Joe Mizzi is a rock singer hailing from the mediterranean island of Malta. After playing guitar and singing in various maltese bands, in 1987 he moved to Germany to team up with long time friend Gino Micallef (...of Characters fame, one of the most popular bands of all time in Malta) to form part of High'n'Dry, a hard rock band based in Cologne. The band released an album called "Hands off my Toy" in 1988 and opened up for the likes of Iron Maiden, The Cross, Samson and also made an appearance at the Loreley rock festival in Germany preceding bands like Magnum, Marillion and Meatloaf. The band also toured in France and England with good response. In 1990, he formed the band Jay with ex-colleague and friend Torsten Weber (currently guitarrist of the Berlin-based Doors of Perception and professional studio musician). The songwriting and arrangement with Torsten proved itself very fruitful, and the band quickly became popular regionally, with plenty of good newspaper write-ups acclaiming it. In the mid-ninetys, Joe moved back to Malta and in 1998, he released his first solo CD titled "Radioed", which got him a lot of air-time on maltese radio stations. The album was produced by long-time friend and producer Robert Longo (currently also guitarrist of maltese band Fire) with Torsten Weber doing the arrangements and playing all the guitar parts, and Gino Micallef on bass. The album was a mix of hard rock and mainstream tunes which won a good deal of critical acclaim. After moving back to Germany, in 2004 Joe started arranging and recording his material in his home studio, a move which gave him the liberty to create his songs the way he'd always dreamed of doing. He recorded his first CD titled "Unrest", which signalled a return to his hard'n'heavy roots, followed by "the Zero chain".
His third CD “Age of Decay†is the culmination of a year’s work with tracks recorded in 2008/2009.
Most of the songs are heavy and punchy, mixing old styles with new, and the lyrics portray a critical outlook on society. The songs are all performed and recorded by Joe with guest appearances from guitarists Torsten Weber, Chris Frehse and Bob Brown.
Discography:
1988 – Hands off my toy (High'n'Dry)
1998 – Radioed (solo)
2005 – Unrest
2007 – the Zero chain
2009 – Age of Decay
Einflüsse
Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Creed, Alter Bridge, Stone Sour, Slipknot, Audioslave, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica and many more....
