Joe Altier may best be known as the lead singer for Syracuse, New York’s BRAND NEW SIN. But that’s history now. Today Joe is fronting ELEPHANT MOUNTAIN, a band he and Slider (Brian Azzoto) from Brand New Sin started together recently. He also pays his bills by traveling around in an old New York State Prison bus with his keyboards as JUST JOE, his version of a modern day piano man and his solo project. Elephant Mountain recently self released their debut disc, The Last Days Of Planet Earth. If you’ve ever heard Brand New Sin’s self titled debut album or their second album, Recipe For Disaster, and longed for that sound again, it is right here! The main songwriting team from those two albums have reunited and delivered The Last Days Of Planet Earth.

Joe and Away Team's Jim L. Keller II sat down on a Sunday morning and caught each other up on what they're both been doing the past three years, they also spent over an hour talking about how he came to be in Brand New Sin, why Slider was kicked out, why he himself left, what Elephant Mountain means to him, and how a band makes a name without a label in today’s social networking environment.

Joe pulls no punches when talking about Brand New Sin, his highs and lows in the band and how you can earn a living singing ELTON JOHN covers in between your own original work. Oh, and let’s not forget the 60 year old groupies too! They talked so long and covered so many things that Jim has cut this interview into two pieces.

Check out the interview at this location.