Meet The Team
(Jacob) Lee Bane
Founder & CEO
Lee only started The Rockstar Experience because he had nothing better to do after the whole Covid thing blew over. He had no idea that it would become so popular in such a short space of time. And there he was thinking he’d just do a bit of teaching and have a quiet life...
His journey through music has been, to put it lightly, eventful. From his early days kicking around the pub scene along the south coast to exploding onto the international stage as the front man and songwriter with his band (mention no names) in the early 2000s, he has been fortunate enough to work with some of the biggest producers in the world and tour with some incredibly famous bands. He’s learned a thing or two from those experiences, we can tell you!
And that’s what it’s all about – EXPERIENCE. Lee really started The Rockstar Experience because he wanted not only to share his passion for and knowledge of music, but also to make sure young upcoming musicians are made aware of the many pitfalls and traps that can destroy people’s lives/careers/enthusiasm. He also believes that the best way to learn is by combining different things to create an holistic experience which gives people a taste of all manner of creative opportunities. After all, creativity is expression and expression is great for the mind.
Aside from having been a professional musician for over 30 years, Lee has been a high school and further education teacher and is a practising vegan and anarchist. His real passion lies in the joining of all those things.
When he’s not Rockstar Experiencing you’ll find him playing obscure ambient music as D3VICE at cool venues around Kent or gigging with his new band, Sunshine Radio.
Dr. Joe Inkpen
Director, Tutor
Joe is a composer, guitarist, and visual artist, with a Masters and PhD in music composition. As an educator Joe teaches peripatetically in schools across Kent, covering whole class and 1-1 instrumental lessons, as well as mentoring ensembles and bands. Joe’s approach is always student-focused, with a friendly and patient attitude to instil confidence and inspiration – everyone’s musical journey is unique!
Joe specialises as an electric guitarist with 20 years’ experience, regularly performing in a range of styles including rock, pop, funk, metal, jazz, and contemporary music. As well as performances with local bands Spyplane, Flame Pilots, and Highgarden, other gig highlights include dates with Jack Hues (Wang Chung), and ArcTanGent festival with TRAPS. Joe’s favourite chord is (probably) Cmaj7#11.
With a passion for new music, Joe is always composing and songwriting – whether this is in bands or his own solo work. His compositions have been performed in a variety of settings, notably Canterbury Festival where his piece ‘[in]dependence’ with the Leon String Quartet won the Peter Maxwell Davies Memorial Prize in 2019. More recently Joe has been working as one of four composers on the ‘Parliament of Angels’ project with Brussels-based contemporary music collective BL!NDMAN, released the album ‘Everywhen – Music for Polytemporal Ensemble’ and is working on a new release for his prog rock project The Mop Collective.
Joe also works as a visual artist undertaking commissions in traditional and digital media, including album covers, logos, portraits, and animations. Some notable examples include Turner-exhibited collaborations on artist Kate Lynn-Devere’s film ‘Love After All’, which contributed to winning a Kent Mental Wellbeing Award, and the graphic score for composer Emily Peasgood’s ‘BIRDS and other Stories’, nominated for a British Composer Award. CBBC also showed a drawing Joe did of Spider-Man once, which was cool.
Ben Wood
Director, Tutor, HSE, First Aider
Ben is an incredibly talented multi-instrumentalist and a composer of both popular and avant-garde music. He has performed in bands and as a solo artist for donkey's years and he’s run the gamut when it comes to styles. He can do the lot – jazz, rock, punk, pop, folk – he’s bossed it all.
In his thirty years as a teacher he has accumulated a ton of experience by working with a diverse section of society, ranging from children and adults to people with learning difficulties, mental health issues and neurodiversity. Ben realises that everyone learns at a different pace but that learning must be fun and rewarding too. When it comes to self-expression everyone is different and his patient, understanding approach always pays dividends.
Ben has been around the block musically and that has only fuelled his love for it even more. It’s what he loves the most, it’s the first thing he thinks about in the morning and the last thing before he shuts his peepers at night.
Ben has an incredible tome of musical knowledge in his head and his grasp of music history is unparalleled; he’s literally a walking music reference library – better than the internet. He also boasts a Music MMus Commercial Music BA, which is really cool.
Coor Brow-Obles
Funding Advisor, Tutor
Coming from a musical theatre background, Coor soon made the switch to playing guitar when he was 16 years old, but he won't tell us how long ago that was. Since then he has achieved his Master's Degree in Popular Music (Performance and Research) from the University of Kent and completed grades in singing from The Royal Schools of Music. Coor specialises in alternative pop music throughout the last 60 years including Punk, Psychedelic, Dream Pop, Goth and David Bowie.
Throughout his education, Coor has picked up several side jobs teaching guitar before officially becoming self-employed in 2021 teaching via Zoom during the Covid pandemic. Since then he has mainly focused on individual lessons, but also taught in schools for neurodiverse children. Besides teaching Coor also runs two open mic nights, whilst regularly gigging and releasing music. Musically he takes great pride in having supported Sweet Ermengarde, Theatre of Hate and Thomas Benjamin Esq and successfully crowdfunded his EP “Missi_g” (raising over £1000).
When he isn't in the midst of another musical endeavour you can usually find Coor reading, listening to fiction-based podcasts, painting or gaming (video games and tabletop). But generally spends his time recording things he may never release and frantically trying to figure out the social media and marketing game. Coor is also kind of bored with travelling, which is also a shame because he regularly takes visits to France and Spain to visit his parents. Coor is a huge fan of comedy and humour, which is a shame since he seems to be the only person who enjoys his jokes. If found in the threat of his "new favourite joke" Please do not make eye contact and contact either Lee, Ben, Joe or Jacobi for immediate assistance and/or evacuation.
bit.ly/coorbrowobles
