Lead Vocalist, Rhythm/Lead Guitarist,
Songwriter
Age: 31
Birthdate: 8/7/67Influences
Guitar:
Eddie Van Halen,
Neal Geraldo (Pat Benatar),
Michael Schenker (UFO),
Vocals:
Eric Martin,
Rick Springfield,
John Waite,
Patty Smyth
"I was born into a family of artists
(painting, drawing, etc.), and since I
sucked at all that, I thought I'd try my
hand at writing down these melodies that
were swimming around in my head since
the age of 8. I didn't start playing
guitar until I was 16; Eddie Van Halen,
Montrose, Thin Lizzy and UFO were my
earliest memories of being flattened by
the power of hard rock. I thought Scott
Gorham (Thin Lizzy) was the epitome of
the cool-rock-guitar-guy with the killer
vibrato and choice of notes. I'd say my
style now owes the most to his feel.
I wrote my first song when I was 22. It
was pretty crappy...I think it was
called "Below The Belt" or something
like that. I started demoing songs on my
little cassette four-track and caught
the writing bug. I don't write songs
very quickly...sometimes I can write two
a month, but not usually. I try to only
write the songs that really stick in my
head over the long-run...like if
something's been with me for awhile, I
figure it's probably pretty solid.
My idea of a perfect song is a killer
melody and lyric idea, with big guitars,
a fat rhythm section and a ragin' vocal
line. Of course I always try to do that
everytime I write. Some examples of
tunes I really think have these
qualities are "Change" by John Waite,
"Atomic Punk" by Van Halen, "Rock Candy"
by Montrose, "Shadows Of The Night" by
Pat Benatar...there are tons of 'em when
I think about it, actually! A lot of
hard-rock songs have stupid lyrics, so I
try to really try to make my songs at
least have some imagery or meaning.
I try to write and produce songs that I
would want to hear on the radio...I
don't think you can go wrong if you
stick with what you love!"
