Anyhoo, I was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi in the 70's, 1976 to be exact and am the oldest member of the band but by far not the maturest :) Since I was a kid I have always loved music. My dad raised me on country and 70's rock music while my mom influenced me with Motown, R&B, and the blues. Needless to say when I got older I dropped country music like a bad habit.
I have always been enamored with people who played music. I remember seeing several local guys playing guitar and the like and was just mesmerised with them. I wanted to do that, but I also knew that my parents would not support me in music. Plus lacking the testicular fortitude to just go do it was a factor also :) I can remember hanging with my cousins listening to music and playing air drums while they played other air instruments.
Later on in life I met and became good friends with Brandon Cobb. Cobb annoyed me at first but he grew on me....he tends to do that. Anyway, we talked about music and he played guitar some. Then I met my friend Wayne who was a really good drummer and that re-sparked the interest but lack of capitol and gonads again stopped me from just playing drums.
Anyway, through Cobb I met Jason Berryhill, an up-and-coming guitarist himself and became good friends with him. He and Brandon first met when they were barely out of diapers and have been friends since,and music was one of the ties that bonded them.
The fateful summer that started it all was a couple of years ago. I decided to move in with Brandon in his house.....momma had gone by by to Florida for awhile. So, Jason would come over alot and we would hang out, etc. then one day, out of nowhere, Walter Cox appeared. Now, Jason and Brandon had known this guy for awhile but he was a total enigma to me. So this loud mouthed Italian guy started coming over to hang out pretty regularly. Then, a discussion started about starting up a band. I didn't take it seriously because we are all dreamers and dreaming is what we do best even without physical reality.
One day I come in from work. Brandon meets me out on the porch and tells me he wants to show me the living room. I thought to myself, "cool. He got off his duff and cleaned", but I was in for a huge suprise. I walked in eyes shut into the room. To my right Brandon's voice urged me to open my eyes. As they focused, I saw the most beautiful sight in the world......1 blue bass guitar, 1 Fender Stratocaster, 2 amps, and........da dum da dum 1 5-piece Blackhawk drum set. I was immeadiately floored. Reality can be quite a crushing weight when suddenly suprised like that. It had begun. We played and stunk for awhile, slow as Christmas and as clumsy as new-born babes but in the tradition of several cliches, practice makes perfect.
As far as influences go I would have to say my big 2 are John Bonham and Lars Ulrich. What drummer isn't influenced by these guys? And I listen to the radio alot, so I picked up some stuff from 70's bands to 80's bands to today's bands. So I think that what I have learned is reflected in how I play even though I am still quite new to drumming, it being only a year and a half since I first started. We have come quite a long way with starting to develop our sound and building our repetoire of songs, including 4 original songs. So that is our story in a nutshell as told from my eyes. I have to also give thanks where it is due:
I have to thank Brandon for his friendship that has carried me through many a rough spot in my life and for his encouragement and for his shining personality. He is truly a gifted and very unique person. To Jason I also say thank you for his friendship and our mutual love of the music and for also giving me a chance to do what I have always wanted to do but didn't have the guts. Thanks for taking that step for me. To Walter I say thank you for the endless hours of laughing, as was evident on a road trip to New Orleans, and for his friendship. These guys, people all over the world, are my brothers. We laugh together, sometimes cry together, we fight and piss each other off but what we do in our music is timeless. Well, I have spoken enough. Please check out the other guy's bios. I am sure you won't be disapointed.
Oh, about the name Crash. So far we have only 1 cymbal and I nail that sucker and it is quite loud, hence the name. Train Wreck was too long so we shortened it to Crash :)