Bio:
I have been playing guitar now since 1988. I began playing in high school when my best friend at the time was learning how to play. He showed me a few things that he was learning and it just took off from there. I can still remember sneaking into the band room at lunch and trying to play old Metallica riffs on classical guitars with nylon strings that would never stay in tune. These were the only guitars that our school had at the time, but for our purposes it didn�t matter. From there I started taking formal lessons from a great teacher who showed me everything from music theory to just trying to learn a solo here and there from ear. As I started to develop into a player who could actually hold a song, my friend and I found another friend who played the drums and we would spend our weekends just jamming out Metallica and Megadeth riffs in his garage. Those were some of the best days because we were still learning and we were not trying to prove anything except that we could be really loud! I remember one time the cops being called to the scene, but everything turned out OK. We called ourselves �Innocent Exile� since we were all avid Iron Maiden fans. From then on my friend and I joined his cousin�s band which at the time had no name and no singer. His cousin also played guitar so my friend ended up playing the bass and became the bass player. As time went by we put an ad in the paper for a singer and found an interesting guy who was a mix between Robert Plant and Dio. We then came up with the name �Wretched Fiend� for the band and played about 30+ shows in small bars around the Chicagoland area. The band lasted about two years, (1991-1993) we changed bass players a few times and recorded two albums of original songs, but we finally disbanded after the drummer went away to college. From then on I just continued practicing until I met a few friends at work and we started a band called �Affliction�. Tom, who also plays behind the band moniker �Worwyk� and is a Koalition member as well, is the other guitarist. Tom and I have been writing and recording tunes now for about 9 years. We have recorded two albums and will continue to satisfy our metal music hobby for as long as we can.
Influences:
Bands: "old" Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Testament, Judas Priest,
Metal Church, Blue Murder, Savatage, Dio, Def Leppard, Queensryche, Sepultura, Hammerfall, Stratovarius, and many more�
Musicians: John Sykes, Joe Satriani, Kirk Hammett, Alex Skolnick, Gary Moore, Adrian Smith, Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P), Randy Rhoads, Steve Harris, Cliff Burton, Bruce Dickenson, and Dio.
Gear: Jackson Dinky XL Professional guitar, Ibanez RG-Series guitar, Yamaha RGX-Series guitar, Takamini acoustic guitar, Squire P-Bass, Crate 2X10 Celestion 40 watt practice amp, Crate 4X12 cabinet with 100 watt half-stack head, Johnson J-Station amp emulation and direct recording box.
Recording: Steinberg Cubase VST on PC.
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