I have been playing Drums for 28years. Playing Drums has kept me out of trouble and taught me so much. It has shaped who I am, it has presented me with opporunities that had I not been involved in music I probably never would have had. Playing Drums has taught me the value of hard work, dedication,drive,imagination,independance , teamwork, and desire, as well as tasting failure and success. I have molded my entire life around playing drums and making music....everything I have learned through music I have been able to relate and use in the rest of my life making me successful and a better person.
Originaly from the East Coast, Baltimore - Maryland, I started playing at the age of 7. I grew up playing in school as any kid typically would by 14 I was jamming with friends in our first throw together highschool Metal band playing cover tunes the best we could, but that was all right with us because as far as we were concerned we were destined to be rock stars! Through the years as I grew with my friends our Music ventures and experience became more and more serious and as we grew and learned with our craft and abilities we moved on to bigger and better things. Playing local clubs and out door arena's by the age of 16. By 17 our band at the time was an underground speed metal band called SADISTIC - appropriate for the time and the music. back in 1989-1992 we were opening for the likes of Nuclear Assault,Prong, Sepultura,God Flesh, Napalm Death, Wrathchild (America), and many other local and national acts up and down the eastern sea board. As music and the times changed we all changed as well , maturing and growing apart.
I moved into the city to continue my music career and find other like minded players . For several years I played around town never being able to find the right chemistry to make a solid band, but kept working at playing and recording with available competent players. Finally in 1995 after about three years of trying I finally found the right location to put together a studio and stumbled across the right group of players to make some things happen. For the next 5 years I played with the guys in Voodoo Highway, trying to find that right niche to do what we wanted in an original project playing good marketable music with a heavy edge while not being labeled or dated. Definately not an easy task to accomplish, but we did make some accomplishments. While we had no major releases, we did manage to get in on two movie scores. Time Warp Films , the movie Harvesters and the movie Stakes. Shortly after that I said good bye to my brothers in that band and headed south to Texas.
After arriving here in Texas in 2003 ,I hooked up with a progressive rock venture called Spillshadow, that had already released one CD and we were working on the softmore release. We had some good mainstream marketable material and were doing well on the live circut. We had just released a three song demo to shop to the labels when things fell apart, so again I moved on.
After my stint with Spillshadow I met up with DIRT, a project in the midst of rebuild. I went to work with Bass player Rick Wiggins on finding new members and writing new material. We were working on the folow up to the first release ...From Dirt We Come. After 2 years of steady working ,writing , recording ,and live playing in 2005 we released the CD Ashes to Ashes under our own label ( Pounded out Productions). We took on full responsibility for production ,engineering,duplication,merchandising, and booking over the next year while we supported the Ashes CD. In 2007 while working on the third release the band decided to split and go seperate ways due to creative differences. The DIRT experience was a good time for me. Thanks to the Ashes to Ashes CD and the drumming that I did on that CD , I was published in the December 2006 issue of Modern Drummer magazine , the "On the Move " article.From that point on I knew being published was an extremely important priority for me.
In 2008 I was working with two different projects. ONE FINAL STAND was a Metal project in the genre of Iron Maiden,Killswitch Engage,Shadows Fall,Pantera ,and Agnostic Front- just to name a few. A musically skilled blend of old and new style Metal that is in line with our influences and what we like to play...plenty of power speed and aggression. The other project, SIGNS OF TOMORROW, was more of a blues based classic rock/biker rock machine. It was very guitar driven with a dirty southern /bluesy feel , while still being very technical musically. Allowing for plenty of complexity and musicality while still maintaining a strong groove thats easy to get in to.
Currently I am working with the Metal band COYA and are busy at work preparing for a full length release. We hope to be in the studio by late May/early June of 2009 and have the release out by July.
I am always on the look out for new projects to be a part of and relish every opportunity to play live or in the studio.. Every opportunity is unique and I have found always has something good to offer and usually tends to form great relationships with other players and provide more opportunities for bigger and better things.
2008/2009 has not been the year that I think most had hoped for, myself included, but never the less we forge on and my goals have not changed.. After 28 years in this business and perfecting my craft/art. The blood ,sweat ,tears , and tireless dedication needs to come to a head. I am pushing to go pro and get with a national act that can use my abilities and talents that I can become a integrated and valuable part of. I practice my craft visciously and competitively and can handle most anything set before me. I like to think of myself as open minded and enjoy working on things that might be "out side the box" to expand my own horizons.But at this point in my life I am ready to move to a professional project and a professional paycheck to boot. I have no pipe dreams about rock stardom. I will do what it takes to get there and be able to play music as my career. For years I have had a day job to pay for my night job. This year that has to stop. |
