Album Notes

Randy Jacobs was born on March 14, 1974. Youngest of four boys, his mother and all three brothers are musicians. The entire family plays the guitar, so a guitar was very easy to find lying around the house for young Randy.

Seeing a great musical potential in her children, Randy's mother enrolled his older brother Mark and Randy in accordian lessons. That did not last very long. Both youngsters made rapid progress but grew uninterested. Ask him about the accordian today and Randy will likely say, "A gentleman is someone who knows how to play an accordian, but refrains from doing so in public".

Randy quickly showed his musical preference for the guitar and would fairly constantly be seen playing a five-dollar instrument that his father bought for him. On his eighth birthday his great uncle gave him an old Mellotune electric guitar. The guitar was cool, but needed some work so Randy's big brother Mike and his father "hot-rodded" it. The Mellotune was in desperate need of a paint job so Randy's father painted it purple. It was never reassembled.

Feeling it was time for Randy to grow to a bigger guitar his parents bought him an explorer copy for a Christmas present. "I picked it out... I wanted one just like Edward VanHalen's guitar." This guitar was red with orange sripes all over it.

At the age of 19 Randy formed the band Jacobs Ladder along with longtime friends John Vaca and Henry Higgs. The trio spent six months rehearsing then released a four song EP (SERIOUSLY UNAVAILABLE) and performed as many shows as they could hoping to get some exposure from a record company. Though the EP sold well nobody was knocking on their door.

The band decided it was time to produce their own CD titled "VIBE". The CD attracted alot of attention from booking agents in the Los Angeles area as well as colleges. After four years of supporting the "VIBE" CD, Randy felt it was time for a change in direction. Randy was seeking a heavier sound with Jacobs Ladder. The end result was a new CD titled "Hostile Environment". Randy says, "We all felt we needed new music that was alot darker and heavier." In order to make this recording the band had to be as quick as they could making sure all music was well written and rehearsed before going into the studio.

"With the "VIBE" CD we spent a lot of our time experimenting, arguing and reworking songs. This ended up costing an arm and a leg. With "Hostile Environment" we were better prepared to record so we have no complaints.", Jacobs said.

Jacobs Ladder took a year and a half to record the CD and six months for mixing and mastering at TRU Recording studios. The band continues to perform shows and Randy is writting music for a possible follow up to the "Hostile Environment" CD.