Who the hell are these guys

Growing up in Los Angeles, Jim Davis was raised in a musician’s household. His father played for such greats as Benny Goodman and The Dorsey Brothers. His mother is still playing bass at 87 years of age. Jim began playing the clarinet at age 8. Then he saw “THE BEATLES” and fell in love with guitar. The first band Jim played in was the first version of Van Halen in high school. Having had an argument with the leader, Eddie Van Halen, Jim quit the band and formed the band Rain and performed with Buddy Miles. They had one record entitled “Benita Road” and appeared on several local Los Angeles Rock TV shows. Jim went on to join Scarlet Jack and was busy in Hollywood doing studio session work for different songwriters’ demos. Life took a turn and Jim moved north to Santa Cruz where, in the 1980’s, he founded the band Undercover Blonde. Ten years later that band ended and Jim formed “PHAT CHANTS”. He presided over several personnel changes until he finally had the perfect group of musicians and friends, “PHAT CHANTS”.

Glenn Morse first picked up a pair of drumsticks at age eight. He honed his chops playing in garage bands during high school in Modesto, CA. After graduating, he joined a popular Top 40 band called New York Connection. Their many gigs throughout the San Joaquin Valley in the early 80s included an opening slot for Elvin Bishop. Glenn then spent a couple of years in L.A., playing mainly with an original power trio known as the Karey Doolin Band. After moving to the Bay Area in the mid-80s he anchored the rhythm section for The Crybaby Band, an oldies cover group. Glenn relocated to Washington State in the late 80s, where he played drums for the Olympia-based original band Brave New World. Since moving to Santa Cruz in 1995 he has played in numerous cover and original groups, including Dueling Julies, Torpedo Café, the Juvenators, and Roots 66. Whatever the style of music, Glenn always brings versatility and a solid back beat to the table and now he is rocking the beat of PHAT CHANTS.

The lead guitarist duties fall to musical veteran, Gary Martin. Gary grew up in Southern California and played in many different bands.  Soon after, Gary moved up north to Santa Cruz where he founded the 60’s style band, The Beagles. Since then he has founded The Blackouts and has done some original music projects. He has also become a very well respected recording producer at his own studio and produced the first PHAT CHANTS CD, “Between the Lines”. Gary has always been fascinated by the ups and downs of the band and when the opportunity came up, Gary jumped on the roller coaster named PHAT CHANTS.

Stephen J. Mahoney, (a native Bostonian) is a multi-faceted artist composer, arranger, keyboardist and vocalist. His original compositions incorporate styles from a variety of genres. Santa Cruz Phat Heads may recognize Mahoney from his street playing days in Santa Cruz with the experimental Pyrocussion band a few years ago. Stephen has also performed in much larger venues such as a Summer Fair in Rhode Island or the Nashville Now T.V. show on a Friday night that reached millions of people. He’s performed at John Ascuaga’s Celebrity show room in Reno and on the flight deck of the USS Ranger in the Indian Ocean. Stephen has played with Grammy Award winning artist Donna Fargo and he sat in with the Drifters on their Northern California tour. He’s played in Kodiak Alaska, for the summer and Fairbanks, Alaska, in the winter. He’s played on the North Korean side of the DMZ and performed for the U.S. Armed Forces in the European and Asian Theatres. Today he brings his talents and experience to PHAT CHANTS.