70's, Tom was firmly entrenched in typical teenage life and playing in local Rock and Roll bands with names such as "Snowbourn", "Pearl", and "Big Black Smoke".  This placed him in direct contact with some of the more talented local artists and is where he first began to hone his own talents as an ensemble guitarist.  Tom generally preferred the workings of the rhythm section and focused his efforts on contributing to what he considered the more "musical" aspects of the bands' sound.  While the bands were geared toward rocking out audiences with the popular sounds of early 70's "hard rock", Tom would spend his personal time listening to the more esoteric sounds of progressive rock.  Groups like Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd were his preference.  Writing songs for the various bands he was in, Tom would dream of the day when he could set-up his own studio to record music the way he wanted, whenever he wanted.  Early attempts at multi-tracking were evidenced in crude recordings where he would record one guitar line on a cheap cassette recorder, then play along with that while recording on another recorder... then bounce back again to add yet another track.  Under the circumstances, the quality of the recordings was less than stellar, but the efforts were very educational and inspiring.

• Priorities - Enrolling at a local college in the fall of 1975, Tom decided to focus his efforts on his education and he quit playing in bands... but he never quit playing the guitar.  Time being of value, he began to slowly reach more toward acoustic guitar than electric.  He gradually began to further develop some of the basic fingerstyle techniques that he'd picked up along the way.

• Early Attempts - By the late 70's, he found himself settling into family life. Soon his dreams of setting up his own studio began to re-emerge and he purchased a reel-to-reel tape recorder with Sound-on-Sound capabilities.  This was the same type of recording technique that he had experimented with years before... except that now he was using equipment designed for the function.  The results showed an improved sound quality, but still far from the professional studio sound that he had wanted to achieve.

• Musical Re-focus - At about the same time, Tom began taking his studies of fingerstyle acoustic into the auspicious realms of classical music.  Having had no formal training, progress was slow - but steady... and certainly rewarding.  Picking out notes from sheet music and translating them using the guitar's fretboard was a daunting task, but again... very educational.  He began developing his phrasing techniques to emphasize the emotional elements of the musical content.  The results of pulling this all together into one living, flowing musical entity made the effort well worth it.

• Multi-tracking (at last!) - It was in the early 80's when Tom acquired his first real multi-track recorder.  It was a 4 channel machine that would allow him to record 4 separate tracks before having to mix and "bounce" his material to make room for more.  He bought a small mixer to go with it, along with some inexpensive outboard effects and thus began to develop his audio production techniques.  Soon he had purchased a bass and a basic drum machine.  This time was marked by a surge in his songwriting efforts, having finally achieved a method of recording his creations.  It was these early recordings that sparked the development of his style of arrangement to achieve a full sound within the confines of limited tracks.

• Yet another Re-focus - By the late 80's, Tom was now in his 30's and with the purchase of a new acoustic guitar, he began to re-discover songs from his formative years, including The Beatles, C,S+N, etc.  Seeming to relive that era of development, he next began translating into acoustic arrangements some of the more "hard rock" styles that he'd played with the bands years before.  Ever the student, he began exploring the roots of his favorite Rock artists and soon found himself buried deeply in the blues... acoustic blues in particular.  But while studying the styles of the great Delta bluesmen, he soon discovered that their crude offerings were not the driving force behind this music, but rather the emotional delivery.  He found the more polished production from the "big citys" like Chicago... along with more contemporary variants to be more palatable.  He began translating some of these characteristics into his own style of playing.

• New friends and old habits - It was the early 90's when mutual friends introduced him to fellow guitarist Rob Hinson.  It happened that the two of them were interested in the same types of music and they quickly became close friends.  Rob re-introduced him to the world of public performance.  They started by playing at parties for their friends and quickly developed into a full fledged Rock and Roll band called "The Resonators".  Driven by the sheer camaraderie of close friends working together to entertain their audience, the band thrived for a full decade before outside scheduling conflicts finally took their toll.

• Enter the "digital age" - and with the possibilities now available, Tom's passion for studio work begins to emerge once again.  He bought a digital multi-track recorder and began to amass the tools needed to achieve those dreams he had had so many years before.  His songwriting efforts took on a new life and his many years of experience and study began to unfold in what would ultimately culminate in the release of 3 full length cd's, comprised of songs reflecting the various styles picked up along the way... including a full length "concept" album in the style of some of those great esoteric bands he listened to in his formative years in the late 60's and early 70's.  His style of arrangement shines through and his audio engineering skills show remarkable advancement.  Additionally, joining forces with several local musicians, they formed a band called Underlying Dream to use as an outlet for original tunes.  This studio band produced enough music for a cd release of their own!

• What now? - Today you'll find Tom writing and recording new songs, studying recording techniques and sitting in on sessions with friends he's picked up along the way...  He's just finished his third solo cd and continues working to develop his writing, performing, and recording techniques.  And of course, there's the logical next step... videos!  YouTube videos are now providing a continued outlet for his music...

Ever the student... the story continues...