John Skeels
Bands
Biography
From the Bastet website:
John Patrick Skeels was born in Aurora, Colorado on December 28, 1980 and grew up in Littleton, Colorado. As many musicians do, John became involved in the music programs offered by his elementary school. He played trombone in the school band. While he learned the ways of the bone in school, he taught himself how to play drums. He fashioned a drum kit out of a trashcan and a couple of empty jugs. It was just enough to get the basics down. By the time John was in 7th grade, he got a real set of drums, and was playing trombone and drums in his middle school jazz band.
In middle school, John and a friend whom he met in the jazz band became friends and immediately started writing music together and playing in bands, they formed outside of school. During this time, John played drums in these "garage bands" and started picking at his friend's, father's vintage Gibson Les Paul. This guitar and the overwhelming urge to learn the ways of this gold-bodied beauty inspired John. So, he learned how to play guitar as well. At home, John's mother had an old nylon string guitar that was good enough to learn the basics on and she had some chord books to go with it; John started strumming out chords and writing lyrics.
In high school, John and his friend met a drummer whom enthusiastic about starting a rock band and very interested in collaborating with someone to do so. The drummer knew a bassist with whom he played for some time in other projects. This group of goofy guys became "The Sneaky Peets". They played throughout high school with some personnel changes along the way. In the spring of 1999, The Sneaky Peets recorded a seven song CD. Shortly after recording John's friend went away to college at the University of North Texas, and the rest of the band's members went in their own directions. During this time John wrote some tunes, and also briefly returned to playing drums in a blues band with the bassist from The Sneaky Peets.
After about a year of working day jobs and digging a deeper repetitive daily rut, John indulged his collegiate friend at UNT by moving down to Denton, Texas and starting another band. The new band was The Sneaky Peets reincarnated but with a new line up and more jazz influenced songs. The new band never went anyplace in it's brief existence and went through about three different rhythm sections. In early June of 2001 the band put an ad up for a female vocalist. About a week after the ad had been posted, John received a call from another UNT music student by the name of Adrienne Singletary. She came to a rehearsal to see the band play and try out. She got the job. This is also when the band rule of no dating in the band was broken as John and Adrienne found that they were more than just musically compatible. John and Adrienne began writing music together and soon found that they wanted to start a band of their own. Thus Bastet was born!
In middle school, John and a friend whom he met in the jazz band became friends and immediately started writing music together and playing in bands, they formed outside of school. During this time, John played drums in these "garage bands" and started picking at his friend's, father's vintage Gibson Les Paul. This guitar and the overwhelming urge to learn the ways of this gold-bodied beauty inspired John. So, he learned how to play guitar as well. At home, John's mother had an old nylon string guitar that was good enough to learn the basics on and she had some chord books to go with it; John started strumming out chords and writing lyrics.
In high school, John and his friend met a drummer whom enthusiastic about starting a rock band and very interested in collaborating with someone to do so. The drummer knew a bassist with whom he played for some time in other projects. This group of goofy guys became "The Sneaky Peets". They played throughout high school with some personnel changes along the way. In the spring of 1999, The Sneaky Peets recorded a seven song CD. Shortly after recording John's friend went away to college at the University of North Texas, and the rest of the band's members went in their own directions. During this time John wrote some tunes, and also briefly returned to playing drums in a blues band with the bassist from The Sneaky Peets.
After about a year of working day jobs and digging a deeper repetitive daily rut, John indulged his collegiate friend at UNT by moving down to Denton, Texas and starting another band. The new band was The Sneaky Peets reincarnated but with a new line up and more jazz influenced songs. The new band never went anyplace in it's brief existence and went through about three different rhythm sections. In early June of 2001 the band put an ad up for a female vocalist. About a week after the ad had been posted, John received a call from another UNT music student by the name of Adrienne Singletary. She came to a rehearsal to see the band play and try out. She got the job. This is also when the band rule of no dating in the band was broken as John and Adrienne found that they were more than just musically compatible. John and Adrienne began writing music together and soon found that they wanted to start a band of their own. Thus Bastet was born!
