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I
have loved and participated in music for as long as I can remember.
Hearing my dad sing when I was little; always getting up front
to sing in first grade music class; playing violin from 3rd to
5th grade... I started playing electric guitar when I was 16.
I took lessons for one year and since then am self-taught. I have
always enjoyed going to live performances of all kinds of music
and learning by watching and listening.
I
played in a high school classic-rock cover band called Detour
in my hometown of Bethlehem, PA, and an alternative rock band
after I moved to Newark, DE. That band was called A
Cross and ran from 1988-1992. It was the first time
I played original music, and I tried to write songs but could
barely connect thoughts and riffs into whole tunes. In 1998
I played in
Space Vipers with Bill Degnan and Don Patridge. We had a
short-lived, bizarre run of shows. I was surprised to find out
that people really can appreciate something very different and
original-if the band sounds half-decent.
Teaching
myself drums the next few years, I played a lot of improv with
some people, making up songs on the spot and recording them. I
couldn't believe the creativity and humor that came out of that
period. There was a level of musical freedom I never knew existed
in doing stuff that way, never knowing what's going to happen
next and really having to read each other's minds, or just going
off on your own tangent because nobody cared anyway. It was music
JUST FOR FUN.
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I
spent the last few years woodshedding (as always), but really
working on my chops. Trying to start a techno-rock band with Jeff
and some friends last year didn't work out, but Jeff wanted to
keep playing. So, I decided to concentrate on the style of music
that comes out of me naturally on the guitar. It's a sort of blues-based
iron-fisted rock style that always has a little of that classic
50's and 60's feel in it.
I
suppose I'm influenced a lot by Reverend Horton Heat-and also
in that vein-Man or Astro Man, The Cramps, and Link Wray to name
a few. I think that a lot of music is about the rhythm and that
a lot of harmony I hear is boring. That's why I like beats that
move you and lots of crazy chords and changes. To me, anything
you try is valid and even though our stuff is retro-sounding,
I want it to be progressive and NEVER
BORING.
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