Morgan Pettersson -Guitarsist and composer

Morgan started to play guitar at the age of nine. Started in his first rock band when he was fifteen. His first band was called Purple Heart and played songs from bands like Van Halen, AC DC and Rainbow.

Morgan's guitar heroes were Blackmore, Ace Freely, Hendrix and Van Halen. He started to learn songs and solos from these heroes. Morgan soon started to practice a lot. He practiced 6-8 hours a day. He started to take private lessons and learning music theory. He got in to some jazz and fusion, mainly because there were no good hard rock teachers who knew theory in his hometown.

He played a short period in a big jazz band. Morgan pretty soon became a teacher and began to teach guitar classes in his hometown and gave private lessons. At this time He was a well recognized guitar player in his hometown. He played in a Hard Rock cover band called Pole Position. The band covered all the big hard rock bands in 90th, from Guns and Roses and Extreme to Malmsteen.

Morgan still took lessons from time to time but he felt that jazz was not for him, he didn't like to play jazz or fusion. Morgan made his living from playing in different cover bands for many years. He did some competition online on the website Guitarbattle and one of Morgan's instrumental songs can be heard on the CD Best of Guitarbattle. Morgan stopped giving lessons because he felt that it took too much time from his own playing.

Lately Morgan has mainly been in to online collaboration. He loves the freedom of online colabs. He was asked to play on Odysseys' CD reinventing the past. This was an online collaboration even though the singer and composer from Odysseys' lives in Morgan's hometown Örebro.

His latest project Human Cometh is an online collaboration band with members all over the world. He has got endorsement from Woodoguitars and uses a Woodo GS2 Ebony 7-String. He also got an endorsement deal with Splawn amps. He will pickup an amp the next time he is in the states.

Morgan's equipment today is two Fender Stratocasters with scalloped fretboards and Dimarzio HS3 and YJM pickups. One Les Paul Standard, one Schechter C-1 Diamond Series and the Woodo GS2 Ebony 7-String with Evolution and Air Norton pickups. He uses Boogner amps and a Mesa Boogie Studio preamp. Favorite pedal is a yellow DOD Overdrive. Favorite VST guitarplugin is Revalver.

Eric Johns - Vocals

Eric William Johns was born September 30, 1972 in Kentucky, USA. His mother was an accomplished studio musician and church choir director who continually fostered her son’s love of music and singing.

Eric began playing music professionally at 16; fronting a Cincinnati area cover band while still in high school. He worked with many different groups in the Southern Ohio/Northern Kentucky area before being offered the vocalist position with Leviathan Records’ recording artists Simple Aggression in 1995. His first international release came the following year when Simple Aggression’s “Gravity” album was released in 1996 on Leviathan Records in the USA and on Massacre Records for the rest of the world.

Simple Aggression disbanded in 1998 and Eric was for the most part content to lend his vocals to the occasional studio project or simply to jam with friends for fun. That changed in 2005, however, when he was asked to take over the vocalist slot in guitar legend David T. Chastain’s group: Southern Gentlemen. He has appeared on two releases by the band: “Third Time is the Charm” (2006), and “Valley of Fire” (2008). The band has finished recording a third CD, “My Favorite Disaster” which is slated for an October, 2011 release. All three records are released by Leviathan Records.

Björn Pehrson - Bass

Björn started playing bass in the late 70ies, playing in bands that played mostly covers. His first band was Janne Volym, a band that played primarily Van Halen covers at a time when hard rock was anything but fashionable. Throughout the 80ies, Björn played with a number of small, local acts, still in the hard rock / blues rock genre and played plenty of gigs in Stockholm with surroundings. It was in the mid 80ies that Björn first heard Billy Sheehan and was immediately inspired to better his technique and to incorporate more unorthodox styles into his playing. During this period, Björn put in several hours a day practising and analyzing his technique. Among the more painful modes of practise was to use a Rockman set to its most trebly sound and try to eliminate string noise while playing.

