Who is Bad Luk Jo?
Bad Luk Jo was born as Joe Golla in a small city in central Wisconsin, of which he does not want to "claim." Why, you ask? Well, we'll cover that later...
Joe started playing drums at the age of 9, and by the age of 16 he was teaching drum lessons to others. Eventually, Joe gave up teaching and started playing in bands. Joe played with some of the finest musicians; however, times were tough, and it was hard to get all the musicians on the same page and working toward the same goals. Joe has had a lot of bad luk...
Joe joined a band called Lazarus in 1994, which consisted of one of the best guitar players Joe has played with (Luke), a bass player (Jason), and a manager (Pep). They were looking for a new drummer and lead singer. Soon, the bass player quit, and it was just Joe and Luke for about 8 months. Joe also joined another band during this time, which had all the musicians, but practices were slow and not everyone came prepared, so Joe decided to "steal" the bass player (Benny) when Lazarus found a lead singer (Jon). The manager wanted out, so Joe and Benny purchased the band and the equipment, left the other band, and renamed the band to modym. They recruited a sound man (Dan) and a light man (Brian) and modym was born!
Now to the small city in central Wisconsin - Joe was basically kicked out for "permitting loud noise." Yes, Joe was arrested for playing drums in his own home and was forced to flee the city! Joe held the practice sessions for modym and practiced himself in his home. Now he had to find a new home. Bad luk!
Joe moved to the country and modym thrived for a few years. Joe ended up purchasing Benny's shares in the band. In time, modym faced the reality that they had to replace the lead singer. modym never found a suitable replacement and disbanded.
Joe tried with several bands after modym, some making it for a while, some short-lived. Joe and Dan ran sound and lights for many bands under the name "modym Musical Services." Joe kept the name modym alive for his business.
Joe left the music scene, then came back, then left again. Always fighting the bad luk of the industry. Joe also realized he couldn't do this himself with just the drums as no one wants to hear "just" drums. Joe turned to the guitar as an outlet, learning chords and eventually learning songs. Then he started to sing.
During Covid, Joe was a drummer in a cover band but saw the restrictions coming that aimed to stop live entertainment in Wisconsin, so Joe decided to head South to Tennessee to start fresh.
Tennessee is a tough place to break the ice, especially for someone from the North. Soon Joe realized he had to do this on his own. Joe decided to embrace the bad luk and turn it into something positive. So, he built a professional studio, took guitar lessons, took a class on how to set up guitars, purchased a Farmer Foot Drum, built a web site, and Bad Luk Jo the One-Man Band was born.
Bad Luk Jo was asked to be in a national TV commercial for Balance of Nature in 2024. The crew traveled from Utah to Tennessee to Bad Luk Jo's studio to record the commercial. Watch for the TV commercial to hear more of the story.
Bad Luk Jo has added an online store with branded merchandise and has his own coffee brand! There's good luk in every cup!
Present day finds Bad Luk Jo in the studio writing, recording, mixing, producing, designing products, and running the business.
Single moms, single dads, single grandparents, solo musicians: If you do it all, you're a one-man band too! Embrace the One-Man Band brand, join our community, and follow Bad Luk Jo for cool products, videos, and other entertainment.