Why Music?: I have always loved music. I see music as the soundtrack to all of our lives. For years I was the singer in many secular bands and never found the lasting fulfillment I knew that music had the potential to provide. I wend from being a singer to being a manager/promoter to eventually leaving the business disheartened. It wasn’t until I met Mike Showalter and we started jamming together that I realized that it wasn’t the music that didn’t work, it was my lack of connection to God that was my stumbling block. So Mike and I played together and learned a good amount of cover songs. I started to write originals and we invited another guitarist to join us, that would be Josh, and chose to call ourselves 2Life. I have never had as much fulfillment with music as I have with 2Life. Music was right for me all along, I just needed to be right with God for it to work.

About the Band: 2Life started with just me and Mike Showalter. We jammed and even played at a Samson Coffeehouse open mic night. We had so much fun and got invited back to actually open up for them at a later date. In the meantime we added Josh Carpenter as a second guitarist. He had only been playing for about a year and was excited to participate. We learned a few new songs and opened for Samson. We had a lot of fun, but we realized something was missing. We were only part of a band and we were looking for a “fuller” and richer sound. Enter our fuller, Matt Fuller. He came to us with years of experience playing lead guitar and Mike (the musical virtuoso that he is) was just a happy playing the bass. So we had 2 guitarists myself and a bassist. Almost there. We asked around about a drummer and low and behold the Samson bassist, Bob Lawler, also played drums and had an extra electric drum set that he brought with him and donated to the cause. We were finally a full outfit, sort of. Bob is a wonderful musician and friend (he also donated a PA system to the cause), but his first love was Samson. So we continued to look for a drummer while Bob filled in for us and filled us out nicely. It was about that time that Matt and I were helping out the drama team at church. The drama team director, Jen Hull, mentioned that her husband Tony just started to play the drums and was also eager to see him make some new male friends at the church. SO we invited Tony to sit in with us. We assured him that all we did was get together once a week and jam “just to have fun”. He joined us after only playing drums for a couple of months. During this time we were said goodbye to Mike. Family concerns and time commitments forced him to scale down on some activities and 2Life was one that had to go. We were glad to see that such a talented musician is still playing music (although solo) because if he wasn’t that would have been a true waste of God given talent. Mike still helps us out as a technical and musical advisor and will hopefully soon be helping us record our first real demo. So we were now looking for a new bassist. Once again Bob came to our rescue. He sat in on a few sessions and connected us with a guy named Paul Dean. Paul is involved in a couple of bands but joined us as our new bassist. We were now a complete outfit. We spent most of the summer practicing and learning new songs. Bob invited us to play and the 8th Annual Christian Music Celebration at Hickories Park in Owego. We accepted (To Tony's dismay), and had a great time and did well enough to be invited to Cortland to play at a VBS wrap-up celebration with Audience of One (another local band). We just had our first ever Coffeehouse at our Home Church (Calvary Community Church in Johnson City), and it was awesome. The pastor wants to meet and make it a regular event and we couldn’t be more pleased. What better way to worship God than at our own church with it’s support. We play for God and it seems like he likes what he hears so far.

About the guys: Personally the guys all know how I feel. I love them all and I know that without them I could not be doing what I am doing, which is worshiping god through my favorite medium, music. As the only founding member of 2Life, by default, I have become the de- facto leader. I let the guys have free reign with their music and ideas though because I can’t even read music let alone play and instrument (hence I am the Lead Singer). I consider myself leader only in theory. If there are major decisions to make, we all make them. I try not to step on anyone's toes, but I still do sometimes. The next oldest member is actually our youngest member Josh. Josh has amazing talent and since he has only been playing for a few years, he is only going to get better. Josh is like a little brother to be. I have known him for 4 or so years now and it has been great to see him grow as a musician and as a person. The next guy to join was Matt Fuller. Matt is your full blown true to the term, Lead Guitarist. He loves the fancy licks and the loud solos. Musically he is probably the most talented in our band. His faith is strong and his friendship is mighty also. Matt and I spend many a night on the phone just helping each other out with personal stuff and discussing the band. Tony joined up and swears it was under false pretenses. We invited him to join us at our practices and was distraught to find out we were actually going to play in front of people. He griped and moaned about it but stepped up his practicing and has now become in the span of less than 9 months one of the best new drummers I have ever heard. He lacks confidence but the pressure of playing out at real shows has matured him and made him a better drummer. Personally, he is so much like me it is scary. The only difference is that he vocalizes the comments that I am thinking. A great guy and a great new friend. Now if we can only get him to stop smoking. Paul Dean joined us right after Tony. He brings great experience and bass playing ability as well as a strong faith that he is not afraid to express. He is the only member of our band that is not a member of C.C.C., that may change though :). He is totally involved with his home church though and that is great. I feel that it doesn’t matter where you worship, but that you do worship. Paul is bringing in a lot of originals and a lot of advice and help that is always appreciated. Well that’s That.