Jason Knorr

DOING IT ALL
Bluesy but rockin’ –
Written by Gerry Ulicny / October 2009

Jason Knorr has a lot on his plate and he’s always adding more. He’s a songwriting solo act, half of an acoustic duo called After Hours, and the singer of the cover band ShovelHead. He also has a (very supportive) wife, two daughters, and a full-time job. His musical schedule is filled with solo acoustic gigs at local restaurants and bars, with After Hours – a duo act which concentrates mostly on weddings and ‘gigs like that,’ he says, and a commitment twice a month with the rock band ShovelHead, which is sponsored by Schaeffer’s Harley Davidson.

Knorr says the biggest challenge of being a musician is balancing music and “real life,” and that it’s hard to even find time to practice. “I don’t practice nearly enough. I have two little girls, and work full time, so most of my rehearsing is at shows. Once in a while I get inspired to write a song though, and I will immerse myself into that,” Knorr says. “But it is hard to find time to do it all.” Luckily, his wife, Natasha, is not only understanding, she also goes the extra mile to bring Abigail Victoria (4) and Sophia Faith (3) to as many shows as she can. “I know it has to be hard on a Saturday night, when she is home with the kids, and I am going out to the bar to play a show, but she has never once complained or given me a hard time,” Knorr brags about his wife. And of the children, he says, “When I play acoustic shows at restaurants and other places like that, all my girls come out to dance and hear my play. Both my daughters are in ballet, so they love to do their ballet moves when I am playing. They are awesome dancers!”

Naturally, the kids don’t come to see him when he’s playing the clubs in his tough-guy incarnation as part of Shovelhead. Those guys rock hard and look like a bunch of biker dudes. Well, they are sponsored by the Harley Davidson shop. Shovelhead consists of Lou Ferrari on bass and Jim Snyder on guitar, plus a drummer. “We are currently auditioning for a professional drummer, but in the meantime Kerri Renninger is filling in, he is from the band Uncle Thirsty and he is amazing,” Knorr said.

The setup with After Hours, though, is a different personality all together. While Knorr might not don a suit and tie, the strumming duo is definitely clean and classy and they dish up the cheery and mellow favorites of the party and wedding crowds. The other half of After Hours is Jim Munster, a.k.a. FreakBoy (a childhood nickname that stuck). He and Jason have been ‘great friends for many years,’ ever since they met when both formed the band Seventh Hour. “He is an amazing musician, and as well as being one the best guitar players I have ever seen,” Knorr says, noting that Munster also had played the saxophone professionally when he was younger. Knorr heavily credits all the guys he plays with now.

When he’s out on his own, anything goes, and it’s here that you see that Jason’s musical case of multiple personalities is really a gift that grows from a single fluid, easygoing, and music-loving attitude. “I would have to say most of my music is based on Rock, but some of the material I write has also been Blues, Folk, and Country based. I really try not to limit myself to write in a specific style,” Knorr says. “When I write, I try to just let the song lead me where it needs to go and I don’t worry about whether it is in the same realm as the rest of my music.”

One thing that doesn’t change is that Knorr is all about the guitar. Actually, though, he began his musical ‘career’ with the alto saxophone when he was in elementary school. “I had always wanted to play an instrument, and I began…with the school band in the fourth grade.” he said. Knorr also plays drums and piano, but he will always maintain that of course the guitar is his first love. “I remember being young and wanting to be a musician, it was before I had a guitar. I remember blasting the Metallica Black Album while playing air guitar, my little brother (Frederick Reba) was pretending to sing in a mic, and my neighbor was playing air drums with a pair of drum sticks. I remember dreaming about what it would be like to perform music on a stage. I guess I always knew that I wanted to be a musician,” Knorr says. “I had an awesome uncle who was an amazing guitar player. I always wanted to be able to play like him.”

So when he was 15 years old, Jason Knorr walked into a music store and bought a guitar and an amplifier. The store offered some lessons but he quickly moved to private lessons with Jason Dapman. Within a few weeks he was calling everyone he knew to play “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” the Guns N Roses version, with his neighbor on drums. “We were officially rock stars at that moment, at least in our minds,” Knorr said. “The two of us must have played that song 500 times with no vocals or bass.”

Other early influences were a Michael Jackson and a Twisted Sister tape. “I would play them over and over on this little crappy tape player I got for Christmas. After that I was hooked,” he said. I distinctly remember getting the Bon Jovi, Slippery When Wet cassette and wearing the thing out” From there Jason moved to studying Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour, then all the “classics like Page, Hendrix, Clapton, Stevie Ray, et cetera.” Knorr says. “I also love Dave Matthews and John Mayer. I guess it all depends on what mood I am in that day.”

He has also studied under and been influenced by Tom Gries, who has credits with bands like Metropolis and Small Town. Gries is now in Bounty Hunter.His current musical influences and credits include all of the above plus a stint with cover band Allstar and later as the singer and chief songwriter in the group Seventh Hour. Seventh Hour achieved some success on the local level, recording two professional CD’s and even getting a few of their original songs airplay on local radio.

What’s next for Jason Knorr? Well, he has already packed his schedule with dates. ShovelHead will play Oct. 17th at Denny’s Hot Rod in Cressona and Oct. 24th at The Roundhouse in Saint Clair, while After Hours is booked Oct. 10th at The Wooden Keg in Saint Clair, Oct. 23rd at the Greystone in Pottsville, and Oct. 31st at the Porterhouse Grill in Pottsville.

Of course, he will be pursuing that elusive full-time musical career. He’ll never lose sight of the dream, even though it can be a long road, he says. “I would love to be able to make a living from my music. My passion is song writing. I could only imagine the types of creativity that could be tapped if all you had to do was make music and not have the burden of other jobs on top of it. I am sure that is every musicians dream and only a very select few get to realize it.”

For now, though, Jason is keeping very, very busy, recording some tracks, saving up for the next studio session, and perhaps the only thing even more important, is savoring his time with his family and hoping to nurture his daughters’ love of music. “I make some basic home recordings when I write new songs. I would love to get in the studio and record my songs with a full band, but it is very expensive, and right now I don’t have the extra money to do it,” he says. “But I am also very much looking forward to teaching my daughters to play.”

Jason Knorr
www.myspace.com/jasonknorrmusic

ShovelHead
www.myspace.com/shovelheadpa

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