Joel Ekman – Drums
Full Name: Joel Baron Ekman
Date of Birth: May 13,1973
Place of Birth:
Bands: Kicking And Screaming, Freakshow, SuperEgo, Closure, Stone Sour
Current Band: Isaac James
About: “My name is Joel Ekman from Des Moines, IA and am best known as the original drummer of the two time Grammy nominated band Stone Sour. Due to a family illness, I stepped aside from the band and took care of my eight year old son Isaac James Ekman who was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor in September of 2005. Sad to say we lost the battle seven months later. I have since then taken a few years off to center myself once again and have now formed a new band. The band is called ISAAC JAMES.”
Quotes:
Corey about the Joel’s departure: “It’s kind of hard to talk about. Out of respect for him, we’re not going to talk about it much. We will say that it’s a difficult situation and our thoughts are with him and his family. But at the end of the day you have to move forward and just concentrate on the future and what’s going to happen, you know?”
Equipment: Joel playes on a Starclassic Performer drum set from TAMA Drums.
Drums:
16″x22″ Bass Drum (SPB22DN)
16″x22″ Bass Drum (SPB22DN)
5.5″x14″ Snare Drum (SWS55T)
8″x8″ Tom Tom (SPT8D)
9″x10″ Tom Tom (SPT10D)
10″x12″ Tom Tom (SPT12D)
11″x13″ Tom Tom (SPT13D)
16″x16″ Floor Tom (SPF16D)
16″x18″ Floor Tom (SPT18D)
Hardware:
Iron Cobra Power Glide Single Pedal (HP900P)
Iron Cobra Velo Glide Hi-Hat Stand (HH805)
1st Chair Ergo-Rider Drum Throne (HT730)
Other Ex-Members:
Bruce Swink – Guitar
Bruce played for Stone Sour briefly in 1997. He is now at home working on solo material and spending time with his family after internal problems with nu-metal nutters downthesun.
Other bands: Spore, Atomic Opera, Modifidious, Deadfront, Facecage, downthesun
BJ Harrison – Guitar
BJ was one of the original guitarists of Stone Sour and joined the band alongside with Josh Rilying. However, BJ disappeared in the early years of the band and is no longer in contact with any of the band members.
Josh Rilying: “Concerning BJ Harrison…he was a young kid that really brought me around to playing guitar. He was an excellent player. Some of the live earlier stuff is him playing lead. He played just about all of it at first, then I began playing some. After he left, I took about a month and learned it all. That was tough and scary. I have to say that I owe him a lot. He really taught me to have confidence in myself and we spent hours playing and playing. I learned quite a bit from him. When we first decided we were going to start a band, I hardly played rhythm. Learned quite a bit listening to him play. And he was relentless in practicing…coming over to my apartment at least 3 times a week to play and show me things he wrote. He’s a cool guy and now I just wonder where the hell he is!!!
I always loved music, but his passion and perseverance really rubbed off on me. I was sorry to see him leave the band.”
Josh Rilying – Guitar
Josh joined the band after advertising in music shops in Des Moines, IA. Corey, needing a guitarist, called soon after. After showing his incredible guitar ability in front of Corey and Joel, Josh was asked to join Stone Sour and remained until the split in ’97.
Erin Smith – Guitar
Denny Harvey – Guitar
Danny Spain – Drums
Danny Spain, current drummer for nu-metal band downthesun, was brought into what was known as Project X in 2000. He left in 2001 and was consequently replaced by original drummer Joel Ekman.
Other bands: Atomic Opera, Deadfront, Painface, downthesun
Weeter Kane – Guitar
Marty Smith – Guitar
Jimmy – Guitar
Todd Smith – Bass
Tony C. – Bass
