STAFF
STEVE GIBSON
Co-Founder
Steve is a guitarist and music teacher who has been working in the Bay Area since moving to Berkeley in 1984. He founded BandWorks with Jeremy Steinkoler in 1993. In addition to his private teaching and BandWorks classes, Steve has taught at Cazadero Performing Arts Family Camp for many years, worked in London as a music director, taught band workshops in Dublin (Ireland), and contributed to Guitar Player magazine. As a guitarist, Steve has performed at many clubs and festivals throughout northern California, including the High Sierra Music Festival, the San Jose Jazz Festival, and the Sonoma Salute to the Arts. His recording “Sunday” was used by the Augustino Dance Theatre Company. Most recently, Steve has performed and recorded with Andrea Hurley and Her Very Attractive Band, Marie Schumacher’s Invisible Band, The Kevin Beadles Band, Lonnie Lazar and the Vaporizors, Chowbucket, and Jemimah Puddleduck, among others. In addition to guitar, Steve has taught saxophone, mandolin, bass, and piano. He is also a registered Music Together teacher.
JEREMY STEINKOLER
Co-Founder
Jeremy has been playing and teaching drums professionally since 1991. He performs regularly with a wide array of projects, including his award-winning saxes-and-drums trio Mo’Fone, The Erika Oba Trio, Jean Fineberg & JAZZphoria, Jennifer Jolly & Friends, the Bonafides, the Steinkoler Trio (with his son Evan on piano), Sam Rudin, and various other jazz players and singer/songwriters. His groovy, feel-based approach has earned him prodigious credits as a sideman, including performances and recordings with members of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dave Ellis, Kirk Joseph, Clarence Bucaro, Jenna Mammina, Mamadou Sidibe, Chelle & Friends, Guru Garage, Valerie Orth, Rachel Efron, Flyover States, Kevin Beadles, Hot Links, Phatlip, and many other top musicians around the Bay Area. He leads and composes for Mo’Fone, which has been featured multiple times at the Monterey, San Francisco and Sonoma Jazz Festivals, and has released 4 critically acclaimed albums.
In addition to his busy career as a performer, Jeremy maintains a full roster of private students, and has become one of the top drum educators in the Bay Area. He is the Founder and Director of the East Bay Drum School, and has been on the faculty of Cazadero Performing Arts Family Camp since 1996, where he was the Co-Director from 1999-2001. He has taught rock band workshops and drumming master classes in Dublin, Ireland; Ann Arbor, MI; and in Northern California. Jeremy is also Co-founder of the Drummers Education Connection (D.E.C.), an online education network for drummers and instructors, serving the global drumming community.
Jeremy is the author of Finding the Groove (Hudson Music), a critically acclaimed collection of essays on drumming, performing and teaching, and has published educational articles on vicfirth.com.
Jeremy proudly endorses Brooks Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Aquarian Drumheads, Protection Racket Cases, Prologix Practice Pads, Vic Firth Drum Sticks, and Snareweight Dampeners.
STACE WRIGHT
Program Manager
Stace started teaching with BandWorks in 2004 and became Program Manager in 2015. He loves building bands, working with musicians, planning new events and striving to create community through music. Stace was born in Oregon, spent his teen years in New Mexico and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Geography in 1994. Since then, he has been busy raising a family, making maps, traveling, and playing music. He plays bass in several bands plus sings, plays guitar and writes tunes for his main band The Recyclists.
SETH AFFOUMADO
San Rafael Studio Manager
Multi-instrumentalist Seth Affoumado began his music training early. With the help of his conductor/composer dad Ralph Affoumado, Seth began piano and drums at age 5. Beginning with BandWorks more than 15 years ago, Seth coached and produced many memorable BandWorks youth and adult bands from the San Rafael SunnBolt Studios. Many of his youth students are now keeping the BandWorks spirit alive by teaching in the same studio they learned in!
His professional music experiences are vast. Playing drums, keyboads, B3, bass and guitar with many notable musicians including Eddie Vedder, Patrick Winningham, Dave Fleminger, Rich Hoeg and the Back Porch Band, David Phillips and Paul Olguin. Currently Seth is featured in the band TuesdayGuild.com with Patrick Winningham and Chris Barnett.
His weekend work is saving cast iron cookware from the dump! The Skillet Doctor is a cast iron restoration service Seth began in 2009. He accepts local and nationwide restoration orders and sells vintage cast iron cookware at local antique shows and markets. www.theskilletdoctor.com