Common Era

Common Era was born on January 19, 2009. Just a seed with out a name, this in fact was the very day that members Joe Williams, (vocalist, guitar) Steve Nackman, (bass guitar) and Tobin Hafeli, (drums) signed a contract to rent a rehearsal room at the grungy Utopia Studios. The three had all played in bands, and played music with one another at one point, but this was the first time that all three had played together at once. Looking back now, the timing, the place, and the people involved, i...

Common Era was born on January 19, 2009. Just a seed with out a name, this in fact was the very day that members Joe Williams, (vocalist, guitar) Steve Nackman, (bass guitar) and Tobin Hafeli, (drums) signed a contract to rent a rehearsal room at the grungy Utopia Studios. The three had all played in bands, and played music with one another at one point, but this was the first time that all three had played together at once. Looking back now, the timing, the place, and the people involved, it couldn’t have been better. It just clicked. The idea of the band had long been underway, developing slowly but surely in the cavernous recesses, deep in the mind of frontman Joe Williams. Hard tasked to find other musicians with the same vision, Joe turned to close friends to fill the void. First to get caught up in the excitement, Steve Nackman, (a guitar player at the time) had faith in the idea and literally decided to uproot from Colorado and move to St. Louis to ensue a musical career. Joe and Steve tried out a number of drummers, but nothing seemed to fit. They were going to need to find a bass player as well (At the time they planned to be a four piece). Meanwhile another long time friend, Tobin Hafeli, was in Pheonix, Arizona studying to be an audio engineer. Excited about the shoddy but promising recordings he was hearing sent to him via E-mail by Joe, Tobin was anxious to get home to pursue his audio career and get involved with the musical project. Much time had passed and still no drummer. Finally one day, tired of time becoming ill spent, Joe proposed the idea of Steve hopping on bass guitar and Tobin behind the drums. The three of them could then throw down on rehearsal space and start writing some songs. What a great idea. Toward the end of January 2009, the band had its first practice/writing session and it couldn’t have gone better. Joe remembered saying, “it was the best, first band practice a band could have.” For the next six months they wrote song after song until their first show in July at the Way Out Club. The show was a huge success and the band was hungry for more. The band kept writing new material and booking more and more shows. They continued to conquer dozens of local venues, leaving an impression behind not quickly forgotten. Now the band gets regular random invites from local venues wanting them to play their stage. They are evolving quickly and moving fast for a band that has only been together for a short time. More shows are being played more often and soon there will be no one that doesn’t know Common Era.