WITF Music: 7HRS AHEAD

How a shared guitar in Kuwait became a Central PA rock band.

• Joe Ulrich/WITF
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Joe has been interested in audio and music since he was a kid. What started as a fascination with his parents’ vinyl records and cassette tapes turned into a love of both performing and recording. He grew up in Elizabethtown, Pa. and moved to Pittsburgh in 1999 where he majored in Photography at the University of Pittsburgh.
  
  In 2004, he attended the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, AZ. He returned to Pittsburgh to work at a recording studio.
  
  In 2008, Joe arrived at WITF, where his skills have found a good home as an on-air host, audio engineer and producer of WITF Music. In 2016, Joe earned a National Edward R. Murrow award for Best Use of Sound.

 Joe Ulrich / WITF

7HRS AHEAD performs at WITF Music on March 19th, 2026. L-R: Dylan Painter, Matthew Meckley, Kevin Lusk, Chris Pearson.

7HRS AHEAD got its start when Kevin Lusk (vocals, guitar, bass) and Matt Meckley (guitar, vocals) got to know each other during their time in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. In 2022, they were deployed to Kuwait, seven hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, when they first talked about collaborating musically. After arriving back home to Central PA, they got together with Dylan Painter (drums) and Chris Pearson (bass, guitar, vocals) to bring the project to fruition.

A collection of interviews, photos, and music videos, featuring local musicians who have stopped by the WITF performance studio to share a little discussion and sound. Produced by WITF’s Joe Ulrich.

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