Our roots date back to the 80's, while we were students at Northern Illinois University. The band went trhrough several name and member changes (including founder Gene Skala and keyboardist Jim Rodiguer) before settling on "The Essentials, with the band including Raj Chohan (vocals), Mike Neary (drums), Jeff Peek (gtr), Steve Schneck (bass), and Mike Greenberg (keys). We had much success early on, writing and performing our music, and performing in festivals and bars in and around Chicago and DeKalb. After almost 15 years apart, a couple of years ago we started getting together 1x per year to jam and record some music. This new music is listed first, including Hey Hey, See How it Ends (Caroline), and Train Never Comes. These were recorded psuedo-lowfi, direct to a hard disk, in a jam-session environment. They were written and recorded in a day, for the most part. Makes us wonder sometimes...

Latest News

contact: jeffpeek at gmail . com

We're getting together on 8/9 this year with all 5 of the main lineup. 20 year reunion. Good lord...

Press Info

email raj.chohan@comcast.net

Influences

Zevon, Beck, Dylan, Farrar

Bio

I'm a news reporter in Denver by day, singer/songwriter by night. I make music in the genres of modern rock, alt folk, and alt country. Simple production, memorable hooks, and off-beat lyrics.