Hard Luck Story

Location: Northridge, CA United States Formed: June 2004 Influences: Taking Back Sunday, Green Day, Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Alkaline Trio "If we could play a show every night and have enough money to put gas in our van and food in our stomachs, we would be perfectly happy for the rest of our lives." Hard Luck Story is comprised of three individuals from Northridge, California that have come together to pursue their love for music.

Formed: June 2004
Influences: Taking Back Sunday, Green Day, Blink 182, Fall Out Boy, Alkaline Trio


"If we could play a show every night and have enough money to put gas in our van and food in our stomachs, we would be perfectly happy for the rest of our lives."

Hard Luck Story is comprised of three individuals from Northridge, California that have come together to pursue their love for music. Joey Mora, vocals & guitar, and Shawn White, guitar, began creating music in June of 2004. Joey was interested in becoming a music producer and engineer, but between working with other artists, he was busy creating his own songs in his studio. Joey spent much of his youth playing along side his father in numerous bands, but he now wanted to branch out and form a band of his own.

At this point in time, Shawn was busy playing in his own band. However, the band wasn't very serious considering they had only recorded a couple of songs and played just a few shows around the valley, and Shawn's passion for their music began to dwindle. One faithful night, Shawn and Joey met at a mutual friend's party, and soon they began talking about music. When discussing the bands that had influenced them over the years, familiar names like Green Day, Something Corporate, and Yellowcard were a shared affinity between them. They connected well with their musical tastes, and Joey invited Shawn over to his studio to check out some of his work. Shawn was impressed with what he heard at the studio, as well as the equipment Joey was using, and he urged Joey to help him with his band. For the next few weeks, Joey collaborated with Shawn's band by recording a few tracks and giving his input when needed but nonetheless, they both realized that this band wasn't going anywhere and there was much more potential in creating a project that encompassed Joey's songwriting. Shawn left his band and Hard Luck Story was born.

Joey set up shop in a vacant house owned by Shawn's father, and the duo began working out songs together. After a couple of months, they had a group of songs they were proud of and decided to showcase their creation for their friends and family at a local coffee shop. The show was to be played entirely acoustic because they lacked a drummer, but the pure experience of playing together in a live setting is what they were working towards. They booked the show at the coffee shop, but they ran into one problem when the manager asked a rather simple question:

"What's your band's name?"

They neglected to come up with a name because they were busy working on song structures, but they didn't have to wait long to find it. While digging through Joey's old vinyl collection, they stumbled across a tattered Elton John record. With the back cover barely intact, the song title "Hard Luck Story" jumped off the page and into both of their minds. The name was a perfect fit considering the underlying themes of heart break, failure, and bad luck throughout many of their songs, and the name Hard Luck Story has stuck ever since.

The acoustic show won over their friends and family but they knew that they needed a backbone; they needed a drummer. After failing to find a time keeper through a few auditions, they went for a long shot and emailed a past acquaintance by the name of Rory Carey. Rory was surprised to receive an email from two guys he barely knew, but coincidentally he was in the process of searching for musicians to jam with. Rory was looking for something more melodic to complement the heavy metal bands of his past, and the music of Hard Luck Story seemed to be the perfect fit. He tried out at the studio and everything clicked from the moment they began to play; Shawn and Joey knew that the foundation was complete and the journey was ready to begin.

Hard Luck Story spent the Fall and Winter of 2004/2005 recording their debut album, "A Sort of Homecoming." Although their advice and experience would've been very helpful, Hard Luck Story recorded their whole album without the help of any pricey producers. It took many laborious hour.

http://www.myspace.com/hardluckstory