Stolen Ogre

There are a lot of talented rock musicians in the Pacific Northwest . Every once in a while, a group of these musicians will come together to form a band. That is what happened with the band Stolen Ogre. The members had been around for a while and then decided to play together. One of the musicians in Stolen Ogre was a founding member of Blues Traveler. Stolen Ogre recorded an album last year that is extraordinary. The title of this album is Road To Jericho. It was released on the Shadowhawk Records label.

Road To Jericho has 10 tracks and a run time of 47 minutes.

Pamela Tobiason is the lead vocalist for Stolen Ogre. You can feel how she takes charge of the music from the first verse of Lay Me Down. It is the first track of the album. Pamela has a Janis Joplin quality to her voice, only a lot smoother. The music on the song is very intricate. There is cool saxophone, tough Southern Rock styled guitar riffs and a ton of other background sounds to give Pamela a great foundation for her vocals.

Confusion is the second track. Pamela comes across a bit like Grace Slick in this song. The song is slower paced but kicks in a really hot sax fronted bridge.

The third track is Jericho . This is an anthem that invokes Biblical images of retribution and redemption. That is amplified with lyrics like “something says forgive them for they know not what they do.” But she'll take their lives in place of hers and lay gold across their eyes. She doesn't want to die where she is at. The song again has excellent music providing Pamela a great background for her vocals.

The music on the album has a touch of Blues Traveler in it. That might be because, as I mentioned earlier, one of the founding members of Stolen Ogre was also a founding member of Blues Traveler. That musician is drummer Brendan Hill. He met and jammed with keyboardist and songwriter Michael McMorrow during the 1996 H.O.R.D.E. festival. This gave birth to the band now known as Stolen Ogre.

The band soon accumulated members and began playing in and around Seattle . David Simpson joined the band as a guitarist and The Reverend Scott “Junior” Adams came on board as the resident sax player. Steve Manning joined as the bassist and the group chose Pamela Tobiason to front the vocals for them.

Sister Moon has an intro of Pamela on the phone, leaving a message on someone's machine. This is a song in which Pamela sounds a bit like Janis Joplin. The song has some funky organ and guitar.

Wheat is a song that has decent acoustic guitar and a mixture of other great instruments. In fact, there isn't a song on the album that doesn't have fantastic music on it. Pamela's vocals are greatly complemented by the background music.

Three is an anthem like song with a swaying beat. A Dozen A Day has some fantastic guitar, especially in the middle of the song.

Other songs on the album are Grind, Leave Me Alone and Icing. Grind has sax bits mixed in with the guitars and drums that make this sound somewhat like a Blues Traveler. Of course, Pamela's vocals are of a different range than John Popper's. There is also some synth music in Grind that is reminiscent of Three Dog Night.

All of the lyrics on the album were written by Pamela. The music was written by various people, mainly Michael McMorrow.

The last song on the album, Icing, has a combination of styles that reach back through the last three decades of rock music.

If you are a fan of Blues Traveler, Dave Matthews or music of similar styles, you will love Stolen Ogre. They have an extraordinary lead singer in Pamela Tobiason. Their music has a broad mix of guitar, saxophone, drums and bass that combined make for fantastic sounding songs.

Road To Jericho is available at TowerRecords.com and through CD Baby.

To find out more about Stolen Ogre, especially how they got their name, visit www.stolenogre.com .

The band provides some MP3's of live recordings at various club dates and jams on the web site.

- BVS Reviews 3/05

This Pacific Northwest jam band compiles a pleasant blend of horn and string arrangements. The band is made up of Pamela Tobiason (lead vocals), Michael McMorrow (piano, organ, guitar), David Simpson (guitar), Marc Willett (bass), and a lending hand from Blues Traveler drummer, Brendan Hill. The CD is a tight compilation of well-arranged and mastered tunes. I enjoyed their title single “Road to Jericho.” Tobiason somehow manages to successfully pull off a Janis Joplin vocal style that works. There is something about the raspy vocal style and nice instrumental arrangement that gives this band a great shot at success. I would really like to see this band live and see how well they perform.
- Nashville Sun/ Rick Strader

