Widely considered among many aficionado's of the guitar to be one of the world's best 'shredders' JOE STUMP has had a long and prolific career. Apparently, born on 18th September, he shares the date with the anniversary of the death of JIMI HENDRIX, so it may be that he was naturally pre-disposed to play guitar. Stump got his start in the late 80's with a band project THRASH BROADWAY. Shortly afterward, he started a long and productive relationship with DAVID T. CHASTAIN's Leviathan label, who specialize in virtuoso guitar-based releases.

His first solo album came out in 1993, entitled 'Guitar Dominance', the record fused classic Rock influences with Paganini stylings. Assisting on this album were John Risti on bass and Darrell Maxfield on drums. 1994 saw the 'Night Of The Living Shred' album hit the streets, featuring more of the same frenetic shredding The album saw drummer Maxfield replaced by Jeff Tortora. In 1995 Stump issued his debut band project REIGN OF TERROR with the album title 'Light In The Sky'.

A third solo album, 'Super-Sonic Shred Machine', arrived in 1996. This work featured James Francis Simpson on bass this time out and Jeff Tortora handling the drum chores and the addition of Joe Cody on keyboards. Stump again teamed up with Tortora and James Simpson to record the progressive metal album 'Clockwatcher' with the band SHOOTING HEMLOCK in 1997.

His fourth true solo album was issued in 1998 called, Rapid Fire Rondo'. This time it was Jay Rigni on bass, and Jamie Curci on drums. Continuing his pattern of releasing at least one album a year, he followed up in 1999 with a second REIGN OF TERROR album, 'The Second Coming'. The following year Stump issued a collection of rarities and demos on an Indie label billed 'Dark Gifts'.

2001 proved to be a very busy year for Stump. Again with Leviathan he released his first live album, called 'Midwest Shredfest an admittedly poor quality bootleg from a live show in Cincinnati. He duly capitalised on this outing with his seventh release as a solo artist, '2001-A Guitar Odyssey'. The center-piece was the title track, a 6 minute unaccompanied, instrumental shred piece cut in just one take. The backing musicians were a selection of people he had worked with over his entire career.

REIGN OF TERROR also released their third album, 'Sacred Ground' in 2001 this time on the Limb label. Stump kept the REIGN OF TERROR machine rolling and in 2002 they found themselves back on the Leviathan label for a fourth album, 'Conquer and Divide'. Back to his solo career the following year, album number eight came out as part of a multi-album series on the Leviathan sub-label Diginet music series. An interesting and unique project, the Diginet Music Series saw a core of songs, bass and drums, written by Chastain and colleagues and then several guitarists from the label's roster were each asked to provide the guitar for their own musical interpretation of those base songs. Each of the artists then released the piece as a solo album under a different title. These artists included MICHAEL HARRIS, John Hahn and Corbin King. JOE STUMP's version was eventually issued under the title 'Armed And Ready'. These were eventually repackaged and re-issued under the 'Guitar Master Series' via the main label Leviathan.

Stump signed a deal with the Finnish Lion Music label for a 2004 solo record 'Speed Metal Messiah'. In addition, the guitarist also cut two instructional DVDs 'Neo-Classical Guitar 1' and 'Advanced Neo-Classical Guitar'. Leviathan released what seems to be a contractual obligation compilation in 2005 called 'Shredology', his tenth overall. It was a double disc collection of material from throughout his career with Leviathan. It also included a short bonus cut called 'The Drill'. The second disc was a reissue of the hard-to-find 'Midwest Shredfest' Live album.

Like his speed based, shred of guitar playing, JOE STUMP's career in 2005, after 15 years, showed no sign of slowing down. In early 2005 it was announced that Joe Stump had formed HOLYHELL with fellow guitar shredder Tom Hess, "Chicago's premier guitar demon", and female singer Maria Breon. Stump spent April on the road in the European Low Countries mixing live shows with guitar clinics.

European concerts in November and December 2008 saw Stump backed up by a live band comprising vocalist Ian Parry, of ELEGY and CONSORTIUM PROJECT, bassist Jay Rigney, from HOLYHELL and REIGN OF TERROR, and Erik Stout, of VENGEANCE, on drums.

During 2009 Joe Stump featured on the 'Virtuosity: Round 2' US tour backed by Sean Baker, Michael Harris and RACER X man Bruce Bouillet.