Thomas O'Keefe

Thomas O'Keefe (born January 22, 1964) is a North Carolina musician best known for his work with Antiseen, Whiskeytown and Train.

Early years

O'Keefe was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and lived in Connecticut until the age of 14. His family moved to North Carolina in 1978 and he attended South Iredell High School,[1] finishing in 1982. After discovering punk rock, O'Keefe joined and started a number of bands.[2]

Judas Bullethead & ANTiSEEN

O'Keefe and Jeff Clayton started Jeff Leopard in 1983 and released Jeff Leopard Live at the Yellow Rose in 1984. Jeff Leopard's first show was in Boone, North Carolina, on October 1, 1983. Other North Carolina bands on that bill were N.R.G, Antiseen and Fetchin Bones. O'Keefe tried out for the lead guitar with Antiseen in 1984, but it never came to be.

"I was too broke to afford an amp" O'Keefe stated in a mid-1990s Antiseen interview.[3]

Judas Bullethead was the spinoff of Jeff Leopard. O'Keefe recorded it as Judas Leopard, his Jeff Leopard stage name. Clayton recorded as "Bullethead" an old nickname given to him by Joe Young. "If they Itch, Scratch Em" was released in 1987 and reviewed in Spin in 1987. All instruments were played by Clayton and O'Keefe, even though neither was a drummer. The follow-up "Honest, It's just a Cold Sore", was released in 1988. Honest was recorded with a lot of studio musicians including members of the band Black Acid Disco. After Judas Bullethead played a few shows, the band released "The King is Dead / Oh Baby" in 1989 and went on hiatus. A long talked about Greatest Hits CD is still a possibility.

O'Keefe officially joined Antiseen in 1988[4] and first recorded the Blood of Freaks EP. Antiseen recorded over 20 records during the early 1990s. The band toured Europe three times and played concerts all over the US, including a cancelled show in Los Angeles on the day of the LA Riots. O'Keefe recorded the covers LP Hell and after a very short stint as the band's manager, he stopped playing in Antiseen in fall 1995.[3]

Tour manager

O'Keefe first worked as a tour manager with Lustre in 1996. (Antiseen drummer Greg Clayton was the drummer of Lustre.) After Lustre was dropped by A&M Records, O'Keefe worked with D Generation,[5] Whiskeytown,[6] Stir, Mandy Moore[5] and Tonic.[5] O'Keefe started tour-managing Train as their debut CD TRAIN was just hitting. Since 1999, TRAIN has played hundred of concerts in the US, Canada, South America, Europe and Australia.[1] He also toured with Rockstar Supernova in 2007 with Johnny Colt, Lucas Rossi, Gilby Clarke and Tommy Lee.[1]

Train finished its 2.5-year-long tour for the Save Me, San Francisco CD in December 2011. On that tour, Train performed 350 concerts in 30 countries, ending with a show in Guanghou, China, on December 10, 2011. After 13 years, O'Keefe quit working with Train in September 2012 and moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked at Crush Management Nashville Office. He worked with Ashley Monroe and Striking Matches In 2014, as the Crush Nashville office closed, O'Keefe went back to Tour Managing, working with Sia, Dashboard Confessional and Third Eye Blind. O'Keefe is currently the tour manager for Weezer.

Author

O'Keefe has signed a book deal with Skyhorse Publishing and is working on a book about his time as Whiskeytown's Tour Manager. This book is being co-written with Joe Oestreich. The book, titled "Waiting to Derail, Ryan Adams and Whiskeytown, Alt Country's brilliant wreck" has a release date of May 2018. This book will cover the time period O'Keefe was Whiskeytown's Tour Manager from Spring 1997 to Summer 2000.

O'Keefe and Oestreich are represented by Dystel, Goderrich and Bourrett.

Other projects

O'Keefe and Train bassist Johnny Colt opened NoDa Studios in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2007. NoDa Studios is a band rehearsal facility.[7]

O'Keefe played with Antiseen for their 20th, 25th and 30th anniversary shows in Charlotte. They recorded a live album called "Live Possum" in 2013 with the classic Antiseen line up of Clayton/Young/O'Keefe/Clayton [8]

O'Keefe and Jeff Clayton reunited Judas Bullethead for the first time in 25 years and performed at the Antiseen 30th-anniversary show in October 2013. They planned on doing shows with Judas Bullethead in 2017 and re-releasing the three EPs that are long out of print.

O'Keefe is a adjunct Professor at Segue 61, a music college in Nashville. Segue 61 is affiliated with Catawba College in Salisbury, NC.

Personal life

O'Keefe married his longtime girlfriend Stephanie on October 2, 1999, in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, and they live in Green Hills in Nashville, TN. Their daughter, Sophia, was born in Raleigh in October 2007.

Discography with Antiseen

LPs

HONOUR AMONG THIEVES
RAW SHIT
NOISE FOR THE SAKE OF NOISE
DESTRUCTO BLITZKRIEG
GG ALLIN & ANTiSEEN: MURDER JUNKIES
SOUTHERN HOSTILITY
EAT MORE POSSUM
EAT MORE POSSUM TPOS release

10-inch records

HELL

CDs

ZUMA/SAFEHOUSE

Cassettes

LIVE AT THE PARK ELEVATOR
GG ALLIN AND ANTISEEN
THE DESTRUCTO YEARS
SOUTHERN HOSTILITY
EAT MORE POSSUM

8-track tapes

ANTiSEEN CONQUERS THE NORTH

7-inch singles and EPs

BLOOD OF FREAKS
WXCI RADIO BROADCAST
TWO HEADED DOG/CAUSE I LOVE YOU
SPLIT w/RANCID VAT----KILL THE BUSINESS
WALKING DEAD/HAUNTED HOUSE
MY GOD CAN BEAT UP YOUR GOD/
PSYCHO KILLER/HEAVY MUD
TODAY YOUR LOVE/THE WITCH
IT LOOKS GOOD FOR THEM TO CARE/ FUCK ALL Y'ALL
SPLIT w/RANCID VAT DATE RAPE
FORNICATION/I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF
THE EVIL ONES
GG ALLIN & ANTiSEEN
BARBECUED BRAINS BOOTLEG
THE VAULT OF ANTiSEEN
WE GOT THIS FAR (WITHOUT YOU)/ (WE WILL NOT) REMEMBER YOU SUB POP
RAID OVER EUROPE TEAR IT UP
LIVE IN THE FATHERLAND
I'VE AGED TWENTY YEARS IN FIVE
MASTERS OF THE SKY/1969
SPLIT w/RANCID VAT DEEDS OF THE DAMNED
SPLIT w/SEDUCER CACTUS JACK
JAPANESE 7" 1+2
BLOOD OF FREAKS REISSUE

References

  1. 1 2 3 "New in NoDa: Noda Studios". Creative Loafing Charlotte.
  2. ↑ http://www.antiseen.com - Antiseen "Destrustro Maximus" Book / http://www.steelcagerecords.com/catalog/scb003.html
  3. 1 2 "Steel Cage Records catalog: ANTiSEEN - DESTRUCTO MAXIMUS". steelcagerecords.com.
  4. ↑ Evert Nijkamp. "Antiseen". grunnenrocks.nl.
  5. 1 2 3 "johnnycolt.tv". johnnycolt.tv.
  6. ↑ "Ryan Adams: Saving Private Ryan". magnetmagazine.com.
  7. ↑ http://planetgreenpress.com/ekits/battleground-earth/index.php?page=tommy-lee-ecorage
  8. ↑ http://www.blurt-online.com/news/view/944/
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