***UPDATED BIOGRAPHY AUGUST 2015***
Jake was born in Enfield, North London in 1992 into a creative and musical family. From a very early age he was surrounded by music; his Grandfather, the guitarist Geoff Bradford, has been called 'a pioneer of British Blues', and his sister is a talented singer. Jake was never in any doubt that what he wanted to do more than anything was to be a drummer.
He got his first drum kit at the age of 9, and was asked to perform by his school at many events and occasions, both as a soloist and as part of a band. Professional drum lessons fuelled Jake's passion and honed his technique; at the age of 15 he obtained a distinction at Grade 8 drum kit for Trinity-Guildhall and was recruited by The Reasoning at the age of 16. He played his first professional gig with The Reasoning, supporting Fish at the Leamington Spa Assembly Rooms for the annual Fish Convention.
Subsequently, Jake has recorded 3 Albums, 1 Ep and 1 DVD with The Reasoning, and has performed all over the UK and Europe, notably at the inaugural High Voltage Festival 2010 (in the company of such acts as ELP, ZZ Top, Marillion and Dweezil Zappa) when at the age of 17, Jake was probably the youngest performer to grace the stage, and at 2013's first ever HRH Prog festival. Jake's dynamic drumming skills were applauded by readers of Classic Rock Presents Prog magazine when we was voted 5th Best Drummer of 2010 behind such luminaries as Neil Peart, Mike Portnoy, Gavin Harrison, and Nick D'virgilio.
With The Reasoning, Jake has performed in Norway, toured in Europe and the UK, as well as performed at Rosfest, Gettysburg in 2011; their live album 'The Bottle of Gettysburg' was released shortly afterwards. The Reasoning sadly disbanded in 2015, but Jake had already set other projects in motion…
Jake founded Echochain, a progressive rock group hailing from Enfield. They are currently working on their début album with singer Sebastien Flynn-Goze and highly acclaimed producer Christophe Goze. Jake organized their first ever UK tour, along with the promotion and advertisement.
Alongside Echochain, Jake and Matthew Cohen (now both ex-The Reasoning) formed Ghost Community. Jake recorded the drums for their debut album in August 2015, scheduled for release in January 2016.
He enjoys independent session work for producers including Andy Whitmore (Peter Andre, Atomic Kitten, Elton John), and has become somewhat of the ‘go-to drummer’ for students, lecturers and commercial sessions at SSR Camden, London.
When he's not on the kit himself, Jake is an enthusiastic drum tutor and in his spare time enjoys playing Tabla (studied for several years alongside drums), guitar and writing / recording songs. In downtime he is working on a solo album. He cites his own influences as diverse as John Bonham, Frank Zappa, Dave Grohl, Neil Peart and Marco Minnemann amongst others.