Octa-Bio
Born Regan Balman in
Lakewood Washington, "Octaman" is an unusual talent. In his
early teen years he was a gifted honor student needing to be placed in
special accelerated classes for reading, writing, math, foreign
language and especially music, going from first chair clarinet to
playing guitar in the advanced jazz program.
Ostracized within his family for being different, this true life Cinderella was despised
by his father and siblings. He was made to push a broom at the family
boat dealership for many years without advancement...
The rebel soul gravitated
toward music. Long before he was 18 years old he had already
worked in every major club in the Pacific northwest as the favorite
roadie for the legendary band "The Boibs" (now "The Beatniks").
They invited him to play guitar on stage with them for shows in the
U.S. and Canada. The band broke up just after being listed in TV
guide for an upcoming "Star Search" program they were about to appear
on. It was but the first of his many roller coaster rides nearly
to the top...
At age 20, a New York City
television production company held a mass cattle-call audition in
Seattle seeking cast members for a new live cable TV comedy show
similar to "Saturday Night Live." Among thousands of applicants,
Regan was asked to come back for a second and third audition, until he
was ultimately chosen as one of the eight cast members for the
show. A conflict between producers resulted in the show being
canceled before it aired...
At the tender age of 21 he
quickly became the hottest new professional stand-up comedian in
Seattle, making a splash at the Seattle International Stand-up Comedy
Competition. Right then he was invited to join the same band he
had worked for, this time as a full time member on bass guitar, playing
all the top venues in the Puget Sound at the age of 22. Produced
by the manager for the Steve Miller Band, they recorded in London
Bridge Studios in Seattle, but the band then broke up over pressures
from creative differences...
Things took a turn for
Octaman at age 23 when he married the Anti-christ . She forced
him to quit playing bass for the Jamaican reggae singer "Azeem" and
into radio broadcasting school for a "more stable career." He was
quickly hired to do his own nation wide broadcast for the nationally
syndicated heavy metal show "Z-Rock", by virtue of the one and only
demo tape he had ever sent out. Z-Rock was then sold before Regan
could take to the airwaves...
After brief radio stints
at KJR, KVI, KZOK, KJUN, KTOL and KBLE, he was named General Sales
Manager of KENU 1330 AM in Enumclaw. Following a difficult
divorce, and not wanting to work in a small town right next door to a
slaughter house, the vegetarian Octaman left the radio business...
Next he joined a
three-piece rock band featuring the original drummer from "Pearl Jam",
enjoying a private recording session with Eddie Vedder. He next
cut a studio album and went on tour as singer/songwriter/bassist for
the powerful music trio. He was quickly discovered by a scout for
Atlantic Records, who said it was "the greatest rock and roll band I've
ever seen." Atlantic
hired a law firm to search out and find Regan living in the
foothills of the Olympic mountains in a native American style tee
pee. The band broke down when pressures from potential success
forced the other band members into hospitalization...
Without missing a beat,
Regan took his seven piece reggae band "Word Posse" on tour, opening
for I-Jahman at the Roots Mountain Reggae Festival, Clinton Fearon and
the Boogie Brown Band at the Tacoma Freedom Fair, and other
shows. The band included one member from the hit reggae band "Big
Mountain", and none other than the original Bob Marley and the Wailers'
own percussionist. Authentic to the core, the roots reggae band
stalled out just before their biggest show, due to conflict between
other band members...
"Fall down seven times,
get up eight" - so goes the shoe commercial. Regan began to get
the picture that he must be "Octaman" - having at least eight talents,
and now making his eighth climb up the mountain of show business.
If you aren't getting the picture by now that this is a unique and
multi-faceted entertainer, having excelled in comedy, television, radio
and several kinds of music, please take into account that during all
these efforts to find his audience, Octaman has had to work some very
odd jobs, having over 65 different employers before turning 25 years
old. He's done everything from detailing to delivery driving,
dish washing to ditch-digging, even barge scraping - during the worst
storm in Washington's last 100 years. This is the true story of a
truly humble small town underdog...
The now guitar virtuoso
"Octaman" has just produced a solo CD that is already loved by
many. "Rock of Offence" was written and produced by Octaman
alone, or rather, all eight of him. He plays all the parts heard
on the album; drums, bass, guitars, sax, keyboards, percussions and all vocals. Right now, he is getting back
on stage as a solo vocal/guitar act, precisely because he wants to put
himself in a positition where other people cannot derail his
success. He's been often disappointed, but his audiences never
have been. On stage he is engagingly witty, and his great music
is spiritual, powerful and lyrically meaningful. Outspoken, funny
and personable, there is no performer in the world like Octaman.
"I'm Octaman because there's 8 of me"
singer/songwriter/guitarist/musician/editorial writer/
radio broadcaster/comic/actor/"genius, name it"
"Wherever there's
injustice, I and I and I and I and I and I and I and I will be there!"
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