Ryan Roling

I am the youngest of four boys in my family. When I had a lot of free time and a desprate need for something to keep me occupied. I quickly noticed my older brother had one of his guitars and a huge box of guitar magazines at home while he was in college. I began to teach myself how to play. This started my obsession with music. I played in a few different bands in high school, but put down my guitar when I moved to Des Moines to go to college in a major in Commercial Art. After a couple of years one of my classmates named Jeff Brinkman started doing a bunch of acoustic shows on campus and at a few smaller bars in the Des Moines area. This resparked my intrest in music again and I was allowed to play a few songs durring his breaks and do some lead work for some of his songs. When I moved back to Cedar Rapids, I really missed the feeling of playing for crowds. I didn't know too many people once I moved back home and was looking for new crowds to hang out with when I saw a sign at a local bar for an open mic night. I became a regular performer at these shows and this is where I first met the host of those open mic nights, Karl Hudson. It wasn't long before we teamed up together and formed the band Mackie Blue. We played a very vigerous schedual playing as often as 3 to 4 nights a week. After almost 3 years of playing, that band parted ways. Our bass player Matthew Kane form a country band Greenbrier (which I have filled in for many times), while I was the guitarist for the band THUD! The idea for THUD! was simple, catera show for people in there 20's and early 30's who grew up in the 90's. Make the show as energetic as possible, but play a huge variety of songs and make each show a little different. As THUD! grew, so did my ideas and direction. The plans that I had for this band were bigger than where that band could take me. Right in the middle of the massive floods of 2008 I decided to not continue when our drummer Rich Brecht left. I took a lot of time off and tried out dozens of people who had the ability to play and the desire to put together more than just a rock band. Enter ARTIFICIAL GRAY... This is my latest project where I am currently singing and playing guitar in. This is also where the majority of my song writing is currently focused. However there are many different sides of me. There are a few things that I have writen (or started to write) that do not fit in any of the bands I have been in or are just something I wanted to do for myself. I hope to finish more songs by spring time and have them for you to listen to as they are completed. Thanks for stoping by!RYAN