Planet 22: The Cosmic Funk, Universal Groove and Infinite Fuzz (Formerly known as "The Dank Rhythm and Blues Review" a.k.a. The Smokers)

History: Planet 22 was originally formed in 1996 with Caleb Gwinn on guitar, Josh Gwinn on Drums, Mike Shriner on Drums, and Joe Speers on Bass. The Band worked on Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, and Phish songs with a handful of original Jams and performed just about every week for their small but loyal legion of fans. (Remember loyalty is worth between 15%-50% of any deal) In the spring of 1997 Jack Ray was beamed down with knowledge of odd meters, polyrhythms and confidence to play instrumental shows. After a few sessions the new line up took the show on the road to play at their first outdoor festival hosted by area promoter "Crazy" Dave. Although hard to find bootlegs of this show are considered by some to be relics from the future since the Band played many songs that weren't written until years later. The summer of '97 was a time for individual development. The Drummers studied with the renowned Jazz Drummer Mark Rufus, Jack was out on Tour, and Joe was learning about L.S.D. and Alien Technology. The fall of '97 brought us to the temple: 103 Westerly Parkway. Josh was away on an Engineering Job, and in the mean time Tim Wilkins joined up to play drums. This was the most prolific time for the band, most of the tunes that Planet 22 plays today were written in this time period. 103 Westerly became the local community center for Heads, with week-long jams, every couch and floor space slept in, and 11 dogs running around. Planet 22 played at the Sunflower Farm Harvest Festival for the 1st time and Jack Ray sat in with The Disco Biscuits at Cafe` 210 when they rolled through town. January 26, 1997 was the start of the first wave of "Rock-stardom" that started at "The Phyrst" In State College, Pa with Bi-weekly packed houses through the Spring. The Highlight of the local Bar circuit was at the Penn State Earth Day Benefit concert at Cafe` 210 with Planet 22 headlining, busting out "The Drunk Driver Set" for the 1st time. The 1st Wave reached its Peak with a performance at the Appalachian Classic Bicycle Race in Grantsville W.V. Are you still reading this? This is where the 2nd wave begins. The fall of '98 was a time of metamorphosis. Caleb was out in the Midwest working for 3M, Tim moved into Jack's house out in the country and Josh was killing himself earning his degree in Mechanical Engineering so things were looking grim for the ol' Planet. Luckily they collided with "The Brackish Water Boys" and picked up Ben DuBois on Guitar, Mike Kordish on keyboards, and Matt Harrison on guitar, trumpet, banjo, accordion, fiddle, and Dijarydo. After a few weeks of practice Caleb flew in from Michigan to play with the now 9-piece Planet 22 at the Sunflower Harvest Fest. This was an interesting show; consider this: Caleb never met three of the guys in his band until 15 minutes before the performance. Planet 22 played from around 11pm to 7am, 6 sets. The only downside was the motorcycle broke down. What was the motorcycle for?�to drive through a flaming hoop. Chief tech Nick Micio helped construct The Degicank Ramp and an14 ft. diameter flaming hoop but the motorcycle broke down during testing and the rain put out the flaming hoop. Oh well, it will be done in the future. Check out artbell.com to hear a radio show where a caller calls in from 8 yrs in the future over the internet. We'll have to ask him if the flaming hoop ever works. There was a great turn out for this one because the Regional Rainbows were meeting at the Sunflower Farm to plan out the '99 national gathering in PA. 1999 brought the 2nd wave of Rock-stardom, heading to the same bars with the 9-piece band. Planet 22 didn't travel far (too many people), but outside of the bars played 3 major Penn State events: Moving On Fest opening for Pocco, Headlining Airwalk Free Shoe Day, and Penn State's Earth Day opening for Buckwheat Zydeco. This was the end of the Golden age of 103 westerly Parkway, no more time trials around the house with a motorcycle, a fire burned for 6 days with all the contents of the house chopped up and burned in the back yard. Matt Harison and Joe Speers headed west with Chris Priar on mandolin, Bill Speers managing, and James the dog on security. Was this the end? All good things in all good time. After a tour with dates across the country and highlights in Vancouver B.C., Arcada CA, and San Fran the Bluegrass outfit returned to Pennsylvania. Who was left? Caleb, Josh, Joe, Jack, and Mike so we're back where we started. Fall of '99 the outlook was good, but gremlins were at work. Planet 22 was under contract to play with Ominus Seapods, Lemmingrass band, and Agent Porridge, but it was the same weekend as the Sunflower Harvest Fest. Planet 22 spent Friday night at the Sunflower fest but when they arrived at The BigWig fest the stage was being torn down! It turns out the production company went bankrupt, but the bands had all arrived from around the country. Through some creative brainwashing, Joe talked the promoter into bringing the Bands who were under contract out to the Sunflower fest. The result was $35,000 worth of bands playing at a free show along side local bands that were playing their first show. Confusion IS clarity. Well Y2k arrived and the Planet 22 was spread to the four winds leaving only Joe Speers and Mike Shriner. No worries, multitrack recording is a wonderful thing. Pat Panang was the result of this downtime and the Planet was back together by summertime. Planet 22 had learned the dangers of rock stardom and just played at home and played and played with only one show at the Brewery in State College for 2000. 2001: The year we make contact. Well, it is March 28th where I am, I don't know what year you are reading this in. The Planet is starting to reap the rewards of taking their time. A full-length (12-track) Planet 22 album was recorded at impact studios. Four tracks are to be released on as a demo and the full package will be on shelves before the summer tour. Last week they performed Live on 90.7 wkps on the 2 hr long "State Your Face" Show. Headlined "The Center for Sustainability Benefit" concert on Sunday, Heading over to Penn State on Friday, and looking forward to Earth Day again.


The Future? Tentatively Planet 22 should be doing Short East and then West coast Tours this summer, back to the woodshed for the winter, 3 weeks touring in Europe for spring '03 followed by U.S. Summer Tour. Summer 2003 another more extensive U.S. tour, and on February 22, 2022 Planet 22 be headlining the Degicank Jamaican Bake Fest at the southernmost degicank. I hope to see you there.
Late,
Planet 22