Vote For Pete

In 2004, Ed Sheedy, Kevin Garvey, Olin Stratton, Jeremy Ogden, and Josef Lorenz decided to start a rock n' roll band. Everything seemed to click pretty well, since all the band members were friends beforehand. The name 'Vote For Pete' was decided on at a practice that took place around the 2004 presidential election, at which Ed's brother Pete was saying how he didn't like the candidates' stances on the issues - so the band members said, "alright, we'll vote for Pete" - and there was the name.

In the spring of 2005, Jeremy moved to Illinois. Around the same time, Joe decided to focus more on his style of piano-based rock, and also left the group. With two members down, the band was a bit off course. In an attempt to remedy the situation, the remaining members called Justin Jackson to pick up the slack of Ed's guitar playing - it suffered a bit now that he had to sing and play. With Justin now in the band, his wife, Lisa Jackson, also came to a few practices, and it turned out she was a very good piano player. So she joined the band not long after Justin. After auditioning a few new singers throughout 2005-6, the band lucked out when Jeremy decided to move back in May. He returned just a month before the band really started to gain some momentum in the local music scene.

Since then, the band has crafted and honed their skills as musicians. They released their first album (Wherever he is...) in April of 2007, and their second (For Pete's Sake) in June of 2009, while regularly playing live shows in the Syracuse area. So if you enjoy fun rock and roll music, check the "shows" section to see when their next performance is.