Joel Graham is the bassist of English

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

band

Evile Evile are an English thrash metal band from Huddersfield, formed in 2004. They have experienced numerous line-up changes over the years, with drummer Ben Carter being the only member of the original line-up to have stayed consistently. The curr ...

and former bassist of metal band Rise to Addiction.

Biography

Graham was born on 10 February 1977 in

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

, England. He was strongly influenced and supported by his parents from a young age to enjoy music and was taken to rock shows from the age of 7 to see such bands as

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris (musician), Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the line-up for most ...

and

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

. Graham started playing Bass as his main instrument in 1988 playing in local bands around the West Yorkshire area. He moved to Nottingham in 1999 and helped form the stoner rock band Ninedenine who released the highly praised Scars E.P in 2001. During this time he also worked at

Earache Records Earache Records is a British independent record label, music publisher and management company founded by Digby Pearson in 1985, based in Nottingham, England, with offices in London and New York. The label helped to pioneer extreme metal by r ...

processing orders for the label's then-first webstore. In May 2004, Graham moved to

Kenora Kenora (), previously named Rat Portage (), is a city situated on the Lake of the Woods in Ontario, Canada, close to the Manitoba boundary, and about east of Winnipeg by road. It is the seat of Kenora District. The history of the name exten ...

in Northwest Ontario, Canada where he spent time volunteering in the

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

community.

Rise to Addiction

In 2006, Graham returned to his birth town of Dewsbury and replaced Rob Naylor as the bassist of Rise to Addiction. Graham co-wrote and played on the albums ''A New Shade of Black for the Soul'' 2007 and ''Some Other Truth'' 2009.

Evile

On 16 December 2009, Graham was announced as the replacement for Mike Alexander, the founding Evile bassist who died whilst on tour in Sweden on 5 October 2009. Graham played his first show with Evile on 14 January 2010 at Cardiff Barfly, also the same day his daughter was born. After a long intensive tour through the United States in 2010, he began recording the third Evile album '' Five Serpent's Teeth''. This is the first Evile album to feature him as the bass player, although the re-dux edition of '' Infected Nations'' released in 2010 contained a bonus disc of live material which featured him playing bass.

Writing

In early 2014, Graham joined Bass Guitar Magazine as a reviewer and contributing writer.

Playing style

Joel Graham uses both a finger-picking style and a plectrum when performing, although his preferred style is finger-picking. Graham mainly uses the alternate two-finger (index and middle finger) picking style, but he performs a speedy three-finger roll style (made famous by bassist

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician known for playing bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing style, includ ...

) during faster songs such as "Descent into Madness" and "Long Live New Flesh". He uses a plectrum for all songs originally performed by Mike Alexander, commenting in several interviews that he wanted to play those songs just as Alexander did.

Influences

Graham has cited bassists including Steve Harris,

John Entwistle John Alec Entwistle (9 October 194427 June 2002) was an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist for the rock band the Who. Entwistle's music career spanned over four decades. Nicknamed "The Ox" and "Thunderfingers", he was the band ...

Cliff Burton Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was an American musician who served as the bassist for the thrash metal band Metallica from 1982 until his death in 1986. He is renowned for his musicianship and influence. Burton ...

Les Claypool Leslie Edward Claypool (born September 29, 1963) is an American rock music, rock musician. He is the founder, lead singer, bassist, and primary songwriter of the band Primus (band), Primus. Listed as one of the greatest bassists of all time by ...

, Scott Reeder,

Pat Badger Patrick John Badger (born July 22, 1967) is a musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the bass guitarist in the band Extreme. He has also performed in groups such as Tribe of Judah and Dark Desert Eagles. Early life Badger was born in ...

Frank Bello Frank Bello (born July 9, 1965) is an American musician who plays bass for the thrash metal band Anthrax. He was also a member of Helmet from 2004 to 2005 and has been the touring bassist of Norwegian black metal band Satyricon since 2024. Earl ...

and

John Deacon John Richard Deacon (born 19 August 1951) is an English retired musician who was the bass guitarist for the rock band Queen. He wrote several songs for the group, including Top 10 hits " You're My Best Friend", "Another One Bites the Dust" a ...

as influences.

Discography

Rise to Addiction

* ''A New Shade of Black for the Soul'' (Mausoleum) 2007 * ''Some Other Truth'' (Mausoleum) 2009

Evile

*'' Infected Nations'' redux edition, disc 2 (

) 2010 *'' Five Serpent's Teeth'' (Earache Records) 2011 *''

Skull The skull, or cranium, is typically a bony enclosure around the brain of a vertebrate. In some fish, and amphibians, the skull is of cartilage. The skull is at the head end of the vertebrate. In the human, the skull comprises two prominent ...

'' (Earache Records) 2013 *'' Hell Unleashed'' (

Napalm Records Napalm Records is an Austrian independent record label focused on heavy metal, hard rock and folk/folk rock/folk metal. Originally, Napalm focused on black metal bands, such as Abigor and Summoning, and folk metal bands, such as Falkenbach a ...

) 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Joel English heavy metal bass guitarists English male bass guitarists Musicians from Dewsbury Living people 1977 births 21st-century English male musicians 21st-century English bass guitarists English male songwriters