After not getting anywhere in the Swedish music biz for over a decade, Björn took a hiatus from music to spend time with his family. In 2007, he discovered the online collaboration site Kompoz.com, and started playing again. After successfully contributing to online collaborations and winning several online songwriting competitions, Björn was again ready for a band. He came in contact with Morgan through Kompoz and shortly thereafter joined Human Cometh.
Björn's playing style is basic and solid for the most part, with the occassional pyrotechnic thrown in (hammer-ons, harmonics and such) and he is always focused on being tight with the drums and playing parts that fit the song rather than showing off. Björn plays a Squier Japan Vintage Precision Bass from 1984 and a Harley Benton 5-string bass, both with Rotosound Swing Bass strings. For live gigs, he uses an Ampeg SVT Classic. His favorite plug-in for recording is Ampeg SVX.

 

Walter Kelleher  - Drums

Walter has been performing and recording drums for over 30 years. He got hooked on drums at age 10 when he saw the great drummer Buddy Rich on the "Tonight Show with Johnny Carson". He has played virtually every musical genre, including: metal, rock, pop, big band, jazz, and country. He attended college on a music scholarship and has taken drum lessons from Jackie Mills (John Coltrane, Miles Davis) and Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa, Steve Vai). He has performed with the following musicians:
- Cynthia Calhoun - Singer with Steely Dan, Al Jarreau, Barry White, Boz Scaggs, Gloria Estefan. Danny & The Juniors - Rock-n-roll group from the '50s, had #1 hit with "At the Hop", and top 10 hit with "Rock and Roll is Here to Stay". Clarence Seay - Jazz bassist with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Wynton Marsalis, Wallace Roney, Billy Harper, and Cindy Blackman. Johnny Marshall - Blues guitarist extraordinaire. Ed Bruce - County music songwriter and singer (wrote "Mama's Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys"). Scotty Barnhart – Lead trumpet player with the Count Basie Orchestra.
Walter is excited about performing with Human Cometh. Being able to play a heavier style of drumming but with taste is his primary goal with the group.

 

Jay Schankman -Keyboards

Jay was born into a musical family in St. Louis, MO USA and was  influenced 
early on by an encounter with Bob Moog when he demonstrated  the musical 
capabilities of his Moog modular rig circa 1968. "I was six  years old when I 
saw this monster of a machine create such otherworldly  sounds. From that point 
on he was destined to take a different path: "My musical future took a different 
direction than most as I was more  interested in sound and the feeling it 
evoked, more than the actual  notes that were played."

Starting his recording hobby at age 10  using two monophonic cassette recorders, 
Jay eventually graduated from  recording mouth noises to building a decent 
arsenal of analog and  digital synths, including several Moog's, Korg's and 
Roland's,  the standard fare of the day. A few years in the woodshed practicing  
and studying jazz improv, along with years of practicing sound synthesis  
propelled him further along to realizing his musical goals. "I was more  into 
recording than playing out and was involved in a few experimental  recording 
projects, and eventually gigged with Top 40 and blues  rock bands. It was good 
fun, and good experience, though I enjoy much  more having the freedom to play 
what I hear in my head." 


Jay's musical influences run the gambit from classic rock, progressive, jazz, 
psychedelic and space music have always been a favorite. "So many bands have 
influenced what I do. Bands like Hawkwind, Ozric Tentacles, Pink Floyd, 
Porcupine Tree, and guys like Steve Hillage, Todd Rundgren, Tim Blake, Andy 
Tillison, Arjen Lucassen.. so many influences."

"But  mostly I am influenced and inspired by the artists I work with" Jay  
states. "I have been involved in many  collaborative projects these past 6 years 
or so. But I am particularly  captivated by the powerhouse that is Human Cometh. 
Finally I get a venue  to make use of some of those sounds that I have been 
hearing since my  first encounters with electronic music.  It seemed a good fit 
from the very start, and with each song we  complete I am more satisfied that I 
am able to play what I feel. I'm  really excited about this project and am 
seriously stoked about the  musicianship and tight playing by everyone. And with 
the help of Dan Swanö on the mix, this is going to be a winner. Human Cometh is 
a new force  on the indie rock/prog scene.. one that will be reckoned with!"