The Great Escape

Bob Wheeler, bass player and backing vocalist in the band, started playing bass

around the age of 16 when he and some high school friends wanted to start a band.

Bass was the only instrument left that was needed in the band so Bob gave it a shot

and picked it up fairly quickly.  Self-teaching himself and having a good ear for

music Bob was able to learn the cover songs that the band wanted to play.

Initially just playing cover songs the band eventually started writing original

music and performed live throughout many of the popular venues at the time in and

around Boston, including The Channel, The Paradise, Bunratty's and The Rockpile.

 

After a few years the band eventually broke up, Bob played in a few more bands but

nothing that matched the success of his first band so Bob decided to take a break

from the live music scene.  A few years later Bob's first band tried to get back

together but the music styles had changed so much (from 80s rock to 90s alternative)

that the band knew it wasn't going to work out.  At that point Bob pretty much hung

up the bass and figured his time of performing and playing music was done.

 

About 10 years later Bob got the itch to pick up the bass again and just wanted to

find some people who wanted to get together and jam, nothing serious.  During this

time of seeking out people to play with Bob found an ad for auditions for a bass

player in a Journey Tribute Band.  Journey was always one of Bob's favorite bands

so the thought of playing their music live interested him.  That tribute band and

audition never happened but he kept that idea in his head.

 

Eventually Bob found himself playing in a cover band and when that band was holding auditions for a singer Jason (The Great Escape's lead singer) was one of the people to come down.  The cover band played a couple Journey songs and to hear Jason sing them was amazing.  Bob and Jason got to talking about a Journey band and after some back and forth they decided to give it a shot and eventually put the band together that consists of the same original players that make up The Great Escape today.