bio information
The Early Days
Beginning in grade school my musical journey began with learning to play the alto saxaphone and signing to anything that would come on the radio. I was a fan of many bands back in those days including KISS, Led Zeppelin, Earth Wind & Fire, AC/DC and pretty much anything my oldest brother Bruce was playing on his record player. I grew up exposed to a lot of music that many others didn’t experience until much older.
Moving through my middle school and high school days I moved to baritone sax because we needed it in the band. I played football so the only time I marched with the band was for a parade or two. I couldn’t miss the band trips. Way too much fun and anyone who was in the marching band and went on band trips knows what I am talking about. Our marching and concert bands almost always went to state competition and we received 1’s every time we competed. I also started singing in the choir as well as show choir and singing in church occasionally. Also competing in state competition receiving 1’s every time.
Growing up in the 80’s had advantages because at least in my opinion the music was fantastic. You had everything from country, pop, hair metal and of course what we called hard rock bands. Spandex, leg warmers and big hair was the name of the game and of course I had to comply with look as well. It was a fun time in the 80’s and after graduation and some time in the Army of course I never quit singing. When you sing you never leave home without your instrument.
White wolf
My first band and the story goes like this. I was in a bar playing pool and of course drinking and a band was setting up to play that night. Their singer got cold feet and never showed up. I told them to give me lyrics sheets and I would try what I could. I think we started off with Rock & Roll by Led Zeppelin and off I went. We played together for a couple of years until I decided I wanted to expand and learn an instrument. I picked up a used bass guitar and rented an amplifier and thus began my quest to be better musician. Many thanks to Jeff Knight, Dave Mohney, Mike Kennedy and Dan for starting me on this journey.
unameus / spectra
The next band was a cover and original band that truly started off with me singing everything and playing bass. The one finger wonder is what I called myself because that was pretty much all I could do. The band consisted of two members of WHITEWOLF and a friend (Mike Fouty) whom I had known for years. We practiced four times and I booked us. A little trial by fire. The band decided we needed another guitar player and in walked Matt Swintek who quickly became one of my best friends along with fellow musician. We also decided to pick up a new lead singer in Walt Crichfield. We played for several years before changing drummers a couple of times, singers but the core never changed. The grunge scene took over and we decided that music with no lead guitar just wasnt’t fun to play. I was never much into speed metal until Matt took me to see a local band in Columbus, Ohio named Wicked and watching the drummer play Fight Fire with Fire while standing up I quickly became a huge fan as I finally saw the talent that it took to play that type of music.
I then took a 10 year hiatus, not really sure why but I think it might have had something to do with a woman. I would walk past my bass head and cabinet everyday because who doesn’t have their rig in their living room and finally decided I needed to get back into music.
Consensual six
Deciding to hook back up with Mike and Matt we put together another band and used several different musicians along with bringing back Luke Williamson to lead sing. We played many different types of music but sadly only lasted a couple of years.
holy spicoli
Somewhere around 2008 or 2009 I was called to play in a country/ southern rock/ I don’t know what band by an old friend Bill Witlatch, may he rest in peace. He and I started practicing with a drummer, singer and keyboard player and it never really was sitting right. We showed up for practice one day at the drummers house and he wasn’t home. I guess that was his way of ending the band. Bill, Tami Dugan and I decided we were going to try to put something together ourselves. We called Matt again and he came back and started out playing drums. It was probably the third or fourth practice we played I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor and made it into a rocked up 80’s version. We decided at that point that we were going to change directions and do nothing but 80’s music. Bill decided that really wasn’t what he was looking to do so we moved forward, found a drummer and a male singer to go along with us and the band has been playing ever since. Now granted the only original member left today is myself. We have changed members many times over the years as well as learning different material along the way. The band has taken a hiatus temporarily while other things in life happen but hope to be back at some point down the road.
changing tymz
Additional Information
With the fluctuation of members with Holy Spicoli and a growing frustration level I put an ad on Craigslist searching for a band to join. I own a ton of sound equipment and of course my bass rig and really wanted to use it more often. I received a message from a guitarist (Timmy Wysong) asking if I would be interested in playing original music. I thought I should at least give it some thought. He sent me a song with drums and guitars and asked me to write a bass part. I wrote and recorded one and sent it back thinking I would probably never hear from him again. To my surprise a week later he said that I was in the finals for the position and he wanted me to write one more bass part for another song. I really liked the music so I said sure. My thoughts at this point was that I was wasting my time but it was fun to write something. The week of Christmas 2017 I received a message saying that I got the position. I was cautiously optimistic about the project and thought sure why not. I am very please to be collaborating with some of the best musicians I could have ever asked to play with. Matt Martin, Timmy Wysong, Eric Fenton and Tony Rossi are incredibly talented and we are looking forward to a long career together.
