Gravediggers Jokebook

Gravediggers Jokebook was created in August of 1998 when two friends from Jay, OK were sitting around having a beer and decided to take their everyday hobbies and turn them into a career. Those two members were Ryan Lancaster and Mike "Midnite" Teehee. Ryan had a real unique, spoken word, singing/screaming style and Midnite played guitar ranging from heavy, distorted riffs to clean, beautiful, yet eerie style riffs. They started writing songs together and thus formed Gravediggers Jokebook.
Now the next thing for them to do was to find the rest of the band so they could pursue their dream. Mike put up numerous fliers around Northeastern Oklahoma stating... "Drummer and Bassist needed whose influences include Meshuggah, Acid Bath, Clutch and Machine Head." The first successful response was from Dave Ryals for bassist. Dave was a local Vinita resident so he had no problem making practice. Their next successful response was from Eric French for drummer, who also happened to be from Vinita. So the four of them got together, worked on the songs, and the songs came together perfectly. GJ was off to an awesome start.
Having a little push from Tim Asher who played Manager at first, GJ went into the studio after just two months and cut a four song demo. On New Years Eve of 1998-99, GJ landed their first gig. The audience loved it! GJ started to acquire many fans which created a following. GJ was stoked that people actually embraced and loved the band which they had created. This pushed GJ to record more songs and do more shows. Doing at least one to two shows a month for a year got their music out there and the bands feet wet in the music scene. They played with bands such as Bag Eyes, Thirty Ot Six who went on to become Still Breathing (Solid State Records), Downcast, Underside, The Agony Scene, and much more. Z104.5 The Edge started playing their demo in regular rotation on Tulsa’s Homegroan. GJ was really starting to enjoy their time as a Rock Band!
So the story ends and they all live happily ever after, right...? WRONG! Their bassist loses motivation and is terminated! Luckily, GJ saw this coming and had started training another local Vinita talent on the bass. Jeff Young, one of Eric's high school buddies took on the position of bassist in 2001. He fit great and the band was off again! GJ went into the studio and cut four more songs. They now had enough material to throw a full length cd together to spread around. In early 2002, GJ independently released their debut album,"Garden of Earthly Delight".
They continued to play and write more material but kind of started to cut down on the shows. Everyone in the band started having kids and that started to slow the band down even more. Just about that time GJ had major problems with their singer, Ryan, and bassist, Jeff. GJ was forced to terminate them both. So what GJ did now was pull Eric's two younger brothers into the band. Jeremiah French who stepped in as vocalist and Brian French as the new bassist! GJ suddenly took a turn for the better. They started steering clear of most of the slower stuff and just started becoming more brutal. Jeremiah added a real METAL, hardcore, heavier sound to the band. GJ was pretty much heavy now but hadn't lost that 80's groove that Midnite brings.
GJ started booking more shows and writing more music. GJ played DFest X-Rated in 2003 in Tulsa, OK and got a great response from the crowd. They liked having Jeremiah on board and the crowd loved him too. They cut a little three song demo straight out of the jam room for people to hear. Played more shows...wrote more songs... Then they cut a five song demo in the studio. They were finally starting to get somewhere. They were booked for a Major Record Label Showcase in St. Louis, MO at which Atlantic, Colombia and Island Def Jam records would attend. The booking agent called back 2 weeks prior to the showcase and informed them that there would be no METAL A&R Representatives at the showcase and refunded them their money.
If you think that’s bad, Jeremiah now decided that he was moving to California. Gravediggers were thrown for yet another loop! This time they were extremely frustrated. Every time these guys seem to get their feet back on the ground, someone in the band has to be fired or quits. Eric and Midnite were the only originals left in the band, but they still had Brian on bass.
GJ thought that it seemed kind of pointless to carry on under the same name so Midnite, Brian, and Eric found a new singer and started under the name, "Cherish the Memory". It was still GJ basically but with a new singer and a new name. CTM started playing shows and the band was hotter than ever! Playing 1-3 shows a week the band became like a machine. Getting tighter and still writing new material. CTM cut a three song demo in the studio and pushed themselves out there. They opened for bands such as Misery Index (Relapse), A Day to Remember (Victory), Intronaut, Fuck the Facts (Relaps