Josh Gates is the lead singer, guitarist and primary songwriter of The Groundhogs. He has long been involved in starting bands and creating other musical projects and is also a prolific visual artist and writer. He has designed logos for businesses, sold portraits on the street in San Francisco, displayed his paintings in several Corvallis art shows, airbrused t-shirts, done posters for local concerts, and won first place in the 1990 Kiwanis Club of Corvallis Crime Prevention Poster Contest. He still has the blue ribbon awarded him by Smokey the Bear himself. In high school Gates played the ironic dual role of columnist/cartoonist for the school paper and editor/writer/cartoonist for a subversive underground zine distributed at the same school.

His recording career began in seventh grade, when he started recording bizarre novelty songs on a boom box under the name "Mr. Gnome" and giving the tapes to his friends. He began playing guitar at 13 and formed his first band, Various Artists, at 15. Though this band never went anywhere, some songs played by The Groundhogs today were originally written in these tender early days. Various Artists went through several name and personnel changes without ever getting it together enough to play shows, and eventually he and the drummer switched their focus to the absurdist project Hot Sauce Hangover. Under the aliases of Michael Villa and Michael Grant, they each played a variety of instruments, including some they didn't know how to play, and recorded many of the songs while making them up on the spot. Hot Sauce Hangover made a modest income performing on sidewalks and selling tapes, but eventually the two got on with their lives.

After high school Gates drifted away from music and concentrated on his art rather than on having a band. During this period he learned to play drums and bass but spent most of his time developing his oil painting skills. In 2002, he was drawn back to music and made his first solo album, "A Bunch of Garbage and Some Crap Too," recording himself on all instruments and vocals with a simple analog four-track. His passion for music was back and soon he bought a more sophisticated digital recording console and created his solo masterpiece, "Turn It On."

Contacted by area bassist Chad Fell shortly after the release of "Turn It On," Gates brought in his friend Chris Kennedy on drums, and the three formed The Groundhogs. After Kennedy moved away and was replaced by Nate Stout, Gates vistited Kennedy at recording school in Arizona to gain experience in a professional studio. The resulting solo track, a Gates original and Groundhogs standard called "Gemini," is a slow, stripped-down version of an upbeat pop song, featuring twelve-string guitars, a glockenspiel and a haunted, melancholy vocal by a sleep-deprived Gates fresh off an overnight flight from Oregon. (This most recent solo recording is available here for downloading.)

When not performing with the band, Gates keeps busy writing, drawing, painting, and trying to fool people by pointing out exotic animals that aren't there (ie "Whoa, a rhino").

Likes: Backpacking, tempeh, brunettes
Dislikes: Mayonnaise, conservative politics, fantasy fiction

Top ten favorite albums (in no particular order):
Wilco - Summerteeth
The Beatles - Revolver
Van Morrison - Moondance
Giant Sand - Chore of Enchantment
Nirvana - In Utero
Over the Rhine - Ohio
Todd Snider - East Nashville Skyline
Radiohead - OK Computer
Beck - Odelay
Paul Simon - Graceland

Secret Weakness: Hearing loss

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