Musically, I got started at the age of 11 in a youth talent show. Oh how terrible that was!! I remember being close to the right key, but the voice changes were way too easily noticed. I didn't win by the way. I did realize there was something about singing that I really enjoyed.
My best friend Shane Childers and I always wanted to start a band, but we weren't very good. In high school, I finally got a chance to show that I had some musical talent. I brought a guitar to school for a music class and started playing a song that I had heard from a local rock band at the time called SAGE. The song "SLIPPIN' AWAY", got me started. My classmates persuaded me to try out for the Talent Show coming up and I said.."SURE!!" This was my Junior year in high school and I was also asked to sing for a band that my friend Shane had helped start called STAGEFRIGHT. We played "She Talks To Angels" and I played "Slippin' Away"... once again I didn't win with either song, but enjoyed the HELL out of it.
Finally, I met the band that would really blossom my talent as a songwriter and guitar player. Once again my best friend SHANE came to me and asked if I would like to play guitar and sing for a new band him and another guitar player Mark Gibbons was starting. It wasn't complete however until the drummer Greg Simmons was added. We all clicked to an extent that I know will never be achieved again.. Original songs seem to pour out of us. Mark would start a RIFF and in NO TIME the drums and the bass and lyrics were all meshed into music. I played the guitar some and wrote most of the lyrics, but I couldn't have gotten the courage and experience I needed without the other guys. TANTALIZE was born... A great sound, but times they were a changin' and the music we were doing was going out of style and we grew farther apart. Here are a few pics from the TANTALIZE portfolio of shows... (ABOUT 6)!!HA!!HA!!
I basically quit playing after we disbanded... but kept searching for a way to express my feelings. I started going to poetry slams and soon realized writing was a great release and something I could do without music. I ran into an old friend and told him of my poetry and he wanted to start a band with my new lyrics. So I gave it a try.. However they needed a drummer, so of course I called up GREG and there was born crave...( WHERE THE E-MAIL ADDRESS CAME FROM) We recorded a tape, but never really went anywhere with it because I moved to KNOXVILLE. For 2 years I didn't even play at all. Then I would go out and see local musicians play and remember how I missed it. My big break came when some friends of mine opened a bar and I asked to play there. It was a hole in the wall, but let me get back into the swing of things. That's when I met DAVID LANDEO and he actually helped me get my first gig at RICK's. This guy is absolutely the best in KNOXVILLE. He has basically set me up with just about everywhere I play now and I owe him enormously (SHITLOADS) !! So here I am jammin' in Knoxville!!!! If you hadn't heard my show come check it out!! I swear I am not as flaky as this little BIO PAGE!!! |
