I am a full time musician, born and raised in New York, currently living in L.A. I also spend time writing in Nashville.
Logging in one thousand live shows locally, I got my first real taste of the industry with the band Boystown. We signed a single deal in England with EMI, toured and recorded an album. My second break was a big one. I was lead guitarist/co-writer in the band Coward. In 1995, after only 6 months of playing around Manhattan, we managed to create a bidding war and ended up signing a record deal with Elektra Records. Shortly after signing the record deal, we signed a publishing deal with Warner-Chappel. We recorded our album in some of the world's best studios (Bearsville, Conway, Sear Sound) co-producing it with the late Jerry Finn (Green Day, Blink 182, Sum 41, Rancid, Butch Walker), engineered by Sean O'Dwyer. When the Coward record came out in 1996; we made a video, appeared on MTV and toured (mainly with labelmates Third Eye Blind).
After Coward, I moved to California. I played lead guitar and was Musical Director for Capitol recording artist Tommy Henriksen. The first single placed in the motion picture Blast From the Past. After Tommy, I played guitar for Capitol recording artist Meredith Brooks ("I'm a Bitch"). The band was massive; Herman Matthews on drums (Tom Jones, Tower of Power, Kenny Loggins, Richard Marx), Will Hollis on keys (currently playing for The Eagles, Don Henley), Mark Meadows on bass (Edgar Winter, John Waite). It was with Meredith that I got to fulfill one of my childhood dreams, playing Madison Square Garden. We opened for The Eurythmics. I also played The Staples Center, did a bunch of TV shows (Jay Leno, Rosie O'Donnell, Queen Latifah, Martin Short). We toured around the US and Europe.
After that, I kept myself busy writing, producing and performing. I released Classic New Rock, and joined another band, Honey River. I've also been touring with legendary rock group The Babys, who reformed in 2013 and have since released a new album titled I'll Have Some of That! which included the song "I See You There" (which I wrote).
Most recently, in 2021 Joey has been producing and writing songs for Lance Lopez. Lance is a Blues Rock giant, signed to Cleopatra Records. As a singer and guitarist, there are not many artists that can hang with Lance Lopez. The album, titled “A Long Way Ain’t That Far”, is due out early 2023.
A R T I S T S I ' V E P E R F O R M E D W I T H / S H A R E D A S T A G E
W I T H :
Honey River
The Babys
Hall and Oates
Collective Soul
Tommy Shaw (Styx)
Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, Dokken)
Don Henley
The Eurythmics
Johnny Gale
Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger)
John Entwistle (The Who)
Paul Stanley (Kiss)
John Mellencamp
Barenaked Ladies
Third Eye Blind
Tico Torres (Bon Jovi)
Bryan Adams
NSync
Queen Latifah
Louis Prima Jr.
Cherie Curry (The Runaways)
M O V I E / V I D E O / T V A P P E A R A N C E S :
Major motion picture Across the Universe (guitar player on rooftop)
Tonight Show with Jay Leno (guitarist for Meredith Brooks- twice)
Hard Rock Live on VH1 (guitarist for Meredith Brooks)
Rosie O'Donnell Show (guitarist for Meredith Brooks)
Queen Latifah Show (guitaist for Meredith Brooks)
Martin Short Show (guitarist for Meredith Brooks)
Top of the Pops (Germany; guitarist for Meredith Brooks)
Mike Bullard Show (Toronto, Canada; guitarist for Meredith Brooks)
MTV Oddville (with Coward)
T V / F I L M P L A C E M E N T S [ s o n g s / e p i s o d e s a v a i l a b l e
o n r e q u e s t ] :
Major motion picture The Purge: Election Year film. July 2016.
Produced by Jason Blum, Sebastien Lemercier, Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form.
"Green Paper Burns" with Frankee Razor (placement available on request).
Major motion picture Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader film. August 2012.
Produced by Roger Corman. 8 songs placed (titles available on request).
Major motion picture Daddy Day Camp
Ghost Whisperer
The Hills
Brothers & Sisters
Las Vegas
Gossip Girl
CMT Cribs
Legally Blondes (TV movie)
Everwood
Threshold
What About Brian
All My Children
CMT Cribs
M U S I C V I D E O S :
The Babys "I See You There"
The Babys "Not Ready to Say Goodbye"
Tommy Henriksen "I See the Sun" (Capitol Records)
Coward "I Don't Care" (Elektra Records)
Meredith Brooks "Lay Down" (Capitol Records)
Joey Sykes "He Never Cried"
Joey Sykes "That's American Life"
Joey Sykes "Everything Must Go"
Joey Sykes "Take Me Someplace Else"
Honey River "Peace, Love and Happiness" (to be released March 2017)
N A S H V I L L E C O L L A B O R A T O R S :
Mark Adam
Jennifer Adan
Dylan Altman
Kelly Archer
Steve Azar
Jane Bach
Nathan Barlowe
Kris Bergsness
Katy Blake
Dave Brainard
Kevin Brinsfield
Angie Broberg
Jan Buckingham
Chris Cavanagh
Matt Cermanski
Burton Collins
Gary Corbett
Neal Coty
Michael Davey
Brian Desveux
Bill DiLuigi
Dillon Dixon
Marty Dodson
Joe Doyle
Cece Dubois
Chris Dubois
Will Duvall
Jason Eustice
Jamie Floyd
Keith Follese
Greg Friia
Nicole Galyon
Michael Garvin
John Goodwin
Noah Gordon
Jody Gray
Deanna Harper
The Harters
Scott Harter
Jon Henderson
Lisa Hentrich
Doc Holladay
Rebecca Howard
Tammy Jacobs
Tommy Lee James
Jane Deare Girls
Brandon Jane
Buck Johnson
Greg Johnson
Kelly Keagy
Sarah Lake
Maile Maisson
Marcel
Jim McCormick
Kara McNealy
Charlie Midnight
Clay Mills
Mike Mobley
James Otto
Marcia Ramirez
Vanessa Reeves
Don Rollins
Trevor Rosen
Pete Sallis
Britt Savage
Kevin Savigar
Scott Sax
Joe Scutella
Danny Simpson
James Slater
Casey Stark
Paul Taylor
Paul Umbach
Steve Walsh
Bryan Wayne
Julie Jean White
Lisa Whitters
Alison Joy Williams
Rachel Williams
Paula Winger
A D D I T I O N A L C O L L A B O R A T O R S :
Donny Anderson
Gordon Brown
Derry Grehen (Honeymoon Suites)
Kevin Fisher
Johnny Gale
Kim Gold
Loren Gold
Shep Goodman
Fabrizio Grossi
Alessia Guarnera
Tommy Henriksen
Will Hollis
Dan Leverty
Dezmond Meeks
Facundo Monty
Jeff Pilson
Dave Polemeni
Frankee Razor
Saul Zonana
A R T I S T P R O D U C T I O N / M A N A G E M E N T :
Honey River (Production)
Coward (Elektra Records, Co-Production)
Frankee Razor (Production, Musical Director)
Natural (BMG Records Germany, Producer)
Noah Joy (Artist Manager, Production)
Desmond Meeks (Song Seven Media, Production, Musical Director)
P E R F O R M E D I N T H E F O L L O W I N G C O U N T R I E S :
United States, England, Canada, Germany, Spain, Switzerland