PULSE Biographies

Biographies
Read all about the band members.

Rod Gilkeson	Rod's musical career began at the age of four when he sang and swiveled his hips on the dining room table to the tune of Elvis Presley's "All Shook Up." As the years progressed he began singing in bands while also performing in musical theater. Some of his proudest moments include being one of two finalists to replace Peter Gabriel in Genesis, performing as the opening act for Grand Funk Railroad and Todd Rundgren and being featured in a number of rock music publications such as Creem, Crawdaddy and Rolling Stone magazines. Rod has also been a featured actor in touring shows of "Jesus Christ Superstar"(Judas), "Evita"(Che) and "Grease"(Danny Zuko). Presently he is thrilled to sing in the classic rock duos "R&G Acoustic Company" and "R&G Electric Company" and to be the frontman for Pulse. He hopes audiences of all ages will appreciate the music that he recreates in these exciting bands.
Greg Van Allen	Greg Van Allen has been playing guitar since the age of 10. In 1976, he was a founding member of what eventually became Strange Brew, a very popular Berks County classic rock band that continues to rock audiences today. Greg was also the lead guitarist for the late 90's prog band ShadowPlay, which had two high-profile Musikfest appearences, and recently finished a great 15 year run in the acoustic/electric group The Critters. He also has played guitar and bass in the pit orchestra at Pennsylvania Playhouse in Bethlehem, and is currently a member of the classic rock duos "R&G Acoustic Company" and "R&G Electric Company." Onstage, Greg relies on a custom-made Carvin DC127T guitar and a Line6 PodXT Live signal processor.
Bill Fox	Bill has been playing guitar since the fourth grade and has taken up saxophone, bass, synthesizers, mandolin, and percussion since then. Since coming to the Lehigh Valley in 1992, Bill has played in pit orchestras for MunOpCo and the Pennslyvania Playhouse. His past bands include ShadowPlay and The Critters. He joined the Municipal Band of Allentown in 1992 where he plays alto saxophone. Bill also plays in Pinnacle (an original progressive rock trio), Malarky (a Celtic band), and Xeroid Entity (an electronic music chamber ensemble). Bill plays bass and sings harmony in Pulse using Warwick Streamer Stage II four string and Streamer Standard five string basses into a Fender Bassman 400. He also uses Roland pedals to control a Clavia Nord Modular synthesizer. He can play his Selmer Tenor saxophone, but only if he can figure out how to play bass at the same time.
Bob Ashmore	Bob started out as a guitar player, taking lessons for a few years. He then formed his first rock band in 1965, shortly after the Beatles came to America. He worked this band for 10 years. Bob attended a technical institute for electronics as well as music school for theory/composition, earning a B.A, M.A, and teaching certification. He performed in a 30 piece jazz band at college in addition to various classic and progressive rock bands along the way that featured music by Yes, Genesis, ELP, Kansas, Steely Dan, Beatles, CSNY, Supertramp, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Santana, and other excellent composer/performers. Bob uses Kurzweil Digital Sampling synthesizers.
Bill Fenstermacher	Bill brings to Pulse, 37 years of experience playing drums and performing vocals. He began drum lessons at 9 years of age, participating in his Middle School and High School bands. He joined his first "wedding reception" band at 12 years old. Since then he has played with Midnight Ryder, Tammi and the ToneHeads, The Critters and currently also plays with Strange Brew. In between bands, he had spent time as a fill-in with Country, Country-Rock and Rock bands. Bill performs behind a ten piece vintage Slingerland kit and participates with vocals and harmonies.