John Pence

In his years of youth, John Pence has realized early that music was his niche. Comfortable on any stage, the sixteen year old, singer/songwriter, has played all over, from 5-star restaurants to bars, writers nights and open mics to even rental spaces, churches, and museums! What gives him such a confident and open attitude is his world wide view. In other words, he doesn't think, he knows he will be heard and the more shows he's played, the better. His hometown, Roanoke, VA, is just his start...

In his years of youth, John Pence has realized early that music was his niche. Comfortable on any stage, the sixteen year old, singer/songwriter, has played all over, from 5-star restaurants to bars, writers nights and open mics to even rental spaces, churches, and museums! What gives him such a confident and open attitude is his world wide view. In other words, he doesn't think, he knows he will be heard and the more shows he's played, the better. His hometown, Roanoke, VA, is just his starting place. John started strumming the guitar at a very young age but it didn't actually stick until middle school (2005). With memories of seeing the annual talent show, his first concert, and being introduced to MTV, John grew fascinated with starting a rock band. In fact, that's all he ever talked about! He persuaded all of his friends to buy instruments and they started a band called No Signal. They were determined to play the talent show and sure enough, each year they did and got better each time! Those experiences gave John the chance to broaden his ear for music and become open to the many genres out there. Going into high school (2007), the band members reduced to a trio and lived a short life under the name, The New Birds. John branched off of playing in a band when he realized his priorities were different than the rest of the band's were. He started to see the music in a wider view than just their hometown. Playing the local talent show and occasional show at the Elk's Lodge wasn't going to get them where he wanted to go. John took all the songs he wrote throughout middle school and copyrighted them. At age 14, John played Eddie's Attic in Atlanta, GA, and recorded his first CD, "My View", at Nickel & Dime Studios (2008). Sophomore year in high school (2009), John started gigging and promoting with the locals. He's played with a variety of musicians throughout Roanoke including Twelve O' Clock Knob, clients of the Apollo Collective, the lively Bastards of Fate, many singer/songwriters from open mics like the Coffee Pot.. John even pulled in touring act, Ryanhood, from Arizona. Networking was a skill John naturally acquired and used to become known around his hometown. He was ready to branch out even more! Over the summer of '09, John has visited music friendly communities, Atlanta & Nashville. For his second CD, he recorded a full length, live, acoustic album at Eddie's Attic, "Just Me". He played songwriter nights all four nights he spent in Nashville and was offered 2 showcase gigs and guaranteed plays upon his return. These great experiences for John leave him looking forward to the many places that he will travel! Currently, John has backed off his solo career due to school starting up and has been gigging with TOK. The band and John have been playing shows together as separate acts since May 2009. Always helping each other out, front man, Santiago Prada decided to collaborate with John later in the year as an acoustic duo and played as Pence&Prada. Then Santiago brought John in to play with the whole band for some shows and discovered they liked his enthusiasm and harmonies. John played his first show as an official member of TOK on October 5th, 2009.