Next on the agenda is a band coming from the Pacific Northwest calling themselves Stolen Ogre. The band has been making some waves in the scene out there and now is their time to try to break out nationally. Let us see what they have in store for us. Comprised of a founding member of Blues Traveler (Brendan Hill, drums) and a former member of Taj Mahal (Michael McMorrow, keyboards), I was ready for an interesting CD indeed that included all original tracks. After the first couple of tracks, I think I have this band figured out. It definitely has some jam band tendencies, but it has a little more rock than anything else. The vocalist, Pamela Tobiason, belts out each song with a sweetness and an attitude reminiscent of the late great Janis Joplin. Probably the most impressive aspect of the disc is the musicianship of all the artists involved. Scott Adams has a wonderful sax solo on the track "Wheat" which was none less than impressive. However, my favorite thing on the disc was the organ. There is nothing cooler than listening to Michael McMorrow jam out on the boards like that. It is really hard trying to put these people in a specific genre because they take so much from so many different areas. Bottom line I would say it's rock, folk, jam, and pop, all mixed together into one big happy concoction. Overall, I thought Stolen Ogre was right down the middle of my musical preferences. Check it out. It is worth it.
- Enigmaonline.com

Blues Traveler’s Brendan Hill was a founding member of Seattle’s Stolen Ogre, a group he formed with keyboard player Michael McMorrow after they met on the 1996 HORDE tour. Hill’s Traveler duties eventually led him to stop his regular appearances with the group, although he has recorded with the band. Now Hill’s BT bandmate John Popper will guest with the group when it appears on the Music Aid Northwest and KZOK 102.5FM Tsunami Relief Concert, on January 28 at The Premier Club in Seattle. Also on the bill are a new group from YES’ Alan White and the Geoffrey Castle Band with Roger Fisher and Mike Derosier (Heart).

- Jambands.com

Immediately after the Asian Tsunami which hit shores on December 26th and has claimed over 200,000 lives, individuals across the globe wondered what they could do to help the survivors of this natural disaster. Many of us made faceless, seemingly impersonal donations to a variety of causes. We tried to wrap our minds around how such a large scale clean-up effort might even begin to take place. But for many of us the feeling of distanced impotence remained and the belief that our donations could not even make a dent dominated our thoughts. However, for the board of Music Aid Northwest (MAN), the Tsunami was a galvanizing force; "Let's throw a benefit show." Within three weeks, David Harris and Mike Sherrill, among others, had organized a show with local artists donating their time, and Mark Naficy, MAN board member and owner of The Premier Club donating a terrific venue. 100% of the proceeds were designated to go directly to CARE, one of the world's leading humanitarian organizations.
Friday, January 28th, several hundred people came out to support the relief effort and to see performances by Stolen Ogre featuring recent Pacific North West transplant John Popper and co-Traveler Brendan Hill, with the Geoffrey Castle Band featuring two members of Heart, and White, featuring Alan White of Yes. The evening rounded out with an all-star finale with all these musicians, as well as a Jimi Hendrix impersonator, indulging in a 70's-inspired, solo-heavy set. KZOK 102.5 FM, Seattle's classic rock station was a major sponsor, and their target demographic was prominently represented both on stage and in the audience. There were other impersonators roaming around and taking pictures with audience members as well as artists offering up caricatures – all for a wee donation. The event was definitely a success, and it really couldn't have been better for people watching.

By the end of the evening, the benefit had raised over $10,200 for CARE to use for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. A bit about the organization: CARE has a long-term presence in over 70 developing nations, including 30 years in all the countries affected by the disaster. CARE's focus is two-fold; first, to aid in emergency relief and immediate rehabilitation, and second, to continue promotion of community development and basic social services. Immediately after the tsunami struck, before our government had even responded, CARE staff in five affected countries were already distributing clean water and water purification tablets, food, basic medicines and first aid kits, shelter and bedding, clothing, soap, and candles. CARE USA is just over half-way to their goal of raising $50 million to aid the efforts in the years to come. If you would like to make a contribution, please visit www.careusa.org. For every $1 donated, CARE is often able to leverage another $6 in funds from public sources, which can go a very long way.

It's truly heartwarming to see the response as other artists are staging their own benefits; notably moe. and Trey Anastasio at the Roseland Ballroom on February 10th. There have been many, many "All-Star" events around the world already, with more planned. Indeed, a show featuring Seattle's own all-stars - members of Alice in Chains, Heart, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, and others - is in the works for February 18th at The Premiere Club, again with proceeds going directly to CARE. For artists and their fans, it is contributing to a greater humanitarian effort that brings them peace. As Stolen Ogre's Michael McMorrow put it, "We don't have much control over Mother Nature, but we do have control over how we treat each other... It's all how we respond, how we act as people."

