Bio American Author JD Yorke was born on the South Shore of Long Island in 1963. In 1975 at the tender age of 12 he was encouraged by his older brother Kevin to learn bass guitar and later that year, while reading the liner notes from a live album (Blue Oyster Cult's "On Your Feet or On Your Knees"), he realized people made money by touring with rock bands as technicians, and nobody told them what to wear or how long their hair could be. He knew at that moment that this was his calling...to wear black t-shirts with skulls on them and grow his hair really really long...and work in the live music industry. In 1979 he was hired as a lighting and sound technician for the Summer Concert Season at Lakeside Theater, a 5000 capacity bandshell in Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, NY. In 1981 after three Summers at Lakeside he attended University of Albany and worked weekends as a soundman at Studio 54 and other nightclubs in NYC. His success in NYC caused him to gradually phase out college in favor of working concerts and by 1983 he had moved to Park Slope in Brooklyn, NY. He became active in the occult community around this time. In 1984 he was initiated into Tahuti Lodge, a chapter of Aleister Crowley's OTO that was headed by notable occult author and historian James Wasserman. He worked for famed occult publisher Herman Slater at the notorious Magickal Childe Bookstore on 19th Street during the days and evenings as a soundman at the infamous Limelight nightclub. In 1986 he was hired at the Palladium nightclub as a rigger and stagehand. During this time he also served as a driver for nightclub impressario Steve Ruebell. In 1987 he started touring as a monitor engineer for The Cult's Electric tour and Guns N Roses during their first arena tour to support their "Appetite For Destruction" album. In 1988 he took a break from audio engineering and at the age of 25 enlisted in the US Army, completing basic and advanced Infantry training at Fort Benning, GA. He was an academic honor graduate at the US Army Region V NCO Academy in Provo, Utah. He concluded his military service as a member of the Oregon National Guard as a Sergeant E-5 commanding two Humvees equipped with TOW missile launchers and their crews. He is the recipient of the Army Achievement Medal. He settled down in Eugene, Oregon where he ran audio and managed booking for Harpo's Blue Note while sharing a house with Canned Heat guitarist Henry Vestine. In 1993 he was offered a NYC production management job at Peter Gatien's 3000 capacity Times Square venue Club USA and worked there 6 nights a week until it closed in 1995. He was offered the management position at Gatien's club The Tunnel but instead asked for a reduction in pay and responsibility to return to The Palladium instead. He also freelanced as a technician and production assistant for a variety of bands, most notably Pantera on their Far Beyond Driven tour and Metallica. In 1998 he had enough of tech life at the Palladium and joined the VH1 "Rock Across America" Tour as a stage manager with Cheap Trick, Hootie and The Blowfish and others. By 2000 he was managing artists and supervising production for festivals from coast to coast. He was offered a lucrative job as a full time electrician for Lakeside Theatre and served The Nassau County Parks system for 10 years while doing many high profile projects on the side. 2010 he built a rehearsal and recording studio, Wolftone Studio at the legendary Music Building located at 584 Eighth Ave. He produced Daddy Long Legs "Evil Eye on You" debut LP (Norton) and Geezer's "Psychoriffadelia" album on STB records. He also worked as an audio engineer for 800 shows at BB Kings NYC nightclub from 2015 through 2018. During this time he was inducted into the NY Blues Hall of Fame (2016) JD Yorke currently resides quite happily in the Los Angeles area, writing and freelancing as well as working for Hollywood Vampire bassist Chris Wyse (The Cult, Ace Frehley, Ozzy).
