Joe was born on February 18, 1972 to a somewhat musically inclined household and grew up listening to Glenn Miller and Dave Brubeck. When his brother John went to college in 1977, new wave and punk also came home to visit, introducing Joe to The Police, XTC, and Talking Heads. He started playing sax and the piano in the early 80s and finally, the guitar (a Global acoustic purchased from a schoolmate for $8) after his sister Anne brought home Pete Townshend’s “Scoop”.
In high school, Joe met Patrick Baggett, a keyboardist, and they jammed together before forming Blue Nirvana along with Dave Kane (sax), Robert Kane
(drums), Chris Cox (guitar), Mark Nicotra (sax), and Steve Biglin (vocals, harp). Their first public performance was in May of 1987 at the St. Daniel’s Talent Show. During the summer, Joe purchased the legendary Ibanez ST-50, “Gus” and added AJ Mann to the jamming lineup. In the fall of 1987, Joe, Pat, AJ, and the Kanes re-formed as… yes… Nirvana.
By early 1989, Patrick had left the band and it had been re-named The Bedouins. Their first EP, “BBQ’D Wing Tips” was cut at Penguin Studio and released in 1990. The album “Singularity” was released in 1993 and also featured the guitar wizardry of Kris Heels. By 1994, though, the Bedouins had dissolved.
During the winter of 1996, Joe recorded the “Pepper” sessions with Mike Bates and John Flaherty on drums, which included the song “CZM”. The album “Progmire Syndrome” was released in 1998 with help from AJ, Bob Kane, and Jay Bunger and in 1999, Joe played with Ben Manglos and Chris Wildrick as Lime.
Joe has been playing various improvisational shows with Ben Manglos, Jim DaRin, and Rob Coye as The Quartet Trio since 2002.
The solo album “1/2″ was completed in 2003 and released to strong reviews.
At present, he is developing an EP “Dew Claw” and album “Mr. Think-Electro-Good” as a solo artist and is also working with Rob Coye on shows and recordings for the Phantom Pilots project. A new band, Birds Anonymous, is being formed which will feature Plessas’ compositions.