Joe Romersa

Joe Romersa (born July 27, 1956 in California) is an American voice actor, song writer, drummer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, sound engineer and vocalist.

Career
Recognized in his teens for his talent with sound, Joe's illustrious career includes working with many notable music industry greats. Joe's first love has always been drumming but early on he branched out into sound engineering. As Joe tells it, "After a tragic early tour I did at age 19 which left me homeless sleeping on a park bench in New Jersey, I had to find a way to make money and still be close to what I love; music." Upon his return to California, Joe studied sound engineering. Combining his fledgling career as a professional musician with the more stable income of sound engineering allowed Joe to perfect his craft as both a gifted drummer/percussionist and as a hard-working, and talented sound engineer.

Joe started touring as the drummer for the Marc Tanner Band. On April 19, 1979, they would open for Firefall, at the Palace Theater in Cleveland Ohio. The Marc Tanner Band also opened for Jefferson Starship. Joe was a drummer, percussionist, and composer on Tanner's second album, Temptations, along with guitarist Ritchie Zito and bassist Ron Edwards.

While working in the studio, a chance meeting with keyboardist and songwriter Vincent Nicoletti, would result in the band Soy Cowboy with its unique "Thai Western" sound. Joe was brought in as a drummer and sound engineer, but his talent as a lead vocalist would soon be discovered as the band was pulled together. After their first recordings received airplay by renowned Los Angeles radio personality, Tom Schnabel of KCRW-FM (89.9), the band caught the attention of then art student Tarsem Singh. In 1990, Singh would produce the Soy Cowboy's only music video for their song Lily Pads and Rock Cod. Soy Cowboy's first album First Time Again was produced in 1991 but it was not released to the public. The album would later be released in 2009, by Shadow Box Studio. Their second album 2012 was produced and released in 2012. As noted by Tom Schnabel "The band got moderate airplay on U.S. radio, but in England briefly jumped to the top of the charts."

Joe was both a drummer and engineer on John Prine's 1992 Grammy Award-winning album The Missing Years. He would go on to work with Carlene Carter on her 1993 country music album Little Love Letters as the drummer, percussionist, engineer and backup vocalist along with bassist Howie Epstein and keyboardist Benmont Tench. Little Love Letters would rise to #35 on the Top Country Albums chart and included the #3 hit Every Little Thing and two top 100 songs; I Love You 'Cause I Want To (#50) and Unbreakable Heart (#51). Joe's beautiful young daughter, Reyna, would make her video "debut" in I Love You 'Cause I Want To.

In the late 1980s, a slight, older gentleman with a shock of long white hair would walk into the recording studio without an appointment. That man was Eden Ahbez, known as ahbe to his friends. That fateful day would mark the beginning of an 8-year relationship with the man that wrote Nature Boy. Joe and ahbe worked together until ahbe's untimely death in 1995.

During Joe's career he would also work with Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Laurence Juber, Bonnie Raitt, Bette Midler, David Lindley, Whoopi Goldberg, Poco, Thin White Rope, Bruce Springsteen, Angelyne, Havana, The Dickies, Melanie, The Lettermen, Peaches, Miki Howard, John Klemmer, Iron Butterfly, Egyptian Lover, Bitch, Dave Edmunds, Freddy Cannon, Don Julian & the Larks, Mary Wells, Big Mama Thornton, The Coasters, and Bob Dylan.

Joe's talent as a voice artist would soon find him working in the world of anime. In 1994, Joe started engineering, voice acting, and ADR directing on Anime and Game projects, which led to his work on Silent Hill. In 2002, Yutaka Maseba and Haruyo Kanesaku at ZRO Limit Productions introduced Joe and Akira Yamaoka. The two musicians got together and jammed at Joe's studio, Joe on his drums and Akira playing on Joe's borrowed Strat and Line 6 amp. Their only communication was through their music until the translator came and they would discuss the Silent Hill project. Joe would go on to work as music supervisor on Silent Hill 3, Silent Hill 4: The Room and Silent Hill: Homecoming. Joe is the talent behind the song lyrics in these games. He also sings on "Hometown" and "Cradle of Forest."

One of Joe's projects as a producer was the production of Alana Sweetwater's 2004 release of Alana Sweetwater. Her single from that album, Song of Love, was featured on the original Showtime series, Season 3, Episode 6, of The Real L Word. Joe was also a musician on the album and sound engineer.

Joe released his first album as a solo artist in 2017 titled Enough. Written and composed by Joe, Enough includes tracks by fellow musicians including Laurence Juber ("Love, and You"), Prescott Niles ("Enough," "Humans Doing Angels Work," "Soldier of Love"), and Jeff Jourard ("Give Our Money Back").

Joe currently lives in Southern California. Joe remains first and foremost a musician. Having recently released his vast archive representative of his work, he has returned his focus to composing and performing original music. He still drums live and can occasionally be found drumming somewhere in the Greater Los Angeles Area. Joe continues to produce music at his Shadow Box Studio. He keeps the light on in the studio because there is always sound engineering to be done.

Anime

 * Fist of the North Star (1984-1987) - Zeed, Heart, Additional Voices
 * Street Fighter II V (1995) - Balrog
 * Rurouni Kenshin (1996-1998) - Raiko (ep. 14), Politician (ep. 15) , Merchant (ep. 15) (Media Blasters Dub)
 * Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999) - Abdul Hakeem (ep. 2)
 * Outlaw Star (1998) - McCoy's Lackey #2 (eps. 2-3), Kyokan (ep. 7) , Fake Shimi (ep. 15)
 * Trigun (1998) - Descartes (ep. 1), Gofsef Nebraska (ep. 5)
 * The Big O (1999-2003) - Nightingale Club Bouncer (ep. 2), Repairman (ep. 25)

OVAs & Specials

 * Giant Robo: The Animation (1992-1998) - Additional Voices (Animaze Dub)

Anime Films

 * Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (1979) - Gustav
 * Akira (1988) - Joker, Baby Room Soldier (Animaze Dub)
 * Ninja Scroll (1993) - Additional Voices
 * Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994) - Balrog
 * Ghost in the Shell (1995) - Crass Truck Driver
 * Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004) - Crab Man, Undersea Cyborg (Animaze Dub)

Voice Director

 * Fist of the North Star
 * Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro
 * Trigun