- Jambase

Stolen Ogre along with Blues Traveler front-man John Popper have been added to the stellar line up of the Music Aid Northwest and KZOK 102.5FM benefit, The Tsunami Relief Concert, 8 p.m. January 28th 2005 at The Premier Club.
Other performers included the debut of Alan White's "White" featuring drummer Alan White of YES, John Lennon's Imagine LP, George Harrison's All Things Must Past LP), rock-fusion act The Geoffrey Castle Band (with special guest guitarist Roger Fisher and drummer Mike Derosier of Heart and Alias), and an all-star finale including special guest T.B.A. General admission tickets will be available through www.care.org/musicaid and at the door. The announcement and interview with Alan White about the concert on KZOK's The Bob River Show can be heard on Stolen Ogre's website at www.stolenogre.com.

Stolen Ogre's Michael McMorrow said, "I am honored to be part of the larger tsunami relief effort; to be part of the humanitarian side of the human race, a part of our true common cause to help each other as one human race, one world. We don't have much control over Mother Nature; but we do have control over how we treat each other, how we respect one another. It's all in how we respond, how we act as people. Unfortunately, it takes an event like this to wake us up to the fact we are all one family riding on the planet. Though in the big picture our time here is extremely brief, what we do now directly affects the 6 billion + people who will take our place here in a 100 years."

Stolen Ogre's performance with Popper marks an interesting full circle for the band. It was on a H.O.R.D.E. festival tour that McMorrow met and jammed with Blues Traveler drummer Brendan Hill. Inspired from those jam sessions, Hill along with McMorrow became founding members of Stolen Ogre which, in fact, was named after a good luck ogre doll that resided on Hill's drum kit during Blues Traveler's early years. Hill also recorded on the band's current release Road To Jericho of which Enigma magazine noted, "It is really hard trying to put these people in a specific genre because they take so much from so many different areas. Bottom line, its rock, folk, jam and pop all mixed together in one big happy concoction."


- Jambase

A number of artists have teamed up for three separate Tsunami Benefit Concerts, all scheduled to take place within the next few weeks. On January 28, John Popper will join Stolen Ogre at Seattle, WA's The Premier Club for the Aid Northwest and KZOK 102.5FM Tsunami Relief Concert. Stolen Ogre's ties with Blues Traveler run deep: Blues Traveler drummer Brendan Hill co-founded Stolen Ogre with keyboardist Michael McMorrow following the 1996 HORDE tour. In addition, Yes' Alan White and the Geoffrey Castle Band with Roger Fisher and Mike Derosier (Heart) are also scheduled to perform on the multi-band will.
"We don't have much control over Mother Nature; but we do have control over how we treat each other, how we respect one another," McMorrow says. "It's all in how we respond, how we act as people."

Three days later, on January 31, New York's BB King's Blues Club will welcome a series of special guests for The NYC Tsunami Relief Jam. Organized by Licorice's David Lott, the bill also includes the Steve Kimock Band, The Benevento/Russo Duo, RANA's Scott Metzger, Eric Krasno and Adam Deitch, as well as several unannounced special guests.

On February 10, moe. will play host to a Tsunami Benefit at Roseland Ballroom. Throughout the evening, Trey Anastasio, John Medeski, Sam Bush and Ray Paczkowski will join the band for one of the year's most high-profile benefits. Proceeds from the concert will be directed to the Bama Works Village Recovery Fund and will be matched by the Dave Matthews Band.

"The scope and breadth of this disaster are beyond comprehension," moe. guitarist Al Schnier says. "As musicians on the other side of the world, we can't help feeling a bit helpless. Our hope is to contribute in some small way to help reestablish the communities damaged in the wake of these recent storms."

- Relix

Thirteen winners have been chosen for the second annual JamOff competition. This year's winners were picked from a pool of over 300 unsigned artists by a panel of Relix Magazine and Jambands.com staff members and hail from all corners of the country. Each winner will be featured on a CD-compilation which will be included in an upcoming issue of Relix and will also be distributed at music events across the country. Several artists will also be featured in a New York City showcase this fall. The 2005 JamOff winners are Corinne West, Delta Nove, Free Peoples, Furley, Green Lemon, Jacob, Jazz Bastards, Plum Crazy, Scarecrow Collection, Stolen Ogre, Swamp Cabbage, The Blue Method and The Hot Buttered Rum String Band.

- Relix

Stolen Ogre's Michael McMorrow and Pamela Tobiason will offer a rare duo set at Columbia Meadows, OR’s Shakedown Campout and Music Festival next weekend. The JamOff winners are expected to perform stripped down acoustic versions of Stolen Ogre material and other rarities. As previously reported the Shakedown Campout has been moved from Horning’s Hideout to Columbia Meadows. Other acts scheduled to perform at the Shakedown Campout include Hydra, Spearhead, Medeski, Martin, & Wood, Galactic, The Duo, DJ Logic, Keller Williams, Sound Tribe Sector 9 and a Steve Kimock-led version of the Everyone Orchestra.

- Jambands.com