Tak Jovendrake

Tak Jovendrake is the founder of Soarin’ Tones Entertainment. He has, however, been a guitar player and a composer before anything else. Born in Tokyo Japan, his journey as a musician began in Vancouver B.C. Canada, during his high school years. There, he founded a powerhouse trio Target Relief who later changed their band name to Fusillade. Citing Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen as his two major influences in guitar playing, and bands such as Van Halen, Def Leppard, and various metal bands for general songwriting inspirations, Jovendrake made an attempt to combine the new sounds of the 90’s with the old school guitar playing of the 80’s. Eventually, however, Jovendrake left Fusillade citing creative differences.

A number of years later, he found himself back in Japan to pursue a career as a solo artist. Under the Tak: The Axe Kid moniker, he released his first album, a 5-song EP “Prologue” through CDBaby.com in 2009. Later in the same year, he changed his artist name to Tak Jovendrake, and has since gone on to explore new territories of music not just on the guitar but also using various instruments of his choice. His brief departure from the Tak Jovendrake brand of music saw the emergence of Taky-J project in 2011 where his sound changed drastically. However, this project was short-lived and the artist has since gone back to using his previous artist name, Tak Jovendrake, with a renewed passion to create the music he can truly be proud of. During the Holiday Season of 2024, he released his second offering, a highly anticipated full length album entitled The Tale of The Axe Kid which, through CDBaby, became available on various music platforms in January of the following year. The album contains eleven songs in total, most of which were old songs of his from his teen years, with one exception going back even further to when he was still in elementary school. The album also has one track that was written brand-new for the 2022 recording session (during which most of the tracks for the album were recorded). In 2024, shortly before Jovendrake submitted the album for release via CDBaby, he recorded “Detective Reprise”, a reprise of the first track on the album “Detective Syndrome”.

He is generally a rock/metal musician, but his musical expression goes well beyond the said genres. In 2009, he formed an instrumental folk rock duo Voltophonix with a Vancouver-based composer Brendan Blanchard. In Voltophonix, Jovendrake showcases a less aggressive approach to guitar playing than his shred-oriented projects feature. As a producer and a session musician, Jovendrake has proven quite capable also in the field of pop/hip-hop genre working with artists like P-Roland and Djembe as well.

Aside from the aforementioned influences, Jovendrake has also been inspired by quite many artists and bands. His childhood favourites include the Beatles and Michael Jackson, and in the classical realm he cites Mozart, Beethoven, and Saint-Saens among many of his favourite composers. Jovendrake has also been inspired by bands such as Metallica, Megadeth, Guns N’ Roses, Pantera, and Skid Row, during his formative years. More recently, he’s been inspired by bands like Stratovarius, Nightwish, and Twilight Force, and various other symphonic/power metal bands. In the non-metal field, he cites Seal as an inspiration in songwriting, while artists/bands such as a Canadian jazz fusion band UZEB, Frank Gambale, Allan Holdsworth, Miles Davis, George Benson, John Scofield, and Greg Howe are mentioned as some of the inspirations for his jazz-based playing.

GEAR

Guitars:
Ibanez JS1000s
Ibanez JS1200
Ibanez JS100
Ibanez AZ427P1PB-CKB
Ibanez SR305E
EVH Wolfgang Standard
1994 Gibson Les Paul Standard
Yamaha Pacifica and APX
(Washburn N2)
(Squier Stratocaster)
(Ibanez S520)

Software:
Cockos Reaper DAW
IK Multimedia Amplitube 5
Toontrack EZDrummer 3

Pedals:
BOSS HM-2 Heavy Metal
BOSS CS-3 Compression Sustainer
BOSS SY-1 Synthesizer
BOSS Digital Delay
BOSS Flanger
Electro-Harmonix Synth9
Electro-Harmonix Key9
Jim Dunlop Crybaby Mini
Digitech Whammy
DOD Noise Gate
Danelectro Cool Cat v2 transparent overdrive

Picks:
Jim Dunlop Jazz III (various materials)
Jim Dunlop Flow (John Petrucci signature and a 1.5mm standard)
Jim Dunlop Stubby
Ibanez JTC Player’s Pick
Ernie Ball Music Man Prodigy Jazz III shape
Gravity 003
Gravity Stealth Mini

Part metalhead, part jazz cat, part classical enthusiast, part bluesman, part folk fellow, part singer, part electronica lover, part exotic musician, part avant garde madman, mostly rocker, always an artist. He is Tak Jovendrake.