Album Notes

SOZE is:
TJ Mohney - vocals
Patrick Conroy - guitar/vocals
Joe Whetsel - bass
Tom Smalara - percussion/vocals

With their jazzy, upbeat jam style and catchy harmonies, SOZE is identifiable as one of the freshest new bands today. Their distinctive acoustic guitar sound combined with jazz drumming and funk bass is a welcome sound wherever people want to dance or just have a good time.

Soze consists of TJ Mohney (lead vocals), Patrick Conroy (guitar/back-up vocals), Joe Whetsel (bass), Tom Smalara (drums/back-up vocals). After the break up of their previous band, TJ and Patrick started looking for a rhythm section. That search ended when Patrick met his former co-worker Tom Smalara.

"Tommy is truly a Jazz musician at heart", says Patrick. Besides being the bands drummer, Tom also co-writes the band's original music with guitarist Patrick Conroy. "The types of songs we are writing, combine all of our musical influences, from Phish to DMB to Marvin Gaye to Miles Davis."-ts Tom is a longtime member of the Pittsburgh Jazz Society, and has performed with numerous local jazz musicians. As an added bonus, Tom brought his longtime friend Joe Whetsel to the bands first practice.

After the break up of his former band Pineshake, Joe started doing studio work for various bands around the Pittsburgh area. "I knew that Joe's style would add a whole new dimension to our songs", says Tom. "He just meshed so well with the sound we were going for."

Soze's music combines elements of rock, jazz, blues, and funk to form a very upbeat, body moving style of music. "We just want to see everybody dance and have a good time....We all love to play music together".-jw