Carolina Rex

Carolina Rex - the band

Carolina Rex (C-Rex to their fans), is built on a core of Texas Blues and guitar-legend rock. Of course, R&B, funk, soul, new wave, metal, jazz and original music is all fair game too - as long as it grooves or rocks.

Alec - the guitar player

Alec started playing guitar at age 6. His guitar influences vary greatly and range from blues players like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Joe Bonamassa and Johnny Winter to old-school and new-school shredders like Vivian Campbell, Adrian Vandenberg, Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert to guitarist’s guitarists like Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson, Andy Timmons, Phil and Tommy Emmanuel and Guthrie Govan.

Alec graduated from Berklee College of Music (Boston) in 1989 with a major in Music Production and Engineering and a minor in Guitar Performance. During his 10 years in Los Angeles, he auditioned for the Red Hot Chili Peppers (Dave Navarro got that gig), gigged at a ton of L.A. clubs, and worked in recording studios (he bought gum for Gene Simmons and parked his car). He later married Jacqui (Carolina Rex's female vocalist) and settled into Asheville, NC. His iPod holds Abba, Zappa, and everything in between. Seriously. Everything. He is the assistant director of the Asheville Rock Academy.

Harry - the drummer

Harry wanted to play drums after seeing the Beatles movie "Hard Day's Night" as a little kid and took cookie tins from his mom and sticks from a tree limb and played in the backyard. He is influenced by many drummers, but would have to put John Bonham at the top of the list.

Harry has toured extensively in the United States and in Europe and was the drummer for Epic Recording Artist Smash Palace and Cleopatra Recording Artist SpahnRanch. He has played with many different bands while living in New York, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, including Shag Motor Pony, Executive Slacks, Tubalcain, Robert Hazard, Roadhouse, Kelly Gitter, Felix y Los Gatos, Vertigo, and even played snare drum in a Scottish bagpipe band. He still has the kilt.

Andy - the bass player

Andy has donned many hats during his musical career.  He grew up listening and playing 60s and 70s rock like Hendrix, Yes, Jethro Tull, the Kinks, King Krimson, and of course Rush.  After a brief excursion into “hair metal” in the 80s he fell in love with the blues, specifically John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, and Little Walter.   In college he studied jazz under a stellar faculty at University of Tennessee including famed author Jerry Coker, former Jazz Messenger Donald Brown, and author/performer/ educator Mark Boling.  As a jazz guitarist he studied the styles of many players including Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, Barney Kessel, Tuck Andress, Charlie Hunter, Joao Gilberto, and Baden Powell.  He formed a jazz trio in 1998 called “Klarcnova” and released two CDs of his compositions.  In 2002 he started playing klezmer music and adapted the chromatic harmonica to the clarinet styles of Naftule Brandwein, Dave Tarras, and the liturgical music of the famed cantor Pierre Pinchik.

His bass career really started when he met up with a group of young klezmer musicians at Klezkanada in Montreal in 2004 forming the band “the Lithuanian Empire”. The band toured Canada playing the Ashkenaz Festival in Toronto, Quebec’s 350th anniversary, the Markham Jazz Festival, and was featured on CBC.  Their debut CD continues to sell briskly.   Aside from klezmer bass players like Stuart Brotman and the various bass players from the Klezmatics and the Klezmer Conservatory Band, his style is inspired by Geddy Lee, Tony Levin, Chris Squire, Aston “family man” Barrett, Sting, Bootsy Collins, and James Jamerson.

Brian - the male vocalist

Brian gave his first public performance at age 7, when he played and sang an acoustic version of The Gambler (Kenny Rogers) for his second grade class.

A native of the Carolinas, he grew up listening to his brother's extensive collection of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin albums. He began performing with bands at age 14 and is a veteran of the regional music scene, having played with numerous bands in the Carolinas and Tennessee. His vocal influences include Gregg Allman, Ian Gillan and Roger Daltrey.

Jacqui - the female vocalist and harmonica queen

Although newer to music than the rest of the band, Jacqui has been making a living with her voice her entire career. While working as a dialogue coach for children in sit-coms in Los Angeles, Jacqui honed her skills as a voiceover actress. She has lent her voice to TV and radio commercials, cartoons, toys, TV shows, films, radio imaging and even an attraction at a theme park in Europe.

After marrying Alec (Carolina Rex's guitarist), technology allowed her to leave L.A. and move to the gorgeous mountains of North Carolina. Working from a small recording studio in their basement, she is able to digitally connect with clients, advertising agencies, and other recording studios worldwide.